Re: Is the RAR archiver freely distributable?

[Ben Finney]

Francesco Poli  writes:

> On Fri, 11 Nov 2016 10:07:09 +1100 Ben Finney wrote:
>
> [...]
> > I believe there are actively-enforced patents on DVD-CSS that
> > prohibit distribution of, for example, free software that opens
> > files encrypted with that scheme.
> [...]
>
> Is this the actual reason?

I don't claim it's *the* reason for anything :-) It is certainly one
factor in decisions about what packages should be in Debian.

Relevant for this discussion, it appears to be a factor distinguishing
‘libdvdcss2’ from RAR compression tools.

> I was under the impression that the issue was due to DMCA (in the USA),
> EUCD (in the EU) and similar insane laws in other jurisdictions...

That's another factor, yes.

-- 
 \  “Every man would like to be God, if it were possible; some few |
  `\  find it difficult to admit the impossibility.” —Bertrand |
_o__)Russell, _Power: A New Social Analysis_, 1938 |
Ben Finney

Re: Is the RAR archiver freely distributable?

[Francesco Poli]

On Fri, 11 Nov 2016 10:07:09 +1100 Ben Finney wrote:

[...]
> I believe there are
> actively-enforced patents on DVD-CSS that prohibit distribution of, for
> example, free software that opens files encrypted with that scheme.
[...]

Is this the actual reason?
I was under the impression that the issue was due to DMCA (in the USA),
EUCD (in the EU) and similar insane laws in other jurisdictions...


-- 
 http://www.inventati.org/frx/
 There's not a second to spare! To the laboratory!
. Francesco Poli .
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