Re: [JDEV] FW: DoD Policy on Open Source

Ulrich B. Staudinger Fri, 15 Aug 2003 00:12:47 -0700

It's all in the news ... I think it boils down to viruses which could be protected from the GPL ... and other harmful software.

Tony Bamonti wrote:

It was forwarded to me from a contact at Sun.......from the context of the
message, I interpreted as being quite authentic.
/tb
-----Original Message-----
From: Sameer Verma [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2003 12:10 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [JDEV] FW: DoD Policy on Open Source
What's the source of this memo/document? Any references to the original?

-- Dr. Sameer Verma, Ph.D. Asst. Professor of Information Systems San Francisco State University San Francisco CA 94132 USA http://verma.sfsu.edu/

Tony Bamonti wrote:

DOD Memo on Open Source software issued last week.

john

-------------------------------------------------------------

---------------
-
Defense Department Issues Open Source Policy
By Thor Olavsrud <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
June 3, 2003
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) last week distributed
a memo putting

open source software on a level playing field with

proprietary software

when

it comes to use within the department, though the memo also

warned that

those using open source software (OSS) must comply with

"lawful licensing

requirements" and be aware of what those licenses entail.

The DoD is a user of both open source and proprietary

software, ranging

from

Linux and BSD on the open end, to Unices and Windows on the

proprietary

end.

The memo eases fears that the military might ban use of the

GNU General

Public <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#GPL>

License (GPL).

Providing a description of open source licenses and licensing

requirements,

including a specific focus on the GPL, the memo, written by

John Stenbit,

chief information officer and assistant secretary for

Command, Control,

Communications and Intelligence Defense Department, noted,

"The Linux

operating system is an example of an operating system used

in DoD that is

licensed under the GPL."

Stenbit also used the memo to remind recipients that any

"DoD Components"

who acquire, use or develop OSS must make sure that the

software complies

with the same DoD policies governing Commercial Off the

Shelf (COTS) and

Government Off the Shelf (GOTS) software.

"This includes, but is not limited to, the requirements that all

information

assurance (IA) or IA-enabled IT hardware, firmware and

software components

or products incorporated into DoD information systems,

whether acquired or

originated within DoD: 1. Comply with the evaluation and <http://niap.nist.gov/niap/library/nstissp_11.pdf> validation

requirements

of National Security Telecommunications and Information

Systems Security

Policy Number 11, and; 2. be configured in accordance with

DoD-approved

security configuration guidelines available at

http://iase.disa.mil/ and

http://www.nsa.gov/.";

Stenbit also urged anyone considering OSS within DoD to

understand the

ramifications of its use. "DoD Components acquiring, using

or developing

OSS

must comply with all lawful licensing requirements," he said. "As

licensing

provisions may be complex, the DoD Components are strongly

encouraged to

consult their legal counsel to ensure that the legal

implications of the

particular license are fully understood."

Open source licenses often require modifiers and

distributors of the code

to

make their source code available, publish a copyright

notice, place a

disclaimer of warranty on distributed copies and give

recipients of the

program a copy of the license. The GPL, which governs the Linux open

source

operating platform, is a particularly strict open source

license which

requires anyone that distributes code they have modified to make the

source

code available when distributing the original binary code

or derivatives.
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--
Ulrich B. Staudinger
http://www.die-horde.de
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
jid: [EMAIL PROTECTED]


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Re: [JDEV] FW: DoD Policy on Open Source

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