On Tue, Mar 05, 2002 at 10:34:55AM -0500, Drew Northup wrote: > > But my question is: What's wrong with having the current hosting in > > the US, as long as there are mirrors (optionally for backup only) in > > other countries? I think using savannah is great and would patents > > ever become a problem, I'm sure the FSF would help us. I don't see a > > reason for not using savannah. (but maybe I'm just biased) > > Export laws and restrictions are another big problem here...... I could > go on and on, but I won't.
Not for plex86, unless encryption will be added. > > > > And even in the US, I don't think a patent for visualization would be > > enforceable. > > It isn't enforceability that matters here in the US. Especially now > that the f*(|!#& DMCA has been written into law. It is the defendant > that bears the full burden of proof to get DMCA restrictions lifted once > they have been imposed for possible violations of intellectual property > rights. If we are hosted outside the US, then we aren't subject to > having this mailing list shut down because some corporation decides out > of the blue that they own some part of plex86. When I've time I will ask on the FSF Europe mailinglist why savannah is in the US and if we can't change that if those laws passes. The FSF *Europe* is the owner of that machine IIRC. I share your opinion that having it in europe is better. The USA is the leader in crazyness at the moment, but that doesn't make Europe a good place either. We get the EUCD here (every country of the EU must have it implemented before the end of this year if I'm right), which does the same as the DMCA if I'm right. I don't know the details however. > The other part of this equation is money, $$, lucre, or whatever you > call it in your home country (notwithstanding the difference betweens > Pounds Sterling, Guilders, DM, Euros, and Dollars). If don't have mucho > dinero (as some here like to say) then you can kiss your ass goodbye. > End of story. This is less the case in other countries, but the problem still exists. The USA is just a bit extreme in it, for me it almost looks like the US goverment is an organization of companies instead of representing the people living there. The biggest companies with the most money decide what happens. If you're specifically talking about money to defend yourself in court, probably the EFF or the FSF will help I think, depending on the issue. If it is a pure patent issue probably not (but that isn't this case). If it is free speech thing they will probably both help. If it a case that a company tries to prohibit the development and the distribution of plex86, I think at least the FSF helps. You're talking about a lot of things here, but what are the exact problems related to plex86? I don't think the FSF will delete the plex86 if just a company asks and when a company goes to court we've enough time to backup. Having a backup server at some other place could also help, but it not really needed IMHO (the code is already widespread enough, think about all the developers/users who have the source code and all debian mirrors for example). Jeroen Dekkers -- Jabber supporter - http://www.jabber.org Jabber ID: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Debian GNU supporter - http://www.debian.org http://www.gnu.org IRC: jeroen@openprojects
