When Ideologies Collide: SourceForge Blocks Countries on US Sanction List

by Kristin Shoemaker - Jan. 26, 2010Comments (2)

It's not easy being free, because in some way, your hands are always tied. ArabCrunch pondered yesterday whether SourceForge's blocking access to content on its site to users in countries on the US Foreign Asset Control sanction list meant that open source was no longer open.

Of course it doesn't -- it just means it isn't available through SourceForge. It would be easy enough to malign SourceForge for this -- but many open source and technology sources are having a difficult time doing so. I certainly can't do so in good conscience.

It doesn't sit well with me. It clearly isn't what SourceForge wants. It seems to conflict with the basic tenets of open source all together.

Except that SourceForge is run by an organization incorporated in the United States -- it hosts a repository containing open source software. The laws that govern a company in the US aren't superceded by the licensing model of the software it hosts.

Is it unfortunate? Yes, yes, a million times -- yes. It doesn't adversely impact hostile groups; it wreaks havoc on the many honest, struggling people who rely on it to survive in their environments, and keep in contact with the world outside.

SourceForge has little choice, but perhaps there's some comfort in the knowledge that large, closed, proprietary software companies have been largely fruitless in curbing piracy in these areas. Open source software isn't an entity incorporated in the States, and distributing the software isn't an issue. It's just not something SourceForge can do right now.

It isn't easy being free, especially when those ugly reminders surface that freedom has costs. For SourceForge, it's a wiser plan to work within the law now -- as we endeavor to amend it.