Post Clinton’s Internet Freedom Speech:US- SourceForge Blocked Syria, Sudan, Iran, N. Korea & Cuba: Is Open Source Still Open?
Update: SourceForge Simi Unblocks Syria, Sudan,Iran, N.Korea & Cuba- Freedom Loving Admins: Unblock Now:
Since Linkedin lifted its blocking against Syria after ArabCrunch reported the incident ( and kept it against Sudan ), we heard different reports that American officials are preparing to waive some of the sanctions against Syria imposed by the Bush administration , but few days ago these sanctions became worse: SourceForge.net the world’s largest open source software development web site blocked users from downloading free open source software from “banned locations” meaning users and developers form Syria, Sudan, Iran, N Korea and Cuba are banned.
This puts developers from Syria, Sudan, Iran, Korea and Cuba and their IT industry in the dark since many development tools that every developer needs are hosted on sourceforge and since also Google blocks downloading software for its open source repository code.google.com for users from these countries.
This event is a direct contradiction to the open source philosophy that SF preaches, this also comes in light of US secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterdays speech urging Internet freedom! as she said:
“We stand for a single Internet where all of humanity has equal access to knowledge and ideas,” said Clinton in a major address that cited China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt among countries that censored the Internet or harassed bloggers!
To this end, we have a guest post from Abdulrahman Idlbi, Opinions expressed by guest writers do not necessarily reflects ArabCrunch’s point of view. However we condemn SF blockhead and call it a sad event that contradicts with Clinton’s call for “equal access to knowledge and ideas” and with US congressman Brian Baird ideas, who agreed with ArabCrunch that open source should be open.
( ArabCrunch.NET has opens source profiles and there was a thread opened about this subject here.)
Here is Idlbi guest post:
The following statement has been on SourceForge.net Terms of Use for a while [1] (but who’d care to read them anyway?):
Prohibited Persons
You represent you are not a person on a list barring you from receiving services under U.S. laws or other applicable jurisdiction, including without limitations, the Denied Persons List and the Entity List, and other lists issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security, detailed at http://www.bis.doc.gov/complianceandenforcement/ListsToCheck.htm (or successor sites thereto). Users residing in countries on the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control sanction list, including Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria, may not post Content to, or access Content available through, SourceForge.net.
As of January 2008, people from those countries can browse SourceForge projects and download from them, but access to the secure server was not allowed, so they would not be able to log in to SourceForge or contribute to projects. As of January 2010, blocking went further with not allowing people coming from “banned locations” to download anything from SourceForge.net, having a response similar to this one: http://sourceforge.net/t7.php.
Basically, the case is not totally new. For a long time, people on those countries lived with the fact that companies like Mathworks and Microchip block their sites in their faces, and others like Sun prevent them from downloading their products. However, that has not been a great problem: programmers in Syria are still using Java and PIC microcontrollers, and students in Iran are still doing their research using Matlab; most of the time, using the same techniques and tools that are developed to avoid the raising censorship in many countries around the world.
Sun has blocked people in several countries from accessing its so-claimed open source projects, but users in those countries have reluctantly ignored the situation as they managed their way around, coping with Sun’s own definition of open source. However, the latest incident, SourgeForge.net blockage, has been surprising and disappointing for FOSS people in those countries. SourceForge.net defines itself as “the world’s largest open source software development web site” [2] with the previous link directing to opensource.org, where you can read the following definition [3]:
The Open Source Definition
Open source doesn’t just mean access to the source code. The distribution terms of open-source software must comply with the following criteria:
…
5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups
The license must not discriminate against any person or group of persons.
6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor
The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a business, or from being used for genetic research.
…
So, what? Free software is a matter of freedom: people should be free to use software in all the ways that are socially useful. Or is that freedom a right for some people but not for others?
While celebrating the birthday of Martin Luther King a few days ago, it seems we still have a long journey to walk against discrimination in all its ugly faces, even with having the Open Source and OpenNet initiatives. It is kind of misleading to hide behind political considerations or terrorism threats to justify those acts of discrimination (which are not that different from the Third World governments’ justifications of Internet censorship), as those acts would only affect, if they would really do, normal peaceful people. Actually, the only effect I see is not simply an increasing feeling of prejudice or suspicion among the computing society, but more remarkably, distrust and losing faith in initiatives raising shiny mottoes with supposedly great ethics behind, such as “Software Freedom”. When a student or an academician in one of those banned countries read a report like “Access Denied” or know about OpenNet Initiative [4], they feel a bitter irony. They believe that the people behind such efforts should pay more attention to the behavior of their own government, which is leading the “Free World”.
How should the community respond? NautilusSVN developers can set an example. They had their project hosted by Google Code when they received complaints from a Syrian blogger on being blocked due to US export policies. The developers found that going against their open source philosophy, so they moved their project to Launchpad, renaming it to RabbitVCS [5]. However, would Launchpad be the next on the list? Maybe the open source community have to consider migrating their projects to “less free” countries with no export control regulations, so they can express their software beliefs more freely.
Without an action taken, Free Software would become, at least for us, a matter of biased ethics (which are usually not called ethics anymore), rather than a matter of freedom. Sorry, Martin… I have a dream, that one day open source would be really open…
Note:
It worth mentioning that Internet content blockage against some countries is not restricted to getting software or services. It is really disappointing to try to participate in a global humanitarian event such as Earth Hour or Google Haiti crisis response to make a donation, to find out that parts of those websites (powered by Google) are blocked. Even donating to Haiti victims is an act of terrorism? I thought the US is the one who’s committing crimes against the environment and climate, so shouldn’t US citizens be the ones to be blocked by EarthHour rather than Syrians?
[1] SourceForge.net Terms of Use. http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/sitelegal/wiki/Terms_of_Use
[2] About SourceForge.net. http://sourceforge.net/about
[3] The Open Source Definition. http://www.opensource.org/docs/osd
[4] OpenNet Initiative. http://opennet.net/
[5] The migration happened after correspondence between a Syrian blogger, M. B. Noimi, and the developers of NautilusSVN. Parts of the correspondence can be downloaded from: http://mbnoimi.net/w/wp-content/plugins/download-monitor/download.php?id=4. The original story appeared on a blog in Arabic: http://mbnoimi.net/w/?p=712
Guest writer bio:
Abdulrahman Idlbi is computer engineering master’s student at King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM.) His interests include researching using technology in enhancing learning and creative thinking among children, in addition to following the continuing blockage of internet resources in the face of people from countries banned by US export policies. - CC with Attribution to ArabCrunch and Abdulrahman Idlbi with a link back to this post.-
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[...] Post Clinton Internet Freedom Speech:US- SourceForge Blocked Syria, Sudan,Iran Korea & Cuba: Ope… arabcrunch.com/2010/01/following-clintons-internet-freedom-speech-us-based-sourceforge-blocked-syria-sudan-iran-korea-cuba-is-open-source-still-really-open.html – view page – cached Post Clinton Internet Freedom Speech:US- SourceForge Blocked Syria, Sudan,Iran Korea & Cuba: Open Source Still Open? [...]
This is terrible. Thank you very much for writing about it!
Do you know of any good alternatives that doesn’t block any countries, though? You mention Launchpad, so I guess they don’t block anyone? How about Freshmeat, GitHub, etc.? A list of truly open Free Software hosting services would be appreciated!
Blame US export control laws, not Sourceforge. They are legally forbidden from exporting goods (that includes software) to countries on the US terrorism blacklist. The move to strong enforcement is likely a consequence of an unpleasant discussion with government officials.
dave, US export control laws are old, why no SF enforced it few days ago. people of these countries are human beings not terrorists.
[...] Platform in the Arab World focused on Startups & The Technology … See more here: Post Clinton Internet Freedom Speech:US- SourceForge Blocked Syria … Share and [...]
Can the content not be downloaded from Sourceforge’s European mirrors?
[...] ArabCrunch) [...]
I am not sure, maybe yes, I will ask my syrian friends
This is great. They are the enemy and should not be given anything other than a bomb.
I sympathize with the sentiment that open source software should not be discriminatory and that residents of the countries in question should not be prevented from using open source code defined by the OSD. However, the Idlbi’s argument is badly flawed because they are not. The OSD is talking specifically about the license associated with an open source project. Note how the quoted rules begin with “The license must not” rather than anything about websites hosting copies of the source code. The “Prohibited Persons” terms of usage for SourceForge talks about the website providing services – it says nothing about placing limits on whatever license terms a hosted project might have. SourceForge is unfortunately within the US jurisdiction and must therefore deal with the potential wrath of US law. Lobby for changes to US law, lobby the US company behind SourceForge to move out of US jurisdiction, or contribute yourself in finding some other way to help SourceForge provide services to all the world in a manner that does not make them vulnerable to legal sanctions. Do you really expect the folks running a hosting provision service to risk going to jail in order that you can use their web service? Do try to be constructive.
@jay du Mr. coward if your up to fight, bomb and kill show ur face and do not hide under a nick name.
ok, honestly what good has ever come out of these countries?
Y’all stop chanting “Death to America” in the streets and then we can have tea and argue the meaning of open source.
@Chris.
until then you are free to kill innocent people ?
Btw do you know who trained and used those people who are doing all bombing against USA ?
It is so funny, and i must congratulate Syria, Sudan, Iran, N. Korea & Cuba that they rendered a Super Power so impotent that they had to go against their license terms (open source) of a mere web project, as their last resort, when they failed to pressurize these countries politically and didn’t have guts to attack them on ground.
I am an IT professional, and from Pakistan. If tomorrow Pakistan will not agree with US policies i am sure they won’t take a min to ban these services for us too. But i will welcome that, because US is not God, and God has many ways to ensure bread and butter for his creature. But self-integrity of a nation must not be compromised, no matter how many lives it takes.
Isn’t that what US establishment is selling to its TVtised people? Yes, that is true for every nation, and US establishment and people must accept it and start living with this fact of human history and time, that Nation ions do not prefer bread and butter or sacrifices over their National interests.
This act of theirs has proven, US establishment is not capable of being the eldest of all, they don’t have required temperament and moral values. Such incompetent forces have met their end in history, and future will be no different.
I demand immediate revoking of such hideous bans, and ask to leave IT out of their political business as much as they can morally bear, which should be a lot higher than this act.
SourceForge has been launched as a global community project, where everyone has contributed. And it should remain property of global IT population. US can ban immigration or other web government projects for these countries, and yes not to forget, the porn sites too.
Salman Awan (Please Gogle Earth me and Drone attack me)
@Dave Yes, all mirrors has the same policy, even the European ones!
++ due credit must be given, and i appreciate that i have been benefiting from US lead projects and even offshore jobs and i am obliged on that.
with that, justice must prevail.
@Jack Davids : your engines are working on our oil. did you ask your self who are you before 100 year ? we created the first alphabet when you were sleeping between animals.
Also these mentioned countries has no access to GoogleCode.Com
It’s a shame for FOSS.
What is the meaning of FOSS these days?
This is why FOSS projects should not be warehoused in the USA. The has a deranged and schizophrenic foreign policy and is not reliable.
Let’s fork Sourceforge
Guys, you cannot impose a collective punishment in the name of “war on terror”. Syrians bloggers and geeks have the right to use the full extent of the internet. The US should stop its double-standards approach: criticizing Iranian, Chinese or Syrian governments for not allowing some internet website and in the same time not allowing open source content (that obviously has nothing to do with “terror” or Islamic fundamentalism).
[...] strike at the very core of open source, FOSS, and the heart of GNU crusader Richard Stallman, SourceForge has now blocked all access from by countries on the U.S. ‘Foreign Assets Control sanction [...]
[...] strike at the very core of open source, FOSS, and the heart of GNU crusader Richard Stallman, SourceForge has now blocked all access from by countries on the U.S. ‘Foreign Assets Control sanction [...]
SourceForge official blog response:
http://sourceforge.net/blog/clarifying-sourceforgenets-denial-of-site-access-for-certain-persons-in-accordance-with-us-law/
[...] Washington Censors the Internet By ckeeler UPDATE: The Arab Crunch, The Arabist and Michael Collins Dunn all agree that the use of censorship as a means of sanctions [...]
Thanks for talking about it.
That’s just great!
Let’s assume there are some people that might be terrorists… so yes let’s ban their… errr… software developers from… errr… open source software. So logical, so smart!
Now their IT specialists loose their jobs and become terrorists too, because they just don’t have any other options. That’s the plan. That’s what I call brain activity!
Information is also a “good”, as is entertainment. Does that mean that NO Syrian, Cuban, etc. Can access ANY information hosted in the US? WTF! The whole point of Clinton’s “open the internet” was to PROMOTE the sharing of information, not further restrict it. Does she want the pro-democracy people in Syria to be forced to host in Canada? Of course not! If she has any clue she will get FLOSS of the list ASAP.
Using a VPN proxy service – such as https://ConnectionVPN.com – with gateways in Europe, you can get around those restrictions to download and participate in open-source once again.
[...] Post Clinton’s Internet Freedom Speech:US- SourceForge Blocked Syria, Sudan, Iran, N. Korea &… While celebrating the birthday of Martin Luther King a few days ago, it seems we still have a long journey to walk against discrimination in all its ugly faces, even with having the Open Source and OpenNet initiatives. It is kind of misleading to hide behind political considerations or terrorism threats to justify those acts of discrimination (which are not that different from the Third World governments’ justifications of Internet censorship), as those acts would only affect, if they would really do, normal peaceful people. Actually, the only effect I see is not simply an increasing feeling of prejudice or suspicion among the computing society, but more remarkably, distrust and losing faith in initiatives raising shiny mottoes with supposedly great ethics behind, such as “Software Freedom”. When a student or an academician in one of those banned countries read a report like “Access Denied” or know about OpenNet Initiative [4], they feel a bitter irony. They believe that the people behind such efforts should pay more attention to the behavior of their own government, which is leading the “Free World”. [...]
[...] open-source software community SourceForge. Syrian Abdulrahman Idilbi, writing for ArabCrunch, broke the news: As of January 2008, people from those countries can browse SourceForge projects and download from [...]
[...] open-source software community SourceForge. Syrian Abdulrahman Idilbi, writing for ArabCrunch, broke the news: As of January 2008, people from those countries can browse SourceForge projects and download from [...]
Well… you know what? If they keep banning Arabic countries, it’s just a matter of time until someone comes up with ArabForge (or whatever the name -hopefully better than mine!) to join the programming efforts of all the Arabic community. Then Cuba and Venezuela will join, and the momentum will drag other brilliant programmers, REAL open-source programmers, into the site. Then you won’t need Mr. Bush/Obama/Anyother ever again!
Just keep clear of Mosad: they would re-use the GPL software without offering the source code!
Growler: we have open source profiles on ArabCrunch.NET here:
http://arabcrunch.net/organizations/projects
[...] در همین زمینه: “متن باز هنوز باز است؟” [...]
[...] Iranian hackers working for the mullahs can use the same technology to bypass any block. Sites like ArabCrunch, or open source advocates in places like India, now have an opportunity to mirror Sourceforge [...]
Let us not forget that our recently appointed ‘cybersecurity advisor’ is an ex-Microsoft executive. Is it possible that this is the result of governmental pressure at the behest of Mr. Howard Schmidt to reign in the ‘dangerous’ spread of open source software? Just a thought…
[...] Nachdem auch syrische Benutzer von der Sperre berichtet hatten, griff das Webportal Arabcrunch die Geschichte auf und setzte darunter einen Kommentar des syrischen Informatikstudenten und Bloggers Abdulrahman [...]
[...] explains how Syria’s online community views America’s policy to be twisted in this article. American sanctions hurt US businesses, alienate Arab youth, and do nothing to combat [...]
[...] a site that covers tech in the Arab world, conflates the issue into a debate about whether FLOSS is really "free," and calls for migration of hosting [...]
[...] sich gemeldet hatten, stellte der Blog ArabCrunch die Entwicklung dieser unsäglichen Farce dar und schließlich meldete sich auch sourceforge selbst mit einer entsprechenden Stellungnahme. [...]
[...] open-source software community SourceForge. Syrian Abdulrahman Idilbi, writing for ArabCrunch, broke the news: As of January 2008, people from those countries can browse SourceForge projects and download from [...]
Have you tried accessing SourceForge via guardster.com?
I think SF.net and Google-code’s actions are to be considered as the US’s response to China’s comment regarding the Hacking incident.
China stated that companies in China must respect that countries laws and traditions.
US response: these are our laws that must be respected…
It could get worse (tit-for-tat retaliation), we could go back to cold-war era thinking. Or not…
I do wonder about the mirrors. Isn’t the whole thing to spread the load. So if server’s in US jurisdiction can’t provide the material, then the servers not under the US’s jurisdiction should be able to.
@Kiwi72 + @ConnectionVPN – sure there are ways around it. There are always ways BUT the point is, Open means open. People shouldn’t have to look for backdoors to go somewhere that’s “Open”. That would be like a boss saying he’s got an open policy but leaving his office door locked. It doesn’t matter that his Window is open and you could climb in through it.
[...] Hedayat’s Blog | Imagen: ArabCrunch Leer más: Bloqueo, Estados Unidos, GNU GPL, Google, Irán, Open Source, Software Libre, [...]
[...] i en aquesta ocasió em fa una especial ràbia de veure d’on prové aquesta. Segons informa ArabCrunch, SourceForge ha bloquejat l’accés dels usuaris provinents de Cuba, Iran, Síria, Sudan i Corea [...]
hello,
I have created a petition online to try to solve something respect to it:
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/CountryBlocks/
i hope you won’t get it as spam
[...] Više o ovome možete pročitati ovde. [...]
[...] Baina nola aldatzen diren gauzak, kamarada! Egun bat beranduago, ostiralean, Arab Crunch blogean jakinarazi zen interneteko software libre gordailu handiena den Sourceforge.net webguneak blokeatu egiten zizkiela [...]
[...] strike at the very core of open source, FOSS, and the heart of GNU crusader Richard Stallman, SourceForge has now blocked all access from by countries on the U.S. ‘Foreign Assets Control sanction [...]
I’ve had mail the following to the FSF and the OSI.
> SourceForge and GoogleCode has now
> blocked all access from by countries
> on the U.S. ‘Foreign Assets Control
> sanction list’.
>
> If you live in Iran, North Korea,
> Syria, Sudan or Cuba, you simply can’t
> access SourceForge.
>
> As defined by the Open Source
> Initiative (OSI):
>
> 5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups The license must not
> discriminate against any person or
> group of persons.
>
> 6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor The license must not restrict
> anyone from making use of the program
> in a specific field of endeavor. For
> example, it may not restrict the
> program from being used in a business,
> or from being used for genetic
> research.
>
> SourceForge and GoogleCode are not
> opensource anymore. This clearly a
> violation of the license agreement.
>
> We would be pleased if you could
> attend this cases. Thanks
We have a open a public petition too, please support our cause.
[http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/CountryBlocks/][1]
[1]: http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/CountryBlocks/
And yet they (CLinton/Obama and the gang) suggest that Cuba stops its citizens accessing internet – while the US refuses to allow Cuba to connect to Internet by cable – they have to make do with a limited bandwidth and expensive satellite connection.
Yet another aspect of a 50 year long economic blockade that affects eevery aspect of life on the island, a country that nevertheless was first on the scene with its medical teams after the earthquake in Haiti.
[...] закрыт для пользователей из «неблагоприятных» стран, сообщает Arab Crunch. В черный список попали Куба, Иран, Сирия, Ливия, [...]
[...] Fuente: Post Clinton’s Internet Freedom Speech:US- SourceForge Blocked Syria, Sudan, Iran, N. Korea & … [...]
[...] SourceForge Bloquea Syria, Sudan, Iran, N. Korea & Cuba: aun esta abierto el codigo abierto? [ arabcrunch.com ] [...]
[...] Ir a los comentarios «SourceForge, la fuente principal de multitud de proyectos de Open Source ha bloqueado el acceso a los países sobre los que EEUU tiene bloqueo (Cuba, Irán, Siria, Corea del… saltándose dos de las premisas de este tipo de software que según la definición de Open Source [...]
[...] Sourceforge bloquea a 170 millones de usuarios [...]
[...] Sourceforge bloquea a 170 millones de usuarios [...]
[...] 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 [...]
SourceForge veta el acceso a Siria, Sudán, Irán, Corea del Norte y Cuba….
Según se cuenta en ArabCrunch, SourceForge ha decidido vetar el acceso a ciertos países (Siria, Sudán, Irán, Corea del Norte y Cuba) a sus sistemas.
Esto quiere decir que los usuarios ubicados en dichos países tienen cancelado el acceso desde esto……
[...] أصبح من المستحيل الاستفادة من تلك السكريبتات ضمن الدول -الارهابية- بحسب التصنيف الأمريكي لذلك الوقت الذي صرف على برمجة تلك السكريبتات ذهب هباء، [...]
[...] strike at the very core of open source, FOSS, and the heart of GNU crusader Richard Stallman, SourceForge has now blocked all access from by countries on the U.S. ‘Foreign Assets Control sanction [...]
[...] waited for few days and nobody wrote about it, so we moved on and broke the news with a guest post from Abdulrahman Idlbi as we were upset when SourceForge the world’s largest open source software hosting website, [...]
More BS from U.S. Anyone who thinks this have got something to do with “terrorists”(an invention by George “The Onion” Bush) are doing the ruling class a great favor. If you read ONE history book you will realise that rulers don’t give a shit about their populace, and deceit is the NORM not the exception. Why read books though when TV satisfies the CNS.
when and where ? we still on hold to have the permission …… we are developers not terrorists so if those things applied on us so –> for us what’s the difference between open source and closed sources for us now it’s really the same now ……
[...] open source software developers SourceForge.net blocked Syria, Sudan, Iran, N. Korea & Cuba, as Arab Crunch reports. It seems that the ban was initiated by the US government authorities in order to put the [...]
[...] no coincidence. The contrast between Clinton’s words and the reality faced by tech companies was seized upon by angry citizens of the embargoed countries as a shining example of US hypocrisy. [See Syria [...]