Mozilla Firefox Cleared of Idiotic U.S Export Rules

Mozilla's top lawyer explains why the 'no-violation' letter is a major milestone for open source and the First Amendment.

While the Internet may know no borders, the U.S Government does.

At it happens, numerous export controls from the Commerce and Treasury departments cast a long shadow over the software industry, but Mozilla has secured a critical exemption that could have a broad impact on the open source movement.

"We really couldn't accept the notion that these government rules could jeopardize the participatory nature of an open source project so we sought to challenge it," Mozilla General Counsel Harvey Anderson told InternetNews.com. "We argued that First Amendment free speech rights would prevail in this scenario. The government took our filing and then we got back a no-violation letter, which is fantastic."

Anderson explained that there are export and sanction rules that prohibit the export and sharing of certain technologies.

Vendors with normal software containing encryption are required to file for a license exception, but that regulation offers an exemption to open source vendors.

However, that exemption is nullified if the source code is distributed to any of the countries on the U.S embargo list, such as Cuba, Iran or North Korea. Under the open source export exemption, the project isn't supposed to have knowledge of distribution to any of the embargoed countries, Anderson said.

During a recent Firefox download event, Mozilla posted a map on its Web site showing where downloads were occurring. Anderson said it became clear that a substantial number of downloads were coming from Iran. Mozilla then had knowledge that it was exporting to Iran, which could have put it in violation of the U.S export regulations, exposing the firm to criminal and financial penalties.

At that point, Mozilla made a voluntary disclosure to federal authorities in the hopes of securing a no-violation letter.

"What it really came down to is that these regulations could cripple the way an open source project works," Anderson said. "At its very heart, open source is participatory and if the ruling went against us it would limit participation, and that would be a terrible consequence."

Anderson said that the no-violation letter, which affirmed that Mozilla's disclosures are permitted under U.S. rules, is a win for both the firm and the larger open source movement.

"What I think it means is that the government made the right decision by respecting free speech rights and open source projects and the value that they provide," Anderson said. "So the government bought into our argument that writing code is free speech, which really means that people around the world can engage in this kind of speech through open source projects."

http://www.internetnews.com/government/article.php/3839831/Mozilla+Firefox+Cleared+of+US+Export+Rules.htm

Mozilla Firefox Cleared of Idiotic U.S Export Rules

Mozilla Firefox Cleared of Idiotic U.S Export Rules

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