Linux kernel and laws

Adrian Bunk
2006-06-05T14:02:26Z

On Mon, Jun 05, 2006 at 08:52:35AM -0400, Jeff Garzik wrote:
>...
> > Paying attention to proper reverse engineering is good. Being
> > overzealous is not.
>
> Being overzealous about merging drivers without first checking the legal
> ramifications is a good way to torpedo Linux.
>
> Far too many people have a careless "U.S.A. laws suck, merge it anyway"
> attitude.

Independent of this issue:

An interesting question is how to handle legal issues properly.

Where is the borderline for rejecting code due to legal issues?
Might not be 100% correct according to laws in the USA.
Might not be 100% correct according to laws in Germany.
Might not be 100% correct according to laws in Finland.
Might not be 100% correct according to laws in Norway.
Might not be 100% correct according to laws in Brasil.
Might not be 100% correct according to laws in Japan.
Might not be 100% correct according to laws in India.
Might not be 100% correct according to laws in Russia.
Might not be 100% correct according to laws in China.
Might not be 100% correct according to laws in Saudi Arabia.
Might not be 100% correct according to laws in Iran.

For me living in Germany, none of these laws except for the German one
has any relevance.

I've never seen people on this list pointing to probable problems with
Chinese laws although these laws are relevant for four times as many
people as US laws.

If someone would state a submission to the kernel might have issues
according to Chinese laws, or Iranian laws, or Russian laws, would this
be enough for keeping code out of the kernel?

This might sound like a theoretical question, but e.g. considering that
the kernel contains cryptography code it's a question that might have
wide practical implications.

> Jeff

cu
Adrian

--

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"Only a promise," Lao Er said.
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