Two GCC stories

Posted Jun 30, 2010 17:08 UTC (Wed) by nix (subscriber, #2304)
In reply to: Two GCC stories by gmaxwell
Parent article: Two GCC stories

Of course it matters: A large part of the incentive structure that improves our confidence that someone isn't planning on doing "bad things" is the fact that if you do bad things people with uniforms can come and lock you up and you know it.

That would make sense if the FSF refused contributions from nations that had no extradition treaty with the United States. But it doesn't (because that would mean locking most of the world out of development of FSF-owned projects, and because it's obviously ridiculously intrusive, and, well, if you're planning to do bad things you can lie about your country of origin just as easily as you can lie about your name).

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Two GCC stories

Posted Jun 30, 2010 20:08 UTC (Wed) by nteon (subscriber, #53899) [Link] (1 responses)

yes, but it seems to me to be a lot less risky to accept a fixed, isolated changeset into a version control repository than giving someone a shell on a (seemingly) multi-purpose box.

Two GCC stories

Posted Jun 30, 2010 22:19 UTC (Wed) by nix (subscriber, #2304) [Link]

Certainly true enough.

Two GCC stories

Posted Jul 2, 2010 0:57 UTC (Fri) by gdt (subscriber, #6284) [Link]

That would make sense if the FSF refused contributions from nations that had no extradition treaty with the United States.

Extraditing people to the country of the affected server is both unusual and contentious, ref Gary McKinnon.

Most counties have laws against computer misuse. An overseas complainant can contact the police and provide evidence to prosecutors.

The US isn't the world policeman

Posted Jul 2, 2010 9:25 UTC (Fri) by copsewood (subscriber, #199) [Link]

Online reputation and software development are global, computer misuse laws are local and national. The idea that software development integrity requires extradition to the US depletes the external reputation of the US, especially amongst those aware of extradition misuse, as with the Gary McKinnon case.