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[FYI] U.S.: Easing on Software Exports Has Limits
- To: debate@fitug.de
- Subject: [FYI] U.S.: Easing on Software Exports Has Limits
- From: "Axel H. Horns" <Horns@t-online.de>
- Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1999 13:55:57 +0200
- Comment: This message comes from the debate mailing list.
- Organization: PA Axel H. Horns
- Sender: owner-debate@fitug.de
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/10/biztech/articles/11code.html
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Easing on Software Exports Has Limits
By PETER WAYNER
hen the Clinton administration recently announced plans to relax
restrictions on exports of data-scrambling software, a key issue that
escaped notice was that the new policies affect only shrink-wrapped
software, not the original source code -- the lines of instructions
that programmers actually write.
When it comes to source code, the undersecretary of commerce for
export administration, William Reinsch, said last week that "nothing
has changed."
The exclusion of source code from the relaxed rules threatens to
constrain software developed under the so-called open-source model,
most notably the Linux operating system, an upstart competitor to
Microsoft's Windows.
[...]
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