Revolution "software" to black listed nations

[James Spencer]

On Apr 8, 2006, at 8:53 PM, Sivakatirswami wrote:

> Has anyone studied out carefully the issue of shipping Rev stacks  
> to countries on the US state department embargo list?  These being  
> currently (found in many typical EULA's)
>
> "Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, military or  
> police entities in South Africa, or any other country to which the  
> United States has embargoed goods.
>
> Would there not be a difference between
>
> 1) the Rev IDE which give users tools to build software.
> 2) a standalone which does not.
>
> in terms of the embargo? Where do we find the precise definition of  
> "software" that should not be shipped to these countries?
>
> Could a Standalone be conceived of as a "product" of software, like  
> a PDF is a Product of Acrobat, but not Acrobat itself. I mean I  
> can't imagine Adobe is breaking laws when some North Korean  
> downloads a PDF from the web. Similalry, I'm wondering, if somone  
> downloads a standalone application built with Revolution if this is  
> a violation of the embargo or not.

Unlike kee, I am a lawyer but know nothing about security law, ITAR,  
international law, or any other issue directly related to this  
question other than what I quickly looked up at the State Department  
web site so what I'm saying here is NOT legal advice.  If you are  
close enough to the edge to really have a question about this, you  
are nuts if you don't go hire a real lawyer to check it out.

kee has addressed the general issues and I am writing to make four  
points:

1) ITAR and the other law I looked at this morning, doesn't play  
games around whether the item or service is "software" or a "product"  
of software.  It is generic and covers items and information that can  
be used for military purposes.

2) Forget US law for a moment, your Revolution license prohibits the  
distribution of "Created Software" to embargoed countries.  "Created  
Software" includes "stacks and files" created using Revolution so  
again, it doesn't matter whether you try to call your stacks a  
"product" of software or whether it is a standalone.  Note that the  
license applies whether you are in the United States (and therefore  
subject to US export restrictions) or not.

3) A PDF contains no executable code and in fact contains nothing  
that would violate the embargo other than the information contained  
in the PDF.  Thus the example of Acrobat as versus PDF's created with  
Acrobat is not on point.  The same may or may not be true for a Rev  
stack not compiled as a standalone but again, the license  
nevertheless prohibits you exporting the stack to Iran.

4) In any case, if you export a prohibited item to an embargoed  
country, say a PDF that shows how to build an atomic bomb, it is you  
that has a problem if anyone does.  Adobe would not be breaking the  
law assuming they have distributed Acrobat under the terms of the G- 
DEST; you would.  Similarly, if you use Rev to create a stack that  
controls an air defense system and sell it to the North Korean Air  
Force, big brother will come looking for you, not Revolution, not  
because Revolution is in Scotland and not subject to US law, but  
because they aren't the one exporting to North Korea.

Whether you are in the United States and are subject to the embargo  
or are not in the US and thus are only subject to the Rev license,  
the question becomes how much you have to do to comply.  I would  
suggest that is going to depend on what your product is.  If you have  
produced a stack that you are distributing as freeware and which only  
contains pictures of yourself that you took with your new iMac and  
it's built in camera, I would probably not pay any attention at all  
other than to refuse to reply if I got an order with a return address  
in P'yongyang.  If, on the other hand, you have written a stack for  
using your iMac to shoot down US spy satellites I probably would  
consult an attorney, regardless of how I intended to distribute the  
stack.  In between, use your judgment.

Spence


James P. Spencer
Rochester, MN

jspencer78 at mac.com

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