Comment by shykes
13 years ago
Docker maintainer here. I also hate having to put this in the README (and hate it even more each time someone from Iran offers to contribute... what a waste of talent and energy this policy creates!).
But we triple-checked with our legal counsel and they confirmed it's the only way to stay unambiguously out of trouble. As un-tasteful as it is, it's better than causing unnecessary legal trouble for docker contributors down the road.
If you're interested in the subject here's an edifying expose of the situation: http://harpers.org/blog/2013/08/andrew-cockburn-on-the-failu...
Hi, thanks for the answer! I suppose it would be possible, without impacting the legal protection afforded by the notice, to preface the notice with some language indicating that docker would prefer it not to appear in the README, e.g. "unfortunately, due to ...". But in any case, congratulations with all the momentum you've gathered and I'm looking forward to learning more about docker here.
That was the exact purpose of the introductory line "Brought to you courtesy of our legal counsel." :)
Coincidentally we just tweaked the language to match Apache and OpenSSL. It's pretty similar, but doesn't specifically name countries - it just refers to "whatever the rules happen to be under US regulation".
https://github.com/dotcloud/docker/commit/b48fc9657976091ff3...