On 24 October 2024 13:20:17 BST, Vincent de Lau <vinc...@delau.nl> wrote:
> Linus apparently was also advised by legal people to take this step.
> [https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linus-Torvalds-Russian] This might also be
> relevant for the PHP Foundation and Perforce. Maybe they can help assess the
> situation.
A further update has now been posted on that site:
https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-Compliance-Requirements
A few key points:
- The sanctions under consideration are those against companies and individuals
on the Specially Designated Nationals list, and not any blanket ban on Russian
contributors, as speculated on this thread and elsewhere. A searchable database
of those affected is here: https://sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov/
- The action was taken under specific legal advice, but the full policy is
still being finalised. It's not clear if the lack of pre-warning was also legal
advice, or just poor communication skills.
- Exactly who received this advice, and who would be in breach of US law if no
action was taken, is still unclear to me. The quoted email just says that "all
of the Linux infrastructure and a lot of its maintainers are in the US". The
Linux Foundation is apparently incorporated as a non-profit in California, but
it's not clear if that's actually the issue here.
Anyone employed *full time* by the PHP Foundation or Zend by Perforce is by
definition not going to be an employee of a sanctioned Russian (or other)
company.
I'm not clear whether it's relevant to *other* contributions that the PHP
Foundation, via the Open Source Collective, has financial / legal existence in
California.
All of this is absolutely something that should be examined by a practising
lawyer, and we should not take any action based on speculation.
Regards,
Rowan Tommins
[IMSoP]
