On Sun, Jun 12, 2011 at 9:53 AM, Marc Volovic <marcvolo...@me.com> wrote: > Being significantly less conversant with US corporate law than e.g. Israeli > corporate law, I'll take your comments at face value. > > Is RMS, by agreeing to the conditions set by the financial contributors to > his visit, in violation of US law?
#include <ianal.h> Maybe. Maybe not. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode50a/usc_sec_50a_00002407----000-.html http://www.bis.doc.gov/complianceandenforcement/antiboycottcompliance.htm FSF is an NPO, not a business (the anti-boycott laws are primarily about business activities). It is not clear to me whether RMS's visit+lectures+fees+etc. constitute business activity. His expenses are paid, maybe he will receive a honorarium for his appearance - it well may be that it constitutes "business activity". If FSF falls under the anti-boycott law (and I don't know that) then not only must RMS refuse to visit the PA, he (i.e., FSF) must report the "request" (this is the legal term in the context) to the US authorities. An important point is that one does not need to support the boycott as a matter of policy to break the law, it is enough to "co-operate" in an individual instance (including by inaction). To summarize in generic terms: generally, AFAIK, boycotts are legal. Business activity supporting a *foreign* boycott is illegal in the US. Having said that (and reiterating that IANAL), here are a couple of things to ponder. 1) Independent boycotts are allowed, so if FSF itself boycotts Israeli universities it is probably permitted by law to do so (Geoff alluded to this possibility). If RMS says that it is his personal decision then he is likely (assuming his trip is in his FSF capacity - see below) in a conflict of interest (I mentioned it in an earlier post). 2) It may be that there is a loophole in the law - the law concerns boycotts by countries. If RMS's sponsors are private individuals maybe this will work for him. On the other hand it may be possible to prove that the condition is materially similar to the "official" boycott, and the loophole is thereby plugged. Another summary: whoever wants to consider reporting FSF/RMS to the US authorities (or sue) should consult a qualified lawyer with experience in EAR/anti-boycott law. > Mind - to the best of my understanding - he has not gone BDS publicly, only > stated in private email conversations that he will adhere to the conditions > set. Does that also contravene? As Geoff mentioned (correctly, IMHO), he discusses this in his capacity as the President of FSF. I suppose his trip is also in that capacity, not as a private individual. BTW, no one should be surprised that RMS supports this boycott - much of his activity concerns boycotting this or that, once you think about it. -- Oleg Goldshmidt | p...@goldshmidt.org _______________________________________________ Linux-il mailing list Linux-il@cs.huji.ac.il http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il
