Victor,

By your same logic, sites built with Drupal shouldn't ever have 'members-only' content when membership is a paid item. Isn't that against the free movement of information? That, of course, would cut out a good portion of the websites built with Drupal.

One of the foundational principles of the Open Source movement is giving people the ability to do what they want with software, within the limits of the license (GPL or otherwise) it is released under. Nowhere does it give specific use cases of what kind of websites the software can, and can't be used to build.

In short, telling this guy he can't have this module on drupal.org would be completely against what open source stands for. You may disagree with the use of the module, but it has as much right to exist as any other.

Think of it in terms of free speech - we may not agree with what a lot of people say, but we can't take away from them the right to speak their mind (unless you happen to be a human rights tribunal, but that's another issue).

I can't comment on granting this guy a CVS account.

Brian

Victor Kane wrote:
Hi Brian,

I feel all Open Source projects should adhere to Free Software Foundation principles involving the free movement of information.

Perhaps the use of the word "ban" in the module name gits me in the gut.

I use the organic groups module to manage access among different groups in website applications I develop. There is nothing wrong with the restriction of access per se in a business application for business purposes. But a module which cheerleads for the U.S. State Department is quite another thing.

The sourceforge ban on certain countries is a slap in the face to the free movement of information. This is unacceptable from a Free Software Foundation open flow of information perspective.

We need to oppose that, without allowing business as usual to take place.

There is politics in all these decisions, if I am in the minority, I only ask for the right to state my position and to answer your questions, Brian.

It is completely on topic with this mailing list, since it involves the rush granting of CVS privileges to a new member of the community, as opposed to stumbling blocks placed in the path of several Argentine colleagues who have attempted to contribute.

Victor Kane
http://awebfactory.com.ar
http://projectflowandtracker.com

On Tue, Mar 9, 2010 at 11:23 AM, Brian Vuyk <brian@brianvuyk.com> wrote:
Victor,

Can you explain, as far as you are able, why this module would be a bad thing? How does this offend you?

I can infer, from your 'allowed to infect the Drupal codespace' comment, and demand that it be taken down that you feel that all Drupal sites should be available to all people. It seems that you  yourself want to restrict who uses it, and how. That seems to go against democratic sentiment as well.

Brian



Victor Kane wrote:
Regarding the _rigorous_ CVS rights granting process, how is it that new user  http://drupal.org/user/701600 is rushed through that process, and allowed to infect the Drupal codespace with a module banning countries from using a Drupal site???

The offending module: http://drupal.org/project/countryban goes against all democratic sentiment and should be taken down immediately, and this individual, who wishes to do the work of those who would restrict internet access based on origin of country, should have his CVS rights taken from him immediately.

Victor Kane