[governance] How is this operationalised in the US?

[Riaz K. Tayob]

http://panos.blogs.com/iwitnesses/2007/04/index.html

April 2007
25 April 2007
US ‘bans’ access to Google Earth in Sudan

Only days after Google joined up with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum 
to map the conflict in Darfur, the US Treasury has apparently banned 
access to images from Google Earth in Sudan as part of its ongoing 
export controls and economic sanctions against the country.

The Treasury states that “except for information or informational 
materials and donated articles intended to relieve human suffering, such 
as food, clothing and medicine, and the licensed export of agricultural 
commodities… no goods, technology, or services may be exported from the 
United States to Sudan”.

The US Bureau of Industry prohibits the export of software to Sudan, 
unless it is pre-loaded onto a ‘commodity’ such as a mobile phone or 
computer. As Google Earth is hosted in the United States, downloading 
the software in Sudan is also subject to these restrictions.

However, Stefan Geens of the Ogle Earth blog notes that the internet has 
the tools to circumvent this ban – for example, through proxy servers 
and peer-to-peer networks. Perhaps more importantly, Stefan raises a 
pertinent question: where does ‘information’ end and ‘software’ begin?

Technorati Tags: darfur, google, google earth, sudan, united states
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