Only recently did I point out that the enforcement of blockades on SourceForge due to US legislative restrictions have to be considered as censorship. Now, it turns out, the that the US government has learned that, quote:
On December 10, 2009, the Department of State determined that it is essential to the national interest of the United States to exercise the waiver authority in section 1606 of IIANPA with respect to the exportation to Iran of certain dualuse software classified as mass market software by the Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) and essential for the exchange of personal communications and/or sharing of information over the Internet. In reporting this determination to Congress on December 15, 2009, the Department of State explained that this software is necessary to foster and support the free flow of information to individual Iranian citizens and, therefore, is essential to the national interest of the United States.
(quoting from above linked document)
And I don’t mean that cynical in any way. It is great that the US government seems to agree now that the restrictions may hurt the people in these “rogue states” subject to the export and reexport restrictions more than they hurt their governments. Which probably holds especially for those folks who oppose the respective government. I’m glad there is some change for the better, even though Obama, in my opinion, still doesn’t live up to the hopes people had in him.
// Oliver