Fedora To Have A "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" For Contributors

Fedora contributors from certain nations may face scrutiny by Fedora's legal department if they reveal their nationality, country of origin, or country of residence; the issue comes down to US export restrictions.

At today's Fedora Engineering & Steering Committee, besides figuring out when Fedora 21 will be released, the FESCo members had to come up with guidance what to do about Fedora contributors from export restricted countries. Red Hat is a US-based company and there's concern over contributor nationality when it comes down to countries that are export restricted by the United States. These current countries include Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria. This issue came up after seeing a potential contributor in such a situation.

What FESCo came up with was encouraging Fedora sponsors/contributors to "not make any effort to determine a contributor's nationality, country of origin ,or area of residence." Additionally, (potential) Fedora contributors shouldn't go about proactively revealing this information.

The FESCo members decided, "If a potential contributor independently (and explicitly) reveals their nationality, country of origin, or area of residence, and that nationality, country of origin, or area of residence is in one of the export restricted countries, then they are required to bring that information to the attention of Fedora Legal."

Details of the FESCo decision can be found from today's meeting minutes.