[Openspace] Licensing issues with GeoDa

[Luc Anselin]

Just to save everybody a legalistic nightmare, this is one example
of campus attorneys gone amok. I have had something like 10
e-mail interchanges last August with a person from U of Iowa
ITS Campus Software, first insisting that she could not access the
license document (it is part of the setup routine), then requiring
some kind of formal statement that GeoDa is not under a US
re-export restriction. Apparently the University of Iowa interprets
its non-US students using software as re-exporting, which in their
view may be illegal.
I can just envisage each student accessing the lab with GeoDa
filling out a form stating under oath whether or not they are US
citizens and if they are not, politely being shown the door ...
Needless to say that I pointed out how ridiculous this argument is,
since GeoDa now has over 7000 users all over the world.
My point of view is that if the University of Iowa wants to take this
perspective, they are welcome to it. Nobody can be forced to use
or not to use GeoDa, but everyone is still allowed to freely
download it anywhere in the world.
The next version of GeoDa, aka openGeoDa will be open source,
which I'm sure will give the same attorneys even more nightmares.
Enjoy the software and stay away from the lawyers :-)
L.



On Sep 26, 2005, at 5:06 PM, Earnhart, Benjamin J wrote:

> Sorry for bothering everybody on the list with this, but I didn't find
> an obvious point of contact for who handles licensing issues with  
> GeoDa.
>
>
> We would like to use GeoDa in a class, but the lawyers at my  
> university
> have a raft of problems with the licensing agreement.  If anybody  
> could
> point me in the right direction for whom to contact, it would be much
> apprecated.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Ben Earnhart
>
> *==========================================;
> *Ben Earnhart
> *Computer Consultant and
> *ICPSR Representative
> *Department of Sociology and
> *College of Liberal Arts
> *University of Iowa
> *(319) 335-2887
> *benjamin-earnhart at uiowa.edu
> *==========================================;
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