Wondering about US legality of Sabayon?

[Controlpanel]

I would like to use Sabayon but it seems like it is illegal to use it if you live in the USA. Is it? Is there a way to use it legally?

Thanks.

[oz]

I'd recommend that you read the licensing agreements then decide for yourself if it would be illegal for you to use it. Most of us here aren't lawyers so we wouldn't want to be giving out legal advice, and we certainly don't want to encourage anyone to break the law.

[rcgreen]

You're going to have to explain what you mean
when you say you're afraid it is illegal.
I wouldn't know how to respond unless you supplied
more information.

From time to time, certain pieces of software are put
under a cloud for a variety of reasons. For instance, the US
gov't forbids the export of the highest quality of encryption
technology. Ironically, this means that US based distributors
are forbidden to house it on their sites, even though it is
available everywhere else. It's not illegal to download and use.
You have to download it from foreign sources, even though
the purpose of the law was to keep foreigners from getting it.
Clear as mud...

[Controlpanel]

This is what I am asking about:

Important notes

This distribution contains libdvdcss look here if you live in the U.S. !.
This distribution contains proprietary and non-GPL softwares too (like from NVIDIA, ATI, Google, etc). Before running them, be sure to read their license and agree with that, otherwise, just remove those applications. To run SabayonLinux without Proprietary drivers, just use "noproprietary" boot flag.

This is directly off of the Sabayon Website

[rcgreen]

libdvdcss is the software you need to watch dvd movies on linux.
Hollywood doesn't want this to be distributed because, being open source,
it reveals how dvd content is scrambled on disk. Most distributions do not include it, for fear of being harassed.

DVD Jon is free – official | The Register

[TobyKY76]

I am using Sabayon and I live in the US. I actually downloaded my copy from a university in the US. I don't think it's illegal to us sabayon as you might think. But then again, I'm not a lawyer and am not giving legal advice today

[Controlpanel]

libdvdcss is the software you need to watch dvd movies on linux.
Hollywood doesn't want this to be distributed because, being open source,
it reveals how dvd content is scrambled on disk. Most distributions do not include it, for fear of being harassed.

DVD Jon is free – official | The Register

Yes I understand that, but how does it effect me?

[oz]

Important notes

This distribution contains libdvdcss look here if you live in the U.S. !.
This distribution contains proprietary and non-GPL softwares too (like from NVIDIA, ATI, Google, etc). Before running them, be sure to read their license and agree with that, otherwise, just remove those applications. To run SabayonLinux without Proprietary drivers, just use "noproprietary" boot flag.

What part is it in the info you posted above that you do not understand?

On the first line regarding libdvdcss, it appears that you click a link if you should live in the US so that you can read further information. If you've clicked the link and don't understand it, can you copy & paste whatever part it is that you don't understand? Maybe someone here can shed additional light on the matter.

On the next part, it talks about proprietary softwares, and you must agree to the licenses for them, or you should remove those applications. If you've checked the license agreements and don't understand them, can you copy & paste whatever part it is that you don't understand? Maybe someone here can shed some light on the matter. Otherwise, you simply remove the applications according to the comments you posted.

The next part deals with running Sabayon with the "noproprietary" boot flag. This means that if you don't want to use the proprietary drivers you could enter "noproprietary" on the boot line before booting Sabayon.

If nobody here can answer your questions, you might try writing directly to the Sabayon folks to see if they can provide answers worded in such a way that you can understand them. As I commented earlier in this thread, not many of us here are lawyers, so we don't want to be giving out legal advice.

In the end, it's really for you alone to decide how all this affects you.

[Controlpanel]

Ok thank you that helped a bunch you are right that I should have just read it more closely. But there is no link that I can see for the various things.

[oz]

But there is no link that I can see for the various things.

Yep, I just went to their webpage and it looks like they actually left the link out of the libdvdcss section. It appears that it should have been linked to the work "here", but no link that I can find either. If something is missing that you want to read, you should probably email the Sabayon folks directly.