Google: The GNU project is having a conversation with Google about the resident vs citizen thing, and apparently Google cannot quote (or has not yet quoted) the law it’s using for not letting Iranian citizens participate in its Summer of Code program.

More details will follow, hopefully on Behdad’s blog.

Update: Immediately after I posted this, I got this email from Google’s Chris DiBona (on which I was CC-ed) which I am pasting here verbatim:

I know this might seem rude, but I'm not going to take up any more of our lawyers time on this. They've made their determination, and that's it from my perspective and with regards to the Summer of Code.

The law itself can be found as the Export Administration Regulations ("EAR") as 15 C.F.R. 734.2(b)(2)(ii).

This page seems to have some interesting info on it:

http://www.aeanet.org/governmentaffairs/kirpatricklockartdeemedexportarticleDec021of1.asp

The text of the law, converted from non-free pdf format out of respect for Richard and those who feel strongly about such things:

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:Wbv_my3rCxoJ:www.gpo.gov/bis/ear/pdf/734.pdf+15+C.F.R.+734.2(b)(2)(ii)+&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1

If you search for the about EAR code, you'll find a bunch of very interesting (to me, anyway) commentary on the law. The list of countries that are in question can be found here:

http://www.state.gov/s/ct/c14151.htm

I will investigate the matter more in the morning.