Can Open Source Give Comfort To the Enemy?

zlite writes "We make open source Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones), mostly for geomapping and other amateur uses. One of our problems is that most people think of UAVs as Scary Things, and despite our efforts to prove otherwise there's always the risk of regulatory crackdowns. We have amateur UAV participants from around the world, but now they've been joined by an Iranian in Tehran, who has made a UAV in the colors of the Iranian flag. My instinct is that we should welcome everyone, everywhere, but I'm sure some in Washington worry that this looks like helping an 'Axis of Evil' country make advanced weapons. They could shut us down with the stroke of a pen. My question: is there ever a case for letting national security issues dictate the limits of an open source project?"

Flag?!

[scott_karana]

OH GOD THE IRANIAN FLAG!
As if Americans don't festoon their flag everywere.
Patiotic? "Nationalistic"? God.

Iranian flag?

[SamP2]

...made a UAV in the colors of the Iranian flag

If you are going to fly it in the US, just paint it sideways. The worst problem you'll then encounter is border patrol thinking its those illegal Mexican immigrants crossing by air.

Re:Open to all

[modecx]

I echo that, but I would like to add that if some military outfit is modifying GPL code to make open source UAVs deliver death from above, I sure hope they redistribute the changes because I want some of that shit.

Re:Flag?!

[WhiplashII]

This would never work in Canada - there is no way you would fit a Canadian flag on a small aircraft...

Re:Give the

[sirsnork]

I'm fairly sure it still is considered bad form ;)

Re:Flag?!

[surprise_audit]

So maybe an Iranian flag would be OK, then, as long as the other aircraft are decorated with bigger US flags and fly higher...