Re: Legal possibility of more open package reviews.
> - If mentors.debian.org needs to follow the DMCA, why would
> mentors.debian.net be exempt of it ?
It's not exempt, but it's also not Debian's problem.
> - If mentors.debian.org can distribute unreviewed packages by becomming a
> DMCA safe harbor, wouldn't it be possible for ftp-master.debian.org/NEW.html ?
The difference is that one is open to the public and the other is not.
If a service is open to the public without any control over who can
post content, then basically you have grounds to claim you do not and
cannot reasonably police the content.
> - Bonus question: since mentors.debian.net seems to be hosted in
> Germany, does it mean that developers living in the US should
> refrain from uploading crypto to it ? How do other distributions
> solve that problem ?
Correct, it means developers living in the US need to follow US laws.
I suspect other distributions solve the problem by ignoring it, thus
leaving individuals responsible for obeying their local laws. Which is
a fine principle, but in practice it probably means some individuals
violate US law without really noticing. (The US government harrassment
of Phil Zimmermann was a long time ago, so I suspect that object lesson
has been mostly lost.)