Use of a US-purchased copy of MS Office overseas - any licensing issues?

[Colibri]

I’m an American living in Panama. A few weeks ago, when in New York, I bought a new HP Pavilion computer. (I wanted to buy one in the US because all of the computers available here have Vista installed in Spanish. Since I was previously using XP, if I have to learn a new system I preferred to do it in English.)

The computer has a trail edition of MS Office Student and Teacher 2007 installed which will expire in about a month. Since I do want to have the program on my computer, I investigated buying it through the Microsoft site, where the cheapest available vendor was Amazon, for about $80.

The problem was that Amazon wouldn’t ship to my APO address. (For those who don’t know, an APO address is a US address available for transshipping mail for people associated with US government agencies based in foreign countries.) I assume this was because of marketing agreements specifying that Amazon can sell MS Office only to buyers in the US. (I’ve had similar problems buying HP printer cartridges from Amazon.) So instead, I had Amazon ship it to an address in New York where I will be next week. I plan to install it when I return to Panama in January.

My question is this: Is anyone aware of any licensing restrictions that might prevent me from installing MS Office from a CD onto my computer in Panama? The fact that Amazon wouldn’t ship it here has made me slightly paranoid that, when I install it, I might have to register it on line and be told that it wasn’t valid for use in Panama. I don’t think this is likely, but I’d like to get some info from people who actually might know if there could possibly be any restrictions of this sort.

[Cerowyn]

I have installed U.S. and Canadian purchased copies of Windows XP, Windows Server and Microsoft Office in Japan, and we’ve confirmed with Microsoft Japan (at least) that it’s completely legal.

Many Toronto-based stores sell foreign language versions of Windows and Office, although that’s not quite the same as what you’re asking.

[Duckster]

According to the MS Office Home and Student 2007 EULA (I did not find Teacher), …

16. EXPORT RESTRICTIONS. The software is subject to United States export laws and regulations. You must comply with all domestic and international export laws and regulations that apply to the software. These laws include restrictions on destinations, end users and end use. For additional information, see www.microsoft.com/exporting.

I went to the MS export link and got lost.

You can go from there.

[madmonk28]

I’ve done what you describe for years and in many different countries and never had a problem.

[sailor]

Foreign translations of software are often terrible, confusing and have added bugs and/or incompatibilities so I avoid them like the plague and stick with English. I have done this forever and never had a problem. I do not think Microsoft or other software vendors would give a hoot as long as you have paid for your software.

My concern with software as of late does not come from Microsoft, powerful as they may be, but with the Department of Homeland Stupidity and Immigration Imbecility after reading so many stories about people having their laptop computers inspected and even confiscated.

It is a well-known technique of the American authorities to try to catch you in a minor contradiction so they can charge you with 18 U.S.C. Section 1001 for lying to a government agent.

My concern is that they might ask me something like “have you ever used, installed or downloaded software or other intellectual property without fully abiding by the license terms attached to it ?”. Who can say that in my computer there is not any piece of software, or MP3, or video clip downloaded from Youtube or MP3 which somehow legally infringes on someone’s rights even in the minutest amount? So how can you answer? Answer “no” and they probably have grounds right there to throw you in jail under 18 U.S.C. Section 1001. Answer “yes” and you have just admitted having committed a heinous crime. Answer “I don’t know” and that’s probably the worst answer of all because they’ll charge with “trying to be a wise guy”.

So, having read enough horror stories of people having their laptops inspected at the border I am making plans to travel with an empty laptop, with no information at all, and transfer the information separately, either by mailing a (encrypted) disk ahead of me or by downloading the information once I am safely past the Kerberos dogs.

[China_Guy]

I travel a lot. Never ever had any government official in any country of the world ever give me the third degree or even look at my laptop. Only exception was Germany about 10 years ago when you had to show the laptop would boot up (supposedly that it wasn’t a hollow shell filled with explosives or contraband).

[sailor]

Santiago Carrillo, born 1915, currently 93 years old, has smoked heavily all his life and continues to do so. He is in incredibly good health for his age and continues to participate in TV programs, discussions etc. I am sure there is a message in there somewhere.

I have also entered many office buildings which were never hit by airplanes. I am not sure what conclusion we can draw from that but it clearly is not that it cannot happen.

I travel a lot. Never ever had any government official in any country of the world ever look at my laptop. The only country where they have ever given me the third degree has been the USA where the guy once decided to read all my papers in minute detail, including a very humiliating reading in front of me private letters from my girlfriend, and adding humiliating comments. I was not carrying a laptop but I am sure he would have looked at it had I had one.

I am not an American citizen but I have seen Americans subjected to pretty much the same treatment, the last time quite recently.

The fact that they have not looked at my laptop or that of a few other people does not detract from the fact that incidents where they have examined and even confiscated laptops have recently been in the news repeatedly and enough that some corporations have told their employees not to have any confidential information. Enough that several organizations hae expressed their concern.

Plenty of cases can be found online.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/01/AR2008080103030.html

Travelers’ Laptops May Be Detained At Border - No Suspicion Required Under DHS Policies

Federal agents may take a traveler’s laptop computer or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed.

Also, officials may share copies of the laptop’s contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data decryption or other reasons, according to the policies, dated July 16 and issued by two DHS agencies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“The policies . . . are truly alarming,” said Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), who is probing the government’s border search practices. He said he intends to introduce legislation soon that would require reasonable suspicion for border searches, as well as prohibit profiling on race, religion or national origin.

DHS officials said the newly disclosed policies – which apply to anyone entering the country, including U.S. citizens – are reasonable and necessary to prevent terrorism. Officials said such procedures have long been in place but were disclosed last month because of public interest in the matter.

Civil liberties and business travel groups have pressed the government to disclose its procedures as an increasing number of international travelers have reported that their laptops, cellphones and other digital devices had been taken – for months, in at least one case – and their contents examined.

The policies state that officers may “detain” laptops “for a reasonable period of time” to “review and analyze information.” This may take place “absent individualized suspicion.”
. . . .
“They’re saying they can rifle through all the information in a traveler’s laptop without having a smidgen of evidence that the traveler is breaking the law,” said Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology. Notably, he said, the policies “don’t establish any criteria for whose computer can be searched.”
…
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff wrote in an opinion piece published last month in USA Today that “the most dangerous contraband is often contained in laptop computers or other electronic devices.” Searches have uncovered “violent jihadist materials” as well as images of child pornography, he wrote.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/06/AR2008020604763_pf.html

Nabila Mango, a therapist and a U.S. citizen who has lived in the country since 1965, had just flown in from Jordan last December when, she said, she was detained at customs and her cellphone was taken from her purse. Her daughter, waiting outside San Francisco International Airport, tried repeatedly to call her during the hour and a half she was questioned. But after her phone was returned, Mango saw that records of her daughter’s calls had been erased.

A few months earlier in the same airport, a tech engineer returning from a business trip to London objected when a federal agent asked him to type his password into his laptop computer. “This laptop doesn’t belong to me,” he remembers protesting. “It belongs to my company.” Eventually, he agreed to log on and stood by as the officer copied the Web sites he had visited, said the engineer, a U.S. citizen who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of calling attention to himself.

Maria Udy, a marketing executive with a global travel management firm in Bethesda, said her company laptop was seized by a federal agent as she was flying from Dulles International Airport to London in December 2006. Udy, a British citizen, said the agent told her he had “a security concern” with her. “I was basically given the option of handing over my laptop or not getting on that flight,” she said.

The seizure of electronics at U.S. borders has prompted protests from travelers who say they now weigh the risk of traveling with sensitive or personal information on their laptops, cameras or cellphones. In some cases, companies have altered their policies to require employees to safeguard corporate secrets by clearing laptop hard drives before international travel.

Today, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Asian Law Caucus, two civil liberties groups in San Francisco, plan to file a lawsuit to force the government to disclose its policies on border searches, including which rules govern the seizing and copying of the contents of electronic devices. They also want to know the boundaries for asking travelers about their political views, religious practices and other activities potentially protected by the First Amendment. The question of whether border agents have a right to search electronic devices at all without suspicion of a crime is already under review in the federal courts.

The lawsuit was inspired by two dozen cases, 15 of which involved searches of cellphones, laptops, MP3 players and other electronics. Almost all involved travelers of Muslim, Middle Eastern or South Asian background, many of whom, including Mango and the tech engineer, said they are concerned they were singled out because of racial or religious profiling.