[plug] Restrictions on ubuntu mirrors

[David Buddrige]

Hi all,

I have been having some trouble getting updates for my Ubuntu machine
because the entire branch [mirrir-site]ubuntu/pool/multiverse/ is
missing from the bigpond mirror
(http://mirror.gamearena.com.au/ubuntu).  

Because of the insane pricing for Telstra downloads (I get a 1GB per
month total limit, after which every megabyte costs $0.15), it can be
prohibitively expensive to do an update against an ordinary mirror.
However the Telstra mirror at http://mirror.gamearena.com.au/ubuntu does
not attract download charges and therefore is my main mirror for
updating my ubuntu 8.04 machine.

However after noticing that the multiverse branch was missing (when my
ubuntu update failed), I wrote to the Bigpond support to see if that
branch could be added.  They are telling me that it cannot be mirrored
due to licensing restrictions(see the forwarded email below from Bigpond
support).

Is it true that multiverse has some kind of legal restriction on it so
as to make it illegal to mirror?

Thanks,

David.

On Tue, 2008-12-30 at 14:34 +1100, BigPond File Request System wrote:
> This is an automated email from the BigPond Files Request System. Your file request (for the file at http://mirror.pacific.net.au/linux/ubuntu/pool/multiverse/, described as 'Part of the ubuntu mirror that is currently missing from http://mirror.gamearena.com.au/ubuntu') has been declined.
> 
> More information:
> The file you submitted is currently unable to be mirrored due to restrictions that are detailed on the source website. The website maintainers or developers of the file that you have requested have information on their site that indicates that the redistribution of their files is not allowed.
> 
> If you would like to retry your request, you can load the details for it again at the following URL:
> http://files.bigpond.com/library/request.php?loadrequest=70353
> 
> If you have further questions about why this request was declined, please contact us at the following URL:
> http://files.bigpond.com/support/
> 
> --
> Regards,
> -- BigPond Files Support
> -- http://files.bigpond.com