Some people don't care, like Bill Clinton, who removed almost all export controls on software by executive order his last day in office. I personally would like to see our policy changed back, to where firms like IBM are once again restricted by law from providing technology to potential adversaries, and fined heavily when they do it.
Potential adversaries? Who isn't a potential adversary?
It's not as if IBM were giving nuclear secrets or cutting-edge decryption technology to Russia. This is basic Operating System, Web Server and Database technology. It's busieness software. Do you really think the basic building blocks for good business software are a national security threat to the US?
I see it as the exact opposite. A stronger Russian economy, while headed in the direction of democracy and away from communism, is a very Good Thing for national security! If we can help them succeed as a democratic nation, we have about as much to fear from Russia as we do from Germany.
There is nothing at all to worry about.
So then, IBM could legally sell it's software, Even if it was proprietary, to almost anyone they wished. You've just given yourself away, this isn't an open source issue at all.
You haven't been asked the obvious question, so here we go: IF the software in question is Open Source, WHAT THEN prevents the Russians or anyone else from downloading and using it, whether IBM approves or not?
Still waiting to see the harm here.
Any other authoritarian market controls you'd like to add?
Those controls were hurting US businesses, who couldn't sell their software that included good crypto (like databases and OSs) on the international market, allowing foreign companies time to catch up technologically and sell in their markets. I wonder if German SAP would be as big as it is now had our companies been able to sell their top products in Germany.