[PD-dev] Yves Degoyon

Hans-Christoph Steiner hans at eds.org
Fri Dec 30 07:43:13 CET 2005


Any statement in a license can't just be disregarded.  That's a very  
clear statement within a license, so its legally binding.  And  
therefore PiDiP is not free software.

I'd prefer to have that phrase removed from the PiDiP license, though I  
agree with its sentiment. Otherwise it will make distributing PiDiP  
difficult, among other things.

.hc

On Dec 29, 2005, at 8:48 PM, Marc Lavallée wrote:

> Le 29 Décembre 2005 21:56, Mathieu Bouchard a écrit :
>> On Fri, 30 Dec 2005 ydegoyon at free.fr wrote:
>>> we know it's all copyright, all your fake free software attitude ....
>>
>> I found this in PiDiP's LICENSE.txt :
>>
>>   "NOT FOR MILITARY OR REPRESSIVE USE !!!"
>>
>> This goes against FSF/GNU's FSD, rule "Freedom Zero"
>>   (http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html)
>
> Yes. But this is only because the FSF wants the user to decide what's  
> good
> or bad.
>
>> And also against OSI's OSD, rule 6
>>   (http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php)
>
> Wrong interpretation: the term "military or repressive use" does not  
> relate
> to any speficic activity, because so many fields of endeavor are  
> involved
> in the business of repression. But it complies with rule 5: "No
> Discrimination Against Persons or Groups", because using force against
> people usually involves discrimination.
>
>> And as such, PiDiP is not Free Software. It may not be distributed as
>> part of Debian's "main" and thus instead should be put in "non-free".
>
> It's a "modified" BSD licence, it's open and compatible... But this  
> first
> phrase is simply an opinion, and legally almost irrelevent. It's a bit
> weird to use a BSD license and add such a vague statement, knowing that
> OpenBSD was financed by the Pentagon for many years until Theo de Raadt
> expressed its concern about the war in Iraq. B.T.W. the Internet was  
> also
> developed by the Pentagon, so maybe PiDiP should not be downloaded  
> from the
> Internet, since this network is being used for war and repression.
>
> It's not a good idea to add "politically correct" clauses in a license,
> because their interpretations can be too fuzzy. A license is a  
> technical
> document, and moral stances are better included as "legal embodiments",
> like the GPL does so well.
>
> Help, help! I'm being opressed! (Monty Python and the Holy Grail)
> ;-)
> --
> Marc
>
>
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"I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three  
meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds,  
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                                             - Martin Luther King, Jr.





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