"As for the GPL, it's total war."

[JoeHill]

On Thu, 30 Oct 2003 08:21:33 -0500
Byron Desnoyers Winmill <lists-Gb8Tj4xcA4YgsBAKwltoeQ at public.gmane.org> uttered:

> 
> It doesn't matter if the GPL stands or falls in court: (a) this is an
> American court, and they do not control the legal system of other
> countries (eg. Canadian and American copyright law appear to be quite
> different);

The European bureacracies are already engaged in a similar fight against
OSS with Software Patents, and I don't hold any illusions that our PM
would resist at all an American attempt to force a modification of our
laws. They already did it with "Free Trade", and managed to pressure our
supposedly independant government into enacting the most assinine
cannabis law in existence with the exception of that in the U.S.

> (b) the failure of the GPL would probably bring most license
> agreements into question, and finally end this nonsense of publishers
> dictating how we use our computers;

I cannot follow your logic here. How would the failure of the GPL *help*
in defeating things like the TCI and DRM? The GPL is the only currently
viable model for protecting us from those greedy pigs, at least that I
am aware of.

> (c) if all else fails,  the copyrights would have to revert to the
> authors -- so they would not loose anything.

Current ones, maybe. I'm more concerned about the future.

> > ....and, honestly, whom do you think is pulling the strings on this
> > one?
> 
> There are companies which have a lot more to loose (than the usual
> suspect) if there are not tight controls on how IP is managed.  *If*
> somebody else is pulling the strings, this may have nothing to do with
> software.

This has everything to do with software; MS, through it's proxy SCO, is
attempting to do away with the concept of free and open software itself.
And you are right in one sense, making IP a government controlled
bureaucracy is in the best interests of any proprietary software vendor.
Makes it more difficult for independant and OSS developers to compete
in a free and open market.

IANAC, so I can't contribute much to that side of things, but I
certainly take every opportunity to expose people to the dangers we are
facing in this regard, positing Linux and OSS as viable alternatives;
and I make sure I participate in any and all campaigns to raise this
issue with our elected officials, just in case anyone is going to throw
that"so what are you doing about it?" at me...

-- 
JoeHill
Registered Linux user #282046
Homepage: www.orderinchaos.org
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You can always pick up your needle and move to another groove.
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