Shouldn't Free Mean The Same Thing Whether Followed By 'Culture' Or 'Software'?
from the principles dept
Adapted from a talk and slide show I presented at the Open Knowledge Conference in Berlin on July 1, 2011. --NPCrossposted from ninapaley.com
Free software is a matter of the users' freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. More precisely, it means that the program's users have the four essential freedoms:These are the Four Freedoms of Free Software. They are foundational principles, and they are exactly right. They have served and continue to serve the Free Software Movement very well. They place the user's freedom ahead of all other concerns. Free Software is a principled movement, but Free Culture is not – at least not so far. Why?-- The Free Software Definition
- The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
- The freedom to study how the program works, and change it to make it do what you wish (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
- The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
- The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others (freedom 3). By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
1. The No Derivatives (-ND) Restriction
If you tinker with software, you can improve it. You can also break it or make it worse, but the Freedom to Tinker is one of the foundational 4 Freedoms of Free Software. Your software may also be used for purposes you don't like, used by “bad people,” or even used against you; the Four Freedoms wisely counsel us to GET OVER IT.Unfortunately, The Free Software Foundation does not extend “Freedom to Tinker” to Culture:
Cultural works released by the Free Software Foundation come with “No Derivatives” restrictions. They rationalize it here:
Works that express someone's opinion—memoirs, editorials, and so on—serve a fundamentally different purpose than works for practical use like software and documentation. Because of this, we expect them to provide recipients with a different set of permissions (notice how users are now called "recipients," and their Freedoms are now called "permissions" --NP): just the permission to copy and distribute the work verbatim. (link)The problem with this is that it is dead wrong. You do not know what purposes your works might serve others. You do not know how works might be found “practical” by others. To claim to understand the limits of “utility” of cultural works betrays an irrational bias toward software and against all other creative work. It is anti-Art, valuing software above the rest of culture. It says coders alone are entitled to Freedom, but everyone else can suck it. Use of -ND restrictions is an unjustifiable infringement on the freedom of others.
For example, here I have violated the Free Software Foundation's No-Derivatives license:
The Four Freedoms of Free Culture:Without permission, I've created a derivative work: the Four Freedoms of Free Culture. Although I violated FSF's No-Derivatives license, they violated Freedoms # 2 and 4, so we're even.
1. The freedom to run, view, hear, read, play, perform, or otherwise attend to the Work;
2. The freedom to study, analyze, and dissect copies of the Work, and adapt it to your needs;
3. The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor;
4. The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others. By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes.
(link)
1. The Non-Commercial (-NC) Restriction
The Freedom to Distribute Free Software is essential to its success. It has given rise to many for-profit businesses that benefit the larger community.
Red Hat, Canonical – would the world be better if such companies were forbidden? Would Free Software benefit from a ban on those businesses?
Yet the Cultural ecosystem is stunted by the prevalence of Non-Commercial restrictions. These maintain commercial monopolies around works, and – especially for vocational artists like me – are functionally as restrictive as unmodified copyright. Yet they are widely mislabeled “Free Culture,” or even “Copyleft.”
- Which of these things does not belong?
This is a still from the mostly excellent and popular documentary RiP: A Remix Manifesto. This film is many peoples' introduction to the term “Free Culture” and “Copyleft.” But as you can see, the Non-Commercial restriction is lumped in with actual Free license terms.
See that dollar sign with the slash in it? That means Non-Commercial restrictions, which are most definitely NOT Copyleft. (I've posted about Creative Commons' branding confusion before, but it's only gotten worse since then.)
- NC stands for Not Copyleft
- This doesn't help either
I have spoken to many artists who insist there's “no real difference” between Non-Commercial licenses and Free alternatives. Yet these differences are well known and unacceptable in Free Software, for good reason.Calling Non-Commercial restrictions “Free Culture” neuters what could be an effective movement, if it only had principles.
So what do I want?
I want a PRINCIPLED Free Culture Movement.
I want Free Software people to take Culture seriously. I want a Free Culture movement guided by principles of Freedom, just as the Free Software movement is guided by principles of Freedom. I want a name I can use that means something – the phrase “Free Culture” is increasingly meaningless, as it is often applied to unFree practices, and is also the name of a famous book that is itself encumbered with Non-Commercial restrictions.I want a Free Culture ecosystem that allows artists to make money. I want anyone to be able to accept money for their work of remixing and building on Culture – just as a trucker can accept money for driving on a road. I want money to be among the many incentives to participate in building culture. Without the freedoms to Tinker and Redistribute without restriction, there is little incentive to build on and improve cultural works. There is little reward to help your neighbor, when you are guaranteed to lose money doing so. “Free Culture” with non-Commercial restrictions will remain a hobby for those with a surplus of time and labor, and those who only accept money from monopolists.
I want commerce without monopolies. I want people to understand the difference.
I want a Free Culture ecosystem that includes equivalents of businesses like Red Hat and Canonical. I want cultural businesses that give back to their communities, that work with their customers instead of against them. Only if we refuse to place Non-Commercial and No-Derivatives restrictions on our works will a robust Free Culture ecosystem be able to emerge.
I want the Free Software community – those who currently best understand the Four Freedoms – to champion the rest of Culture, not just Software. I want Freedom for All.
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Filed Under: free, free culture, free software, freedom
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Your treatise here reveals your for what you really are. Hopefully Mike will start to put distance between you and his blog.
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Also, since you asked for it, a reminder that I think it would be awesome if you made that "Plagiarism Sucks" video I mentioned last week.
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LULZ
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Oh, do you get paid for trolling?
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I think this attitude is dripping all over the “non-commercial” restrictions. Artists seem to imagine they will suddenly find their song about breaking up with their college girlfriend getting sold all over the internet. Or worse yet USED BY A POLITICAL CANDIDATE, which of course is a complete and total violation of every known human right.
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Did you even bother to understand the point?
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Communism would suggest a command economy sort of set up. Nina just wants everyone to live in the world farm and share the chicken eggs nicely, based on her view of the universe.
More than anything, it reads like a freetard manifesto. It takes real skill to bitch that free isn't free enough.
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Except, y'know, we're not talking about eggs. You can't kill the goose of culture, and every egg it lays can feed an infinite number of people (and be remixed into an infinite number of omelettes)
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Nina probably has a place for you on her commune. You can remix culture and claim it to be new, and the other members will be amazed at your technical prowess and 133t sk1||z. Then someone will ask you for something original, and you will be stuck, unable to have an original though of your own. But it's okay, because there is all that free stuff out there you can just take from and claim as your own.
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See how careful their wording is? They insist that a license allow this particular kind of commercial use, but it's free to restrict all others, such as selling the software alone....
Although the problem is lesser in the open source world, it's still a problem; and I expect it would be worse if more people actually understood what the licenses they were using really meant. Lots of people throw code up on Github under MIT and BSD, but I don't think they fully understand what "permissive" means and the wide ranges of proprietary re-use it allows
(Don't misunderstand me. I believe strongly in using these licenses and personally have no problem with these reuses. I just think other people are more selfish and conservative, and would hoard their code more closely if they understood the implications better)
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Re: Art!...?
I, for one, am nearing the 10,000 hour mark of time applied to my chosen craft (codesmithing, as it were) and the beauty of my code is improving.
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And sorry, but 'art' is largely a tool. Yes, I know, this is unpopular. Flame away. Some forms of art are lower than others. Most works of design and photography serve functional purposes - like, say, in advertising. They're created for a purpose, to achieve something, not to stand on their own as highly emotional expression. When you're a graphic designer and someone hires you, they generally want you to do something that is useful to them and their business; they're not giving you free money so that you can "express" yourself and your artistic soul
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Nina for President in '12!
Human knowledge (including culture) is for everyone.
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How, for example, would you classify the output of a
program that displays Mandelbrot sets? Is it art,
because it is beautiful? Or is it software, because
it's the result of a mathematical exercise?
How about the program that I wrote to control my MIDI
sampler and produce music? It's certainly software, but
it generates (according to listeners) art. And it contains
all of that art within itself.
How about art that's intended to spur political protest?
Is it not a tool (among many others) to persuade, to rouse, to enlighten?
Some software is beautiful; some art is a tool. What they have in common, along with many other things, is that they are both expressions of human creativity and intelligence. Drawing a line between them is artificial and limiting.
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Now, the main gist of this post is freedom. Free software is free not just as in it costs nothing to obtain but also that you are free to do with it what you want. Nina is asking why do some people say something is free and then restrict how you use it? That restricts a freedom. It may still be free as in it costs nothing to obtain and use but you are not free to do with it what you want.
That is my interpretation of Nina's post.
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I know. I'm not doing this for anyone else, I just can't help but say:
You're an idiot. And a brainwashed one at that.
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Here is an idea...
What would happen if I start buying paintings from other artists, adding my own touches to them, mark them up and resell them? I am sure I would have every right to do that as I am not reproducing the work, but what would the original artists reactions be? Not good I bet.
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Re: Here is an idea...
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Re: Here is an idea...
That's the problem with releasing art and books without restriction. Someone spends a year writing a book and then, to everyone's benefit, gives it away for free. They get recognition and gain stature and we get free books. Win-Win.
But apparently we need the "freedom" to simply replace the author's name with your own, and the ability to then charge others for a book that was given away freely.
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Re: Here is an idea...
Have you thought about forging the paintings? That's been done in the art world for a really long time.
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Missing the point
The NonCommercial license is a separate issue. Note that the FSF has NOT applied this clause. It is arguably not a licensing term that is compatible with the principles of free software or free culture. That being said, it may be a licensing term that provides a "semi-free" option for people who otherwise would have reserved all rightsin their work, which is the legal default in the absence of public licensing.
There's a lot of trolling going on in this thread, but the actual issues are straightforward. I don't see any reason for anyone to get worked up about this.
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As a sidenote, I make a small amount of money on the side as a poet; If you ever find any of my works online, they are in the public domain, as is all of my work. Well, more correctly, they're under the Do Whatever The Fuck You Want license, or DWTFYW. Not that I'll link together my semi-anonymous name here and my pseudonyms there.
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Re: Re: Here is an idea...
If you are concerned about proper attribution, CC-BY and CC-BY-SA are both Free licenses that you can use to threaten others with legal force, if you really believe that's necessary for correct attribution, which it isn't anyway.
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Why? Because they want those ideas spread. Perhaps they want to build an audience. Maybe they want publicity, or to get consulting contracts or speaking engagements. For that they need to be associated with those ideas.
Now, Nina, who did a fast shuffle talking about "art" and then switching to Lessig's book, apparently wants the "freedom" to take his book, put her own name on it, and sell it as her own.
Or the freedom to rewrite it, and then redistribute it under the original author's name, substituting her ideas for his own or perhaps leading people to believe the author supports a certain position when in fact they do not.
Or not have some ripoff artist (like the Amazon ebook spamming) profit from it.
Now, if I, as an author, am willing to let you do ANYTHING with or to my book, then I'll say so. Maybe we even need a specific CC contract that says so.
Otherwise, even if I'm giving it away for free, I'd probably prefer my words to continue to be my words. Why is that so hard to understand?
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Good Post
That's also the reason that I, as a software engineer, dislike the GPL. Telling people they have to release the source code is not supporting their freedoms. The idea that the supposed "free software" movement can and will run to the government if you violate the terms of their "license" makes them no better than the people they criticize. Why are lawsuits by the FSF against people who don't release GPL-derived source code more morally correct than lawsuits by the RIAA against non-commercial filesharers? Both groups assert their right to control the voluntary sharing of bits into and out of my computer. Their philosophy is based on the same premise.
Personally, I prefer something like the WTFPL "license", although even that has a couple minor restrictions. Maybe the CC0 license is best.
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Re: Good Post
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Because of the connected nature of the interwebs people who do plagiarize are increasingly being outed. I believe this will continue until it gets to where once you publish something it will be logged in databases immediately and any attempt at plagiarism will be easily recognized and bring with it unwelcome attention.
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Agree, but addition
However, I would go one step further: I'd like to free culture even more and reject any restrictions like (legally required) attribution and share-alike. The reason? I could name a couple, but my main one would be: The freedom to mix. If you have two licenses that anyone would consider free in terms of the four freedoms (e. g. FDL and cc-by-sa, or GPL2 + GPL3), it can still be forbidden to create something new out of two "free" things. I find that very non-free. Thus I mainly release under CC-zero (which is, for those who don't know, a legal text for public domain-alike licensing).
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Re: Good Post
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Re: Agree, but addition
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Sheesh!
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Re: Re: Here is an idea...
But isn't that the business model problem Mike is always talking about? If you can't out monetize someone else with your own content then you have a business model problem.
In the specific case you mention, if you give it away but someone else comes along and sells it, why should you care? After all, if you wanted money for it you could have charged for it yourself.
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Re: Re: Agree, but addition
As long as people like you exist, there will be a need for copyright to protect the actual creative people.
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Regardless, given the article you just wrote, you'd seem to prefer that we not use ANY of the above licenses. Thus allowing anyone to "build" on anything.
Which has more than a touch of BS to it. You're completely free to write a book "building" on Lessig's work. (To use your specific example.) You're free to write about it and quote it and take excerpts from it and comment on it. (Fair use, after all.) Authors have be doing it for centuries now.
Now., what the current license doesn't seem to allow is for you to "build" on Lessig's book by copying 99% of it wholesale, just adding a few comments of your own, then putting your own name on it and selling it on Amazon.
And quite frankly, I'm good with that. Especially as it seems to be in line with the author's own wishes.
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Sheesh!
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Luckily, as long as people like you exist, that evolution will continue despite the attempts of people like me to belittle it.
I agree! Glad you're finally coming around.
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She tried to zing and instead proved that she didn't read the comments.
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Trying to put words in my mouth just makes you look like a petty little prick. I am amazed Mike would run any more of crap here, considering you likely just copy and paste it from other places and claim it as yours.
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Abolish copyright.
The sooner the better.
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Thanks for putting words in my mouth, because it makes me look like like much less of a petty little prick than I actually am. I am amazed Mike hasn't IP-blocked me from the site yet, considering I so actively interfere with any attempt at intelligent discourse.
Good of you to finally admit it.
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Whiny unoriginal prick.
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That's cool, it was implied.
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Re: Agree, but addition
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I don't think she's saying that you shouldn't restrict your stuff if that's what you want (Nina, correct me if I got this wrong) ... just don't claim it's free when it isn't.
If an author/artist wants to give their work away, they can't, well almost can't. I think Nina has demonstrated that if you want to give something away completely free, i.e. "Sita Sings the Blues", it is quite difficult to do so because A) copyright is pervasive, B) copyright is automatic/unavoidable by US law, C) aquiring rights is a nightmare, and D) people a so conditions that they can't really believe it is free so they avoid it anyway.
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Thank you, Nina.
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Re: Missing the point
Yes, I think you're missing the point.
You're saying that I should not legally be able to take their documentation, improve it and redistribute it. How's that any different from taking the software source, improving it and then redistributing it?
Are you saying that their docs is soooo good that it can not be improved?
"mislead people" ... well, I think you are selling people short.
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What a liar. Typical copyright supporter.
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Thanks Nina
Keep it up.
(I'm looking forward to those Mimi & Eunice's Intellectual Pooperty minibooks you're sending out. :)
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Re: Re: Missing the point
His comment was in regard to a POSITION PAPER put out by the FSF. It is not "documentation". A position paper is someone's clear and distinct position on a specific matter. For you to take it and "improve it" is to potentially change its meaning and their position.
And actually, you just neatly illustrated the problem. You took his comment and substituted "documentation" for "position paper" because it made your specific argument seem more reasonable, when that's not what he said or implied at all.
Same for Lessig's book. Those are his words, thoughts, and views on the subject at hand. Now, you to take it and "improve it". Are those still his thoughts? Would be agree with your changes? Are you putting words into his mouth?
If you want to write your own book or position paper, feel free. But don't copy my book wholesale and "improve" my words without my consent. You're not my editor, and I said what I meant to say.
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I can give my work are for free (as in beer). I still, however, want it to be MY work. I may also, if I choose, give the rights to use my work away, in which case you're also "free" to use it or modify it as your please.
But I can still have one without the other.
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you mean kinda like your post reads like copytard manifesto? OH SNAP
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So let me get this straight: You're complaining that they didn't make the free images free enough, and that their lack in doing so is impacting YOUR work? Talk about being ungrateful. They gave many people something free, and all you can do is complain about it???
Reminds me of a jerk I overheard at a restaurant the other day. The waiter treated him to a free cup of coffee, and he had the gall to call the manager over to complain that his free coffee wasn't hot enough.
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No U.
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Your comments are very good and clearing up the difference between "free to enjoy" and "free to re-use" and "free to claim as your own".
The free argument is also misleading because there is nothing in law stopping free. If you want to give it away for free, give it away for free. The confusing -NC -X copyleft and all that other stuff is just proof that even in free, people cannot truly agree. It's why we have laws, not just little tags that are easy to erase and forget about.
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Except automatic lifelong copyright with no simple opt-out...
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So a better analogy is that the waiter offered someone else a free cup of coffee, and now he's bitching that his coffee isn't free too.
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A bunch of restaurants have magical infinite coffee carafes with distinct flavours, and they are giving out coffee for free. Ed realizes that if he gets cups of free infinite coffee from ten restaurants, he can mix them together into his own magical infinite coffee carafe with a brand new flavour - one with hints of all the other flavours, and yet different from them all as well. So he does, and prepares to give out his blend of infinite coffee as well. Five of the restaurants don't care, and the other five say "NO DERIVATIVES!"
I guess you could argue that it's their right, but they still kind of sound like jerks.
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Re: Missing the point
Are you trying to say it’s factual, rather than creative?
But you can’t copyright facts.
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Hey You
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I genuinely won't be. That only makes the work more valuable, although maybe not for me.
I don't think the DWTFYW or WTFPL carries that implication.
Artistically, I also would feel more comfortably calling my works, works of passion, maybe works of anger sometimes, or always works of great emotion, but not all of them would be works of love.
Legally, however, they are all clearly the same :p
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But I think "copying is an act of passion and sometimes anger" would be pretty damn awesome too. It's a shame so few computers have the unicode character for a broken heart: 💔
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I might just start using both of those suggestions on some works.
"copying is an act of passion and sometimes anger". I know it's my own words, but they seem more powerful in that form.
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Post it on your website, attach it to your "work", and you are done.
How hard was that?
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It's bothersome to reply to permission notices with "yes, of course", especially the legalese ones, and if anything of mine becomes popular enough for people to want to copy, it's usually hundreds of people, who I can't all reply to.
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That sounds like anti-Linux FUD. It is perfectly legal to use Linux in a professional manner.
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I genuinely won't be. That only makes the work more valuable, although maybe not for me.
You might not be upset by that, but I, as a buyer, would consider a sale made under such false pretenses as being fraud. Copyright infringement should not be conflated with fraud.
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Re: Re: Re: Agree, but addition
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Post it on your website, attach it to your "work", and you are done.
How hard was that?
You're not a lawyer, are you?
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Free is not free of charge, or free of restrictions
The idea behind freedom in at least FSF is free as in free speech, not as in free beer. You see to have forgotten that.
You are also free to contact the creator and ask for a different license for your particular situation. We have done so with the use of RIP a remix manifesto and gotten permission to use it for our purpose, free of charge :) Nothing wrong with asking for an exception if a license is not 100% compatible with how you plan to use it.
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It's more the edge cases I'm concerned with anyways; Like, say, someone writes a longer poem that uses most of my mine verbatim in the work.Or maybe they change just one important word.
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A suggestion
As a consumer of culture, you don't get to make that decision, despite the contant howling by pirates that it is their "right" to do so.
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Re: A suggestion
1) She does give it away for free
2) She doesn't claim that everyone should in this article
3) She IS complaining that "Free software" is MUCH more free than "Free culture"
So while she champions RedHat and Canonical . . . Microsoft and Apple also still exist.
It is enough that there exists free software companies.
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Re: Re:
She wonders why this successful approach to writing software isn't practiced in other disciplines.
@Nina:
Though I largely agree with your perspective, one reason this has not caught on is that many artists see their work as a final product. They don't really think or want to share "source code" (or haven't given it much thought). In software, you quickly realize that you go much further if you share "source".
I have at various times stated here and elsewhere how I think CC should have a license for source code protection (as is the GPL), but that has not caught on. If it did catch on, we'd see small CC-GPL flicks more easily turn into franchises with lots of stories and variations (eg, because the character models and effects would be revealed and much easier to reuse).
And if source code were valued more, then it would be more natural to allow commercial uses since at that point a lot more work could be created, so people would seek to make their potentially much larger contributions only into a system that was not going to cut them off at the knees.
Just my guess, of course.
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Re: Re:
The most popular is GPL, and the few most popular (comprising much more than 50% of open source) allow commercialization.
If this weren't the case, we wouldn't have so many Linux distros loaded up with a large fraction of available open source software being sold by numerous ma/pa vendors and used in all sorts of commercial environments.
So just because open source might allow non-commercial doesn't mean these licenses have gained much traction (to the extent they exist). And looking at the free software website, you'll see that the popular licenses are all free software licenses with very few exceptions, if any.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
No, I thought you were understanding, but this is the same problem. In the software world there oftentimes is a lot of care taken to include everyone's contributions (revision control systems) when those contributions are of any significant size and the community cares about this.
So, if you slap your name on a book (and want to avoid plagiarism), it should be clear that the book is almost entirely a quote of some other book. That does not pervert the ideas of the other author and actually sends eyeballs and potential sales their way.
>> Perhaps, if I don't know that, then others may not know that, and instead of ranting about free not being free enough, you could spend your time helping to allay those kinds of concerns.
Oh, but besides expressing her grief publicly and privately many times, she has gone further than many others, not just by practicing with what she creates and by highlighting these issues on her website(s), but by composing an easy to digest and catchy youtube video and a great article to go with it: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110627/17393014876/is-copyright-needed-to-stop-plagiarism.shtml
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Re: Re: Missing the point
I don't see as a problem people breaking Linux and then having that reflect badly on Linus or anyone else. There might be short-term small-scale abuses that crop up, but this backfires if taken to any reasonable scale and it can be dealt with without copyright. If copyright (ND) provides another hammer, you have to consider at what cost.
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Re: Re: Good Post
I was on that boat at a time when I was largely unaware of the abuses of copyright law in the culture space.
I eventually abandoned much support for copyright law because I realized (mostly after one specific long back and forth argument with what might pass as an annoying regular commenter on againstmonopoly.org but also supported by numerous articles read in places like techdirt) that the cost of losing that lever in software would be worthwhile to society on the whole when we factor in all sorts of copyright abuses that would cease to exist in other areas. [And I am still against losing that lever in software without gaining culture freedom.] Also, trade secrets becomes much less of an issue when the whole world can focus on an abuser to reverse engineer and to critique without worrying about legal backlash and censoring. We can even pass laws to limit trade secrets in COTS software used by government, and this would create very positive network effects and solve many of the potential threats and abuses of proprietary software.
A major reason free software developers might support strong copyright or at least tolerate it is because open software can potentially be exploited rather easily to strenthen monopolies that themselves make competition (even by that very open source software) very difficult. This phenomenon doesn't exist much today in art because, unlike software, a major value of the art IS NOT that it needs to intricately and correctly interface with other art. And licenses like the GPL allow the best of both worlds: have openness and fight fairly well against that type of exploitation. While small firms might cheat, those that are the "monopolists" or very large have a more difficult time getting away with large-scale cheating.
A variation of this theme is that copyright in art corresponds to the copyright in source code (generally). A lot of software does a lot invisibly and is only "visible" indirectly through the source code. This is largely true as concerns the creator. A lot of those who create works and enforce copyright on proprietary software, then, are mostly not enforcing it on what is not visible anyway. The copyright on binaries largely is meant to regulate "piracy", but this isn't a big deal to other creators since binaries are not nearly as useful as would be an alternative with source code. Most software creators will create a new program replacement or treat your binary as a black box. If they want to modify or fix, they will be attracted to open source already and not bother too much with the proprietary binaries. So copyright is not that big of a deal to creators of free software. Patents however are a big deal. Unfortunately, copyright is applied to culture sometimes almost on par with what the abuses possible with software patents: to block ideas and lots of independent creation.
Another issue is that copyright infringement in software is hard to prove because it is hard to see. [This is even more so with hardware.] This contrasts with what is intended to be consumed directly by humans (art). You can see art infringement much more easily than invisible source code infringement. Hence copyright lawsuits on other creators play a greater role in the culture world of today as contrasted with the software world.
Those focused on software tend to interact with art much less frequently. This plays a role in the balancing equation.
Also note that since software is invisible, it's not easy to just say that your reputation for plagiarizing would hurt as others do a web search. You can get away more easily with copying and the closing up of such software in order to block competitors. The software itself is very obfuscated as a binary, and more so if it only runs on a proprietary server. Consumers and our free government will have to take the step to reject closed systems partly as a matter of principle and long-term strategy.
All of these things help explain why copyright might not be seen so negatively by many free software developers. In fewer words, it sure appears that we can get the "best" of both worlds with software copyright licenses like the GPL -- limit easy exploitation of open software to lock out that open software when leveraged with proprietary monopolies AND not have to deal with any real limitations on access by those playing openly -- all without any apparent costs.
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Re: Free is not free of charge, or free of restrictions
The bottle-neck should not be taken for granted. When people find a new interesting expression or experience, millions go and produce their own variations. If each had to ask for permission, it would create serious slowdowns and losses.
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Clearly...... you just dont 'get it'
Nina, we most certainly would NOT be any worse off.
Stallmans 4 laws, are a total scam, it is amazing that FOSS has progressed so far as it has (and that is not that far), being lumbered with the massive political restrictions that Stallman has applied to justify his socialist agenda.
Stallman, what an idiot, he has done more damage to the FOSS movement that any other single person on the planet.
He is happy to jump up and down and cry like a baby when he think he sees someone making gains from 'his' baby... but then happily accepts very large sums of money from the 'propriatory' sectors to keep him in the lifestyle that he has become accustomed too.
Stallman is that classic communist political operative.
Nina, 'curture' in not something you can buy, sell or trade, nor can you lay claim to it just because you 'want too'.
When was the last time, you purchased some 'culture', of could you do not, that would be stupid right Nina.
Nina, you and Stallman seem to be under the impression that you 'create' a culture by putting out a set of rules, and stating that you are the 'new overlord' of this 'new' culture.
It failed for stallman, and I am equally sure it will fail for you.
You cannot create culture by defining a 'set of rules' and making some claim over that culture.
Do you honestly think that before FOSS and Stallman there was no such thing as freely available and OPEN software, that there was not a culture of computer programming LONG before stallman, and that there will be freely software, and "open" software LONG AFTER Stallman is dust ?
Do you think it is because of Stallman that the FOSS world has progressed as far as it has (that is not that far), because of Stallman or INSPITE of Stallman ?
Nina, do you honestly believe that somehow you can 'acquire' the curture of someone else or from another group ?
And why would you have to adapt to someone elses culture, are you not capable of establishing some culture in your own behalf ?
Everyone else can !
Do you honestly believe that 'freedom' can be defined as a set of simplistic rules and commandments ?
What 'culture' has FOSS provided for anyone ? The answer is none, nothing new has come from FOSS or Stallman, people were doing what FOSS claim they only do, for a very long time before FOSS and will for a very long time after FOSS, it has created no culture. (actually apart from the culture of distain and distrust).
1. The freedom to run, view, hear, read, play, perform, or otherwise attend to the Work;
•The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
That would be fun !!! can you apply Rule 1 after you apply Rule 3 ??
So assume I write a song, I have the RIGHT to PLAY or PERFORM it,,,,,
So I can give my song to my neighbour and later I can turn up at his house and 'perform' it for him, or play it for him (or otherwise attend to my work)...
I am sure Nina, that this will result in some difficult situations, there is no way I am going to allow you into my house because you claim the right to 'attend' to your works..
unreal, at least not on this planet...
Nina, sorry but it appears you have not thought this out very well... it also appears you have little clue if any of what "culture" is and what it means... For you it seem like it is 'just a word' that you can throw around with free abandon.
Culture
-- Excellence of taste in the fine arts and humanities etc.
-- An integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends of the capacity for symbolic thought and social learning.
-- The set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization or group.
So which version of 'culture' are you referring to Nina ? (an any) and how can you take the definition of CULTURE and try to make it like a 'club' that you can join, or buy or sell too/from !
You think you well be cultured, because you can say "I am a part of a group, and that group has a set culture, therefore I too have that culture".
No Nina, it does not work that way,
Culture, is like 'honesty', 'truth', 'integrity', 'knowledge', 'understanding' and believing and those are things you cannot 'buy into' or become part of by defining your own little 'set of rules' or by any other means, that you Nina or RMS think of as culture..
Clearly...... you just dont 'get it'
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IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU,,
But wait !!!! I can do all that without 'free software' or the FSF, and I have always been able to do that, WITHOUT ANY 4 STUPID RULES or restrictions, I was able to do that years before the FSF and will be able to do that years after the FSF is gone. As well I can do that now, WITHOUT the FSF, with far more freedoms that what Stallman has 'allowed for me'...
Nina, it appears you are locked in to the US culture of 'IF you want something then you need to make up some rules and enforce them' or "more rules are always better than less rules".
That is a culture, it is a culture born from the desire to control and manipulate, "RMS: Sure you can be free, as long as you are FREE on MY TERMS".
"RMS: Sure you can have 'freedom' as long as it is the freedom that comes under my very narrow definition of what 'freedom' IS !"
LAW 1:
1. The freedom to run, view, hear, read, play, perform, or otherwise attend to the Work;
That is going to work great, so going by 'the letter of the law', I have to 'freedom/right' to 'run, view, hear, read, play, perform or otherwise attend to the work'
ANYTIME ?? ANYWHERE ??
For you to exercise your first RIGHT, would mean you have to maintain FULL CONTROL of your work, forever... otherwise you would never be able to achieve your goals of rule 1.
What you are asking for is 'complete, 100% control of MY WORK that I have GIVEN YOU,,, forever..
I have to right to come over to your house and 'perform' my work at any time !!!!... (that should be fun)....
Nina, do you notice the massive omission from your 4 LAWS ???
1. You can play and do what you like with 'your work'.
2. You can study and adapt 'your work' how you like.
3. You can give 'your work' to your neighbours.
4. You can give modified copies of 'your work' to your neighbours.
OK, fair enough, but what DO I GET, no where in there does it say that I can take 'your work' and modify it and redistribute it, you say nothing about providing for the community or allowing the community or anyone else taking your work and modifying it or improving it, or performing it or whatever.
It's ALL ABOUT YOU !!!!!, you're 'set of laws' is simply for self preservation, it says nothing about contributing to a 'culture' and it makes no claim that you work has been created to allow other to gain from your work, to work with your 'work' to modify and improve it or to distribute it, or to profit or gain from it in any way..
Someone said this is very socialist, and he/she is very correct...
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Re: Re: Re: Good Post
Incidentally, who was that "annoying regular commenter"?
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FOSS is ALL (and ONLY) copyright.......
Thanks right, it is based on and enforced by what ???
COPYRIGHT, without said copyright 'rights' RMS would have no power or ability to make ANY claims to anything to do with FOSS, and most certainly would not be able to define his LAWS, and certainly be totally unable to enforce them...
do your homework Nina....
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Good Post
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