Drafted a follow-up to a column published by Newsforge. The first column didn't really work according to the response from the readers. Only thumbs down. Maybe I need to work on my arguments, maybe I need to study Strunk and White more carefully, maybe both .-)
Anyway - follow-up column on "lagom" copyright now drafted.
Any comments, through diary entries or email, is very much appreciated. Those sent before publication are most valuable to me .-)
New column, The case for "lagom" copyright. Not yet published.
First column, The passport to open code. Published by Newsforge December 28, 2001.
Couldn't sleep yesterday. Stayed up til 2 am and wrote an editorial column for Newsforge. I sent it to Robin "Roblimo" Miller and the staff of Newsforge, but I don't know if they will publish it. Here is a little preview for Advogato diary readers:
Here is something for everyone interested in legal issues:
"As a followup to a free software law summit hosted by Bruce Perens of HP September, 2001, a mailing list to address issues of free software legal issues has been created."
Finally, a christmas treat for all Lessig fans. Slashdot has just published the answers to the readers' questions to professor Lessig.
Season's greetings
Mikael
Everyone: Read the great Gnuheter interview with Jonas Oberg, vice president of FSF Europe and webmaster of Gnu.org.
Yeah, I know it's in Swedish, and all of Gnuheter is. I guess you should convince Altavista to do a Bablefish that can handle Swedish!
Jonas: I sent you some interview questions for Gnuheter. I hope you can find the time answering them.
Mikael
SuSEs mailinglists are running amok. I guess all subscribers have noticed by now. The problem is still not solved, though.
Some more informatin from Roman Drahtmüller:
Hello Shane,
it looks like somebody at savoixmagazine.com has put a few mailing lists from SuSE (like for example the security main contact address security@suse.com through which I received the email) to their distribution list. Headers are cut at LatestIssue@savoixmagazine.com but remaining content is not changed. Forwarding happens through envelope-rewriting/requeueing.
In the meanwhile, I try to remove that address from suse mailing lists. Apart from the postmaster at apollohosting.com, there is not much that I can do against this spam. If it continues, I will try to reach Apollo Hosting later today.
Todays advocacy:
Wrote a reply to Nicklas Lundblad regarding his views on free
software and open source. I do not know if Pontus of Vision will publish it and I had
to keep the reply painfully short.
Corruptor: What you need is Daniel "The Leader" Kahlin's excellent software Over5.
"Over5 is a c64/vic20 < - > Amiga/Pc/Unix-box transferring program. It supports serial transfer at 38400 bps using only a RS-232 level converter (like the VIC-1011A RS232C or the Handic V24 interface) and a 3-line standard nullmodem cable. NO special serialport chips needed!"
Jonas: Sure, we can discuss FSF Europe issues. Just send me an email.
"However, one so-called freedom that we do not advocate is the "freedom to choose any license you want for software you write". We reject this because it is really a form of power, not a freedom."
The essay is interesting in the light of an earlier essay published by Eric S Raymond. Raymond states:
"In other words, Stallman and Kuhn want to be able to make decisions that affect other developers more than themselves. By the definition they themselves have proposed, they want power".
Tim O'Reilly started the debate with his weblog of July 28, 2001: My definition of freedom zero, where O'Reilly states:
"If Freedom Zero for developers is the freedom to offer software on whatever terms the developer sets and a user will accept; Freedom Zero for users is the right to choose whatever software they like, without interference from platform vendors who try to deny that choice."
The issue is not simple. Stallman and Kuhn could be attacked on liberal grounds and even more so on libertarian grounds. This notwithstanding, you probably find a point in their statement:
"We believe you should decide what to do with the software you use; however, that is not what today's law says. Current copyright law places us in the position of power over users of our code, whether we like it or not. The ethical response to this situation is to proclaim freedom for each user, just as the Bill of Rights was supposed to exercise government power by guaranteeing each citizen's freedoms. That is what the GNU GPL is for: it puts you in control of your usage of the software, while protecting you from others who would like to take control of your decisions."
I am not sure whether Raymond, Stallman or O'Reilly is right, but to paraphrase Esther Dyson: the conversation continues.
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