WB discussion and war

[Arnaud Westenberg]

Bruce wrote:

> As long as someone is going to try and ruin the list's work then it's 
> list traffic.

I agree.

Although I haven't contributed to this list, and this may take a while 
as well, I think I do have the right to express my opinions.

It is of paramount importance that people can distribute and share their 
work without having to worry about people violating the EUA, NOT even 
for 5$!!! You can NOT interpret the EUA as you see fit, just because in 
your opinion it's a small violation. Bruce is right, these kind of 
violations will kill new initiatives (and obviously have done already).

I also agree on Brian's statements about the GNU license. The goal of 
the GNU license was not only to distribute free (as in speach) software 
but to protect the author as well.

Just thinking out load; why doesn't the list get organized? Some members 
could design a bunch of licenses, at a powwow or something, each with 
different rights/restrictions. IANAL, but I'm sure there are list 
members who know one and who might be willing to review the licenses. 
You could also use the several free software licenses as a template.
An example of a derived hardware license can be found here:
http://www.simputer.org/simputer/license/sgplv1.3.php
Each contributer now has a license wich he can apply to his work as he 
sees fit and he doesn't have to worry about the license being violated 
.... or does he?

Obviously these licenses still would have to be enforced. For starters, 
the violator should be thrown off the list. I know he'll resubscribe 
under a different name, but doing nothing is worse IMO. You could also 
transfer a certain percentage of group buys to a fund for the financial 
aspect of the enforcement. Raise money as soon as there has been a 
reported violation. I'm sure with an established set of licenses the 
enforcement can be organized as well. Besides, the Free Software 
Foundation and alike are likely willing to offer advice in these cases.

Sharing over the internet is beautiful. Protecting yourself from these 
kind of AUE violations remains your own responsibility however.

$0.02 worth of thoughts....

___

Arnaud

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