[NCLUG] Re: Thoughts on Linux Users

[S. Luke Jones]

On Nov 10, 2007, at 11:27 AM, Brian Wood wrote:

>> Doesn't
>> really impact me, so I don't worry about it too much, but if  
>> you're going
>> to use the software, pay the price.  Or pay the other price.
>
> That sounds good, in theory, but often licenses are so confusing that
> even sophisticated users can't tell if they are in violation.

The reason the licenses are confusing is because they're in  
fundamental violation of reality. Being copied is what bits do best.  
Putting limits on copying them is like legislating a value of 3.0 for  
pi, or King Canute ordering back the tide. (This is true IMHO of all  
"intellectual property" e.g. "patents" and "trade secrets".)

I don't go out of my way to break the law, but I don't sweat that  
kind of casual non-compliance. As a result, I'm probably *not* in  
compliance in some of these arcane areas. (I lost 400+ LP records in  
a basement flood in 1993; since then I backup my music. The RIAA  
would have you believe that is a violation of law. IANL, but more  
importantly, *I don't care*.)

But what, you ask, if the RIAA or the MPAA or the BSA or anyone else  
whose world-view (or business model) is out of touch with reality  
comes after me? First, I rely on probability, the way my email client  
does to filter spam. Vendors and developers of FOSS are less likely  
to come after me than developers of commercial software. (They're  
also less likely to cumber things up with online registration  
schemes, etc.) Is the software on my machines fully compliant with  
the GPL, BSD, Apache, Mozilla licenses? I don't know, and honestly, I  
don't care. I do know that companies that use those licenses are less  
likely to trouble me than MSFT or Adobe. Second, if push comes to  
shove, there's always jury nullification. Juries aren't as stupid as  
lawyers, nor as corruptible as legislatures. (That is, they may be  
both stupid and corrupt, but in these areas they're rank amateurs.)

S. Luke Jones - slukejones at gmail.com