Category Archives: Legal
Legal silliness: Blocking banned countries
Some days it seems nothing is simple, even providing open access to open source software. There's a bit of a kerfuffle brewing over SourceForge blocking "banned locations" from downloading software.
The long and short of it seems to be that SourceForge is filtering access to downloads. Requests from Syria, Sudan, Iran, North Korea and Cuba are [...]
Also posted in Linux, Linux.com, Open Source, Politics Tagged export, Legal, sourceforge Leave a comment
Richard Stallman on GPL Exceptions
Richard Stallman raised more than a few eyebrows when he signed the letter objecting to the MySQL purchase. Endorsing, or seeming to endorse, the practice of selling proprietary exceptions to GPL'ed software seemed entirely out of character with Stallman's comments on Free Software up to that point. To clarify, Stallman has written up an essay [...]
Also posted in Articles, Digital Rights, Linux, Open Source Tagged gpl, licensing, mit, Richard Stallman, RMS Leave a comment
The Unlicense: A License for No License
The GNU General Public License (GPL) is often described as "Copyleft" because it turns traditional copyright on its head to make code freer than traditional proprietary copyright licenses. Taking that a step further, some developers are embracing the Unlicense, a license that "disclaims" copyright interest in a piece of code altogether. If the BSD, MIT, [...]
Also posted in Articles, Linux, Open Source, openSUSE Tagged bsd, gpl, mit, public domain, unlicense, wtfpl 2 Comments
SFLC Takes on Consumer Electronics Companies: Will it Help?
The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) is taking the gloves off. The SFLC has filed suit against 14 companies, alleging that each of the companies violates the GNU General Public License version 2 (GPLv2). According to the complaint and media release issued Monday, "nearly 20 separate products" ranging from Blu Ray DVD players to LCD [...]
Also posted in Articles, Linux.com, Open Source, openSUSE Tagged busybox, gpl, gplv2, sflc Leave a comment
/usr/bin/links -date='Tuesday, November 24'
Some choice bits from around the Web about technology, politics, and community development.
Using Python to create UNIX command line tools — "If you work in IT, as a UNIX Sysadmin, a software developer, or even a manager, there a few skills that will set you apart from the crowd. Do you fully understand the OSI [...]
Also posted in Browsers, Linkage, Linux, Movies, Open Source, Politics, openSUSE Tagged command line tools, developerworks, drumbeat, dvd, eff, health care, insurance, mozilla, python, unix Leave a comment
RMS says GPLv2 isn't good enough to protect MySQL (but it is)
I was surprised, to say the least, this morning to read Simon Phipps' tweet that "Richard Stallman and others declare GPL inadequate to protect software freedom." Lack of caffeine, maybe? Nope. Stallman and Knowledge Ecology International really have sent a letter to the European Commission saying that Oracle shouldn't be permitted to acquire MySQL in [...]
Alfresco Decides Less is More: Switching to LGPL