"Violation"

[Rod Dixon, J.D., LL.M.]

I think David is right on target. He is pointing out an issue I have written
about in an article recently. There certainly are copyright qualities of
copyleft.

Rod Dixon, J.D., LL.M.
www.cyberspaces.org
rod at cyberspaces.org


> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Johnson [mailto:david at usermode.org]
> Sent: Friday, March 24, 2000 8:54 PM
> To: Mark Koek
> Cc: W. Yip; license-discuss at opensource.org
> Subject: Re: "Violation"
>
>
> On Fri, 24 Mar 2000, Mark Koek wrote:
>
> > The GPL is dishonest, then?
>
> I didn't say that! Nowhere within it does it say it is not property,
> and plenty of places where it acknowledges it is guarding a piece of
> intellectual property. But I hear a lot of statements to the effect
> that "copyleft is not copyright" when in fact it is. People who don't
> believe in information as property, but turn around and use the GPL
> saying "no one owns it", are being dishonest, either with me or with
> themselves. I can only assume that they are being unintentionally
> dishonest.
>
> > RMS dislikes the notion of information as property.
>
> Then it is curious to me why he considers his own works, as
> demonstrated by his actions, to be intellectual property. Regardless of
> whether he considers himself and the FSF as owners or as mere
> caretakers, he has imposed upon his works terms and conditions that
> only owners are allowed to make. He claims to be giving his software
> away when in fact he is sharing instead.
>
> Is he being dishonest by doing this? In my opinion, yes...
>
> > Personally, I like this kind of pragmatic approach. Change the system
> > from within.
>
> The "viral" clauses may do some small bit of changing the system, but
> as a whole, Free Software sits squarely amidst the concepts of
> property. Essentially, you can't do anything with anyone else's
> property without their prior permission. Free Software gives you those
> permissions. Does taking down one's "no trespassing" sign count as a
> blow against real estate property? Hardly!
>
> --
> David Johnson...
> _____________________________
> http://www.usermode.org
>