For Approval: GPLv3

[Lasse Reichstein Nielsen]

On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 03:19:14 +0200, Chris Travers <chris at metatrontech.com>  
wrote:

> Ok, but does it apply to hardware/software packages which must be
> licensed as a whole from the government, such as WIFI cards and their
> firmware?

Law can change.

The license itself does not preclude the use of the software in WIFI cards
or firmware. There might currently be law, in some contries, that makes it
impossible to both comply with the license and with the law at the same  
time.

Whether a license complies with the OSD should be decided only from what
the license says, not what restrictions are introdued by arbitrary  
countries'
current laws. Laws can change, in both directions. If having a law,  
somewhere,
that makes some software uses incompatible with the license also makes the  
license
non-OSD, then it would be necessary to revoke the OSI certification when  
law
changes for the worse.

OSD compliance cannot be prevented by incompatible law.
If the Liberated State of Antarctica one day proclaims a law that requires
all software must be distributed under the, very restrictive, LSA License,
then no license would be OSD compliant any more.

> My largest concern is simply OSD part 6, that it creates a system which
> is discriminatory against any package which must be certified on both
> the hardware and software level.

That's not af field of endeavor. It's a use of the software that is  
restricted
by law, and it's not the license that restricts it, it's the law.
The license is fine.

/L
-- 
Lasse R. Nielsen - atwork at infimum.dk
  'Faith without judgement merely degrades the spirit divine'
  Reproduction of this message, or parts thereof, is allowed if proper  
attribution is given.