[License-review] For approval: The Cryptographic Autonomy License (Beta 2)

[Henrik Ingo]

On Sun, Aug 25, 2019 at 4:04 PM Pamela Chestek <pamela at chesteklegal.com>
wrote:

> So what I hear is "duffers not welcome." My point is not a question of
> knowing what the license is, but a matter of meeting its obligations.
> With the CAL I have to make source code available simply because I went
> into an app repository and installed a non-interactive widget that will
> be viewed publicly. There is no other license that requires that (Van's
> extreme view of the AGPL notwithstanding).
>
>
>

Sorry but your conclusion is not correct:

1. Your obligation doesn't arise with downloading the code, but rather
because you are putting it in your website where it gets distributed to
viewers of your website. This is stuff every web developer needs to know to
do their job.
2. I for one certainly wish that copyright legislation was more friendly to
duffers (I don't know what that word means, really...) and less biased to
favor big corporations who use every opportunity to maximize their powers.
But I don't see how any of this is Van's fault.

I'm assuming here that your example is the common case of embedding a piece
of JavaScript in your website to create such a widget. Your example could
be used to criticize every open source license down to 3-clause BSD, as
they all create some legal obligation to the web developer in your example.

If instead your intent was to criticize CAL's use of words like "aspect"
and "perceptible", then I''m fully with you because I think those seem like
attempts of claiming rights beyond the licensed code. (And in particular,
there may be a goal of preventing compatible competing clean room
implementations.) But if this is the case then your example needs to make
it clearer that you're describing a case where no code was transmitted to
users of your website. (Perhaps using some other word than widget is a
start.)

For example: Your website has a red background and the code you used for it
is licensed under the CAL. My website also has a red background. Did I make
an aspect of your website perceptible on my website?

henrik
-- 
henrik.ingo at avoinelama.fi
+358-40-5697354        skype: henrik.ingo            irc: hingo
www.openlife.cc

My LinkedIn profile: http://fi.linkedin.com/pub/henrik-ingo/3/232/8a7
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