Plan 9 license

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

Well, I guess my view is distinct from both Richard Stallman's and David
Johnson's. Unlike Stallman, I think Eric Raymond was technically accurate in
his use of the term 'piracy.' I do not agree, however, that the metaphor is
a very good one. The connotation of piracy tends to distort the distinction
between theft and copyright infringement is very troubling ways. Copyright
infringement is not theft. It may "feel" like theft to the victim, but, in
fact, the copyright owner usually still has possession of the embodiment of
the copyright interest. If someone makes an unauthorized copy of your source
code, they may have infringed your copyright, but they have not stolen your
source code. You still have possession of that. Conversely, if someone
steals your car, you do not have possession of it. Hence, the metaphor of
piracy is technically accurate, but to the extent that it connotes theft in
the minds of those who think of pirates on the high seas and all of that,
the metaphor is not an apt analogy for copyright.

Rod

> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Johnson [mailto:david at usermode.org]
> Sent: Friday, September 01, 2000 9:48 PM
> To: Richard Stallman
> Cc: license-discuss at opensource.org
> Subject: Re: Plan 9 license
>
>
> On Fri, 01 Sep 2000, Richard Stallman wrote:
> > I am ashamed of Eric Raymond for using the term "piracy" to describe
> > unauthorized copying.  That word is a propaganda term, designed to
> > imply that unauthorized copying is the moral equivalent of attacking a
> > ship.
>
> The image of pillaging bucanneers may be an unfortunate association,
> but it is metaphorically correct. If information can indeed be owned,
> and right or wrong the law says it can be, then violating copyright is
> akin to theft. Comparing piracy to committing copyright "theft" on the
> "high seas" of the internet is an apt metaphor.
>
> --
> David Johnson
> _________________________
> <http://www.usermode.org>
>