Re: Sun Java available from non-free
wouter@debian.org wrote:
By whom? A bunch of people with too much time on their hands. Is there
an actual lawyer involved? I don't think so.
This is a crazy stupid argument. By this argument, Debian should distribute absolutely
anything, no matter what the license, unless a lawyer gets involved. Never mind
actually bothering to get a valid copyright license -- there's no actual lawyer
involved, so we don't have to worry! Let's distribute copies of some websites which
seem interesting! After all, there's no lawyer involved! How about some old movies
-- maybe "Gone with the Wind"? After all there's no lawyer involved!
Please desist from making completely moronic arguments. If you would like to hire a
copyright lawyer and provide his or her services to Debian, it would be much appreciated.
Until then, we make do with what we have, and try to work out what licenses mean
as best we can. In particular, we tend to demand licenses where we can clearly tell,
without being lawyers, that they don't require bad things. It's because we're not
lawyers that we err on the side of caution. If you disagree on some point of license
interpretation, please argue the merits of the matter. Don't say "Oh, you're not
a lawyer, so I can't hear you, la la la".
This applies to everyone who likes to slag off debian-legal, by the way.
Your other arguments were reasonable and sensible. :-)
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