Re: Apologies and the Debian Social Contract
On Sat, 15 Nov 1997, Paul J Thompson wrote:
> 3. I think it is a good idea but it would take some bit of work:
[...]
> software tree packages which could legally be put onto a Debian CD. non-free
> would contain those packages which, without a shadow of a doubt and more then
> anything, could not be put on a cd. And, of course, all non-DFSG compliant
[...]
I think a major problem with this is that some non-dfsg packages can be
legally redistributed only under certain terms and by certain people. An
example: some allow redistribution if the price charged is only "for the
cost of the medium and copying", and some don't allow redistribution for
anything but free. So whether or not these are freely redistributable
depends on who's doing the redistributing and what they want from it -- we
can hand it out (via ftp) 'cuz we don't charge. We _couldn't_ hand some
of it out on Debian Official CD images at $50 a pop.
The current system works because the person accessing the ftp archive is
the one responsible for figuring out whether s/he's allowed to include it.
For SPI, Inc. to do that would be a potentially dangerous (from a legality
standpoint) policy, IMO.
Will
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| harpo@udel.edu lowe@cis.udel.edu lowe@debian.org |
| http://www.cis.udel.edu/~lowe/ |
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| You say "Love is a temple. Love the higher law." |
| You ask me to enter, but then you make me crawl. |
| And I can't be holding on to what you got |
| When all you got is hurt. |
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