Re: Debian's Linux kernel continues to regress on freedom
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
On 09/13/07 10:46, Peter Samuelson wrote:
> [Ron Johnson]
>> If O'Reilly wants to write a book on implementing smtp or dns they
>> must get permission from the IETF?
>
> Not if they either (1) do not quote the RFCs at all, beyond what is
> permitted by fair use, or (2) reprint the RFC verbatim. Those things
> are permitted, and those are what O'Reilly would probably want.
>
> What is not permitted is to create an email exchange protocol, or a
> hierarchical name record infrastructure protocol, which is similar to
> SMTP or DNS, and while doing so, use the appropriate RFCs as a starting
> point for producing your spec. (Note also that your new protocol
> doesn't even have to be all that similar to SMTP or DNS for the ability
> to cut and paste RFC text to be potentially useful to you.)
Really?
If I decided that I wanted to "build a better mousetrap", the first
thing I'd do is go read the relevant RFCs.
> I mean, you can do that, but only if you're willing to participate in
> the IETF standardization process. Which, if you're just some random
> company producing internal docs for an internal product, you probably
> don't want.
>
> Of course, you are free not to think Debian's required freedoms are
> actually useful or reasonable. That's nothing new; lots of people
> don't see why it's useful to require source code for software, either.
> Fact is, many of us _do_ think these freedoms are valuable, and we
> don't like the idea of trying to define little special cases, like
> "well, nobody would probably want to cut and paste things from an RFC
> anyway, like they might from other documents".
While I know that a source file is a "document", some of us have
more difficulty than others believing or even *agreeing* that
"traditional" documents should be GPL-style libre.
(That does not mean that we enthuse over perpetual copyrights or
restricting fair use into oblivion.)
- --
Ron Johnson, Jr.
Jefferson LA USA
Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day.
Hit him with a fish, and he goes away for good!
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux)
iD8DBQFG6WTGS9HxQb37XmcRAqT+AJ9SmC5gXwzyaQPneNpbdnd8q457kACgjKeA
09r98Rx9KpyWmpMW/Put5OE=
=IxwI
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Reply to: