Re: GNU License and Computer Break Ins

[Paul Serice <serice@bigfoot.com>]

Raul Miller wrote:
> 
> On Tue, May 16, 2000 at 01:18:12AM -0500, Paul Serice wrote:
> > This is not some random quote that I'm taking out of context. There is
> > a logical nexus here.
> 
> Sure, but you're discussing an informal essay as if it were a legal
> document.
> 
> Why?

Well, I guess it's a couple of things.  First I feel betrayed.  Given
all the comments I've received about Stallman's reasonably
well-publicized philosophy I suppose I have no one to blame but myself.

Second, I suppose I've had a hard time getting all of this into words,
and I appreciate the patients of most people in helping me to express
this.

Third, I agree that the computer break-in thing is a little over the top
and not the best example.  In retrospect I was struggling to say
something like:

Maybe I'm late to realize it, but I feel, with good reason, that
Stallman is not trustworthy.  So in the same sense that I would want to
look over source code from an untrusted source, given the prevalence of
the GPL, I wonder if it has been analyzed for trojan horses or legally
analogous beasts.

I mean, just what _exactly_ do we allow to happen to our computer and
our privacy by putting software on our systems with a copyright from an
untrusted source?  If you trust Stallman, then it's no big deal, but if
you think he would break any law to have his own peace of mind, then its
worrisome.

I guess my answer is that with all the smart people on the internet, and
most of them not as gullible as myself, that they have looked this GPL
thing over and have decided right message, wrong messenger.


I am not a troll -- just a little paranoid,
Paul Serice