Re: FWD: Analog licence violates DFSG
Scripsit John Galt
> Basically, it all boils down to: where this
> contract fails, ALL contracts fail,
No. It says that if I commit any crime whatsoever (e.g. bicycling at night
without the lights on), then I am breaking the contract that lets me use
the software. This does *NOT* apply to all other contracts. If I murder
people and get jailed for that, I am still allowed to use emacs in prison
- and I *should* still be allowed to use all of Debian.
Software that does not allow itself to be used by criminals is not free.
Let the proper authorities enforce the law and punish offenders. It is not
the job of free software authors to do so.
> Since the DFSG has no explicit demand that a license not refer to the
> legality/illegality of the licensee's actions,
The DFSG has a very explicit demant that the license should apply
to everyone. "Everyone" also includes people who break laws.
--
Henning Makholm "The compile-time type checker for this
language has proved to be a valuable filter which
traps a significant proportion of programming errors."
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