Re: [WARNING] DO NOT _EVER_ SEND CODE VIA HOTMAIL
On Mon, Apr 02, 2001 at 01:02:02PM -0700, Aaron Lehmann wrote:
>
> [stuff omitted]
>
> Now you may think the GPL (and/or other GNU licensed works like the
> LGPL, FDL, etc...) protects your work. What you may not realize is
> that Copyright Law is the _ultimate_ law. The software that cracked
> the encryption (really "uglification") and revealed the follies of
> popular "Internet Filtering" software were perfect examples. The
> software was released GPL, but then revoked later. How? Because
> the creators ultimately have "all rights reserved" to their
> copyright, and can revoke any license at any time (like they did
> when the popular filtering software vendors bought the rights).
> When you post, upload or otherwise transmit through a
> Passport.COM-enabled service, you are effectively giving Microsoft
> a non-exclusive, "blank 'copyright' check" to use your work.
>
While I'm not disputing your assertion that Microsoft may exploit copyrigth
holders who use their various free services to recover their operating costs
or increase profits, I do contest your assertion that a general public
license, once granted, can be revoked. License and patent grants made in
exchange for consideration are permanent unless otherwise explicitly stated.
The right to make, modify, and distribute copies of a program licensed under
the GPL is granted in exchange for a number of considerations, including the
requirement that you make source code available to those you give binaries.
A number of people who were involved in the Mattel / Cyber Patrol matter
appealed the district court's injunction with the help of the ACLU - and
won. Since then, they have returned the Cyber Patrol list decoder program to
their web sites. One such site is at <http://cp.waldo.net/>.
--
Brian Ristuccia
brian@ristuccia.com
bristucc@cs.uml.edu
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