click-through EULA vs DFSG
On Tue, 29 Oct 2002, Sam Hartman wrote:
> But I have encountered click-through licenses that did not require me
> to agree to such conditions and that were click-throughs for DFSG
> licenses. I have never found a click-through for a GPL subset.
I can imagine, though I've not seen, a DFSG-free clickthrough license. It
would be completely useless, as it wouldn't be clicked through by most
Debian users.
I haven't been paying much attention to the discussion, but the current
download page (http://www.unrealircd.com/downloads.php) includes:
IF THIS SOFTWARE WAS DOWNLOADED FROM A LOCATION OTHER THAN THIS WEBSITE
AND THROUGH THE STANDARD DOWNLOAD URL OR WAS DOWNLOADED USING A METHOD TO
AVOID ACCEPTANCE OF THIS AGREEMENT NO RIGHTS SHALL BE GIVEN TO THE USER.
Clearly non-free. If they have any code in the product that they received
under the GPL, they're in violation.
> I simply believe it is in ourbest interest to explore the situation
> and be sure software is non-free before refusing to put it in Debian.
Disagree, but midly. We should be sure software is free before putting it
in Debian. We can refuse under any grounds we like, including "it's
ambiguously unfree".
A click-through is evidence (not proof, but a strong hint) that the
copyright holder intends the work to be unfree. It may be free through a
mistake or weakness in the license, but this kind of restriction is
fundamentally incompatible with Debian freeness.
--
Mark Rafn dagon@dagon.net <http://www.dagon.net/>
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