Re: OSD && DFSG - different purposes - constructive suggestion!
Barak Pearlmutter said:
> Here is a rough outline of which I think it could look like:
> Q: How do you do this?
Perhaps:
Q: How do you determine if a license is DFSG-Free?
(There isn't much context to figure out what "this" is)
>
> A: the process involves human judgment. The DFSG is an attempt to
> articulate some of our criteria. But the DFSG is not a contract. This
> means that if you think you found a "loophole" in the DFSG then you
> don't really understand how this works. The DFSG is a,
> potentially imperfect, attempt to express "freeness" in software. It
> is not something whose letter we argue about. It is not a law.
> Rather, it is a set of guidelines.
>
> Q: How can I tell if some license is free?
>
> A: well, the DFSG is a good start. You might also consider a few
> thought experiments which we often apply.
>
> 1. the desert island scenario.
>
> Imagine someone stuck on ... impossible to fulfill ...
>
> 2. the Chinese Dissident.
It has been suggested that this test be referred to as simply as the
"Dissident" test.
>
> Consider a dissident in China who wishes to share a modified bit
> of software with other dissidents, but does not want to reveal his
> own identity as the modifier or directly reveal the
> modifications to the government. Any requirement for ...
>
> Q: what does "no discrimination" mean? Doesn't the GPL discriminate
> against companies making proprietary software?
>
> A: Some more examples (beyond those in the DFSG) are ... The GPL does
> not discriminate against companies that want to make proprietary
> software because they are given the same rights to GPLed software that
> anyone else has. They just happen to also want the right to make the
> software non-free. No one is given that right, so this is not
> discrimination.
Q: What about licenses that grant different rights to different groups?
Isn't that discrimination, banned by DFSG#5/6?
A: For Debian's purposes, if all the different groups can exercise their
DFSG rights, it's OK if there are other people who can do more.
For example, if a work were licensed under the 3-clause BSD license
only to elementary school teachers, but the GPL to everyone else, it
would be DFSG-Free.
--Joe
Reply to: