[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: PROPOSED: the Dictator Test (was: Contractual requirements [was: request-tracker3: license shadiness])



On Wed, Jun 30, 2004 at 05:05:08PM -0500, Branden Robinson wrote:
> The above did not get much discussion; I'd just like to AOL it, and
> suggest that any license which attempts to prohibit that which would
> otherwise be legal is non-free by definition.
> 
> Yes, this will vary by jurisdiction, but that is already true for many
> of the decisions we have to make (crypto-in-main, the expiration of the
> LZW patent, etc.).
> 
> We should come up with a name for this test.  Maybe the "Autocrat Test"
> or the "Dictator Test"?  The copyright (or patent, or trademark) holder
> does not get to make up his or her own laws?

"Autocrat" and "dictator" are roughly synonymous and just refer to
systems of government where all power stems from a single individual;
the UK was an autocracy for much of its history without individual
freedom being significantly impaired. I think the word you want is
"totalism" (as in "totalitarian").

-- 
  .''`.  ** Debian GNU/Linux ** | Andrew Suffield
 : :' :  http://www.debian.org/ |
 `. `'                          |
   `-             -><-          |

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: Digital signature


Reply to: