Re: Suggestions of David Nusinow, was: RPSL and DFSG-compliance - choice of venue

[Brian Thomas Sniffen <bts@alum.mit.edu>]

Matthew Garrett <mgarrett@chiark.greenend.org.uk> writes:

> Brian Thomas Sniffen <bts@alum.mit.edu> wrote:
>> Matthew Garrett <mgarrett@chiark.greenend.org.uk> writes:
>>> You don't appear to be arguing against the idea that debian-legal is
>>> extreme compared to the rest of the project.
>> 
>> I'm arguing that what you perceive as extremism is simply the presence
>> of knowledge -- sure, the debian-legal regulars have opinions about
>> licenses.  The X Strike Force probably has opinions about windowing
>> systems and weird architectures.  That doesn't make XSF or D-L
>> extremists, though.  To characterize anyone with knowledge and the
>> reasoned opinions that spring from it as an extremist is unwise; to
>> dismiss them because of this extremism is to restrict yourself to the
>> opinions of the unwise.
>
> So you believe that if we taught all developers about intricate
> licensing issues, the number who would be of the opinion that DFSG 4 is
> a mistake and that the GPL is only free because of DFSG 10 would
> increase significantly?

Probably, though I think that, taken proportionally, you'd see a much
larger increase in the former than the latter.  That may be because
I think that DFSG 4 doesn't allow surprising modifications, which are
fundamental to freedom.

> I don't wish to characterise people with knowledge and reasoned opinions
> as extremists. I do wish to characterise people who believe that several
> things that Debian accepts as free should be non-free as extremists. If
> there is overlap between the two, that doesn't mean that I'm calling
> them extremists because of their knowledge.

Debian accepts several pieces of QPL'd software as free.  I don't
think the QPL is a free software license.  Does that fact alone make
me an extremist?

Is anyone with a position on the GFDL an extremist, then, or just the
losers?  That really could have gone either way.

-Brian

-- 
Brian Sniffen                                       bts@alum.mit.edu