Re: MP3 decoder packaged with XMMS
On 13 Jul 2005 07:50:44 GMT, MJ Ray <mjr@phonecoop.coop> wrote:
> "Michael K. Edwards" <m.k.edwards@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Even so, Mr. Ravicher appears to be on the saner end of the range of
> > FSF associates. [...]
>
> Isn't defaming a lawyer rather a stupid tactic for someone in the US?
I have no wish to _defame_ a lawyer (or anyone else for that matter),
and have tried to be careful to distinguish between things that I know
personally (very little when it comes to the FSF) and conclusions that
I have drawn from public evidence (which I try to flag as such and
cite completely and accurately). Much of what I write reflects only
how it appears to me, and I try to disclaim authority accordingly.
While no public critic is safe from accusations of defamation,
slander, libel, and so forth -- certainly not when it comes to lawyers
in the US, but the same is true to some degree of public figures
generally in the UK and political figures in most places, and US
lawyers shade into both categories -- proving them is supposed to
require a demonstration of both malicious intent and actual knowledge
of falsehood. I try to avoid both of these criteria in both letter
and spirit, not so much out of fear of the law as because I am aware
that anything I send to a Debian mailing list will be Google-able more
or less from now to the heat death of the Universe.
> For those wondering what part of the sanity range patenter Michael K
> Edwards inhabits, he mentioned during the Firefox trademark thread
> that he'd let his sane-ness lapse. ;-)
My association with the name SANE.net always was something between an
inside joke and "big lie" theory ... :-)
Cheers,
- Michael
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