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Re: [RFC]: firmware-ipw2200, acceptable for non-free?



On Thu, 8 Mar 2007 09:46:05 +1000 Kel Modderman wrote:

> On Thursday 08 March 2007 04:23, Francesco Poli wrote:
[...]
> > However, the license does not meet the DFSG (it's not even close to
> > meeting them...): has Intel been contacted and asked to provide the
> > firmware (with source code) in a DFSG-free manner (for instance,
> > under the terms of the GNU GPL v2, or of the Expat/MIT license)? 
> > Intel has recently had some press coverage about their Free Software
> > drivers for integrated graphics chips: I appreciated that move,
> > maybe they are willing to get some more good publicity by freeing
> > this firmware...
> 
> Quoting from: 
> http://intellinuxwireless.org/index.php?n=FAQ&s=license
> 
> [quote]
> Q. The license for the binaries needed with the newer projects
> (ipw3945 and  iwlwifi) seems much cleaner than the license for the
> ipw2100 and ipw2200. Can you change the terms of the older license?
> [ ipw2100 and ipw2200 specific ]
> A. Unfortunately, no. Those binaries contain intellectual property
> licensed  from third parties, and Intel must follow certain
> contractual obligations in  licensing for those components. The
> ipw3945 and iwlwifi related binaries are  all Intel-developed, and we
> are able to use a simplified license for that  product.
> [/quote]

"We would really love to be more permissive, but we cannot, 'cause that
other evil guy forbids us."

As I keep reading answers like this, I'm less and less convinced of
their good faith...  All this pointing fingers to unspecified "third
parties" and passing the buck to them seems like a cheap excuse: if they
managed to get permission to use the "intellectual property" (whatever
that means) of some "third parties", they are probably also able to get
permission to disclose source code in a DFSG-free manner, as long as
they really want to.
After all, Intel has deep pockets, they could even pay enough money to
obtain copyright transfer, if necessary...

Disappointed.


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