On Sun, 31 Aug 2025 12:23:48 +0200 Simon Josefsson wrote: > Michael Lustfield <michael@lustfield.net> writes: > > > On Sat, 30 Aug 2025 18:47:39 +0200 > > "Andrea Pappacoda" <tachi@debian.org> wrote: > > > >> License: public-domain > > > > As a rule of thumb, nothing is actually public domain unless it's very old. > > There are licenses that attempt to replicate public domain, but it is not > > possible to simply state you release something into public domain--at least not > > in EU or US. > > Do you have any reference explaining that claim? > > My perception is that there are frequent current publications of public > domain content, including stuff from NIST based on this "license": > > https://spdx.org/licenses/NIST-PD.html > > Another example are DJB's libraries, for example lib25519: > https://lib25519.cr.yp.to/license.html My understanding is that this is a vexed question: the actual possibility for an author to voluntarily place a work into the public domain is controversial. Some people [claim] that this is possible, one such person is, indeed, DJB. [claim]: <https://cr.yp.to/publicdomain.html> Other people point out that most (all?) copyright laws do not explicitly describe a mechanism to do voluntarily place a work into the public domain. It seems to me that the [Berne Convention] (which is adopted by almost all countries of our planet) does not impose that such a mechanism be present in the signatory-country copyright laws. [Berne Convention]: <https://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text/283698> My own understanding is that the Debian Project does not take a stand on this vexed question. Dedications to the public domains are considered either as effective (hence the work is considered to actually be in the public domain) or as all-permissive licenses (hence the work is considered to actually be copyrighted, but released under the terms of a license that allows anyone to do anything with the work). Both interpretations seem to lead to a very similar result, from a practical standpoint. Please note that I am just a Debian Maintainer, not an officially delegated spokesperson of the Debian Project or of the Debian FTP Masters. I don't recall seeing any official position of the FTP Masters on this topic, but, of course, I may have missed one... -- http://www.inventati.org/frx/ There's not a second to spare! To the laboratory! ..................................................... Francesco Poli . GnuPG key fpr == CA01 1147 9CD2 EFDF FB82 3925 3E1C 27E1 1F69 BFFE
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