Anthony DeRobertis wrote:
On Jan 19, 2004, at 08:59, Remi Vanicat wrote:Anthony DeRobertis <asd@suespammers.org> writes:There is no harm per se, however, there is the good we did not do (because we were no longer able).we were never able to do it. Or we are able to do it (in case of a GFDL like package for example).I don't think I was clear enough. If it is ethical to share, then currently, we are sharing our non-free archive with some people, and that is an ethical act. If we maintain the status quo, then in the future we will share non-free with more people. Since we're assuming sharing is ethical, then that is a good.If we drop non-free, we will no longer be able to perform that good.
I hope I answered this question in other thread, just to make it as clear as possible. I agree with the fact that stopping to distribute non-free will decrease the amount of good, which Debian can do. It was wrong and stupid to claim opposite from my side. This fact doesn't change the fact that by distributing non-free Debian act in the way which lead to unethical situations. Dropping non-free itself will decrease the amount of good, but it will decrease also the amount of actions which lead to unethical situations.
The only solution I see, to get from the situation where the Debian is, will be that Debian not just drops non-free, but will redirect efforts and resources from distributing non-free to free packages support and distribution.
In this way Debian will act at a very high ethical level all the time. Because, if Debian reject the request to distribute non-free, he will not just say: "We refuse to do it, because it can lead us and your to non-ethical situations", but he can say "We refuse to do it, because we are busy with working on free software replacement for what you are asking for and on other free software. Packaging this can lead us and your to non-ethical situations, but we have no free resources anyway."
Acting in the proposed way will not reduce the amount of good which can be done by Debian, but will increase it. I see no other solution.
-- Best regards, Sergey Spiridonov