Re: [libreplanet-discuss] Alternatives to closed, non-free webmail services?

[Bryan Baldwin]

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On 07/26/2012 01:24 PM, Patrick Anderson wrote:
> I just want to clarify that my approach is not to beg the
> governments nor the corporations, but to create new corporations
> that use the legally- biding social contract I sometimes call the 
> GNU General Public Law as an *internal* form of regulation without
> the need for any external watchdogs.

That sounds good, but I have some deep concerns over the adoption of
such a position by corporations that have a profit motivation. While I
see a time where ethics could be a competitive edge for profit driven
entities, it isn't now. Even forming new corporations in such an
environment is self defeating, because such an entity will not survive
in its environment. You need to terraform the environment instead of
fiddling with the genetics of the entities that live in it.

There is also the problem that if a corporation decides to adopt the
terms of the General Public Law, it is just as obliged to discard them
whenever convenient. The reason the GPL works (in the USA at least) is
that copyright law has Constitutional justification and the GPL
exploits that justification. Changing the license after releasing it
under the GPL effectively only creates a fork. The people who already
possess copies conveyed to them under the GPL would still have every
right their license. But with your General Public Law there is nothing
constraining anyone to follow ethical terms, and without significant
revolution in law it isn't going to happen either.

Freedom box is still your best bet. Instead of manufacturing terms and
conditions, manufacture the facts. When the facts are on the ground
you won't have to worry about making corporations that obey a standard
of ethics, because they will *want* to follow your ethics. They'll
have to in order to support the facts that they need to stay in business.
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