Re: [libreplanet-discuss] The FSF Allows No Derivatives,

[Mike Gerwitz]

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On Fri, Apr 24, 2015 at 15:50:44 -0700, Ali Abdul Ghani wrote:
> hi all
> to day I find this  article
> http://onpon4.github.io/other/fsf-no-derivatives/

Is there a part of the article that you wanted to discuss?

Software freedom requires considerations that are very different from
(albeit with some overlap) expressing one's opinion.  The former has a
concrete definition and set of ideals; the latter is, well, opinion.

I posted my opinions on and evaluation of this topic back when I decided
to release all of my works---including works of opinion, such as blog
posts---under CC BY-SA:

  
http://mikegerwitz.com/2013/06/All-Thoughts-and-Site-Text-Now-Licensed-Under-CC-BY-SA

It touches on many of the same points.

Different people will reach different conclusions for their works.  For
example, consider RMS:

  "The second class of work is works whose purpose is to say what
  certain people think. Talking about those people is their
  purpose. This includes, say, memoirs, essays of opinion, scientific
  papers, offers to buy and sell, catalogues of goods for sale. The
  whole point of those works is that they tell you what somebody thinks
  or what somebody saw or what somebody believes. To modify them is to
  misrepresent the authors; so modifying these works is not a socially
  useful activity. And so verbatim copying is the only thing that people
  really need to be allowed to do."[0]

While I disagree with that (rationale in above link), RMS is in a much
more sensitive position: he dedicates his life to speaking and conveying
his opinions, and assigns very precise semantics to his words.  He is an
important public figure that is often discussed and often refuted and
misrepresented.  Out of all those people---and all those heated
philosophical spats between free software advocates and everyone
else---will allowing derivative works offer too much of a distraction
- From his and the FSF's content?  I don't know if my personal opinions of
my works would change in his position or not; it's not a position that I
ever expect myself to be in.

[0]: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/copyright-and-globalization.html#opinions

- -- 
Mike Gerwitz
Free Software Hacker | GNU Maintainer
http://mikegerwitz.com
FSF Member #5804 | GPG Key ID: 0x8EE30EAB
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