[Solar-general] Re: How the Swedish Pirate Party Platform Backfires on Free Software

[Ignacio Pedrini]

Me decidí a escribirle a Richard más vale que me insulte él que un proyecto
enferme el Software Libre.

2009/7/25 Ignacio Pedrini <duxjipd en gmail.com>

> Hola, pensaba escribirle a Stallman por diferentes motivos y temas entre
> uno de ello era su opinión sobre el Pirat Partiet, el Partido Pirata Sueco.
> Mi inglés no es muy bueno pero su opinión cumplio con mis expectativas. Aún
> me queda pendiente enviarle un mail de agradecimiento por ayudarnos a todos.
>
> Estoy reflexionando y los invitos a todos a debatir sobre el tema. También
> lo estaré discutiendo en un grupo en que me han invitado:
>
> Grupo de Yahoo:
> *PPArgentina<http://ar.groups.yahoo.com/group/PPArgentina/?yguid=407409530>
> *
> Direcciones de correo electrónico del grupo Enlace relacionado:
> http://partido-pirata.com.ar Enviar mensaje:
> PPArgentina en gruposyahoo.com.ar Suscribirse:
> PPArgentina-subscribe en gruposyahoo.com.ar Cancelar suscripción:
> PPArgentina-unsubscribe en gruposyahoo.com.ar Propietario:
> PPArgentina-owner en gruposyahoo.com.ar
>
> *Links:
> http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/pirate-party.html
> http://meneame.net/story/stallman-arremete-contra-partido-pirata-ing
> http://twitter.com/partido_pirata/statuses/2835881115*
>
>
> *Los que quieren pueden comunicarse con los integrantes del Pirat Partiet,
> dejo los links por si llega RMS a leer la este mensaje:*
>
>
> Los mail son públicos los pueden encontrar en los links, están los de
> Amelia
> Andersdotten, Richard Stallman, Rick Falkvinge, entre otros:
>
> http://www.ameliatillbryssel.se/espanol
> http://www.gnu.org/people/speakers.es.html
> http://press.piratpartiet.se/kontakt/
> http://www.piratpartiet.se/styrelse
> http://press.piratpartiet.se/about/
> http://www.piratpartiet.se/medlemsservice
>
>
>
> How the Swedish Pirate Party Platform Backfires on Free Software
>
> by Richard Stallman <http://www.stallman.org/>
>
> The bullying of the copyright industry in Sweden inspired the launch of the
> first political party whose platform is to reduce copyright restrictions:
> the Pirate Party. Its platform includes the prohibition of Digital
> Restrictions Management, legalization of noncommercial sharing of published
> works, and shortening of copyright for commercial use to a five-year period.
> Five years after publication, any published work would go into the public
> domain.
>
> I support these changes, in general; but the specific combination chosen by
> the Swedish Pirate Party backfires ironically in the special case of free
> software. I'm sure that they did not intend to hurt free software, but
> that's what would happen.
>
> The GNU General Public License and other copyleft licenses use copyright
> law to defend freedom for every user. The GPL permits everyone to publish
> modified works, but only under the same license. Redistribution of the
> unmodified work must also preserve the license. And all redistributors must
> give users access to the software's source code.
>
> How would the Swedish Pirate Party's platform affect copylefted free
> software? After five years, its source code would go into the public domain,
> and proprietary software developers would be able to include it in their
> programs. But what about the reverse case?
>
> Proprietary software is restricted by EULAs, not just by copyright, and the
> users don't have the source code. Even if copyright permits noncommercial
> sharing, the EULA may forbid it. In addition, the users, not having the
> source code, do not control what the program does when they run it. To run
> such a program is to surrender your freedom and give the developer control
> over you.
>
> So what would be the effect of terminating this program's copyright after 5
> years? This would not require the developer to release source code, and
> presumably most will never do so. Users, still denied the source code, would
> still be unable to use the program in freedom. The program could even have a
> “time bomb” in it to make it stop working after 5 years, in which case the
> “public domain” copies would not run at all.
>
> Thus, the Pirate Party's proposal would give proprietary software
> developers the use of GPL-covered source code after 5 years, but it would
> not give free software developers the use of proprietary source code, not
> after 5 years or even 50 years. The Free World would get the bad, but not
> the good. The difference between source code and object code and the
> practice of using EULAs would give proprietary software an effective
> exception from the general rule of 5-year copyright — one that free software
> does not share.
>
> We also use copyright to partially deflect the danger of software patents.
> We cannot make our programs safe from them — no program is ever safe from
> software patents in a country which allows them — but at least we prevent
> them from being used to make the program effectively non-free. The Swedish
> Pirate Party proposes to abolish software patents, and if that is done, this
> issue would go away. But until that is achieved, we must not lose our only
> defense for protection from patents.
>
> Once the Swedish Pirate Party had announced its platform, free software
> developers noticed this effect and began proposing a special rule for free
> software: to make copyright last longer for free software, so that it can
> continue to be copylefted. This explicit exception for free software would
> counterbalance the effective exception for proprietary software. Even ten
> years ought to be enough, I think. However, the proposal met with resistance
> from the Pirate Party's leaders, who objected to the idea of a longer
> copyright for a special case.
>
> I could support a law that would make GPL-covered software's source code
> available in the public domain after 5 years, provided it has the same
> effect on proprietary software's source code. After all, copyleft is a means
> to an end (users' freedom), not an end in itself. And I'd rather not be an
> advocate for a stronger copyright.
>
> So I proposed that the Pirate Party platform require proprietary software's
> source code to be put in escrow when the binaries are released. The escrowed
> source code would then be released in the public domain after 5 years.
> Rather than making free software an official exception to the 5-year
> copyright rule, this would eliminate proprietary software's unofficial
> exception. Either way, the result is fair.
>
> A Pirate Party supporter proposed a more general variant of the first
> suggestion: a general scheme to make copyright last longer as the public is
> granted more freedoms in using the work. The advantage of this is that free
> software becomes part of a general pattern of varying copyright term, rather
> than a lone exception.
>
> I'd prefer the escrow solution, but any of these methods would avoid a
> prejudicial effect specifically against free software. There may be other
> solutions that would also do the job. One way or another, the Pirate Party
> of Sweden should avoid placing a handicap on a movement to defend the public
> from marauding giants.
>
> back to top <http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/pirate-party.html#header>
>
> Please send FSF & GNU inquiries to <gnu en gnu.org> <gnu en gnu.org>. There are
> also other ways to contact <http://www.gnu.org/contact/> the FSF.
> Please send broken links and other corrections or suggestions to
> <webmasters en gnu.org> <webmasters en gnu.org>.
>
> Please see the Translations README<http://www.gnu.org/server/standards/README.translations.html>for information on coordinating and submitting translations of this article.
>
>
> Copyright © 2009 Richard Stallman
>
> This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative
> Works 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit
> http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/us/ or send a letter to
> Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California,
> 94105, USA.
>  Updated: $Date: 2009/07/24 07:25:52 $
>
> *
> Links:
> http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/pirate-party.html
> http://meneame.net/story/stallman-arremete-contra-partido-pirata-ing
> http://twitter.com/partido_pirata/statuses/2835881115*
>
> --
> José Ignacio (Nacho) Pedrini, DuxJP.
> Free Software activist.
> Free Culture activist.
> Pirate Party (Piratpartiet) activist.
> Perfil, www.google.com/profiles/duxjipd
>



-- 
José Ignacio (Nacho) Pedrini, DuxJP.
Free Software activist.
Free Culture activist.
Pirate Party (Piratpartiet) activist.
Perfil, www.google.com/profiles/duxjipd
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