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

[Ignacio Pedrini]

Ahora le estoy escribiendo a Amelia Andersdotter, lider del Partido Pirata
quién esta cerca de ingresar al Parlamento Europeo, es para hacerle llegar
la crítica de Richard Stallman y le escribí algo también sobre censura de
Wikipedia.

Salud!.

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

> 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
>



-- 
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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