On 31.01.2004 16:25, Eric S. Raymond wrote:
If
livna.org is willing to run afoul of patents and the DMCA to
distribute libdvdcss, it's hard to believe they'd balk at
violating these. But I'll ask.
I think we need to distinguish between ignoring US laws and patents
outside of the US, and violating international copyrights. Livna may
distribute libdvdcss and US-patent-infringing software because they
are outside the jurisdiction of the US, and DMCA/patents don't have
any power over them (at least at the moment). The "infringing"
software is still Free in terms of license: there is an explicit
permission to distribute it where legal.
However, distributing proprietary packages without having a license
to distribute them would be a violation of international copyrights,
which is a criminal offense in most of the civilized world. As long
as
livna.org remains outside the US, they are legal in their
locality because all of their software is free. If they start
distributing unlicensed stuff, they would quickly lose their legal
status, be shut down, fined, and likely thrown in jail, because that
would be no different than running a warez site.
So, I wouldn't suggest putting pressure on them to distribute
proprietary packages without the permission of copyright owners.
Regards,
--
Konstantin ("Icon") Riabitsev
Duke Physics Systems Admin, RHCE
I am looking for a job in Canada!
http://linux.duke.edu/~icon/cajob.ptml