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Ask FSF General Counsel Eben Moglen
Columbia Law School professor Eben Moglen has been the Free Software Foundation's (pro bono) general counsel since 1993. He's also involved with the Electronic Frontier Foundation and has been mentioned on Slashdot a number of times because of his participation in these groups and some of the worthy causes they support, as well as other freedom-related matters. One question per post, please. We'll run Prof. Moglen's answers to 10 of the highest-moderated questions as soon as he gets them back to us.
What would you consider to be your biggest "win" so far?
How about loss?
I am sure a lot of us here think we know, but it would be interesting to hear it directly from you.
thanks for fighting the good fight.
Sent from your iPad.
What would you offer as the best legal advice to make Linux and other GPL projects more palitable to large businesses and other investors, other than the fact the source code is completely open and free for modifications?
--CypherDragon
One issue that I know has come up for me is how the GPL applies in situations where I'm using GPL software but I'm not actually modifying it. For example, I write a Java application, and it is reliant on a JAR that is GPL'd. Do I then need to GPL my software? I haven't changed the JAR in anyway, I'm just redistributing it with my software. The end user could just as easily download the JAR themselves, it's just a convenience for me to offer it in my package.
This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
You work as a pro-bon loywer which means that you essentiallie work for free.
This is similar to those of us who code Linux applications ---- we work for free out of matter of principle and consider it as a way of donating to a charity organization since Linux is good for everyone.
My question is: Is your life effected by your day job (where you get paid) and your "night" job (in which you are the legal counsell for the GNU organization)?
Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate. Ex-O'Reilly/MIT employee, now a full-time Google employee.
Where do you see the law and society heading? With companies trying and succeeding in buying laws which protect their markets (RIAA / MPAA, MS) and IP laws covering more and more ground (State Street, SBC), at what point will the law makers have an epiphany and start to reverse these bad laws, or should we hope that we end up with a reactive court to over turn these laws?
III.IIVIVIXIIVIVIIIVVIIIIXVIIIXIIIIIIIIVIIIIVVIII
Was there ever a time when you had to bring some FSF geeks in to court for their expert testimony? How did you manage to clean them up for the courthouse? Was there any beard trimming and/or suit shopping?
It seems to me that the FSF arrangement for licenses has a big leg up on other open source arrangements, because it is clear who (the FSF) holds the ability to sue a violator of the license. What's your view of the oft-discussed problem of how to figure out who has standing to sue a GPL violator if there are lots of folks who have contributed to the GPL'd work? Is the only solution the aggregation of rights in an entity like a foundation or trust, the approach the FSF has taken?
What do you see the greates challenges are to Freedom of Speech given the Patriot act and Patriot II?
As an undergraduate in computer science I have found licensing and intellectual property issues so interesting that I have chosen to go to law school. I would like to advance many of the causes that you support. What advice would you have for an aspiring lawyer who wants to promote freedom and the public domain? What steps would be necessary to support my family and still fight for the cause? How best can a lawyer help society without selling out to big money?
Given the failure of the DOJ and other cases against Microsoft (no meaningful penalties, technically incompetent judge overseeing DOJ case, requirement to support Java in IE endlessly held up in court) and the continuing wide-spread abuse of IP law to monopolize cyberspace (patents on obviously invalid claims -- decades of prior art, etc.), do you think Free Software (and it's more "popular" spin-off Open Source) has any chance of long term surival in the United States or it is just a matter of time before it is crushed?
I've noticed a scary trend in "de facto" internet law: Sites are shut down, projects stopped, and ideas silenced because of scary notices from lawyers. Lots of the time, these cease and desist letters don't actually have much to stand on, but they're so cheap to send, and so effective, that any business with a site it doesn't like and a lawyer on salary would be crazy not to do it. The effect of these letters is chilling (so to speak): sites that are probably legal are shut down without the benefit of a trial, and the "precedent" affects the way other laymen interpret the law. I've seen numerous mostly-serious posts on slashdot proclaiming "Wouldn't this be a violation of the DMCA?" when referring to any sort of activity the MPAA or RIAA, etc. wouldn't like. (Speaking of the DMCA -- it has built-in provisions for making precisely this kind of judge-free takedown by an ISP!) This trend seems to be a serious breakdown of the legal system, and I don't like it.
My question is: In your opinion, what can be done to change the way the system operates so that spurious legal threats aren't so economical? What can someone like me do, besides donating to the EFF or going to law school?
If you could wish away one of the several crappy laws that are of concern to the /. crowd, EFF, FSF, etc. which would it be? DMCA? Patriot Act? the Mickey Mouse Copyright Extension? Something Else? And why that one? I guess what I am really asking is: which of these crappy laws past in the last several years do you think is the most damaging?
my pet machine
If free software / open source / etc. is seen as the saviour of the computer world, what do you see as the route or force to act towards making a better legal profession?
-- oldthinkers unbellyfeel ingsoc
I've heard talk of a new version of the GPL, which will fix shortcomings of version 2 (e.g. that it is unclear whether use of dynamic linking and/or CORBA-style binding to a GPLed work constitutes a "derived work").
However, a large amount of existing software is distributable "under the terms of the GPL, version 2" (and *not* under "version 2, or at your option, any later version"); for instance, the Linux kernel. Any future software, licensed under a GPL v3, would presumably be incompatible with such existing software.
Can the FSF do anything to make the GPL v3 backward-compatible with such software?
Also, would you consider the following part of the FDL to be a bug?
A DTD only describes the syntactic structure of a document, which may provide nowhere near enough information to understand the file format. [I sent an email to the FSF about this but it seems to have got lost in the ether]
perl -e 'fork||print for split//,"hahahaha"'
Sir,
Simply stated, what is your reaction to the Eldred v. Ashcroft decision. How do you think it will affect the legal climate for furthering the position of Free Software? Is this really and indication, as Mr. Lessig has noted, that any hope of the US government developing a more generous and insightful public policy position on the future of IP rights is effectivly on hold? What, if anything, can be done to further this cause other than writing to Congress and/or supporting the EFF?
-- People who think they know it all, really annoy those of us who do!
My boss' boss (who is quite sharp technically as well as an attorney) thinks that the GPL is stupid because it doesn't read like it was written by a lawyer. He doesn't object to the principles and methods involved-- he's just disgusted by the unlawyerly writing. He says it was written by an amateur, not a lawyer, giving the impression that everyone using it is an amateur, and not serious about their work. What would you say to that?
314-15-9265
The GPL currently has a "hole" in its wording that allows GPL'd web-based programs to in effect be used/hosted/run without being under the enforcement of the GPL (requiring the changes to be released to the public).
I know because I am the lead developer on a web-based GPL'd game, and we were advised of such by the GNU folks (many thanks for them answering our concerns). They suggested waiting for GPL3 (please PLEASE hurry!), or using the Affero GPL, which we cant, since it isnt compatible with the GPL, and portions of our code are from another project that is GPL'd.
What isn't clear (and what I hope you can answer) is what the law would say about a company that took a GPL'd web project (like mine), modified it, hosted it, and provided that service to the general public without providing the source to those modifications.
Is there any legal recourse to developers in that situation, because it has actually occured, and until now, we were under the impression that we were basically powerless until GPL3.0 comes out..
GPL'd web-based tradewars themed space game
I think that the FSF is very important and I want to assist but I have my own situation to deal with as well. I would like to make a difference and am seeking the most effective way to do that.
You are donating your time/knowledge. What are other ways to help?
Specifically, What is the single best thing a supporter can do to help. In other words What does the FSF need most that we might be able to supply?
o Money
o Volunteers (with what skills?, to do what?)
o Publicity
o Subject Matter Experts (what subjects?)
o Something else I can't imagine?
Thanks.
boyfoot_bear [with teak of chan]
My question is how you foresee the swing of the pendulum in the future. Do you think that the cycles will get smaller until a balance is reached, or do you see the cycles growing larger and larger until it causes a fracture and/or revolution in our society?
What role will the conflict over electronic media play in the balancing of individual rights?
Of course it would also be interesting to hear your views on the cyclical nature of individual rights as well.
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
Do you believe this claim is correct in all US jurisdictions, or do some state laws allow licenses like the GPL to be revoked by the copyright holder?
Why, exactly, did the EFF choose not to appeal the 2nd Circuit Court decision against 2600 Magazine in the DeCSS-linking case?
Dahlmann tightly grips the knife, which he may have no idea how to use, and steps out into the plain.