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RMS Weighs In On SPF/Sender-ID License

Posted by timothy on from the application-declined dept.

NW writes "In a recent message to the MARID list RMS weighs in on the licensing issues of Sender-ID/SPF and Microsoft: 'Microsoft's Sender-ID license is directly incompatible with free software regardless of which free software license is used. Free software means users are free to run it, study and modify the source, and to redistribute it with or without changes. Free to do so means there is no requirement to ask or tell anyone that you are doing so.'" "MARID" stands for MTA Authorization Records in DNS; here's the IETF MARID working group's charter. (Read more below.)

Stallman's message continues: "The Microsoft license for Sender-ID directly forbids release of software with all these freedoms, so it is impossible for any program to be free software under Microsoft's regime. I've been expecting to see something like this ever since Gates started talking about spam. This license is an example of Microsoft's strategy for killing off free software as an alternative to Windows. Microsoft first patents something, then incorporates it into a format or protocol, then tries to make it de rigueur while excluding those it wishes to exclude. In the absence of resistance, Microsoft has a good chance of imposing whatever standards it likes. Let us, therefore, resist it here and now."

4 of 250 comments (clear)

  1. Re:ITS TEH ITCHIES!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Dude, you should have used SPF - Sperm Protection Filter. Did you bother to check the hooker's Sender-ID?

  2. Re:ITS TEH ITCHIES!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Put some Jam (Strawberry or Raspberry works best) on your "Head". When the likkle critters come to feed, blow them away with a shotgun.
    HTH

  3. RMS craziness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    This is RMS we're talking about. The guy that doesn't believe there should be a root user because every user should be "free" to demolish everyone else's boxen. The same guy who doesn't believe in password protecting FTP servers. If we limit anything it won't be "free."

  4. Re:MS license perspective from a SPF developer by hammock · · Score: 0, Troll

    I agree that block ALL port 25 traffic on your mail server from Windows computers is a good thing.

    Or even configuring the mail to bounce back with a helpful message such as "Please upgrade to a secure operating system if you wish to send email to this domain."