Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

You Can Oppose Copyright and Support Open Source

Posted by kdawson on from the point-counterpoint dept.

kfogel writes "I'm submitting 'Supporting Open Source While Opposing Copyright' as a response to Greg Bulmash's piece from yesterday. I think there were a number of flaws and mistaken assumptions in Bulmash's reasoning, and I've tried to address them in this rebuttal, which has undergone review from some colleagues in the copyright-reform community."

6 of 378 comments (clear)

  1. Not all open-source is the same by kungfujesus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You can support BSD without supporting copyright, as it doesn't take advantage of many copyright protections. You can't support GPL without supporting copyright, as it would be unenforceable without copyright.

  2. do we really need to hear this again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Richard Stallman puts it so much better. I disagree with a lot of what Stallman says, but the man has thought about his message and tries not to waste words. I respect that.

    I tire of the "here are 10-15 different arguments on my side, if any of them sticks then I win" style of debate.

  3. Re:Abolishing copyright abolishes GPL by Bronster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No, but you could theoretically build a new GPL on top of something which wasn't copyright but provided the protections that the GPL needs. Copyright is not the _only_ set of base rules on which a GPL could exist, it's just the current one.

  4. Re:fix the article title, then by Bob54321 · · Score: 5, Funny

    People who just scan titles, esp on RSS, are going to think this is a dupe.

    I almost did. But then I remembered that Slashdot has editors to prevents such horrible things as dupes and that this must have been a legitimate follow-up to the previous article.
    --
    :(){ :|:& };:
  5. the real issues by bcrowell · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's a little pointless arguing what copyleft would be like in a world without copyright, because we're never going to live in a world without copyright.

    Let's focus on what we might really be able to achieve:

    1. Under the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, US copyrights will start expiring again in 2017. We need to make sure that when that day comes, there isn't yet another copyright extension.
    2. We need to work against software patents, business method patents, and abuse of the patent system. We need to work for institutional change in the US patent office so they'll start rejecting completely bogus patents.
    3. We need to repeal the DMCA.
    4. We need to work to keep fair use legally healthy, and prevent it from being more and more circumscribed and forgotten.
    5. We should work to change the law so that orphaned works can't remain copyrighted for a century, during which nobody is allowed to publish them.
    --
    Find free books.
  6. Sigh by DTemp · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You can support copyright and NOT support ABUSE of copyright. Its the ABUSE of copyright that pisses people off.

    As a professional photographer, if I take a good photograph, I don't want someone putting my picture up on their website and saying someone else took the photo. This is NOT me abusing my copyright.

    If, however, a newspaper ran my photo on the front page, but I refused to allow anyone to cut out the photo and hang it on their refrigerator, and went from house to house inspecting refrigerators... THAT would be abusing my copyright. Sound vaguely similar to the MAFIAAs?

    I hope you see the difference. Copyright is actually a good thing when not abused.