Conservancy Announces New Strategy For GPL Enforcement (sfconservancy.org) 6
Long-time Slashdot reader Jeremy Allison - Sam shares an announcement from the Software Freedom Conservancy, detailing a new strategy toward improving compliance and the freedom of users of devices that contain Linux-based systems. From the post: The new work has received an initial grant from Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC). Our new initiative features:
1) Litigation to enforce against license violators that do not voluntarily comply in a timely manner.
2) Coordinating the development of alternative firmware for devices where none currently exists.
3) Collaborating with other organizations to promote copyleft compliance as a feature for consumers to protect their privacy and get more out of their devices.
We take this holistic approach because compliance is not an end in itself, but rather a lever to help people advance technology for themselves and the world. [...] ARDC has long served the amateur radio community who were early adopters of Internet communication. These roots have grown from the deeper soils of wireless and digital communication and open access to technical information. Amateur radio operators have long practiced the tradition of individual technical experimentation that benefited the general public. These traditions also form the basis of software freedom. Hobbyists and volunteers built, modified and improved Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) first. Conservancy defends the rights of software developers to examine the code in their devices and assists their work to improve the platforms they rely on and to understand our communication technologies. Copyleft compliance enables this work to continue and expand to new kinds of devices. [...]
When companies prevent us from actually modifying the software on our devices, software freedom remains only theoretical. In this new chapter of compliance work, Conservancy will leverage its technical and legal resources to help the public take control of the software on which they rely. This generous grant from ARDC is a first step. Please help in the next step through support of Conservancy's work with a donation. You can also email compliance@sfconservancy.org to let us know about GPL violations or to discuss volunteering on these projects.
1) Litigation to enforce against license violators that do not voluntarily comply in a timely manner.
2) Coordinating the development of alternative firmware for devices where none currently exists.
3) Collaborating with other organizations to promote copyleft compliance as a feature for consumers to protect their privacy and get more out of their devices.
We take this holistic approach because compliance is not an end in itself, but rather a lever to help people advance technology for themselves and the world. [...] ARDC has long served the amateur radio community who were early adopters of Internet communication. These roots have grown from the deeper soils of wireless and digital communication and open access to technical information. Amateur radio operators have long practiced the tradition of individual technical experimentation that benefited the general public. These traditions also form the basis of software freedom. Hobbyists and volunteers built, modified and improved Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) first. Conservancy defends the rights of software developers to examine the code in their devices and assists their work to improve the platforms they rely on and to understand our communication technologies. Copyleft compliance enables this work to continue and expand to new kinds of devices. [...]
When companies prevent us from actually modifying the software on our devices, software freedom remains only theoretical. In this new chapter of compliance work, Conservancy will leverage its technical and legal resources to help the public take control of the software on which they rely. This generous grant from ARDC is a first step. Please help in the next step through support of Conservancy's work with a donation. You can also email compliance@sfconservancy.org to let us know about GPL violations or to discuss volunteering on these projects.
Internet of Things (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
Mostly it is. It's also several years too late to matter.
You can have all the source code you want now, and there's no way you'll get it running. Between locked down bootloaders and proprietary blobs, having yet another way to get the bog standard kernel source code doesn't help you any.
Re:Internet of Things (Score:4, Insightful)
Only if the code is GPLv3. V2 code is subject to this problem, but V3 isn't (see TiVoization).
Of course, why don't we just call GPL violations by what it really is? It's piracy, plain and simple. Or copyright infringement, if you like that term better.
It's easier to see why copyright plays a part in this case and why you can sue over GPL violations, and why abolishing copyright abolishes free software.
For those who need to know - copyright law applies to all works, and by default, it gives some rights and takes away others. All rights reserved is the default mode where you can enjoy the work someone has provided (either for free or for a fee) but not make copies of that work. It provides for limited ability to express that work (e.g., reviews, parody, commentary, etc).
What the GPL does, and why it's referred to as "copyleft" is that you don't have to ever agree to anything in the GPL. If you don't, the work you obtained, be it Linux, VLC or anything else is covered under standard "All rights reserved" copyright law. But if you do agree to the terms of the GPL, you have rights that you don't get normally, including rights to redistribute,modify and publish. Of course, it comes at a cost - because to get those abilities you have to make your changes available AND give the people who use the product the exact same options you had.
That's why it's called "copyleft" because unlike most license agreements which seek to reduce your rights further, copyleft enhances your rights, provided you obey the conditions.
Get rid of copyright means the fallback of "All rights reserved" no longer applies and people can copy/modify/publish/etc the software without having to agree to the terms.
Why not just use DRM? (Score:2)
Just put in a "do not copy" bit. If it's on and they violate the GPL then the DCMA applies. This makes takes it out of civil court which is expensive to persue and puts in in crimminal court.
Use DVD encryption (Score:2)
Even better distribute all source code encrypted with the same encryption used on DVDs and using the same (broken) Encryption key.
If someone decrypts this without agreeing to the GPL then it's the same crime as pirating a DVD.
Amateur Radio (Score:3)
It is interesting that Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) is helping with this. They get respect in new places that were not in the effort, before. And they tend to know what they are doing, not least on the technical side.
It got my attention, anyway... 8-)