I'll write a more detailed piece about it soon. I have been meaning to for some time.
I don't think the internet can ever be truly locked up. Some companies may have some success in creating bottlenecks but people will become so annoyed that they will always end up working out ways around that.
Thanks to the brilliant insights of Richard Stallman the GNU Public License can't be subverted by corporate interests without them breaking exactly the same copyright laws they themselves want to maintain. GPL software comes with one assurance: that the user's rights are never taken away. All GPL software must make the source code available, and any software that is built on the GPL software must make the source code available. Read some of Stallman's writings on the subject to understand more fully the ramifications of this. Here is a nice clear piece he wrote about it.
I have heard right-wing nutters rant and rave about how evil this is and that it is a communist plot. heheheh Amazing how often that happens. All you need to point out to them is that nobody forces them to use open software. They are perfectly entitled to go back into the closet of secrecy and beaver away on stuff by themselves, but if they want to use other people's sweat then they should comply with those people's requirements. That much is written in law.
It is a wonderful world when the law can actually be used to protect people from robber barons. :)
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2002-12-12 08:26 am (UTC)I don't think the internet can ever be truly locked up. Some companies may have some success in creating bottlenecks but people will become so annoyed that they will always end up working out ways around that.
Thanks to the brilliant insights of Richard Stallman the GNU Public License can't be subverted by corporate interests without them breaking exactly the same copyright laws they themselves want to maintain. GPL software comes with one assurance: that the user's rights are never taken away. All GPL software must make the source code available, and any software that is built on the GPL software must make the source code available. Read some of Stallman's writings on the subject to understand more fully the ramifications of this. Here is a nice clear piece he wrote about it.
I have heard right-wing nutters rant and rave about how evil this is and that it is a communist plot. heheheh Amazing how often that happens. All you need to point out to them is that nobody forces them to use open software. They are perfectly entitled to go back into the closet of secrecy and beaver away on stuff by themselves, but if they want to use other people's sweat then they should comply with those people's requirements. That much is written in law.
It is a wonderful world when the law can actually be used to protect people from robber barons. :)