On Thu, 22 Jul 2004 01:06:25 -0700 Steve Langasek wrote: > On Thu, Jul 22, 2004 at 12:56:50AM -0400, Walter Landry wrote: > > Matthew Garrett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Walter Landry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > >Matthew Garrett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > >> Under the GPL, the government can just pass a law requiring > > > >> that all distributed source code be provided to the government. [...] > > In that country, it would not be free. > > I disagree. This is not relevant to the freedom of the license, > because it's an additional restriction imposed by a *third party* (in > this case, a government), and not something that can be fixed by > additional permission grants from the licensor.
Indeed. For a license to be free, it is necessary that the *license* grants all the important rights and does not take away any right. If another entity nukes one important right, it's not the license's fault... Consider a totalitarian regime in which anyone can be put in prison with no reason: would free licenses become non-free in this country? I don't think so. -- | GnuPG Key ID = DD6DFCF4 | $ fortune Francesco | Key fingerprint = | Q: What is purple Poli | C979 F34B 27CE 5CD8 DC12 | and commutes? | 31B5 78F4 279B DD6D FCF4 | A: A boolean grape.
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