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[fsf-community-team] RE:Welcome to the "fsf-community-team" mailing list
From: |
Diego Trujillo |
Subject: |
[fsf-community-team] RE:Welcome to the "fsf-community-team" mailing list |
Date: |
Wed, 9 Dec 2009 16:17:11 -0600 |
Hello, my name is Diego Trujillo and I
live in Mexico City, I just finished my subjects in a biology degree
and hope to get a BA soon. I have been interested in free software,
copy right law and patents for a long time, specially in promoting the
ethicas linked to these issues. I follow a couple of mexican news
papers, Free software daily (which unfortunately discusses/advertises
a lot of non-free software and often confuses open-source with free), Slashdot and whatever else I ocationaly find while browsing the net.
I have read the linked articles as well as the
Free Software Free society book by R. Stallman.
Excerpt:
Richard Stallman started the FSF in order to promote
open source
software like the Linux operating system, as an
alternative to
expensive software like Windows.
The previous statement is
full of misconceptions and errors in terminology. First of all the
operating system is called GNU/Linux, Linux being only the kernel of
the system. GNU/Linux is categorized as free software and not open
source, open source focuses on the mere technical aspects of being
able to read the source code of a given program while free software
focuses on the ethical matters related to the availability of source
code and the right to redistribute, modify and learn from software.
Given that the main objective of free software is to concentrate on
freedom, the FSF does not believe that price plays any role in the
debate, the FSF does not promote proprietary software (such as
Windows) not because it is expensive but because it does not grant
the users the rights which we defend.
Excerpt: Now with
cloud computing and web-based applications,
even Linux users can
use the same software as everyone else, through
their browsers.
With other popular programs like Skype and Adobe Flash
producing
Linux versions, the Linux desktop may finally be
catching
on!
GNU/Linux users, like my self, are not
interested in being able to use the same software as everyone else
but on defending some rights which we consider essential. One of the
ideas that we defend is that you should be able to know what your
software is doing, cloud computing concentrates in making the user
completely alien to the technology infrastructure of 'the cloud'.
Free software users are also not interested in using GNU/Linux
compatible versions of Skype and Adobe Flash until we are provided
with the source code and the right to modify and redistribute this
software. The 'linux desktop' should be catching on because it
respects your liberty and individuality not because it has become
compatible with proprietary software.
*
Excerpt: When combined with the other chapters that include
statutory
damages, search and seizure powers for border guards,
anti-camcording
rules, and mandatory disclosure of personal
information
requirements, it is clear that there is no bigger
intellectual
property issue today than the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade
Agreement
being negotiated behind closed doors this week in Korea.
It
is true that ACTA and control over information is very scary. It is
even more scary that the term intellectual property is always linked
to these kind of debates. Intellectual property is a term which seeks
to make us think of ideas as physical objects that can be called
property, this may not seem very severe however it is a mirage. The
real danger of discussing 'intellectual property' comes from the fact
that it covers copyright law, trademarks and patents as if they were
equal. Patents, trademarks and copyright have distinct historical,
legal and social backgrounds. While copyright aims to protect a wide
range of ideas patents are only applicable to things that provide
some sort of technical innovation and usefulness. Therefore all
things covered under the shroud of 'intellectual property' should be
debated individually and in their own context.
--
Diego Trujillo Pisanty
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