Re: Overlap between the Software Freedom movement and the Right to Repair?

[Greg Knittl]

Hi Lars,

The various GNU licences rely on copyright. I'm not sure if this is just 
trying to make the best of a bad situation by hacking copyright into 
it's opposite or whether belief in copyright is intrinsic to Software 
Freedom.

Whatever the Software Freedom take is, I'm very much in favour of the 
right to repair. If only to reduce the amount of e-waste we generate. 
I'm in favour of a fundamental right to minimize one's carbon footprint, 
that would outweigh copyright when copyright gets in the way of repair 
and reuse in cases where it is less carbon intensive to repair and reuse 
than to build new. I see this as complimentary to and enhancing the 
right to repair which I'm sure has other good justifications independent 
of carbon footprint.

The potential conflict with Software Freedom being that overriding 
copyright might override the Software Freedom attempt to hack copyright 
into it's opposite and the sharing that enforces.

Greg

On 2021-04-29 5:05 a.m., Lars Noodén wrote:
> In what ways, if any, do people consider it feasible for the Right To
> Repair and Software Freedom groups collaborate on the specific areas
> where there is overlap?  If this has been discussed before please point
> me to the relevant archives.
>
> I've listened to a recent monologue and a short documentary on the Right
> To Repair [1] and it seems that there is an area of overlap between the
> Right To Repair movement and the Software Freedom movement.  There are,
> of course, areas where they diverge since they focus mostly on hardware,
> but where they do overlap, there could be some collaboration because
> proprietary software is becoming a greater and greater factor inhibiting
> modding and even basic repair.
>
> One example which involves components familiar here is about
> refurbishing used computers.  Some years ago, company which has been
> long-term problematic for the public, went after a recycler [2] and
> caused him a lot of legal difficulties for refurbishing old systems.
> Perhaps, he could have avoided the trouble by focusing on Free/Libre,
> Open Source Software (FLOSS) instead.  Maybe not.  But either way, the
> choice of FLOSS would have been better for him and his customers in
> other ways.
>
> Other examples involve the software within ice cream machines and farm
> equipment and the abuse of the ostensible owners via the proprietary
> software embedded in the machines.  The software in both categories is
> set up so that the owner of the machines has very little control over
> the machines themselves, especially in regards to modding or repair,
> because they have no control at all over the software controlling the
> machines.
>
> Clearly in those categories, the right to repair proponents would
> benefit from the Four Freedoms.  Likewise, the Software Freedom
> proponents would benefit from being aware of and eliminating the
> encroachment of malware [3] into devices which never previously had
> software.
>
> /Lars
>
>
> [1]     "Let's talk about ice cream and why it matters"
>         
> https://odysee.com/@rossmanngroup:a/let's-talk-about-ice-cream-and-why-it:a
>
>         "The REAL Reason McDonalds Ice Cream Machines Are Always Broken"
>         https://youtu.be/SrDEtSlqJC4
>         (the software part comes in at about half-way and three
>         quarters of the way through the recording)
>
>
> [2] War on Recyclers:
>
>         "The e-waste warrior, 28,000 copied Windows restore discs, and a
>         fight to stay out of jail: Tech recycler fights"
>         prison term for handing out recovery CDs
>   https://www.theregister.com/2018/02/21/e_waste_lundgren_windows_dell/
>   https://regmedia.co.uk/2018/02/20/lundgrenappeal.pdf
>
> Coverage at Techrights:
>
> Part 1: Microsoft’s Legal Attacks on Eric Lundgren
>         Demonstrate There’s No ‘New’ Microsoft Except a Super-Vicious,
>         Law-Twisting Thug
>   http://techrights.org/2019/07/26/story-of-eric-lundgren/
>
> Part 2: Microsoft Windows Puts Recyclers Like Eric Lundgren in
>         Prison and Patients Six Feet Under the Ground
>   http://techrights.org/2019/07/27/microsoft-windows-injustice/
>
> Part 3: Microsoft Put an Innocent, Heroic Man in Prison. Then
>         Microsoft Ran Away.
>   http://techrights.org/2019/08/03/microsoft-vs-heroes/
>
> Part 4: Microsoft Being Microsoft, Bullying Everyone Who
>         Reduces Microsoft’s Profits
>   http://techrights.org/2019/08/04/reducing-microsoft-profits/
>
> Part 5: Microsoft’s War on the Right to Repair (One’s Own Computers)
>         Makes Lundgren an ‘Enemy’ to Microsoft
>   http://techrights.org/2019/08/04/righttorepair/
>
> Part 6: Damage Control Mode: Satya Nadella Fleeing Lundgren
>         After Realising What Microsoft Had Done
>   http://techrights.org/2019/08/05/satya-nadella-fleeing-lundgren/
>
> Part 7: Slander and Libel From Microsoft (Demonising the Victim)
>   http://techrights.org/2019/08/05/satya-nadella-fleeing-lundgren/
>
> Part 8: Similar High-Profile ‘Bargains’ (Aaron Swartz and
>         Marcus Hutchins)
>   http://techrights.org/2019/08/06/fake-bargains/
>
>
> [3]     Proprietary Software Is Often Malware
>   https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/
>
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