[LINK] SCO does use GPL software

[Chirgwin, Richard]

>It is not beyond the realm
>of the possible that a strong enough lobby against FOSS or the
>"copyleft" could sway legislators into doing something stupid, like
>outlawing an entire economic model and more importantly, an economic
>sector. 

In the wider view, outlawing the GPL would go far beyond the software
industry. It's not a threat to one economic model or sector. There are
plenty of activities and professions which depend on the free dissemination
of designs, AS LONG AS correct attribution is maintained.

Any legislator which listened to a "Ban the GPL" argument would be inviting
the destruction of science and engineering more generally. He or she would
have to be considered either an idiot or a scoundrel.

Richard Chirgwin 

-----Original Message-----
From: Rick Welykochy
To: webmaster at ssg.nsw.greens.org.au
Cc: The Link Institute
Sent: 20/02/04 19:57
Subject: Re: [LINK] SCO does use GPL software

On 20 Feb 2004, Tim Lister wrote:

> On Fri, 2004-02-20 at 11:16, Rick Welykochy wrote:
> > As previously indicated, SCO is lobbying the US Congress
> > to have the GPL declared illegal.
> 
> can they do that?  wouldn't it require a legal challenge in the
supreme
> court?
> 
> surely a legislative declaration would create such a gaping
> inconsistency in their legal system that the supreme court would have
to
> throw it out!
> 
> but i'm no lawyer, especially a seppo one, so i guess insane illogic
can
> be made to happen if somebody wants it bad enough ...

Wht an earlier ridiculous and chilling piece of USA legislation called
the CDA
(communications decency act), congress attempted to stifle free speech
and
censor the Internet in America, to bring it into line with some narrower
view
of what should be publicly available and what should be discussed
publicly:
it's called setting the agenda.

The legislation was struck down, state by state, in 1997
<http://www.epic.org/free_speech/CDA/> which rendered CDA ineffective.

So, yeah, the long way around is to enact the legislation, have it
challenged
in the courts and then eventually struck off. It is not beyond the realm
of the possible that a strong enough lobby against FOSS or the
"copyleft"
could sway legislators into doing something stupid, like outlawing an
entire economic model and more importantly, an economic sector. A
feather's
chance in hell is about how I'd rate the ultimate success of such
legislation.
But hey, as you say, insane logic can prevail. It has in the past.


cheers
rickw




---------------------------------------------
Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services Pty Limited

Innumerable confusions and a feeling of despair invariably emerge in
periods of great technological and cultural transition.
     -- Marshall McLuhan


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