www/licenses javascript-labels-rationale.html

[Richard M. Stallman]

CVSROOT:        /web/www
Module name:    www
Changes by:     Richard M. Stallman <rms>       12/11/25 03:46:06

Modified files:
        licenses       : javascript-labels-rationale.html 

Log message:
        Fix many conceptual confusions in the intro, and shorten it greatly.

CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/licenses/javascript-labels-rationale.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.6&r2=1.7

Patches:
Index: javascript-labels-rationale.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/licenses/javascript-labels-rationale.html,v
retrieving revision 1.6
retrieving revision 1.7
diff -u -b -r1.6 -r1.7
--- javascript-labels-rationale.html    10 Jun 2012 08:04:11 -0000      1.6
+++ javascript-labels-rationale.html    25 Nov 2012 03:46:06 -0000      1.7
@@ -8,42 +8,30 @@
 
 <h3>Introduction</h3>
 
-<p>We are very concerned about the growing problem of proprietary
-JavaScript. The Web, which has done so much to enable the sharing and
-understanding of free software, is now also a place where
-users&mdash;often unknowingly&mdash;run huge amounts of proprietary
-software on their computers. Free software is succeeding on the
-desktop partly because of the copyleft protection guaranteeing users
-be told up front when a particular program is free for them to use,
-study, share, and modify. But on the Web, browsers download and run
-JavaScript without ever informing users of the program's license or
-their freedoms.</p>
-
-<p>To begin addressing this problem, we
-have <a href="/licenses/javascript-labels.html">published a method</a>
-that webmasters can use to label JavaScript served from their sites
-with license information and source code links.  All GNU software
-licenses require distributors to provide this information with the
-software so recipients know they have the legal permission to share
-and change it, and access to the source code they need to exercise
-those freedoms.  These conditions are critical elements of the
-copyleft in these licenses, helping to keep the software free for
-everyone who receives it.</p>
-
-<p>We believe that webmasters who use this system on their own sites
-will be in compliance with the relevant conditions in the GNU software
-licenses and many other popular free software licenses.  We also
-expect that most webmasters will find this is the easiest way to
-comply with those terms, especially when they serve optimized
-JavaScript.</p>
-
-<p>We also want to encourage webmasters to publish JavaScript
-licensing information so that visitors can refuse nonfree JavaScript.
-As Richard Stallman explained
-in <a href="/philosophy/javascript-trap.html">&ldquo;The JavaScript
-Trap,&rdquo;</a> nonfree JavaScript is just as dangerous as any other
-nonfree software&mdash;and it's only made more insidious because
-browsers typically download and run it without your knowledge.</p>
+<p>Users browsing the Web nowadays typically run huge amounts of
+proprietary software on their computers, often unknowingly.  Free
+software is succeeding on the desktop partly because of the copyleft
+protection guaranteeing users be told up front when a particular
+program is free for them to use, study, share, and modify.  On the
+Web, browsers download and run JavaScript without ever informing users
+of the program's license or their freedoms &mdash; or how other
+programs deny users' freedoms.</p>
+
+<p>To address this problem, we developed
+the <a href="/software/librejs"> LibreJS program </a> which recognizes
+nontrivial JavaScript code and checks its license.  Its functioning
+depends on specifying licenses in a way that a program which lacks
+human intelligence can reliably recognize.  In addition, all GNU
+software licenses require distributors to state the license with the
+software, so recipients know their rights, and to say where to find
+the source code.</p>
+
+<p> The simple way to specify the license is with
+a <a href="/philosophy/javascript-trap.html"> stylized comment in the
+JavaScript code</a>.  However, that can be inconvenient for minified
+library files, so we have developed another way to state their
+licenses: <a href="/licenses/javascript-labels.html"> JavaScript web
+labels</a>.</p>
 
 <h3>Rationale</h3>
 
@@ -149,7 +137,7 @@
 <p>
 Updated:
 <!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2012/06/10 08:04:11 $
+$Date: 2012/11/25 03:46:06 $
 <!-- timestamp end -->
 </p>
 </div>