Re: [Fsfe-uk] Young Greens moving on FS

[Mark Preston]

Lee Braiden wrote:

> Mark Preston wrote:
>
> > Hi Lee,
> > You are almost certainly correct when you state that "many Free 
> > Software folks are quite happy with Copyright". The Gnu GPL would not 
> > be necessary if there was no copyright laws that could be infringed. 
> > The Gnu project could happily continue IMHO if copyright laws were 
> > abolished.
>
>
>
> Mark, you're covering DMCA and the applicability of limited 
> distribution in modern society pretty well, but I think you're 
> confusing the issue with that of copyleft.
>
> Copyleft depends on copyright law, and uses in a different way, to 
> specifically guarantee some *extra* rights to users.  Those rights 
> would not exist, in a public domain work, or in a work devoid of any 
> copyright restrictions.  So, while open development and open content 
> could perhaps continue in *some* form, Free Software and its 
> ideological goals could not, until some other means of ensuring those 
> extra rights was developed.
>
> - Lee.
>
>
>
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If there were no copyright laws then there would be no copyleft. I 
agree. But fundamentally free software is about freedom issues, and 
these "extra rights" to which you refer (some would say extra 
responsibilities because of copyright laws) could still exist without 
copyright laws. The purpose behind the GNU  project is to make it 
possible for people to do things with their computers without accepting 
the domination of somebody else. Without letting some software owner say 
"I won't let you understand how this works; I'm going to keep you 
dependent on me and if you share with your friends I'll call you a 
pirate and put you in jail."
It would have to be a hypothetical debate because it's not likely to 
happen anytime soon, but if copyright laws were abolished this purpose 
would still exist IMHO, and so the GNU project would continue, as would 
Free Software and it's idealogical goals.
Regards,
Mark