Dear All,
I recently came across an article in the Internet developer publication,
Webtechniques http://www.webtechniques.com/. The article entitled 'Can
CORBA Sidestep Open-Source Licensing?'
http://www.webtechniques.com/archives/2001/04/trachtman/ discusses a
method of using CORBA to circumvent the lisencing restrictions for
open-sourced code. Whilst such loop-holes in copyleft are nothing new,
advocating what amounts to the corruption of the ideals of free-software
movement for personal profit.
I sent the following email to the author of the article, and the editors of
Webtechniques. If you will note, I petitioned my own company to cancel its
subscription to this journal and I am forwarding you this email with the
suggestion that anyone reading this do the same.
Yours...
--
Ricardo Gladwell, Web Developer
Demon Internet, Westhumble House,
Dorking Business Park, Dorking. RH4 1HJ
Tel: +44 (01306) 732 356
Mobile: +44 (07779) 841 444
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gladwell, Ricardo
> Sent: 16 March 2001 15:33
> To: 'michael@eloquence.com'; 'editors@webtechniques.com'
> Subject: Ethics of Circumventing OS
>
>
> Dear Mr. Michael Trachtman,
>
> I shocked to read your recent article in the Internet
> developer magazine, Webtechniques. As you may recall the
> article, entitled 'Can CORBA Sidestep Open-Source
> Licensing?', discusses the possibility of using the CORBA
> architecture to circumvent open-source licensing. The
> procedure detailed in the article allows developers to extend
> open-source code without being legally obliged to release
> their own code under similar terms.
>
> Whilst the legal ramifications of doing this are discussed in
> some detail, I was appalled to find that the ethical concerns
> of using open-source code - code that has been charitably
> given to the open-source community - for personal gain and
> profit are not even mentioned. Developers (like myself) gain
> nothing financially from publishing their code under the GPL,
> or GPL-like licenses, so to suggest a method of profiting
> from their work is tantamount to advocating theft.
>
> You mention that 'open-source software is among the best
> written and most widely used software in the world'. What you
> fail to mention that it is the best and most popular software
> precisely because any modifications or additions made to the
> code is put back into the community, for everybody's benefit.
> This is a particularly glaring omission that, in my opinion,
> serves only to gloss over the more devious aspects of your article.
>
> A double standard is at work here: I imagine Webtechniques
> would never publish an article that described a method for
> circumventing the licensing of copyrighted, commercial
> software. That would be considered, quite rightly, as
> unethical, as theft. Yet, it would seem the editors feel that
> it is ethically viable to publish a procedure that exploits a
> hole in copyleft and corrupts the ideals of the open-source
> movement. What is more, the article in question legitimises
> the act of profiting from this - profits that rightly belong
> to the open-source movement.
>
> Please note that I have successfully petitioned my company to
> cancel its subscription to Webtechniques in protest and I
> shall be forwarding this email on to various news groups and
> mailing lists with the suggestion that others do the same.
>
> Yours sincerely...
>
> --
> Ricardo Gladwell, Web Developer
> Demon Internet, Westhumble House,
> Dorking Business Park, Dorking. RH4 1HJ
> Tel: +44 (01306) 732 356
> Mobile: +44 (07779) 841 444