I'm copying both Robert and the debian-legal list with this. Best regards to both,
Fran El ds 23 de 01 de 2010 a les 09:29 +1100, en/na Ben Finney va escriure: > Francis Tyers <[email protected]> writes: > > > Here is a reply from Robert Frederking at CMU. > > Thank you for getting this direct communication. > > > Date: Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:32:29 -0500 > > From: Robert Frederking <[email protected]> > > > > I'm not a lawyer, but let me start by stating that out intent was > > simply that re-use included acknowledgement. This was not intended to > > be a splash-screen on every start-up, or making the software pronounce > > our names at the start of every sentence. :-) It only has to be > > "clearly visible" in anyone's source files. > > Would it be possible to simply drop that clause altogether? Its intent, > as stated above, seems to be completely covered by existing clauses in > the license, and worded as it is currently it's dangerously vague and > over-reaching the stated intent. > > > We aren't interested in suing people; we are a non-profit research > > organization. But like the Regents in California, we have a > > responsibility to our sponsors that appropriate credit is given for > > our work. So this is intended to be like the old BSD advertising > > clause, which is generally considered to be clear from a legal point > > of view. > > These assurances are good, but don't have much legal weight compared to > the actual license wording. Leaving the wording as-is makes recipients > open to the exploitation of the vague wording by a hypothetical future > administration with less friendly intent. > > This clause (IMO) fails the colourfully named “Tentacles of Evil” test > <URL:http://people.debian.org/~bap/dfsg-faq.html#tentacles_of_evil>. > That it seems to be redundant with other clauses for the intent stated > above would suggest the best solution is simply to drop that clause > altogether from the license terms. > > An alternative solution to this would be to dual-license the work, > granting the recipient the choice of the terms of this license or > another widely-known free-software license, such as the GNU GPL or the > Expat license <URL:http://www.jclark.com/xml/copying.txt>. > > -- > \ “Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas | > `\ are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats.” | > _o__) —Howard Aiken | > Ben Finney > > -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [email protected] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [email protected]
