> > Ignoring the fact that some deployments ship without root access. > > Is the practice of completely locking-down the laptops something we'd > even want to encourage?
Shipping the laptops TiVoized like Uruguay does has put them into serious legal trouble. OLPC should definitely not encourage anybody else to do this. Why bankrupt your project by losing a copyright enforcement lawsuit? Shipping the laptops without root access is a direct violation of the GPLv3 license on a dozen packages (probably 50+ packages in later Fedoras). They have shipped binaries, while using technological means to deny the recipient the practical ability to upgrade or replace them with versions modified or chosen by the recipient. Only an idiot would distribute hundreds of thousands of units while setting themselves up to pay the Free Software Foundation any amount of money they demand. (Given the way OLPC and Uruguay have ignored the notice that they're in violation, for years, I do hope FSF extracts both future compliance, and its next ten years of operating expenses, from these scofflaws.) Or does Uruguay think, "Sue us for copyright violation in our own courts -- we'll make sure you lose"?? In other words, do they just brazenly steal the GNU Project's software, knowing it's wrong? John Gilmore _______________________________________________ Devel mailing list Devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel