Bruce Perens scripsit: > Well, I could answer that in two, conflicting ways. If distribution becomes > irrelevant, the spirit of the GPL in that respect is obsolete, isn't it?
I don't see how that could happen, unless bandwidth (including the last mile) becomes "too cheap to meter". > On the other hand, Richard treats this as a privacy issue. I contend that a > publicly performed GPL work with a private implementation does indeed contradict > the spirit of the GPL. It's not at all clear to me that when I send you bits, you massage them on your own computer, and you send me different bits back, that this constitutes a public performance of anything. It sounds a lot more like research or consulting. Suppose A publishes a GPLed book describing some arcane subject, and B obtains a copy of it. C now mails questions to B along with payment, and B answers the questions out of the book and mails back the replies. In principle, C could read the book himself, but may not have the time or desire.) Surely A's rights are not impinged on here? Are things different if B adds his own marginal notes to the book? Is B really required by (the spirit of) the GPL to make those notes available to C? > This has always been sort of vague to me, because it's not clear if a corporation > and all of its employees are a single entity, or if [...] I agree that all this is sticky. -- John Cowan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.reutershealth.com I amar prestar aen, han mathon ne nen, http://www.ccil.org/~cowan han mathon ne chae, a han noston ne 'wilith. --Galadriel, _LOTR:FOTR_ -- license-discuss archive is at http://crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3
