On Sun, 5 Jun 2005, Oron Peled wrote:
Or you must make it available to the user on request. On your website,
or someone else's.
1. Peter you forgot that in any case a copy of the LICENSE is required
to be *provided* to the user (so he knows his rights). I just looked in
the provided manual and there is no mention of it -- just the usual
blurb about the rights of said company. A quick look at the
product page on the company site hasn't shown up any mention either.
Correct. And I just looked and there is no license on the box either
(at least none I could find with ls -lR).
2. You are missleading. Of course they may point you to any web site they
want but they didn't point to *any* web site for the source.
As Matan correctly quoted -- the company must provide a *written*
offer (valid for at least 3 years) to provide this source -- it's
the company responsibility to provide the user with this details.
Ok, but imho this is a nuance. The information is there if you want to
find it.
There are many examples of kernel modules that provide support for
modems, network drivers and other devices, which are NOT open source
and NOT 'aggregations'.
But judge, there are many who break the law, I *cannot* be guilty...
Of course not.
If you don't want to make your 802.11g wireless card work -
Good that you brought that example -- check your facts:
1. Head on to http://www.linksys.com/splash/54g_splash.asp
2. Press the "support" link
3. Look carefully at the GPL notice and start reading
Cisco (after buying Linksys) had to clean up the errors of their
predecessors.
You mean here: http://www.linksys.com/support/default.asp . Ok. So they
fixed it.
And to top it all, you do not own the router, it is rented. So you are a
'user' and have no rights on the hardware or software in it, nor has
anyone an obligation to show you, as a user, anything.
Hmmm... the one who distribute it (Bezeq) should have a valid license
for the code and must be able to provide it.
Together with about 500 other things that you only find out about in the
phone bill after the fact. At least they are consequent ? ;-(
It's nice enough
they did not hide the ssh, ftp and telnet interfaces, or alter the
kernel /proc filesystem to hide its origins. I.e. they repect the IP.
Hiding is very bad strategy when you violate copyright law:
http://gpl-violations.org/news/20050414-fortinet-injunction.html
BTW: AFAIK in the US the difference between unknowingly violating
someones copyrights and *knowingly* infringing is the difference
between a maximum 150,000 $ per infrigment and a maximum 5 years
in jail.
And in one-diskette countries ? I even have a windows 95 license (that's
how long ago I changed over to Linux). I don't know a lot of people who
have one too. Some asked to borrow mine. No thanks. At least they don't
want the WfWg3.11 license anymore, it's too old.
Would you expect to be able to see the source code of the interacting
application in an ATM banking machine if it runs linux inside ? Want to
bet that qualified Bezeq service personnel have manufacturer contacts
and source access if they need it ?
Did anyone say that the ATM source was derived from GPL'ed code? Why
give false examples when a concrete case is shown?
Agree. I overdid it.
Axis single chip embedded linux (is that *bundling*) or not ?
Funny you mention them, Axis port of the Linux kernel to their
architecture is now an official part of Linux kernel for some time
(the "cris" architecture) -- was this example meant to show contribution
of companies to Linux or something else -- I'm puzzled.
I think that it is the easiest way to ensure your IP at low cost. Once
it's a part of the better borg it takes care of itself in a way.
We did see violations of GPL by large and small companies. We are not
completely *sure* that this case is a violation:
- We first need to check our facts thoroughly.
- Than think how to approach this -- Generally I do like the FSF
way of handling these things -- trying to resolv these issues
peacefully with the company lawyers (e.g: Cisco case). As we
all witnessed though, sometimes a "Harald Welte" type of action is
needed:
http://gpl-violations.org/about.html
Ok, I will follow this. Meanwhile I got the password from MV and am
getting the source. It is accompanied by a password and the equivalent
of an nda. I intend to respect it but what if I write code based on it
(it being an application designed to work with that code) and distribute
it (on a small scale).
Peter
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