Hi, On 29.10.2016 09:18, H. Nikolaus Schaller wrote: > There is a group of people (called TI) who decided to keep the sources private > and not make them open. Why is your (or my) privacy more important than > theirs?
Private software is software not distributed to the public in any form (for instance, binary-only). If TI has distributed to the public/customers modems preinstalled with this firmware, then this firmware is public software and we can't talk about privacy. https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/categories.html#PrivateSoftware With our current copyright system, we in the free software community put public software in two categories: free/libre software or nonfree/proprietary software. In their case, it's the latter. If TI has distributed their public software as proprietary, they have wronged us, the users. IMO, violating copyright to correct this wrong is a lesser evil than that proprietary software. However, correcting this wrong by not violating copyright is the best and permanent solution to this problem. https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/nit-india.html (look for "dilemma") Thanks, Tiberiu -- https://tehnoetic.com https://ceata.org _______________________________________________ Replicant mailing list Replicant@lists.osuosl.org http://lists.osuosl.org/mailman/listinfo/replicant
