Re: [ox-en] Re: usage of software and the CGPL
- From: "George Dafermos" <georgedafermos discover.org>
- Date: 16 Mar 2004 04:00:51 -0000
I have no problems with creating software that will be used for good
and not evil. I wish everyone did this. I have a problem with trying
to codify this as a form of discriminatory licensing; I have a bigger
problem with doing this in a way that is, by most accounts, is
unenforceable and counterproductive to the enforceability of the less
controversial parts of the license.
Yes, it seems that something might usefully be done. But it is hard to
see what could work.
G: i agree. experimenting on alternatives doesn't harm.
Yet, Rousseau said that what is good is what is common. So perhaps GPL
already encodes goodness perfectly?
G:although i mean no disrespect to rousseau, and he did get it because what is common is most of the times good (and i personally 'd rather live in a communal sharing everything and myself) and in addition, public ownership if not administered by a few good men is also a noble goal to stive toward, but despite all that, what Rousseau surely failed to foresee, and this is the critical point here, is that digital artifacts are not subject to diminishing returns and can be reproduced infinitely at negligible cost. this property renders digtal life amenable to ill motives that the community (for if there is common, then there has to be a community too)is not able to regulate. this, i believe, is an exception to the rule that lessig has taken mainstream, namely that code is law.
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