Open Source, Copyright, Copyleft
CPS 82, Fall 2010
6.1
Toward Open Source
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http://tinyurl.com/yqfcq (Groklaw)
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Copyright law, guarantees protections
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Exclusive right to copy
Exclusive right to create derivative works
Exclusive right to distribute work
Exclusive right to perform/display work
Fair use exceptions, First Amendment
tension, facts and ideas vs their expression
CPS 82, Fall 2010
6.2
FOSS: Free and Open Source Software
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What does free mean?
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Open Source
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Speech and beer
Grounded in ethics, social responsibility
Development method
Appeals to “Fortune 500” more than free
About reliability, performance, security, …
CPS 82, Fall 2010
6.3
FOSS: Personalities
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Richard Stallman
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rms' web page
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Accomplishments
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CPS 82, Fall 2010
GNU (gnu's not Unix)
Lots of tools: gcc and
more
Copyleft GPL: 1989
Macarthur (1990)
Grace Hopper award
National Academy of
Engineering
Free as in speech
6.4
FOSS: Personalities (continued)
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Accomplishments
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Cathedral and Bazaar
Eric Raymond
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esr's web page
• Open Source->Business
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"Given enough eyeballs,
all bugs are shallow"
• Attributed to Torvalds
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Halloween documents
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Open Source and OSI
CPS 82, Fall 2010
6.5
FOSS: Personalities (continued)
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Linus Torvalds
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Linus' Blog
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Accomplishments
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Linux, early '90s
• Unix, Minix, Linux
CPS 82, Fall 2010
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Open Source advocat
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Still "oversees" Linux
development
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9/2010, US Citizen
6.6
fsf.org: Four Essential Freedoms
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The freedom to run the program, for any
purpose (freedom 0).
The freedom to study how the program
works, and change it to make it do what you
wish (freedom 1).
The freedom to redistribute copies so you can
help your neighbor (freedom 2).
The freedom to improve the program, and
release your improvements to the public, so
the whole community benefits (freedom 3).
CPS 82, Fall 2010
6.7
http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/
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To copyleft a program, we first state that it is
copyrighted; then we add distribution terms, which are a
legal instrument that gives everyone the rights to use, modify, and
redistribute the program's code or any program derived from it
but only if the distribution terms are unchanged. Thus,
the
code and the freedoms become legally
inseparable. Proprietary software developers
use copyright to take away the users' freedom;
we use copyright to guarantee their freedom.
That's why we reverse the name, changing
“copyright” into “copyleft.”
CPS 82, Fall 2010
6.8
Open Source, www.opensource.org
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Free Redistribution: can’t force, can’t
prevent sale
Source code: must be available, cheap or
free
License to modify, redistribution with same
terms
Integrity of author’s source (patchable,
versioning)
No discrimination against persons or
groups
CPS 82, Fall 2010
6.9
Open Source, www.opensource.org
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
No discrimination against fields of
endeavor
Distribution “no strings”, no further
licensing
License not bound to whole, part
redistribution ok
No further restrictions, e.g., cannot require
open
Technology neutral
CPS 82, Fall 2010
6.10
Open Source licenses
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Copyleft licenses compared to free licenses
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GPL is the Gnu Public License
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Copyleft is “viral”, requires redistribution to be
the same or similar
Free licenses have no downstream restrictions
Currently v3, complex, legal license
X11 or BSD or Apache
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All are free/open, but not viral, e.g., permit
commercial, proprietary products
CPS 82, Fall 2010
6.11
Viral License
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Connotations of “viral”
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GPL is viral
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Is viral marketing ok?
Wikipedia neutrality dispute
Threat to intellectual property
GPL is not viral
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It’s not even infectious, you have a choice
CPS 82, Fall 2010
6.12
Freedom, Ethics, Law
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What does Stallman want?
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Freedom B1
Freedom B2 alternative Link Alive on 9/19/2010
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Freedom RMS
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http://mp3licensing.com/royalty/
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Apparently not enforced for FOSS codecs
Pragmatics v principles in Ogg Vorbis
CPS 82, Fall 2010
6.13
Copyrights and Licensing
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Most software is licensed rather than sold
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Why isn’t it sold? First-sale doctrine
Are EULAs valid? According to whom?
Can I back up my software? DVD/CD?
Tale of three logos
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Linux
CPS 82, Fall 2010
Windows
SQlite
6.14
License and Royalty
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http://mp3licensing.com/royalty/
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Why is mp3 subject to licensing?
100 Million euros in 2005 (Wikipedia)
Patent grants license
Alternatives? Ogg, Windows Media, …
Why isn’t this a copyright issue?
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What is copyrightable?
What is patentable?
CPS 82, Fall 2010
6.15
EULA for software
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First sale doctrine applies to atoms (books)
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EULAs and Terms of Service
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What about bits? Office, Snow Leopard,…
Get Office from OIT, sell it? Old version?
When do you agree to terms of service?
Lori Drew, cyberbullying, TOS?
Do EULAs stand up in court?
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http://bit.ly/9aOLnB
http://bit.ly/dptxrq
CPS 82, Fall 2010
6.16