Open source software against piracy

[plenty]

I agree with porch... this is a stupid idea and makes no sense. The GPL is completely opposing of the BSA manifesto. The BSA only represents closed source, proprietary and copyrighted products... otherwise they would not have a business model

 

[afrodeity]

Yet another neo-conservative article, this time about a possible BSA-FOSS alliance. FOSS is the exact antithesis of proprietary capitalist ware and intellectual property securotocracy. We despise ownership and would rather get into an alliance with the Pirates than bail out a bunch of losers. Creating propietory software is like drawing up plans to steal from your neighbour. We live in a post-scarcity world, so get used to it. BSA should rather spend its time and energy figuring out ways to liberate us all from the clutches of the hoarders who create artificial scarcity in order to trick us into paying.

If you one of those people who worries about where the next $$$ is going to come from, then I suggest you join a CES and experience Open Source Currency.

 

[geoffr]

Sorry, I won't support any organisation that uses mafia style tactics and untruths. Not gonna happen. There are laws against racketeering and extortion in this country.

Alistair, you misunderstand the origin and motives of an organisation like the BSA. They are there to protect nobody's interests but those of the organisations they front for. And those organisations don't want anyone promoting free software, they want their product to sell more.

Open source is probably a bigger threat to the members of the BSA than piracy. I would put money on it that the BSA would not want to associate with the open source community.

 

[Rinkhals]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/feb/23/opensource-intellectual-property

...weakens the software industry and undermines its long-term competitiveness by creating an artificial preference for companies offering open source software and related services, even as it denies many legitimate companies access to the government market.

Rather than fostering a system that will allow users to benefit from the best solution available in the market, irrespective of the development model, it encourages a mindset that does not give due consideration to the value to intellectual creations.

As such, it fails to build respect for intellectual property rights and also limits the ability of government or public-sector customers (e.g., State-owned enterprise) to choose the best solutions.

 

[AK65]

I don't get it. That definition is perfectly acceptable for open source. If the open source software in question is under the GPL then the creation of copies is authorised by the terms of the GPL. So I disagree "the unauthorised copying or distribution of copyrighted software" is NOT how open source software is distributed. Copies of GPL-licensed open source software are all authorised copies by definition. The first sentence of that definition clearly stated that software piracy only happens when a copy is unauthorised and then provides some examples of how unauthorised copies could be created.

Is the author smoking something or am I missing something? It looks like one or the other here.

The problem is, that your average joe does not know about GPL or free software. So when you say copying copyrighted software is illegal, they believe that copying *any* software is illegal, regardless of the licence. I did laugh when a big oss supporter friend of mine got a visit from the BSA. When the guy asked 'How many software licences have you paid for?', he answered truthfully 'None'. The next day he smirked as swarms of BSA people found nothing but open source software, and they were angry. Mad as snakes because they found nothing and because he was laughing at them wasting their time...lol

 

[-<Blatz_ztalB>-]

The problem is, that your average joe does not know about GPL or free software. So when you say copying copyrighted software is illegal, they believe that copying *any* software is illegal, regardless of the licence. I did laugh when a big oss supporter friend of mine got a visit from the BSA. When the guy asked 'How many software licences have you paid for?', he answered truthfully 'None'. The next day he smirked as swarms of BSA people found nothing but open source software, and they were angry. Mad as snakes because they found nothing and because he was laughing at them wasting their time...lol

That's brilliant (^^)

How does BSA hunt you down though? Is it always because someone fingers you or they like to randomly gestapo someone's house? I think it might actually encourage people to go open source if they keep up these scare tactics.

 

[AK65]

That's brilliant (^^)

How does BSA hunt you down though? Is it always because someone fingers you or they like to randomly gestapo someone's house? I think it might actually encourage people to go open source if they keep up these scare tactics.

I haven't heard of an individual being audited. However, what I feel passionately about is that I think that when BSA goes on one of their advertising blitzes, Open Source should counter by saying "Running pirate software? Concerned about being sued? Switch to Open Source software: copy it, download it and install it legally all for free!"

Until I discovered Open Source software, I was also scared by the BSA into buying tons of XP licences. What pi$$ed me off was that when I had a motherboard failure and I had to reinstall XP on the new hardware, I was treated like a criminal and had to answer a whole lot of probing questions about to authorise the software. It left a real bitter taste in the mouth. Now I run 0 Windows machines and take great delight in deleting it from existing machines. Nothing is more satisfying than instructing the Ubuntu installer to wipe out all traces of the Microsoft Operating System.

I personally don't really have anything against proprietary software - it has its place. But these bullly boy tactics and intrusive, pushy manner in which you are presumed to be a pirate get my back up. My revenge is to ensure that I am no longer their customer.

 

[alloytoo]

I recall an instance where we were asked how many PC's we were running in the business.

"Thirty" I replied.

"OK we need your thirty Windoze licences numbers"

"Here's five"

They see "$" signs, then I broke it to them that we used FreeDOS on the remainder.

Poor dears.