OT-Re: Open Source Values
Oren Beck
oren_beck at hotmail.com
Fri Jan 28 17:51:50 CST 2005
Brian Densmore wrote:
> -----Original Message-----
>
>Apples and oranges. These were two separate sentences.
>One talking about freedom. One about government regulation. Don't
combine the
>two sentences into one, please. OSS is about freedom. That much we
agree upon.
>You on the other hand would like to see gov't regulation replaced with
>anarchy apparently. I, personally enjoy the fact that I can go to bed
knowing
>that there is a police force out there that helps to prevent wholesale
anarchy,
>and laws that set a guideline for what is and isn't acceptable in this
society.
>I don't agree with a lot of the laws, but that doesn't mean I want to
through
>them all away.
Let's try to put this in relative perspectives .
This started as an almostpoll of values we like or not about OSS.
Then thread drift has taken it around the block a bit .
But to good cause . It makes us think . Why OSS ?
OSS is a realm of self policing . Closed source is a dictatorial
Oligarchy .
The deconstructing of theocratic nomenclatures can be fun only so far .
Then it gets sticky and tends to collect between one's toes if you wear
sandals .
Good thing It's too cold for sandals .
To make a case for or against a world with police -
OSS being consigned to a realm of "intangible common property "
Closed Source being "intangible PRIVATE property "
And the rest of the world grouped as Tangible chattels of Natural
Persons or
Corporate Entities . With all "Natural Persons" being in a unique status .
Injury to person or diminishment/damage of tangible property is a pure
standard for harm .
The indeterminate of "information theft" or "non-physical " injury? Not
so clear !
Let's go past the simple denoting of the concept that IF a code base is
shared freely "theft" or "unauthorized use /distributing" vaporises !
AS does a need for "police"
Now if one has a fee for usage model then arguably unpaid use may be theft .
Contrast example - Jerry Garcia telling a packed show to start their tape
recorders for a new song as opposed to Garth Brooks lobbying congress to
outlaw the sale of used CD's as it would have poor Garth sending his
kids to
GASP- Public School! SO that used cd or a copy is argued to be "harm"
But copying a CD and using force to cause bodily harm hardly deserves
comparison .
Back to the much maligned concept of Anarchy .
The textual definition of "anarchy" simply denotes an absence of law .
NOT a society of crime or folks needfully doing bad things "because they
can "
Expounding upon no law thus equating to lawlessness equating to "bad
things"
is often oxymoronic . For absent law to proscribe an action the concept
of it
being a "crime" has been mooted . The flat truth is your safety derives
from the
good will of those around you . Argue the point till man becomes perfect .
That unlikely event will render much of society moot in itself .
The social contracts of everyday life carry more force than all the
coercive
police powers in heaven, hell or earth. Laws do define conduct but not
control .
"We sleep safe in our beds because rough men with guns stand ready in
the night
to visit violence on those who would do us harm." -George Orwell
IF you believe man cannot behave civilly unless at gunpoint ? Then ?
That quote renders as inevitable a loss of safety absent those men with
guns.
Well , in the world of OSS we have largely proved ourselves better than
that !
In many situations the consensus called loosely "OSS" truly exists as a
meritocracy
OSS by mostly consensus bound tools has wrought the alchemy of hardware and
software becoming so much *MORE* in human lives than any other facet to
date .
With Shibboleths that serve as one's "non-rank" in a realm that
eschews titles.
ALL the other points commonly used to judge or Caste place humans yields
to -
Write GOOD code and rise in standing with no regard for most other
considerations .
"Just show us the code ...." And if you are not a coder, evangelism
counts too .
Contrast the waves of exploits among the Closed Source world by TYPE as
opposed to those of OSS . WE may wish to learn in places or fashions not
strictly "conduct becoming" of OSS ideals . But seldom are the masses of
OSS citizens barbarian thugs. Linux for the moment by setting an entry
exam of sorts as did Morse Code proficiency for Ham Radio .
Then rethink that by review that the majority of Ham Radio offenders
DID pass a Morse test and still acted completely execrably .
Point being that Shibboleth sadly does not secure conduct .
GPL and Creative Commons are creatures of social admonishment before
any "Rule of Law" ever enters considering . Anathema Vs Lawsuits .
NDISwrapper issues are an example of conduct by free choice challenging
one's rights to freedom being curtailed pre-emptivly "because you could ..."
Google for "Palladium" and "trusted computing" to see where legalism
ends us !
Oren Beck
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