04-22-2008, 09:41 PM | #136 | |
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04-23-2008, 05:21 AM | #137 | |
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04-23-2008, 06:25 AM | #138 |
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But what's the point with something like the Gen3, where you need to create a firmware "package" to change anything? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe that those package creation tools are a standard part of Linux, are they? They are almost certainly proprietory software.
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04-23-2008, 09:03 AM | #139 |
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It's not exactly "releasing" the source code what the GPL asks for. What you should do is give the source to anyone you give the binaries to at no additional charge, and if they ask for it. That is, they wouldn't need to release the source code publicly, but it should be available to any legal owner of a Cybook. And of course, it would still be GPL, so the owners who get the source code can freely distribute it if they want, but that's a different story. From the seller's point of view it is: I sell you a device with GPL software, if you want the source code of the software, just ask for it and I'll send it to you or tell you how to get it.
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04-23-2008, 09:39 AM | #140 | |
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The reason for GPL3 was to fix the thing you refer to. With GPL3 you have to distribute the tools to build the firmware also. That was always the intention with GPL2 but when it was written firmware updateable hardware was very rare if they existsed at all. So if you do not only want to do the legal right thing but also the morally right thing you should distribute the tools to build the firmware. |
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04-23-2008, 09:43 AM | #141 | |
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04-23-2008, 09:55 AM | #142 | |
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Telling the Judge I would not have bought the book anyway ? It does matter because the contributors in GPLed Open Source projects had other motives spending their time on the software then helping Bookeen to make profit ! |
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04-23-2008, 10:03 AM | #143 | |
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I am in no way condoning copyright infringement, but this seems to be a purely "technical" infringement in that nobody is actually losing anything. The product concerned is a free one. It would be like, say, if I were to give out leaflets free on a street corner, and you were to photocopy one of my leaflets and start giving them out for free yourself. Technically you've infringed my copyright, but does it actually matter to anyone? |
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04-23-2008, 10:20 AM | #144 | |
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04-23-2008, 10:23 AM | #145 |
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No, I am a firm believe in the rights of copyright holders. All I'm saying is that since the penalties for civil copyright infringement seem to be based solely on financial loss, it's difficult to see what anyone can actually do to prevent violations which don't result in financial loss.
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04-23-2008, 10:28 AM | #146 | |
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04-23-2008, 10:53 AM | #147 |
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It's not a black and white issue - very few things are.
Yes, I think it's morally wrong to ignore the rights of copyright holders. On a "scale of wrongness" I think I'd put it on a par with, say, illegally downloading a book that's out of print. ie it's wrong, but nobody's losing anything as a result of the action. |
04-23-2008, 11:17 AM | #148 | |
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And you are wrong that people are not loosing. As I have said it makes it impossible for me to sell the device since I think it is morally wrong to sell it. Also it probably delays hacking of the device. Also it does not give the right signals to people to respect copyright. |
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04-23-2008, 11:26 AM | #149 |
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It's silly to argue about exactly HOW wrong it is. It's just plain wrong - we're all (I think) agreed on that.
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04-23-2008, 12:01 PM | #150 | |
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The first punishment a court would impose is a preliminary injunction banning distribution of the copyrighted materials, since nothing but the GPL gives Bookeen the right to distribute the software, and they are not abiding by the terms of the GPL. (This has happened in other cases of GPL violations.) The idea that there is no financial loss is beside the point, since the purpose of "copyleft" Free Software licenses such as the GPL is that you "pay for" your right to distribute the software by granting all the freedoms you received with the software to all the users you distribute it to. (i.e. The freedoms to use, study, modify and redistribute the code.) If they didn't receive all the freedoms from Netronix (as seems to be the case here) they still don't have the right to restrict downstream users. If they cannot both distribute the software and abide by the terms of the GPL, they must simply stop distributing the software. The "bugger all use" argument is also flawed. As someone else mentioned, GPL v3 does fix this kind of problem by ensuring that any modified code is usable on the device it is intended for (removing the TiVo loophole). But even with GPL v2, the legal onus is on all distributors to provide source code, if requested, to anyone who receives the binaries. Even if it's not directly usable, it would be useful to study for anyone producing a free firmware for the CyBook, or working on other devices. The freedom to study GPL'd source code that you receive (to see what it's doing and how it's done) is one of the 4 freedoms I mentioned before. |
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