Reyk and I have decided to show something from the private handling of
this Atheros copyright violation issue. It has been like pulling teeth
since (most) Linux wireless guys and the SFLC do not wish to admit
fault. I think that the Linux wireless guys should really think hard
about this problem, how they look, and the legal risks they place upon
the future of their source code bodies. There are lessons to be
learned here -- be cautious because there is no such thing this
"relicensing" meme that your user community spreads.
In their zeal to get the code under their own license, some of these
Linux wireless developers have broken copryright law repeatedly. But
to even get to the point where they broke copyright law, they had to
bypass a whole series of ethical considerations too.
I believe these people have received bogus advice from Eben Moglen
regarding how copyright law actually works in a global setting.
Perhaps the internationally based developers should rethink their
approach of taking advice from a US-based lawyer who apparently knows
nothing about the Berne Convention. Furthermore, those developers are
getting advice freely from ex-FSF people who have formed an agency
with an agenda. Some have suggested that the SFLC was formed to avoid
smearing the FSF with dirt whenever the SFLC does something risky.
Don't get trampled; there could be penalties besides looking unethical
and guilty. Be really cautious, especially with things like this
coming to mess with our communities:
http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS8560536106.html
Below, you can find a mail was sent by me (in consultation with Reyk)
on Sep 5 to various people in the Linux wireless developer community
and their advisors in the SFLC. Inside that message, you can find
another message from Sep 1 that they never replied to.
On Sep 5 there was finally a reply from Eben Moglen, but it added
nothing constructive to the process, except that Eben Moglen admitted
that the Linux developer's had done an ...
