[fsf-community-team] RE:Welcome to the "fsf-community-team" mailing list

[Diego Trujillo]

Hello, my name is Diego Trujillo and I live in Mexico City, I just finished my subjects in a biology degree and hope to get a BA soon. I have been interested in free software, copy right law and patents for a long time, specially in promoting the ethicas linked to these issues. I follow a couple of mexican news papers, Free software daily (which unfortunately discusses/advertises a lot of non-free software and often confuses open-source with free), Slashdot and whatever else I ocationaly find while browsing the net.

I have read the linked articles as well as the Free Software Free society book by R. Stallman.

Excerpt: Richard Stallman started the FSF in order to promote
open source software like the Linux operating system, as an
alternative to expensive software like Windows.

The previous statement is full of misconceptions and errors in terminology. First of all the operating system is called GNU/Linux, Linux being only the kernel of the system. GNU/Linux is categorized as free software and not open source, open source focuses on the mere technical aspects of being able to read the source code of a given program while free software focuses on the ethical matters related to the availability of source code and the right to redistribute, modify and learn from software. Given that the main objective of free software is to concentrate on freedom, the FSF does not believe that price plays any role in the debate, the FSF does not promote proprietary software (such as Windows) not because it is expensive but because it does not grant the users the rights which we defend.

Excerpt: Now with cloud computing and web-based applications,
even Linux users can use the same software as everyone else, through
their browsers. With other popular programs like Skype and Adobe Flash
producing Linux versions, the Linux desktop may finally be catching
on!

GNU/Linux users, like my self, are not interested in being able to use the same software as everyone else but on defending some rights which we consider essential. One of the ideas that we defend is that you should be able to know what your software is doing, cloud computing concentrates in making the user completely alien to the technology infrastructure of 'the cloud'. Free software users are also not interested in using GNU/Linux compatible versions of Skype and Adobe Flash until we are provided with the source code and the right to modify and redistribute this software. The 'linux desktop' should be catching on because it respects your liberty and individuality not because it has become compatible with proprietary software.

   * Excerpt: When combined with the other chapters that include
statutory damages, search and seizure powers for border guards,
anti-camcording rules, and mandatory disclosure of personal
information requirements, it is clear that there is no bigger
intellectual property issue today than the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade
Agreement being negotiated behind closed doors this week in Korea.

It is true that ACTA and control over information is very scary. It is even more scary that the term intellectual property is always linked to these kind of debates. Intellectual property is a term which seeks to make us think of ideas as physical objects that can be called property, this may not seem very severe however it is a mirage. The real danger of discussing 'intellectual property' comes from the fact that it covers copyright law, trademarks and patents as if they were equal. Patents, trademarks and copyright have distinct historical, legal and social backgrounds. While copyright aims to protect a wide range of ideas patents are only applicable to things that provide some sort of technical innovation and usefulness. Therefore all things covered under the shroud of 'intellectual property' should be debated individually and in their own context.

-- 
Diego Trujillo Pisanty