[fsfc-discuss] Do we have our own Canadian "Words to Avoid (or Use with Care)"? (Was a reply to "Hello")

[Russell McOrmond]

(New subject line referencing 
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html  I thought this was on 
the FSF.org site, where it should have been. I suspect this is part of 
the confusion between GNU and FSF. 
http://www.fsf.org/licensing/essays/words-to-avoid.html redirects to the 
GNU website...)

On 12-01-28 07:21 PM, Stephen Paul Weber wrote:
> People who hate DRM/TPM have in my hearing disparaged DFD because of ties to
> GNU.  I am not saying this is rational, only that it has happened.


  I'm partly wanting to discuss this more as I want to ensure our (and 
my own) advocacy work can avoid some of the misconceptions and pitfalls. 
  It is interesting, but I've heard these types of comments associated 
with RMS, and through that the FSF as many see it is his project, but 
not before the GNU project.

  While I agreed with what he said (the actual wording), there were 
many people uncomfortable with what RMS wrote when Steve Jobs died. 
I've had associates tell me they didn't want to use the "Free Software" 
term any more because they didn't want to be associated with the 
impression portrayed by the media about what Richard said.

(In case anyone missed the original and the follow-up 
http://stallman.org/archives/2011-jul-oct.html#06_October_2011_%28Steve_Jobs%29 
)


  We can't avoid all misconceptions, but we can at least be aware of 
language issues and avoid them if we can.


  When I'm talking to politicians about "technological protection 
measures" I try to stick to my "4 owners, all 4 of whose property rights 
must be protected" conversation.   On software, I simply state that 
technology owners must be protected in their right to make their own 
software choices. And that to software authors the right of computers 
owners to pick their software is far more important than protecting 
copyright.

  I avoid talking about "Fair Use" or "Fair Dealings", as I personally 
feel these are a distraction from the critical questions of who owns the 
computer, who should hold the keys to any digital locks, and weather 
owners should be protected in their right to make their own software 
choices.  I have found it unfortunate that everyone from Defective by 
Design to Michael Geist have spent so much time discussing fair 
use/dealings.



  My view that Free Software is the equivalent to software code as 
access to information and related transparency/accountability policy is 
to legal code has proven to be a distraction for many politicians.  They 
are not ready for the "code is law" level of the conversation.  I have 
found I can't always have that conversation with fellow members of the 
FLOSS community, as many do not agree there are moral, ethical and other 
issues with proprietary software: they see it as a developer choice 
rather than a societal governance issue.

  Be aware of the language/etc issues, and avoid them when mentioning 
is unnecessary...even if they represent strongly held personal views.

> So, this is a short (and way-too-anecdotal) summary of my high-level concern
> with close ties to GNU.

  I think it is helpful to discuss these things openly in this forum.

  If I were given the choice, I would prefer creating a Canadian Free 
Software Conservancy to creating a Canadian GNU project.   I think we as 
a community have matured to the point where having a legal/business 
support umbrella for a wide variety of independent non-profit 
incorporated software projects is better than having a single non-profit 
that centrally manages everything.  The GNU project started at a time 
before the communications networks and distributed development tools we 
take for granted today.

--
 Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/>
 Please help us tell the Canadian Parliament to protect our property
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