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I believe I mentioned enforcement only in closing. As far as licenses go, my criticism was sharper: FSF licenses as intended allow substantial bodies of activis

I believe I mentioned enforcement only in closing. As far as licenses go, my criticism was sharper: FSF licenses as intended allow substantial bodies of activist work to benefit venture capital-backed, closed-software companies. Those intentional drafting decisions are incongruous with a post-hoc politics of VC scapegoating. You mentioned Moglen's public writing on enforcement, and I think you summarize it fairly. But it is precisely that posture that I criticize as gunshy. The Principles of Community-Oriented GPL Enforcement lay it shorter and plainer. The idea that the law isn't ready for GPL enforcement is laid bare by other organizations' success enforcing GPLs. This has some folks within the FSF camp worried: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1mGG4JYurE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1mGG4JYurE They are losing the power to construct and enforce their own social truth about the licenses they published.

arminiusreturns 7y ago
Well, I have to admit, you make some convincing points. I feel like I have a lot of reading to do. Are there any books or even blogs that really delve into the meat of the subject you can recommend? I think there is a lot of internal criticism in FSF that doesn't get leaked due to fear of it portraying a weakness, but that needs to be talked about regardless, and you are doing that. Thanks for a balanced response.
- kemitchell 7y ago
  Unfortunately, there's no single tome directly on point of these debates that I'm aware of. Some of these debates are very old, but some are also basically current events. I'd also be suspicious of any one point of view, including my own. As for blogs, I'd strongly recommend all the folks mentioned in the post, all of whom I link from my blogroll (https://writing.kemitchell.com/blogroll.html https://writing.kemitchell.com/blogroll.html). Bradley Kuhn: http://www.ebb.org/bkuhn/blog/ http://www.ebb.org/bkuhn/blog/, but see also https://copyleft.org https://copyleft.org, to which he's contributed extensively Heather Meeker: https://heathermeeker.com/ https://heathermeeker.com/ Van Lindbergh: https://processmechanics.com/ https://processmechanics.com/ My own: https://writing.kemitchell.com https://writing.kemitchell.com I think I remember correctly that Bradley and Van were generally against SSPL, while Heather and I were for it. But you should ask them, rather than take my word for it! For a more general reading list, see this one from Blue Oak Council: https://blueoakcouncil.org/lawyer-reading-list https://blueoakcouncil.org/lawyer-reading-list

arminiusreturns 7y ago

Well, I have to admit, you make some convincing points. I feel like I have a lot of reading to do. Are there any books or even blogs that really delve into the meat of the subject you can recommend? I think there is a lot of internal criticism in FSF that doesn't get leaked due to fear of it portraying a weakness, but that needs to be talked about regardless, and you are doing that. Thanks for a balanced response.

kemitchell 7y ago
Unfortunately, there's no single tome directly on point of these debates that I'm aware of. Some of these debates are very old, but some are also basically current events. I'd also be suspicious of any one point of view, including my own. As for blogs, I'd strongly recommend all the folks mentioned in the post, all of whom I link from my blogroll (https://writing.kemitchell.com/blogroll.html https://writing.kemitchell.com/blogroll.html). Bradley Kuhn: http://www.ebb.org/bkuhn/blog/ http://www.ebb.org/bkuhn/blog/, but see also https://copyleft.org https://copyleft.org, to which he's contributed extensively Heather Meeker: https://heathermeeker.com/ https://heathermeeker.com/ Van Lindbergh: https://processmechanics.com/ https://processmechanics.com/ My own: https://writing.kemitchell.com https://writing.kemitchell.com I think I remember correctly that Bradley and Van were generally against SSPL, while Heather and I were for it. But you should ask them, rather than take my word for it! For a more general reading list, see this one from Blue Oak Council: https://blueoakcouncil.org/lawyer-reading-list https://blueoakcouncil.org/lawyer-reading-list