[wilhelmtux-discussion] Other licenses, 'ethical software'..

Robert Ribnitz ribnitz at linuxbourg.ch
Mit Apr 2 12:51:49 CEST 2003


Hello,

Some points were made as to the fact that a certain form of licensing
may kill people, even if the license forbids military use (which will
make it non-free, since it violates points 4 and 5 of the debian free
software guidelines).

We might talk about some program optimising the distribution of aid
(food, water,..) in a certain area, or perhaps a database in a hospital
keeping track of patients' records.

Software, by its very nature, is a tool, conceived to help someone
achieve a goal. However, ethical standards can only be applied to beings
capable of independent thought, and to their goals. A knife can be used
to cut up an animal (or salad) someone slew to survive, but it can also 
be used to kill another human over some idea, or a conceived disagreement.

Most of the 'children' fighting in Iraq (or anywhere) can not be held
responsible for their actions, since they obey orders. Disobeying these
orders, they might incur adverse effects. It could also be argued that a
20 year old may not even grasp the situation. In the middle ages, both
warring parties had their arms blessed by a priest, thereby ensuring the
just cause. Needless to say, causes were rarely just..

But I am rambling again. To make the point, software is just a
tool, and therefore ethical standards cannot be applied to it directly.

In that view, another license imposing some code of ethics, imo. completely
misses the point. We do have the GPL (and derivates), and a bunch of
other "free licenses" (like the BSD..).

Yet another license would only confuse people. And those who do not want
to respect it won't anyway.

Robert

-------------- nächster Teil --------------
Ein Dateianhang mit Binärdaten wurde geschreddert...
Dateiname   : nicht verfügbar
Dateityp    : application/pgp-signature
Dateigröße  : 189 bytes
Beschreibung: nicht verfügbar
URL         : http://wilhelmtux.ch/vpipermail/wilhelmtux-discussion/attachments/20030402/de16e7ee/attachment.bin