[OSM-legal-talk] [OSM-talk] Community vs. Licensing

[Frederik Ramm]

Hi,

John Smith wrote:
> On 1 September 2010 17:30, Frederik Ramm <frederik at remote.org> wrote:
>> only the most presumptuous person would believe that a license they choose
>> today will automatically be the best license for the project for all time.
> 
> The sheer arrogance of all this is astounding, you and others are
> telling all the current contributors that you know best, because you
> are trying to speak for both people now and people in the future
> without even asking people what they want.

I think there may be a misunderstanding here. The clause 3 in the 
contributor terms is precisely there because we want to *avoid* speaking 
for people in the future. Anyone arguing against that basically says: 
"Well of course you can change your mind about the license at a later 
time but you'll have to go through the same procedure again; effectively 
I and everyone else demand a veto on that, and if we should be dead, 
uninterested, or unreachable by then, well, tough luck." - The "après 
moi le déluge" stance if you will.

In my eyes, *that* is a stance of astounding arrogance but it seems that 
we have different perceptions. - What exactly is, in your eyes, humble 
about dictating to future members of OSM exactly what they can do with 
the project? Remember we're talking about future members - those who do 
all the work and keep the project alive. Remember also that they are 
likely to outnumber us, vastly. Why again would it be our moral right to 
tell them what to do, and why should we have reason to believe that we 
know what is best for the project in 10 years?

I think it is nothing but selfish. You don't even know if you'll be in 
OSM in 10 years. Neither do I. But in exchange for every puny node you 
add today you want the future OSM to do your bidding, to stick to a 
narrow set of conditions of which you have not the faintest idea whether 
they will allow the project to flourish or whether they'll strangle it 
in the future.

I think that endangering the future of the project just to be able to 
keep a little data on board (and along with it some people who seem to 
care far more about themselves and the soapbox they stand on than about 
the project) would be stupid, to say the least.

Bye
Frederik

-- 
Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frederik at remote.org  ##  N49°00'09" E008°23'33"