[OSM-talk] The long tail - lowest common denominator

[David Sheldon]

On Fri, Jul 07, 2006 at 08:58:26PM +0100, Richard Fairhurst wrote:
> I see what you mean (that's a pro-PD/BSD argument, I think), but the  
> Free argument is that point 1 should coexist with a viral clause ("to  
> protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid anyone  
> to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights")...  
> hence the whole thing that Imi's talking about.

And this is what I object to. Claiming that it is more free to add
restrictions is like the government claiming that I would be more free
if they were allowed to lock me up for three months without trial. It
isn't an increase in freedom, it is a restriction. Ok, it is a
restriction with altruistic means, but it is still a restriction. If you
are going to have that sort of restriction then don't call it free.

If the data is PD then if I have a copy of it I can do whatever I like
with it, nobody can take that right away, and if I like I can give it to
other people who also can't take it away from me. Yes, they may take a
copy and improve it and not let me have their improvements, but that is
work that they did and I still have a copy of what it was like
originally. The great thing about data is that even if a large company
takes it you still have a copy. It isn't like apples where if someone
else takes your apple you are suddenly hungry, if someone takes your
data there are now two places that the data exists so it will survive
longer.

David

-- 
If you give a man a fire, he'll be warm for a day. If you set a man on fire, 
he'll be warm for the rest of his life.