I don't need legal education from you, @drag. Of course there's no black and white. However, while you say "[i]t's very unlikely that it's really a [sic] infringement issue", they say there may be one, and LWN and Brad Kuhn talk about what they consider an easy fix, which is an admission in and of itself.
While you say it's irrelevant until someone sues, you can be sure that there are defenders of the copyleft principle who think that potential and actual violations are an issue all by themselves, and more importantly, the way you argue is not the way corporate decision makers in the ecosystem can afford to look at such matters.
Naughton didn't do enough research to justify his conclusions.
Posted Mar 21, 2011 15:53 UTC (Mon) by drag (subscriber, #31333)
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I really couldn't give a shit about copyleft in this case.
The only people that have any rights in this case are the copyright holders. I am certainly not going to care more then the people that wrote the code.
And the way I argue is expressing the reality of the situation. If 'corporate decision makers' want to look at it differently they are being delusional.
Nobody can know for certain, mistakes happens. Shit happens constantly. Then problems are fixed.
People believing in pseudo-legalistic bullshit and making big issues out of non-issues is a severe problem. It needs to be nipped in the bud as all it generates is useless drama and bad feelings.
> they say there may be one
The fact that you can keep saying shit like this with a straight face shows that you understand far less then you think you do. Either that or your being intentionally obtuse.
Naughton didn't do enough research to justify his conclusions.
Posted Mar 21, 2011 19:48 UTC (Mon) by foom (subscriber, #14868)
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> People believing in pseudo-legalistic bullshit and making big issues out of non-issues is a severe problem. It needs to be nipped in the bud as all it generates is useless drama and bad feelings.
+1. ISTM Florian seems to be making a really bad habit out of this. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt for a long time, but come on...
Naughton didn't do enough research to justify his conclusions.
Posted Mar 21, 2011 18:24 UTC (Mon) by rahvin (subscriber, #16953)
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I don't need legal education from you, @drag. Of course there's no black and white. However, while you say "[i]t's very unlikely that it's really a [sic] infringement issue", they say there may be one, and LWN and Brad Kuhn talk about what they consider an easy fix, which is an admission in and of itself.
You need a legal education from someone if you are going to spout off about legal matters and sow FUD in the community. Unless they are providing legal counsel their response is the one required or they will fall afoul of the US Bar and could be liable if their "advice" turns out incorrect. That's legal 101. I doubt the FSF has even bothered to review the issue as they haven't been asked to by the copyright holders so they result to the typical non-committal lawyer speech when they can't answer a question. Finally, suggesting a fix doesn't mean there is a problem. The fix could be to eliminate concern or it could simply be to eliminate FUD or even just be suggestion without merit.
While you say it's irrelevant until someone sues, you can be sure that there are defenders of the copyleft principle who think that potential and actual violations are an issue all by themselves, and more importantly, the way you argue is not the way corporate decision makers in the ecosystem can afford to look at such matters.
Unless the copyright holders wish to take action then it doesn't matter what anyone in the community thinks. It's not their concern because they can't legally take action. The kernel has always included the user space exception since very very early on. You've been spreading FUD. Why don't you tell everyone why you are so concerned about this issue that you have run around on a press gauntlet screaming about how dangerous Android is to use? Explain your motives and maybe people will take you more seriously. Because there is a significant percentage of the community that thinks you are whoring FUD for your current employer. So what is your motivation in this?
Naughton didn't do enough research to justify his conclusions.
Posted Mar 21, 2011 18:29 UTC (Mon) by FlorianMueller (guest, #32048)
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When did Brad Kuhn become a member of the Bar? The answer: never. And Jake Edge? I don't see any indication he's admitted as an attorney at law. Therefore, you can't claim they're limited in expressing their opinions. @rahvin, your post is generally unreasonable and doesn't contribute anything of substance to the discussion.
Naughton didn't do enough research to justify his conclusions.
Posted Mar 27, 2011 0:43 UTC (Sun) by malor (subscriber, #2973)
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Florian, you are just being freaking ridiculous here. You have yet to state an actual cause for action, but you post again and again and AGAIN, in every Android thread, screaming about possible infringement. I mean, you've actually used the term 'copyright laundering' with a straight face.
Here's the deal. If you think there's infringement, prove that there's infringement. It'll take a hell of a lot of work. But that's the ONLY basis from which you can be making those kinds of claims
Your current claim seems to amount to this: certain specific people aren't stating with absolute certainty that there's no infringement. Therefore, there must be infringement. This is stupid.
They don't want to do all that digging in header files they didn't author; they don't want to do the work any more than you do.
Even if they did all that work, and then registered the strong opinion that there was no infringement, it wouldn't matter, because they don't have standing to make that determination.
Only the people who wrote the headers can make an infringement claim. And if they don't care, if they've released the headers under a permissive license, then there is no issue. Only their opinion is important. Bradley Kuhn's and Jake Edge's are entirely irrelevant.
Yet, you insist on screaming that because unrelated people without legal standing won't put many hours of work into analyzing headers, that means Android is untrustworthy.
This is called "pushing an agenda", Florian. You look like a paid astroturfer to me.