“Open” and “Free”
It seems to me that many people who talk about liberty and freedom seem to have a serious problem knowning where to draw the line. In the arena of “Open Source” software, there are a number of licenses that developers release their software under. In our current world I understand the need to attach a statement since copyright protection is intrinsic with the creation of any work of substance. You take a picture, and the copyright to it defaults to the photographer. The same holds true for documents, art work, and computer code.
The most common license for open source software (Free Open Source Software or FOSS) is the GNU Public Licenses or GPL. This license, in general terms, grants anyone the right to use the software for just about any reason they chose. However it also binds any user to a “shrinkwrap” contract, placing requirements on what someone can, and cannot do if they chose to redistribute the code, in whole or in part. The current version of the GPL (3) seems to be about 30-40 paragraphs explaining your “Freedom” under it. I notice the license also disclaims any personal responsibility for use of the code, no moral high ground there for sure.
The “BSD” licenses on the other hand are, at most, about 5 paragraphs long (including a long disclaimer at the end) and put only minor (or no) restrictions on those using the software. You do what you wish, you are free in every sense of the word.
The latter seems to me to be the moral high ground when people disparage government created concepts like “software patents”. But while many say it is a clever “hack” of the system. It can also be thought of as endorsing the system they claim to hate.
I was reading some comments on a video a few days ago and one of the posters was going on about how he did not care about what the license says, he “cracked” Windows and used it as he pleased. This again says that that person has no respect for the wishes of the creator of a work. Or I might even ask where the line gets drawn for taking other liberties with “property”?
All-in-all it does not matter what I think. I don’t do much coding these days. What little I produce probably belongs to my employer. I will continue to use the tools that make sense to me, and avoid ideaological wars were possible.