Bonum Certa Men Certa

Guest Post: An Open Letter to Matt Lee Regarding freesw.org

By figosdev

Matt Lee
Via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons CC BY 4.0



Summary: "I realise you and I probably don't agree on very much. What I think we do agree on is the importance of getting Free Culture and Free Software right."

Here is a great idea: https://freesw.org/



The webpage states: "Starting today we are going to start an effort to unite our community around our shared values and to document, promote and publicize any and all software, artwork, documentation, and supporting material that meets the Debian Free Software Guidelines."

There are hints that this won't just be about software:

"Thanks to the work of hundreds of thousands of individuals and dozens of organizations, we now have free and open music, movies, books, and encyclopedias, as well as software."

The Free Media Alliance promotes this sort of idea and encourages people (including Lee) to pursue building such collections.

I would personally recommend that such a collection be licensed CC0, to maximise its usefulness to a global network of such libraries. Library-like Listings of works do not add value by restricting what other people can do with them; on the contrary, the more we build these libraries online the more we can contribute substantially to each others' libraries -- simply by managing our own.

I don't have any details on the plans regarding freesw.org, nor do I assume that anybody will make use of any of this advice, but if they don't then I would offer the same advice to anybody else creating a library online.

The choice to provide "supporting material that meets the Debian Free Software Guidelines" is a particularly good one. In the past, the DFSG was used to discourage people from choosing a "documentation license" over one suitable to OER; I support the GNU GPL but the "Free Documentation License" restricts paper copies.

For OER, restrictions on paper copies are not ideal, and the FDL was unsuitable enough that Wikipedia worked to migrate from that license to a proper Free Culture license for its encyclopedia project. Fortunately for us, the FSF helped them.

If textbooks are better off with Free Culture licenses, then we are better off scrapping special licenses for "documentation" and just use the better (also more free) OER standards. If those OER standards do not offer the 4 freedoms, then we should create a "Libre Education Resource" standard that does. GPL compatibility is a serious bonus.

As for this library, the easier we make it to find works (both software works and cultural works) under free licenses, the better these licenses and their associated freedoms will be known -- the better promoted and considered by all as a means of communication and spreading intellectual freedom.

It was my hope, years ago, that Students for Free Culture would both change their name to the Free Culture Foundation and create a library such as the one Lee describes. Today, the Free Culture Foundation website seems to be missing, the freeculture.org wiki seems to be vandalised and even the Creative Commons wiki has deleted valuable data on freely-licensed books that they used to host.

What is it about Free Culture that makes people walk away?

As each iteration of a major Free Culture resource has risen and wavered, my hope is that we will finally build a collaborative network of libraries that together serve the many different needs, desires (and perhaps demands) of different people. Each year, more Free Culture and Free Software works are created. Free Software has a directory; Free Culture still lacks one (though I continue to find new things to add to the Alliance Library, and people are gradually contributing more works.)

I cannot even find the Free Culture Foundation's collection now, but I predicted that what would keep them from growing was a very narrow definition of what they were looking for -- the licenses weren't the issue; it was their expectations of people and of works that I found too exclusive.

Speaking of which, I believe you still work for the FSF; would you ask whomever is in charge of email to stop censoring Daniel Pocock? Thanks.

I realise you and I probably don't agree on very much. What I think we do agree on is the importance of getting Free Culture and Free Software right. That leaves a lot of things to differ on, but make no mistake -- I would like freesw.org to succeed. My hope is that it gets the most important things right.

Long Live Stallman and Happy Hacking.

Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0

https://twitter.com/DMCANews/status/1182337223514963968

Recent Techrights' Posts

There Are More Devuan-Based Distros of GNU/Linux Each Year
"The Veteran Unix Admin collective salutes you"
In Gambia, According to statCounter, Windows "Market Share" is Down to 3%
in some countries Windows is already down to 1%
The Web is Becoming Social Control Media Junk and Fake Text Crafted by Machines (Boosted by Social Control Media via Bots Which Game Visibility/Popularity)
The misinformation machines are being increasingly automated to promote dictators and bigots
 
Materialistic Culture of Fake Possessions and Fake Popularity
Fake popularity is part of a "chicken and egg" thing
If the Reputation of the European Union for Rule of Law Has Diminished, Blame EPO and the German (Also the Dutch) Government for Facilitating It
We'll soon publish some new EPO material
[Meme] Same Thing, Different Job Title
"Server sysadmin; Clown computing consultant"
Imagine Patents on Musical Compositions and Cooking Recipes
The very existence of software patents must come to an end
"Latest Technology News" in BetaNews is Press Release SPAM (or LLM Slop, Marketing, Fake 'Review')
What they call "reviews" are just ads
[Meme] Kramer is Done
Devuan is turning 10
Go Offline for a Bit
yup!
Windows Falls to All-Time Low (12%) in Gabon
Gabon's data from statCounter shows this
[Meme] When Words Come to Mean the Opposite
"Keep the 'dumb' stuff, be smart about it"
In Defence of Analog (Sometimes Digital and/or "Smart" is Objectively a Lot Worse)
This past weekend (2-3 days) I spent a few hours per day saving us 250 - 400 pounds in repair bills
It Takes Microsoft Over a Day to Restore 'Microsoft 365' (360, 5 Days of Downtime)
Microsoft/Windows TCO will always be huge
[Meme] In Some Countries, Android (Linux) is Already 'the Standard'
"Wait. Sorry, we don't do Windows here, we barely use laptops."
In Defence of CDs...
Let's say that some environmentalists focus only on visible things like plastics
This Holiday Season Dump Companies That Offload Everything to Skinnerbox "Apps", Un-Encrypted E-mail, and 'Webapps' (Proprietary JS Applications in 'Web Site' Clothing)
bot disservice
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, November 26, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, November 26, 2024
When Social Control Media in the European Union is Controlled by BRICS
Who controls TikTok?
Links 27/11/2024: Zoom Waning (Stock Falls), More Microsoft Shutdowns, and European Commission Flags Bluesky for Breaches
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/11/2024: Disease, Vibrations, and Grief
Links for the day
Links 26/11/2024: Microsoft 360 Users Report Outages, Attacks on Journalists Plentiful Worldwide
Links for the day
Same Month Judge Suggests Selling Chrome (Compelling Google to Give It Away) Chrome Surpasses Two-Thirds of "The Market", Based on Surveyor
tackling Google's browser monoculture is still a priority
[Meme] Trying to Terrorise Critics
How Microsofters roll...
Illegitimi Non Carborundum
If you try to suppress our publication, we'll not just bark back but also bite
Why This Site Became "Simple" a Year Ago
Light is good, heavy is bad
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, November 25, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, November 25, 2024
Links 26/11/2024: International Microsoft Outages, Microsoft Mass Layoffs Bigger Than Reported Last Friday
Links for the day, Deutsche Welle and CBC focus
Gemini Links 26/11/2024: Not Pagan, Emacs Wiki, and More
Links for the day
Links 25/11/2024: Egypt Harasses Bloggers, The University of Michigan Has Become Like a Corporation
Links for the day
Links 25/11/2024: Climate News, Daniel Pocock Receives a Fake/Fraudulent €17,000 Electricity Bill
Links for the day
On Groupthink, Mindless 'Sheep', and Toxic Online Cults
This week, treat yourself to a life free of social control media
[Meme] Microsoft: Our "Hey Hi" Hype is Going So Well That We Have MASS Layoffs Every Month. Makes Sense?
Contradiction
Latest Mass Layoffs at Microsoft Are Confirmed, Bing and Vista 11 Losing Market Share
They tried to hide this. They misuse NDAs.
BetaNews is Run and Written by Bots That Make Clickbait
At least one author is doing this
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, November 24, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, November 24, 2024
Gemini Links 25/11/2024: Purity and Cory Doctorow's Ulysses Pact, Smolnet Portal and SGI
Links for the day