<nettime> *PL 101 digest [geer, de beer]

["nettime's_legal_workshop" <nettime@bbs.thing.net>]

Re: A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I got a PL digest [shand|nakov|recktenwald]
     Benjamin Geer <ben@beroul.uklinux.net>
     Michael de Beer <madebeer@apc.org>

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From: Benjamin Geer <ben@beroul.uklinux.net>
Subject: Re: A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I got a PL digest [shand|nakov|recktenwald]
Date: Wed, 31 Jul 2002 09:21:28 +0100

On Tue, 30 Jul 2002 09:10:24 +0200, Novica Nakov wrote:
> When something is "copyleft" that means that it is uncopyrighted.

That's incorrect.  From "What is Copyleft?" 
(http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#WhatIsCopyleft):

"To copyleft a program, we first state that it is copyrighted; then we add 
distribution terms, which are a legal instrument that gives everyone the 
rights to use, modify, and redistribute the program's code or any program 
derived from it but only if the distribution terms are unchanged. Thus, the 
code and the freedoms become legally inseparable."

Benjamin

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Date: Thu, 1 Aug 2002 02:37:56 -0700
From: Michael de Beer <madebeer@apc.org>
Subject: A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I got a PL digest [shand|nakov|recktenwald]

> > does anybody knows the difference between GPL and OPL?. 

At itrainonline.org (website with ICT training materials for
nonprofits), we discussed which pro-freedom license we should use 
for materials we develop.

The main options were OPL and FDL.

The OPL is much easier to read by a layperson and uses 'softer'
language.  But we chose the FDL because:
* FDL has been translated into more languages
* FDL has more publically-minded lawyers behind it (we think)

The FDL is here:
http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html

> "In plain English, the [OPL] license relieves the author of any liability 
> or implication of warranty, grants others permission to use the 
> Content in whole or in part, and insures that the original author will be 
> properly credited when Content is used. It also grants others 
> permission to modify and redistribute the Content if they clearly mark 
> what changes have been made, when they were made, and who made 
> them. Finally, the license insures that if someone else bases a work on 
> OpenContent, that the resultant work will be made available as  
> OpenContent as well." (see: http://www.opencontent.org/).

=============================================================
Michael de Beer                              madebeer@apc.org
APC Learning & Practitioners Network Coordinator
Johannesburg +27 11 880 7878           http://www.apc.org/lp/
=============================================================

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