Follow Slashdot blog updates by subscribing to our blog RSS feed

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Comment More links.. (Score 5, Informative) 65

by Jeremy Allison - Sam (#61907825) Attached to: Software Freedom Conservancy Sues Vizio for GPL Violations

I didn't have these handy when I posted this originally.

PDF of the full legal complaint. It's really nicely written (IMHO) and IANAL of course :-).

https://sfconservancy.org/docs...

Press kit:

https://shoestring.agency/wp-c...

Really nice non-technical write up from sjvn (yeah I know /. is a technical crowd, but it's nice to be able to have something to use to explain to non-technical friends):

https://www.zdnet.com/article/...

Submission + - Software Freedom Conservancy files GPL lawsuit against Visio (sfconservancy.org)

Submitted by Jeremy Allison - Sam
Jeremy Allison - Sam writes: Software Freedom Conservancy announced today it has filed a lawsuit against Vizio Inc. for what it calls repeated failures to fulfill even the basic requirements of the General Public License (GPL).

The lawsuit alleges that Vizio’s TV products, built on its SmartCast system, contain software that Vizio unfairly appropriated from a community of developers who intended consumers to have very specific rights to modify, improve, share, and reinstall modified versions of the software.

Submission + - Slashdot Alum Samzenpus's Fractured Veil Hits Kickstarter

Submitted by CmdrTaco
CmdrTaco writes: Long time Slashdot readers remember Samzenpus,who posted over 17,000 stories here, sadly crushing my record in the process! What you might NOT know is that he was frequently the Dungeon Master for D&D campaigns played by the original Slashdot crew, and for the last few years he has been applying these skills with fellow Slashdot editorial alum Chris DiBona to a Survival game called Fractured Veil. It's set in a post apocalyptic Hawaii with a huge world based on real map data to explore, as well as careful balance between PVP & PVE. I figured a lot of our old friends would love to help them meet their kickstarter goal and then help us build bases and murder monsters! The game is turning into something pretty great and I'm excited to see it in the wild!

Submission + - SPAM: Samba clarification around GPL and VFS modules.

Submitted by Jeremy Allison - Sam
Jeremy Allison - Sam writes: People who follow Samba development may
have noticed the following commit that
just went into the Samba repo:

[spam URL stripped]...

For people who don't read git (I'm assuming
that's everyone :-) it's a clarification
around GPL license boundaries and Samba
VFS modules we've been discussing within
the Team for a long while now.

Here's the text of the new file so people
can understand what we're doing here.

Hopefully this will make it much clearer
to OEMs and vendors using Samba where their
GPL requirements begin and end when extending
Samba to work with their own unique filesystem
technology.

Cheers,

Jeremy.

----------------------------------------------------
A clarification of the GNU GPL License boundary within the Samba
Virtual File System (VFS) layer.

Samba is licensed under the GNU GPL. All code committed to the Samba
project or creating a derived work must be either licensed under the
GNU GPL or a compatible license.

Samba has several plug-in interfaces where external code may be called
from Samba GNU GPL licensed code. The most important of these is the
Samba VFS layer.

Samba VFS modules are intimately connected by header files and API
definitions to the part of the Samba code that provides file services,
and as such, code that implements a plug-in Samba VFS module must be
licensed under the GNU GPL or a compatible license.

However, Samba VFS modules may themselves call third-party external
libraries that are not part of the Samba project and are externally
developed and maintained.

As long as these third-party external libraries do not use any of the
Samba internal structure, APIs or interface definitions created by the
Samba project that are licensed under the GNU GPL then it is the view
of the Samba Team that such third-party external libraries called from
Samba VFS modules are not part of the Samba code and cannot be
considered a derived work of Samba for the purposes of GNU GPL
licensing. Thus such libraries are not required to be under the GNU
GPL or a GNU GPL compatible license.
----------------------------------------------------
Link to Original Source

Submission + - Conservancy Announces New Strategy for GPL Enforcement (sfconservancy.org)

Submitted by Jeremy Allison - Sam
Jeremy Allison - Sam writes: Software Freedom Conservancy, the only organization actively engaged in General Public License (GPL) enforcement and compliance work for Linux, announces today a new strategy toward improving compliance and the freedom of users of devices that contain Linux-based systems. The new work has received an initial grant from Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC).

Our new initiative features:

1) Litigation to enforce against license violators that do not voluntarily comply in a timely manner.

2) Coordinating the development of alternative firmware for devices where none currently exists.

3) Collaborating with other organizations to promote copyleft compliance as a feature for consumers to protect their privacy and get more out of their devices.

We take this holistic approach because compliance is not an end in itself, but rather a lever to help people advance technology for themselves and the world. Bradley Kuhn, Conservancy’s Policy Fellow and Hacker-in-Residence remarked: “GPL enforcement began as merely an education process more than twenty years ago. We all had hoped that industry-wide awareness of copyleft’s essential role in spreading software freedom would yield widespread, spontaneous compliance. We were simply wrong about that. Today, we observe almost universal failure in compliance throughout the (so-called) Internet of Things (IoT) market. Only unrelenting enforcement that holds companies accountable can change this abysmal reality. ARDC, a visionary grant-maker, recognizes the value of systemic enforcement that utilizes the legal system to regain software freedom. That process also catalyzes community-led projects to build liberated firmware for many devices.”

ARDC has long served the amateur radio community who were early adopters of Internet communication. These roots have grown from the deeper soils of wireless and digital communication and open access to technical information. Amateur radio operators have long practiced the tradition of individual technical experimentation that benefited the general public. These traditions also form the basis of software freedom. Hobbyists and volunteers built, modified and improved Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) first. Conservancy defends the rights of software developers to examine the code in their devices and assists their work to improve the platforms they rely on and to understand our communication technologies. Copyleft compliance enables this work to continue and expand to new kinds of devices.

Rosy Wolfe, ARDC’s Executive Director commented: “GPL enforcement is notoriously difficult, and yet it is necessary to deter self-serving actors who want the benefits of community software but won’t follow the rules. Thus Conservancy’s efforts in this arena are critical, and we are honored to support them in this work.”

When companies prevent us from actually modifying the software on our devices, software freedom remains only theoretical. In this new chapter of compliance work, Conservancy will leverage its technical and legal resources to help the public take control of the software on which they rely. This generous grant from ARDC is a first step. Please help in the next step through support of Conservancy’s work with a donation. You can also email compliance@sfconservancy.org to let us know about GPL violations or to discuss volunteering on these projects.

Slashdot Top Deals

"Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company." -- Mark Twain

Close