diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/nonsoftware-copyleft.html')
| -rw-r--r-- | talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/nonsoftware-copyleft.html | 90 |
1 files changed, 41 insertions, 49 deletions
diff --git a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/nonsoftware-copyleft.html b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/nonsoftware-copyleft.html index c1409ff..152e8b0 100644 --- a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/nonsoftware-copyleft.html +++ b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/nonsoftware-copyleft.html @@ -1,39 +1,45 @@ <!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> -<!-- Parent-Version: 1.92 --> +<!-- Parent-Version: 1.96 --> <!-- This page is derived from /server/standards/boilerplate.html --> +<!--#set var="TAGS" value="thirdparty" --> +<!--#set var="DISABLE_TOP_ADDENDUM" value="yes" --> <title>Applying Copyleft To Non-Software Information - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/nonsoftware-copyleft.translist" --> <!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> +<!--#include virtual="/philosophy/ph-breadcrumb.html" --> +<!--GNUN: OUT-OF-DATE NOTICE--> +<!--#include virtual="/server/top-addendum.html" --> +<div class="article reduced-width"> <h2>Applying Copyleft To Non-Software Information</h2> -<p>by <a href="http://dsl.org/"><strong>Michael Stutz</strong></a></p> +<address class="byline">by <a href="http://dsl.org/">Michael Stutz</a></address> <h3 id="what">First, what is Copyleft?</h3> <p> The entry for -“<a href="/copyleft/copyleft.html">copyleft</a>” in the +“<a href="/licenses/copyleft.html">copyleft</a>” in the definitive hacker lexicon, the <a href="http://www.jargon.net/jargonfile/c/copyleft.html">Jargon File</a>, reads:</p> <blockquote><p> - copyleft: /kop'ee-left/ [play on ‘copyright’] n. 1. The - copyright notice (‘General Public License’) carried by + copyleft: /kop'ee-left/ [play on “copyright”] n. 1. The + copyright notice (“General Public License”) carried by GNU EMACS and other Free Software Foundation software, granting reuse and reproduction rights to all comers (but see also General Public Virus). 2. By extension, any copyright notice intended to achieve similar aims. </p></blockquote> -<p>The idea of <a href="/copyleft/copyleft.html">copyleft</a> -originated with über-hacker <a href="http://www.stallman.org/"> +<p>The idea of <a href="/licenses/copyleft.html">copyleft</a> +originated with über-hacker <a href="https://www.stallman.org/"> Richard Stallman</a> in 1983 when he started the <a href="/gnu/gnu-history.html">GNU Project</a>. In brief, his goal was “to develop a complete free Unix-like operating system.” As part of that goal, he invented and wrote -the <a href="/copyleft/gpl.html">GNU General Public License</a>, a +the <a href="/licenses/gpl.html">GNU General Public License</a>, a legal construct that included a copyright notice but added to it (or, technically, removed certain restrictions), so its terms allowed for the freedoms of reuse, modification and reproduction of a work or its @@ -45,7 +51,7 @@ copyright</a> asserts ownership and identification of the author, as well as prevents the use of the author's name as author of a distorted version of the work; it also prevents intentional distortion of the work by others and prevents destruction of the work. But it also -carries other restrictions — such as restricting the +carries other restrictions—such as restricting the reproduction or modification of a work.</p> <p> @@ -61,24 +67,24 @@ these terms.</p> <h3 id="why">Why is Copyleft important, or even necessary?</h3> <p> -Certain restrictions of copyright — such as distribution and -modification — are not very useful to “cyberia,” the +Certain restrictions of copyright—such as distribution and +modification—are not very useful to “cyberia,” the “free, apolitical, democratic community” that constitutes the internetworked digital world.</p> <p> -With computers, perfect copies of a digital work can easily be made -— and even modified, or further distributed — by others, +With computers, perfect copies of a digital work can easily be +made—and even modified, or further distributed—by others, with no loss of the original work. As individuals interact in cyberia, -sharing information — then reacting and building upon it — -is not only natural, but this is the <em>only</em> way for individual +sharing information—then reacting and building upon it—is +not only natural, but this is the <em>only</em> way for individual beings to thrive in a community. In essence, the idea of copyleft is basic to the natural propagation of digital information among humans in a society. This is why the regular notion of copyright does not make sense in the context of cyberia.</p> <p> -Simple ‘public domain’ publication will not work, because +Simple “public domain” publication will not work, because some will try to abuse this for profit by depriving others of freedom; as long as we live in a world with a legal system where legal abstractions such as copyright are necessary, as responsible artists @@ -96,7 +102,7 @@ by the Free Software Foundation.</p> <p> It <em>is</em> good enough! The GNU GPL is not only a document of significant historical and literary value, but it is in wide use today -for countless software programs — those as formal part of the +for countless software programs—those as formal part of the GNU Project and otherwise. The GNU GPL originated for the specific goal of sharing software among computer programmers. However, looking closely at the GPL, it appears that the same License can be easily @@ -113,7 +119,7 @@ explicit (and canonical) definition of copyleft.</p> It's simple. While a particular situation may require or inspire its own specific License, possibly similar to the GNU GPL, all that a copyleft notice must really do is fulfill the points as defined above -in “<a href="#what">First, what is Copyleft?</a>”. Using +in “<a href="#what">First, what is Copyleft?</a>” Using the GNU GPL to copyleft your work is easy.</p> <p> @@ -121,14 +127,14 @@ The GNU GPL states that it “applies to any program or other work which contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributed under the terms of this General Public License,” so this “Program,” then, may not necessarily be a computer -software program — any work of any nature that can be +software program—any work of any nature that can be copyrighted can be copylefted with the GNU GPL.</p> <p> The GNU GPL references the “source code” of a work; this “source code” will mean different things for different -kinds of information, but the definition of “source code” -— provided in the GNU GPL — holds true in any case: +kinds of information, but the definition of “source +code”—provided in the GNU GPL—holds true in any case: “The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for making modifications to it.”</p> @@ -143,15 +149,16 @@ Finally, for non-software works the “copyright” line included at the start of the “source code” of the work is modified in language slightly:</p> -<pre> - <one line to give the work's name and a brief idea of what it does.> +<blockquote class="emph-box"> +<p> + <one line to give the work's name and a brief idea of what it does.><br /> Copyright (C) yyyy <name of author> - +</p><p> This information is free; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. - +</p><p> This work is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the @@ -160,7 +167,8 @@ modified in language slightly:</p> You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA. -</pre> +</p> +</blockquote> <h3 id="where">Where do I go from here?</h3> @@ -179,17 +187,18 @@ band Twisted Helices.</p> <p>Some of my own non-software copylefted works include texts (literature, reviews, <a href="http://dsl.org/cookbook/cookbook_toc.html">technical</a>) and music.</p> +<div class="column-limit"></div> -<h3 id="fn">Footnote</h3> - +<h3 id="fn" class="footnote">Footnote</h3> <ol> <li id="f1">Before 2020, “free software” was confusingly -referred to as “freely-redistributable”.</li> +referred to as “freely-redistributable.”</li> </ol> +</div> </div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> <!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> -<div id="footer"> +<div id="footer" role="contentinfo"> <div class="unprintable"> <p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to @@ -207,7 +216,7 @@ to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> - <p>For information on coordinating and submitting translations of + <p>For information on coordinating and contributing translations of our web pages, see <a href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations README</a>. --> @@ -217,23 +226,6 @@ README</a> for information on coordinating and contributing translations of this article.</p> </div> -<!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to - files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should - be under CC BY-ND 4.0. Please do NOT change or remove this - without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first. - Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the - document. For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the - document was modified, or published. - - If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too. - Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying - years, as long as each year in the range is in fact a copyrightable - year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including - being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system). - - There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers - Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. --> - <p>Copyright © 1997, 2020 Michael Stutz</p> <p> @@ -245,7 +237,7 @@ permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved. <p class="unprintable">Updated: <!-- timestamp start --> -$Date: 2020/08/08 18:01:06 $ +$Date: 2021/09/26 10:36:54 $ <!-- timestamp end --> </p> </div> |