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<title>Viral Code and Vaccination - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
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<h2>Viral Code and Vaccination</h2>
<address class="byline">by Robert J. Chassell</address>
<p>When others hurt me, I try to defend myself. But some tell me that
this makes them sick. They tell me that I should permit people to rob
me of my work. They tell me that I should never try to defend
myself.</p>
<p>They tell me that I should stop using the GNU General Public
License, a license that vaccinates me against hurt. Instead, I should
adopt a license that permits other people to rob me with impunity.
They want me to adopt a license that forbids me from fighting back.
They want me to give up my right to benefit from a derivative of my
own work, a right I possess under current copyright law.</p>
<p>Of course, the language is a little less feverish than this.
Usually, I myself am not called “infectious.” Rather, the
legal defense that I use is called “infectious.” The
license I choose is called “viral.”</p>
<p>In every day language, words such as “infect” and
“virus” describe disease. The rhetoric is metaphorical.
A legal tool is not a disease organism; but it is popular to think of
the law as an illness, so the metaphor has impact.</p>
<p>The people who want to rob me use language that says I make them
sick when I stop them from robbing me. They do not want to draw
attention to the so-called “disease” that makes them ill:
my health and my rights, and the health and rights of other people.
Instead, they choose metaphor to twist people's thinking. They do not
want anyone to think that I am a good citizen for stopping crime.
They want the metaphor to fool others into thinking that I am a
disease agent.</p>
<p>The GNU General Public License protects me. The connotation of
“virus” and “infect” is that my choice of
defense gives an illness to those who want to rob me. I want freedom
from their robbery; but they want the power to hurt me. They get sick
when they cannot hurt me.</p>
<p>To use another health and illness-related metaphor, the GNU General
Public License <em>vaccinates</em> me; it protects me from theft.</p>
<p>Note that the theft about which I am talking is entirely legal in
some situations: if you license your work under a modified BSD
license, or a similar license, then others may legally take your work,
make fixes or improvements to it, and forbid you from using that
code. I personally dislike this arrangement, but it exists.</p>
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<p>
Copyright © 2008 Robert J. Chassell
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<p>Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article are
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<p class="unprintable">Updated:
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$Date: 2021/09/16 16:30:32 $
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