taler-merchant-demos

ucita.html (12079B)

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 <title>Why We Must Fight UCITA - GNU Project
 - Free Software Foundation</title>
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 <h2>Why We Must Fight UCITA</h2>
 <div class="thin"></div>
 
 <p>
 UCITA is a proposed law, designed by the proprietary software
 developers, who are now asking all 50 states of the US to adopt it.
 If UCITA is adopted, it will threaten the free software community
 <a href="#Note1">(1)</a> with disaster.  To understand why, please
 read on.</p>
 <p>
 We generally believe that big companies ought to be held to a strict
 standard of liability to their customers, because they can afford it
 and because it will keep them honest.  On the other hand, individuals,
 amateurs, and good samaritans should be treated more favorably.</p>
 <p>
 UCITA does exactly the opposite.  It makes individuals, amateurs, and
 good samaritans liable, but not big companies.</p>
 <p>
 You see, UCITA says that by default a software developer or
 distributor is completely liable for flaws in a program; but it also
 allows a shrink-wrap license to override the default.  Sophisticated
 software companies that make proprietary software will use shrink-wrap
 licenses to avoid liability entirely.  But amateurs, and self-employed
 contractors who develop software for others, will often be shafted
 because they didn't know about this problem.  And we free software
 developers won't have any reliable way to avoid the problem.</p>
 <p>
 What could we do about this?  We could try to change our licenses to
 avoid it.  But since we don't use shrink-wrap licenses, we cannot
 override the UCITA default.  Perhaps we can prohibit distribution in
 the states that adopt UCITA.  That might solve the problem&mdash;for
 the software we release in the future.  But we can't do this
 retroactively for software we have already released.  Those versions
 are already available, people are already licensed to distribute them
 in these states&mdash;and when they do so, under UCITA, they would
 make us liable.  We are powerless to change this situation by changing
 our licenses now; we will have to make complex legal arguments that
 may or may not work.</p>
 <p>
 UCITA has another indirect consequence that would hamstring free
 software development in the long term&mdash;it gives proprietary
 software developers the power to prohibit reverse engineering.  This
 would make it easy for them to establish secret file formats and
 protocols, which there would be no lawful way for us to figure
 out.</p>
 <p>
 That could be a disastrous obstacle for development of free software
 that can serve users' practical needs, because communicating with
 users of nonfree software is one of those needs.  Many users today
 feel that they must run Windows, simply so they can read and write
 files in Word format.  Microsoft's &ldquo;Halloween documents&rdquo;
 announced a plan to use secret formats and protocols as a weapon to
 obstruct the development of the GNU/Linux system
 <a href="#Note2">(2)</a>.</p>
 <p>
 Precisely this kind of restriction is now being used in Norway to
 prosecute 16-year-old Jon Johansen, who figured out the format of DVDs
 to make it possible to write free software to play them on free
 operating systems.  (The Electronic Frontier Foundation is helping
 with his defense; see <a href="https://www.eff.org/">eff.org</a>
 for further information.)</p>
 <p>
 Some friends of free software have argued that UCITA would benefit our
 community, by making nonfree software intolerably restrictive, and
 thus driving users to us.  Realistically speaking, this is unlikely,
 because it assumes that proprietary software developers will act
 against their own interests.  They may be greedy and ruthless, but
 they are not stupid.</p>
 <p>
 Proprietary software developers intend to use the additional power
 UCITA would give them to increase their profits.  Rather than using
 this power at full throttle all the time, they will make an effort to
 find the most profitable way to use it.  Those applications of UCITA
 power that make users stop buying will be abandoned; those that most
 users tolerate will become the norm.  UCITA will not help us.</p>
 <p>
 UCITA does not apply only to software.  It applies to any sort of
 computer-readable information.  Even if you use only free software,
 you are likely to read articles on your computer, and access data
 bases.  UCITA will allow the publishers to impose the most outrageous
 restrictions on you.  They could change the license retroactively at
 any time, and force you to delete the material if you don't accept the
 change.  They could even prohibit you from describing what you see as
 flaws in the material.</p>
 <p>
 This is too outrageous an injustice to wish on anyone, even if it
 would indirectly benefit a good cause.  As ethical beings, we must not
 favor the infliction of hardship and injustice on others on the
 grounds that it will drive them to join our cause.  We must not be
 Machiavellian.  The point of free software is concern for each other.</p>
 <p>
 Our only smart plan, our only ethical plan, is&hellip;to defeat UCITA!</p>
 <p>
 If you want to help the fight against UCITA, by meeting with state
 legislators in your state, send mail to Skip Lockwood
 <a href="mailto:dfc@dfc.org">&lt;dfc@dfc.org&gt;</a>.  He can tell you how to
 contribute effectively.</p>
 <p>
 Volunteers are needed most urgently in Virginia and
 Maryland <a href="#Note3">(3)</a>, but California and Oklahoma are
 coming soon.  There will probably be a battle in every state sooner or
 later.</p>
 <p>
 For more information about UCITA, see
 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20000520080750/http://www.badsoftware.com/uccindex.htm">
 badsoftware.com [Archived Page]</a> or read the <a
 href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Computer_Information_Transactions_Act">
 UCITA page on Wikipedia</a>. </p>
 <!-- Link broken as of 21 Oct 2012 
 InfoWorld magazine is also helping to fight
 against UCITA; see
 <a href="http://archive.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayStory.pl?/features/990531ucita_home.htm">
 http://archive.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayStory.pl?/features/990531ucita_home.htm</a>
 -->
 <h3 class="footnote">Notes</h3>
 <ol>
 <li id="Note1">Other people have been using the term &ldquo;open
 source&rdquo; to describe a similar category of software.  I use the
 term &ldquo;free software&rdquo; to show that the Free Software
 Movement still exists&mdash;that the Open Source Movement has not
 replaced or absorbed us.
 <p>
 If you value your freedom as well as your convenience, I suggest you
 use the term &ldquo;free software,&rdquo; not &ldquo;open
 source,&rdquo; to describe your own work, so as to stand up clearly
 for your values.</p>
 <p>
 If you value accuracy, please use the term &ldquo;free
 software,&rdquo; not &ldquo;open source,&rdquo; to describe the work
 of the Free Software Movement.  The GNU operating system, its
 GNU/Linux variant, the many GNU software packages, and the GNU GPL,
 are all primarily the work of the Free Software Movement.  The
 supporters of the Open Source Movement have the right to promote their
 views, but they should not do so on the basis of our achievements.</p>
 <p>
 See <a href="/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html">
 gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html</a> for
 more explanation.</p></li>
 
 <li id="Note2">The system is often called &ldquo;Linux,&rdquo; but
 properly speaking Linux is actually the kernel, one major component of
 the system (see
 <a href="/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html">gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html</a>).</li>
 
 <li id="Note3">The Maryland lower house has approved UCITA; there is a
 push to get the state senate to approve it before the end of the
 legislative session, on April 10.
 <p>
 To rush the consideration of this bill is even more obviously foolish
 than the bill itself.  So if you live in Maryland, please phone or
 write to your state senator, saying the senate should at least defer
 UCITA for summer study, if it is not rejected outright.</p>
 <p>
 If you know anyone in Maryland who works with computers, please
 forward this message to that person and ask for per support.</p></li>
 </ol>
 
 <hr class="column-limit" />
 <p class="c">
 If you support the anti UCITA campaign, <em>please make prominent links to
  this page, http://www.4cite.org [closed].</em>
 </p>
 
 <hr class="column-limit" />
 <h3 class="footnote">Links to other articles</h3>
 <ul style="font-size: 1rem">
  <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160322150920/http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/issues/UCITA">IEEE
   supports the movement to oppose UCITA [Archived Page]</a></li>
 
  <li><a href="https://www.computerworld.com/article/2593115/cios-join-fight-to-kill-ucita.html">CIOs
  join fight to kill UCITA</a></li>
 
  <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20010818101424/http://interlog.com/~cjazz/bnews7.htm">Anti
 UCITA, and other interesting links maintained by Citizens on the Web
 [Archived Page]</a>
 </li>
 </ul>
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