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List:       kde-policies
Subject:    Re: P2P file sharing software in KDE's CVS
From:       Waldo Bastian <bastian () kde ! org>
Date:       2003-09-12 15:44:53
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On Friday 12 September 2003 16:07, Scott Wheeler wrote:
> All of this said, I may be in the minority opinion, if so I would still
> like to see some clear stand on this.  Please in the discussion try to
> avoid, "It's not illegal or immoral and it saved my life" type of
> arguments.  I'd like to keep simple -- risk vs. benefit.

There are risks associated with all code in KDE, in the form of copyright 
misrepresentation, patent infringement and trademark violations.

I think the primary guiding principal in all these cases should be the desire 
to stay within the law.

P2P file sharing software is not very much different from other software used 
to publish information such as ftp and http clients and servers. I suspect 
that your concerns are based on the fear that P2P file sharing software will 
be used by our users to illegally distribute copyrighted works and that you 
fear that KDE will be liable for contributory copyright infringement.

Although that can't be ruled out, just like copyright misrepresentation, 
patent infringement or trademark violations can't be ruled out, we can do a 
reasonable effort to ensure that KDE stays within the law.

In particular, I think that:
* KDE should not ship software for which no legitimate/legal use exists.
* KDE should not encourage/link/suggest to its users to engage in 
illegitimate/illegal activities.
* KDE may wish to advice its users about the possible impact of certain 
activities in cases where that may not be directly clear to a non-technical 
user. (e.g. we warn a user about possible privacy concerns when he/she is 
about to send data to babelfish for translation.)

As long as the above is taken into account I do not see any reasons not to 
ship P2P software.

Cheers,
Waldo
- -- 
bastian@kde.org -=|[ SuSE, The Linux Desktop Experts ]|=- bastian@suse.com
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