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List:       kde-policies
Subject:    Re: P2P file sharing software in KDE's CVS
From:       Ralf Nolden <nolden () kde ! org>
Date:       2003-09-12 16:23:46
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On Friday 12 September 2003 17:44, Waldo Bastian wrote:
> 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.

I agree with that. Though, I think kmldonkey is a program that actually, due 
to the public use of edonkey, promotes file sharing that is "highly 
suspectable" for copyright violations by non-technical users (as well as 
technical ones).

I think with regard to P2P software for desktops a publishing system across 
the network is not too bad if it's completely decentralized and can work with 
network scans rather than relying  on connections to a server. That way, 
offices can make good use of P2P software - imagine contracts, bills and so 
forth that can be simply shared from anywhere within your private network in 
your office with some nice folder management, plus network transparency would 
make them appear like local files even if they're on someone else's computer. 
Sharing such files makes much sense because you may want to access a file but 
if it's only available at some secretary's computer and that computer is off 
it will take you a while to access that. So I think in that respect it's 
getting more into the direction of document management systems working on the 
basis of p2p ideas.

Ralf

>
> Cheers,
> Waldo

-- 
We're not a company, we just produce better code at less costs.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Ralf Nolden
nolden@kde.org

The K Desktop Environment       The KDevelop Project
http://www.kde.org              http://www.kdevelop.org

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