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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 21:29:42
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On Friday 12 September 2003 21:42, Scott Wheeler wrote:
> All of your statements are of course correct (in a technical sense).
>
> But bottem line -- in my opinion including applications like these pretty
> significantly increases the chances of the KDE project being sued.
>
> Do you either (a) disagree with that or (b) think that significantly
> increased chances of legal action are not a relevant reason for keeping
> something outside of CVS?

I think the primary guiding principle should be to stay within the law. That 
doesn't mean that someone can't still sue us of course. But I'm not in favour 
of folding projects just because there is a vague perceived threat of a 
lawsuit.

It's important to understand the legal issues surrounding certain technology 
though. The way in which technology is presented or marketed plays an 
important role. In that light the following article was interesting:
http://www.theregister.com/content/6/32731.html
"I thought it was OK to download music because my mom paid a service fee for 
it. " There are three problematic things in there:
1) Kazaa has a direct commercial interest by imposing a service fee
2) Kazaa has created the impression that the user was somehow entitled to all 
music offered on the network
3) The user is not aware that there are legal restrictions on the distribution 
of certain music and/or is not aware that apart from downloading Kazaa also 
redistributes (Does it? I assume it does.)

If KDE is to include P2P software then I think that care must be taken to 
prevent situations like that. I'm inclined to think that that means that the 
involved developers must show a strong understanding of the related legal 
issues. Unfortunately I must say that Arend's previous mail left me with the 
impression that that is not the case. I think that is reason for concern.

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