[thelist] cheap software spam - how do they do it?

Robert Gormley robert at pennyonthesidewalk.com
Tue Mar 21 23:00:42 CST 2006


Shawn K. Quinn wrote:
> It's not legally possible to write free software to replace the Flash
> plugin, due to the way Macromedia* has restrictively licensed the
> supposedly "free and open" Flash specification. That said, someone
> is/was doing it anyway with GPLFlash but I haven't looked at it yet.
>   
Even you must admit there's more than a little hypocrisy at work there. 
GPL advocates will fearlessly and ferociously defend their licensing 
against infringers. But when another's choice of license (that 'freedom' 
thing) makes life difficult, well, we can look at ways to circumvent 
that. To quote the gplflash website, one suggested option for trying to 
get around Adobe / Macromedia's licensing:

"Another option is for developers who has legally optained a copy of the 
specifications, to give his/hers copy to another developer, in the same 
way you can give a book to a friend. This means that the original owner 
of the specifications is *not* allowed to keep a copy for 
himself/herself; distribution is not allowed, but turning over the 
specifications over is ok."

I'm at a loss to understand how one can justify the sacrosanctity of 
their license of choice, but that another license, protected by the same 
laws that governs theirs, is fair game.

Rob




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