Ask HN: How to fight copyright laws?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11211961

by ApplaudPumice • 10 years ago

2 1 10 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I see there's a lot of opposition to copyright laws

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_to_copyright

what's the most effective way for ME to fight copyright laws here in EU?

I have several sites I could leverage if that is useful. I'm also a fairly good coder (most of my code is in the Public Domain).

I don't want to discuss about copyright laws but to FIGHT them, but how?

nunobrito• 10 years ago

Well, I'm one of the few folks verifying copyright on a global scale (software originality to be more exact) and the HQ is based in EU, so the context is familiar to me.

IMHO the most effective way is to place as much code as you can under AGPL terms. Either writing the code yourself and/or motivating others to write it with that license underneath.

The second most effective way is to join FSFE (attention to the "E" because it matters and stands for the European version of FSF).

To beat copyright in software you need to play the copyright rules by the book and then mold the waves of tech innovation so that defacto copyright enforcement becomes a moot point (all code free).

This is what has been in motion since the 90s. GPL was the ugly kid and "will never work" stuff, now it is in the pocket for large majority of population. Github is the group that went furthest in opposing copyright, by implicitly demotivating code contributors to explicitly license their code. But this backfired. For the same reason that you use Public Domain, unlicensed code has not (historically) grew to massive and infrastructure critical projects.

So. Need to license. Public Domain is OK but is too lenient. It does not fuel further Public Domain code. This is where AGPL shines. One might not like the fact that all code then needs to be under AGPL, but this is necessary to build motion and force others to open their hand from copyright monopolies.

Just food for thought. Can talk outside of HN if you wish, just drop a msg nuno.brito@triplecheck.de

Ask HN: How to fight copyright laws?

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