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[News] Proprietary Software Industry Copyrights Binary Mess

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What if copyright didn't apply to binary executables?

,----[ Quote ]
| So why’d they do it? Well, the short answer is because the copyright office 
| listened to software publishers, and they wanted binaries protected by 
| copyright so they could sell them that way. The only other alternatives were 
| to rely on patents (which the patent office had rejected at the time, and 
| which were not a very popular idea in the industry back then), and to simply 
| rely on the obfuscation which comes naturally to binary code (which is not 
| optimized for human readability).      
| 
| Consider what would’ve happened if binaries weren’t copyrightable. Then, a 
| software company, which distributed binaries would have no copyright 
| protection for what they sold. And, like manufacturers of household 
| appliances, they would have no legal recourse against people reverse 
| engineering their products and designing replacements for them. Nor could 
| they bind people into “End User License Agreements” (EULAs), any more than 
| people who sell hammers can. Proprietary source code, would of course, still  
| be kept a closely-guarded secret, just as it is under the current scheme.      
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http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/columns/what_if_copyright_didnt_apply_binary_executables

The reporters put words like "open source" and "closed source" in RMS' mouth.


Recent:

British Government Violates Copyright

,----[ Quote ]
| As much as I utterly despise the entire premise of Intellectual Monopoly,
| this is about violating the principles of a Free License, and if it's good
| enough for the British government to violate our civil rights in the name of
| Intellectual Monopoly, then it's good enough for the Free World to protect
| its "property" (in fact Freedom) too…
`----

http://slated.org/british_government_violates_copyright


Open sourcing can tackle software piracy

,----[ Quote ]
| Adoption of Open Source Software (OSS) as an alternative to copyrighted 
| products is seen as a promising solution to software piracy in developing 
| countries like Kenya.  
| 
| [...]
| 
| The Central Bank of India has saved over $1 million after it opted for open 
| source  software two years ago, according to the website of Redhat, an open 
| source software developer.  
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http://www.bdafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6718&Itemid=5847


US presidential candidate is a pirate

,----[ Quote ]
| THE PRESUMED Republican US presidential candidate John McCain favours
| draconian copyright enforcement, except when his own election campaign uses
| other people's music.
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http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/08/16/gop-presidential-candidate
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