Re: Drop the Copyright Assignment requirement for Emacs

[Marcin Borkowski]

On 2020-05-10, at 04:29, Richard Stallman <address@hidden> wrote:

> [[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider    ]]]
> [[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies,     ]]]
> [[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]
>
>   > > Finally, above practical aspects, assigning copyright is declaring
>   > > support for an idea larger than the FSF itself.  It's a political
>   > > declaration.
>
>   > Could someone officially confirm or deny the above paragraph?
>
> The copyright assignment is not a political statement.  Contributors
> to the GNU Project do not have to agree with the free software movement
> (although we hope they will), and certainly not with my personal views.

Thanks.  This is what I thought, and João's opinion made me nervous.

> Ridicule is a powerful weapon, so I urge you not to discourage people
> from using it against companies that attack freedom.  We shouldn't

I agree in principle.  I even usually avoid ridicule on the premise that
it is /too/ powerful a weapon, and too cruel against people.  But saying
"Kindle Swindle" does not sound as ridicule - to me, it sounds as
whining.

It might be a cultural thing.  Maybe Americans do not react this way,
I don't know.

> have to argue with one mouth tied behind our backs.  But contributing
> to GNU software doesn't state an opinion about that.

Understood, thanks.

--
Marcin Borkowski
http://mbork.pl