Re: [Fsfe-uk] Trying to pull a fast one in the Office

[Ramanan Selvaratnam]

> > > The new version of Office includes a new feature called 'information
> > > rights management', designed to fix this.

The Guardian article should have used the term restriction instead of
rights. 
http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html#DigitalRightsManagement

We must tell them this instead of getting into a *muddle* ourselves
based upon bad journalism.

> > 
> > This is supremely perverse.  Nobody has any rights to information.
> > Period.  You just get exclusive rights to original expression.
> 
> No one has any right to access of information, certainly, it can be
> barred by anyone.  Well, until they get out the thumbscrews and truth
> drugs, anyway.

This is all going the wrong way. 

Everyone should have all rights to information (in an ideal world).

The software is different to other fields.
I think we all agree it is close to an ideal world at this stage ofits
development.

> > Take them on head-on with that point.  State it bluntly: Copyright
> > doesn't cover information.  Information is free.  Always has been.
> > Still is.  Won't change, unless we let it.

This probably is true.

>  Would you make military information 'free' to your
> country's enemies? 

This is unrelated to software.
[Certainly true for atleast the fsfe-uk list, IMHO]

(If you must know -- no one should have been free to make monstrous
weapons by splitting the atom or creating deadly bio chemicals.
The past is past. We made mistakes. Time to go forward.)

Software is relatively new and has been forward looking.

It should be our duty not to confuse non software matters with free
software where ever possible.