I am very strongly in favor of open source software and
resources, but there are many issues that must be resolved
in order to ensure fair use by everybody involved. Just
a few:
1. Even under the current "Mickey Mouse" laws for copyright,
fair use is allowed for incorporating short quotations
in reviews. Any reasonable license for free use, should
also allow "fair use" of quotations in reviews that are
published in commercial journals.
2. The Gnu licenses for software require all modifications
to be available for free. However, anyone is allowed to
copy that free material and charge any price they choose
to format, reproduce, and distribute it. In practice,
this policy never causes any problems, because if one
distributor charges too much, other distributors can
provide the same material for free or for any other price
they choose.
3. Even when the source material is available for free download,
it may be so voluminous that users are happy to pay a reasonable
price to get copies on a CD-ROM or DVD.
4. For textbooks, literary works, and frequently used reference
works, a nicely printed and bound volume can be a pleasure
to read or an enormous convenience. Even when I'm logged on
the Internet, I still find it convenient to use my printed
dictionaries and other reference works. If anyone charges
too much, I'll download the material for free, but many books
are available at prices that are cheaper than the cost of
paper, toner, and wear on my home printer.
John Sowa
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