Not about totalitarianism now
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| muwlgr Sep 26, 2007 7:53 PM EDT |
Totalitarianism, may be only up to August 1991. Since then, the right name is "kleptocracy". Except Baltic states, the rest of exUSSR countries are just that. Myself, I live in Ukraine, and so, know. Currently it seems that only comrade Stalin and massive expropriations and shoot-downs would save the situation :> |
| PaulFerris Sep 27, 2007 12:54 AM EDT |
muwlgr: Sorry to hear it. Question: If the Russian Govt decides to distribute (internal to Russia, so it won't be truly a "release") a copy of locked-down USSR-Linux, with no source code, is this "distribution" in violation of the GPL? Bear in mind that it's perfectly acceptable for a US company to say, modify the Linux kernel for internal use and not share the source code. It's an interesting thought... |
| muwlgr Sep 27, 2007 4:28 AM EDT |
There may be GPL violations in exUSSR, but so far nobody was interested to bring their resolution into court, or to inform international community. Of course the hands of SFLC do not reach [t]here, and there are no similar native organizations AFAIK. What I was trying to mean by "kleptocracy", is that an initiative is doomed at the government level unless it feeds (a noticeable part of) allocated taxpayers money into someone's personal pocket (or creates prerequisites for such feed, like mandatory payments, etc.). And I quite doubt that this Linux case would be an exception. |
| muwlgr Sep 27, 2007 4:30 AM EDT |
Just have read a nearby comments. It seems that some of you, US people, dream about anarchy as well. Mises Institute, etc :> |
| Bob_Robertson Sep 27, 2007 7:44 AM EDT |
Sadly, so many people think "anarchy" equates to "chaos". As Russia and Iraq are showing, chaos is independent of whatever form government takes. Klepocracy is not a new word. Those who rule have always taken as much as they could from the population without causing them to openly revolt. If you want to see it at work in the US, look at the congressional "retirement plan". Bribery seems to be simply a more honest way to do things. I dream of a world where coercion isn't legitimate for anyone, no matter their office or title. Call it what you will. :^) A GPL violation is not a violent act, so I can understand how it wouldn't generate lots of interest in a time/place where people are more interested in survival than such niceties as "ethics". About the only way I can see to work it would be public scorn rather than prosecution in a government court. Just make sure that anyone who violates the GPL doesn't get away with it. Just as Microsoft was embarrassed when BSD code was found in Win95, even though that use was completely within the terms of the BSD license. |
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