Hi Matt.
Matt Shields wrote:
> I haven't checked out CPSR, so I don't know what they are, but you
> can't enforce your beliefs on others. This comes down to personal
> choice and where you want to work, or maybe working for the government
> is the only available choice at the time. Some people have no problem
I agree. What I was suggesting is the possibility for one or more
people to make a statement as to where they choose to allow the fruit of
their work to go, and/or how it is to be used. That's not about
enforcing beliefs, but about sharing (and refining) them.
The problem I have with open source licensing as it applies to this
discussion I raised is that it does not discriminate as to use. I had
once posed the possibility of creating a modified license that would
prohibit (any) government from using a certain work, but this is both
way too complicated and of course begs the question as to exactly what
in a project can be legally restricted in this manner. After all, any
project (including the one I am working on now) is comprised of a host
of others, all bringing in license terms that do not have such a
restriction. Attorneys will be needed to figure out if the idea of a
more restrictive version of a GPL is even possible.
> working for the government. If you want to change how the government
> works because you don't like what they're doing, you elect officials
> to change policy and petition those officials to change things. You
Well, I think that the effectiveness of the system itself is a whole
other debate that would go way off topic here. :) I do find the idea of
a national referendum on important issues like blowing up other nations
a pretty good idea. Has immediacy. But again, swaying way off here.
> don't come up with a society that boycotts working for the government
> because there's plenty of other people willing to take the job.
There are plenty of people. But, as in organizations like Union of
Concerned Scientists (the "concerned", I think, puts the intensity of
the overall problem mildly), people have come together and made quite a
difference. If they hadn't tried then the issues they raise may well
have remained in obscurity while scientists of conscience masked their
understanding and "concern" with lots of rolaids.
/m
