[ Thanks to Kelly
McNeill for this link. ]
“We’ve all read vitriolic screeds — here and elsewhere —
written by Open Source advocates who declare their willingness to
fight the good fight and defend to the last breath the principles
of Open Source. It’s all very fiery and very stirring.”
“And yet….”
“When the heat really comes on, most of these speechifiers
fold like a cheap suit. When the lawyers come calling, when the
threatening letter or e-mail is received, when the threat of fines
or imprisonment looms, brave words are forgotten and only the
frightening specter of *consequence* remains. The truth is that
most programmers are simply not up to it; they are not
revolutionaries, they are either young people just getting started
or older folks who hack on Open Source as a sideline. It’s easy to
write brave-sounding rants and spout in Web Forums; it’s hard to
apply these principles in the face of a legal challenge.”
“Like it or not, programmers often face legal ramifications for
decisions they make in their code. The developers of DeCSS and
Napster have gotten into a pot of fairly hot legal water, and in
both cases the developers — faced with the prospect of legal
action against them — chose to back off and surrender rather than
fight it out in court. To many people threatened with legal action
— the small businessman, the consultant, the web-site
administrator, the part-time hacker — the costs and potential
ramifications far outweigh the ethics of the situation. “I can’t
afford to fight,” is a common refrain. “I can’t afford to go to
court. I can’t afford to get sued.”