-------- Original Message -------- From: Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton lkcl@lkcl.net Apparently from: arm-netbook-bounces@lists.phcomp.co.uk To: Eco-Conscious Computing arm-netbook@lists.phcomp.co.uk Subject: Re: [Arm-netbook] firefly 3399 all source software disclosed? Date: Wed, 31 May 2017 06:15:57 +0100
ron: what you're about to attempt is called "coercion". it's unethical. the principles behind the libre concept are that ethics come first: very few people in the libre world actually truly understand that, because they think it's about the technology or about the "four freedoms" as specifically defined and laid out.
people need to be free to make their own choices. firefly (Acer) have made their choice - as they are entirely at liberty to do - to release the full source code of the SOFTWARE and NOT the hardware.
if you attempt to coerce them into doing something that they have not themselves chosen to do, they will not react as you intend, i guarantee it.
so please don't do it: it's unethical.
l.
It is not common to debate strategy on a public mailing list. Because this is a minor matter and I do not believe I will get the data I want from firefly no matter what, I will tell what I wanted to do.
I believe their kickstarter webpage is misleading and deceptive. They write the hardware is open source. Likely it is not legally established what defines open source hardware. I would say every piece of data and software about the computer has to be open source. It is about what the buyer of an item reasonably can expect. Not what seller decides by himself. To my knowledge seller has made no reservations on kickstarter. Then I say, he has to hand over what data seller has. They are supposed to be professionals. If they screw up in their ad, it is their problem. Arguments saying it is their data and business platform are not relevant.
I am located in eu. Firefly is located in china. If firefly will not hand over the data I want, I will have to sue them in china or usa, if that is where kickstarter is located. I am not going to do that. If firefly refuses to provide the data, I am going to file a complaint to kickstarter about firefly.
I tried to get the data. Wrote them and see what happens. Maybe firefly by mistake would provide the data. Did I believe it would work? No. https://youtu.be/6o_mVPwHYnk?t=1007
You may call it coercion and unethical. I do it anyway. Because I am weighing it up against my privacy and computer security. I cannot buy new libre software computers which have all devices enabled.
arm-netbook mailing list arm-netbook@lists.phcomp.co.uk http://lists.phcomp.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/arm-netbook Send large attachments to arm-netbook@files.phcomp.co.uk