diff --git a/site/about/index.org b/site/about/index.org index be2fdd7..a97d2e0 100644 --- a/site/about/index.org +++ b/site/about/index.org @@ -1,6 +1,7 @@ #+title: About metanohi #+summary: A short description of what metanohi is -#+license: bysa +#+license: wtfpl +#+startup: showall #&toc * About metanohi @@ -22,19 +23,19 @@ widget on the propaganda page, might cease to work). ** Copying -In general, text, images, and other media on metanohi is licensed under the -[[http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/][Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0]] license, a *copyleft* -license. There may be cases with other licenses. The status of a page can be -seen in the bottom in a metadata box. If no license is specified in the box, -it's either because someone forgot to apply one to the page, or it's because -the page has almost no content (like the "Page not found" page) and does not -really require a license. +In general, text, images, code and any other type of work on metanohi are +available under the [[http://www.wtfpl.net/][Do What The Fuck You Want To Public License (WTFPL)]]; read +about this choice [[/writings/non-copylefted][here]]. There may be cases with other licenses. The status of +a page can be seen in the bottom in a metadata box. If no license is specified +in the box, it's either because I forgot to apply one to the page, or it's +because the page has almost no content (like the "Page not found" page) and does +not really require a license. #+caption: Free cultural works #&img;url=/img/licenses/freecontent.png, float=right Most of metanohi's content can be defined as free cultural works, as defined by -[[http://freedomdefined.org/][freedomdefined.org]]. +[[http://freedomdefined.org/][freedomdefined.org]]. Most of it is also [[http://copyfree.org/][copyfree]]. In all cases, you are free to redistribute content from metanohi, but please don't set up a mirror for no reason (who would do that, anyway?). @@ -42,19 +43,10 @@ don't set up a mirror for no reason (who would do that, anyway?). External content is sometimes a different matter. [[./media-licenses][A list of licenses for media]] is used for attributing in cases where it is impractical to attribute in-page. -If you take something from metanohi that is not under a public-domain-like -license, you are required to attribute Niels G. W. Serup and metanohi. When -doing that, write something like "Niels G. W. Serup, [[http://metanohi.name/][metanohi.name]]". +If you use something from metanohi, please attribute Niels G. W. Serup and +metanohi (unless it's not by Niels, which is rare). When doing that, write +something like "Niels G. W. Serup, [[http://metanohi.name/][metanohi.name]]". -A few pages, like [[/projects/][this one]], have a lot of Python code for in-page evaluation -and execution. This might not be the most secure thing to allow, but since only -one person can change it, it is deemed safe enough. Any such nontrivial code is -licensed under the same license as [[/projects/mege/][mege]], i.e. AGPLv3+, unless otherwise -noted. This might seem like overkill in some situations, but with only one -license in use, simplicity is achieved. - -Note that the CC BY-SA license is used by default, which is why even pages with -no more than two lines bear that license. ** Source diff --git a/site/about/javascript.org b/site/about/javascript.org index 39b6149..663a8a1 100644 --- a/site/about/javascript.org +++ b/site/about/javascript.org @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ #+title: JavaScript License Information #+summary: A table of the JavaScript used on metanohi -#+license: cc0 +#+license: wtfpl * JavaScript License Information diff --git a/site/about/links.org b/site/about/links.org index f06f675..ce4992c 100644 --- a/site/about/links.org +++ b/site/about/links.org @@ -1,6 +1,7 @@ #+title: Links #+summary: Various links. -#+license: cc0 +#+license: wtfpl +#+startup: showall #++show #+BEGIN_SRC javascript @@ -14,7 +15,7 @@ * Hyperlinks -My first web pages from ~2004 contained pages whose only purpose was to show +My first web pages from ca. 2004 contained pages whose only purpose was to show links to other sites, because that's what you use websites for. With this page I intend to carry on with this tradition. @@ -66,5 +67,4 @@ Beware, for the following Hyperlinks contain Knowledge! [fn:oxymoron] "Passive activism" is an oxymoron. Activism is, of course, not a - passive thing. But having links stowed on the front of one's web page - certainly is. + passive thing. But links stowed on a web page certainly is. diff --git a/site/about/niels.org b/site/about/niels.org index c7dd45a..4bbc95f 100644 --- a/site/about/niels.org +++ b/site/about/niels.org @@ -1,6 +1,7 @@ #+title: About Niels #+summary: A short description of metanohi's creator -#+license: bysa +#+license: wtfpl +#+startup: showall #&toc * About Niels @@ -172,9 +173,12 @@ EOTFhRXYSWReVaHWxduolu5YplmQHYj1LtGm4p6659ymKr80tzWAg3LK7AzDXRQ+ ** Photo -#&img;url=img/niels-eyes.png, width=600, center, caption=Niels +#&img;url=img/niels-eyes.png, width=600, center, caption=Niels (kind of) ** Misc. #&img;url=img/fsfmember.png, medlink=http://www.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom/join_fsf?referrer=8085 + +(I'm not currently a member due to my student economy, but I might become a +member again later on.) diff --git a/site/img/licenses/wtfpl.png b/site/img/licenses/wtfpl.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d039d0b Binary files /dev/null and b/site/img/licenses/wtfpl.png differ diff --git a/site/index.org b/site/index.org index f7b169d..481d9c6 100644 --- a/site/index.org +++ b/site/index.org @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ -#+title: Home +#+title: Beginning #+summary: This is the start page. -#+license: cc0 +#+license: wtfpl * Meta-meta-meta-meta-meta-metanohi! @@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ If you're not the type who crawls through the entirety of a website when you visit it, here's the author's pick of metanohi pages you should read: + <@eval macros.titlelink('/writings/atem')@> -+ <@eval macros.titlelink('/writings/software-licenses')@> ++ <@eval macros.titlelink('/writings/non-copylefted')@> + [[http://suum.metanohi.name/][SUUM]] + <@eval macros.titlelink('/projects/sleinlib')@> + <@eval macros.titlelink('/projects/magicng')@> diff --git a/site/projects/hbcht/index.org b/site/projects/hbcht/index.org index 5091fb1..87fc3b5 100644 --- a/site/projects/hbcht/index.org +++ b/site/projects/hbcht/index.org @@ -2,8 +2,8 @@ #&summary An esoteric programming language with compiler/interpreter #& -#+license: bysa, text -#+license: agpl 3+, program +#+license: wtfpl +#+startup: showall #&toc * Half-Broken Car in Heavy Traffic @@ -107,9 +107,7 @@ output as a text string instead of a list of numbers. ** Download -hbcht is released under the AGPLv3+. - -[[hbcht-0.1.0.tar.gz][Download]]. +hbcht is released under the WTFPL. [[hbcht-0.1.0.tar.gz][Download]]. hbcht can also be found in the [[http://pypi.python.org/pypi/hbcht][Python Package Index]]. hbcht has its code at Gitorious; see [[http://gitorious.org/hbcht]]. diff --git a/site/writings/bash-prompt.org b/site/writings/bash-prompt.org index 2ff499b..9b59080 100644 --- a/site/writings/bash-prompt.org +++ b/site/writings/bash-prompt.org @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@ -#+title: My BASH prompt +#+title: My BASH prompt (outdated) #&summary What my prompt used to do and what it looked like. #& diff --git a/site/writings/freesoftware.org b/site/writings/freesoftware.org index a999a40..87ff8ba 100644 --- a/site/writings/freesoftware.org +++ b/site/writings/freesoftware.org @@ -1,6 +1,7 @@ #+title: Free software #+summary: An explanation of the necessity of free software -#+license: bysa +#+startup: showall +#+license: cc0 * Free software @@ -12,7 +13,7 @@ print(inp.lower()) Or at least it's a very small part of one. It reads text input from a user, transforms the text to lowercase, and prints the transformed text. It is very simple. Larger programs are often far less simple, as they may contain -implementations of complex algorithms or involve human interaction. +implementations of complex algorithms or involve human interaction. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSA][RSA]] and [[http://www.openssl.org/][OpenSSL]] are examples of this, RSA being an algorithm which requires several subalgorithms to work, and OpenSSL being the large implementation of diff --git a/site/writings/non-copylefted.org b/site/writings/non-copylefted.org new file mode 100644 index 0000000..669d52b --- /dev/null +++ b/site/writings/non-copylefted.org @@ -0,0 +1,84 @@ +#+title: My works, non-copylefted +#&summary +Why I don't use copyleft for my own works. +#& +#+startup: showall +#+license: wtfpl + +A few months ago, I went from using the GPL for most of my software to BSD3; +read about it [[/writings/software-licenses][here]]. I chose to continue to use Creative Commons +Attribution-ShareAlike for most of my non-software works. + +Now, I have chosen to stop copylefting my original works entirely. + +I do this not because of a change in my general view of copyleft, but because I +don't see myself ever using the legal benefits of copyleft; I can still +understand why someone would choose to use copyleft to challenge copyright, +fighting fire with fire, but it's just not something I would do. + +The power of copyright lies in whether people accept the terms that an author +puts forth, and that, if the copyright is abused, the author uses the law to +punish the abusers. The same is essentially true for copyleft. So, if I +release a work under e.g. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike, and someone +derives a new work from that and does not copyleft that, I have the power to +make them change that decision; I could contact them and try to convince them to +be nice and free their work; I could contact them and say they *must* free the +work because of the law; and I could even /sue/ them for not freeing their work! + +Until now I have, without really realizing it, used copyleft licenses only for +the signal they send: If you create something new from something I have made +free, please make your work free as well. I never thought about what would +happen and what I would do if someone broke the law and didn't follow my +copyleft. I probably should have thought about that at the beginning, but hey, +I just wanted to make my works freely available and modifiable and hope that +others would do the same! + +While I don't think it is wrong to use even lawsuits for upholding copyleft, +it's not something I would /ever/ do. If someone takes a copylefted work and +abuses it, the community does not lose works; it simply does not gain them. +Arguing against this argument would be the same as asserting that Hollywood +loses money when people do not pay for digital, made-at-no-cost copies of their +films -- a view I certainly don't agree with. + +Of course, I might never have to enter a lawsuit to uphold copyleft. Maybe just +asking the abuser would be enough in all cases. But since this very page is +public, the abuser would realize that I don't intend to sue in any case, so they +might just ignore my request. And I don't intend to manipulate people into +making them think I would sue them. + +It's not my impression that there has been a lot of court cases involving +copyleft; most of the license violations seem to be handled without the need for +lawsuits, though I guess both lawyers and the threat of lawsuits are still quite +used. The FSF's [[https://www.fsf.org/licensing/compliance][Compliance Lab]] gives a good impression of the potential +difficulty of fixing license violations. I don't mind this compliance fixing, +but in principle I am a bit against spending time making evil people relicense +works when time could be spent making good people create new, free works. In +the long run, this will surely result in more good, free works, though forcing +someone evil to relicence might be practical in the short run. + +In essence: Copyright is so hopelessly broken, and personally I'm not going to +fight copyright with itself. This is because I'm not going to depend its and +copyleft's legal benefits, and that is because I would only depend on something +broken if I found it /very/ necessary and not just useful in the short run. I +just want to share my works freely, and if someone who uses my works don't want +to do that, I'll simply ignore them. My walking away from copyleft makes my +works usable by more people. + +#&img;url=/img/licenses/wtfpl.png,float=right +So, from now on I'll use the [[http://www.wtfpl.net/][Do What The Fuck You Want To Public License (WTFPL)]] +for all my original works, software and culture alike. I don't think that the +"fuck" in the license is a problem. I also thought about using Creative Commons +Zero, but even though [[http://wiki.creativecommons.org/CC0_FAQ][it can be used for software]], [[http://opensource.org/licenses/index.html][OSI has not approved it]] +because of [[http://projects.opensource.org/pipermail/license-review/2012-February/thread.html][a patent clause]] ([[https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#CC0][FSF has approved it]], and it's also DFSG-free), so it +might be unpractical. WTFPL has been approved by the FSF. [[http://opensource.org/minutes20090304][OSI rejected it]], but +that's because they didn't consider it a license and not because they disagreed +with any of the (1) clauses in the WTFPL, so I don't think using the WTFPL will +pose any practical problems. I'll still contribute to copyleft works, though I +might mention this URL. + +I was a bit inspired by [[http://blog.ninapaley.com/2013/01/18/ahimsa-sita-sings-the-blues-now-cc-0-public-domain/][Nina Paley's change to CC 0 from CC BY-SA]]. I think her +story is scary. + +My first copylefted program to be un-copylefted is the generator for this +website which used to be under the AGPL. I'll relicense the rest of my works on +a need-to-basis (there are so many, and I have other stuff to do). diff --git a/site/writings/software-licenses.org b/site/writings/software-licenses.org index 69007f0..08d29d2 100644 --- a/site/writings/software-licenses.org +++ b/site/writings/software-licenses.org @@ -1,10 +1,16 @@ -#+title: My choices of software licenses +#+title: My choices of software licenses (outdated) #&summary -Which licenses do I use, and why? +Which licenses did I use, and why? #& #+startup: showall #+license: bysa +#&+classes=warning +This is an old opinion of mine, but its arguments still hold if one assumes that +copyleft is very important. See <@eval +macros.titlelink('/writings/non-copylefted')@> for my updated opinion. +#& + * My choices of software licenses I like strong copyleft, the stuff found in the GNU General Public License, the