Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
ethics of open source
Author: John Jensen Posted: 5/27/2000; 10:43:53 AM Topic: ethics of open source Msg #: 17441 Prev/Next: 17440 / 17442
I think Meyer takes the hard way around what should be a simple issue in a free society:We accept that each of us may direct our own labor. We accept that people somtimes sell their labor and sometimes share it with their friends and neighbors.
People are often comfortable with important products of that labor (like food) being sometimes sold and somtimes given. We don't call our neighbors communists if they leave a basket of tomatoes on our doorstep.
I don't think you need to box the compass of moral argument to remind people that we may sometimes choose to give, and sometimes choose to sell our produce.
(This all only looks like a new kind of problem because the technology of the digital age lets us leave tomatoes on everybody's doorstep at once.)
John (author, sometimes free sometimes not)
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