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Freedom and Obsolescence:
Software, Documentation, and Law

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Robert J. Chassell
bob@rattlesnake.com

http://www.rattlesnake.com
http://www.teak.cc


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Law and Freedom

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Technological advance

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Old legal, technical, and social arrangements
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obsolete

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How create and distribute
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textbooks and casebooks?

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Distribute in various forms,

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for a student driving
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for a student online
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for a student reading in a chair


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Hindrances:  Legal, Technical, Social

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As a practical matter,

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Legal solutions exist

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Technical solutions exist

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Social problems continue


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Outline of Talk

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Settlement of disputes

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Familiar, but abstract nature of law

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Lowering cost of information
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has made old laws obsolete

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Metaphor

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piracy

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Decentralized planning

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GNU General Public License as a legal tool

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Textbooks and Casebooks


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Need a reliable, quick, and honest legal system

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Must work with strangers

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No `connections'

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For most, time is valuable

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Judgements must be quick

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Most are honest and moral

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But not all


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The Abstract and the Familiar

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Law is familiar

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law feels concrete

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But a bundle of rights and obligations

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is abstract


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Possession of a Doll,  Possession of a Car ...

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Child and doll

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hold
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throw
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play

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Adult and car

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drive
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sell

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but car may be towed
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owner must pay


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With time and familarity

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Concrete entity becomes abstract property

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real estate rights in rural Massachusets

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decide what to plant

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real estate obligations

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pay taxes
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if no signs, permit hunters


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Most of the World is `Extralegal'

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Anthropology at the law school core


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The Lowered Cost of Information

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lower incremental cost:
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advances in technology of reduplication

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lower initial cost:
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advances in many technologies


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Lowered Incremental Costs

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Less expensive to reduplicate information
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than 50 years ago

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In a competitive, free market
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full system on  CD
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costs U. S. $1.50 - U. S. $2.50.

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Pricing is a tendency ...

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many seek more

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many arrangements encourage seeking

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less waste of time and effort


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Lowered Initial Costs

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less expensive to work together at a distance

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easier to gather information

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we are richer


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Technological Advance

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machines replace laboring people

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communications quicker

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feedback quicker


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"Knowledge Workers" need

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Enough pay
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Safety
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Communications
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Appropriate Tools
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Reduced hassle and other costs of input
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Choice of own projects
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Good initial design
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Strong and stable foundations
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Modularity

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Legal Implications of Technological Advance

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Potentially lowered prices
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potentially less hassle

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But ...

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The law can try to prevent
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legal use of technological advance

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To be effective,
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law must go beyond police, judges, lawyers.

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Effective Law Enforcement

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Requires voluntary compliance

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Some policing is affordable, not much

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Additional costs ...

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Socialize school children

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Socialize college students


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Rivalrous and Non-rivalrous

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Metaphorically, apply old experience to new

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Is a shirt that only one person
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can wear at one time

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... different from software?

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Does your use `rival' mine?


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Law is Non-rivalrous

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Your obeying the law does not prevent
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my obeying it


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Piracy

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Metaphorically extend notion
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(a second time)


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U. S. Constitution

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To promote the progress of science and useful arts, ...

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Article I, Section 8


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Constitutional Provision of Patents and Copyrights

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Little direct cost to government

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Benefit to holders only if others interested

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Trade-off:

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Give up some rights to fair prices

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Gain new products

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But now easier and less expensive to reduplicate
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some products

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People now giving up more ...

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High Initial Cost Industry

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19th century

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Technical advances

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steel
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flour milling
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oil refining
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railroads

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Implications of High Costs of Discovery

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Higher costs to those who lack copyrights
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and patents

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Focus on own copyrights and patents

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even if unsuitable

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Invention of the GNU General Public License


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Challenge of legal theft

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Use the power to exclude

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A license; not a contract


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Legally strong

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Established Copyright Law

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Essence:  the Power to Exclude

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implies

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the power to license

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the power to permit

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GNU GPL is a Competitive, Free Market License

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Good for buyers

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Competition pushes prices down

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not gratis

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but commercial

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Needs business model

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service oriented

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handle complementary product

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What is Freedom for Software?

    You have the legal and practical freedom to

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use
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copy
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study
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modify
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redistribute

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You are forbidden to forbid

You have the obligation to pass on

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rights you receive

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Patent Restrictions

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Patent a mathematical area
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or business practice

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Prevent you from working in the area

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Or you become a secondary player

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The GNU Free Documentation License

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Invariant parts

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poems, scientific papers, introductions

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Change parts that must change

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Balance monopoly and competition

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Textbooks and Casebooks

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Currently, hard to customize

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Currently, no incentive to contribute
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improvements back

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Single Input, Multiple Outputs

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Old days: one kind of output

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... on paper        [carved in stone ...]

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Now, from one deep representation:

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... four outputs

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1. Typeset, printed output

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2. Web pages

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3. Info for efficient online reading

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4. Auditory,  for listening by the permanently
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and the `situationally' blind

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Technical, Legal, Social

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Technical, Legal problems solved

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Social not solved

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Personal habit of single input and output

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Corporate aversion to different business models

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Conclusions

Your opportunities depend on
    your legal rights to:

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use
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copy
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study
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modify
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redistribute

under a free license.

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Collaboration depends on

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your right to use your and others' work