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posted by n1 on Thursday July 06 2017, @11:39AM   Printer-friendly
from the to-hell-with-gpl dept.

Bruce Perens warns of potential contributory infringement and breach of contract risk for customers of GRSecurity:

Grsecurity is a patch for the Linux kernel which, it is claimed, improves its security. It is a derivative work of the Linux kernel which touches the kernel internals in many different places. It is inseparable from Linux and can not work without it. it would fail a fair-use test (obviously, ask offline if you don’t understand). Because of its strongly derivative nature of the kernel, it must be under the GPL version 2 license, or a license compatible with the GPL and with terms no more restrictive than the GPL. Earlier versions were distributed under GPL version 2.

Currently, Grsecurity is a commercial product and is distributed only to paying customers. My understanding from several reliable sources is that customers are verbally or otherwise warned that if they redistribute the Grsecurity patch, as would be their right under the GPL, that they will be assessed a penalty: they will no longer be allowed to be customers, and will not be granted access to any further versions of Grsecurity. GPL version 2 section 6 explicitly prohibits the addition of terms such as this redistribution prohibition.

By operating under their policy of terminating customer relations upon distribution of their GPL-licensed software, Open Source Security Inc., the owner of Grsecurity, creates an expectation that the customer’s business will be damaged by losing access to support and later versions of the product, if that customer exercises their re-distribution right under the GPL license. This is tantamount to the addition of a term to the GPL prohibiting distribution or creating a penalty for distribution. GPL section 6 specifically prohibits any addition of terms. Thus, the GPL license, which allows Grsecurity to create its derivative work of the Linux kernel, terminates, and the copyright of the Linux Kernel is infringed. The contract from the Linux kernel developers to both Grsecurity and the customer which is inherent in the GPL is breached.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @05:33PM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @05:33PM (#535789)

    It's easy to get by that way. It helps to be tall, attractive, have a nice, white smile, a firm handshake, and a lot of enthusiasm about how much money you'll be making the person you're scamming who is providing you with a service you don't intend to pay for.

    Sociopathy is simply playing the game by the rules. The game doesn't have nearly the rules you've been brainwashed from kindergarten on to believe it does, and the consequences for breaking the rules are subject to the same slick tactics.

    Being taken to court is all part of the game, and the game continues in the courthouse. Their property won't get seized until after a lengthy appeals process that will drag on for years and years, and there's a chance they may get off on a technicality all together.

    That is why sociopaths need to be put behind bars. All of them. Permanently. If that's too expensive for the rest of us, we should just kill them once we figure out they're a sociopath.

  • (Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday July 06 2017, @05:43PM (1 child)

    by frojack (1554) on Thursday July 06 2017, @05:43PM (#535793) Journal

    The game doesn't have nearly the rules you've been brainwashed from kindergarten on to believe it does,

    You mean all those things Mrs Wilson said she was going to add to my permanent record from the 4th grade are gone?

    Free at last!!.

    --
    No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @05:59PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @05:59PM (#535802)

    Prison is an utter waste. With these types already winning every office, public and private, the future doesn't look to bright. There really is only one cure [soylentnews.org] if you care about the future of the species.

  • (Score: 2) by Arik on Thursday July 06 2017, @08:00PM (1 child)

    by Arik (4543) on Thursday July 06 2017, @08:00PM (#535846) Journal
    "That is why sociopaths need to be put behind bars. All of them. Permanently. If that's too expensive for the rest of us, we should just kill them once we figure out they're a sociopath."

    The problem is that Congress would never vote to put themselves behind bars and you know it.
    --
    If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 07 2017, @05:55AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 07 2017, @05:55AM (#536018)

      we should just kill them once we figure out they're a sociopath

      Hey, I found a sociopath.