:: Re: [Libbitcoin] License - what abo…
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Author: Peter Todd
Date:  
To: mlmikael
CC: libbitcoin
Subject: Re: [Libbitcoin] License - what about a truly free license (humble and extremely important enquiry for the project)
On Tue, May 13, 2014 at 04:33:50PM +0200, mlmikael wrote:

I gotta catch a flight, so I'll keep this short.

For Bitcoin and other security related software a key issue is that
source code *must* be available to the user in all circumstances so that
they can be sure the code has not been backdoored or otherwise
compromised. Very strongly opensource licenses, such as the Affero GPL,
provide that guarantee in ways that lesser and *less* free, licenses do
not. Remember that when we talk about freedom, we're talking about the
user's freedom to use, modify, and inspect the software that keeps their
Bitcoins safe and protects their privacy, not the freedom of people who
want to restrict that right.

Thus I strongly support distributing LibBitcoin under the maximally free
license possible, the Affero GPL.

Now we should be pragmatic about this, and give users some guidance
about how to comply with the Affero GPL license requirements, but that
is a separate discussion.

> Dear Amir and list,
>
> Originating from the conversation on Bignums, I went through the
> conditions of LibBitcoin's license.
>
> LibBitcoin's present license is the GNU Affero General Public
> License version 3, found at
> http://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html . It states that


--
'peter'[:-1]@petertodd.org