Re: Critique of draft GNU Free Documentation License v1.0

[Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>]

    > Part of the criteria for free software is that the license should not
    > require people to notify any specific place, or publish in any
    > specific place, when they exercise their rights.  I think of that as a
    > matter of privacy, a rejection of central monitoring.

    I think that a free document that anyone can distribute to the world
    in in no sense private.

The document is not private, but the people should still not
be subject to central monitoring.

Another problem with the requirement to notify a specific person or
place is that it is unfair to others who are maintaining their own
versions.  If the requirement specifies notification of the original
developer, it is unfair to anyone who maintains an alternate version.
On the other hand, if someone who makes a modified version can
update the notification address to point to himself, then it becomes
unfair to the developer of the original version.

And if the original developer disappears, it becomes a dead pointer.

And also for the sake of cooperation between the LDP and the Free
Software Movement, I ask the LDP to please remove this requirement
from the recommended license.


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