So when will RMS have all of his titles pulled from Amazon?
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dst...
Reasons not to buy from Amazon
91–100 of 152 posts
Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
> "his GNU software license is one of the most restrictive licenses out there." Of "open source" licenses perhaps. In the grand scheme of software licenses, it is pretty fucking permissive. Most software licenses don't let you anywhere near the source, don't let you modify the code, and don't let you redistribute or share the software.
> Most software licenses don't let you anywhere near the source, don't let you modify the code, Are there any software licenses where the source code is provided but you are prohibited to view or modify it?
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Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon
#93I find the tax evasion argument the most damning. But it's not just Amazon, it's any sizable American corporation in 2015. You'd be irresponsible to your shareholders for not setting up a tax haven corp in Ireland or some other mostly legal country and funnel your profits through there.
it's nothing corporations haven't been doing since the idea of legally protected business groups posing as faux individuals was invented. But it still doesn't make it not a really bad idea for any half-hearted attempt at a representative democracy.
It doesn't take a genius to realize the impact that tax dollars returned to your community be it town, state or country, have at a least a chance of having a positive impact on your life. Of course, the devil's advocate would say that getting consumer goods for less has a direct positive impact on my life. That's probably pretty debatable though.
Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
Without a robust definition of "dodging taxes," I'm not going to buy the argument. A lot of people use phrases like that to refer to completely legal practices designed to minimize taxes.
And this is why there's a distinction between "tax avoidance" and "tax evasion". Tax avoidance refers to using legal means to reduce your tax bill. Tax evasion means illegally not paying your taxes.
Yeah, and "dodging taxes" doesn't clearly distinguish between the too. Also note that a lot of people oppose perfectly legal tax avoidance techniques that they consider to be loopholes.
Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon
#95> "Amazon cut off service to Wikileaks, claiming that whistleblowing violates its terms of service. It had no need to go to court to prove this, because if you rent a server from Amazon, you have no rights." I find it highly amusing that RMS doesn't seem to agree with Amazon's restrictive ToS agreement but his GNU software license is one of the most restrictive licenses out there. If I include a GNU licensed library…
"GNU software license is one of the most restrictive licenses out there" But those restrictions are in place to protect your freedom!
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Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon
#96Amazon is like a naughty girl next door. She might be bad and not that pretty, but very conveniently close.
What the fuck. Why would you post this kind of thing.
This is an analogy to explain why many people are willing to sacrifice many things for sake of convenience.
Granted, a bit of a spicy analogy for some.
Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sweet fucking Jesus, do we need to talk about the GPL here? It's an utter derail here, and the way comments are ranked here means that the top pages of this thread are going to be the same hashing out of pros and cons and it's incredibly tedious.
Since the only reason anyone ever listens to anything Stallman says is the GPL, it's on-topic.
It's a tribal thing; people have already made their minds up about it, and we're just going to spout talking points at each other.
Instead of talking about the post, we're doing the lazy "and what's up with the GPL?" comedy bit.
Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon
#98> "Amazon cut off service to Wikileaks, claiming that whistleblowing violates its terms of service. It had no need to go to court to prove this, because if you rent a server from Amazon, you have no rights." I find it highly amusing that RMS doesn't seem to agree with Amazon's restrictive ToS agreement but his GNU software license is one of the most restrictive licenses out there. If I include a GNU licensed library…
"If I include a GNU licensed library I accidentally lose all my rights too" That's not true. You can't lose a right that you never had. You could argue the GNU license it's not fear, then write an article titled "Reasons why not to use GNU license".
GNU restriction is in favor of the end user, to make them free to know what they are executing(oversimplifying). RSM's point is always about the freedom of the end user.
About the second quote: > "A study found that people who read novels on the Amazon Swindle remember less of the events." Yes, I also see this as a weak argument, but to be fear he is saying "I think issues like this are less important than the injustice of the Swindle." pointing to a pdf titled ebooks.pdf which is not Swindle specific.
Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
Restrictive in that it prevents you from fucking people over. This is like saying laws against slavery restrict freedom (freedom to own slaves). https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/freedom-or-power.html
> Restrictive in that it prevents you from fucking people over. Restrictive in that it controls how you must license derivative works and release source code. It imposes an ideology on others. > This is like saying laws against slavery restrict freedom (freedom to own slaves). No, really, it's absolutely nothing like saying that, and if you care about free software (however defined, but in particular along the lines…
Really, the only thing the GPL restricts is your ability to restrict.
(Incidentally, this is comparable to restricting the freedom to enslave; it is a restriction on restriction.)
If you think the GPL somehow "imposes an ideology on others" but literally any other license does not, I am curious as to how. (Hint: a license cannot "impose an ideology"; if you do not agree, you are free to avoid it and stick with BSD code, or whatever else might suit your fancy.)
Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon
#100> "Amazon cut off service to Wikileaks, claiming that whistleblowing violates its terms of service. It had no need to go to court to prove this, because if you rent a server from Amazon, you have no rights." I find it highly amusing that RMS doesn't seem to agree with Amazon's restrictive ToS agreement but his GNU software license is one of the most restrictive licenses out there. If I include a GNU licensed library…
Restrictive in that it prevents you from fucking people over. This is like saying laws against slavery restrict freedom (freedom to own slaves). https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/freedom-or-power.html
>This is like saying laws against slavery restrict freedom (freedom to own slaves).
They do. Because at current, corporations (aka private prisons) are allowed to own slaves, but I as an individual am not. We can either increase freedom by banning anyone from owning slaves or increase freedom by allowing anyone to own slaves.