9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [Bradley Kuhn] I have to be honest[br]I'm really honored to be here 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I don't say that to just every conference[br]I care a lot about Debian 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This is my 3rd DebConf I've ever been to.[br] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There have been a lot of them so I [br]obviously haven't been to that many 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But I was at DebConf1 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I just learned today that it was zero[br]based so that it wasn't the first DebConf 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 which I should have known but didn't for[br]some reason. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I was at the 2nd DebConf by accident[br]somewhat because I was going to 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Libre Software Meeting and just[br]happened to 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 book my flights so that I could be at[br]DebConf as well 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I gave a regular track talk at DebConf10[br]about the GPL v3 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because it was in New York City where I[br]was living at the time 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Here I'm giving an invited speaker talk or[br]keynote or whatever else it is called here 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That really means a lot to me. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I'm a fan of Debian, I'm a user of Debian. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I don't actually consider myself part of[br]the Debian community 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because other than filing a few bugs[br]over the years 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I haven't contributed all that much to[br]Debian but I've relied on it and used it 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and been a fan of it for so long[br]that I really love your project. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So I am really honored to be invited to[br]speak here 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I really believe that Debian is a[br]very special project for a lot of reasons. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 First of all, it has thrived for longer[br]than almost any free software project 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in existence in a lot of ways. [br]There are top 10 lists of projects that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Debian is certainly on as far as longevity[br]goes, maybe the top 5 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's governance is one of the few[br]democratically elected and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 democratically controlled[br]governance processes in free software 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Everyone is a fan of talking about this[br]'benevolent dictator' stuff 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 which I think is really horrible[br]The fact that somebody would call 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 themselves a 'self appointed benevolent[br]dictator for life' is really disturbing. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You are democratic. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You elect your leadership. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You have referendums on major issues[br]that everyone can vote on. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That is amazingly rare, impressive[br]and important for free software. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The other thing that really impresses me, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in particular being somebody from the[br]non-profit world, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is that Debian has been staunchly[br]non-commercial for it's entire existence. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Of course I don't mean that Debian[br]can't be used in commercial settings. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 DFSG free means that things can be put[br]into commercial products. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What I mean is that the project itself has[br]always been non-commercial, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 meaning that the people that work on it[br]are volunteering, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and, even if their employers are paying[br]them to work on it, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they are part of a community and not[br]doing their work inside Debian as 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 officially part of some[br]commercial activity. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Most free software projects these days[br]are controlled by 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 some commercial entity or another. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Debian is not. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I was at Debconf1 which was really[br]exciting for me. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I was a young executive director of[br]Free Software. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I showed this picture to Karen Sandler who[br]I work with and said how different I look. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 She said I don't look different at all, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but, speaking as the person that looks[br]at that face in the mirror every morning, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 there are a lot more lines on my face[br]than there. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That is a smooth looking baby face that I[br]had 14 years ago that I don't have anymore 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I was pretty casual back then.[br]I'm not in short trousers any more. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's hard to see and you can see it in[br]some of the other photos that I was. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Even in this heat like this I haven't[br]worn short trousers in a very long time. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What's that? [bdale heckles] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Bdale, I was thinking about mentioning you[br]and now I have to because you are heckling 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 me [laughter]. Bdale is the one adult[br]in the room who can dress like 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 everybody else but I can't pull it off 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I respect Bdale that he can. [br]The tie-dye still works for him. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I stopped wearing t-shirts years ago[br]at conferences 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and here I'm sweating in my long sleeves[br]halfway between hacker and suit attire. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And there [in the photo] I'm talking to[br]Martin Michmayer 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I'm going to do questions at the end Lars,[br]if that's ok.[br] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I'm not good with questions because I[br]get off topic easy. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I left 17 minutes at the end for questions[br]which Bdale just took 3 of [laughter] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There I'm talking to Martin Michlmayer[br]when I first met him. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 A lot of things have changed since I[br]looked at this photo. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But one thing that hasn't changed,[br]you see this face that Martin is making. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He still makes that face at me every time[br]I talk to him, which sort of says like 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "You do not know what you are talking[br]about". That hasn't changed, which is good 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [laughter]. I'm glad he is laughing in the[br]back there. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Some things have stayed the same.[br]Martin still thinks I'm full of it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I probably am, so that's ok.[br]I like people to keep me honest. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Other than jokes, the thing that hasn't[br]really changed since I was first 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 introduced to the Debian community, in[br]person, back in 2001, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is the ethos of this community is still[br]the same one that I remember 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 even though a lot of the developers[br]have changed. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I talked to somebody who had never[br]even installed Debian when they were at 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 DebConf1. I talked to someone who was[br]12 years old at the time of DebConf1. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I find it impressive that what I call the[br]'morality of the hobbyist contributor' 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 still lives strongly in Debian. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The people in Debian want to do what is[br]right for other people - 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 their users, co-developers,[br]co-contributors. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They also volunteer to do that. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 As I said before, that doesn't mean that[br]they aren't being paid to do their work. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's the classic free software thing: lots[br]of people get paid to write free software. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What I've seen recently, in many free[br]software projects, is that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 companies have used that. I think[br]OpenStack is one of the worst examples 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of this. To control the project by hiring[br]lots of it's developers. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They have this kindof pull over the[br]project. I think that a lot of people that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 work at OpenStack would say they are[br]employers employee first and an 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 OpenStack contributor second. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I don't know anyone in Debian who would[br]not say 'I am a Debian developer' first 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and then I happen to be employed as a[br]second issue. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Debian is their first priority.[br]Their job is their second. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That hobbyist culture of 'my volunteer[br]work matters more to me than 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 what actually pays me for a living'[br]is the kind of mentality that I am such a 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 fan of. I try to live that in my own work[br]as well. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I like interacting with the community.[br]I usually find conferences very stressful. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This one I do not find as stressful[br]other than I'm standing in a room with a 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 huge number of people. Other than that[br]I don't find it stressful 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because this is the kind of community[br]that thinks that way. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I think a lot of it has to do with the[br]other structures you have set up around 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 yourselves. The idea of having charities[br]that you work with 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 which you have chosen to do a multi[br]charity situation where you have lots 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 around the world that you can interact[br]with. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 One of them was founded by a Debian[br]developer initially. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You reach out to other partnerships or[br]charities as a non-commercial community 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That allows you to have an infrastructure[br]that you can rely on that helps 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you maintain that community.[br]I'm very glad that you do that. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I used to work for the FSF and am still on[br]the board of directors. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Early in the project Debian was more or[br]less a GNU project for a while. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It was part of the FSF. I know that[br]relationship has never been perfect 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 sometimes rocky and sometimes better,[br]but the FSF saw this in Debian too 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 very early on. That it was a really[br]important way to begin the whole 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 distribution thing of free software and [br]that culture was a match with 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 FSF's culture. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I know where the issues are and I'm[br]sure John is here to talk about them. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But I think there is a lot of cultural[br]connect between FSF and Debian. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I'm a little obsessed about this quote.[br]I saw it in real time. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I was subscribed to comp.os.minux in Aug[br]of '91 when it was posted 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Part of it was that when I started working[br]for the FSF I started thinking about it 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the FSF when I worked there had 7[br]employees and still has under 20 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That's not big. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So I don't think of it as big and I guess[br]strictly speaking, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 since the FSF is a very professional[br]organisation, and to take the 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 strict definition professional means you[br]get paid to do this thing, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you do it for a living - yes, the FSF[br]staff are professionals 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in all the ways you might use the word[br]professional, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but I don't think that's what Linus[br]was going for in this quote 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I don't think he meant those normal things[br]about professional 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I think what he was going for is he was[br]trying to create Linux back when he was[br]humble 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Because people forget Linus used to be[br]really humble. Once upon a time. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [laughter] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I don't know... ok. I think some of his[br]early posts were humble 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but we can debate that I suppose. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 One of the things that Linus understood[br]well was that he wanted to create 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a project where individuals collaborated[br]together in their own capacity. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He wanted a hobbyist kind of culture and[br]was interested in that kind of culture. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I think that what he got wrong was not[br]realising how important charities are 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to that culture and I think Debian has[br]always got that right. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You've always interacted with charities[br]in good ways. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I think you keep them at arms length,[br]which is OK and reasonable, but 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you've always seen the value,[br]always seen the connection between being 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a non-commercial hobbyist controlled[br]project, very professional I think, but 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 still hobbyist controlled in a sense that[br]you are volunteers doing the right things 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for everyone in your community. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 At the same time reaching out to these[br]charities and letting them help you 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 get done what you need to get do in the[br]logistical world outside of your project. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What I've seen in other projects that[br]Debian has not suffered from 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is the politics of the projects have[br]bifurcated. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There's the technical politics which is[br]the usual arguments about 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 this technology verses that technology 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 say, systemd verses upstart, something[br]like that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and that, I think in almost every project[br]still remains under developer control. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 People who are developers decide[br]technical decisions like that. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But the political governance in most other[br]projects has been hijacked in my view. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 By various different groups, depending on[br]the project 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but usually some mix of lawyers or[br]business type people who are somehow 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in for profit companies or industry[br]associations, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that have taken over the political[br]governance. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The reason they've succeeded in doing this[br]I think is because most developers 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 care deeply about the technical politics,[br]but not so much about the other politics. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They want to make those decisions once[br]and leave them alone. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 A lot of my work in Conservancy is to help[br]developers make those decisions right once 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and then be able to leave them alone[br]without it having bite them later. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I think a lot of projects have faced that[br]situation, where the non technical 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 politics of their projects are under the[br]control of people who are 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 not members of the community, not really. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I think that has really happened to Linux. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I think that the Linux non technical[br]politics are out of the hands of 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the developers and it's a very sad thing,[br]from my point of view 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I think the companies control those[br]politics 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and they don't keep developers out[br]entirely, but they gate keep 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 from letting certain developers into the[br]politics of what's really going on in the 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 non technical space. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I've met many Linux developers who feel[br]disenfranchised. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's why Conservancy has a GPL enforcement[br]project for Linux. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Because they've come to us to ask for[br]someone who has a charitable mission 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to do the right thing for the public good,[br]as opposed to the what companies want. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I think that's what these charities serve. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If you look at any of these charities that[br]we have out there, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Conservancy, Software in the Public[br]Interest, FSF, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they do things for hobbyist developers[br]that are the morally right thing to do 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but are sometimes controversial 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that developers actually really need, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 maybe sometimes don't want to spend too[br]much time on 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because they're more interested in other[br]things, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but companies and trade associations don't[br]need them and in fact 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they often oppose them. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 As I said, we're doing at Conservancy the[br]GPL enforcement for Linux 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because it is not in the business interest[br]of the companies who invest in Linux 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to see the GPL enforced. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In many cases they actually oppose it[br]being enforced at all. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Which brings me to copyleft generally. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 My last talk to all of you was at DebConf[br]10, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 where I told you about GPL v3 and how[br]wonderful it is and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 how much I respected Debian's commitment[br]to copyleft. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now that's not to say everything in the[br]archive is copyleft, I would guess that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 most things in the archive aren't, as it[br]turns out. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But there are many, many important things[br]in Debian's archive that are copylefted 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and many Debian meta-projects that you[br]rely on every day as part of your 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 development that you have chosen to[br]copyleft. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So I see Debian as a strongly connected[br]project to the broader copyleft community 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 which I am heavily involved in. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Excessively involved in you might say. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The organisation I work for is funding[br]a lawsuit, here in Germany 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 against VMware for violating the GPL for[br]a very long time and refusing to comply. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Christoph Hellwig is the plaintiff. It is[br]in a Berlin court. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Till Jaeger is his lawyer and you have to[br]read the FAQ. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I am, admittedly, not as comfortable with[br]the German legal system as the US. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I am used to the US where everything is[br]public. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The German legal system doesn't work[br]that way. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I respect the cultural difference and[br]therefore we put what we could in the FAQ 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so you could go read it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So if you were hoping to hear all about[br]the VMware lawsuit in this talk this is 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the only slide that covers it, sorry to[br]say. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You can load your browser and look at the[br]FAQ I guess. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The interesting thing that I can talk[br]about is the aftermath in the politics in 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the community that I think a lot of[br]people, even people in this room got wrong 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 about what was going to happen after we[br]sued VMware. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I have myself been a little bit surprised[br]that the response by many for profit 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 companies (in the back channels, this has [br]not been in press releases, obviously) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 has been to attempt to eradicate copyleft[br]entirely, or at the very least 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 stop its enforcement. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 At this point, for anybody who wants to[br]make a strong commitment like Christoph, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 like me, to spend a lot of time enforcing[br]GPL, it is an extremely, politically 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 treacherous decision. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We have people in our GPL enforcement[br]project for Linux at Conservancy who 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 insist on anonymity because they are[br]terrified it will affect their ability to 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 get jobs, and other things if they're even[br]heard to be talking to people who do 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 enforcement. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I think what's happened is that the people[br]who have always been against copyleft 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 subtly and quietly now see there's some[br]chinks in the armour. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There are very few people still enforcing[br]the copyleft. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The only two organisations doing it as[br]part of a charity are the FSF and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Conservany. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's a time for the sharks to circle and[br]see if they can finish off the rest. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That's what I think is happening. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now, this matters to you. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Even if you don't care that much about[br]copyleft, it matters. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Ubuntu was violating your copyrights for[br]two years. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They had a trademark policy that[br]contradicted the GPL. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's a violation of the GPL. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The Free Software Foundation and[br]Conservacy worked very, very hard for two 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 years to get it resolved.[br]It's been resolved. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The trademark policy, as it stands - you[br]can read the statements on both 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Conservancy and FSF's websites - is in[br]compliance with the GPL. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I'm glad that Canonical eventually did the[br]right thing. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 However, you've got to read the[br]fine print. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Because what they've done is they've said[br]"Well, by using this trump clause thing to 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 comply", it means that all the non[br]copylefted software (from Debian which of 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 course then ends up in Ubuntu) is then[br]propitiatorized, effectively, when it goes 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 into Ubuntu, because all these additional[br]restrictions and terms in the trademark 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 policy that are contradictory to copyleft,[br]the trump clause passes them out for 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 copyleft so you can't have those[br]contradicting copyleft, but they happily 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 don't contradict the two clause BSD[br]license, or the Apache software license or 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 various other licenses. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 A lot is being proprietarized, now it's[br]totally permissible by the copyright 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 license, but I would encourage everyone[br]in the Debian community to think about 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 how much you like that. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Because your goal is to make everything in[br]main be DFSG free, but when it gets into 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Ubuntu main it automatically (if it's not[br]copylefted) falls under this trademark 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 policy that's unfriendly to free software[br]and I would argue DFSG non-free. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I think we're facing some really tough[br]challenges. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I believe free software has been largely[br]co-opted by for profit companies. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That's why I still say free software and[br]not open source, because I think 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 source (I actually agree with RMS about[br]this) is a term that allows companies to 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 take the good parts they want from free[br]software and leave the political stuff 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that many of us care about and still be[br]able to exploit it for their own purposes. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Meanwhile, Debian is a hugely important[br]political part of what's happening. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Because Debian is this really important[br]non-commercial project. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Probably the largest non-commercial[br]project of it's kind that's still 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 extremely relevant in the free software[br]community. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Your long history and your good governance[br]have insulated you from a lot of these 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 politics that have happened in other[br]projects. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What's happened to OpenStack would never[br]happen to Debian, because you're too 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 old for it to happen to you. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's just kinda nice that it works out[br]that way. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There's some usefulness in being old.[br][laughter] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Eventually the pressure will catch up to[br]you. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Somebody's going to do it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Canonical just tried it and didn't succeed[br]thanks to the fact that we stopped them 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but someone else will come along and try[br]to do it next. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I think it's just a harbinger of things to[br]come at this point and copyleft is going 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to matter more and more to Debian as time[br]goes on because it is the thing standing 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 between these kinds of manoeuvres and[br]free software. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I always see Debian as a key building[br]block of other free software. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 People build stuff on top of Debian all[br]the time. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I find in my work investigating GPL[br]violations plenty of times where it's a 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Debian system they just took and then[br]gave no source code and moved it into a 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 product and violated the GPL. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That means that people who are powerful[br]and corrupt will want to control it, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because it's essential and if they could[br]somehow take control of Debian they could 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 control a lot of the software world. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I think they can't get control of you,[br]because of the way you're organised, but 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that doesn't mean they're not going to[br]try. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now, I think that is so successful because[br]Debian has always been about people. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The decision to make the Debian Developer[br]- and I know it's different know, but 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 originally the Debian Developer was the[br]pinnacle of how you became part of this 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 community, you passed your Debian[br]Developer stuff, which I've never been 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 able to pass, because I'm lame - but I[br]always believe that people oriented 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 manner of operating was essential to how[br]that worked. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now since that first DebConf, I admit I've[br]not spent much of my time with developers, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 certainly not as much as I would have[br]liked. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I spend most of my time around lawyers and[br]business people in the last 13 or 14 years 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and they look at Debian or in fact any[br]free software very differently. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Most of these people look at it not about[br]the people, they see people as basically 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 fungible - any developer's good as the[br]next, right? From a business person's 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 perspective. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But the assets that sit there, things like[br]copyrights. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That they look at as the output of Debian, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the value that Debian generates. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There is a certain technical correctness[br]to that, it's like until you write 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 something down it doesn't exist, kind of[br]thing, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so the fact that Debian generates[br]copyrights as you all are doing your work, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 packaging packages, writing documentation,[br]everything that you do. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That's the record of what you did, which[br]is then copyrightable, so there's a 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 certain logic to this lawyer's way of[br]looking at Debian, so say 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "Oh, it's just the assets. There's some[br]trademarks, some copyrights yada yada" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What I think you should all think about in[br]response to that is maybe there's some 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 value to that, maybe you should leverage[br]the assets we have as a way to fight for 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 ourselves, fight for good cause of free[br]software. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The one way to look at copyleft is and[br]this is one I like almost the best, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is that it's really just a mechanism to[br]leverage assets, which lots of us agree 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 shouldn't exist - I'm not a fan of[br]copyright by any means, but you take those 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 assets that are forced upon you basically[br]by the system we live in and try to 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 utilize them in some novel way to maximise[br]fairness and goodness and benefit to other 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 people. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I wrote an essay years ago with Richard[br]Stallman about this, about how the power 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to chose a license on software is this[br]inappropriate power that people shouldn't 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 get. They get it anyway, so the only thing[br]we can do is make a good choice about our 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 licenses to neutralise the power we should[br]never have been given to start with. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I often talk about this as using the tools[br]of the oppressor against the oppressor. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If we're going to do that, that means we[br]have to look at every tool they use with 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 regard to copyright. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We've generally just looked at the[br]licensing tool. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The tool of "what license do I put on my[br]software", that's how I'll do it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I'll put a copyleft license so that I'm[br]defending software freedom by putting 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a copyleft licence on my code, but I think[br]Debian could go even further and use these 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 tools in additional ways to help defend[br]software freedom. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 With that, I'd like to announce a thing[br]that Conservancy is doing for Debian. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This was officially put into place in[br]April. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We waited to announce it until my keynote[br]here because we knew I was going to be 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 keynoting. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's an agreement that has been signed[br]between the DPL and the Conservancy 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to offer the following services to the[br]Debian project, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 all of which are optional to all Debian[br]Developers. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's a programme begun under the Software[br]Freedom Conservancy, and we recognise 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that as a member of SPI we asked SPI if[br]it's ok if we did this before we did it 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because we wanted to make sure we weren't[br]offending your other charity organisation 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in the United States, and they agreed that[br]this was fine. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It permits any Debian Developer who would[br]like to, to optionally, and in a 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 configurable way, assign any copyrights in[br]their Debian related works to Conservancy 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 if they would like to. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If they don't want to do that, it also[br]permits them, if they would like, to sign 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 an enforcement agreement with Conservancy,[br]to ask Conservancy to enforce free 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 software licenses on behalf of that[br]developer and that's an agreement that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 can be cancelled, I'll talk more about[br]that in a minute. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Probably of the most interest to a lot of[br]you because it's going to come up the most 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 often is Conservancy will provide[br]licensing support and advice on an ongoing 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 basis for the Debian Project, and I'll[br]talk more later on how we're going to 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 do that. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The whole reason this exists is because a[br]key Debian contributor came to us and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 asked us to do it and we were happy to do[br]it, and I'll talk about who that was in a 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 few minutes. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 First, I felt I have to talk about this,[br]because I've spend a lot of years lately, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in fact the last time I was in Germany, I[br]was here to debate Mark Shuttleworth about 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 copyright assignment. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The fact that I've just pitched to you[br]that copyright assignment is now available 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for Debian Developers I'm sure is probably[br]leaving you to wonder a little bit. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's certainly true that the kinds of[br]problems that I'm talking about 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 sometimes come out from the fact that[br]for profit companies come to 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 free software developers and convince[br]them to assign copyright to that company 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or they ask them to sign some[br]heavyweight contributor license 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 agreement which has the almost legal[br]identical effect of a copyright assignment 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The reason they do that is because they[br]want to, usually, make proprietary 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 versions of those copyrighted works, or[br]otherwise exploit them in some way 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that the free software license, that they[br]would have got anyway, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 would not allow them to do. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I'm against all that. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I'm opposed to using copyright[br]assignment in that way. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But then when I think about the original[br]motivations of copyleft it always was 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 using tools that were not totally[br]comfortable with existing at all 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 against themselves. So why not look at[br]copyright assignment this way: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If you only assign your copyright to[br]charities that take a good strong stand 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for software freedom you be able to[br]maximize the benefits of your 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 copyrights allowing an organization that,[br]say, enforces the GPL or otherwise 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 trying to do the right things with those[br]copyrights to advance software freedom 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you can help that work along by doing[br]that. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The other point I want to make is that[br]the only reason those nefarious uses 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of copyright assignment can ever work[br]is because they collect 100% 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of copyright. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I think no project should have[br]consolidated copyright at 100% 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 any more. I think that's an antiquated[br]way of thinking. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I would encourage Debian to have multi[br]copyright held forever which it probably 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 will. There will never be a single[br]copyright holder of Debian I'm sure. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Even if you just took the parts that[br]Debian developers had contributed, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 not all of them are going to sign to[br]one entity. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Even if a few Debian developers assign[br]to Conservancy or many there will still be 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a nice diverse copyright base which I[br]think creates a healthy community. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There's a very sad but simply true reason[br]that copyright assignment is important. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This is from the Debian history file.[br]We've lost people in our community. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We will lose more as time goes on. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Most of this community is very young but[br]I'm ageing and we are all ageing at the 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 same rate, more or less. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You need to think about that question. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What happens if something happens to[br]me. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What happens to my contributions to[br]the community? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What do they do?[br]Where do they go? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I think we should think about that. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I've had to talk to developers heirs on[br]the phone to get licensing problems 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 fixed. It's one of the most horrible things[br]I've ever had to do on my job. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Think for yourself about: do you want[br]your heirs or people who are in charge 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of your copyrights when you pass[br]having to do that. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The other less sad problem is that[br]people forget to take care of things. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They put them off, especially when they[br]are boring and annoying. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So things like copyright enforcement or[br]copyleft enforcement tends 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 not to happen. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I know from my years and years of[br]experience doing it that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 there are constantly hundreds and[br]hundreds of violations all the time. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 All of them are urgent, more or less,[br]because they are all really 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 hurting users. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I don't know about you, but when[br]you have a bug queue 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 where every single bug is critical,[br]none of them are critical, right? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Because then it's ,like, over, the project[br]is screwed. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That's how GPL enforcement has felt for[br]years and years and years. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 While you can think about how having[br]your own copyrights is my privilege 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to have and use, it's actually also a[br]burden. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If you care about the license you chose[br]and people are ignoring it broadly all 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 around the world all the time violating[br]the copyleft (I also see lots of violations 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of non-copyleft licenses too) you don't[br]have a mandatory requirement to enforce 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but if you care about the license you[br]kinda should be feeling 'gee, I should 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 take care of that and make sure that the[br]license is respected. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And that's why aggregation might be[br]for you. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It might be better to aggregate[br]the copyright somewhere where 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 people are trying to do the work[br]of enforcing the copyleft licenses. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I don't think it should be a shame if[br]you want to be unburdened. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I think that if you feel like 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "I care about the license I chose but[br]I really want somebody else to 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 handle the copyrights". 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There are other people who feel[br]just like you. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Stefano Zacchiroli was the first to[br]sign up into the aggregation project. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Yesterday, Zack assigned all of his past[br]and future contributions to Debian 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to the Software Freedom Conservancy. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I can't think of a better endorsement. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I'm honored that Zack is gonna trust[br]the organization that I work for 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 with taking care of his copyrights, taking[br]care of copyleft on his behalf. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He gave me this quote