Ultimate solution

[Nick Mathewson]

On Sun, Mar 25, 2007 at 09:26:09AM -0600, Kasimir Gabert wrote:
 [...]
> 
> ? So long as You do not subvert or infringe the freedoms of end-users
> by doing so, You have the freedom to change the software or to use
> parts of it in new Programs; However, these softwares are not allowed
> to be modified to use any commercial proxy or connectivity service or
> product other than those offered by Torrify LLC or the Tor Project,
> without written permission of Torrify LLC.
  [...]
> 
> Sounds rather free to me...

When free software people ask "is a license free?" they usually are
asking whether it conforms to the Debian Free Software Guidelines or
the Open Source Definition.

I'm no lawyer, but the term in the license above seems like a clear
violation of the Debian Free Software Guidelines to me.  In
particular, it violates guideline 5 ("No Discrimination Against
Persons or Groups") and possibly guideline 6 ("No Discrimination
Against Fields of Endeavor").  The restriction on what you can modify
it to do seems to controvert guideline 2 ("Derived Works"), .  These
same requirements appear in the Open Source Definition.  Thus, the
license is neither a Free Software license nor an Open Source license,
unless you mean free-as-in-beer.

I won't touch on the other issues here.

cheers,
-- 
Nick
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