[Bradford] UK Government Moves To Legislate Against Free Software

[Alan D Barnard]

You should always provide a link to your source material. Something 
along the lines of, 'RMS told me this in strict confidence' will do 
</skepticism>

On 07/07/12 10:30, Robert Burrell Donkin wrote:
> Major highlights (from a Free Software perspective) of legislation to
> be introduced in the Autumn:
>
> * Works published under a pseudonym will cease to be copyrightable
> * Unless every contributor to a Free Software product
>    * is easily identifiable and contactable
>       * then for a small administrative fee the government will issue a
> new license for the work under more acceptable terms
>    * opts out of a collective rights agreement
>       * then a collective rights organisation will be allowed to
> collect commercial fee from every user of that software in the UK
> * Copyright will not be effectively enforceable unless I pay to have
> each and every version registered with a Digital Exchange, which will
> then commercial charge fees for use
>
> As a creator of FOSS, this effectively abolishes my rights to license
> as pleases me and to limit my liability.
>
> And yes, the government was informed about the potential impact on the
> software sector
>
> Apparently my "moral rights" will be not be effected by this change
> since those who profit from my work will have to retain some form of
> attribution
>
> Robert
>
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