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Williams, Sam

"Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software"

In
this case, Stallman said, he did have a way to control
the outcome. He could refuse to cooperate.
I made a few more suggestions with little effect. About
the only thing I could get out of Stallman was a
concession that the e-book's copyright restrict all
forms of file sharing to "noncommercial redistribution."
Before I signed off, Stallman suggested I tell the
publisher that I'd promised Stallman that the work
would be free. I told Stallman I couldn't agree to that
statement but that I did view the book as unfinishable
without his cooperation. Seemingly satisfied, Stallman
hung up with his usual sign-off line: "Happy hacking."
Henning and I met with Tracy the next day. Tracy said
her company was willing to publish copyable excerpts in
a unencrypted format but would limit the excerpts to
500 words. Henning informed her that this wouldn't be
enough for me to get around my ethical obligation to
Stallman. Tracy mentioned her own company's contractual
obligation to online vendors such as Amazon.


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