Re: Let's CENSOR it! (was: Uploaded anarchism 7.5-1 (source all) to master)
On Thu, 18 Mar 1999, Branden Robinson wrote:
> I completely disagree.
> If we ban this document, I must insist that we ban bible-kjv (and probably
> several other packages) as well.
I agree totally. You ban anarchism, then you take out bible-kjv. You ban
*anything* of a certain type, and you had damn well better be ready to
take out *ALL* packages of that type.
> This issue came up a long time ago, with regards to the packaging of the
> purity test. Similar arguments forced "offensive" fortune cookies into a
> separate package (though not out of the distribution).
I have to agree with that desicion. I accidentally installed fortunes-off
on my workstation, when I meant to install the package above it only, in
dselect. My boss was QUITE surprised when a rather DISGUSTING one popped
up on my machine when I logged on.
> It is not Debian's job to evaluate packages based on content, beyond any
> legal considerations (U.S. crypto export restrictions, copyright problems,
> etc.).
> I would not object to implementation (long advocated) of some kind of
> super-extra section, reserved for large datasets and strictly non-technical
> documentation.
> "We cannot allow a trend like this to start"? It already has. We have
> stuff like funny-manpages, and as I said before, the King James Bible.
Don't forget asr-manpages. Which MANY people find *very* offensive, in my
experience.
Big Brother is a network monitoring program. Debian is a distribution
proud of it's pure-GPL content. Since when did debian-devel become a
content monitoring program?
'Debian Brother' - Because you shouldn't have to fear offensive or
unrelated material.
Sorry, but if that, or anything like it, happens, I'm going to gleefully
rip every last one of it's supporters a new asshole or three. And trust
me, I'll be more than happy to. I did so with Equinox today.
(BTW; don't bother with their products; the Linux drivers are
*worthless*.)
> What aren't we going to let in, again? Inflammatory material? What about
> Project Gutenberg? Is Shakespeare allowed? What about _Ulysses_?
You know, I know some people who are offended by Zippy the Pinhead
fortunes.
> Why *shouldn't* people be allowed to package politically oriented
> documents? Some folks outside our bizarre little niche of the world would
> find the GNU General Public License a pretty politically inflammatory
> document.
As is the BSD license, as we've all seen.
> Who's going to be Debian's censor? I submit that no one should be. There
> is no objective criterion for evaluating the worth of documents in this
> fashion. I vote that we let it in. If this pains you, get about drafting
> some policy for that long-proposed super-extra section of the archive.
> There's lots of stuff that could go into it, and which would make room on
> future CD-ROM's of main.
Indeed, and I would gleefully support it. Censorship is something I will
not tolerate. Nowhere in the GPL does it say that the license does not
apply to or can be terminated on something because it's *not software*. If
I wanted to, I COULD GPL THIS EMAIL. And it would be totally valid.
Also, FYI, the email address CC:'d to @unicent.com is my work email. I
don't plan on subscribing from there, as we're still in the current
building and stuck using Unicent Technology's horrifically annoying
Exchange server which has POP3 disabled, so I can't actually use a *real*
mail client. Don't worry; we'll be moving to the new building soon and
have real machines there. And if I get my way (I make *all* datacenter/NOC
desicions, so I will.;) there will be a Debian mirror there too. :)
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