How We Talk About Free Software Legal Tools
Channel: FOSDEM
Date: 2018-03-11

by Deb Nicholson

At: FOSDEM 2017

Companies are using more free software than ever, but often with little or nounderstanding of the licenses or the community norms that are part of thepackage. When it comes to talking about free software legal tools, we need tocontrol the message. This talk will offer ideas on how we should craft anddeliver our message around the adoption of free software legal tools.

Companies are using more free software than ever, but often with little or nounderstanding of the licenses or the community norms that are part of thepackage. When it comes to talking about free software legal tools, we need tocontrol the message. If we let other entities fill in the gaps in our outreachstrategy, a lot of context and nuance will be lost. A poor or incompletemessage hinders our ability to gain more widespread acceptance of freesoftware tools and practices.

Suing collaborators or consciously working to erode well-established communitynorms for short term gain has no place in the world the free softwarecommunity is trying to build. Massive, globally useful, customizable softwareprojects aren't merely a side effect of publicly available repositories,they're a product of intentionally cooperative communities with rules andlegal safeguards. The FOSS community's message must be, "If you don't respectour legal tools, then you aren't a free or open source software company."

Policy isn't made by coders. Official government policy is made by judges andlegislators and company policy is made by engaging with business and legalteams. We need to foster better understanding of our tools and norms amongstpolicy makers. This talk will offer ideas on how we should craft and deliverour message around the adoption of free software legal tools.


Room: H.1301 (Cornil)
Scheduled start: 2017-02-05 15:00:00