From: Randy Lawrence Date: 2004-07-10T14:18:50+09:00 Subject: Re: Secure Ruby Compiler I love your passion for open source. I love open source too. zuzu wrote: [snip] > users have a right to understand the code they are running. [snip] What specific code do they have the right to understand? All code? I want to have that "right to understand" too! Where can I obtain it? Was that "right to understand" conveyed by law or a private contracts? What if the user is too stupid to understand the code? Does the developer have to simplify the code until it could be understood by all users? If the developer refuses to simplify the code, are they criminals or merely commiting a breach of contract? [snip] >(and ironically, the GPL proves that most > people do not, in fact, steal licensed code.) [snip] How does GPL prove this? I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm just trying to understand how the GPL proves that fact. I reread the GPL and I couldn't find any statistical data comparing number of people who steal vs comply with licensed code. All it contains is a bunch of terms and conditions--no quantifiable data on theft. Perhaps the GPL is obfuscated so that the statistical data on theft is hidden from plain view. ASCII stenography? Hmmmm. > obfuscation is a tool of oppression to secure a monopoly on an idea. (even copyrights are > supposed to be TEMPORARY.) > Well, I don't like oppression and I don't like monopoly (but the game "Monopoly" is kinda fun). Obfuscation is a tool of oppression? Like airplanes are a tool for terrorism? Should they both be banned? Hmmm, it could mean fewer visits from the mother-in-law...maybe not a bad idea! To be fair, we can probably imagine at least one undesirable use for every invention known to humankind. It doesn't mean it is the only use for the inventions--maybe it just means we need to use our imagination to think of more positive uses. I wouldn't use obfuscation for oppression. I'd use obfuscation to hide passwords when full-blown encryption isn't very practical or necessary. For example, obfuscating a script that contains a database connection password that I'm hosting on a shared server just in case an unauthorized person gains read access to the script. ps Data needs to be overwritten between 9 times (DOD 5220.22-M standard) - 27+ times (Guttman) before it is safe from modern HD recovery tools. Encrypt (or at a minimum, obfuscate) data you don't want to become public (anything useful for id theft or credit card fraud). Most of us don't consider this when selling our computer or changing web hosting providers.