Actually Posted on 4th June 2008
Hi everyone. This week we had a long talk about software integrity, and how to keep track of it. I covered a number of sub topics and scrawled a fair some stuff on the white board. If you didn’t get all the notes written down, here they are below.
Software Integrity
Legal or Illegal.
Illegal software (excluding software created for Illegal purposes), is any commercial software (software that should otherwise be purchased in some manner or form) that is obtained and installed without permission to obtain and install. Legal software (excluding “Free-as-in-Free” Software) does not break any of these rules.
Paying someone a small or nominal fee for a copy of a CD or DVD, is actually an act of software piracy. In Australia, there is a maximum penalty fine, and a jail sentence for these acts.
Never use someone elses CD, Serial or Product Key for your own use. Never give you CD, Serial or Product Key to anyone else. Your CD, Serial or Product Key is your licence for your software.
Up to Date or Out of Date.
Make sure your software is up to date. Out of date software can be exploited by hackers via the internet, and may also prevent you from accessing new features available in updated versions. Most importantly, always make sure your antivirus and firewall software is up to date. Such applications purchased and obtained in the last 2-3 years, will more then likely update themselves, but some do not. If you have a paid subscription, make sure it is up to date as well.
Licencing.
Commercial and Home User Licences.
The biggest different between the two is the cost. It is far cheaper to purchase a Home user licence for a software product, then it is to purchase the “Business” or commercial licence. Commercial licences are for Commercial entities. Any scenario that involves the software being directly used to derive an income, is a Commercial entity. Businesses and Commercial entities must purchase Commercial licences. A home user can purchase a Commercial Licence, but it would be a waste of money. Home User licences must not be used in Commercial environments. A Commercial Licence will often allow the software to be installed on more than one machine, as apposed to a Home User Licence, which is often limited to 1-3 machines/activations (depending on the application) as a maximum. Always check your licence agreement, before installing. If you have purchased the wrong licence for your environment, and install the software anyway, you are committing an offense, and could be penalised for it.
Software Agreement – What you Really Own.
A Software agreement entitles you to use and install the software from the medium that you obtained. What you really own, is the Product or Serial Key, and the cardboard box it is stuck on. It is a common misconception that the money you paid for a software application, entitles you to ownership of the CD or DVD-ROM. This is NOT the case. Check your software and licence agreements! More often than not, you do not own the installation medium. You own the right to install it and use it on X number of computers, and that is all!
Multimedia Licences (Movies, Music, Pictures and other Content).
Music, Movies/T.V., Pictures and other content, each have their own protective licences and are bound by individual copyright laws. All of the above will always come with some form of licencing and copyright information. If this information does not accompany it, than it is deemed free of all royalties and its use is solely up to the user. Be sure to always check the copyright rules and licencing rules for the multimedia you are obtaining.
Content downloaded from Peer-2-Peer (P2P) sources (Limewire, Frostwire, Kazaa, Bit Torrent etc) are generally illegally obtained, unless they are accompanied by an agreement stating that their distribution via these means is a legal act.
Open Source (GPL)
As quoted directly from: OpenSource.Org
Introduction
Open source doesn’t just mean access to the source code. The distribution terms of open-source software must comply with the following criteria:
1. Free Redistribution
The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources. The license shall not require a royalty or other fee for such sale.
2. Source Code
The program must include source code, and must allow distribution in source code as well as compiled form. Where some form of a product is not distributed with source code, there must be a well-publicized means of obtaining the source code for no more than a reasonable reproduction cost preferably, downloading via the Internet without charge. The source code must be the preferred form in which a programmer would modify the program. Deliberately obfuscated source code is not allowed. Intermediate forms such as the output of a preprocessor or translator are not allowed.
3. Derived Works
The license must allow modifications and derived works, and must allow them to be distributed under the same terms as the license of the original software.
4. Integrity of The Author’s Source Code
The license may restrict source-code from being distributed in modified form only if the license allows the distribution of “patch files” with the source code for the purpose of modifying the program at build time. The license must explicitly permit distribution of software built from modified source code. The license may require derived works to carry a different name or version number from the original software.
5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups
The license must not discriminate against any person or group of persons.
6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor
The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a business, or from being used for genetic research.
7. Distribution of License
The rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom the program is redistributed without the need for execution of an additional license by those parties.
8. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product
The rights attached to the program must not depend on the program’s being part of a particular software distribution. If the program is extracted from that distribution and used or distributed within the terms of the program’s license, all parties to whom the program is redistributed should have the same rights as those that are granted in conjunction with the original software distribution.
9. License Must Not Restrict Other Software
The license must not place restrictions on other software that is distributed along with the licensed software. For example, the license must not insist that all other programs distributed on the same medium must be open-source software.
10. License Must Be Technology-Neutral
No provision of the license may be predicated on any individual technology or style of interface.
More information on OpenSource, can be found here, here and here.
Creative Commons and Share-a-like.
As quoted from CreateiveCommons.Org:
Creative Commons defines the spectrum of possibilities between full copyright — all rights reserved — and the public domain — no rights reserved. Our licenses help you keep your copyright while inviting certain uses of your work — a “some rights reserved” copyright.
Too often the debate over creative control tends to the extremes. At one pole is a vision of total control — a world in which every last use of a work is regulated and in which “all rights reserved” (and then some) is the norm. At the other end is a vision of anarchy — a world in which creators enjoy a wide range of freedom but are left vulnerable to exploitation. Balance, compromise, and moderation — once the driving forces of a copyright system that valued innovation and protection equally — have become endangered species.
Creative Commons is working to revive them. We use private rights to create public goods: creative works set free for certain uses. Like the free software and open-source movements, our ends are cooperative and community-minded, but our means are voluntary and libertarian. We work to offer creators a best-of-both-worlds way to protect their works while encouraging certain uses of them — to declare “some rights reserved.”
More information on Creative Commons can be found here, here and here.
Free Software Download Sites.
Download.Com (Free and Commercial)
Sourceforge.Net (Free and Open Source)
OpenSourceWindows.Org (Free OpenSource Software for Windows XP and Vista)
Key Topic Points of Discussion
- Licencing controls what we can and can’t do with the software. It permits us to use the software in a certain way, and not outside of those boundaries.
- Business and Home users have different licences and use limitations.
- Legal Software is an exchange of currency for permission to install from the software medium.
- Multimedia (Music, Pictures, Movies, T.V. etc) have their own licences that must we must abide by.
- Limewire (and it’s various clones) should be considered “No Go” applications. They are safe themselves, but are easily used for illegal activities.
- Use iTunes or other media provision services (Bigpond Music, RipIt, etc) safely and legally obtain music, movies, pictures etc.
- If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.
Remember; I put these links and resources here for your use. So if they are of no use to you, too hard to understand or you feel they are off topic, then please let me know, via any of the communication channels you have with me. I am more then happy to make changes, source better content or even create fresh content from scratch, just for you! You need only ask … nicely!
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