jbuck@forney.berkeley.edu (Joe Buck) (06/24/91)
Archive-name: internet/activism/league-programming-freedom/1991-06-20 Archive-directory: prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/lpf/ [18.71.0.38] Original-posting-by: jbuck@forney.berkeley.edu (Joe Buck) Original-subject: Re: does the LPF really exist? Reposted-by: emv@msen.com (Edward Vielmetti, MSEN) In article <1991Jun20.184453.665@chinacat.unicom.com> Chip Rosenthal writes: [ on the apparent ineffectiveness and invisibility of LPF ] >Yeah...I know these folks aren't getting paid for their work. Still, >volunteer labor is not an excuse for ineffectiveness. There are a whole >bunch of people I talk to who are concerned that the problem of software >copyrights has now moved from the DOS world to the UNIX world. In this >past week, I think two of those folks have been convinced to join LPF. > >Now I'm not sure I feel comfortable I did the right thing. When I >talk to 60 people tonight, should I urge them to send membership dues >into a black hole? I'm also concerned about the apparent lack of effectiveness and influence of LPF. There is some literature available on prep.ai.mit.edu, written for the most part by Richard Stallman, under the pub/lpf directory. Chip, if you don't have it you might want to grab it, or get someone to FTP it for you. But other than that literature and a couple of marches, I can't see how LPF has made any dent at all. I support the goals, but I haven't sent my money, because I'm concerned about throwing it down a hole just as Chip is. On the other hand, the younger Electronic Frontier Foundation, some of whose goals overlap with LPF, has already won several victories and now has a certain amount of respect on Capitol Hill (they've managed to get a couple of odious pieces of legislation withdrawn). Up to now they were financed mainly from Mitch Kapor's money but now that they are an official nonprofit others can join. LPF folks: I'm willing (in fact, hoping) to be proved wrong. -- -- Joe Buck jbuck@galileo.berkeley.edu {uunet,ucbvax}!galileo.berkeley.edu!jbuck -- MSEN Archive Service file verification prep.ai.mit.edu total 275 -rw-r--r-- 1 14910 10735 Mar 5 14:00 lotus.texinfo -rw-r--r-- 1 14910 5051 Mar 5 14:00 lpf.join -rw-r--r-- 1 14910 6142 Mar 5 14:00 join.latex -rw-r--r-- 1 14910 18929 Mar 5 14:00 look-and-feel.texinfo -rw-r--r-- 1 14910 33207 Mar 5 14:00 patents.texinfo -rw-r--r-- 1 14910 13985 Aug 8 1990 boycott-handout.ps -rw-r--r-- 1 14910 3124 Jul 19 1990 ndemo -rw-r--r-- 1 14910 79175 Jul 19 1990 texinfo.tex -rw-r--r-- 1 14910 752 Jul 10 1990 README -rw-r--r-- 1 14910 83206 Jul 10 1990 look-and-feel.events -rw-r--r-- 1 14910 21846 Jul 10 1990 techrev.patent found league-programming-freedom ok prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/lpf/