[ILUG-Social] REVOLUTION OS is now authorized for UC Santa Cruz screening 56

[Krich Ngamchokchaicharoen]

 To all,
>
> I have read the series of e-mails related to the unauthorized UC Santa
> Cruz screening that was scheduled for June 1.  I sincerely appreciate
> IEEE's good faith effort to correct the mistake.
>
> Consequently, so as not to inconvenience the people planning to attend
> the screening, I want to give IEEE and SlugLUG permission to screen
> REVOLUTION OS at 1 PM on June 1.  I would ask the members of SVLUG to
> hold off on attending the screening for the simple reason that I am
> trying to get REVOLUTION OS booked into the Camera 3 in San Jose, and I
> would prefer that SVLUG's members have a chance to see a nice 35mm print
> of the film.  If my distributor is unable to book the film into a
> theater in the Bay Area, I promise that I will work with SVLUG to
> quickly set up a screening for its members.
>
> I realize there may be some members of SlugLUG who are unhappy that I
> originally requested that they not hold an unauthorized screening of
> REVOLUTION OS.  There are several reasons why I made the request, and
> none of them have anything to do with me wanting to be a jerk.
>
> One SlugLUG member commented that it was odd that a movie about the Open
> Source movement would not be available for open viewings.  Another
> SlugLUG member remarked that my request smacks of Bill Gates's Open Letter
> to Hobbyists.
>
> The bottomline is that I did make a film about the Open Source movement,
> but to assume that automatically means that the film is itself Open
> Sourced seems to be a little bit of a stretch.  If I made a movie about
> the history of vegetarianism that would not automatically mean I'm a
> vegetarian.
>
> I simply thought Open Source and Free Software were compelling subjects
> worth exploring and documenting.  As a result, I came to admire many
> aspects of the Open Source movement and chose to focus the documentary
> on the movement's positive history.  However, I do not think I should be
> punished for telling the story of Free Software and Open Source by
> having my intellectual property misappropriated.   More practically, my
> feelings about Open Sourcing REVOLUTION OS are abundantly clear when you
> see the explicit copyright notice at the end of the film's credits.
>
> I realize that making a videotape copy for personal use from a TV airing
> is considered fair use.  I believe in a healthy fair use doctrine.
> However, there is a big difference between viewing your personal copy at
> home with a few friends and holding a publicly advertised screening on a
> university campus.  So I freely admit my objection to unauthorized
> screenings of REVOLUTION OS does echo Bill Gates's letter.  Personally, I
> believe that the creator of a piece of intellectual property should
> retain the choice to Open Source their IP.  If the Open Source movement
> is not voluntary then it is really just piracy.
>
> One of the reasons I am concern with unauthorized group screenings of
> the film, is that my distributor is planning in a few weeks to begin
> selling VHS copies of the film for educational/institutional use with a
> license permitting noncommercial large group screenings.  We hope to use
> the money from these sales to fund the authoring and replication of the
> DVD.  I want to release the DVD as soon as possible, but I cannot afford
> to take on anymore REVOLUTION OS-related debt.  Thus the importance of
> preserving the educational/institutional market.
>
> Frequently, I will read comments on Slashdot and other mailing lists
> that justify the piracy of music on the grounds that it benefits the
> artists and only hurts the greedy record labels.  Well, in the case of
> REVOLUTION OS there is no multinational media conglomerate to punish.
> It's just me.  I made and financed the film on my own.  I have worked
> full-time for almost three years without a salary.  The only way I will
> get out of debt and have a chance to make another film is if people seek
> out legal opportunities to view REVOLUTION OS.
>
> I truly appreciate the enthusiasm of the Open Source community for
> REVOLUTION OS, and I am grateful that people do want to see it.  If you
> will just bare with me, I will figure out a way for all interested
> persons to legally view it.
>
> I hope the dust up over the unauthorized, and now authorized, screening
> at UC Santa Cruz has not inconvenienced anyone.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> J.T.S. Moore
> Director, REVOLUTION OS
>