[ILUG-Social] Re: [ILUG] Linux: the film. 55

[Krich Ngamchokchaicharoen]

[Moved from the ILUG list.  Not _entirely_ offlist as requested, but
close enough.]

Quoting Alan Horkan (horkana at tcd.ie):

> More likely we would try and get it when it comes out on video/dvd and
> show it then (which AFAIK is legal as we are non profit private
> organisation having a private showing and not charging our members for
> the showing. any opinions on the legality of this should be sent
> offlist).


One bloke's opinion:


Date: Sat, 01 Jun 2002 00:18:29 -0700
From: "J.T.S. Moore" <jtsmoore at pacificnet.net>
Reply-To: jtsmoore at pacificnet.net
To: Marc MERLIN <marc_news at vasoftware.com>,
   Daniel Isacc Walker <dwalker at cats.ucsc.edu>
CC: svlug at svlug.org, Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com>, sluglug at sluglug.ucsc.edu,
   Peter Belew <peterbe at sonic.net>, "Eric A. Perlman" <eric at yikes.com>,
   i3e-off at cse.ucsc.edu, slug-web at sluglug.ucsc.edu
Subject: REVOLUTION OS is now authorized for UC Santa Cruz screening

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