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Miloslav Ciz 2025-03-01 01:35:35 +01:00
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@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ So yes, a work can have MULTIPLE copyright holders: it may be that different (ev
Now let's ask this: **Is the work W libre ([free as in freedom](free_culture.md))?** Spoiler: **If the work has a free license, it is not necessarily free!** Currently based on observations it may be that let's say only 70% of works with a free license you will find on the Internet are ACTUALLY free. In theory a free license should imply a free work, but in practice this is just not so, just like for example an "eco" label doesn't automatically mean something is eco-friendly, it's simply a sticker that became either misused or downright abused, so you cannot rely on a sticker, even the forefront "free content" websites often distribute non-free works under free licenses. It's probably not even that the guy who illegitimately puts a free license on his work is doing something illegal, it may be completely legal to do (if you read the license carefully, you may find it states that it only applies to what the author actually created), the point is that the license is likely ineffective (or only partially effective, not applied to the work as a whole, just to some parts), so you may get into legal trouble by using such works in ways you think you are allowed to but in fact aren't. People just stick the licenses on works without knowing how copyright works AND some purposefully use ineffective free licenses as a form of [openwashing](openwashing.md) -- the best example is probably [Wikipedia](wikipedia.md) which is popularly known as the "free" encyclopedia and while it's true that a great part of it IS free, it's also true a great deal of it simply is NOT truly free (for example the free use images or detailed plot summaries of proprietary movies -- yes, it is LEGAL but it's not free, we'll explain this later on). Same with [Linux](linux.md) etc. Remember that a free license can be put on anything, you can write anything on a piece of paper, nothing will happen even if you download a 100% proprietary Hollywood movie and put a [CC0](cc0.md) on it, the world will not explode -- only when it starts to cause the copyright holder significant financial losses to be worth it for him to sue you and drag through months or years of court battles will you learn that in fact the license was ineffective, but this will almost never happen, there are millions and millions of "fake free" works on the Internet that no one cares about because in 99% cases they don't harm anyone's wallet, and because they keep happily existing like this thanks to being tolerated (despite not being legit), a common public perception arose that it's actually legitimate to use licenses like this, but it's nothing but a myth, a misconception widely believed even by many people "in the business".
But to move on let's reiterate the definition of a [libre (free)](free_culture.md) work: if a work is to be libre, it must [PRACTICALLY](de_facto.md) grant the basic four freedoms: to use, study, modify and share. Now the key here is NOT to just look at legal rights but rather ask about **[de facto](de_facto.md) freedom**, i.e. don't ask whether it's written somewhere you can do something with that work, firstly ask whether you REALLY can do it practically. Literally ask yourself questions such as: "Can I now go and modify this work in any way I want? Or am I prevented from doing so, e.g. by not having any available tools for it or the source code literally not being available for download anywhere?". If on paper it says you can modify the work but then in practice you can't because the source code is [obfuscated](obfuscation.md), you DO NOT have the right practically and therefore the work is NOT free (at best you can argue it is free legally without being free practically, which is the same as e.g. being legally alive while actually being physically dead). If you find you don't have even just one of the basic four freedoms de facto available, the work is NOT free. But if it passes the test, we can move on.
Not to digress, let's reiterate the definition of a [libre (free)](free_culture.md) work: if a work is to be libre, it must [PRACTICALLY](de_facto.md) grant the basic four freedoms: to use, study, modify and share. Now the key here is NOT to just look at legal rights but rather ask about **[de facto](de_facto.md) freedom**, i.e. don't ask whether it's written somewhere you can do something with that work, firstly ask whether you REALLY can do it practically. Literally ask yourself questions such as: "Can I now go and modify this work in any way I want? Or am I prevented from doing so, e.g. by not having any available tools for it or the source code literally not being available for download anywhere?". If on paper it says you can modify the work but then in practice you can't because the source code is [obfuscated](obfuscation.md), you DO NOT have the right practically and therefore the work is NOT free (at best you can argue it is free legally without being free practically, which is the same as e.g. being legally alive while actually being physically dead). If you find you don't have even just one of the basic four freedoms de facto available, the work is NOT free. But if it passes the test, we can move on.
Now a prerequisite (but, as we said, NOT a sufficient condition) for the main, practical freedom is that you also must have these basic four freedoms granted LEGALLY, because in today's world any work is by default owned by someone and if you don't get explicit permission to do something with it, you may get legally bullied which eventually results in you PHYSICALLY becoming unable to utilize the freedoms (as you'll end up in jail and your work will be burned etc.), and so here is where we start to check the licenses and stuff. So as a next step we have to take a look at the legal side: ask yourself "Can I legally exercise ALL of the four basic freedoms?". You can if: