Regarding Gnutella

"Gnutella" is not actually GNU software , and we cannot be sure it is actually free software. In fact, it is extremely difficult to find information about the program at all. Perhaps the original developers picked the name because they wanted it to be GNU software someday, but their employers stamped out the project, and it does not seem to have been released as free software.

There are a number of free software programs under development that are designed to use the same protocol as Gnutella, such as gtk-gnutella, gnut, GnuJaTella, and gnucleus. Please note, however, that none of these programs are officially GNU software either.

The Free Software Foundation is concerned with the freedom to copy and change software; music is outside our scope. But there is a partial similarity in the ethical issues of copying software and copying recordings of music. Some articles in the philosophy directory relate to the issue of copying for things other than software. Some of the other people's articles we have links to are also relevant.

No matter what sort of published information is being shared, we urge people to reject the assumption that some person or company has a natural right to prohibit sharing and dictate exactly how the public can use it. Even the US legal system nominally rejects that anti-social idea.

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Updated: $Date: 2001/07/19 10:51:56 $ $Author: rms46 $