Return-Path: Received: from smtp1.linuxfoundation.org (smtp1.linux-foundation.org [172.17.192.35]) by mail.linuxfoundation.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 491C1EE8 for ; Tue, 1 Sep 2015 22:42:46 +0000 (UTC) X-Greylist: from auto-whitelisted by SQLgrey-1.7.6 Received: from mail.help.org (mail.help.org [70.90.2.18]) by smtp1.linuxfoundation.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id BB200E0 for ; Tue, 1 Sep 2015 22:42:45 +0000 (UTC) Received: from [10.1.10.25] (B [10.1.10.25]) by mail.help.org with ESMTPA ; Tue, 1 Sep 2015 18:42:36 -0400 To: bitcoin-dev@lists.linuxfoundation.org References: <55E61A64.2030609@bitcoins.info> From: Milly Bitcoin Message-ID: <55E629DF.3030407@bitcoins.info> Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2015 18:42:39 -0400 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; WOW64; rv:38.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/38.2.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.3.1 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.3.1 (2010-03-16) on smtp1.linux-foundation.org Subject: Re: [bitcoin-dev] Open Block Chain Licence, BIP[xxxx] Draft X-BeenThere: bitcoin-dev@lists.linuxfoundation.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.12 Precedence: list List-Id: Bitcoin Development Discussion List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 01 Sep 2015 22:42:46 -0000 > The general points and questions you have raised are covered in the > draft BIP: No, the BIP makes some weird statements that don't really make sense. Number one rule here: To put a license on something you have to own it in the first place. Let's say for the sake of argument that Miners own the copyright on a block they find (as pointed out something like does not normally get copyright protection but let's just pretend). Then the miner can charge a fee for any public block explorer that wants to display the block at their web site. They could also try to collect a fee from anyone who distributes it (like Bitcoin users using p2p to distribute the blockchain). A copyright is about protecting revenue. Is there some other purpose of putting a license on intellectual property? Also, it is not up to you, or anyone else, to come up with the form of a license to control data owned by someone else. How can you force miners or users to use any specific license that you come up with? There are a number of other weird statements that really don't make any kind of sense: "In the USA, for example, these attributes confer legal protections for databases which have been ruled upon by the courts." I have no idea what this means or what court cases you are referring to. "The Bitcoin Core Miners" is not an identifiable entity and cannot own intellectual property rights. What is the purpose of you putting a notice that some unidentifiable entity has some sort of rights over the blockchain data? You are not that entity and neither are the developers. If there are rights it is up to miners to come up with their license. "[users] own the rights to their individual transactions through cryptograph security." I have no idea what this means. It is certainly not intellectual property rights of anything I am familiar with. Once again, if the users do have intellectual rights then someone else cannot dictate the terms of the license. They could charge a fee for miners publishing their transaction data. Russ