[liberationtech] Silent Circle Going Open Source

[Andy Isaacson]

On Sun, Nov 11, 2012 at 06:38:11PM -0800, Micah Lee wrote:
> That's great that they're releasing the source code.
> 
> I'm confused about whether or not it's actually free software though,

Definitely not DFSG-free.

> and if people are allowed to release derivative works or not. It looks
> like it's not, even though the license says "Redistribution and use in
> source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted
> provided that [...]".

The "provided that" is important, from
https://github.com/SilentCircle/silent-text/blob/master/PROJECT%20README
we have

    Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
    modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
    are met:
    * Any redistribution, use, or modification is done solely for
      personal benefit and not for any commercial purpose or for
      monetary gain

Restricting to "noncommercial" redistribution is not open source nor
free software.

-andy