Re: Mellon awards

[Richard Stallman <rms gnu org>]

    http://rit.mellon.org/awards

    The GNOME Foundation qualifies for these awards, surely.

GNOME clearly qualifies, but if it wins, accepting the award will
create a touchy situation.

       3. Includes the development of intellectual property that is freely
    available to the academic community under one of the approved open
    source licenses.

It is a grave error to say "intellectual property" when what they mean
is "software" (or perhaps "works of authorship", though if so that
would be a confusion, since open source licenses are "approved"
specifically for software).  The term "intellectual property" is
propaganda for those who wish to make various unjust laws even worse;
it spreads both bias and confusion wherever it goes.  (For
explanation, see http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.xhtml.)

Whoever wins will find it quite tricky to accept the award in a way
that avoids promoting the use of that propaganda term.  It will also
be tricky to do so in a way that doesn't endorse "open source" against
free software.

I don't think this is impossible, but it will require care and
_negotiation_ for the cooperation of the Mellon Foundation.  If GNOME
wins, please give me a chance to help you avoid those two harmful
byproducts.

Good luck in the competition for the award.