@danielst @masterofthetiger@theres.life With regard to the first point, certainly. Age of consent is a culturally flexible concept. I think it's an important one, but not one that we have a dogmatic answer for. So, I don't find RMS's assertions here to be profoundly problematic. I'll happily concede the second point also: it's absurd to suggest that an arbitrary distinction of geography or chronology renders an act unethical. Raping someone is reprehensible no matter where or when it's done.

@iamjameswalters @masterofthetiger@theres.life
Not sure if you got what I meant:

statutory rape is defined as "nonforcible" (wikipedia). That's why the term is misleading. In other languages it does not contain "rape". In German it's abuse. And that abuse is based on the arbitrary definition that below a.o.c. you are always abused, even though a day later (18) it would not be abuse, or if one had a preterm birth it would also not count as abuse despite slower development.

@danielst I got what you meant. My comments about rape were merely to illustrate my own point.

I would agree to age of consent as an ethical category--I think children are too young to give informed consent in several cases. I just agree (along what you're saying) that it involves an arbitrary number, which is problematic. Other criteria, such as post-pubescence, could be more helpful.

@danielst to the third point, I would say 1) contra Mt. 10:8, I didn't say that it's ethical to hoard code. Sharing code is certainly the most ethical way to develop. But compelling people to share code constitutes something unethical too.

Most certainly the GPL is not a burden on users. But I would disagree with the notion that the GPL made Linux thrive--Linux thrived in spite of the GPL. The decline in Linux Foundation lawsuits prosecuting GPL violations shows this.

@masterofthetiger@theres.life