P2PVenture

Why we need equity-based open licenses

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Quoted from P2P foundation blog

Open licenses leave something important out, nl. equity in the economic process, argues Patrick Godeau.

The excerpt is part of an ongoing discussion which you find here, and Patrick’s own proposal is called the IANG License.

Excerpt:

“The IANG approach is somehow to apply the copyleft principle to economy. That is to say, economic contributions can be given, but not taken away. To guarantee this, all economic contributors should not only have access to accounting, but also have control of it, just like free software contributors can not only access the source code, but also change it. So if a capitalist
company wants to sell ecopyleft works, it must let its customers control its capital.

I think that a big problem with the economy in general is that consumers have no control on it. Multinational companies rule the roost and reign over customers. For example, Stallman was motivated to create the GNU project because a printer manufacturer refused to give the source code of a driver. 25 years later, free drivers may exist for some printers, but the situation has not really improved, free software developers are often obliged to reverse-engineer printer protocols, and customers are forced to buy printers that break down just after the guarantee and can’t be repaired, ink cartridges more expensive than the printer, etc.

Even if the knowledge is copylefted, it is of no help for users as long as means of production are controlled by producers seeking profit. Suppose for example that the patent system is abolished and all pharmaceutical companies are under workers’ control. What would happen? Since we’re in a market economy, these compagnies will probably continue to invest in the most profitable medicine at the expense of billions of people having unprofitable diseases, will continue to spend twice more on advertising than on research, etc.

When working on a license, I think we should always keep in mind the copyleft values of freedom and solidarity. If an economic project is ruled by producers, there won’t be freedom for users to determine its orientation, their only option being to choose a competitor project on the market. The solidarity between producers and consumers is a central value of copyleft, and a raison d’être of IANG is to defend this solidarity also on the economic level. This kind of partnership between consumers and producers is also emerging nowadays for example through fair trade, the Seikatsu cooperatives, etc. But I think that creative works are special because the public is more inclined to donate to artists. Involvement of the public even starts to happen in movie production, as for example with korean netizen funds or Blender open movies. If a 100% open economy will be harder to reach than 100% open
source (even open source software sometimes uses closed source drivers) and some intermediaries may be necessary, I think it’s important that users have a control, in conjunction with producers, so that they can counteract these intermediaries, and make progress towards a more free society.

Entrepriseo.tv

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To be launched end of Sept. 2007

Peermint

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To be launched in NZ, AUS, CAN

Excerpt from main page

 

Welcome to Your Bank.
You will soon be able to borrow or lend money directly with other people.
We'll be launching in the near future, stay tuned to our progress by entering your email address below.

 

 

Reverse Bounty

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A "reverse bounty" is a concept I was discussing at the 2005 Drupal conference. Bounties are a fairly well known concept within the open source world: users post bounties in order that bugs get fixed or features get added.

The main issue with this is that it is user driven, and end users often don't have any concept of how easy or hard something is to implement -- or even what might be possible given the platform.

Reverse bounties are instead posted by developers. It is an idea and feature description of something that the developer actually wants to work on, along with the money required. The developer knows that it can be done, knows what the platform can do, and has the skills to actually implement it. The money allows them to dedicate time to actually work on it.

microPledge

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NZ Extracted from site Have an idea? Just need funding? Want to join with others to support to an idea? This site is for you.

Social Synergy

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Open Business and P2P Finance consulting

Kiva

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How Kiva Works

Choose an Entrepreneur, Lend, Get Repaid

The below diagram shows briefly how money gets from you to a developing-world entrepreneur, and back.

1) Lenders like you browse profiles of entrepreneurs in need, and choose someone to lend to. When they lend, using PayPal or their credit cards, Kiva collects the funds and then passes them along to one of our microfinance partners worldwide.

2) Kiva's microfinance partners distribute the loan funds to the selected entrepreneur. Often, our partners also provide training and other assistance to maximize the entrepreneur's chances of success.

3) Over time, the entrepreneur repays their loan. Repayment and other updates are posted on Kiva and emailed to lenders who wish to receive them.

4) When lenders get their money back, they can re-lend to someone else in need, donate their funds to Kiva (to cover operational expenses), or withdraw their funds.

Au coeur de l'Action

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par Thomas Blard

DecideursTV

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FR

Horizon Entrepreneurs

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FR, launched by Caisse d'Epargne

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