On Wed, Oct 27, 2004 at 03:53:37PM +0200, Jama Poulsen wrote: > On Thu, Oct 21, 2004 at 09:39:19AM +0200, Joost van Baal wrote: >>> De interface specificaties zijn (een beetje) publiek beschikbaar: >>> http://www.belastingdienst.nl/software/software-02.htm > Ik heb zojuist gesproken met een account manager van de BD die dit > onderwerp overziet, de heer Blokker, om hem te vragen waarom de broncode > van de particuliere aangifte software niet wordt vrij gegeven. > Hij zei dat dit een beleidskeuze van de BD was, volgens hem was de > software wel eigendom van de belastingdienst zelf. Eigendom van de belastingdienst = eigendom van de staat = eigendom van de natie (de mensen), dus geef het aan de mensen terug! Misschien kunnen de mensen van http://www.ososs.nl/ helpen? (Switching back to English) Supposing that the "eigendom van de staat -> eigendom van de mensen" does hold in the Netherlands (formally, it might be something like the queen rather than the nation), the only reason a Dutch citizen cannot simply walk into state buildings and help himself is that he would be taking these things _away_ from the state, hence _away_ from the other Dutch citizens. He would be taking more than his fair share of this "collective eigendom". With software and its source code, "obviously", it isn't so: If a Dutch citizen gets a copy of it, he isn't taking anything away from the other citizens. There is thus morally no reason to keep him from getting a copy. Does anyone know where the government (at large, thus executive, legislative and judiciary branches) ultimately derive their legitimacy from? If the answer is "the Queen", where does the Queen derive her legitimacy from? God? The Nation? Why is _this_ woman the Queen? Yes, OK, because she is the most direct descendant of "Willem I, Prins van Oranje-Nassau", but why _him_? Related question; the Queen promulgates the laws by the formula: Wij Beatrix, bij de gratie Gods, Koningin der Nederlanden, Prinses van Oranje-Nassau, enz. enz. enz. Allen, die deze zullen zien of horen lezen, saluut! doen te weten: To what does "bij de gratie God" refer? Is she promulgating that law "bij de gratie Gods" or this referring to the fact that she is Konihgin der Nederlanden "bij de gratie Gods"?
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