A few comments

[Ethan Blanton]

Eion Robb spake unto us the following wisdom:
> I know I should probably drop it, but I keep coming back to this page in  
> the GPL FAQ http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#FSWithNFLibs .  
> Specifically the bit that says "If the program is already written using  
> the non-free library, perhaps it is too late to change the decision. You  
> may as well release the program as it stands, rather than not release it."  
> Sure this plugin could never work in a Free world, but then neither would,  
> eg, a Flash plugin in Firefox.

Note that Pidgin is *not* written using a non-free library.  This is
not relevant.  You would be attempting to apply this retroactively to
established Free software, not to new software which has never been
licensed, which is what the above text concerns.

> Taking the example above with the Flash plugin for Firefox (yes, different  
> licences, but hear me out :) ), the plugin itself relys on Flash and relys  
> on Firefox, but is it illegal?  If it were, wouldn't Macromedia have been  
> sued by Mozilla ages ago?

The different licenses are relevant here.  This does not concern the
GPL.

> Following on from your example of aspell doing spell check for a non-free  
> editor showing two seperate programs that run independently of each other,  
> the same might be applied with Pidgin and Skype.  If you dont have aspell  
> you can't spell check, if you dont have Skype you can't use this  
> plugin/that protocol; yet Pidgin and Skype are still two seperate programs  
> that can run without each other.
> 
> I dunno, this whole thing really feels like it could go both ways and some  
> kind of legal addition to the license might help clear things up for  
> everyone.

And that cannot be done, at this point.  (Nor would I, for one, wish
to.)

Ethan

-- 
The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws [that have no remedy
for evils].  They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor
determined to commit crimes.
		-- Cesare Beccaria, "On Crimes and Punishments", 1764
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