Digitaliseringsstyrelsen (Agency for Digitisation) in Denmark have created an accessibility product called "acces for all" og "adgang for alle", which is basically a screen reader. It's available for Windows and MacOS, and for GNU/Linux-based operating systems it will work with an extension for Chrome or Chromium:
Basically, it's a Danish screen reader for people who are visually impaired, including the blind.
It's available for download and anyone is free to use it, however it is published under a very restrictive proprietary license.
Among the conditions in the license are
* Non-commercial use
* No copying or distribution of any kind, under threat of "serious civil and penal legal consequences".
* No distribution within an organisation - an organisation such as e.g. a library may *not* have the program on its servers in order to install it on public-facing clients.
There's one very curious thing about this product: Often, organizations have software made by private vendors, and the private vendors will retain their copyright and their right to keep it proprietary. In this case, it's the Agency for Digitisation *itself* that claims the copyright and threatens with draconian consequences to anyone who dares use their product e.g. on the job and not just in their spare time.
So it's Danish people's tax money preventing Danish people from using, let alone sharing, studying and improving this software - created by Danish tax money - and once again, it's us as taxpayers who are financing the very agency that's withholding this software from the public.
I find it surreal and close to a textbook example of how *not* to do things.
Best regards,
Carsten