• Andres@social.ridetrans.it
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    5 days ago

    @KaKi87 @simonlm I’m extremely sympathetic to the author’s frustration at having their GPL’d software used by literal nazis, but I don’t see how making it non-commercial fixes that. Instead, you specifically design software to be anti-fascist. Deep in the code, if you’re not checking for specific slurs and throwing errors (as a simplistic example), then it will be used by people who use those slurs.

    • Andres@social.ridetrans.it
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      5 days ago

      @KaKi87 @simonlm A linked post (https://writing.kemitchell.com/living/Ethical-Licenses-Talking-Points) shows part of the problem; the assumption is that a non-permissive license will hinder adoption by the nazis (and/or corps), but everyone else will be just fine. That’s just not true; Debian, as an example, will not be able to distribute it. Meanwhile, corps have tons of money; they will just create their own fascistic software (see: Google’s rewriting of the world).

      The root of the problem is governance and money corrupting everything.

      Your license will harm adoption. That’s the point. The function of a rule against unethical use is to prevent unethical use. If unethical users adopt the softYour license will harm adoption. That’s the point. The function of a rule against unethical use is to prevent unethical use. If unethical users adopt the software, that’s total failure of the most important integration test.ware, that’s total failure of the most important integration test. Uncertainty about the terms will harm adoption by those who can’t tell if their use is allowed. Possibly. It depends on the terms. And not just the “ethical” terms, but the “meta” terms—what lawyers call “rules of construction”—as well. Even where terms do prove vague applied to many situations, accepting that dynamic is a valid drafting choice. Legal drafters choose to use imprecise, general language more often than computer programmers tend to expect.