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Stopping bad guys from using my open source project (feedback wanted)

evanhahn.com

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Re: Stopping bad guys from using my open source project (feedback wanted)

#172

Post by theSherwood »

I don't know about good vs evil. That seems impossible. But I'd be interested in a license that prevented use by any company owned by one of the top 1% most valuable companies in the world. I have no idea if that's enforceable or not. Basically a license that restricts use for companies that are just trying to be acquired.

Re: Stopping bad guys from using my open source project (feedback wanted)

#173

Post by thiht »

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #139

"Bad guys can't use it" is per definition incompatible with free software. For this author's definition of "bad guys" (megacorps), AGPL is probably the easiest poison pill. As with all poison pills, this will also make many (most?) "good" users unable to use it. This project is no curl or database engine, it seems to be a slightly easier way to set HTTP response headers. I bet most of the uses are transitive (someone…

> "Bad guys can't use it" is per definition incompatible with free software

It's incompatible with 1 definition of free software. More and more developers are unhappy with this definition.

Re: Stopping bad guys from using my open source project (feedback wanted)

#174

Post by kldg »

def not my wheelhouse, but I assume easiest way to keep bad guys out is to use copyleft license and only enforce against bad guys. despite what some say in defense of billionaires, you don't actually need to enforce every violation of your rights; rights don't disappear under law just because you don't use them.

Re: Stopping bad guys from using my open source project (feedback wanted)

#175

Post by pabs3 »

t0mas88 wrote: post #145
sirodoht wrote: post #14

Free software is about freedom. Restricting it from anyone means it's not free. There is no requirement that we must create free software but if it's called free I think it should always have the basic qualities of freedom; not only when it fits our purposes and our values.

It's a choice for the authors to make based on what type of free they believe in. I think free under MIT and GPL are two different philosophies on how you see "free". MIT: free for anyone, do whatever you want GPL: free if you also make your software free AGPL: GPL but SaaS can't circumvent the requirement to make your software free I see why principled open source proponents would select GPL or AGPL. They don't just…

I'd choose a different framing to that:

MIT: freedom for devs

GPL: freedom for users

AGPL: freedom for SaaS users

Re: Stopping bad guys from using my open source project (feedback wanted)

#176

Post by pabs3 »

salawat wrote: post #116
0xDEAFBEAD wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>at which "layer" of the stack it's appropriate to address different societal issues. One problem with trying to restrict the availability of open-source software: In the limit, as LLMs become better and better at writing code, the value of open-source software will go to zero. So trying to restrict the availability of your code is skating away from where the puck is going. Perhaps your efforts to improve the world a…

I mean, if you ignore the fact there would be no LLM's without wholesale scraping of the corpus of all software ever written . LLM's are the least ethically sourced pieces of technology I've ever seen. That they have businesses built that haven't been sued out of existence for not asking for permission to train first is positively mind boggling.

> all software ever written

LLMs aren't usually trained on large proprietary codebases like the ones from Google, Microsoft or Apple?

Re: Stopping bad guys from using my open source project (feedback wanted)

#177

Post by pabs3 »

bloudermilk wrote: post #101
latency-guy2 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> arguments like this ignore the point. And the point should be ignored even more. Free software is a fairly specific thing, trying to co-opt it into something it isn't makes you the bad actor Make your own idea instead of stealing and leeching off the success of others. Thats frankly disrespectful to even have the gall to do this. You definitely don't deserve ruining another's image for your idea of how society shou…

This is precisely what the author is attempting to do. > I know my goal: shift the default in open source from “it’s free for anyone to use” to “please don’t use this if you’re evil”. I don’t just want to do this for my little project; I want to slowly change the discourse. I’m not sure how to do that effectively, if it’s even possible. > I remain unconvinced at the societal value of “freedom to run the program as yo…

There are lots of alternative movements to Free Software and Open Source, like Ethical Computing, Fair Source etc. Use one of those, or the more generic "source available" term.
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