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Trump’s new social media platform found using Mastodon code

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Re: Trump’s new social media platform found using Mastodon code

#251

Post by Dumblydorr »

roenxi wrote: post #134
s7r wrote: post #121

In terms of "antithetical values", the machine learning project ml5js.org actually did something about this. They bound their open-source license to a Code of Conduct¹, which forbids the use of their ML software for (1) discriminating against marginalized communities, (2) building tools that disingenuously manipulate public opinion, (3) building tools of mass surveillance and prediction to repress the rights of peopl…

If all software was licensed that way, 5-15 years would pass then suddenly there'd be a whole bunch of "Wow, Stallman was right again! We should have been using free software licenses!" style articles. Restricting software use to only people approved by the creators is a terrible idea. Society has to operate with some level of trust that even people we disagree with, using methods we don't approve of, have the potent…

Is it really a terrible idea to restrict your software from being used to control weaponry? To spread lies about science, like climate change denial or vaccine lies? To host child pornography sharing?

These above scenarios amount to handing criminals and bad actors powerful technological tools which allow them to increase harms done to society. This is a software company's choice, there is no law that states a company must provide its software to whomever, even if they have evil intent.

Re: Trump’s new social media platform found using Mastodon code

#252

Post by foxhop »

gambiting wrote: post #145
foxhop wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How to stop Bittorrent without stopping the Internet?

Bittorent is a protocol, that's like asking how do you stop the English language or poetry or musical notation - it doesn't even make sense in context. You can absolutely stop individual people participating in the network however and stop them from hosting or make it difficult for them. Just like with bittorent, it can be more or less difficult depending on the infringement, but again, if the software you host is br…

Do you have a license of your own you are so ready to protect that you would toss out the baby with the bath water?

Re: Trump’s new social media platform found using Mastodon code

#253

Post by jd_mongodb »

rascul wrote: post #240
teddyh wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIRC, there were a lot of those licenses in the 1990s and early 2000s. They were mostly all weeded out in the license flame wars, largely initiated by system integrators and re-distributors who wanted to have a standardized set of licenses and not have to deal with any cute extra restrictions. Nowadays, software should use a license approved by OSI or FSF, or the software will find itself not being worth consideratio…

> Nowadays, software should use a license approved by OSI or FSF, or the software will find itself not being worth consideration. I wonder if Mongo DB and Elasticsearch are currently learning this lesson.

Somebody should break this bad news to Snowflake, SalesForce, Airtable, AWS, Azure, Google, Firestore etc. etc.

Re: Trump’s new social media platform found using Mastodon code

#254

Post by h2odragon »

MomoXenosaga wrote: post #245
kreeben wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that looking upon him as The One Who's Name We Shall Not Speak and effectively killing him on the internet will lead to him becoming a martyr among his supporters. Considering his diverse support from a number of different grass root and/or radical movements, I would say it could backfire on you, hard. We've seen what powers he bestows. These will increase with martyrdom.

Anyone who thinks deplatforming works should read Goebbels.

Quoting the relevant passages or mentioning the name has been getting people banned, recently from FB, Twitter, and others...

"The emperor has no clothes" ha! the skinsuit tore off and the naked Terminator machinery is on display for all to see. and its nowhere near as cool and fascinating as it was in the movies. It's just "keyword list" string match stupidity re-iterated yet again.

Re: Trump’s new social media platform found using Mastodon code

#255

Post by dboreham »

eterevsky wrote: post #186
jlangenauer wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? The creators created the software, they can put any conditions they please on how others might use it. They're under no moral or legal obligation to allow people to use the fruits of their labors, except as they permit.

They can, which doesn't mean they should. Also, I think a person has a mortal obligation to allow that their political position is at least partially flawed.

The context of this thread is way way beyond "political position".

Re: Trump’s new social media platform found using Mastodon code

#256

Post by nicoffeine »

lettergram wrote: post #236
s7r wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Restricting software use to only people approved by the creators is a terrible idea. Everyone is free to use the software. If a project is found to be in violation of the Code of Conduct (e.g. discriminating against marginalized communities, manipulating public opinion, automating weapons) than the community developing the software takes steps to remedy the problem with the reported violator, or the project falls o…

> discriminating against marginalized communities If mastodon had this in the code of conduct they’d not be able to use their own software haha. They banned Gab and arguably Trump has a marginalized base and as far as I’m aware never advocated for violence (if you believe the contrary, note that trump could have been arrested but hasn’t)

Trump claimed the election was stolen, held a rally on the day the vote was being formally accepted by Congress, told a crowd of thousands to march to the Capitol, and then that crowd stormed the building and beat a cop to death while they hunted for Congressional representatives for the same purpose.

It was a terrorist act, and Trump hasn’t been arrested yet.

Re: Trump’s new social media platform found using Mastodon code

#257

Post by delroth »

Ardren wrote: post #238
roenxi wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If all software was licensed that way, 5-15 years would pass then suddenly there'd be a whole bunch of "Wow, Stallman was right again! We should have been using free software licenses!" style articles. Restricting software use to only people approved by the creators is a terrible idea. Society has to operate with some level of trust that even people we disagree with, using methods we don't approve of, have the potent…

> If all software was licensed that way, 5-15 years would pass then suddenly there'd be a whole bunch of "Wow, Stallman was right again! We should have been using free software licenses!" style articles. Why do you think that would be the case? If the license doesn't achieve what the creator wanted, then they can just change it. It's not up to the greater community to decide what the best license is for other peoples…

> If the license doesn't achieve what the creator wanted, then they can just change it.

No, you can't "just change it" if you have external contributors and you allow them to keep ownership of their contributions (the default). Many people object to CLAs on philosophical reasons and will refuse to sign them.

Now your "just change it" is a 6-12 months effort trying to chase down every single contributor and nitpicking your license change until everyone is happy, or rewriting a bunch of code due to licensing issues.

Re: Trump’s new social media platform found using Mastodon code

#258

Post by MomoXenosaga »

nkozyra wrote: post #54
Consultant32452 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you. The following is my opinion of what happened, not an endorsement. Trump's role in our history was primarily a f-you to the established players in both parties. He won because he made all the right people mad. And the more his enemies drastically over-react the more powerful he becomes.

But for all that superficial posturing, he accomplished very little of his agenda and generally ended up trying to play ball anyway. The anti-establishment game lasted until he entered the white House. His primary accomplishment was building a base of angry people.

He salted the Supreme Court. He also destroyed US credibility.

His entire term was a wake up: we have all tied ourselves to a ship that is not unsinkable.

Re: Trump’s new social media platform found using Mastodon code

#259

Post by Ardren »

macspoofing wrote: post #151
geewee wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? In what world does using software to marginalize people or mislead the public create a better world?

>In what world does using software to marginalize people or mislead the public create a better world? The road to hell ... something something ... good intentions. Who defines what 'marginalization of people' means (a strange term if you really think about it), and why would you think they would get that definition right?

> The road to hell ... something something ... good intentions.

That could be applied to *anything*, it doesn't have any substance.

Re: Trump’s new social media platform found using Mastodon code

#260

Post by kkjjkgjjgg »

Ardren wrote: post #238
roenxi wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If all software was licensed that way, 5-15 years would pass then suddenly there'd be a whole bunch of "Wow, Stallman was right again! We should have been using free software licenses!" style articles. Restricting software use to only people approved by the creators is a terrible idea. Society has to operate with some level of trust that even people we disagree with, using methods we don't approve of, have the potent…

> If all software was licensed that way, 5-15 years would pass then suddenly there'd be a whole bunch of "Wow, Stallman was right again! We should have been using free software licenses!" style articles. Why do you think that would be the case? If the license doesn't achieve what the creator wanted, then they can just change it. It's not up to the greater community to decide what the best license is for other peoples…

I don't think you can change the license in hindsight, though? At most you could change it for newer versions of your software?
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