Re: The sad decline of copyleft software licenses? :(

[Pen-Yuan Hsing]

On 9/22/20 11:08 PM, Aaron Wolf wrote:
> Important topic.
>
> Some links:
> https://media.libreplanet.org/mgoblin_media/media_entries/2076/bkuhn-state-of-the-copyleft-union.webm
>
> https://wiki.snowdrift.coop/about/licenses
>
> see footnotes and links there too, such as
> https://dustycloud.org/blog/field-guide-to-copyleft/

Thanks for the links!

I didn't say this before so I'll do it now: I love the concept of 
Snowdrift.coop! Thank you for all your work. Creating financial 
sustainability for free software is a topic very close to my heart and 
I'm inspired by efforts such as yours. I only recently "re-stumbled" 
upon Snowdrit.coop and was pleasantly surprised that the website is 
still online. So it is still being actively and steadily developed? What 
specific kinds of help does the project still before it can take off? 
(we can discuss this in a separate thread if needed)

> Personally, I think the *primary* issue by far is to spread the
> understanding of how proprietary software is the means by which unjust
> power is gained today. It's one of the main tools of **monopoly** in our
> ever-more consolidated and corrupt economy. And if people understand
> that, then from that view, it's easier to emphasize the importance of
> copyleft.
>
> Tragically (but in some ways a good sign), there's a growing movement of
> people who DO care about the harms of proprietary software — but they go
> all the way to building unworkable misguided proposals around
> "copyfarleft" and similar e.g. https://firstdonoharm.dev/ which is legal
> and practical nonsense built on good intentions. These people do not
> understand where, how, and why copyleft is not working, and they've come
> up with no-go solutions. But we need to promote copyleft with the same
> pro-social, ethical focus so people understand *why* it matters.

Unfortunately, I'm getting the feeling that these well-intentioned but 
misguided attempts are actually gaining more traction than copyleft free 
software. I feel like they are much, much better at getting attention 
and messaging than "traditional" (for lack of a better word) advocates 
of copyleft.

How we communicate leaves MUCH to be desired... And as much as I relate 
to the goals of the FSF and for how long I've been a member, I think the 
FSF really needs rise to the level of those other voices to get a seat 
at the table...

> Keep up the fight! Talk to everyone in science and tech who you know.
> Bring up why this concern is related to power and justice. Talk about
> how Android phones everywhere are built with non-copyleft free software
> but the thing the users get is among the most controlled, invasive, etc.
> and advertises manipulatively to people based on where they are as they
> walk through a store or based on the movement signals that tell
> advertisers when the person is a little depressed and more vulnerable etc.

Such a great point. I sometimes hear comments like: "See? Open source 
means nothing. Even Android is open source but look at how Google still 
spies on you with it and they're still a monopoly" or "Open source is 
free (as in gratis) which means you're the product." That second quote 
really frustrates me because it not only completely misses the point of 
free software but also open source software as well (which itself is 
already a much-diluted version of free software). In my opinion comments 
like these stem from a misunderstanding of the nuances of the problem, 
specifically (1) software freedom is definitely necessary, but not 
always by itself sufficient to prevent all harms; and (2) more on the 
topic of this thread, copyleft licenses - with their pro-social 
motivation - can help reduce those harms.

> I want to see the really effective message of https://humanetech.com/
> tied to a statement that the solutions involve more copyleft!

Same here! They hit a lot of the right notes, but for some reason - and 
I really hope I simply missed it - they don't seem to explicitly discuss 
software freedom at all...

I've gotten the impression that lots of developers like "open source" in 
the sense that it feels warm and fuzzy without any real commitment to an 
underlying set of principles. Your point about "real pro-social 
long-term thinking about society or anything" and Javascript developers 
really speaks to this phenomenon.

Just gotta try harder, I guess...