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I'd find it incredibly childish and needlessly divisive to make your repo impossible to host on a given provider just because you don't like the provider. This

I'd find it incredibly childish and needlessly divisive to make your repo impossible to host on a given provider just because you don't like the provider. This does nothing but make the tech community worse for everyone and less accessible. Newcomers shouldn't have to navigate petty politics to get started with tech and people already here shouldn't have to have their time wasted with it when they're just trying to be productive.

ponker 6y ago
Would you say the same about code that, for example, is designed to fail when used in a missile? E.g. navigation code that deliberately pilots into the ocean if onboard something going faster than Mach 3?
- hyko 6y ago
  That would be outrageously unethical code to write, tantamount to criminal negligence.
  - sgtnoodle 6y ago
    I think the poster meant navigation code that was not intended to be used in a missile, being used in a missile. Consumer grade GPS units do exactly that; they intentionally stop working above a certain speed or altitude, so that they can't be used to build missiles.
    - hyko 6y ago
      There’s a big difference doing that in a consumer grade device and an open source project you publish for the world to use; i.e. when someone decides to use it in a hypersonic passenger jet
      - ric2b 6y ago
        What is the difference? I don't see it, besides one having a warranty and the other explicitly stating that it offers no guarantees or support.
        hyko 6y ago
        Just stating you don’t have a warranty doesn’t absolve you of all ethical considerations. You can’t just publish something littered with poorly thought out booby traps and then absolve yourself with a license file! If you’re not interested in people using your code for specific purposes, maybe don’t publish it for all to use?
      - tpxl 6y ago
        It's perfectly ethical to write open source code that will crash a passenger jet if used in such a manner. It's unethical (and probably criminally negligent) to include it in a passenger jet.
        hyko 6y ago
        It's perfectly ethical to write open source code that will crash a passenger jet Really? We’re not talking about bugs here, we’re talking about the deliberate inclusion of dangerous logic traps based on assumptions that could be wrong. In engineering terms, this is trying to solve the problem at the wrong level of abstraction. Maybe you don’t like the thought of your code being used in weapons; that’s perfectly reasonable. Maybe you want to rid the world of such weapons; also reasonable. My advice would be that open source is not the right model in those circumstances, and that to really solve the problem you’ll have to be politically engaged. Littering code with booby traps and publishing it is an absolutely awful idea, one that should not be acceptable to us as a professional community.
manquer 6y ago
Newcomers have to navigate the copyright politics whether they like it or not. The amercian copyright laws have created this mess not the op.
enriquto 6y ago
> I'd find it incredibly childish and needlessly divisive to make your repo impossible to host If only it was! In that case, it is github who is allegedly making the repo impossible to host. It is, thus, github who is acting in a childish way. The repo author is only adding some silly hashes. By the way, the real "childish" behavior is believing that speech can be censored by technical means alone. This is impossible, there are always technical means to circumvent it. Speech can only be effectively censored by means of armed police action.
- jimmaswell 6y ago
  That's a pedantic distinction. If github won't allow hash X and you put in that has on purpose just so github won't allow it then obviously the intent was on your part.

ponker 6y ago

Would you say the same about code that, for example, is designed to fail when used in a missile? E.g. navigation code that deliberately pilots into the ocean if onboard something going faster than Mach 3?

hyko 6y ago
That would be outrageously unethical code to write, tantamount to criminal negligence.
- sgtnoodle 6y ago
  I think the poster meant navigation code that was not intended to be used in a missile, being used in a missile. Consumer grade GPS units do exactly that; they intentionally stop working above a certain speed or altitude, so that they can't be used to build missiles.
  - hyko 6y ago
    There’s a big difference doing that in a consumer grade device and an open source project you publish for the world to use; i.e. when someone decides to use it in a hypersonic passenger jet
    - ric2b 6y ago
      What is the difference? I don't see it, besides one having a warranty and the other explicitly stating that it offers no guarantees or support.
      - hyko 6y ago
        Just stating you don’t have a warranty doesn’t absolve you of all ethical considerations. You can’t just publish something littered with poorly thought out booby traps and then absolve yourself with a license file! If you’re not interested in people using your code for specific purposes, maybe don’t publish it for all to use?
    - tpxl 6y ago
      It's perfectly ethical to write open source code that will crash a passenger jet if used in such a manner. It's unethical (and probably criminally negligent) to include it in a passenger jet.
      - hyko 6y ago
        It's perfectly ethical to write open source code that will crash a passenger jet Really? We’re not talking about bugs here, we’re talking about the deliberate inclusion of dangerous logic traps based on assumptions that could be wrong. In engineering terms, this is trying to solve the problem at the wrong level of abstraction. Maybe you don’t like the thought of your code being used in weapons; that’s perfectly reasonable. Maybe you want to rid the world of such weapons; also reasonable. My advice would be that open source is not the right model in those circumstances, and that to really solve the problem you’ll have to be politically engaged. Littering code with booby traps and publishing it is an absolutely awful idea, one that should not be acceptable to us as a professional community.

manquer 6y ago

Newcomers have to navigate the copyright politics whether they like it or not. The amercian copyright laws have created this mess not the op.

enriquto 6y ago

> I'd find it incredibly childish and needlessly divisive to make your repo impossible to host If only it was! In that case, it is github who is allegedly making the repo impossible to host. It is, thus, github who is acting in a childish way. The repo author is only adding some silly hashes. By the way, the real "childish" behavior is believing that speech can be censored by technical means alone. This is impossible, there are always technical means to circumvent it. Speech can only be effectively censored by means of armed police action.

jimmaswell 6y ago
That's a pedantic distinction. If github won't allow hash X and you put in that has on purpose just so github won't allow it then obviously the intent was on your part.