3 ms·

The issue is that the TOS requires the user to not do anything "illegal". While on the surface this may seem an innocuous contract to agree to, in actuality thi

The issue is that the TOS requires the user to not do anything "illegal". While on the surface this may seem an innocuous contract to agree to, in actuality this TOS pointlessly spits in the face of anyone living in a country where speaking out against oppressive leadership can incur serious consequences (such as a lengthy prison sentence). Take a photo of yourself protesting an authoritative regime? Well, you just violated the app's TOS. So, that's why it's not in the spirit of FOSS. It is needless quasi-legalese. It is "lawful neutral" in a negative way.

benatkin 4y ago
In the Aves GitHub issue the author said "thanks for being sane" to IzzySoft and later down the thread IzzySoft disagreed with him. Surprised the issue still isn't locked. Usually things like this turn into a popcorn fest.
- jamesyeldritch 4y ago
  It seems most likely the author's intent was to limit his own liability by including a vague TOS. What makes more sense is to provide the software strictly "AS-IS", without any guarantees, liabilities, warranty, or implied use-case. Y'know, like many FOSS licenses (GPL/BSD/MIT/etc). So, the BSD license used for the app itself actually had the author covered.
  - benatkin 4y ago
    Yeah, I'm not sure why there's an issue. It's just a reminder that F-Droid still has to make subjective decisions. There doesn't seem to be anything in the repository that would make me think the Terms of Service in the notice are attached to the license on the Source Code. Anyone who doesn't want it or wants to provide it to other people who don't want it could fork it and make a build without the notice, or with their own notice.
    - jamesyeldritch 4y ago
      The issue is that the TOS has ridiculous, absurd requirements while granting the author of the software no actual, real-world benefit. And that the software can no longer be considered FOSS when it easily could have been. It's like writing a TOS that states: "Thou shall only use this software in accordance with the seven heavenly virtues".

benatkin 4y ago

In the Aves GitHub issue the author said "thanks for being sane" to IzzySoft and later down the thread IzzySoft disagreed with him. Surprised the issue still isn't locked. Usually things like this turn into a popcorn fest.

jamesyeldritch 4y ago
It seems most likely the author's intent was to limit his own liability by including a vague TOS. What makes more sense is to provide the software strictly "AS-IS", without any guarantees, liabilities, warranty, or implied use-case. Y'know, like many FOSS licenses (GPL/BSD/MIT/etc). So, the BSD license used for the app itself actually had the author covered.
- benatkin 4y ago
  Yeah, I'm not sure why there's an issue. It's just a reminder that F-Droid still has to make subjective decisions. There doesn't seem to be anything in the repository that would make me think the Terms of Service in the notice are attached to the license on the Source Code. Anyone who doesn't want it or wants to provide it to other people who don't want it could fork it and make a build without the notice, or with their own notice.
  - jamesyeldritch 4y ago
    The issue is that the TOS has ridiculous, absurd requirements while granting the author of the software no actual, real-world benefit. And that the software can no longer be considered FOSS when it easily could have been. It's like writing a TOS that states: "Thou shall only use this software in accordance with the seven heavenly virtues".