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Where do you put the bar of the legal vs morale argument? A few days ago, I discovered a government entity in Pakistan was using my AGPL software [1] to handle

Where do you put the bar of the legal vs morale argument? A few days ago, I discovered a government entity in Pakistan was using my AGPL software [1] to handle censoring of media through their "ministry of information and broadcasting". I did release my software under AGPL as I like the underlying ideology of free software with a large emphasis on the freedom and not the free of charge but would have never expect some regime would come to use it to handle censoring. [1]: https://github.com/mickael-kerjean/filestash https://github.com/mickael-kerjean/filestash

thrdbndndn 3y ago
I personally think your particular scenario is the easier one: such "client" will ignore any license requirement or "moral pressure" anyway, as soon as they can acquire the software in some way. There shouldn't be moral burden on the devs. You do more good (way more) than harm. Otherwise I doubt Linus can sleep at night. I'd say this is no difference from, say, a knife manufacturer when it comes to the harm the knives do. Commercial use is something devs are more torn because they feel they're being exploited while the client is not doing anything wrong inherently (doing business). And in that case, you have to adjust your expectation to be exactly the same as the license you put in to resolve such cognitive dissonance.
- vocatus_gate 3y ago
  "the harm the knives do" Ah yes, those famous knives that jump up and attack people, when they're not too tired from autonomously cutting steaks and chopping vegetables.
  - thrdbndndn 3y ago
    You got what I meant. Sorry, not a native speaker.
    - sunnybeetroot 3y ago
      No need to apologise, your post made sense.
earthscienceman 3y ago
Woah. This is really an incredible project. I'm currently running a seafile server for this purpose but it really isn't all that great and I keep debating going back to simple SFTP. Using your frontend would be a great addon. Very nice work and congrats on taking this on successfully.
ekianjo 3y ago
You used the wrong license then.

thrdbndndn 3y ago

I personally think your particular scenario is the easier one: such "client" will ignore any license requirement or "moral pressure" anyway, as soon as they can acquire the software in some way. There shouldn't be moral burden on the devs. You do more good (way more) than harm. Otherwise I doubt Linus can sleep at night. I'd say this is no difference from, say, a knife manufacturer when it comes to the harm the knives do. Commercial use is something devs are more torn because they feel they're being exploited while the client is not doing anything wrong inherently (doing business). And in that case, you have to adjust your expectation to be exactly the same as the license you put in to resolve such cognitive dissonance.

vocatus_gate 3y ago
"the harm the knives do" Ah yes, those famous knives that jump up and attack people, when they're not too tired from autonomously cutting steaks and chopping vegetables.
- thrdbndndn 3y ago
  You got what I meant. Sorry, not a native speaker.
  - sunnybeetroot 3y ago
    No need to apologise, your post made sense.

earthscienceman 3y ago

Woah. This is really an incredible project. I'm currently running a seafile server for this purpose but it really isn't all that great and I keep debating going back to simple SFTP. Using your frontend would be a great addon. Very nice work and congrats on taking this on successfully.

ekianjo 3y ago

You used the wrong license then.