3 ms·
I can’t speak for my friends but I see value in using a license as a statement even if it’s not immediately enforceable. Perhaps litigation can come many years
by tastyface 1y ago
I can’t speak for my friends but I see value in using a license as a statement even if it’s not immediately enforceable.
Perhaps litigation can come many years down the line, if and when the political winds change.
- bigyabai 1y agoOne must imagine that a future, liberal court that empathizes with your case wouldn't accept a discriminatory license like that as legally-binding in the first place. It's intent on stripping away rights that you're not qualified to take away, ones that in certain places are protected as civil rights. Frankly, it's a snipe chase trying to snare someone with discriminatory software licenses no matter who is in charge. Even the GPL doesn't totally succeed at deterring freeloaders, any sort of source-available license will inherently let your perceived boogeyman-of-choice win.
- tastyface 1y agoStill, looking at the bigger picture, it feels entirely sensible to make a statement that your code shall not be used by people who hate you and want to destroy your way of life, even if it’s not *necessarily* legally enforceable.
- bigyabai 1y agoSensible? Sure, to a point. I'm queer, I write GPL software, I can't stop my software from being used by homophobes. But it doesn't cost me any sleep at the end of the night, even in a political wasteland like America. I'm willing to swallow the opportunity cost of "bad guys" using my software because the good outweighs it. I'm filling a need that might otherwise be occupied by a libertarian nutjob, fascist revolutionary or neocon bootlicker. And I sit there merging PRs with a smile because that's the image I want the world to remember my contributions by.