[License-discuss] discussion of L-R process [was Re: [License-review] Approval: Server Side Public License, Version 2 (SSPL v2)]

[Bruce Perens]

On Fri, Mar 15, 2019 at 12:26 PM Ben Hilburn <bhilburn at gmail.com> wrote:

> it's important and good to say, "the process is open and anyone can
> contribute," but that doesn't mean that everyone actually feels welcome to
> do so, or that their opinions would be valued.
>

So, this is why I don't contribute technically to your organization, GNU
Radio. I don't know as much about signal processing as Michelle Thompson,
and would be more of a drag than an asset.

License review is really complicated and my views have continued to evolve
after 21 years of participation. For example, I originally lobbied for Open
Hardware licenses, and now evangelize the harm that attempting to copyright
hardware designs can ultimately cause all of us. We get sentiment from
relative newbies like "wouldn't it be cool to have better licenses for Open
Data", when actually *owning the facts *could wreak a great deal of harm.
So, IMO there really is a hump that people have to get over to be good
contributors, and it is a significant one.

    Thanks

    Bruce
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