[License-discuss] Ethical open source licensing - Persona non Grata Preamble

[Gil Yehuda]

If I'm following this correctly, I think the proposal is to have an OSD
compliant license that has attached to it some sort of credo and wall of
shame. The credo defines the category of undesirables and the wall of shame
preserves the record of those names upon distribution.

Although clearly not the OP intent, this is a way to weaponize any
OSD-complaint license. If I have a message that I want everyone who uses my
code to see, I could add it to the license as a preamble. The message could
be anything -- good or bad. Seems that as long as it is a non-binding part
of the license and not actually a license term, I can promote or denounce
anyone or anything. Whereas not the intent of the license to serve as a
vehicle for a credo, shitlist, or injunction, I guess is could be.

Vote for Pedro. Open your source, Left handed people are sinister. You aim
like a stormtrooper. Licensed under the terms of the...

Gil Yehuda

On Fri, Feb 21, 2020 at 2:33 PM Jim Jagielski <jim at jimjag.com> wrote:

> Which is fine. It's their code and they can license it however they want.
> They just can't call it Open Source.
>
> On Feb 21, 2020, at 11:24 AM, Brendan Hickey <brendan.m.hickey at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> While this may all seem hypothetical, a decade ago a developer bungled his
> taxes and retaliated by banning the Belgian government from using of his
> code.
>
> Brendan
>
> On Fri, Feb 21, 2020, 11:20 AM VanL <van.lindberg at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Feb 21, 2020 at 9:53 AM John Cowan <cowan at ccil.org> wrote:
>>
>>> On Fri, Feb 21, 2020 at 10:21 AM VanL <van.lindberg at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> But think about OSD #5, which prohibits discrimination against people
>>>> or groups, or OSD #6, prohibiting discrimination against fields of
>>>> endeavor. It is true that the PNGL would not vary the permissions granted,
>>>> but it would be a clear statement of discrimination against those groups,
>>>> including a declaration that they will be treated differently in the
>>>> acceptance of contributions.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Lots of people are already treated differently, it just flies under the
>>> radar.  There are individuals I won't accept patches from...
>>>
>>
>> Yes, but putting it in the license makes it different in a way that I
>> think may be cognizable under the OSD. I am also uneasy about the forced
>> speech issue, although I can't ground that in the OSD as easily.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Van
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