[License-review] Approval: Server Side Public License, Version 1 (SSPL v1)

[John Cowan]

On Thu, Oct 18, 2018 at 6:38 PM Bruce Perens <bruce at perens.com> wrote:

> I think we will need a read from OSI's lawyer on the issue of copyright
> misuse, unless the current draft is withdrawn for revision quite soon.
> Wondering why this wasn't a consideration for whoever wrote the license, I
> haven't heard any identification of that person yet, nor that they are
> participating in this discussion. That's why I pointedly poked Simon on
> whether he was representing MongoDB, as I haven't heard from anyone who is.
>

While we are at it, the use of "functionality" is extremely problematic.
Since it is not a defined term, it must be read in its ordinary sense in
connection with computers, namely the usual sense (not the technical sense)
of "function".  A license that purports to control how you "make the
functionality of the program" available to third parties would seem to try
to prohibit you from providing *any* software with the same functionality
as MongoDB.  That is massively wrong.

--
John Cowan          http://vrici.lojban.org/~cowan        cowan at ccil.org
Cash registers don't really add and subtract;
        they only grind their gears.
But then they don't really grind their gears, either;
        they only obey the laws of physics.  --Unknown
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