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GPLv2 forbids the additional non-free restrictions added in GPLv3 so they can't be mixed together. It isn't permitted to use Linux kernel code in GNU projects or vice versa. GPL is why Linux users don't have a nice mainline ZFS implementation. This hardly qualifies as freedom.
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Software doesn't exist in a world without power differentials though. How much more often are you & society hindered by closed-source software? Being opensource isn't too much to ask. It's a choice to blame copyleft for enforcing authors' boundaries around unaccountable secrecy.
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In a free society, developers have the choice not to publish source code and others are free to reverse engineer, modify and use it for any purpose. Software is a tool. It's not inherently good or bad. GPL doesn't enforce any kind of ethical development or usage of software.
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Mk, but we don't live in free societies. Capitalism doesn't support freedom. & society is immeasurably inhibited by relying on systems & infrastructures that are complete mysteries. They allow for deniable obstruction, abuses of power & invasions of privacy--all are unacceptable.
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Open source and free software are fully compatible and supportive of capitalism. If anything, they're pro-corporate and anti-worker. They make it harder for developers to earn a living wage, not easier. They're great for large corporations. It hardly prevents any actual abuses.
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GPL forbids placing restrictions on commercial usage or usage of the software that you consider unethical. If you added a clause forbidding your software being used to commit genocide, it would not be GPL compatible anymore. Silly to pretend it has anything to do with ethics.
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Open source software has been a major part of helping to build the surveillance state and is heavily used by major corporations. Authoritarian governments are more than happy to track down and kill dissidents with surveillance and weapons largely built with open source software.
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Yeah, but capitalism isn't supportive of freedom, that's the point. You're blaming copyleft for systems that are compatible with closed-source software. That's your choice. But closed-source inhibits society, & enables tech to function surreptitiously with no accountability.
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You're completely misrepresenting my statements and claiming that I'm said things which I haven't said. Personally, I have a problem with an authoritarian state enforcing a mandatory copyright system rather than with developers choosing not to release their source code.
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