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Even without this terrible GitHub service, the idea that public licenses (like the GNU GPL) are meaningfully preventing the exploitation of code/software is, sadly, delusional.

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Chris Green (Parody)

@ChrisGr93091552

Jun 22

Explored github copilot,a paid service, to see if it encodes code from repositories w/ restrictive licenses. I checked if it had code I had written at my previous employer that has a license allowing its use only for free games and requiring attaching the license. yeah it does

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11:01 PM · Jun 23, 2022Twitter Web App

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These licenses have ultimately encouraged an entire generation of programmers to devalue their own labor for the "greater good", usually without realizing that the "greater good" in question has just been private/commercial equity any time a project grows to a certain scale!

Rich Whitehouse

@DickWhitehouse

Jun 23

I've also come across plenty of commercial developers who blatantly steal source code without a care for the original license, or who take "heavy inspiration" from publicly licensed code. It's very common, and why wouldn't it be? Proving code theft is usually difficult.

Rich Whitehouse

@DickWhitehouse

Jun 23

Some companies try extra hard to cover their own asses when it comes to preventing their employees from violating software licenses, but even still, those companies are far less strict in any instance where the liability is shifted. (contractors)

Rich Whitehouse

@DickWhitehouse

Jun 23

The silver lining here is that GitHub Copilot is doing a pretty good job of highlighting how very little the commercial world cares about respecting source code licenses. However, there is no amount of cultural shift that is going to fix this problem.

Rich Whitehouse

@DickWhitehouse

Jun 23

Any open source ideology which truly serves the greater good is, by necessity, communism. Unfortunately, it's impossible to take an important industry in the middle of global capitalist hell and say "this thing is special, let's make sure it stays free and pure!"

Rich Whitehouse

@DickWhitehouse

Jun 23

If you attempt to do that impossible thing anyway, you get exactly what we've achieved with open source development. Its greatest accomplishment is the devaluation of labor. In the end, it's just more tragic evidence that the world is a socioeconomic dumpster fire.