The GPL is basically saying "No Closed Source Forks". By that definition, Google, Amazon, and are plenty of others are in clear violation.
But contracts aren't governed by what they basically say, they're governed by what they actually say.
The simplest solution is probably to rewrite the GPL explicitly so that it does say "No Closed Source Forks" and make it a requirement that all Forks are publicly available on something like github.
That's not simple at all; it would apply to minor changes made for personal use, which was never the GPL's intent. (And don't let RMS hear you recommending that people use Github.)
As noted below, the GPL has been updated to cover software that's accessible on a public server; that's the Affero GPL. But the GPLv2 was not written to be forward-compatible with later GPL revisions, so GPLv2 software can't be forked and then published under the Affero GPL (though I believe GPLv3 software can).
It was also written in 1991, with no conception that software would be run entirely on a server and therefore avoid the copyleft restrictions by not being copied or distributed. And unlike the GPLv3, it didn't permit software originally published under v2 to be forked under a later version of the license (meaning the MariaDB devs are stuck with v2 because that's what MySQL was published under; they can't, for example, switch to the Affero GPL).
These are, as ConfusedVorlon noted above, "legal bugs, not legal features"; they're unintentional oversights on the part of the GPL's authors.
Thanks, that's useful information. It would seem that Scroll is of limited utility if all it does is block ads; I already have software that does that for free.
That said, I don't mind paying $5 a month to support sites I read regularly, but I've got some immediate questions about Scroll's analytics. Certainly it will include some amount of tracking -- I assume I need to be logged into Scroll for the ad blocking to kick in, and obviously it's going to use some sort of analytics to share its subscription fees with platforms that people use -- but I want to know, specifically, what data it will collect from its users, whether that data will be decoupled from those users' accounts, what data it will share with the news sites that it partners with, and whether it will also share that data with any other parties.
Since the study notes that a treadmill doesn't seem to be as good a predictor as pushups, do we have any idea what other exercise would be the equivalent of pushups?
I used to do pushups every day, but stopped after I started developing wrist pain.
I'm still using my Nexus 5, though it's definitely showing its age by now: LineageOS updates have slowed to monthly releases, and they're still based on the 14.x series; and a few weeks ago, my power button got stuck and had to be replaced.
I'm holding out for a new phone that will give me the same benefits my Nexus 5 has -- namely, a low price, custom firmware support, and access to the Sprint network. If this new phone can give me those things, then I'll definitely consider buying it. (A headphone jack would be nice too.)
I had a similar problem with my Nexus 5 (not X) recently, but it turned out to be a hardware problem: apparently the power button wears out and shorts, so that it registers as always being held down.
I got it fixed for $45 at a local repair shop. (I'm confident enough in my own repair skills that I popped it open and cleaned it with compressed air and alcohol, but when that didn't work and it was clear that it would need some microsoldering work, I decided it was time to call a professional.)
I guess that's not really directly related, but support for custom ROMs is part of why I'm sticking with such an old phone.
I'm hoping that this is the year that GNU/Linux phones become usable.
I'm not talking about usable for end users, of course; I don't expect that day will ever come. But I mean usable to, well, the sort of person who posts on Slashdot; the sort of person who was using Linux on the desktop 15 or 20 years ago.
I've got one phone that I'm using as a test device for Ubuntu Touch (discontinued by Canonical but still under development by UBports). It's not quite ready to use as a daily driver but it feels like it's getting close.
There's also the Librem 5 coming (GNOME-based), and even the PinePhone (Plasma-based) sounds like it could be interesting, though if they really expect to sell it for $100 then I don't think the question is "what can you do with a Plasma phone?" so much as "what can you do with a $100 phone?"
It's interesting -- I remember the first time I read Utopia (probably in high school?), my objection was that Moore's premise of living a perfect life in a perfect society relied on letting somebody else fight all the wars.
I respect Stallman and I'm glad he's out there, but I smell a whiff of that here: it's "not that hard" for him to live without the convenience of a cell phone because he's able to assume someone else will be.
How do you describe a license that lets you run, modify, fork, and redistribute the code and do virtually anything other than offer a competing SaaS offering of the product?
I used to work as a temp on GoDaddy's web design team.
Our first day, we had to go through a "security" tutorial that, among other things, advised that we satisfy the "mixed-case and at least one symbol" requirement by using an initial capital letter and putting an exclamation point at the end.
I e-mailed the security team to explain to them why this is bad advice ("you've just removed all the benefits a six-character mixed-case password with a symbol has over a five-character all-lowercase password"). Unsurprisingly, I never heard back.
There was more than one goal to the Russian interference. Undermine Clinton, help Trump, sow FUD, test weaknesses that can be exploited again in the future...those are a few off the top of my head.
I seem to recall hearing that the DC Comics official messageboards at one point blocked the word "dick", despite it being the first name of one of their best-known characters.
When Firefox first came out, I knew guys who seriously refused to use it because its name was "too furry". Like, they thought that was reason enough to stick with IE goddamn 6.
There are may situations where compromise is possible. (Maybe not likely in our current political climate, but technically possible.)
This is not one of them. This is a binary choice. Encryption is secure or it isn't. It works or it doesn't. It keeps the "good guys" out or it lets the "bad guys" in. Because computers are not magic and cannot tell the difference between a good guy and a bad guy.
Those are facts. A phone that is secure except to US government representatives following due process is a fantasy. You can ask for a compromise between facts and fantasy all you want, but you're not going to get one.
ZDNet points out that the move to new licenses "doesn't apply, of course, to Linux itself. Linus Torvalds has made it abundantly clear that Linux has been, will now, and always shall be under the GPLv2."
While it's true that the Linux kernel is sticking with the GPLv2, Torvalds and many of the other copyright holders have already adopted the GPLv3's cure commitment language.
Slashdot Mirror
But contracts aren't governed by what they basically say, they're governed by what they actually say.
That's not simple at all; it would apply to minor changes made for personal use, which was never the GPL's intent. (And don't let RMS hear you recommending that people use Github.)
As noted below, the GPL has been updated to cover software that's accessible on a public server; that's the Affero GPL. But the GPLv2 was not written to be forward-compatible with later GPL revisions, so GPLv2 software can't be forked and then published under the Affero GPL (though I believe GPLv3 software can).
It was also written in 1991, with no conception that software would be run entirely on a server and therefore avoid the copyleft restrictions by not being copied or distributed. And unlike the GPLv3, it didn't permit software originally published under v2 to be forked under a later version of the license (meaning the MariaDB devs are stuck with v2 because that's what MySQL was published under; they can't, for example, switch to the Affero GPL).
These are, as ConfusedVorlon noted above, "legal bugs, not legal features"; they're unintentional oversights on the part of the GPL's authors.
Thanks, that's useful information. It would seem that Scroll is of limited utility if all it does is block ads; I already have software that does that for free.
That said, I don't mind paying $5 a month to support sites I read regularly, but I've got some immediate questions about Scroll's analytics. Certainly it will include some amount of tracking -- I assume I need to be logged into Scroll for the ad blocking to kick in, and obviously it's going to use some sort of analytics to share its subscription fees with platforms that people use -- but I want to know, specifically, what data it will collect from its users, whether that data will be decoupled from those users' accounts, what data it will share with the news sites that it partners with, and whether it will also share that data with any other parties.
Since the study notes that a treadmill doesn't seem to be as good a predictor as pushups, do we have any idea what other exercise would be the equivalent of pushups?
I used to do pushups every day, but stopped after I started developing wrist pain.
Next you'll be telling me that my call isn't important to the people who put me on hold for 45 minutes.
Why is that funny?
No. He stated his opinion that Open Source Security, Inc. was violating the GPL; they sued him for defamation, lost, and appealed.
I'm still using my Nexus 5, though it's definitely showing its age by now: LineageOS updates have slowed to monthly releases, and they're still based on the 14.x series; and a few weeks ago, my power button got stuck and had to be replaced.
I'm holding out for a new phone that will give me the same benefits my Nexus 5 has -- namely, a low price, custom firmware support, and access to the Sprint network. If this new phone can give me those things, then I'll definitely consider buying it. (A headphone jack would be nice too.)
I had a similar problem with my Nexus 5 (not X) recently, but it turned out to be a hardware problem: apparently the power button wears out and shorts, so that it registers as always being held down.
I got it fixed for $45 at a local repair shop. (I'm confident enough in my own repair skills that I popped it open and cleaned it with compressed air and alcohol, but when that didn't work and it was clear that it would need some microsoldering work, I decided it was time to call a professional.)
I guess that's not really directly related, but support for custom ROMs is part of why I'm sticking with such an old phone.
I'm hoping that this is the year that GNU/Linux phones become usable.
I'm not talking about usable for end users, of course; I don't expect that day will ever come. But I mean usable to, well, the sort of person who posts on Slashdot; the sort of person who was using Linux on the desktop 15 or 20 years ago.
I've got one phone that I'm using as a test device for Ubuntu Touch (discontinued by Canonical but still under development by UBports). It's not quite ready to use as a daily driver but it feels like it's getting close.
There's also the Librem 5 coming (GNOME-based), and even the PinePhone (Plasma-based) sounds like it could be interesting, though if they really expect to sell it for $100 then I don't think the question is "what can you do with a Plasma phone?" so much as "what can you do with a $100 phone?"
It's interesting -- I remember the first time I read Utopia (probably in high school?), my objection was that Moore's premise of living a perfect life in a perfect society relied on letting somebody else fight all the wars.
I respect Stallman and I'm glad he's out there, but I smell a whiff of that here: it's "not that hard" for him to live without the convenience of a cell phone because he's able to assume someone else will be.
I describe it as "not open source."
Yes, who could have ever imagined a company called Rockstar might have once been connected in some way to the music industry?
Shocking.
I used to work as a temp on GoDaddy's web design team.
Our first day, we had to go through a "security" tutorial that, among other things, advised that we satisfy the "mixed-case and at least one symbol" requirement by using an initial capital letter and putting an exclamation point at the end.
I e-mailed the security team to explain to them why this is bad advice ("you've just removed all the benefits a six-character mixed-case password with a symbol has over a five-character all-lowercase password"). Unsurprisingly, I never heard back.
There was more than one goal to the Russian interference. Undermine Clinton, help Trump, sow FUD, test weaknesses that can be exploited again in the future...those are a few off the top of my head.
I've been on more than one site that flagged Senator Chris Coons's last name.
I seem to recall hearing that the DC Comics official messageboards at one point blocked the word "dick", despite it being the first name of one of their best-known characters.
When Firefox first came out, I knew guys who seriously refused to use it because its name was "too furry". Like, they thought that was reason enough to stick with IE goddamn 6.
Party of personal responsibility!
How can they launch with Disney's streaming service in 2024 if the streaming service is launching in 2019?
Instead they slapped "Windows" and "Live" on everything for a few years.
If that were true, how do you explain the massive success of FirefoxOS?
There are may situations where compromise is possible. (Maybe not likely in our current political climate, but technically possible.)
This is not one of them. This is a binary choice. Encryption is secure or it isn't. It works or it doesn't. It keeps the "good guys" out or it lets the "bad guys" in. Because computers are not magic and cannot tell the difference between a good guy and a bad guy.
Those are facts. A phone that is secure except to US government representatives following due process is a fantasy. You can ask for a compromise between facts and fantasy all you want, but you're not going to get one.
While it's true that the Linux kernel is sticking with the GPLv2, Torvalds and many of the other copyright holders have already adopted the GPLv3's cure commitment language.