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[-] GregoryTheGreat@programming.dev 81 points 1 year ago

Not a joke.

Copy left is like the Robin Hood of the copyright world. Basically, it’s a type of licensing where, sure, you can use, modify, and distribute the copyrighted work, but there’s a catch. You have to give the same rights to anyone else for any derivative works. So, if you modify the work, you can’t just slap a new copyright on it and restrict its use. It’s a way to ensure that the work stays free for everyone to use. It’s pretty popular in the open source community. It’s like copyright turned on its head, hence the name “copyleft”.

[-] spacesweedkid27@lemmy.world 27 points 1 year ago

Kinda based ngl. Using copyright to devalue copyright.

[-] SlikPikker@lemmy.ca 19 points 1 year ago

Copyleft tooling built all the most common and widespread tools today, and the foundations of the open web.

[-] glassware@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It's a shame the strategy is now failing because software as a service is so popular. Nothing in the GPL forces you to distribute your changes if you don't distribute the program. So just put the program on a webserver and let users interact through an API and hey presto, steal as much GPL code as you like.

Everyone crucified MongoDB when they tried to create a licence that prevents this, and FSF have declared that the problem can't be solved with licences and everyone just has to boycott non-free software (good luck!).

End of free software as we know it, IMHO.

[-] Occhioverde@feddit.it 13 points 1 year ago

Wasn't the Affero GPL (AGPL) created exactely to enforce copyleft in a SaaS environment?

Quoting from the GNU website:

[The AGPL] has one added requirement: if you run a modified program on a server and let other users communicate with it there, your server must also allow them to download the source code corresponding to the modified version running there.

this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2023
681 points (91.6% liked)

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