Holier Than Thou Licenses

Attach:kinggeorge.jpg

Silicon Valley may be the headquarters of corporate criminals today, but that has not stopped their self-righteous developers from publishing a series of Holier Than Thou Licenses. They call themselves Ethical Source, but don't let Silicon Valley's sleazy lawyers fool you. These licenses seek to deny you of your basic freedom to use your software for any purpose.

The licenses demand you demonstrate your submission to corporate elites to use their software:

Silicon Valley, I thank you that I am not like the other coders: misogynists, homophobes, ableists, or even like this unenlightened bigot over here.

I call my coworkers racists twice a week and always pretend to care about marginalized groups while I take away their jobs and drive them to homelessness.

Far from being ethical, they are designed to be discriminatory -- their sole purpose is to serve rich and powerful elites while unfairly denying access to users and small developers trying to earn a living. Anyone who stands in their way -- including minorities -- they may smear as bigots, to be banned by a lynch mob without a fair trial.

King Silicon Valley

By design, Holier Than Thou licenses will circumvent the legal system. If a Silicon Valley developer slanders you as a bigot, you have no access to a real courtroom to defend yourself. King Silicon Valley is putting you on trial -- in a kangaroo court where they are lawmaker, jury, and executioner.

If By Ethics

Do you trust Silicon Valley to define what is ethical? These licenses will be interpreted by the same patent trolls who blackmail ordinary users for sharing files. Under these licenses, the system will be rigged in favor of monopolies, with lawyers defining ethics to benefit corporate vultures:

If by ethics you mean providing software to independent developers and small business owners who I can slanderously label as nazis, bigots, homophobes, and misogynists, then certainly I am against it.

But if by ethics you mean enriching Wall Street donors, rewarding Silicon Valley executives, laundering money for corporate bankers, exploiting employees, mass surveillance of users, why I am certainly for it.

Don't let corporate tyrants silence marginalized voices. Boycott software with these discriminatory licenses. Use a free, open license -- one that gives all users equal access to the code, not just Silicon Valley and their cronies. A truly free license ensures that your code provides equal opportunity to all.