I actually love performative licensing. Notable examples are the "Stallman License" [1] and the "Pinkest Pink: Available to Everyone except Anish Kapoor" [2]
> Because the Schrödinger License r0 was released without the exception added in r2, everything in the light cone of commit https://github.com/benlk/misc-licenses/commit/0bbee5aff743e5... is subject to r0 of the Schrödinger License. If you are not sure whether you are covered by r0 of this license: calculate the time distance from 2:15 a.m. EDT July 29 2013 to the current time, multiply that by the speed of light, and draw a sphere with that radius centered on the position of North America at 2:15 a.m. EDT July 29 2013. If you are within that sphere, you are covered by the license. If you were present on Earth at that time, you are covered by the license.
crises-luff-6b · 9h ago
GPL & Copyleft are pretty anarchocapitalist as applied to ideas.
It's been a few decades since I read it, but Free Software, Free Society is pretty clear about its political intent.
hoseja · 2h ago
There is... another.
energywut · 9h ago
People are allowed to choose who they associate with and who they vend stuff to. This seems fine to me?
zzo38computer · 9h ago
Yes, I agree they can choose who they associate with, although my opinion is that it should not restrict others from using it if they obtain a copy indirectly (because I think that copyright and patents should be abolished).
(The actual license seems to only restrict the government from using it, though.)
Hyperboreanal · 54m ago
I agree. We should be free to not associate with non-Whites.
No comments yet
readthenotes1 · 8h ago
I was talking about that with my grandfather and he recalled that no Ford dealer would sell a car to a Black person in the region he grew up in. They could only buy Pontiacs.
There is of course A distinct difference between discrimination based on characteristics you were born with and those you appear to have chosen.
But then, you get the slippery slope of sociopath and schizophrenics who have a genetic tendency towards certain behaviors... Who's to say that MAGAs or Nazis aren't born with a genetic tendency towards that behavior?
Hyperboreanal · 53m ago
Yeah not being mentally ill and self hating does have a genetic component.
Zak · 9h ago
I'm not sure putting that notice on the web page has any legal effect. The license itself[0] excludes a list of governments, which is probably a bit more more enforceable.
I'm a little bit sympathetic to the general idea of more restrictive licenses (not on this criteria), but one of the realities is that it's going to exclude more than just the people expressly excluded.
Reasons other people might also want to avoid the software include:
* Its lifecycle might be encumbered by this license (e.g., not included by some distros, and the general open source user base puts its contributions behind something more inclusive or accessible).
* For some purposes, a nonstandard license needs special vetting by lawyers for approval, and this one has what I'd guess are some legal and PR bombs in it.
* The author may be a reasonable and principled person, with their heart in the right place, who's exercised their rights in how they license their creations... But are they reacting from some crisis mode of concern about all the wrongs in the world, and could this mode deteriorate into unwelcome surprises from the much more limited perspective of third-party software users? (Will the project become abandoned? Will someone push out undesirable or even trojan software changes? Will the banned parties list be expanded in some way untenable for you?)
ian-g · 9h ago
It's his software and his choice, but that's going to be difficult to enforce. With that said, there's a lot of other SQL interfaces out there.
zzo38computer · 9h ago
The actual license seems to only prohibit the government from using it.
I switched to DBeaver a few years ago after realizing SQL Workbench wasn’t open source
RandomUser4976 · 9h ago
Brilliant! This a huge move in the right direction. I will do the same.
Hyperboreanal · 51m ago
Good thing I'm a Nazi, not a Republican.
jarbus · 9h ago
a few years ago, i'd have thought this to be excessive, but now i'm sympathetic to this.
smitty1e · 6h ago
Politicizing software has all the appeal of proprietary licensing.
This is just the inevitable fallout of our inability to have nice things.
May all find joy in their choices.
throw2727218r · 1h ago
Reminds me of Notepad++ and their stupid version names.
If they stuck to just the names that would have been less annoying, but they had a release where it would automatically start typing a message.
I stopped using it and stopped donating soon afterwards.
energywut · 3h ago
Open Source software is also political, it's just a political position you agree with. (It's a position I also agree with, fwiw.) Let's not pretend that the GPL is free of politics.
mattray0295 · 5h ago
I'm 10000% using it now because I am a REPUBLICAN, lol
hagbard_c · 7h ago
It would have been more succinct to list the Germans who are allowed to use this product given the current polls:
~25% AfD
~25% CDU/CSU aka "AfD mit Substanz"
CSU
??? Werteunion
??? Die Heimat
??? Die Basis
??? Freie Wähler
??? BündnisDeutschland
~4% Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht
This means more than half the German voting population is not welcome.
It seems that this software is only to be used by those on the left side of the political spectrum but not everyone on the left - Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) is certainly on the left but she does not pass the mustard. SPD/Linke (the former eastern German communist party for those who don't know their history - the party which was responsible for ordering people to be shot for the 'crime' of wanting to leave the country) and the Grüne ('Greens', just like water melons they are green only on the outside but deep red on the inside) are welcome as are those remaining few FDP (a liberal party) voters. I don't know the other parties - Werteunion, Heimat, Basis, Freie Wähler and Bündnis Deutschland - but since they don't show up in the polls they're not that interesting in this context.
energywut · 3h ago
> It seems that this software is only to be used by those on the left side of the political spectrum
Democrats aren't on the left side of the political spectrum, but it appears they can use this software. (Yes, they are called the left in the US, but the mainstream positions of the Democratic party are globally center or center-right.)
But also, I would argue that modern leftist parties tend to be less interested in human rights violations and more interested in taking care of everyone (even if that means taking wealth away from the wealthy, which many would consider violative but probably isn't "contempt for human rights")
umeshunni · 9h ago
But the Taliban is welcome to use it
energywut · 9h ago
Is the Taliban a political party? They are a government, I guess? But a party? I dunno.
FWIW, the list of parties here seems predominantly focused on the US and Europe, with one party listed from Russia. I suspect that omissions from this list are not endorsements, but rather uncommon enough on the global stage to not warrant mentioning. The author doesn't go through and mention the Klan either, but like, the Klan isn't really openly active in the US government.
ian-g · 9h ago
The website is part of the SQL Workbench repository. Submit a PR!
SQL was developed by Donald D. Chamberlin and Raymond F. Boyce at IBM. Maybe the author of this piece of software should not want to use a language developed by a company which he no doubt considers to be below his moral standards?
It is a good thing that just like this person we all are free to choose which products to use and which to avoid.
As an aside I do wonder why so many former west-Germans ended up so far to the left while their former east-German compatriots - who have suffered for close to half a century under a left-wing regime - went the opposite way. I also notice that many 'educated' former west-Germans consider themselves to be morally superior to those AfD-voting former east-Germans which seems quite incongruous given the political left's insistence on using people's 'lived experience' as a guideline on where the truth lies. Does this 'lived experience' not count if it goes against the desired narrative?
periodjet · 9h ago
I wonder how HN would react if the listed political parties were all left-wing / progressive ones.
energywut · 3h ago
I'm as far left as you can be. I would say exactly the same thing -- people should be free to associate with who they want, and vend stuff to who they want.
I've seen this line of argument before, "You wouldn't say this if it was YOUR TEAM" and like, yeah, I would? I have a belief that people should be able to freely associate? Why would it matter if it was left groups or right groups or centrist groups?
You have to break out of this "us vs them" notion of politics, it's deeply unhealthy. Parties don't matter, politicians don't matter, policies matter. Be pro/anti- some policy. Who cares what color team has that policy?
zzo38computer · 8h ago
Probably people would complain either way, but my opinion is that neither the left nor right political parties are good, and my opinion is also that the license should not make such restrictions like this whether or not you agree with those political parties. Some other people might believe similar things that I had said.
Apreche · 7h ago
Hopefully poorly, and rightly so. There is a such thing as right and wrong.
bobsmooth · 1h ago
Are there any right-wingers writing notable software?
Devasta · 9h ago
More licenses should do the same, this is excellent.
stretchwithme · 9h ago
I'd like to know what human rights these organizations have contempt for.
chris_wot · 9h ago
The Republican party seems to have a particular fondness for deporting innocent people to El Salvador without justification.
stretchwithme · 9h ago
There is no human right that allows you to live in any country you want without its consent.
energywut · 9h ago
That's a different claim than the parent made. CECOT, specifically, is absolutely a place where human rights are not observed.
drivingmenuts · 7h ago
They’re trying to end birthright citizenship, which basically would allow them to deport, well anybody who disagreed with them, even if that person’s has no other country be deported to.
For example, I am an American citizen, born and raised. I have never lived outside of the United States. My father, now deceased, was from Nicaragua, but he was an American citizen also. However, by ending birthright citizenship, I can can be deported simply for being liberal, if the Supreme Court allows this.
mvdtnz · 6h ago
Well first of all that's that not what ending birthright citizenship would mean. Secondly if birthright citizenship were a human right then most countries would be in violation of human rights.
yahoozoo · 9h ago
You can look up the reason in the ICE database but it only supports clients using SQL Workbench…so…
[1] https://github.com/benlk/misc-licenses/blob/master/stallman-... [2] https://stuartsemple.com/anish-kapoor-banned-worlds-pinkest-...
> # Historical note
> Because the Schrödinger License r0 was released without the exception added in r2, everything in the light cone of commit https://github.com/benlk/misc-licenses/commit/0bbee5aff743e5... is subject to r0 of the Schrödinger License. If you are not sure whether you are covered by r0 of this license: calculate the time distance from 2:15 a.m. EDT July 29 2013 to the current time, multiply that by the speed of light, and draw a sphere with that radius centered on the position of North America at 2:15 a.m. EDT July 29 2013. If you are within that sphere, you are covered by the license. If you were present on Earth at that time, you are covered by the license.
It's been a few decades since I read it, but Free Software, Free Society is pretty clear about its political intent.
(The actual license seems to only restrict the government from using it, though.)
No comments yet
There is of course A distinct difference between discrimination based on characteristics you were born with and those you appear to have chosen.
But then, you get the slippery slope of sociopath and schizophrenics who have a genetic tendency towards certain behaviors... Who's to say that MAGAs or Nazis aren't born with a genetic tendency towards that behavior?
[0] https://www.sql-workbench.eu/manual/license.html
But if these licenses are rarely enforced, then what difference does it make
Busybox is best exception that comes to mind; but enforcement seems to have fizzled out anyway
For this "SQL Workbench" software, how would license enforcement work
1. How does the author of free software detect that a Republican is using it <-- This is what I am most curious about
2. If the author detects a Republican using the software, then what will he do about it; how much is he willing to spend on lawyers
Reasons other people might also want to avoid the software include:
* Its lifecycle might be encumbered by this license (e.g., not included by some distros, and the general open source user base puts its contributions behind something more inclusive or accessible).
* For some purposes, a nonstandard license needs special vetting by lawyers for approval, and this one has what I'd guess are some legal and PR bombs in it.
* The author may be a reasonable and principled person, with their heart in the right place, who's exercised their rights in how they license their creations... But are they reacting from some crisis mode of concern about all the wrongs in the world, and could this mode deteriorate into unwelcome surprises from the much more limited perspective of third-party software users? (Will the project become abandoned? Will someone push out undesirable or even trojan software changes? Will the banned parties list be expanded in some way untenable for you?)
No comments yet
- https://dbeaver.io/
- https://www.oracle.com/database/sqldeveloper/
- https://www.beekeeperstudio.io/
This is just the inevitable fallout of our inability to have nice things.
May all find joy in their choices.
If they stuck to just the names that would have been less annoying, but they had a release where it would automatically start typing a message.
I stopped using it and stopped donating soon afterwards.
It seems that this software is only to be used by those on the left side of the political spectrum but not everyone on the left - Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) is certainly on the left but she does not pass the mustard. SPD/Linke (the former eastern German communist party for those who don't know their history - the party which was responsible for ordering people to be shot for the 'crime' of wanting to leave the country) and the Grüne ('Greens', just like water melons they are green only on the outside but deep red on the inside) are welcome as are those remaining few FDP (a liberal party) voters. I don't know the other parties - Werteunion, Heimat, Basis, Freie Wähler and Bündnis Deutschland - but since they don't show up in the polls they're not that interesting in this context.
Democrats aren't on the left side of the political spectrum, but it appears they can use this software. (Yes, they are called the left in the US, but the mainstream positions of the Democratic party are globally center or center-right.)
But also, I would argue that modern leftist parties tend to be less interested in human rights violations and more interested in taking care of everyone (even if that means taking wealth away from the wealthy, which many would consider violative but probably isn't "contempt for human rights")
FWIW, the list of parties here seems predominantly focused on the US and Europe, with one party listed from Russia. I suspect that omissions from this list are not endorsements, but rather uncommon enough on the global stage to not warrant mentioning. The author doesn't go through and mention the Klan either, but like, the Klan isn't really openly active in the US government.
It is a good thing that just like this person we all are free to choose which products to use and which to avoid.
As an aside I do wonder why so many former west-Germans ended up so far to the left while their former east-German compatriots - who have suffered for close to half a century under a left-wing regime - went the opposite way. I also notice that many 'educated' former west-Germans consider themselves to be morally superior to those AfD-voting former east-Germans which seems quite incongruous given the political left's insistence on using people's 'lived experience' as a guideline on where the truth lies. Does this 'lived experience' not count if it goes against the desired narrative?
I've seen this line of argument before, "You wouldn't say this if it was YOUR TEAM" and like, yeah, I would? I have a belief that people should be able to freely associate? Why would it matter if it was left groups or right groups or centrist groups?
You have to break out of this "us vs them" notion of politics, it's deeply unhealthy. Parties don't matter, politicians don't matter, policies matter. Be pro/anti- some policy. Who cares what color team has that policy?
For example, I am an American citizen, born and raised. I have never lived outside of the United States. My father, now deceased, was from Nicaragua, but he was an American citizen also. However, by ending birthright citizenship, I can can be deported simply for being liberal, if the Supreme Court allows this.