[HN Gopher] The Future of Open Source: On Imperialism and Idealism
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The Future of Open Source: On Imperialism and Idealism
Author : marttt
Score : 16 points
Date : 2022-04-25 14:59 UTC (8 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (datagubbe.se)
(TXT) w3m dump (datagubbe.se)
| rektide wrote:
| Fun & accurate, great set up, but wrong conclusions. The author
| ultimately paints a picture of western idealistic hacking &
| cybercommercial dominance, but they say this is enforced & backed
| by once unchallenged but quickly crumbling dominance of
| intellectual property rights & western legalistic
| dominion/Imperialism.
|
| This worldview was an entertainable perspective in the
| preconnected era, in the age of standalone software. But the
| world today runs in an interconnected mode, is based on Services-
| as-a-Software-Substitute (SaaSS). People & nations dont respect
| the terms of service & licenses because they're in obesiance to
| the Empire, they do it because they just want in on, want access
| to the great vast online places that will kick em out of if they
| start mucking with the terms of service. Companys operate in
| cyberspaces lightly regulated supranational domain, and states
| have minimal leverage they can apply to force behavior upon
| greater cyberspace. Notably, EU is very much at the frontier of
| layering in steep requirements & regulations, setting an example
| for the rest of the world that any state has the freedom to make
| demands & push around online entities in any way the state
| pleases; somewhat ironic given what a boon to liberty &
| possibility & enablememt the open framework of cyberspace has
| created.
|
| Viewing the cyberspace we have as a legal framework the rest of
| the world accepts is false. The internet is a dumb pipe, is
| connectivity. Anything in the way of connectivity is quite
| literally anti-internet. No nation or state may have their own
| take, their own legalistic roadblocks that are internet: they
| winniw down the whole to make a lesser thing below the internet
| with their impositions. The privilege of being interconnected to
| the global whole comes with a realizatuon that you are connecting
| to other places that wont follow your rules. Contrary to what the
| EU has insisted upon for itself.
|
| Putting aside the absoluteness lf Cyberspace supranationalism, I
| dont see the clash & challenge this article describes as real.
| The modern software world revolves around software running deep
| inside data centers, not on our personal computers. Other mations
| simply dont have the mainframes in their jurisdiction to boss
| around or use force against, so rebuffing their business is
| merely an impact on the bottom line. The legalistic modes are
| self enforcing, the terms of service dont need marshals to be
| enforced: we simply turn off access to violators, cancel their
| accounts. There has not been an opportunity for non-Western
| nations to misbehave or flout the supranational cyberspace
| standards, because the new things we want to use are online
| services, or deeply integrated with services. This isnt
| imperialism or legalism, it's just a matter of were the
| desireable software runs & what possibilities remain to those not
| running the data centers.
|
| Changing topics again, peering at my crystal ball, one of the
| things i really enjoyed about this article was itcs setup & it's
| exploration of the mature of open source. Drawing my own
| projections, I think the value based western mode ultimately
| shines through. Individual empowermemt & embracing possibility,
| idealistic hacking, & the whole panolopy of values that embrace
| letting people get good, letting them explore- it creates
| positive vibrancy, is how energy & creativity sustain & maintain.
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(page generated 2022-04-25 23:03 UTC)