Cant activitypub make license such that one need to keep server open to be able to use protocol
A group of people who want to stop private companies from running lemmy/mastodon/etc instances.
itsaj26744@programming.dev 10 months ago
Adanisi@lemmy.zip 10 months ago
Like a GPL for a protocol? You can’t really license a protocol. I think that would be patents.
And software patents are a bad idea.
So, in my opinion, no.
jeremyparker@programming.dev 10 months ago
This is digging into pretty legal territory and copyright law is (arguably unnecessarily) complex – but licenses are things that you use to let people use your patents. I think that’s what they were initially and mainly; but then software and the copyleft movements kind of detached the concepts of licenses and patents.
The fediverse protocols could definitely be patented and licensed, but, like you said (or implied, really), that’s… sketchy af. Like, anyone we could trust to patent it would probably refuse to do it – Linux Torvalds would probably curse me out for even suggesting it, and the lecture rms gave me would probably never end.
itsaj26744@programming.dev 10 months ago
Ohh so developer cant control who can use protocol?
Engywuck@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Nope, nobody wants (or even could) stop corps running instances. FFedipact is a number of instance admins (too few, in my opinion) that prefer to defederate their instances from those run by scummy Facebook and the likes. Some people is on the Fediverse specifically to avoid stuff managed by the Elons and the Zucks.
Adanisi@lemmy.zip 10 months ago
Not private companies. Abusive megacorporations who absolutely don’t have good intentions.