this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2024
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I for one am going through quite a culture shock. I always assumed the nature of FOSS software made it immune to be confined within the policies of nations; I guess if one day the government of USA starts to think that its a security concers for china to use and contribute to core opensource software created by its citizens or based in their boundaries, they might strongarm FOSS communities and projects to make their software exclude them in someway or worse declare GPL software a threat to national security.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

I'm out of the loop, what's the recent Linux drama? If you don't wanna type it out, you can point me in the right direction. Thanks. :)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Torvalds kicked out a bunch of Russia-based kernel maintainers.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

I get that it's a nice daydream to think of open source projects as existing in some kind of independent, ethereal vacuum just because the code is out there and accessible from any place on Earth. But every software project is (mostly?) dependent on the jurisdiction in one country, in this case it's the US, and so their laws about sanctions and so on apply. And yes, this means that unless conflicts/wars between nations happen to cease, that we will eventually have completely separated blocks of politics/culture/military and also IT. Globalization is over. China will have their own stuff, Russia will have their own stuff, and US+EU will have their own stuff. And none of those countries should continue using high-tech products made by the other because they could be sabotaged and it might be hard to find, so it's best to not use them at all and just cook your own stuff. It's unfortunate, but bound to happen in the current state of the political world.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

There was more drama? I didn't even notice. They're always doing drama.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

Yes. I always thought of sanctions as being finance-related, meaning you can't transact with sanctioned groups. I figured it couldn't apply to decision-making/membership in non-profit organizations (that it might somehow violate "free speech" or some shit). Finding out this is not the case is terrifying and one more reason to hate the US (not that we needed more). This might disincentivize some people to contribute to FOSS.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

Unfortunately no.

I remember the selinux controversy and the nsa trying to slip bad algorithms in.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Nothing is devoid of global politics.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

From what I understand this wasn't a decision dictated by sanctions nor was there any strongarming. Otherwise it would've happend way earlier.

I also think splitting politics and literally anything else doesn't work and is something people who benefit from the discussion (or lack therof) made up.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

@[email protected] Views on the idea, no. But it confirmed my opinion that the current socio-economic system is unfriendly to FLOSS

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I just wanted to say that I have the same questions, and it's a relief to see it posted by someone with more courage. I'm too ignorant to contribute to the discussion though. I don't know how a government or private entity could pressure a FOSS project in this way, unless that pressure was put on the project's git platform. At which point the repo just moves elsewhere.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

FOSS does not mean:

  • Community owned: Linux is owned by the Linux Foundation, a legal entity of the United States and subject to it's laws.
  • Obliged to accept all contributions: The owner is free to accept or reject contributions for any reason.

Nothing changed except some people are no longer responsible for maintaining parts of the source tree. Their delegated power to accept contributions was removed. They can still propose changes, but they will be reviewed by others who aren't subject aren't at risk of Russian state influence.

This isn't saying they've done anything wrong, or that they are currently under state influence, but now that they no longer have maintainer privileges the chance of the FSB knocking on their door has probably dropped 90%.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago
[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Everything be it software or anything else is beholden only to those who is the highest bidder. Being FOSS doesn't change anything. This has been true for some time now that Linux and TLF is duty bound to businesses running it.

It had been covert till now, it is the overtness of this action which is surprising to most. I for one am surprised it didnt happen sooner.

[–] Randomgal 1 points 8 months ago

People are just waking up to the fact that theory isn't reality.

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