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diff --git a/.html/dev/_list.html b/.html/dev/_list.html index e37184e..f242c8e 100644 --- a/.html/dev/_list.html +++ b/.html/dev/_list.html @@ -85,6 +85,8 @@ <li><a href="stop-building-synchronous-web-containers">Stop Building Synchronous Web Containers</a></li> + <li><a href="gnu-collective-action-license">The GPL As Collective Action</a></li> + <li><a href="webapps">Webapps From The Ground Up</a></li> <li><a href="why-scm">Why we use SCM systems</a></li> diff --git a/.html/dev/gnu-collective-action-license.html b/.html/dev/gnu-collective-action-license.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4a19a58 --- /dev/null +++ b/.html/dev/gnu-collective-action-license.html @@ -0,0 +1,133 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html> +<head> + <title> + The Codex » + The GPL As Collective Action + </title> + + <link + rel='stylesheet' + type='text/css' + href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Buenard:400,700&subset=latin,latin-ext'> + <link + rel="stylesheet" + type="text/css" + href="../media/css/reset.css"> + <link + rel="stylesheet" + type="text/css" + href="../media/css/grimoire.css"> +</head> +<body> + +<div id="shell"> + + <ol id="breadcrumbs"> + + <li class="crumb-0 not-last"> + + <a href="../">index</a> + + </li> + + <li class="crumb-1 not-last"> + + <a href="./">dev</a> + + </li> + + <li class="crumb-2 last"> + + gnu-collective-action-license + + </li> + + </ol> + + + + <div id="article"> + <h1 id="the-gpl-as-collective-action">The GPL As Collective Action</h1> +<p>Programmers, like many groups of subject experts, are widely afflicted by the +belief that all other fields of expertise can be reduced to a special case of +programming expertise. For a great example of this, watch <a href="https://xkcd.com/1494/">programmers argue +about law</a> (which can <em>obviously</em> be reduced to a rules +system, which is a programming problem), +<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2e5a7k/could_the_blockchain_be_used_to_prove_consensual/">consent</a> +(which is <em>obviously</em> about non-repudiatable proofs, which are a programming +problem), or <a href="https://github.com/google/deepdream">art</a> (which is <em>obviously</em> +reducible to simple but large automata). One key symptom of this social pattern +is a disregard for outside expertise and outside bodies of knowledge.</p> +<p>I believe this habit may have bitten Stallman.</p> +<p>The GNU Public License presents a simple, legally enforceable offer: in return +for granting the right to distribute the licensed work and its derivatives, the +GPL demands that derivative works also be released under the GPL. The <em>intent</em>, +as derived from +<a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.en.html">Stallman's commentaries</a> +on the GPL and on the social systems around software, is that people who <em>use</em> +information systems should, morally and legally, be entitled to the tools to +understand what the system will do and why, and to make changes to those tools +as they see fit.</p> +<p>This is a form of <em>collective action</em>, as implemented by someone who thinks of +unions and organized labour as something that software could do better. The +usual lens for critique of the GPL is that GPL'd software cannot be used in +non-GPL systems (which is increasingly true, as the Free Software Foundation +catches up with the "as a Service" model of software deliver) <em>by developers</em>, +but I think there's a more interesting angle on it as an attempt to apply the +collective bargaining power of programmers as a class to extracting a +concession from managerial -- business and government -- interests, instead. In +that reading, the GPL demands that managerial interests in software avoid +behaviours that would be bad for programmers (framed as "users", as above) as a +condition of benefitting from the labour of those programmers.</p> +<p>Sadly, Stallman is not a labour historian or a union organizer. He's a public +speaker and a programmer. By attempting to reinvent collective action from +first principles, and by treating collective action as a special case of +software development, the GPL acts to divide programmers from non-programming +computer users, and to weaken the collective position of programmers vis-à-vis +managerial interests. The rise of "merit"-based open source licenses, such as +the MIT license (which I use heavily, but advisedly), and the increasing +pervasiveness of the Github Resume, are both simple consequences of this +mistake.</p> +<p>I'm pro-union. The only thing worse than having two competing powerful +interests in the room is having only one powerful interest in the room. The GPL +should be part of any historical case study for the unionization of +programmers, since it captures so much of what we do wrong.</p> + </div> + + + +<div id="comments"> +<div id="disqus_thread"></div> +<script type="text/javascript"> + /* * * CONFIGURATION VARIABLES: EDIT BEFORE PASTING INTO YOUR WEBPAGE * * */ + var disqus_shortname = 'grimoire'; // required: replace example with your forum shortname + + /* * * DON'T EDIT BELOW THIS LINE * * */ + (function() { + var dsq = document.createElement('script'); dsq.type = 'text/javascript'; dsq.async = true; + dsq.src = 'http://' + disqus_shortname + '.disqus.com/embed.js'; + (document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0] || document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0]).appendChild(dsq); + })(); +</script> +<noscript>Please enable JavaScript to view the <a href="http://disqus.com/?ref_noscript">comments powered by Disqus.</a></noscript> +<a href="http://disqus.com" class="dsq-brlink">comments powered by <span class="logo-disqus">Disqus</span></a> +</div> + + + + <div id="footer"> + <p> + + The Codex — + + Powered by <a href="http://markdoc.org/">Markdoc</a>. + +<a href="https://bitbucket.org/ojacobson/grimoire.ca/src/master/wiki/dev/gnu-collective-action-license.md">See this page on Bitbucket</a> (<a href="https://bitbucket.org/ojacobson/grimoire.ca/history-node/master/wiki/dev/gnu-collective-action-license.md">history</a>). + + </p> + </div> + +</div> +</body> +</html>
\ No newline at end of file diff --git a/.html/dev/index.html b/.html/dev/index.html index e37184e..f242c8e 100644 --- a/.html/dev/index.html +++ b/.html/dev/index.html @@ -85,6 +85,8 @@ <li><a href="stop-building-synchronous-web-containers">Stop Building Synchronous Web Containers</a></li> + <li><a href="gnu-collective-action-license">The GPL As Collective Action</a></li> + <li><a href="webapps">Webapps From The Ground Up</a></li> <li><a href="why-scm">Why we use SCM systems</a></li> diff --git a/wiki/dev/gnu-collective-action-license.md b/wiki/dev/gnu-collective-action-license.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c70a4af --- /dev/null +++ b/wiki/dev/gnu-collective-action-license.md @@ -0,0 +1,51 @@ +# The GPL As Collective Action + +Programmers, like many groups of subject experts, are widely afflicted by the +belief that all other fields of expertise can be reduced to a special case of +programming expertise. For a great example of this, watch [programmers argue +about law](https://xkcd.com/1494/) (which can _obviously_ be reduced to a rules +system, which is a programming problem), +[consent](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2e5a7k/could_the_blockchain_be_used_to_prove_consensual/) +(which is _obviously_ about non-repudiatable proofs, which are a programming +problem), or [art](https://github.com/google/deepdream) (which is _obviously_ +reducible to simple but large automata). One key symptom of this social pattern +is a disregard for outside expertise and outside bodies of knowledge. + +I believe this habit may have bitten Stallman. + +The GNU Public License presents a simple, legally enforceable offer: in return +for granting the right to distribute the licensed work and its derivatives, the +GPL demands that derivative works also be released under the GPL. The _intent_, +as derived from +[Stallman's commentaries](http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.en.html) +on the GPL and on the social systems around software, is that people who _use_ +information systems should, morally and legally, be entitled to the tools to +understand what the system will do and why, and to make changes to those tools +as they see fit. + +This is a form of _collective action_, as implemented by someone who thinks of +unions and organized labour as something that software could do better. The +usual lens for critique of the GPL is that GPL'd software cannot be used in +non-GPL systems (which is increasingly true, as the Free Software Foundation +catches up with the "as a Service" model of software deliver) _by developers_, +but I think there's a more interesting angle on it as an attempt to apply the +collective bargaining power of programmers as a class to extracting a +concession from managerial -- business and government -- interests, instead. In +that reading, the GPL demands that managerial interests in software avoid +behaviours that would be bad for programmers (framed as "users", as above) as a +condition of benefitting from the labour of those programmers. + +Sadly, Stallman is not a labour historian or a union organizer. He's a public +speaker and a programmer. By attempting to reinvent collective action from +first principles, and by treating collective action as a special case of +software development, the GPL acts to divide programmers from non-programming +computer users, and to weaken the collective position of programmers vis-à-vis +managerial interests. The rise of "merit"-based open source licenses, such as +the MIT license (which I use heavily, but advisedly), and the increasing +pervasiveness of the Github Resume, are both simple consequences of this +mistake. + +I'm pro-union. The only thing worse than having two competing powerful +interests in the room is having only one powerful interest in the room. The GPL +should be part of any historical case study for the unionization of +programmers, since it captures so much of what we do wrong. |