Linux developers threaten to pull “kill switch”.

[Theodarzna]

Update (September 24): new response from Richard M. Stallman, and Eric S. Raymond (ESR) says the license revocation “threat has teeth.”

Linux powers the internet, the Android in your pocket, and perhaps even some of your household appliances. A controversy over politics is now seeing some of its developers threatening to withdraw the license to all of their code, potentially destroying or making the whole Linux kernel unusable for a very long time.

If the threat is put into action, ramifications could include large parts of the internet being left vulnerable to exploits, and companies around the world might even inherit bundles of unwanted legal liabilities.

As promised, LULZ.com reached out to a variety of experts and some results are in. Richard M. Stallman said over email that he thinks the licence revocation plan is “misguided.”

Eric S. Raymond (often referred to simply as ESR) on the other hand told the Linux Kernel Mailing List that he thinks the plan is viable: “I’m writing now, from all of that experience and with all that perspective, about the recent flap over the new CoC and the attempt to organize a mass withdrawal of creator permissions from the kernel.”

He continues: “First, let me confirm that this threat has teeth. I researched the relevant law when I was founding the Open Source Initiative. In the U.S. there is case law confirming that reputational losses relating to conversion of the rights of a contributor to a GPLed project are judicable in law. I do not know the case law outside the U.S., but in countries observing the Berne Convention without the U.S.’s opt-out of the “moral rights” clause, that clause probably gives the objectors an even stronger case.”

CC’s Code of Conduct replaces Linux’ earlier Code of Conflict (not to be confused with current use of “CoC”), which asked for civility without having political implications. The change is widely condemned by developers, and opposition has generated thousands upon thousands of posts on 4chan’s technology board alone. Here is a summary of their arguments:

1. Insertion of the CoC into other projects has heralded witch hunts where good contributors are removed over trivial matters or even events that happened a long time ago–like Larry Garfield, a prominent Drupal contributor who was purged after it was discovered he had a sex fetish where women are submissive.
2. The lack of proper definitions for punishments, time frames, and even what constitutes abuse or harassment leaves the Code of Conduct wide open for abuse (see 1).
3. It gives the people charged with enforcement omnipotent and unaccountable power.
4. It could force acceptance of contributions that wouldn’t make the cut if made by cis white males.
5. CC’s Code of Conduct is purely about power.
6. “‘In all that time I never had to know or care whether my fellow contributors were white, black, male, female, straight, gay, or from the planet Mars, only whether their code was good’; namely, in a project that receives contributions from volunteers who are anonymous beyond a chosen handle, specious claims of exclusion and harassment crumble beneath the most haphazard scrutiny. Contributors reveal as much about their race, sex, and orientation as they want because no one cares about that tangential shit at the end of the day. If there really was some “straight white males only” mentality, the community would insist on determining whether a new contributor is “one of us” before accepting their code, but they don’t do that in the slightest. Thus, it’s patently clear there is no culture of exclusion, but rather a culture of total indifference to individual differences beyond coding ability. The rhetoric of diversity and inclusiveness is just a weapon being used to attack a community that is inherently opposed to identity politics, which is why they’re seen as such a threat to these SJW gestapo.”

On the other side of the aisle, arguments FOR CC’s Code of Conduct include:

1. Fostering an inclusive and safe space for women, LGBTQIA+, and People of Color, who in the absence of the CoC are excluded, harassed, and sometimes even raped by cis white males.
2. Lack of CC’s CoC sustains meritocracy, which “has consistently shown itself to mainly benefit those with privilege, to the exclusion of underrepresented people in technology“.
3. The vast majority of Linux contributors are cis white males. CC’s Code of Conduct would enable the building of a more diverse overall demographic as people who aren’t cis white males feel welcome to join and white male harassers are weeded out.
4. Being against the CoC means you want women, LGBTQIA+, and People of Color to be harassed.

Conclusion? Keep an eye on Linux.

(Source)

So Linux, that which powers most web servers, Android phones and a lot of other business applications may be utterly crippled following attempts to enforce a "Contributor Covenant" or Code of Conduct. Appearently developers whom have contributed code through the years have a the licensing right to pull their code from the system, of which significant portions are core code that will unravel the entirety of Linux. In some cases the code sits at the foundation of Linux itself. The Code of Conduct appears to be a Social Justicey project and its potential inclusion into the Linux community might spell the deathknell of Linux. More over, appearently the Kill Switch threat has significant teeth.

[Moralgy]

Nothing will come from this.

[Forgettable]

Fucking SJWs at it again.

[kasuke06]

so, someone's trying to shove an agenda into a hobby and the people who do said hobby are threatening to kill it, and said hobby powers a decent portion of the modern world. Do I have that right?

[Theodarzna]

so, someone's trying to shove an agenda into a hobby and the people who do said hobby are threatening to kill it, and said hobby powers a decent portion of the modern world. Do I have that right?

That is the rub of it.

- - - Updated - - -

Fucking SJWs at it again.

Yep, this should be expected. I think it is only fair that if a volunteer is forcefully pushed out of his own project, then his contributions should also be removed. Otherwise, how is this not just plain loot and robbery?

The irony of these jackals who just come in and colonize a space, appropriating these peoples work and then excluding those contributors from it.

Sad though, I love my android.

[Karaoke]

I probably missed it in the OP, but what is the cause for these actions? Genuinely curious here.

[callipygoustp]

Heh, as if diversity can be forced. Every year, regardless of company I am at, HR sends out a memo, or two, about hiring diversity. Sadly the resumes HR provides rarely provide an opportunity to diversify the programmer/engineering work force.

[Theodarzna]

I probably missed it in the OP, but what is the cause for these actions? Genuinely curious here.

There is a controversy over the implementation of a "Contributor Covenant" which is seen as injecting Social Justice politics into the Linux community and a significant portion of developers (Including some whose code now sits at the bedrock of Linux itself) are discussing just taking their code and leaving, crippling the project and leaving it in ruins.

[Jofe]

There is a controversy over the implementation of a "Contributor Covenant" which is seen as injecting Social Justice politics into the Linux community and a significant portion of developers (Including some whose code now sits at the bedrock of Linux itself) are discussing just taking their code and leaving, crippling the project and leaving it in ruins.

From what I also remember the code is vague enough to be turned into a witch hunt. I think a couple of developers were kicked out because of things that they said years ago and were deemed "sexist" (spoiler alert: what they said wasn't sexist at all)

[Jtbrig7390]

And nothing will happen.

This is fluff nothing more.

[Mistame]

Fucking SJWs at it again.

I generally cringe when I see "SJW", but it seems this time it may actually be accurate. >.<

[Independent voter]

Linus is an abrasive dick. He said some coders should be "retroactively aborted", and even said "shut the fuck up" to a co-contributor. Linux is big now and you can't go around saying that kind of stuff when you're that big. People would say, "oh, he's just Finnish, that's their culture."

Linus himself said it was time for change and that's why he stepped down.

It's a tempest in a tea pot and storm is already over.

I doubt Google would bat an eye if linux died today.

[Tierbook]

Linus is an abrasive dick. He said some coders should be "retroactively aborted", and even said "shut the fuck up" to a co-contributor. Linux is big now and you can't go around saying that kind of stuff when you're that big. People would say, "oh, he's just Finnish, that's their culture."

Linus himself said it was time for change and that's why he stepped down.

It's a tempest in a tea pot and storm is already over.

I doubt Google would bat an eye if linux died today.

Since Android runs off Linux i would think they'd be worried?

[Independent voter]

Since Android runs off Linux i would think they'd be worried?

This guy explains it. https://www.androidauthority.com/android-linux-784964/

You can't run linux aps on android for example.

[Deleted]

And that kids, is why you should never hold shared ownership of anything.

[Kaleredar]

I highly doubt anything comes of this.

[Masark]

opposition has generated thousands upon thousands of posts on 4chan’s technology board alone

Yes, because 4chan is such a major centre for linux kernel development discussion.

[Deleted]

These SJW's or feminists or whatever they call themselves now are pure cancer of this planet, everything they touch turns to shit. Scariest part is how exactly a document that is openly sexist and racist towards white males is even accepted in the first place? People's lives and career's are in danger because of morons who find meritocracy a problem.

[tikcol]

lol why am I reading something regarding linux and stupid words like lgbt pop up all of a sudden?

[Deleted]

These SJW's or feminists or whatever they call themselves now are pure cancer of this planet, everything they touch turns to shit. Scariest part is how exactly a document that is openly sexist and racist towards white males is even accepted in the first place? People's lives and career's are in danger because of morons who find meritocracy a problem.

Pretty much this

SJWs are just the worst people