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by scarface74 1580 days ago
Would you be okay if large for profit companies didn’t have to abide by open source licenses?

What’s the incentive to make movies or music just to be given away for free? Would you work for free?

5 comments

> Would you be okay if large for profit companies didn’t have to abide by open source licenses?

Yes. I believe in the MIT licensing model.

> What’s the incentive to make movies or music just to be given away for free?

Firstly, almost all the money made from movies/music is not made by the artists who created. It goes to the shareholders of large corporations. Secondly, I believe in the hacker ethic of free information online. All media/information/etc online should be free. In the physical, making copies of anything costs time and money. Whereas copying digital items is a click of a mouse. Thirdly, artists can still make money via their fans. If fans like their stuff, those who can afford it will pay.

> Would you work for free?

Nobody is. But then again, why pay someone for something they didn't create. Licensing doesn't exist to protect artists. It exists to protect large corporations.

So are you saying that large companies operate with a 100% profit margin?

If people can’t afford something that means they should have a right to it anyway?

If a company can’t afford my labor at the price I set, they don’t get to take advantage of my labor.

>Would you be okay if large for profit companies didn’t have to abide by open source licenses?

Are we pretending that they all do?

Who will pay them if no one pays for their content?
> Would you be okay if large for profit companies didn’t have to abide by open source licenses?

Disney created an empire out of recycling "open source" folklore tales, then did use that influence to screw over copyright for generations to come.

This last decade it's been busy gobbling up anything worthwhile it hasn't already recycled 20 times.

The open source crowd didn’t whine about closed source software. They created their own alternatives. Instead of clamoring for others to give their stuff away, work with like minded people to create your own.

Or is your time more valuable trading labor for money like most people?

> Instead of clamoring for others to give their stuff away, work with like minded people to create your own.

I'm not the one "clamoring" for anybody to give anything away.

Disney didn't work with any of the original creators of these tales, nor their surviving relatives, yet they took that "stuff" and made it solely their own.

> Or is your time more valuable trading labor for money like most people?

I think shared culture is more valuable than having it exploited and gate-kept for purely commercial purposes.

Yet we now live in a world were institutions and people can get "punished" for singing happy birthday.

It's plainly absurd, but by now so normalized that most people stopped caring or even questioning the kind of power and influence Disney has amassed trough it's questionable practices.

Are you willing to take the time and give your talents away without compensation?
I think we both agree both situation are wrong.

If a company doesn't abide the OSS license of my software I need to sue. I want companies to sue me for eg. redistributing their content without permission. Not being fined by the government with my own money.

So if a large corporation with an army of lawyers uses your open source code, how successful do you think you will be at winning the lawsuit?
I would work for free if I didn't need money to get any and all things, from basic necesities to frivolous luxuries
Yes we all have an addiction to food and shelter. But somehow people think that others should work for free for their enjoyment.