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[Fnord]

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.
An open letter posted to the Linux Kernel Mailing List explains:
Date Thu, 20 Sep 2018 09:28:14 +0000
From unconditionedwitness@redchan ...
Subject Re: A Plea to Unfuck our Codes of Conduct

Regarding those who are ejected from the Linux Kernel Community after
this CoC:

Contributors can, at any time, rescind the license grant regarding their
property via written notice to those whom they are rescinding the grant
from (regarding their property (code)) .

The GPL version 2 lacks a no-rescission clause (the GPL version 3 has
such a clause: to attempt furnish defendants with an estoppel defense,
the Linux Kernel is licensed under version 2, however, as are the past
contributions).

When the defendants ignore the rescission and continue using the
plaintiff's code, the plaintiff can sue under the copyright statute.

Banned contributors _should_ do this (note: plaintiff is to register
their copyright prior to filing suit, the copyright does not have to be
registered at the time of the violation however)

Additionally when said banned contributors joined the Linux team, they
were under the impression that it was a meritocracy: in-fact this belief
was stated or ratified by those within the governing body regarding
Linux when the contributors began their work (whatever that body was at
that time, it could have been simply Linus, or Linus and a few
associates).

The remuneration for the work was implied to be, or perhaps stated, to
be fame as-well as a potential increase in the contributors stature, in
addition to membership in the Linux Kernel club or association, or
whatever it is that the Linux Kernel Community actually is (which a
court may determine... it is something, suffice to say).

Thusly for work, consideration was promised by (Linus? Others? There are
years of mailing list archives with which to determine).

And now that consideration has been clawed-back and the contributors
image has been tarnished.

Thus the worker did work, however the other side of the implied, or
perhaps written (email memorandums), understanding has been violated
(once the contributor has been banned under the new non-meritocratic
"CoC").

Damages could be recovered under: breach of contract, quazi-contract,
libel, false-light. (services rendered for the contractual claims,
future lost income for the libel claims)

In addition to copyright claims. (statutory damages, profits)

For greatest effect, all rescission should be done at once in a bloc.
(With other banned contributors).

Contributors: You were promised something, you laboured for that
promise, and now the promise has become a lie. You have remedies
available to you now, as-well as in the close future .

Additionally, regarding those who promoted the Code of Conduct to be
used against the linux kernel contributors, knowing full well the effect
it would have and desiring those effects; recovery for the ejected
contributors via a tortious interference claim may be possible.

Linux Developers Threaten to Pull "Kill Switch"

Way more at the link. Is there nothing this crap isn't going to ruin?

 

[Cunth]

I assume this is SJW related?

 

[infinitys_7th]

Excellent. I'm glad they were able to maintain this sort of power.

Now to use it as a cudgel. Fire us, and we'll take down everything you built.

 

[Clear]

Yeesh, what a clusterfuck.

This bit is especially damning:

“‘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.”

If a culture of exclusion does not need to be proven, just claimed, that's not a victory for diversity, its a smokescreen tactic for external interests to execute a hostile takeover.

 

[kuhmayamaya]

This is a nice thread on the topic:

This code of conduct is there implicitly for harassing and removing devs, making identity politics the prime issue rather than code quality, and making possible a takeover that would damage Linux's security and quality to benefit MS, Intel, and intelligence agencies.

 

[Red Crayon Aristocrat]

Doesn't the CEO of Linux make damn sure to always have people with him at all times at tech conferences so no one can make a false sexual harassment claim?

For whatever reason the tech industry is one of SJWs' main targets and this sounds like a ploy to seize power.

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

I've been following this development, and it's great to finally see a community push back hard against the constant Code of Conduct creep that has been taking over other areas, where typically the matter is introduced by a few corporate-friendly diversity individuals, who have little genuine programming skill but a whole lot of self-importance to invest, and then solidified in such a way that no one wants to fight it and jeopardize their career.

Linux is a great frontier to have this battle, since its devs generally have a much higher lower-floor of talent, and by its nature kernel dev isn't a 'welcoming' thing (nor should it be made artificially welcoming, which is the whole problem here). I'm happy to see that there is a significant legal loophole devs can use to wreak havoc this time if the COC nonsense isn't pulled back.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

These parasites don't create. They just devour, like gluttons given the keys to a buffet.

 

[Mr Nash]

How does this work with all of the different distributions? Would they wind up becoming very tribal to the point where things like Mate, Mint, Debian, Ubuntu, and whatever else would become vastly different and compatibility issues would begin to arise? I don't really follow Linux that close so have no idea how all these iterations work or how they're developed.

 

[48086]

Yeesh, what a clusterfuck.

This bit is especially damning:

“‘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.”

If a culture of exclusion does not need to be proven, just claimed, that's not a victory for diversity, its a smokescreen tactic for external interests to execute a hostile takeover.

That is why the internet was so excited and liberating when it was first coming to light. Anyone could be anyone. No one cared who you were or what your traits were. I do miss the internet of the 90s. I would trade my 1 gig down connection to have it all back.

 

[TheShadowLord]

That is why the internet was so excited and liberating when it was first coming to light. Anyone could be anyone. No one cared who you were or what your traits were. I do miss the internet of the 90s. I would trade my 1 gig down connection to have it all back.

Even if it meant going back to dial up?

 

[48086]

Even if it meant going back to dial up?

Absolutely.

 

[The Mad Draklor]

The new Code of Conduct is very vague and can be easily be abused. Not to mention the SJW's are trying to do away with meritocracy, which is what makes Linux and the open-source community the way it is now. If they successfully pull it off, then Linux will be completely fucked. Even worse, the Khronos Groups has adopted the "Contributor Convenant" CoC.

I'm really tired of seeing these identity politics activists going from medium to medium, destroying everything. They need to be stopped. A code doesn't care what you identify as. All it cares about is if it can run properly without bugs and hitches.

Petitions likely don't do much, but it's at least worth a shot to get everyone's attention: https://www.change.org/p/repeal-the-linux-foundation-s-code-of-conduct

 

[yet_another_alt]

Even if it meant going back to dial up?

less focus on online multiplayer games and the comeback of couch coop
a return to GameFAQs and beautifully formatted text guides instead of wikis and Youtube
a lot less e-celeb wankery and their accompanying drama
less digital, more physical games and actual manuals that are hundreds of pages thick
IRC instead of Facebook and Twitter
multiple gaming mags that are basically ads but at least don't have an agenda other than video games

Ah the good old days.

 

[Fnord]

How does this work with all of the different distributions? Would they wind up becoming very tribal to the point where things like Mate, Mint, Debian, Ubuntu, and whatever else would become vastly different and compatibility issues would begin to arise? I don't really follow Linux that close so have no idea how all these iterations work or how they're developed.

We're talking kernel development here. It would affect every distribution on a fundamental level. It would go far beyond mere incompatibilities between distros. It would strike at the very existence of Linux.

 

[Hudo]

Well, there's always the BSD kernels or the Mach kernel. Hell, bring back the glorious Plan9 or OS/2 kernels, baby!

 

[AV]

Some faceless dude on git puts it best partway down the thread chain, when Coraline wants a transphobic contributor removed from the project. He says:

"If you want him removed, start working on Opal and contributing as much as everything he did for Opal so that we have a replacement that's more in orientation with your morals and views." ... "Opal is a technology, technology is moral-less. Bring contributions, they will be welcomed with big, open arms. Bring morals and politics in here, you will be shown the metaphorical door".

Good to see there's a big chunk of people that won't back down on this. Shit, let's do an experiment. Let's take 10 coders chosen on merit alone and see if they can produce something better than 10 coders chosen on their skin colour and who they like to fuck. We'll see which product ends up better. But hey, at least people can feel all fuzzy wuzzy while they lose! Coraline's a loon.

 

[mneuro]

As a Linux user for the last 12 years this is scary. This SJW stuff has to stop before it ruins everything. This isn't just some small thing they are playing with. The Linux kernel is one of the most important pieces of technology that exists today

 

[tkscz]

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.

What the fuck does ANY of this have to due with coding? You don't even GET real recognition as a coder, you're a shadow in the background that makes things work, so who the fuck cares what you are so long as you're good at coding?

Even then, for those who are on the side of the CoC, I'd like to introduce you to ResetERA. A forum that is bathing in CoC politics, the smallest of incitements, which are usually misunderstandings or disagreements, causes dogpiling, back stabbing and bans. They prejudge people to the T and don't even come close to trying to understand anything before jumping to conclusion. The community there MUST think in one way, which does NOT work for coding. Everything must be political, which coding is not. If the CoC took over the Linux, or hell ANY open or close source coding community, then it becomes bogged down and worse. Many of the good coders are removed from projects because of disagreements or something small and indifferent. Many won't get a chance because they don't meet the criteria of not being a straight white man. Many of the coders won't be good at their job and instead of trying to get better, they'll scream harassment until you just sit there and deal with their bad code as every security breach can be made.

I'm tired of seeing these people rush into a media, and then make it worse in order to make them feel better about something they originally didn't care about, and then try to justify their position by throwing out unrelated buzz words that don't even catch the public eye anymore.

 

[petran79]

Just give the SJW their own Linux distribution

 

[McCheese]

Just give the SJW their own Linux distribution

Gender drop-down list alone will need 4gb of dedicated ram.

 

[pr0cs]

Just give the SJW their own Linux distribution

QFT, if they're so interested in inclusion make their own distro with only their preferred contributors

 

[tkscz]

QFT, if they're so interested in inclusion make their own distro with only their preferred contributors

Not good enough. As long as their "opposition" exist, they aren't happy. They need to take over whatever they feel is "toxic" and make it their own so they feel better. It doesn't matter if it's not bothering them, they have to get rid of it.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

So that's how religions are created....Fascinating

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Just give the SJW their own Linux distribution

and Internet

SJW Linux - now with safe Internet

 

[Paracelsus]

Post-meritocracy is probably the scariest "stupid" thing ever conceived by a human mind. And we created the atomic bomb.

 

[llien]

Bluffing they are.
Given the weight and resources of the companies interested in that not happening and at best, blurry laws governing it, not even remotely realistic.

Worst thing they could do is leave the project, fork it and push for "NewLinux".

 

[oagboghi2]

I've seen CoC used in node.js "community", and in my experience they do not exist to make anything better. It just gives people a weapon to use to attack those they disagree with, or whose politics are opposite their. It doesn't add to the code.

The ironic thing is if you ask any of these CoC boosters why they support it, they always mention "marginalized groups". Well speaking as someone who is in one of said groups, that excuse always makes me laugh. Open source can be confusing and intimidating, not because there isn't a CoC, but because very few projects offer a simple and direct way to get involved. If less attention was given to policing thoughts on Twitter(which is all CoC tend to do in reality) and more on actually helping learn to code and contribute, they would actually hit the goals they pretend to care about

 

[Sub_Level]

That is why the internet was so excited and liberating when it was first coming to light. Anyone could be anyone. No one cared who you were or what your traits were. I do miss the internet of the 90s. I would trade my 1 gig down connection to have it all back.

I'll meet you halfway and say anything pre 2004 (aka pre facebook)

Cuz I do like me some Windows XP.

 

[ickythingz]

Yeesh, what a clusterfuck.

This bit is especially damning:

“‘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.”

If a culture of exclusion does not need to be proven, just claimed, that's not a victory for diversity, its a smokescreen tactic for external interests to execute a hostile takeover.

The left are the true racists. It is disgusting.

 

[{insert code here}]

Gender drop-down list alone will need 4gb of dedicated ram.

You sir, win the internet!

 

[SatansReverence]

You sir, win the internet!

I could do it with 2 bits.

1

0

 

[Arkage]

Maybe this is the best way to kill the internet.

 

[LittleBusters]

Welp. In the worst case we can switch over to Microsoft.

 

[Apt101]

Broad, open source license. People were discussing a possible meltdown like this back around 2010 when Android was really gaining traction. It doesn't matter why, only that they can, and that scared big corps back when I was in college and should scare them now.

 

[nemiroff]

How damaged do you need to be in your head to use collectivism to carpet bomb meritocracy when it's one of the most important tools we have to keep society afloat.

 

[oagboghi2]

How damaged do you need to be in your head to use collectivism to carpet bomb meritocracy when it's one of the most important tools we have to keep society afloat.

When your ideology tells you that meritocracy is a patriarchal ploy by whites, Jews and South Asians to keep marginalized people down.

I wish I was lying, but this is what they actually believe.

 

[The Mad Draklor]

This is all frustrating considering that Linux gaming has made quite significant gains this year. To think Linux’s viability as a viable desktop OS and gaming platform may be compromised because of SJWs is depressing.

 

[LittleBusters]

Meanwhile @Microsoft they're laughing their asses off.

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

Don't say it, do it.

It is better to kill it NOW, and save whatever little you have left than to have SJW's take it over and have it die a slow, painful death.

 

[Wings 嫩翼翻せ]

Meanwhile @Microsoft they're laughing their asses off.

How?

While indeed they have been quite posed against each other, it is no secret or matter to kick down what has inevitably become an ally to them in recent years. The article, too, well explains the timeline surrounding the amalgamation of Linux design with Microsoft lenders and products that would suggest otherwise. Such a point is necessary, of course, if we let alone operating systems.

 

[Thiagosc777]

Where is Linus Torvalds in all of this?

 

[iconmaster]

Where is Linus Torvalds in all of this?

Already browbeaten off the scene.

 

[sandkiller]

SJW Gestapo strikes again... incoming bait ban thread at the other side?

 

[Woffls]

Linux kernel is one of the best possible places this debate could take place. Replace talented, motivated engineers with 'corrective' placements, and just see what happens to the Linux platform. The repercussions could be absolutely brutal.

 

[Grinchy]

Yeesh, what a clusterfuck.

This bit is especially damning:

“‘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.”

If a culture of exclusion does not need to be proven, just claimed, that's not a victory for diversity, its a smokescreen tactic for external interests to execute a hostile takeover.

This is what I find so annoying. It sounds like anyone can contribute good code to this project. Feminists decide that there are too many white men contributing, despite not being exactly sure who is contributing, so they make the claim that white men are keeping everyone else out. But that's obviously not true because no one is screened to be a white man before contributing.

It's the same shitty and faulty logic that feminists use for other industries. "There are a lot of white men doing this, therefore, white men are keeping everyone else away on purpose!" Without any actual evidence, people latch on to the ridiculous ramblings of these purple-haired morons.

 

[The Mad Draklor]

 

[Durask]

How damaged do you need to be in your head to use collectivism to carpet bomb meritocracy when it's one of the most important tools we have to keep society afloat.

Ultimately it is all about power. They don't mind pulling the whole house down as long as they can be in charge of the ruins.

 

[RiccochetJ]

Oh good grief. Nice website. It's catchy.

In software you need to learn one lesson: "Everyone is replaceable. Including you."

 

[Alexander DeLarge]

Oh good grief. Nice website. It's catchy.

In software you need to learn one lesson: "Everyone is replaceable. Including you."

These are significant contributions to Linux where if pulled, would bring about some serious problems and frankly I don't blame anyone for the backlash when the leading figures behind the code of conduct are attacking the idea of meritocracy.

This is fucking insane.
https://itsfoss.com/linux-code-of-conduct/