Re:Truth Social broke software rules, says copyleft group
by motohagiography on Friday October 22, 2021 @05:20PM
(#28962886)
I'd say they can just distribute their changes to remedy the situation and issue is resolved, or they can do the litigating you are asking for, and then be mindful that as a pariah organization they are the canary in the coalmine for FOSS license lawfare.
Indeed, I don't think anyone would offer them special relief, but if this issue shows we are in an era of political exposure to opportunistic enforcement, that's notable for everyone who develops products.
Re:Truth Social broke software rules, says copyleft group
by woodruffw on Friday October 22, 2021 @05:36PM
(#28963049)
> I'd say they can just distribute their changes to remedy the situation and issue is resolved, or they can do the litigating you are asking for, and then be mindful that as a pariah organization they are the canary in the coalmine for FOSS license lawfare.
I'm not asking for litigation, nor has the SFC threatened any. They've told TRUTH to comply with the licensing terms of the software that they're using, and they've given them a month to demonstrate compliance before taking any further steps. They can do precisely what you just said ("distribute their changes"), and everybody would walk away satisfied.
I welcome you to find a countervailing provision within the AGPL that permits TRUTH to host a service based on their Mastodon fork without distributing their changes. That would be, in legal terms, a "doozy."
> The AGPL can score some points and the company changes its practices and everyone moves on.
This is, as far as I can tell, precisely the intended outcome: the SFC intends to compel TRUTH to comply with the terms of the software they're using. Once they do (i.e., "change their practices"), they are perfectly free to continue using it (i.e., "move on").
As for the rest of your response: it's the same handwringing. The terms of the license are clear; Trump's status as a pariah doesn't entitle him to special relief from the terms of a software license.