Brussels / 30 & 31 January 2016

schedule

Comparing codes of conduct to copyleft licenses


The GPL restricts freedom to redistribute, for some developers, to preserve and expand freedom for all users, including developers. This is a tradeoff we free software aficionados accept. What other tradeoffs around freedom are we accepting, when it comes to user experience (including developer experience), codes of conduct, and our financial structures? When we compare those policies and assumptions to licenses like the GPL, we learn unexpected lessons about our attitudes towards governance, and we consider where our decisions place us on the liberty-to-hospitality spectrum.

When we compare community anti-harassment policies to licenses like the GPL, we learn unexpected lessons about our attitudes towards governance. In this talk, I discuss the similarities and differences between codes of conduct and a set of agreements that our communities are more used to: “copyleft” or other restrictive software licenses. I also draw out some ways that the kinds of acts and artifacts that these policies cover reveal different attitudes towards contracts and governance.

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Photo of Sumana Harihareswara Sumana Harihareswara

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