In class we learnt about different types of licenses, including those that fall under the CopyLeft movement. Copyleft licenses are particularly interesting as they allow others to use, modify, and re-distribute the licensed work while still maintaining the right of the original publisher to impose certain conditions. Moreover, all software that redistributes a version of the copyleft licensed code must be released under the same license, thus preventing proprietary licenses being imposed. This ensures software remains open source and prevents corporations profiting from other peoples work.
Examples of such licenses include the Climatestrike license (2019) which restricts use to any entity involved in mining or distribution of fossil fuels, the Anti-Fascist MIT (2018) license that restricts use to those who support fascism, and the the Peer Production(2010) license which restricts for-profit use unless the profit is shared equally among the workers. Such licenses are always clear in confirming the right to use, modify, and redistribute their software unless the terms are violated. For example, the Peer Production License grants ‘worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, perpetual […] license’ to reproduce, reproduce adaptions, distribute, and distribute adaptions unless the software is used for ‘commercial advantage or private monetary compensation’. Licenses such as the use insure work can be Open sourced without fear of it being misused. Should the terms of the license be broken, legal action can be pursued against the offending party.
Blender is a good example of a software and a copy left license, released under the General Public License (GPL). This allows developers and artists to modify, use, and re-distribute new versions of the software, giving huge creative freedom to many people who would otherwise struggle or be unable to use the expensive alternative software. I have used blender a lot in the past few years and by making it open source the developers have created a community who are always trying to help each other and contribute to make the software better. It is always easy to find a tutorial or a fix for a problem, if you know how you can even alter the software itself.
As an exercise in class we were asked to make our own licenses, mine can be found in the post below. In this exercise I attempted to make the most oppressive and controlling license possible, and in doing so, was able to better understand how damaging oppressive licenses can be; should someone use my license, they would be liable to various and severe legal obligation and highly costly legal fees should they in any way violate the terms. CopyLeft licenses, on the other hand, guarantee the right to use and modify existing software without fear of litigation, thus encouraging innovation and creativity.
This lecture, therefore, informed me how Copy left licenses are vital to ensuring licensed work can still remain open source, thus allowing individuals and creatives without access to powerful resources to create and build far beyond what they could do alone. It also encourages collaboration between developers who are looking to help others and improve on their own work leading to innovations and developments outside large corporations tap. Finally, the copyleft license does all this while providing clear legal framework that prevents Open source resources from being used in a way that the creator disagrees with.
Learning about CopyLeft licenses has given me a far clearer understanding of the open source community and how they function as well as making me feel more excited about this assignment. However, I still believe it is still important that users of GTP-3 are able to understand as best they can how it can be used in other software. My particular contribution was to enable a chatbot to store memory of its conversation with the user. This made me realise how easy it is to manipulate the answers chatbots can give their users, as developers can include hidden prompts that are added to the user prompts, manipulating the answers the users receive. This can be used very maliciously, but is a problem that can be partially addressed by users having access to and understanding the source code of the chatbots built on GTP-3.
