FOSS APAS & FOSS-friendly ToS restrictions (was Re: Minutes of AI Assist Committee TUE 2022-06-22, 18:00-19:00 UTC)

[Joseph Turner]

"Bradley M. Kuhn" <bkuhn at sfconservancy.org> writes:
> Just as a reminder: the Committee is debating lots of speculative ideas about
> what could be, or what we might want to do as activists.  So, when you read
> the minutes, keep in mind they aren't officially proposals — they're
> discussion and ideas; we're publishing the minutes for transparency and to
> spur discussion.

Thank you. Yes, this is clear.

> one might argue that copyleft itself is a “field of use” restriction
> since you cannot modify copyleft software *into* proprietary software,
> so your “field of use” is, in some sense, restricted.

I think I don't understand the value of the phrase "field of use" if
it's not used in contradistinction to the four freedoms. What's the
point in thinking in terms of "field of use"? I'm likely missing some
context.

>> *If* the primary cost to produce a FOSS Model is compute time and not
>> developer time in creation and maintenance of the Trainer, then perhaps no
>> TOS would be necessary to prevent the creation of a proprietary Model with
>> the FOSS Trainer. IOW, if donations are given with the explicit goal of
>> creating a FOSS Model (and Trainer), and we create a good FOSS Model, then
>> perhaps the cost to create an alternative proprietary Model from the FOSS
>> Trainer would be prohibitively high.
>
> This logic doesn't seem to hold to me, because the cost is prohibitively high
> for hobbyist and charities, but not for-profit companies and their trade
> associations — all of whom are the key entities that either don't mind (or
> actually *want*) more proprietary software in the world.  I think your
> argument only works in a world where resources are distributed perfectly
> equally to all … and that world has never existed in human history AFAIK.

Thanks for clarifying this point. I was thinking that it would be
sufficient to produce a FOSS Model, which would carry protections of the
four freedoms.

I appreciate your time in responding to my questions.

Warmly,

Joseph