On the Weaponisation of Open Source

• node-ipc

  76 42 2.3 JavaScript

  A nodejs module for local and remote Inter Process Communication (IPC), Neural Networking, and able to facilitate machine learning. (by RIAEvangelist)

From the article:

> I don’t think this can be classed as open source anymore:

> The definition of an Open Source License is quite clear:

> 5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups The license must not discriminate against any person or group of persons.

> I don’t really want to have to read through each of my dependencies and transitive dependencies licences to determine whether I am agreeing to discriminatory terms by using a library.

I think the author of the article has misunderstood the definition, thus reached the wrong conclusion.

The non-discrimination rule applies only to accessibility and nothing else. Simply put, you provide the same code/product to everybody, including Satan Claus and Mr Putin under the same set of condition and permissions. Adding/removing malicious code does not change the fact that the code is by definition open sourced.

All and all, this is not a license problem.

Now, talk about node-ipc, which just got attacked by mobs (see https://github.com/RIAEvangelist/node-ipc/issues?q=is%3Aissu...).

If an open source project is a scam, then it's a scamware. If an open source project is malicious, then it's a malware.

Personally, as a normal human being, it is hard to keep a peace of mind after watching how the Russians fired multiple heavy rounds to kill the elderly couple who just traveling peacefully in a car down the road near a hospital. It is even harder to keep a peace of mind after watching a video recorded by a son showing how the Russians shoot and killed his father who sits in the driver's seat right beside him. I fully understand and respect the anger.

However, I do agree that people need to be more mature on this even during this difficult time. Turn your project into a malware only hurts your own reputation and people who trusted you. Once the trust is gone, it might never recover. There are many ways to actually hurt those who contributed the invasion. Be constructive and accurate, or at very least don't be destructive.

• bitsquat-script

  1 56 10.0 Python

  Bitsquat Domain Generation Script

• SurveyJS

  surveyjs.io featured

  Open-Source JSON Form Builder to Create Dynamic Forms Right in Your App. With SurveyJS form UI libraries, you can build and style forms in a fully-integrated drag & drop form builder, render them in your JS app, and store form submission data in any backend, inc. PHP, ASP.NET Core, and Node.js.

  

• beny23

  1 - -

Does anyone know the game that is being shown in the image? @beny23, I checked your code (OSS FTW!) but the image name doesn't reveal anything:

https://github.com/beny23/beny23.github.io/blob/master/posts...

https://beny23.github.io/images/on_weaponisation_of_open_sou...

• rfcs

  35 717 5.7 JavaScript

  Public change requests/proposals & ideation (by npm)

  

https://github.com/npm/rfcs/issues/509

it more or less just makes it difficult for updates to propogate, which is arguably a good thing.

Suggest a related project