https://lemmy.ml/post/35472063

The original post is about a supposedly privacy focused keyboard that sends your voice and messages to OpenAI for speech to text. I posted saying I use the FUTO Keyboard as it’s open source and does voice to text on-device. There unsued a discussion about if the FUTO Keyboard is open source, as the license prohibits commercial use. After people sharing thoughts on this for a day, the mods removed the thread for being offtopic and promoting proprietary software. Even if you think that the license prohibiting commercial use makes it not open source, it certainly doesn’t make it proprietary.

  • Arthur Besse@lemmy.mlEnglish
    425·
    9 days ago

    Hi, that was me. Some relevant context is that uninformed FUTO fans regularly overwhelm discussion threads in spaces dedicated to free/libre open source software, arguing about if FUTO’s license (which prohibits distributing modified versions of apps) meets definitions which it clearly does not. As I wrote in a previous PTB thread about my removal of FUTO misinformation/advocacy from [email protected]:

    I’m pretty sure that Futo’s (now recanted) position that they were open source (despite the term having a clear definition which is very internationally recognized and which Futo’s license obviously does not meet) was an intentional marketing gimmick - “there is no such thing as bad publicity” and every time a bunch of people are arguing about them there is a chance they’ll get more customers (some of whom might even believe it is open source).

    In this latest case, I did consider removing the whole thread, but since it is generally raising awareness about /e/ OS’s privacy-hostile behavior (rather than promoting it) i decided to leave it.

    edit/p.s.: re one of your deleted comments saying that the license at least meets the cambridge dictionary’s definition of open source: actually, no, it does not meet that definition either.

    • Owl@mander.xyz
      91·
      8 days ago

      This comment is articulate and respectful in a way that in my personal experience and posts seen on this sub is unconventional for a .ml mod

      Genuine kudos, keep it up !

    • MourningDove@lemmy.zip
      3·
      8 days ago

      This might be the first time I’ve seen an actual mod from .ml take action. All this time, I was thinking you were all basically neutered by the admins and just figureheads to provide the illusion of fairness.