DeVault: GitHub Copilot and open source laundering [LWN.net]

DeVault: GitHub Copilot and open source laundering

Posted Jun 24, 2022 19:05 UTC (Fri) by samth (guest, #1290)
In reply to: DeVault: GitHub Copilot and open source laundering by Vipketsh
Parent article: DeVault: GitHub Copilot and open source laundering

No, you can't "trick" copyright law. A judge would say "obviously those are different". The fact that from a computing perspective, there is a sense in which they're the same thing, or that there is not way to draw a bright line distinction between a hard drive and Copilot, doesn't matter at all. The law does not work the way computers do.

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DeVault: GitHub Copilot and open source laundering

Posted Jun 24, 2022 21:16 UTC (Fri) by Wol (subscriber, #4433) [Link] (1 responses)

> The law does not work the way computers do.

The problem is when the law says "black is white", or "true is false". What was that about the ?Pennsylvania legislature trying to define "pi = 3"?

Lawyers are supposed to understand logic. Maths is a subset of logic. Yet how many legal screw-ups do we have because lawyers want to legislate maths out of existence?

And then we get people here who think law is "black and white". PJ was quite clear - "law is squishy". BECAUSE lawyers don't understand black and white! Or because life mostly ISN'T black and white!

It would be lovely if things were that simple. But what answer do you get when you ask the question "what's 6 times 9?". When you ask the question "What is reality?" Because even a Physicist will turn round and say "the Universe doesn't know"!. YOUR reality is different from MINE, and we have no way of telling if there even IS a correct version of events.

For the most part, law tends to fix (or forget) its worst mistakes, but isn't that true of Computer Scientists too?

You need to try and twist reality to your view, or you'll find other people WILL twist it to theirs. Quite possibly without even trying or intending to ...

Cheers,
Wol

DeVault: GitHub Copilot and open source laundering

Posted Jun 24, 2022 22:52 UTC (Fri) by mathstuf (subscriber, #69389) [Link]

> What was that about the ?Pennsylvania legislature trying to define "pi = 3"?

Hey, PA has its problems. But this one came from Indiana. Luckily there was a school teacher that was there to help teach some math.

https://www.straightdope.com/21341975/did-a-state-legisla...