Are you happier with locked-down devices that you cannot modify or even inspect that invade your privacy as long as they don't use your code?
Anyway, I certainly think the MIT license is political - I also believe in the political position of free education for all people, even if they're billionaires (or children of billionaires), and in the political position that I should be taxed to provide these services for people richer than me. I donate to charities that help people who do not repay me. And so forth.
If some billionaires want to profit off of unpaid labor, don't think you can stop it by using the GPL, which relies on the legal system and copyright laws that made them billionaires in the first place. If you sue them for infringing the GPL, you might have a great strategy to win their game, but you're still playing their game in their courts. There's a saying from a totally different context that applies here too, I think: the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house. We've had the GPL for decades now and the result is there's a lot of billionaires whose fortunes were made via GPL'd software like Linux.
If you want to get rid of billionaires, or of freeloading billionaires, or of locked-down devices, or of invasions of privacy, take action against that thing. Do not fall into the trap of "Something must be done, and the GPL is something."
Anyway, I certainly think the MIT license is political - I also believe in the political position of free education for all people, even if they're billionaires (or children of billionaires), and in the political position that I should be taxed to provide these services for people richer than me. I donate to charities that help people who do not repay me. And so forth.
If some billionaires want to profit off of unpaid labor, don't think you can stop it by using the GPL, which relies on the legal system and copyright laws that made them billionaires in the first place. If you sue them for infringing the GPL, you might have a great strategy to win their game, but you're still playing their game in their courts. There's a saying from a totally different context that applies here too, I think: the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house. We've had the GPL for decades now and the result is there's a lot of billionaires whose fortunes were made via GPL'd software like Linux.
If you want to get rid of billionaires, or of freeloading billionaires, or of locked-down devices, or of invasions of privacy, take action against that thing. Do not fall into the trap of "Something must be done, and the GPL is something."