It took me going to their GitHub to find out, but it’s GPL 3.
this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2024
807 points (99.6% liked)
Privacy
31373 readers
1801 users here now
A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
Some Rules
- Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
- Don't promote proprietary software
- Try to keep things on topic
- If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
- Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
- Be nice :)
Related communities
Chat rooms
-
[Matrix/Element]Dead
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)
founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
What does this mean practically
It's pretty much not reversible and the code is free to use, modify, and distribute forever. And if you do modify it you also must make those changes open source.
Very good news
gpl v3 you can do pretty much anything but you have to put it the same license but it has like drm protections and Anti-Tivoization and also has some patent protections people find this license too strict
load more comments
(2 replies)
It means it can't ever become proprietary closed-source software (not without a major lawsuit).
Any new open source software is always a net positive.
But, there are a few small caveats to the way they've done it (depending on how cynical/cautious you are):
- Because Proton are not accepting contributions, they own all the copyright, so can make the code closed source again if they want to (that wouldn't affect the already released versions, but future versions)
- They could likely take down any derivative on iOS, since Apple will always take instruction from the copyright holder, for GPL'd code
- Since the builds are not reproducible, there's no guarantee that the binaries they distribute are built from the source code
- "Because Proton are not accepting contributions, they own all the copyright, so can make the code closed source again if they want to (that wouldn’t affect the already released versions, but future versions)"
They can't do that actually. They can close the source, yes, but if they do they can't then release the new closed-source version to the public.
From the GPL FAQ page:
Does the GPL require that source code of modified versions be posted to the public?
The GPL does not require you to release your modified version, or any part of it. You are free to make modifications and use them privately, without ever releasing them. This applies to organizations (including companies), too; an organization can make a modified version and use it internally without ever releasing it outside the organization.
But if you release the modified version to the public in some way, the GPL requires you to make the modified source code available to the program's users, under the GPL. [Emboldened by me.]
Can the developer of a program who distributed it under the GPL later license it to another party for exclusive use?
No, because the public already has the right to use the program under the GPL, and this right cannot be withdrawn.
- "They could likely take down any derivative on iOS, since Apple will always take instruction from the copyright holder, for GPL’d code"
Does the license prohibit this? Definitely. Could they get away with it? Probably. Though I'm uncertain Proton would go that far. I mean, if they wanted to prevent forks, they wouldn't have released the source, let alone with the GPL3 license, which requires the right to make modifications (as that's one of the Four Freedoms).
- "Since the builds are not reproducible, there’s no guarantee that the binaries they distribute are built from the source code"
Technically true, I suppose, though again why they would do that is beyond me. If they didn't want forks, they likely wouldn't have allowed forks.
Again, this is all assuming I'm understanding the GPL FAQ page correctly. If I'm wrong, I would welcome someone smarter than me to correct me. :)
IANAL, but AFAIK that’s incorrect. If you’re the only copyright holder, you can issue multiple licenses for your work. GPL doesn’t allow you to rescind previous issues, so anyone in possession of your GPL code can still modify and release it under the GPL freely. But it doesn’t prevent you from issuing your own work under a different license.
There isn’t usually much economic sense for most applications to do that because anyone can fork the project and distribute it for free. For Proton, since they still hold the server as closed source, they could simply introduce a breaking protocol change and all the forks would be useless.
The way I understand it is that they can relicense it and then publish it if they want, but the GPL would still fully apply to the previous versions.
The first question you cited seems to refer to any different organisation/individual making changes to the source code. And the second seems to refer to revoking the GPL for an already released version, which they would of course not be allowed to do.
This would make sense as ownership of the copyright would supersede a license.
load more comments
(4 replies)
load more comments
(3 replies)
really appreciate you reporting back, thanks for sharing!
load more comments
(12 replies)
Very nice, I do hope that helps us finally get a Linux version sometime soon lol
Feels like this would be a bigger win for them than a lot of other companies. The people interested in privacy focused alternative to the Google/Microsoft/Apple offerings probably have a lot of overlap with Linux users.
load more comments
(2 replies)
sad its on github but am not complaining much
can you educate me a bit about what's wrong with that?
bcs github is owned by microsoft its not that private nor open source(like git)
load more comments
(2 replies)
load more comments
(3 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
Will they be now on FDroid? I think only one Proton app is there and it's a little bit sad.
Proton VPN and proton pass
IRRC they even removed all telemetry from pass but not VPN.
They should definitely push drive and calendar there too.
load more comments
(6 replies)
view more: next ›