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ACSG-575
Essay #2 – Ethical Considerations in Open-Source Software Usage
Introduction
Open source refers to any program whose source code is made available for use or modification as users or other developers wants. Most Open Source software is distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPL), additionally requires that if a modified version of the software is distributed, the source code for such modified version must be made freely available. In essence, creators of Open Source software hold the copyright for their work, but grant a license (the GPL) to anyone who wants to use it. It is important to understand that open source comes with license obligations. Most software engineers download the free open source and use it within their own commercial software without attending to those obligations. The important thing is to understand these obligations and to be clear about which license obligations are acceptable to you and which license obligations are not. The most important use of open source software is on university level student where they can not only learn about software but with the source code they can also have in-depth knowledge about the software and can learn much about it. <br />Comparing open source and proprietary software both have some pros and cons. Open source software is very low priced or even free. With free software, such as Linux, the source is freely available for download. People are encouraged to look at it and try to find bugs. And thousands of people do look at the code. The end result is that there are far more people proofreading and fixing code, and the program has fewer bugs and is more stable. The risk in open source software is potential liability for intellectual property infringement. While proprietary software is one that is owned by an individual or a company. There are almost always major restrictions on its use, and its source code is almost always kept secret and one of the most common prohibitions for such programs are making unauthorized copies, using it on more than a certain number of computers. With proprietary software only the developer of the program have access to its source code which makes it impossible for others to find problems in the code before they cause damage. <br />In the article the defenders of free software, Armijn Hemel who lives in Netherlands is against the use of free software. From the past 5 year he has been working as a volunteer watchman for free, open-source software like Linux operating system and is monitoring on the companies who uses open source instead of building software for their products from scratch and he found some companies who violated the law associated with that free software like dell got a cease and desist letter for shipping its new Streak tablet without providing the open source software code and later they published the code on their website but other companies may be  because of their ignorance or negligence  have to pay large amount of money to the one whom that software belongs. There are some high profile companies like Cisco System, Best Buy, and Verizon Communication who have been sued by Software Freedom Law Center. There is some rule associated with open source software and some company fears that programmer of that software may charge them some large amount for violating their law. <br />Stakeholders<br />,[object Object]
Some of the stakeholders on this issue are

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Ethical consideration in open source software

  • 1.
  • 3. Essay #2 – Ethical Considerations in Open-Source Software Usage
  • 5.
  • 6. Some of the stakeholders on this issue are
  • 7. Developer who creates open source
  • 8. Programmer who creates it has their ideas, thoughts, hard work, time all are in stake.
  • 9. Companies that uses Open Source Software
  • 10. Sometimes companies may fail to move according open source software law due to which they may have to face charge, so their reputation are on stake.
  • 11. Companies that develop proprietary software have their business in risk.
  • 12. Programmer who uses that open source
  • 13. Sometimes developer they write their own code and publish it along with open source without stating it so due to which their own creation which they don’t want to make it open source get published unknowingly.
  • 15. Their overall safety might be on stake because while using open source no one takes responsibility if anything goes wrong.
  • 17.
  • 18. So since Kantian view focuses on fulfilling one’s responsibility or duty, one should be careful while using open source software and make sure the terms and conditions are fulfilled. A developer cannot just copy the codes/techniques and claim it as his own innovation nor can he resell that product under his name. One should also make sure that if he is using even smallest part from some open source and he gives him the credit for that. The one who is using other’s open source software should take care of other’s intellectual property and make sure he goes through all the terms and conditions of the open source software he is using or going to use.
  • 19. Not just the developer, but the responsibility also lies on the company. Sometimes, the developers in company may miss to follow the terms and conditions. So at that time, the companies should make sure that they have some kind of procedure that takes care of these kinds of issues; because, if developer makes the mistake and the company fails to verify that, they will be the one to face the legal consequence.
  • 21. So, in open source software ethical consideration, utilitarian and deontological analysis, both, are pointing towards same direction. In this case, both analyses seem to be in line with each other where deontological analysis focuses on following one’s responsibility of taking care of other’s property and which fulfills the condition made by utilitarian view by make majority of people happy. The developer should make sure he gives credit to the original developer. When a developer uses open source software, he gets bind with the same rules as the original developer and thus, he should make his work publicly available as his source was. And when he does that, more people are benefitted. More people get free software and more people can learn. It is like knowledge sharing and hence supporting utilitarian view too.
  • 22. To summarize my article with my own open-source code of conduct, I would list it in this way:-
  • 23. Developer - Developer should protect one’s intellectual property. He should follow the terms carefully. Whenever copying from an open source, he should make sure that he also makes his copy publicly available. He should make sure that he doesn’t claim other’s work as his own and gives proper credit to the main developer.
  • 24. Organization – Organization should not rely on developers to follow the rules. So, there must be some kind of automated procedure which checks the originality of work. They have to make sure that the codes are not being copied from other open source for the products which they are going to launch as proprietary. The procedure should also check the proper credits being given.
  • 25. Users – User who modifies the open source code and publishes it must make it free of cost and should provide their source code along with the original open source code.References<br />http://true-reality.net/csc300/resources/assets/Example%20Term%20Paper%20-%20Whitney.pdf<br />http://questioncopyright.org/copyright_and_open_source<br />http://www.osnews.com/story/18610/Open_Source_Risks_and_Responsibilities/page2/<br />http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/software/archives/page9905.cfm<br />http://hubpages.com/hub/Open-Source-Search-Engine<br />http://www.asiaosc.org/benefits-of-open-source.html<br />http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html<br />http://eu.conecta.it/paper/Advantages_open_source_soft.html<br />http://cogprints.org/3538/1/vinson01_source_NRC-46544.pdf<br />http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1621508&show=pdf<br />http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html<br />http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/my_pubs/anarchism.html<br />http://www.abanet.org/intelprop/opensource.html<br />http://www.allbusiness.com/legal/contracts-agreements/3874378-1.html<br />http://lwn.net/Articles/375940/<br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_software<br />http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/Open-Source-Software-Your-Companys-Legal-Risks-64378.html?wlc=1289712819<br />http://books.google.com/books?id=s5EwJk0tUJAC&pg=PA107&lpg=PA107&dq=stakeholders+in+open+source+software+issue&source=bl&ots=blOx9NAdFg&sig=5A-WIfNep1i7sv_zYnR2JNEL6Ng&hl=en&ei=aXLfTLa3MsPPngeKx7nrDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CFAQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=stakeholders%20in%20open%20source%20software%20issue&f=false<br />http://my.safaribooksonline.com/technology-management/0201734966/stakeholders-who-are-the-developers-and-organizations-involved/ch07#X2ludGVybmFsX0ZsYXNoUmVhZGVyP3htbGlkPTAtMjAxLTczNDk2LTYvdmk=<br />http://www.osnews.com/story/18610/Open_Source_Risks_and_Responsibilities/page2/<br />http://questioncopyright.org/copyright_and_open_source<br />http://hubpages.com/hub/Open-Source-Search-Engine<br />http://www.collaborativeconsulting.com/uploads/file/10%20Rules%20for%20Open%20Source%20Software.pdf<br />http://brian.teeman.net/joomla-gps/roles-and-responsibilities-of-users-and-community-members.html<br />