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Comment by robbyt | Hacker News Reader

I agree, but this might be impossible for companies that license various closed-source software from other companies. For example, slingbox may have licensed various hardware drivers, and don't have the right to distribute their source code.

I don't know what the right answer is, but I'm not sure "open source everything" is the right one in this case.

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If there is a law mandating open sourcing in case like this because if they don't there is jail time for fraud, companies would engineer their products for such a case. That would put pressure on hardware vendors to develop open source drivers (btw, why not, they already sell the hardware?) etc.

I'd say there's a 1% chance that would result in companies grinding their operations to a halt until their vendors make open source drivers, and a 99% chance that they'd find immediate workarounds, like renting you the box instead of selling it.

If they don't have the right to distribute their source code, then it seems an appropriate legal remedy in this hypothetical would be:

* Make them open source the code anyway, and the licensors can pursue the company's estate for any associated contractual penalty

* Make the company refund the users and prioritize the users as creditors

Slingbox can't grant anyone else the right to distribute source code they don't have a copyright for, either. They could release it, but then everyone else could be just as liable as them if they redistributed it. It would be DMCAed to death (nobody would dispute it, since Slingbox is defunct). It doesn't just become public domain, it's still closed-source.

If they don't have the right to distribute the source code, then "open source the code anyway" doesn't really do any good. No one else will be licensed to use it even after the company discloses the code to the world. It would just be like if a hacker broke in and released their source code.

Or:

* Make it explicitly illegal to create such products for which you haven't secured the rights to distribute the entirety of the codebase in case the company goes under.

This would of course cause less "innovation" in the field, though frankly, the planet needs less crappy IoT garbage that barely works and quickly turns into paperweights. But it could also open up some currently locked up parts of the industry. Less low-quality SDKs with per-seat licensing would also be a good thing.

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