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Comment by rmc | Hacker News Reader

^ As an aside, putting 'evil' in your licence is pretty dumb. There is no definition of evil which can be argued over in any court. What you consider 'good', someone else almost certainly considers 'evil'

Actually, one of the real dangers is if a court does recognise an act as evil, which they do all the time, just search court records for "evil". (For example, if a rapist uses your code, that would probably count as evil to a court)

Then you're definitely breaking the law.

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The license refers to evil actions, not evil people. If a rapist uses your code to rape people, your example might be more true, but I don't see how JSLint helps with that.

I felt pretty violated when I ran it against some of my code and it told me how hard it sucked.

What if someone uses the code to build a weapon and then kills people with it? Can the court hold you liable?

i haven't heard of any weapons manufacturer being held liable even though their products are designed to kill humans which is as evil as you can get.

Oh, no, its not. That's not even close. Round up lots of people, under whatever excuse, put them in camps, make them work hard as slave labor. Use software to automate and manage the process, keeping track of productivity, and torturing/executing anyone who drops below the minimum threshold. Or using them for medical experiments. Use software to open/close their cell doors, herd them to meals and work, track their every move. I think you lack imagination.

Software is a tool. Like other tools, it can make any process more efficient, for better or worse. Damn, I've been in management too long.

Right, because the primary goal to buy a weapon is to keep the front door from getting closed by the wind.

Software is generalized, certain weapons are... not so much.

Was this a subtle reference to IBM and their involvement with Nazi Germany?

No.

My god, a weapons system written in JavaScript. I can't think of anything more insidious.

If a customer used your code for evil, that means they broke the law, not you.

Yes, no-one's suggesting that the software developer is guilty of what ever the code does. But if you grab JSLint and bundle it with your software, that person X uses for evil, then person X is guilty of whatever they did, and you might be guilty of copyright infringement.

"The Software shall be used for Good, not Evil." is a separate clause in license, permission for distribution is granted above it. So only person who use software for evil is violator of license.

Technically are you breaking the law or violating an agreement which can be enforced in court?

I think you're open to a civil claim but I don't think you've actually broken any law.

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