Bradley M. Kühn

Software freedom activist since 1992. Copyleft theorist & FOSS policy wonk. Expert in FOSS non-profit structures.

Views expressed herein are mine & not necessarily those of any organization w/ which I'm affiliated.

Fediverse “claim to fame”: Invented “Affero clause” of #Mastodon's license: https://ebb.org/bkuhn/blog/2007/11/21/stet-and-agplv3

1ˢᵗ #Linux: 0.99pl12
1ˢᵗ #Debian: 🧊🥔

Pronouns: he/them

#copyleft, #ethics for #LLMGenAI, #FOSS, #OpenSource, #AGPLv3, #GPL, #LGPL

🏳️‍🌈

Co-editor-in-chief of copyleft-next: https://next.copyleft.org
Personal Blog: https://ebb.org/bkuhn/blog
Professional Bio: https://sfconservancy.org/about/staff/#bkuhn
Random Code & Configs: https://f.sfconservancy.org/bkuhn

Last Notes

2026-06-28 23:39:19 CEST

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(2/2) @npub1juz…eyat, pls. don't conflate *technical* caretakers of a particular codebase w/ the caretakers of #GPL (or its enforcement). I'm heavily involved in enforcing #copyleft for #Linux. Success in the #Vizio case will establish 3ʳᵈ beneficiary right to complete, Corresponding Source code not just for Linux, but for all code under #GPLv2 & #LGPLv2_1.
It's #disturbing some in the billionaire-class conscripted #LinuxFoundation to confuse everyone about what copyleft means, but they've not won yet.

2026-06-28 21:30:39 CEST

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I'm surprised at the assumption that because a specific strategy didn't work perfectly, it's therefore a failure. I have spent decades being annoyed that #copyleft's inventors didn't factor in the capitalism power that @npub1juz…eyat's mention that would cause those challenges.
Yet, *despite* that, we have situations (such as #OpenWrt even *existing at all* because of #GPL enforcement) that show it made (& continues to make) a real difference in the struggle against software proprietariness
@npub19yg…w8um

2026-06-26 19:39:42 CEST

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Note too that *even if* all the Courts decide artifacts output by an LLM-gen-AI aren't copyrightable (we're far from that now, and no one knows for sure what will happen), it *is* certain that human-performed modifications to a yet-uncopyrighted work *are* copyrightable.
I recommend licensing such under a copyleft license.
Anyway, per elsewhere in thread, LLM-gen-AI artifacts always require human improvements to be useful to FOSS.
Cc: @npub1s55…up8m @npub1tra…q9a6
[@alexband](https://hachyderm.io/@alexband )

2026-06-19 16:01:20 CEST

(1/2) This won't surprise anyone: I can't make it through breakfast without pondering ethics & moral imperatives.
I'm really busy professionally rn but I still gotta eat obviously.
But, I have been shaving minutes here & there off food prep time.
I usually hand squeeze one fresh orange with breakfast. I started to think I didn't have time, then thought “I have a right one glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice”.
Now I've spent 8 minutes pondering if it really is a *right*.
#ethics #morality #Kant

2026-04-29 11:37:31 CEST

(1/2) ≈ every 6 months, I have trouble sleeping specifically because I think about how, circa 1996, I attended some sysadmin (probably SANS) event in Baltimore.
I went to a tutorial on #IPv6. I got there early as we knew it'd be standing room only & it was.
One of the first slides the instructor put up was a graph of how quickly #IPv4 numbers were being assigned. He said with complete confidence: “We all need to learn IPv6 as IPv4 will surely be deprecated by the end of the century”. …

2026-04-18 17:34:05 CEST

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I agree with @npub1kmp…far2 in particular because if *we* are copylefting our code (even if assisted by #LLM-backed gen-#AI), we won't face a copyleft claim later.
Furthermore, it is highly unlikely these LLMs are (a) trained on proprietary software, and (b) any proprietary software company that so-trained would later claim infringement.
#Microsoft has all but admitted they refuse to train Copilot on their own code anyway.
Cc: @npub1r8k…ddv2 @npub14pc…26fv

2026-04-14 22:53:19 CEST

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So fascinating: „der Slop”'s already a loan word in German!
Aber sagen keine Deutschsprecheren „Das Schmutzwasser aus KI”?
I love loan words in any language. My favorite English ones are Latin loan words, but my favorite German one is „Das Handy” — so inventive: a slang English adjective for “useful” gets borrowed as a noun for a *very specific* useful device.
I've been trying to bring Handy (n.) back to English for same usage as a loan word with poor results.
Cc: @npub14mm…6r4g @npub1y2l…nuf9 @npub1p8d…d8w7

2026-03-25 16:44:10 CET

👩‍🎤…I still got some #punk rock cred! So, it's last session after 3 days of #UndoneCS. I admit I zoned out, had trouble concentrating on Nils Bonfils' talk “Cultivating a Historicist Sensibility through Permacomputing”.
Through my mind haze, I hear Nils say the word “#anarchist”, then, “#anticapitalist”. Suddenly I'm wide awake & completely focused.
#PunksNotDead
I'm glad too as this #permacomputing stuff is extremely interesting & definitely important to future of #FOSS.
https://www.undonecs.org/2026/abstracts/UndoneCS26_abstract_47.pdf
https://cdn.masto.host/fedicopyleftorg/media_attachments/files/116/290/575/714/654/039/original/d97b530bf5773666.jpg

2026-02-22 02:33:01 CET

An experienced developer said re: #LLM-backed #AI
> “things can move as fast as they want but the speed of my actual understanding is the only one useful to me”
They make an essential point: new tools aren't magically useful because companies are selling them.
Experienced people in the field have to spend some time to determine: “What Fresh Snake Oil”? This takes wall-clock time.
There are far too many PT Barnums and far too few Alan Turnings in our field today.
I fear for users' rights.

2026-01-09 07:41:44 CET

Hey, weird Mastodon question to #AskFedi. If I post something "Followers only" and @-mention someone who *doesn't* follow me, do they get to see it? (What I am looking for *is* "my followers, plus anyone I explicitly @-mention), but not sure if that's what #Mastodon's "Followers only" does or not.
(I realize this is a bit "hey would you net.search this for me" too, but I just worked an 18 hour day so give me a break. 😛 )

2025-11-06 02:28:45 CET

I learned today YA set of records about me that are public & I can't un-public them.😡
It's an open secret in #FOSS: those of us who are “FOSS celebrities” always live with a low-grade fear of doxing & harassment. It's a perfect storm:
* We are low-grade famous to *just* enough people to attract a few problematic folks.
* Such folks — which are *very* few, to be clear — have tech skillz to do harassment efficiently.
My white male privilege makes it easier for me than others who face this.

2025-10-26 17:02:27 CET

Age makes you more cautious. I used to carry Debian CD's with me & do all my upgrades while in flight without electricity or Internet — just to test myself I could hack my way out of a screwed up GRUB or problematic #Linux build.
I'm taking my spouse's laptop all the way from #Debian buster to trixie this morning (going through bullseye to bookworm first), & I'm actually nervous. I *think* it's just because it's my spouse's machine.
Ironic thing is upgrades are so much safer these days.

2025-09-10 15:40:27 CEST

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ST:LD is non spoilerly for newer #StarTrek & written & created by talented comedians who *get* our generation's Trek. It's every joke fans made but written by comedians.
Start there.
ST:DIS is a product of early streaming TV & has issues. If you can watch it for what it is, & love the actors who are excellent, it's worth it.
ST:SNW is ST:TOS for 2025.
ST:PIC is the true causality of the rights issue. It made me cry for what it coulda been. it's final season almost redeems
@npub1jv3…h844

2025-09-10 04:25:57 CEST

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the goofy rights issues is sadly now sorted out thanks to the subsequent mergers but of course not enough to make ST:PIC what it should have been.
I also the obsession with canon ultimately is loyalty to a tiny group of writers who long since went to work on other projects.

2025-08-16 17:38:47 CEST

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… I was quoted in *The Register*:
> “The problems w/ #GitHub have been growing for some time. We at #SFC have always been concerned about the issue of using proprietary software to write #FOSS. However, the integration w/ #Copilot so deeply into the platform, and #Microsoft's flagrant use of content hosted on GitHub to train their own LLMs makes a departure from GitHub urgent for all FOSS developers.”
https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/15/codeberg_beset_by_ai_bots/
I hope it inspires you to #GiveUpGitHub! https://giveupgithub.org
(3/3)
https://cdn.masto.host/fedicopyleftorg/media_attachments/files/115/039/186/833/101/095/original/063034073241e6fd.png

2025-08-05 00:14:08 CEST

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I respond to this troll b/c it's an opportunity to say publicly why — in 2015 — I stopped saying “GNU/Linux”.
I say “Linux-based systems” — which I also recommended for SFC's stylesheet.
I ceased saying “ga-new-slash-lynn-ox” when RMS chastised me for saying
“Linux” (but not “GNU”) in a post about VMWare's #GPL violation. I *had* mentioned the GNU GPL, but no GNU software was in their product.
RMS told me I harmed #GNU every time I didn't footnote the word “Linux” & explain GNU/Linux.
(1/3)

2025-07-28 21:32:06 CEST

👀 … *huge* opportunity for travel to a key #FOSS event! Don't miss it…
https://fedi.copyleft.org/@[email protected]/114909678896224276
https://sfconservancy.org/news/2025/jul/24/travel-grants-for-vizio-trial-to-foss-community/
… #SFC'll cover travel expenses for select qualified individuals who produce blogs, “toots”, articles, videos, podcasts, etc. during the historic trial in the #SoftwareFreedom #Conservancy v. Vizio case.
If you're available the week of 2025-09-22, & have a little experience writing/broadcasting about #FreeSoftware online, apply by emailing <[email protected]>!