Open Source Software Licensing: Why it matters
Summary
Free and Open source software (known as FOSS) commonly ships with one of several standard licenses designed either by the community or organizations committed to open-source ideals, like the GNU Project or Red Hat. Theyre extremely short (the entire MIT license is shorter than this article) and place essentially no restrictions other than to protect the developer from lawsuits. Open-source developers are, by definition, putting their work out to the world for free and hence there often isnt money available for expensive legal battles or enforcement of their licenses. In 2018 Tesla was pressured to disclose some of its autopilot source code by the Software Freedom Conservatory following a GPL violation. Open-source developers often build the simple, foundational tools required for more complex products to exist and release them free of charge.