 | the DARK SIDE OF OPEN SOURCE By Mark Anderson _______ Why Read: While the apparent global demand for open-sourcing all forms of software continues to grow exponentially, it seems few are asking the deeper questions that reveal darker motivations and actors on today's geopolitical and technology stages. It's time, before it's too late. - mra _______ China often complains (and inflames its citizens using the idea) that actions taken by the West against China are simply those of "containment" or "fighting China's rise." But since the core of China's Infomerc national business model is centered on criminal IP theft (see Theft Nation and Disengagement, by Evan Anderson) and the country's stated goal of global domination, the criticism is not totally inaccurate. In this sense, the US response to the post-2000 China model is much like the FBI's post-McClellan Committee response to the Mafia's rise or the West's response to post-Stalin Russia. All needed restraining, as well as containing. What do these military and criminal issues have to do with those relating to open-source software? Prior to 2000, pretty much nothing. Today, everything. To be brief, specific, and clear: today the world is broken in two, with CRINK (China, Russia, Iran, and N. Korea) on one side and the West on the other. This is an "all-fronts war," best described as a technology-driven economic war, with the military, propaganda, and much more included. Today, this war is often described as one for global dominance in AI, between China and the US. And in the AI war, large language models (LLMs) are the prime battleground and biotech is the top industrial target. This gives us a stark, and simpler, frame by which to view and judge the evolution of the meaning and use of open source. Is open source the most generous and social-minded licensing model for software? Sure. And is it also the most dangerous weapon currently being used by China to defeat the inventing nations of the West? Absolutely. For those unfamiliar, let's start with a definition and then get into the true-crime thriller of today's most vicious fight over the world's most valuable assets.
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