Yesterday, a popular open-source package, Faker.js, was abruptly taken down from GitHub. Its readme simply said “What really happened to Aaron Swartz?”. Let’s take a look at why Open Source Software can be a bad deal for many independent developers. 

Note. This video was reuploaded after new information came to light.   

#dev #opensource #history

🔗 Resources

https://github.com/marak/Faker.js/
http://docs.jstor.org/jstor-statement-misuse-incident-and-criminal-case.html
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/the-brilliant-life-and-tragic-death-of-aaron-swartz-177191/
https://nypost.com/2018/01/27/these-hackers-suicides-are-eerily-similar/

📚 Chapters

00:00 Faker.js Disappeared
00:29 What happened to Aaron Swartz?
02:15 The Problem with Open Source

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🎨 My Editor Settings

- Atom One Dark 
- vscode-icons
- Fira Code Font

🔖 Topics Covered

- Why Faker.js disappeared
- The Aaron Swartz story
- Why was Aaron Swartz arrested?
- What did Aaron Swartz create?
- Open Source Pitfalls
- Problems with Open Source
2024-02-04T13:49:58.612Z
nova-2
2-general-nova
2024-01-09.29447
30089e05-99d1-4376-b32e-c263170674af
c5b35e7c-d3d3-4535-9a61-c4e47cd81990
ccc8268237cc8ae6f324645bb4d32e06f7ff35c0c5983bafdea42b060253d4a3
67875a7f-c9c4-48a0-aa55-5bdb8a91c34a
deprecated
I was writing some JavaScript code today and planned on using one of my all time favorite packages, bakerjs.
I ran npm install, and it installed But when I went to use it, I got an unexpected error message.
I figured it was my fault and just the result of a breaking API change.
So I went directly to the GitHub repo, but noticed that there was something weird going on here.
All the source code was removed and there was just one commit with a comment of endgame.
And in the readme, all it says is, what really happened to Aaron Swartz.
Um, that's actually a really good question.
If you don't know who he is, he's an absolute legend who helped create RSS, for really simple syndication, the markdown format, the Creative Commons organization, and a website called Reddit.
His contributions have a major impact on virtually every web developer out there.
But there was one thing about Aaron that some people didn't like.
You see, he thought information should be free for everybody.
And he believed in that so much that he went into a storage closet on the MIT campus and downloaded a bunch of academic journals behind a paywall on JSTOR or journal storage.
They caught him doing this on camera, and a few months later, he was arrested.
Insta.
Journal storage, the victim in this case, was very reasonable, and instead of going to court, they just had him return all of the downloaded documents, which he did.
The s attorney's office though wasn't nearly as understanding.
He was charged with a whole bunch of different federal crimes like wire fraud and computer fraud, where he faced up to 50 years in prison.
A while later, he was offered a deal by the feds where he would only serve 6 months in prison if he plead guilty to 13 different crimes.
Aaron, being the badass dude that he was, rejected this ridiculous deal and instead opted for a trial where the feds would actually have to justify their overzealous pursuit of him.
That's the right thing to do if you believe in your cause, but it's also extremely risky.
The feds have a reputation of railroading people to make an example out of them, like Ross Ulbrich of the Silk Road, who will likely the rest of his life in prison.
Unfortunately, in Aaron's case, it never went to trial, because he would pass away by suicide on January 11, 2013.
It's extremely sad to lose such a talented programmer, especially one who wasn't motivated by money, but rather a higher purpose of making information free and accessible to everybody.
He would likely be appalled by the censorship that we see in social media today, which includes the very website he created.
Now, some people out there have speculated that there's more to the story than meets the eye.
Go back to America, your government has figured out how it all transpired.
Here.
Here's American Gladiators.
Watch this.
Shut
But now, let's get back to our original question.
What happened to Faker JS?
If you're not familiar with it, it's a very popular library with over 1,000,000 weekly downloads that is used to create random fake data, like names, phone numbers, addresses, and so on.
I use it all the time when building demos for this channel.
It's maintained by a GitHub user who I'm not going to mention in this video.
This person highlighted a very important issue that many open source developers face.
In his words, respectfully, I am I'm no longer going to support fortune 5 hundreds.
There isn't much else to say.
Take this opportunity to send me a 6 figure yearly contract or fork the project and have somebody see else work on it.
The response from the open source community was extremely positive.
The sad reality is that there are many open source contributors out there who are way under compensated for the impact of their contributions.
Mega corporations, startups, and consulting firms all make tons of money on the shoulders of open source software.
In most cases, they give nothing back in return.
And in some cases, people actively exploit and steal code without following the proper open source licensing rules.
The reality is that to make open source viable, you need to have a good business plan, or you need to be paid a comfortable salary to make it worthwhile.
And sometimes, even that's not enough.
$1,000,000,000 companies like MongoDB and Elasticsearch, are now releasing their software under a completely different open source license that makes it way more restrictive for big companies like Amazon Web Services to take their software and offer it as a commercial service.
Maybe independent open source developers should do the same.
Maybe Bitcoin fixes this.
I'm not sure.
Let me know what you think in comments.
But if you find yourself contributing to a library year after year that has as many downloads as Vue.
Js while making almost $0 from it, you might end up making your own endgame commit too.

Speaker 0: I was writing some JavaScript code today and planned on using one of my all time favorite packages, bakerjs. I ran npm install, and it installed But when I went to use it, I got an unexpected error message. I figured it was my fault and just the result of a breaking API change. So I went directly to the GitHub repo, but noticed that there was something weird going on here. All the source code was removed and there was just one commit with a comment of endgame.

And in the readme, all it says is, what really happened to Aaron Swartz. Um, that's actually a really good question. If you don't know who he is, he's an absolute legend who helped create RSS, for really simple syndication, the markdown format, the Creative Commons organization, and a website called Reddit. His contributions have a major impact on virtually every web developer out there. But there was one thing about Aaron that some people didn't like.

You see, he thought information should be free for everybody. And he believed in that so much that he went into a storage closet on the MIT campus and downloaded a bunch of academic journals behind a paywall on JSTOR or journal storage. They caught him doing this on camera, and a few months later, he was arrested. Insta. Journal storage, the victim in this case, was very reasonable, and instead of going to court, they just had him return all of the downloaded documents, which he did.

The s attorney's office though wasn't nearly as understanding. He was charged with a whole bunch of different federal crimes like wire fraud and computer fraud, where he faced up to 50 years in prison. A while later, he was offered a deal by the feds where he would only serve 6 months in prison if he plead guilty to 13 different crimes. Aaron, being the badass dude that he was, rejected this ridiculous deal and instead opted for a trial where the feds would actually have to justify their overzealous pursuit of him. That's the right thing to do if you believe in your cause, but it's also extremely risky.

The feds have a reputation of railroading people to make an example out of them, like Ross Ulbrich of the Silk Road, who will likely the rest of his life in prison. Unfortunately, in Aaron's case, it never went to trial, because he would pass away by suicide on January 11, 2013. It's extremely sad to lose such a talented programmer, especially one who wasn't motivated by money, but rather a higher purpose of making information free and accessible to everybody. He would likely be appalled by the censorship that we see in social media today, which includes the very website he created. Now, some people out there have speculated that there's more to the story than meets the eye.

Speaker 1: Go back to America, your government has figured out how it all transpired. Here. Here's American Gladiators. Watch this. Shut

Speaker 0: But now, let's get back to our original question. What happened to Faker JS? If you're not familiar with it, it's a very popular library with over 1,000,000 weekly downloads that is used to create random fake data, like names, phone numbers, addresses, and so on. I use it all the time when building demos for this channel. It's maintained by a GitHub user who I'm not going to mention in this video.

This person highlighted a very important issue that many open source developers face. In his words, respectfully, I am I'm no longer going to support fortune 5 hundreds. There isn't much else to say. Take this opportunity to send me a 6 figure yearly contract or fork the project and have somebody see else work on it. The response from the open source community was extremely positive.

The sad reality is that there are many open source contributors out there who are way under compensated for the impact of their contributions. Mega corporations, startups, and consulting firms all make tons of money on the shoulders of open source software. In most cases, they give nothing back in return. And in some cases, people actively exploit and steal code without following the proper open source licensing rules. The reality is that to make open source viable, you need to have a good business plan, or you need to be paid a comfortable salary to make it worthwhile.

And sometimes, even that's not enough. $1,000,000,000 companies like MongoDB and Elasticsearch, are now releasing their software under a completely different open source license that makes it way more restrictive for big companies like Amazon Web Services to take their software and offer it as a commercial service. Maybe independent open source developers should do the same. Maybe Bitcoin fixes this. I'm not sure.

Let me know what you think in comments. But if you find yourself contributing to a library year after year that has as many downloads as Vue. Js while making almost $0 from it, you might end up making your own endgame commit too.
I was writing some JavaScript code today and planned on using one of my all time favorite packages, bakerjs. I ran npm install, and it installed But when I went to use it, I got an unexpected error message. I figured it was my fault and just the result of a breaking API change. So I went directly to the GitHub repo, but noticed that there was something weird going on here. All the source code was removed and there was just one commit with a comment of endgame. And in the readme, all it says is, what really happened to Aaron Swartz. Um, that's actually a really good question. If you don't know who he is, he's an absolute legend who helped create RSS, for really simple syndication, the markdown format, the Creative Commons organization, and a website called Reddit. His contributions have a major impact on virtually every web developer out there. But there was one thing about Aaron that some people didn't like. You see, he thought information should be free for everybody. And he believed in that so much that he went into a storage closet on the MIT campus and downloaded a bunch of academic journals behind a paywall on JSTOR or journal storage.
They caught him doing this on camera, and a few months later, he was arrested. Insta. Journal storage, the victim in this case, was very reasonable, and instead of going to court, they just had him return all of the downloaded documents, which he did. The s attorney's office though wasn't nearly as understanding. He was charged with a whole bunch of different federal crimes like wire fraud and computer fraud, where he faced up to 50 years in prison. A while later, he was offered a deal by the feds where he would only serve 6 months in prison if he plead guilty to 13 different crimes. Aaron, being the badass dude that he was, rejected this ridiculous deal and instead opted for a trial where the feds would actually have to justify their overzealous pursuit of him.
prison
theft
That's the right thing to do if you believe in your cause, but it's also extremely risky. The feds have a reputation of railroading people to make an example out of them, like Ross Ulbrich of the Silk Road, who will likely the rest of his life in prison. Unfortunately, in Aaron's case, it never went to trial, because he would pass away by suicide on January 11, 2013. It's extremely sad to lose such a talented programmer, especially one who wasn't motivated by money, but rather a higher purpose of making information free and accessible to everybody. He would likely be appalled by the censorship that we see in social media today, which includes the very website he created. Now, some people out there have speculated that there's more to the story than meets the eye. Go back to America, your government has figured out how it all transpired.
prison
social media
criminality
suicide
Here. Here's American Gladiators. Watch this. Shut But now, let's get back to our original question. What happened to Faker JS? If you're not familiar with it, it's a very popular library with over 1,000,000 weekly downloads that is used to create random fake data, like names, phone numbers, addresses, and so on.
I use it all the time when building demos for this channel. It's maintained by a GitHub user who I'm not going to mention in this video. This person highlighted a very important issue that many open source developers face. In his words, respectfully, I am I'm no longer going to support fortune 5 hundreds.
video gaming
There isn't much else to say. Take this opportunity to send me a 6 figure yearly contract or fork the project and have somebody see else work on it. The response from the open source community was extremely positive. The sad reality is that there are many open source contributors out there who are way under compensated for the impact of their contributions.
Mega corporations, startups, and consulting firms all make tons of money on the shoulders of open source software. In most cases, they give nothing back in return. And in some cases, people actively exploit and steal code without following the proper open source licensing rules. The reality is that to make open source viable, you need to have a good business plan, or you need to be paid a comfortable salary to make it worthwhile. And sometimes, even that's not enough. $1,000,000,000 companies like MongoDB and Elasticsearch, are now releasing their software under a completely different open source license that makes it way more restrictive for big companies like Amazon Web Services to take their software and offer it as a commercial service. Maybe independent open source developers should do the same.
copyright licenses
intellectual property
software
Maybe Bitcoin fixes this. I'm not sure. Let me know what you think in comments. But if you find yourself contributing to a library year after year that has as many downloads as Vue. Js while making almost $0 from it, you might end up making your own endgame commit too.
I was writing some JavaScript code today and planned on using one of my all time favorite packages, bakerjs. I ran npm install, and it installed But when I went to use it, I got an unexpected error message. I figured it was my fault and just the result of a breaking API change. So I went directly to the GitHub repo, but noticed that there was something weird going on here. All the source code was removed and there was just one commit with a comment of endgame. And in the readme, all it says is, what really happened to Aaron Swartz. Um, that's actually a really good question. If you don't know who he is, he's an absolute legend who helped create RSS, for really simple syndication, the markdown format, the Creative Commons organization, and a website called Reddit. His contributions have a major impact on virtually every web developer out there. But there was one thing about Aaron that some people didn't like. You see, he thought information should be free for everybody. And he believed in that so much that he went into a storage closet on the MIT campus and downloaded a bunch of academic journals behind a paywall on JSTOR or journal storage. They caught him doing this on camera, and a few months later, he was arrested. Insta. Journal storage, the victim in this case, was very reasonable, and instead of going to court, they just had him return all of the downloaded documents, which he did. The s attorney's office though wasn't nearly as understanding. He was charged with a whole bunch of different federal crimes like wire fraud and computer fraud, where he faced up to 50 years in prison. A while later, he was offered a deal by the feds where he would only serve 6 months in prison if he plead guilty to 13 different crimes. Aaron, being the badass dude that he was, rejected this ridiculous deal and instead opted for a trial where the feds would actually have to justify their overzealous pursuit of him. That's the right thing to do if you believe in your cause, but it's also extremely risky. The feds have a reputation of railroading people to make an example out of them, like Ross Ulbrich of the Silk Road, who will likely the rest of his life in prison. Unfortunately, in Aaron's case, it never went to trial, because he would pass away by suicide on January 11, 2013. It's extremely sad to lose such a talented programmer, especially one who wasn't motivated by money, but rather a higher purpose of making information free and accessible to everybody. He would likely be appalled by the censorship that we see in social media today, which includes the very website he created. Now, some people out there have speculated that there's more to the story than meets the eye. Go back to America, your government has figured out how it all transpired. Here. Here's American Gladiators. Watch this. Shut But now, let's get back to our original question. What happened to Faker JS? If you're not familiar with it, it's a very popular library with over 1,000,000 weekly downloads that is used to create random fake data, like names, phone numbers, addresses, and so on. I use it all the time when building demos for this channel. It's maintained by a GitHub user who I'm not going to mention in this video. This person highlighted a very important issue that many open source developers face. In his words, respectfully, I am I'm no longer going to support fortune 5 hundreds. There isn't much else to say. Take this opportunity to send me a 6 figure yearly contract or fork the project and have somebody see else work on it. The response from the open source community was extremely positive. The sad reality is that there are many open source contributors out there who are way under compensated for the impact of their contributions. Mega corporations, startups, and consulting firms all make tons of money on the shoulders of open source software. In most cases, they give nothing back in return. And in some cases, people actively exploit and steal code without following the proper open source licensing rules. The reality is that to make open source viable, you need to have a good business plan, or you need to be paid a comfortable salary to make it worthwhile. And sometimes, even that's not enough. $1,000,000,000 companies like MongoDB and Elasticsearch, are now releasing their software under a completely different open source license that makes it way more restrictive for big companies like Amazon Web Services to take their software and offer it as a commercial service. Maybe independent open source developers should do the same. Maybe Bitcoin fixes this. I'm not sure. Let me know what you think in comments. But if you find yourself contributing to a library year after year that has as many downloads as Vue. Js while making almost $0 from it, you might end up making your own endgame commit too.
I
i
was
was
writing
writing
some
some
JavaScript
javascript
code
code
today
today
and
and
planned
planned
on
on
using
using
one
one
of
of
my
my
all
all
time
time
favorite
favorite
packages,
packages
bakerjs.
bakerjs
I
i
ran
ran
npm
npm
install,
install
and
and
it
it
installed
installed
But
but
when
when
I
i
went
went
to
to
use
use
it,
it
I
i
got
got
an
an
unexpected
unexpected
error
error
message.
message
I
i
figured
figured
it
it
was
was
my
my
fault
fault
and
and
just
just
the
the
result
result
of
of
a
a
breaking
breaking
API
api
change.
change
So
so
I
i
went
went
directly
directly
to
to
the
the
GitHub
github
repo,
repo
but
but
noticed
noticed
that
that
there
there
was
was
something
something
weird
weird
going
going
on
on
here.
here
All
all
the
the
source
source
code
code
was
was
removed
removed
and
and
there
there
was
was
just
just
one
one
commit
commit
with
with
a
a
comment
comment
of
of
endgame.
endgame
And
and
in
in
the
the
readme,
readme
all
all
it
it
says
says
is,
is
what
what
really
really
happened
happened
to
to
Aaron
aaron
Swartz.
swartz
Um,
um
that's
that's
actually
actually
a
a
really
really
good
good
question.
question
If
if
you
you
don't
don't
know
know
who
who
he
he
is,
is
he's
he's
an
an
absolute
absolute
legend
legend
who
who
helped
helped
create
create
RSS,
rss
for
for
really
really
simple
simple
syndication,
syndication
the
the
markdown
markdown
format,
format
the
the
Creative
creative
Commons
commons
organization,
organization
and
and
a
a
website
website
called
called
Reddit.
reddit
His
his
contributions
contributions
have
have
a
a
major
major
impact
impact
on
on
virtually
virtually
every
every
web
web
developer
developer
out
out
there.
there
But
but
there
there
was
was
one
one
thing
thing
about
about
Aaron
aaron
that
that
some
some
people
people
didn't
didn't
like.
like
You
you
see,
see
he
he
thought
thought
information
information
should
should
be
be
free
free
for
for
everybody.
everybody
And
and
he
he
believed
believed
in
in
that
that
so
so
much
much
that
that
he
he
went
went
into
into
a
a
storage
storage
closet
closet
on
on
the
the
MIT
mit
campus
campus
and
and
downloaded
downloaded
a
a
bunch
bunch
of
of
academic
academic
journals
journals
behind
behind
a
a
paywall
paywall
on
on
JSTOR
jstor
or
or
journal
journal
storage.
storage
They
they
caught
caught
him
him
doing
doing
this
this
on
on
camera,
camera
and
and
a
a
few
few
months
months
later,
later
he
he
was
was
arrested.
arrested
Insta.
insta
Journal
journal
storage,
storage
the
the
victim
victim
in
in
this
this
case,
case
was
was
very
very
reasonable,
reasonable
and
and
instead
instead
of
of
going
going
to
to
court,
court
they
they
just
just
had
had
him
him
return
return
all
all
of
of
the
the
downloaded
downloaded
documents,
documents
which
which
he
he
did.
did
The
the
s
s
attorney's
attorney's
office
office
though
though
wasn't
wasn't
nearly
nearly
as
as
understanding.
understanding
He
he
was
was
charged
charged
with
with
a
a
whole
whole
bunch
bunch
of
of
different
different
federal
federal
crimes
crimes
like
like
wire
wire
fraud
fraud
and
and
computer
computer
fraud,
fraud
where
where
he
he
faced
faced
up
up
to
to
50
50
years
years
in
in
prison.
prison
A
a
while
while
later,
later
he
he
was
was
offered
offered
a
a
deal
deal
by
by
the
the
feds
feds
where
where
he
he
would
would
only
only
serve
serve
6
6
months
months
in
in
prison
prison
if
if
he
he
plead
plead
guilty
guilty
to
to
13
13
different
different
crimes.
crimes
Aaron,
aaron
being
being
the
the
badass
badass
dude
dude
that
that
he
he
was,
was
rejected
rejected
this
this
ridiculous
ridiculous
deal
deal
and
and
instead
instead
opted
opted
for
for
a
a
trial
trial
where
where
the
the
feds
feds
would
would
actually
actually
have
have
to
to
justify
justify
their
their
overzealous
overzealous
pursuit
pursuit
of
of
him.
him
That's
that's
the
the
right
right
thing
thing
to
to
do
do
if
if
you
you
believe
believe
in
in
your
your
cause,
cause
but
but
it's
it's
also
also
extremely
extremely
risky.
risky
The
the
feds
feds
have
have
a
a
reputation
reputation
of
of
railroading
railroading
people
people
to
to
make
make
an
an
example
example
out
out
of
of
them,
them
like
like
Ross
ross
Ulbrich
ulbrich
of
of
the
the
Silk
silk
Road,
road
who
who
will
will
likely
likely
the
the
rest
rest
of
of
his
his
life
life
in
in
prison.
prison
Unfortunately,
unfortunately
in
in
Aaron's
aaron's
case,
case
it
it
never
never
went
went
to
to
trial,
trial
because
because
he
he
would
would
pass
pass
away
away
by
by
suicide
suicide
on
on
January
january
11,
11
2013.
2013
It's
it's
extremely
extremely
sad
sad
to
to
lose
lose
such
such
a
a
talented
talented
programmer,
programmer
especially
especially
one
one
who
who
wasn't
wasn't
motivated
motivated
by
by
money,
money
but
but
rather
rather
a
a
higher
higher
purpose
purpose
of
of
making
making
information
information
free
free
and
and
accessible
accessible
to
to
everybody.
everybody
He
he
would
would
likely
likely
be
be
appalled
appalled
by
by
the
the
censorship
censorship
that
that
we
we
see
see
in
in
social
social
media
media
today,
today
which
which
includes
includes
the
the
very
very
website
website
he
he
created.
created
Now,
now
some
some
people
people
out
out
there
there
have
have
speculated
speculated
that
that
there's
there's
more
more
to
to
the
the
story
story
than
than
meets
meets
the
the
eye.
eye
Go
go
back
back
to
to
America,
america
your
your
government
government
has
has
figured
figured
out
out
how
how
it
it
all
all
transpired.
transpired
Here.
here
Here's
here's
American
american
Gladiators.
gladiators
Watch
watch
this.
this
Shut
shut
But
but
now,
now
let's
let's
get
get
back
back
to
to
our
our
original
original
question.
question
What
what
happened
happened
to
to
Faker
faker
JS?
js
If
if
you're
you're
not
not
familiar
familiar
with
with
it,
it
it's
it's
a
a
very
very
popular
popular
library
library
with
with
over
over
1,000,000
1,000,000
weekly
weekly
downloads
downloads
that
that
is
is
used
used
to
to
create
create
random
random
fake
fake
data,
data
like
like
names,
names
phone
phone
numbers,
numbers
addresses,
addresses
and
and
so
so
on.
on
I
i
use
use
it
it
all
all
the
the
time
time
when
when
building
building
demos
demos
for
for
this
this
channel.
channel
It's
it's
maintained
maintained
by
by
a
a
GitHub
github
user
user
who
who
I'm
i'm
not
not
going
going
to
to
mention
mention
in
in
this
this
video.
video
This
this
person
person
highlighted
highlighted
a
a
very
very
important
important
issue
issue
that
that
many
many
open
open
source
source
developers
developers
face.
face
In
in
his
his
words,
words
respectfully,
respectfully
I
i
am
am
I'm
i'm
no
no
longer
longer
going
going
to
to
support
support
fortune
fortune
5
5
hundreds.
hundreds
There
there
isn't
isn't
much
much
else
else
to
to
say.
say
Take
take
this
this
opportunity
opportunity
to
to
send
send
me
me
a
a
6
6
figure
figure
yearly
yearly
contract
contract
or
or
fork
fork
the
the
project
project
and
and
have
have
somebody
somebody
see
see
else
else
work
work
on
on
it.
it
The
the
response
response
from
from
the
the
open
open
source
source
community
community
was
was
extremely
extremely
positive.
positive
The
the
sad
sad
reality
reality
is
is
that
that
there
there
are
are
many
many
open
open
source
source
contributors
contributors
out
out
there
there
who
who
are
are
way
way
under
under
compensated
compensated
for
for
the
the
impact
impact
of
of
their
their
contributions.
contributions
Mega
mega
corporations,
corporations
startups,
startups
and
and
consulting
consulting
firms
firms
all
all
make
make
tons
tons
of
of
money
money
on
on
the
the
shoulders
shoulders
of
of
open
open
source
source
software.
software
In
in
most
most
cases,
cases
they
they
give
give
nothing
nothing
back
back
in
in
return.
return
And
and
in
in
some
some
cases,
cases
people
people
actively
actively
exploit
exploit
and
and
steal
steal
code
code
without
without
following
following
the
the
proper
proper
open
open
source
source
licensing
licensing
rules.
rules
The
the
reality
reality
is
is
that
that
to
to
make
make
open
open
source
source
viable,
viable
you
you
need
need
to
to
have
have
a
a
good
good
business
business
plan,
plan
or
or
you
you
need
need
to
to
be
be
paid
paid
a
a
comfortable
comfortable
salary
salary
to
to
make
make
it
it
worthwhile.
worthwhile
And
and
sometimes,
sometimes
even
even
that's
that's
not
not
enough.
enough
$1,000,000,000
$1,000,000,000
companies
companies
like
like
MongoDB
mongodb
and
and
Elasticsearch,
elasticsearch
are
are
now
now
releasing
releasing
their
their
software
software
under
under
a
a
completely
completely
different
different
open
open
source
source
license
license
that
that
makes
makes
it
it
way
way
more
more
restrictive
restrictive
for
for
big
big
companies
companies
like
like
Amazon
amazon
Web
web
Services
services
to
to
take
take
their
their
software
software
and
and
offer
offer
it
it
as
as
a
a
commercial
commercial
service.
service
Maybe
maybe
independent
independent
open
open
source
source
developers
developers
should
should
do
do
the
the
same.
same
Maybe
maybe
Bitcoin
bitcoin
fixes
fixes
this.
this
I'm
i'm
not
not
sure.
sure
Let
let
me
me
know
know
what
what
you
you
think
think
in
in
comments.
comments
But
but
if
if
you
you
find
find
yourself
yourself
contributing
contributing
to
to
a
a
library
library
year
year
after
after
year
year
that
that
has
has
as
as
many
many
downloads
downloads
as
as
Vue.
vue
Js
js
while
while
making
making
almost
almost
$0
$0
from
from
it,
it
you
you
might
might
end
end
up
up
making
making
your
your
own
own
endgame
endgame
commit
commit
too.
too
success
Speaker 0 discusses the struggles of a web developer with Faker JS, a popular library that creates random data. He explains that the library is a collaborative software that requires a good business plan and a comfortable salary to make it worthwhile. He also mentions that many developers are under compensated for their contributions to open source software and that big companies like Amazon Web Services are now releasing their software under a completely different open source license.
The Dark Side of Open Source // What really happened to Faker.js?
I was writing some JavaScript code today and planned on using one of my all time favorite packages, bakerjs. I ran npm install, and it installed But when I went to use it, I got an unexpected error message. I figured it was my fault and just the result of a breaking API change. So I went directly to the GitHub repo, but noticed that there was something weird going on here. All the source code was removed and there was just one commit with a comment of endgame. And in the readme, all it says is, what really happened to Aaron Swartz. Um, that's actually a really good question. If you don't know who he is, he's an absolute legend who helped create RSS, for really simple syndication, the markdown format, the Creative Commons organization, and a website called Reddit. His contributions have a major impact on virtually every web developer out there. But there was one thing about Aaron that some people didn't like. You see, he thought information should be free for everybody. And he believed in that so much that he went into a storage closet on the MIT campus and downloaded a bunch of academic journals behind a paywall on JSTOR or journal storage. They caught him doing this on camera, and a few months later, he was arrested. Insta. Journal storage, the victim in this case, was very reasonable, and instead of going to court, they just had him return all of the downloaded documents, which he did. The s attorney's office though wasn't nearly as understanding. He was charged with a whole bunch of different federal crimes like wire fraud and computer fraud, where he faced up to 50 years in prison. A while later, he was offered a deal by the feds where he would only serve 6 months in prison if he plead guilty to 13 different crimes. Aaron, being the badass dude that he was, rejected this ridiculous deal and instead opted for a trial where the feds would actually have to justify their overzealous pursuit of him. That's the right thing to do if you believe in your cause, but it's also extremely risky. The feds have a reputation of railroading people to make an example out of them, like Ross Ulbrich of the Silk Road, who will likely the rest of his life in prison. Unfortunately, in Aaron's case, it never went to trial, because he would pass away by suicide on January 11, 2013. It's extremely sad to lose such a talented programmer, especially one who wasn't motivated by money, but rather a higher purpose of making information free and accessible to everybody. He would likely be appalled by the censorship that we see in social media today, which includes the very website he created. Now, some people out there have speculated that there's more to the story than meets the eye. Go back to America, your government has figured out how it all transpired. Here. Here's American Gladiators. Watch this. Shut But now, let's get back to our original question. What happened to Faker JS? If you're not familiar with it, it's a very popular library with over 1,000,000 weekly downloads that is used to create random fake data, like names, phone numbers, addresses, and so on. I use it all the time when building demos for this channel. It's maintained by a GitHub user who I'm not going to mention in this video. This person highlighted a very important issue that many open source developers face. In his words, respectfully, I am I'm no longer going to support fortune 5 hundreds. There isn't much else to say. Take this opportunity to send me a 6 figure yearly contract or fork the project and have somebody see else work on it. The response from the open source community was extremely positive. The sad reality is that there are many open source contributors out there who are way under compensated for the impact of their contributions. Mega corporations, startups, and consulting firms all make tons of money on the shoulders of open source software. In most cases, they give nothing back in return. And in some cases, people actively exploit and steal code without following the proper open source licensing rules. The reality is that to make open source viable, you need to have a good business plan, or you need to be paid a comfortable salary to make it worthwhile. And sometimes, even that's not enough. $1,000,000,000 companies like MongoDB and Elasticsearch, are now releasing their software under a completely different open source license that makes it way more restrictive for big companies like Amazon Web Services to take their software and offer it as a commercial service. Maybe independent open source developers should do the same. Maybe Bitcoin fixes this. I'm not sure. Let me know what you think in comments. But if you find yourself contributing to a library year after year that has as many downloads as Vue. Js while making almost $0 from it, you might end up making your own endgame commit too.
Speaker 0 discusses the struggles of a web developer with Faker JS, a popular library that creates random data. He explains that the library is a collaborative software that requires a good business plan and a comfortable salary to make it worthwhile. He also mentions that many developers are under compensated for their contributions to open source software and that big companies like Amazon Web Services are now releasing their software under a completely different open source license.