Legal and Ethical concerns

• 1 min read

Popcorn Hack 1

Violating Software License

  • Copyright
  • Intellectual Property (IP): Creations of the mind
  • Includes inventions, literature, art
  • 4 types of digital IP: Copyright, Patents, Trademarks, Trade Secrets

Licensing a Repo

  • Software License: Legal agreement defining how others can use/modify your code
  • Important to prevent legal issues

Open Source/Access

  • Legal if it is open
  • Open Source: Publicly available for use and modification
    • Collaboration
    • Usually used with good intentions but can also be malicious
  • Open Access: More for research/professional development

Popcorn Hack 2

Open Source Lyric Guessing App

  • MIT: Good for fast growth/spread of code, but anyone can use/modify code
  • GPL: Protects work, modifications must be made public
  • Apache 2.0: Requires patent
  • Type of license is up to you and what you want

What Counts for Breaking the Law

  • Using code from a repo without a license (All rights reserved)

Ethical Concerns

  • Respect of Intellectual Property: Using code without the creator’s permission is disrespectful
  • Unfair Advantage
  • Lack of Attribution: Not crediting the creator
  • Exploitation: Profiting from others’ work
  • Just because something isn’t illegal doesn’t mean it isn’t ethical

Homework Hack

I chose the MIT license because most of my code is not super original, so I don’t mind sharing it for the public to use. Also, sharing with the public contributes more to the coding society where people can use the code hopefully for beneficial use and advance coding as a whole.

Completed MCQ: