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Using JSLint For Evil

ryantravistate · 14.8K views · 2011-01-20 · 2:45

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Overview

A three-minute clip in which Douglas Crockford explains why he allowed the JSLint reference implementation to be used for evil. It recounts the license clause and how corporate lawyers reacted.

On Hacker News

Linked in licensing threads as a short, funny story about the 'no evil' clause and IBM's request for an exception.

Recommended by 2 HN people across 2 months · HN mentions 2013–2023

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What people said

SonOfLilit · 2017-07 · Recommendation

David Crockford puts a "don't use this for evil" clause in the license for all software he releases, creating some interesting situations: [VIDEO] (2:44 and worth it)

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computer · 2013-10 · Recommendation

See this 3 minute presentation fragment about the "Do not use JSLint for Evil" license clause: [VIDEO]

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btilly · 2023-11 · Criticism

When you know that history, IBM asking for an exemption to the JSLint license becomes less funny. Watch [VIDEO] (2 minutes) to hear the story from the developer's point of view. Then consider how many totalitarian states today are using IBM computers to track their population. The developer might not realize it, but IBM lawyers absolutely know that they can be fairly accused of using JSLint for evil.

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Sources

Video by ryantravistate, played through YouTube.

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