Comment by mkleczek
> Honestly? Because many things are too small to be worth paying a lawyer to write a letter to license violators
That’s a false alternative. You can chose copyleft license and not sue.
This is _especially_ useful for things I don’t plan to monetize. It allows free use but also protects the society from free riders.
> It allows free use but also protects the society from free riders.
That's a value judgment that others may not share. I'm not (quite) one of them, but there are people who believe that bits on a hard drive shouldn't be owned, by anyone. I think it's a perfectly reasonable stance to argue that releasing something as a public good under the least restrictive terms possible is a moral and correct thing to do.
Personally I prefer strong copyleft for most projects that I really care about. But that's my preference, and I don't kid myself into believing that I know what's right or wrong for society in this area.