List of Licenses for Freedom
Respects Our Freedom Licenses
This post is just going to be a list of FLOSS-like licenses which respect the freedoms of the people the program is being run on in any number of ways as well as including short summaries of each license. The only criteria for a license to be included on this list are:
- The license must be in the spirit of copyleft and reciprocation.
- The license only restricts a license in terms of for what purpose it is used, and not who uses it. Licensing against specific entities rather than their actions is a frivolous effort and discourages coming into compliance.
- The license leverages (2) in order to promote social freedoms or for an otherwise ethical cause.
The List
In no particular order
- [C]NPL – (Cooperative) Nonviolent Public License – Two AGPL-like licenses for software, but also for cultural works, which come in two varieties. One which aims to generally prevent harms (social, physical, and environmental), and the other (CNPL) which additionally adds a non-commercial clause for anything other than worker-owned cooperatives and individuals. All forms of harm are explicitly spelled out rather than referring to an external document.
- CSL – Cooperative Software License – Strong copyleft license which brands itself as copyfarleft and is for software and cultural works with a restriction on commercial redistribution for organizations which are not worker-owned cooperatives or individuals.
- CGPL – Common Good Public License – GPL-like license which also asks that the user does not violate the UDHR by use of the software as well as promoting a duty to Nature by use.
- The Hippocratic License – MIT-like license which also asks that the user does not violate the UDHR by use of the software and in the case that the software is a service, that the service's users also not violate the UDHR.
- Do No Harm License – BSD 3-clause based license with exclusions for anti-environmental uses, violence, hate, human rights abuses, and more. Still in draft status at time of writing.
If you know of a license not on this list, message me on the fediverse @thufie@pixie.town or email me at thufie@riseup.net