Does anyone know of a well behaved license that has this feature?
EDIT: I understand that restricting usage would make this not 'free as in speech' software, however I don't really mind.
Further clarification: I mean use by a military organisation for any purpose. If it makes it (somehow) into accounting software used for running military procurement/payroll or medical devices used in a military hospital, I also want that to be against the license.
> 6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor
> The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a business, or from being used for genetic research.
See the open source definition: https://opensource.org/osd
I would encourage you to use a normal open source license, like MIT, and to not worry about trying to control who uses the software for what.
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/programs-must-not-limit-freed...
On what basis is there any authority? Just discriminate against a FoE, and call it OS anyway - are they going to sue?
No, but projects insisting on OS won't use it, and every online discussion about it will derail into a discussion about calling things "Open Source" that don't fit the OSI criteria and the pro and cons of creating your own licenses ;)
Since OP explicitly mentioned "open sourcing" it I think it's a fair concern to point out.
E.g. Armies operate hospitals for it wounded soldiers. Can your software be used in an army hospital?
E.g. What happens if private company ABC Inc. Is using your software, and then they are contracted by the military to perform work - is that allowed? You say you "want to prevent any military from legally using it" - who's using your software in this situation ... the military or private company ABC?
EDIT: and even if you figure out the exact language to restrict military use, how do you enforce it and what are the consequences of breaking it?
EDIT2: Linked below is an example to restrict military use. Note though, it's so broad reaching that it might scare away even non-military organizations for using your software. And it still doesn't address how you enforce such license. So there's lots of questions about the applicable of this example license. http://web.cs.ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/ocb/license2.pdf
EDIT3: the problem you are going to have is that you're breaking a fundamental principle of open source software. And that is that anyone can use your software so long as they do so based on your stipulations. What you want to do is restrict who can even use your software. Read the FAQ for "what is open source software". https://opensource.org/faq
This is clear cut military use. I'm not sure why this is an example of ambiguity.
For private company it's up to their lawyers. I'm sure this is in part of why this is being done to make it harder for companies to support the military.
>how do you enforce it
This is addressed in the comment? Besides which internal company lawyers will enforce it and perhaps somewhere along the line it'll be so blatant somewhere a lawyer will take up the cause and get OP a lot of money.
> This is clear cut military use. I'm not sure why this is an example of ambiguity.
But what if the hospital also treats sick civilians if they have capacity. Is it then allowed to use the software when treating civilians?
This would likely fall under normal contract negotiation due diligence. You don't accept a contract to use a piece of software that you aren't legally allowed to use on that contract. Violating that would be ABC Inc.'s problem (though it would obviously affect the contractee). Thus, the status of your various software licenses needs to be tracked.
I worked with a vendor that had issues like this. They would need to "firewall off" not only data but also employees who were working on or with data or software that could not legally be used on another contract. This extended to seating assignments in their cubicle farm, where some people could not sit near other people who were working on conflicting contracts. The onus of staying legally compliant was taken very seriously.
Free software licences are not an option. Forbidding specific use of your software goes against the intent of the commonly accepted free software licences — you would run afoul of freedom 0:
> The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose¹
There probably exist other open source (but not free software) licences that do limit the audience, but you probably won't be able to enforce them, and they tend not to be taken seriously. You would on the other hand frustrate users outside of the military who want to legally use your software in ways normally permitted by free software licences — e.g., by reusing parts of it, forking it, combining it with other free software, etc.
Lastly, the absolute sure-fire way of preventing any military use of your software is not releasing it at all.
I don't think it's worth the hassle to add such a clause. If the point is not to actually prevent its use, but to make a statement, then make a statement on the project's homepage and in the documentation. It will have the same effect without resorting to weird software licences, and you can choose a well-known free software or merely open source licence.
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Free_Software_Definition
1) License one grants all open source rights to individual use.
2) Government and state-level entities require a commercial license to use it.
Just don't mention the military.
When the government requests a license, ask what it is ifor. If it's for hospitals or charity, give the license.
If it's for one more war waged for bankers, then tell them the license is 2 billion dollars.
> 2) Government and state-level entities require a commercial license to use it.
"all open source rights" implies freedom 0: "The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose".
Why can't he have his own license like Qt has? They have free version for individuals and paid version for commercial use.
4. This software cannot be used for military purposes under this license. You must negotiate for a license from the original author, AUTHOR NAME.
Say you wanted to add a clause to the apache license (AL2) or GPLv3 - Then you would also have to make sure that your new clause does not contradict anything in the rest of the license.
Edit: And that clause would probably prevent even others who are not in the military from using your code. Just because there's a chance your license is incompatible with the GPL.
The longer the license, the more likely it is that you have not understood the effects.
The simplest license is abandonment to the public domain; that won't work. You need something that establishes that you are the original author (so that you own the rights) and that you are offering certain specific rights to most people (now it's open source, though not Open Source) and that keeps the same restrictions for people making derivative works -- and now you have the BSD 3-clause.
So that's the simplest license which can possibly work for the OP's purposes.
“I give permission for IBM, its customers, partners, and minions, to use JSLint for evil.”
IBM's response:
“Thanks very much, Douglas!”
- What kind of use is to considered military? Dual use goods? Software running on some computer in a military department that is used for "civil purposes" (think of some accounting software in the accounting department)? Projects that are also financed by some military pot of money (lots of civil research e.g. in the USA is financed by DARPA)? Consider that the precursor of the internet (ARPAnet) belongs to this category. Civil defense systems that are not owned/built by the military but by private security companies?
- If OSS people would tolerate such a restriction, the next people will come and also want to add restrictions to the usage of their software. At the beginning these will even serve noble purposes, but the time will come when people will use this kind of restructions to build their political agenda, such as
* must not be used for military purposes
* must not be used for animal experiments
* must not be used to produce hate speech
* must not be used for misogynistic purposes
* must not be used for homophobic purposes
* must only used by white people
* must not be used on Intel processors
* must only be used on RISC-V processors
* must only be used by citizens of democratic states
* only for noncommercial purposes
* only for research purposes
etc. So it is accepted practise in FOSS communities not to consider usage restrictions as acceptable.
A lot has been talked about the restrictions of open source.
If I want my program used for things I agree with only I should have that right. If OSI says my license isn't good, then I'll be proud to have a non-conforming license.
The OP talked of "open sourcing". This implies that his software will satisfy freedom 0 - which is not possible with a military use restriction.
EDIT: If he just meant "releasing the source code" he would surely have used this wording.
1) The majority of the DoD struggles to get permission to use open source software. There are plenty of developers, DBAs, and IT technicians who would love to use some piece of software that they are not allowed to use specifically because it is open source. I once spent 11 months trying to get approval to use a single Google-produced library. I was unsuccessful.
2) Related to the above, agencies responsible for approving software for use are very concerned with licensing issues. After all, they are used to negotiating licensing terms for multi-million dollar contracts. The fact that OSS essentially guarantees that you have no one to call [2] when you have an issue (for the entire lifespan of the project) is a large part of why they will not approve OSS. Beyond that, compliance is a real concern. Popular opinion may be of heartless assholes, but these are real people working jobs. I would not be so cavalier in saying "they'll just use it anyway".
3) I am always disappointed, though never surprised, when people assume that the military works solely to execute war. I was specifically contracted to a (large) part of the military that works on exactly the kind of thing that prevents and reduces violence (sorry to be vague). The kind of domain that would probably translate improved computer vision into saving lives (domestic, foreign, combatant, and civilian). That is, if they could get approval.
[1] I have no idea how other countries' militaries operate.
[2] Literally call. On a phone.
I don't want to go in to my specific objections because they're not material here, but I appreciate that militaries don't only make war. That doesn't change my objective.
I can get a bit defensive about this sort of thing, but that's not an excuse for implying that you were being "cavalier". I apologize for doing so. You seem to be thinking carefully about what you want to do and how to go about doing it.
I sincerely appreciate that you are approaching your work and your words with thoughtfulness. Good luck with your project.
https://www.linux.com/news/open-source-project-adds-no-milit...
EDIT: oops, they actually asked him later in the article.
So... you don't actually want to prevent any military from using it, you just want to virtue-signal?
I'm not even being sarcastic here; this distinction is pretty important to the license you choose and how you enforce it.
I am a signatory to the autonomous weapons non-proliferation petition from the future-of-life institute: https://futureoflife.org/open-letter-autonomous-weapons/
I am hoping that by including a non-military-use clause, if I ever do have the resources to fight military use of my software, I will be able to do so.
Edit: found it!: https://4zm.org/files/2010/HPL/index.html
e.g. The RAF used to run search and rescue helicopters in the UK until a couple of years ago - my wife was rescued by them after a climbing accident in Glencoe.
But then it is not open source or free software anymore - since this violates freedom 0.
Interesting related historical item (java used to disallow usage in nuclear power facilities): https://www.quora.com/The-license-agreement-of-Java-says-You...
Neither really addresses an important point made by user venning here--that simply writing any license that makes it more complicated for someone to get approval to use your software will actually work, in cases where the "someone" is part of an organized operation that generally operates according to standard processes. But RMS (paraphrased and linked in the SE article) has thoughts on how that may not apply in many states.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4762035
https://wiki.debian.org/qa.debian.org/jsonevil
Personally, I applaud it and I would live with these consequences, but be aware of these consequences.
I took the repo down shortly after, and can't seem to find the original :(
I'll keep looking...
It will prevent law abiding persons (natural/legal) to use your software and make their experience with it worse, while not blocking anyone who'd really want to use it.
