Link to the article - http://news.com.com/2100-1023-975638.html?tag=lh
Move over, free software. Step aside, today's open-source licenses.
Software distributed under an "enhanced source" license released this week
will be legally prohibited from censoring or spying on users.
Crafted by Hacktivismo, a hacking group organized by the Cult of the Dead
Cow, the Hacktivismo enhanced-source software license agreement says that
anyone using code released under it must respect privacy, free expression,
due process and other human rights.
HESSLA comes as concern is growing over governments using technology such as
blocking software to restrict what their citizens can do or say online. In
September, House Republicans released a report titled "Tear Down This
Firewall," and this week, Amnesty International published a report
highlighting China's crackdown on Internet use.
"The Hacktivismo enhanced-source software license agreement marks the first
time technology transfer has been linked to protecting human rights," said
Oxblood Ruffin, founder of Hacktivismo. "Our clients and end-users aren't
building the firewalls to keep democracy out. They're locked inside trying
to break free."
In July, Ruffin published a manifesto that referenced the United Nations'
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and said Internet censorship is "a
serious form of organized and systematic violence against citizens, is
intended to generate confusion and xenophobia and is a reprehensible
violation of trust." Hacktivismo's license says that any government that
violates human rights is prohibited from using software released under it.
The "enhanced source" license intentionally tracks much of the language of
the well-known General Public License and borrows most of the GPL's
concepts, such as the one that says anyone incorporating code released under
the license in their program must also make the source code of their program
available. In fact, Hacktivismo recommends that programmers release their
code under both licenses.
One problem Hacktivismo might encounter is that the current license is so
broad it discourages developers from using it. For instance, it bans
governments, individuals and corporations from any "monitoring of
individuals," which might apply to popular network monitoring utilities, and
bans "filtering" of any expression, which could cover routine utilities such
as spam-filtering programs.
Another section of the license requires that the creator of any program that
uses cryptography for authentication or confidentiality must ensure that the
algorithms meet minimum security thresholds. And if any disputes arise
involving another nation, the license says, foreign governments relinquish
their right of sovereign immunity and agree to be sued in federal court in
the United States.
The license enables both Hacktivismo and its end-users to go to court if
someone tries to use the software in a malicious manner, or to introduce
harmful changes into the software. It also contains more robust language
than has previously been used to maximize enforcement against governments
around the world. The HESSLA explicitly prohibits anybody from introducing
"spyware, surveillance technology, or other undesirable code into modified
versions of HESSLA-licensed programs." Additionally, the license prohibits
any use of the software by any government that has any policy or practice of
violating human rights.
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