On Wed, 1 Jul 2020 at 21.23, gyro funch <gyromagne...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello, > > I greatly respect the intention, but this is a very slippery slope. > > Will you exempt groups within these companies that are working on > 'green' technologies (e.g., biofuels)? > > Will you add to the license restrictions companies who make use of oil > and gas extracted by these companies (automotive, chemical/polymers, etc.)? > > Will you follow the chain from extraction to consumption and add the > links to the license 'blacklist'? > > -gyro Thank you for injecting some sense and a few reality checks into the discussion. Andrea. > > > On 7/1/2020 12:34 PM, John Preston wrote: > > Hello all, > > > > The following proposal was originally issue #16722 on GitHub but at > > the request of Matti Picus I am moving the discussion to this list. > > > > > > "NumPy is the fundamental package needed for scientific computing with > Python." > > > > I am asking the NumPy project to leverage its position as a core > > dependency among statistical, numerical, and ML projects, in the > > pursuit of climate justice. It is easy to identify open-source > > software used by the oil and gas industry which relies on NumPy [1] > > [2] , and it is highly likely that NumPy is used in closed-source and > > in-house software at oil and gas extraction companies such as Aramco, > > ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, and others. I believe it is possible to use > > software licensing to discourage the use of NumPy and dependent > > packages by companies such as these, and that doing so would frustrate > > the ability of these companies to identify and extract new oil and gas > > reserves. > > > > I propose NumPy's current BSD 3-Clause license be extended to include > > the following conditions, in line with the Climate Strike License [3] > > : > > > > * The Software may not be used in applications and services that > > are used for or > > aid in the exploration, extraction, refinement, processing, or > > transportation > > of fossil fuels. > > > > * The Software may not be used by companies that rely on fossil > > fuel extraction > > as their primary means of revenue. This includes but is not > > limited to the > > companies listed at https://climatestrike.software/blocklist > > > > I accept that there are issues around adopting such a proposal, > including that: > > > > addition of such clauses violates the Open Source Initiative's > > canonical Open Source Definition, which explicitly excludes licenses > > that limit re-use "in a specific field of endeavor", and therefore if > > these clauses were adopted NumPy would no longer "be open-source" by > > this definition; > > there may be collateral damage among the wider user base and project > > sponsorship, due to the vague nature of the first clause, and this may > > affect the longevity of the project and its standing within the > > Python, numerical, statistical, and ML communities. > > > > My intention with the opening of this issue is to promote constructive > > discussion of the use of software licensing -- and other measures -- > > for working towards climate justice -- and other forms of justice -- > > in the context of NumPy and other popular open-source libraries. Some > > people will say that NumPy is "just a tool" and that it sits > > independent of how it is used, but due to its utility and its > > influence as a major open-source library, I think it is essential that > > we consider the position of the Climate Strike License authors, that > > "as tech workers, we should take responsibility in how our software is > > used". > > > > Many thanks to all of the contributors who have put so much time and > > energy into NumPy. ✨ ❤️ 😃 > > > > [1] https://github.com/gazprom-neft/petroflow > > [2] https://github.com/climate-strike/analysis > > [3] https://github.com/climate-strike/license > > _______________________________________________ > > NumPy-Discussion mailing list > > NumPy-Discussion@python.org > > https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/numpy-discussion > > > > _______________________________________________ > NumPy-Discussion mailing list > NumPy-Discussion@python.org > https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/numpy-discussion >
_______________________________________________ NumPy-Discussion mailing list NumPy-Discussion@python.org https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/numpy-discussion
