Making My Software Public Domain
Writing software means picking a license1. Choosing from various copyright options that determine what others can do with it. Be they individuals or mega-corps.
I struggled picking one for the website tools I'm building2. In an ideal world, I could pick a license that ensures my software would have the broadest reach while limiting it to those who use it ethically3.
I don't see a way to do that. So, I'm punting. Dropping copyright altogether, putting the tools in the public domain4.
My Thinking
There's a lot of politics behind licenses. Not surprising. They're legal documents that draw boundaries around what can and can't be done with the software they cover. Conversations involving them turn into conversations about money.
To give you an example, licenses for some free software projects require anything that uses them to also be free5. You can imagine how companies trying to maximize shareholder value would avoid those.
Here's where my head's at:
- I don't see how there can be anything other than a binary switch between allowing software to be used for commercial purposes or not. The idea of letting small, independent makers earn money while preventing giant corporations from doing doesn't seem possible.
- I wouldn't want that, even if it was possible. Folks who aren't interested in running their own servers need someone to host their sites. That hosting cost money. It's gotta come from somewhere.
-
There's no way to make my tools available for the general public while preventing abhorrent people and companies from using it as well.
I've had to sit with this. Picturing scenarios where the worst of the worst use what I make to do awful things. A very real possibility.
-
I believe more good than harm will come from my tools being available. This is based on my hypothesis that you can't go very far on the path of making things without starting to consider others. How they'll think and feel about your creations.
That's empathy.
The full idea being that the more folks we can get making things the more empathy there will be in the world.
No License Required
So, I'm publishing my software to the public domain. An offering to the world. Free of charge. Free of restriction. Free for you to use to make the world a better place.
-a
Endnotes
I'll own that I'm super naive when it comes to licensing. My initial looks started with choosealicense.com. I looked up a few other licenses including those from creativecommons.org. I made my decision based off what I found, but the entire process feels like a minefield.
I'll also own that I'm wary about posting this. Some folks have Very Strong Opinions™ about licensing. Some of which I agree with. Others, not so much. In either case, I don't know enough to really engage in a discourse. I feel like you have to be a legal scholar to really get into it.
Footnotes
I mean, you don't have to, but it's a pretty standard practice for anything you want other folks to use.
bitty, neopolitan, and neopoligen.
by which I mean in a way I find ethical.
CC0 1.0 Universal is the Creative Commons license I'm using to put things in the public domain.
I'm glossing over the details here. They aren't the point of this piece. Check out GNU General Public License for more of an example.