Organization for Ethical Source explained

Abbreviation:OES
Formation:[1]
Type:non-profit organization
Purpose:Educational
Headquarters:Switzerland
Region Served:Worldwide
Membership:Individuals
Leader Name:Coraline Ada Ehmke

The Organization for Ethical Source (OES) is a non-profit organization founded by Coraline Ada Ehmke in December 2020, to support the ethical source movement, which promotes that "software freedom must always be in service of human freedom".[2] The organization is dedicated to "giving technologists tools and resources to ensure that their work is being used for social good and to minimize harm". It develops tools to "promote fair, ethical, and pro-social outcomes for those who contribute to, or are affected by, open source technologies".

The organization aims to support the ethical source movement, promoting ethics and social responsibility in open source.[3] The movement has facilitated a new kind of license, the Hippocratic License,[4] inspired by the medical Hippocratic Oath. The license has been criticized as non-enforceable and non-open source,[5] [6] including by Bruce Perens,[7] co-founder of the Open Source Initiative and author of the Open Source Definition. The license has triggered debate within the open source movement.[8] [9] [10] [11] The Hippocratic License has been classified as non-free by the Free Software Foundation,[12] [13] while the Open Source Initiative stated, on Twitter, that the license is not an open source software license and that software distributed under such license is not open source.[14]

During the 2021 controversy around Richard Stallman returning to the FSF board, after his resignation in 2019, the OES issued a statement against it, and was one of the signatory organizations of an open letter with thousands of signatures.[15] [16] [17] [18]

See also

References

  1. Web site: Announcing a New Kind of Open Source Organization . Organization for Ethical Source . 2021-04-20.
  2. Web site: Vaughan-Nichols . Steven J. . Ethical-source movement opens new open-source organization . 2021-04-20 . ZDNet . en.
  3. Schneider, Nathan (host); Ehmke, Coraline Ada (guest) . 2021-01-29 . Can software handle ethics? . Podcast episode . Looks Like New . . 2021-04-20 . en-US.
  4. Web site: The Hippocratic License 2.1: An Ethical License for Open Source. . 2021-04-20 . FirstDoNoHarm.dev . en.
  5. Web site: Prakash . Abhishek . The Great Open Source Divide: ICE, Hippocratic License and the Controversy . 2021-04-20 . It's FOSS . September 24, 2019 . en-US.
  6. Web site: Vaughan-Nichols . Steven J. . You can't open-source license morality . 2021-04-20 . ZDNet . en.
  7. Web site: Perens . Bruce . Sorry, Ms. Ehmke, The "Hippocratic License" can't work . perens.com . 2019-09-23 . It's this one that makes the Hippocratic license not Open Source, not that I am clear its proponents care about that..
  8. Fussell . Sidney . 2020-01-03 . The Schism at the Heart of the Open-Source Movement . 2021-04-20 . The Atlantic . en.
  9. Finley . Kint . October 4, 2019 . An Open Source License That Requires Users to Do No Harm . Wired . 2021-04-20 . 1059-1028.
  10. Web site: Doctorow . Cory . 2019-10-04 . The Hippocratic License: A new software license that prohibits uses that contravene the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights . 2021-04-20 . Boing Boing . en-US.
  11. Bridgwater . Adrian . January 31, 2020 . Open source licence series . Tidelift: Ethical source-available licenses challenge open source . 2021-04-20 . . London . TechTarget . 0010-4787.
  12. Web site: Various Licenses and Comments about Them . Free Software Foundation.
  13. Web site: A roundup of recent updates to our licensing materials: November 2019 to April 2020 . Donald . Robertson . 2020-04-07 . Free Software Foundation.
  14. . OpenSourceOrg . 1176229398929977344 . The intro to the Hippocratic Licence might lead some to believe the license is an Open Source Software licence, and software distributed under the Hippocratic Licence is Open Source Software. As neither is true, we ask you to please modify the language to remove confusion..
  15. Web site: Claburn . Thomas . March 23, 2021 . Free Software Foundation urged to free itself of Richard Stallman by hundreds of developers and techies . 2021-04-20 . The Register . London . Situation Publishing . en.
  16. Web site: Melanson . Mike . 2021-03-26 . This Week in Programming: Free Software Can't Exist without Richard Stallman? . 2021-04-20 . The New Stack . en-US.
  17. Web site: Riggins . Jennifer . 2021-04-13 . Why (Almost) Everyone Wants Richard Stallman Canceled . 2021-04-20 . The New Stack . en-US.
  18. Web site: An open letter to remove Richard M. Stallman from all leadership positions . rms-open-letter.github.io . October 6, 2021.

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