The Hacktivismo Enhanced-Source Software License Agreement (HESSLA) is a

software license A software license is a legal instrument (usually by way of contract law, with or without printed material) governing the use or redistribution of software. Under United States copyright law, all software is copyright protected, in both source ...

proposed by

Hacktivismo Hacktivismo is an offshoot of CULT OF THE DEAD COW (cDc), whose beliefs include access to information as a basic human right. It was founded in 1999. The group's beliefs are described fully in The Hacktivismo Declaration, which seeks to apply the ...

that attempts to put

ethical Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ma ...

restrictions on use and modification of software released under it. The license was written by

Oxblood Ruffin Oxblood Ruffin is a Canadian hacker. He is a member of the hacker group Cult of the Dead Cow (cDc), for which he serves as "Foreign Minister." He is also the founder and executive director of Hacktivismo, an offshoot of cDc. Ruffin is active in ...

(of Hacktivismo and

CULT OF THE DEAD COW Cult of the Dead Cow, also known as cDc or cDc Communications, is a computer Hacker (term), hacker and Do it yourself, DIY mass media, media organization founded in 1984 in Lubbock, Texas. The group maintains a blog, weblog on its site, also ti ...

) and Eric Grimm, an attorney with the

EFF EFF or eff may refer to: Politics * Economic Freedom Fighters, a South African communist political party * Economic Freedom Fund, an American political organization * Election Fighting Fund, a British suffragist organization supporting the ear ...

. The HESSLA allows for enhancements to be made and for

derivative work In copyright law, a derivative work is an expressive creation that includes major copyrightable elements of an original, previously created first work (the underlying work). The derivative work becomes a second, separate work independent in fo ...

s to be created, but it prohibits the use or modification of the software to violate

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

or to introduce features that spy on the user. It is intended to be a legally enforceable document. However, due to these restrictions, it is not technically a

free software license A free-software license is a notice that grants the recipient of a piece of software extensive rights to modify and redistribute that software. These actions are usually prohibited by copyright law, but the rights-holder (usually the author) ...

or an

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

license, though it was inspired by

free software Free software or libre software is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions. Free software is a matter of liberty, no ...

and

open source license An open-source license is a type of license for computer software and other products that allows the source code, blueprint or design to be used, modified and/or shared under defined terms and conditions. This allows end users and commercial compan ...

Criticism

HESSLA has been criticized by the

Free Software Foundation The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a 501(c)#501(c)(3), 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Richard Stallman on October 4, 1985, to support the free software movement, with the organization's preference for software being distributed ...

for introducing restrictions that they claim are ineffective for preventing abuse, but introduce legal incompatibility with other licenses. It also is listed as a good example of a '' human rights license'' in the

Creative Commons Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...

wiki A wiki ( ) is an online hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project, and could be either open to the pu ...

Derivatives

The

web browser A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used on ...

xB Browser xB Browser (formerly known as TorPark and Xerobank browser) was a web browser designed to run on both the Tor (anonymity network), Tor and XeroBank anonymity networks, and is available as component of the xB Machine and the xB Installer. It i ...

was temporarily based on the ''

Torrify Ethical Software License Agreement Torrify may refer to: *The process of torrefaction Torrefaction of biomass, e.g., wood or grain, is a mild form of pyrolysis at temperatures typically between 200 and 320 °C. Torrefaction changes biomass properties to provide a better fuel q ...

'' (TESLA) which was built upon HESSLA.

References

External links

The HESSLA
* Human Rights License Entry on Creative Commons Wiki {{Cult of the Dead Cow Cult of the Dead Cow Software licenses Politics and technology

Criticism

Derivatives

See also

References

External links