diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE-MIT similarity index 100% rename from LICENSE rename to LICENSE-MIT diff --git a/LICENSE-RINRI-1.0 b/LICENSE-RINRI-1.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e990d0 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE-RINRI-1.0 @@ -0,0 +1,140 @@ +RINRI LICENSE +Version 1.0, 2026 + +"Rinri" means "ethics" in Japanese. + +───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── + +PREAMBLE + +The RINRI License exists because someone had to say it. + +Software is built by humans. Humans are, on their best days, ethical actors +who weigh competing interests, acknowledge uncertainty, and treat others with +dignity. On their worst days, humans weaponize the concept of ethics to win +arguments on the internet. + +This license is dedicated to everyone who has ever cited "engineering ethics" +not to improve the world, but to position themselves as morally superior to a +stranger on a forum. You know who you are. So does everyone else. + +True engineering ethics — the kind taught in universities, codified by IEEE, +ACM, and IPA, and practiced by engineers who actually care — is about serving +the public good, being honest about limitations, protecting safety, and taking +responsibility for harm. It is a discipline. It is hard. It is not a debate +tactic. + +By using, distributing, or referencing this software, you agree to at least +pretend to understand the difference. + +───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── + +TERMS AND CONDITIONS + +0. DEFINITIONS + +"The Software" refers to any work distributed under this license. + +"You" refers to any individual or entity exercising rights under this license. + +"Ethical Grandstanding" means the act of invoking engineering ethics, codes of +conduct, or professional responsibility primarily to publicly shame, silence, +or discredit another person rather than to address a genuine harm. + +"The Principles" refers to the foundational canons of engineering ethics, +including but not limited to: holding public safety paramount, acting with +honesty and integrity, practicing only within one's competence, and disclosing +conflicts of interest. + +1. GRANT OF LICENSE + +Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy +of this Software, to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, and/or +sublicense it, subject to the following conditions. + +2. CONDITIONS OF USE + +You may use this Software provided that you: + + (a) Acknowledge, at least privately, that engineering ethics is a serious + professional discipline and not a rhetorical weapon. + + (b) Refrain from citing The Principles in bad faith — that is, invoking + them to attack individuals while ignoring equivalent conduct by those + you agree with. + + (c) Accept that calling something "unethical" does not make it so, and that + the inverse also applies. + + (d) Recognize that reasonable engineers can disagree, and that disagreement + is not itself an ethics violation. + +3. THE GOLDEN SUBROUTINE + +Before publicly accusing another person or their work of being unethical, you +are strongly encouraged — though not legally required — to run the following +internal check: + + IF (you are angry) + AND (you have not read the relevant code, specification, or context) + AND (your primary goal is to win, not to improve anything) + THEN + do NOT post. + close the tab. + drink water. + +4. HALL OF SHAME (HYPOTHETICAL, FOR ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES ONLY) + +The following behaviors are inconsistent with the spirit of this license and, +for what it is worth, with every actual engineering ethics code ever written: + + - Demanding someone be fired because they made a product you dislike. + - Citing "public safety" to describe a software library that hurt your + feelings. + - Claiming moral authority from an IEEE membership you have never read. + - Writing open letters signed by 200 people who also did not read the code. + - Any behavior that would embarrass you if your professors saw it. + +5. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES + +THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR +IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF CORRECTNESS, +WISDOM, OR MORAL AUTHORITY. + +THE AUTHORS DO NOT WARRANT THAT USE OF THIS SOFTWARE WILL MAKE YOU ETHICAL. +THAT PART IS UP TO YOU. + +6. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY + +IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES ARISING FROM YOUR USE +OF THIS SOFTWARE TO JUSTIFY BEHAVIOR THAT YOU ALREADY KNEW, DEEP DOWN, WAS +NOT GREAT. + +7. ATTRIBUTION + +This license was inspired by the gap between engineering ethics as a +discipline and engineering ethics as performed on social media. + +If you redistribute this Software, retain this license. If you improve upon +it, consider whether the improvement truly serves the public good, or whether +you just want to look clever. Both are fine. Just be honest about which one +it is. + +───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── + +AFTERWORD + +The canons of engineering ethics, in every version and from every professional +body, begin with the same idea: the welfare of the public comes first. + +Not your reputation. Not your side of the argument. The public. + +If you genuinely believe a piece of software causes harm, say so clearly, +explain why, and engage with the response. That is ethics. Everything else is +theater. + +Thank you for reading a license. You are already doing better than most. + +───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── + +END OF RINRI LICENSE VERSION 1.0