The reasoning behind this license is simple - a lot of open source software ends up in the wrong hands or is used to develop software and provide services that are not for the public good and/or of no real value in the world.
Many organisations waste significant resources of time and money building software which only solves very insignificant problems for our world. This is a license to help change that.
The good license is primarily intended to be used for software developed by and for charities, foundations, social good organisations, sustainable organisations, education institutions and tech for good companies (both for profit and non-profit entities), that are helping make the world a better place.
However, anyone can use this license, with some exceptions for use detailed within the license text.
This is free and unencumbered software released into the public domain with
caveats.
Social good organisations and individuals are free to copy, modify, publish,
use, compile, sell, or distribute this software, either in source code form or
as a compiled binary, for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial, and by any
means.
Social good organisations or individuals cannot be involved in or invested in
any way, shape or form in gambling, recreational drugs (including alcohol & e/
cigarettes), adult content or services, fraud or fradulent activities, the
production of weapons or technologies used within weapons directly or
indirectly, war (either directly or indirectly), fossil fuels including oil
and gas, any electrical power generation method which is determimental to
biodiversity or a cause of climate change, any organisation which brings harm
to people, the environment or biodiversity, a purely profit-driven activity
without being a social good provider itself, any movement which promotes
radical views that lead to violence or disharmony in society.
In jurisdictions that recognize copyright laws, the author or authors of this
software dedicate any and all copyright interest in the software to the public
domain. We make this dedication for the benefit of the public at large and to
the detriment of our heirs and successors. We intend this dedication to be an
overt act of relinquishment in perpetuity of all present and future rights to
this software under copyright law.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN
ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION
WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
For more information, please refer to <https://akalsoftware.github.io/
the-good-license>
The Good License is based upon the Unlicense.
However, it has not been checked for legal correctness by a lawyer or an attorney.
Therefore, the license itself is also provided “as is” and comes with no warranty of any kind, express or implied, and so you should consult a lawyer or an attorney before using it.
If you do make modifications to this license, please feel free to submit corrections to this license via a Pull Request.