[License-review] The Vaccine License

[Gil Yehuda]

Fil

Thanks for clarifying. Licenses usually do ask for things in return. You
took the time to write something that does so, while considering the OSD.
To compare (in earnest): Someone created the Chicken-Dance license
<https://github.com/CunningLogic/LTE-OnOFF> that includes a healthy and fun
condition related to distributing projects that use this code. Medical
wisdom is unanimous that exercise is a good thing. No one denies that we
could all use more of it, and that the "Der Entertanz" is a very catchy
tune. (Though I'd prefer a Yakety Sax clause.) No one who opposes the
Chicken-Dance license does so because they are anti-dancing. Some people
think the license is a mockery. I presume this license is probably
compatible with the OSD (but I'm not going to suggest a formal review of
it). I don't think it furthers the cause of the open source movement. How
would you enforce it?

With clever drafting, one can generate many licenses that meet
OSD's requirements, and a subset of those might promote worthy and ethical
outcomes that benefit people. By using a license, you open the question of
enforceability (and in the case of medical compliance, to disclosing
health-care records). Why use a copyright license when you could more
effectively write a thoughtful blog post promoting the importance of your
ideal?

A thoughtful blog post? what good would *that* do? Well, a few weeks
ago someone
did <https://medium.com/@selamjie/remove-richard-stallman-fec6ec210794> and
that caused an outcome that I believe benefit the Free Software Movement
(our close sibling to the Open Source Movement). I applaud the attempt to
help people though the benefits of modern medicine, but I suggest that the
medium in which to spread this virtue leverage other compelling uses of
sincere and convincing words; ones that are not found in the terms of
copyright licenses.

tl;dr It's a good conversation to have about making the world a better
place, but let's package it in a more worthy vehicle than a copyright
license.

Gil Yehuda: I help with external technology engagement

>From the Open Source Program Office
<https://developer.yahoo.com/opensource/docs/> at Yahoo / Verizon Media



On Tue, Oct 29, 2019 at 4:45 PM Filli Liberandum <
filliliberandum at vaccinelicense.com> wrote:

> Hello Mr. Piana,
>
> In preparing this submission, I read the Mailing List Code of Conduct at
> https://opensource.org/codeofconduct
> Please familiarize yourself with it. In the name of getting along, I think
> it would be best if we all overlooked the tone of your message - this time.
>
> Obviously this is not the first license which dares to ask for something
> in return, more than just sharing source code of modifications, in exchange
> for the great work of Open Source developers.
>
> *There is a rising sentiment in the Open Source community that we give too
> much and ask for much too little.*
>
> It is time that the OSI board and the members involved in this process
> acknowledged that. This license seeks to change the balance, in a way that
> complies with the Open Source Definition, and deals with a real problem
> everyone should support, rather than asking for money and contaminating the
> developer process with endless arguments over fairness of compensation, or
> attempting to stop a war or some other such absurd thing where we would be
> bound to fail. Vaccination is real, practical, and most people worldwide
> can get it. And of course it saves lives. It seems very little to ask
> for, doesn't it?
>
>     *Fil*
>
> On Tue, Oct 29, 2019 at 12:56 PM Carlo Piana <carlo at piana.eu> wrote:
>
>> Nope!
>>
>> Good intent yelds bad licenses and incompliance. I actually campaign pro
>> vax, yet this license is not acceptable in the least bit. I am undecided
>> whether it's a trolling exercise. Probably it is. I must have read of it
>> somewhere else.
>>
>> I won't insult this list members' intelligence by discussing why.
>>
>> Please, stop it.
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> K
>>
>>
>> 29 ott 2019 ha scritto:
>>>
>>> Honored Board Members of the Open Source Initiative and members in the
>>> license-review process,
>>>
>>> This is a submission for approval as per the license review process
>>> documented at  https://opensource.org/approval
>>>
>>> *Type of submission:* Approval
>>> *License name:* Vaccine License
>>>
>>> *Text of the license:*
>>>
>>> The Vaccine License
>>>
>>> *Version 1.0, October 2019*
>>>
>>> SPDX: Vaccine-1.0
>>>
>>> https://www.vaccinelicense.com/vaccine-license/
>>> <http://www.apache.org/licenses/>
>>>
>>> PRELUDE
>>>
>>> Open Source developers should work for good, not evil. The misguided
>>> rejection of vaccination is one of the greatest evils that has ever
>>> existed. The *Vaccine License* is a software license that requires that
>>> users vaccinate their children, and themselves, and that user businesses
>>> make a similar requirement of their employees, to the greatest extent
>>> legally possible.
>>>
>>> The Vaccine License is derivative of the text of the Apache License, but
>>> with significantly modified language and very different effect. The license
>>> is reciprocal, and the grant of copyright and patent license rights only
>>> applies so long as the user complies with local vaccination recommendations.
>>>
>>> TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION
>>>
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>>>
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>>> or authorized by the government of the place where they practice to be the
>>> primary authority to plan and order the medical care that should be
>>> provided to a particular patient.
>>>
>>> “Vaccine” shall mean a biological preparation that provides
>>> active acquired immunity to a particular disease, which is prepared,
>>> recommended, and administered under the supervision of a Medical Doctor.
>>>
>>> “Vaccination” shall mean the administration of vaccine to a patient.
>>>
>>> “Local Vaccination Authority” shall mean a government agency tasked
>>> with guiding the control of disease by recommending vaccination of persons,
>>> which enacts the advice of Medical Doctors. In the United States, this
>>> shall be the Centers For Disease Control And Prevention, or any successor
>>> agency to that one which is given the same task.
>>>
>>> “Local Vaccination Recommendations” shall mean recommendations
>>> published by the Local Vaccination Authority which recommend vaccines which
>>> should be administered to certain persons, on the basis of age, travel
>>> destination, occupation, health status, and other factors. An example is
>>> “Recommended Vaccines by Age”, which has been published by the United
>>> States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
>>>
>>> “Complying Person” shall mean a natural person who, to the extent that
>>> they are able to do so, under the direction and care of a Medical Doctor,
>>> elects to have administered to themselves and to all legal minors to whom
>>> they are parent or guardian all vaccines recommended by their Local
>>> Vaccination Recommendations which are appropriate for the patient’s medical
>>> condition. This requirement is waived only to the extent that it is not
>>> reasonably possible, for example if the person can not afford the vaccine,
>>> does not have access to it, or can not make the vaccine decision without
>>> the consent of another party which will not agree.
>>>
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>>> person that, to the greatest extent legally possible in its locality,
>>> requires its employees to be Complying Persons. This requirement is waived
>>> only to the extent that the government where it is applied would prohibit
>>> its application.
>>>
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>>> Entity exercising permissions granted by this License.
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>>> END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
>>>
>>> *end of license text.*
>>>
>>> *Rationale:*
>>>
>>> Open Source software is used to commit all sorts of evil. Open Source
>>> developers contribute their work freely to be used in this way. It’s time
>>> for Open Source developers to *ask for something *in return for that
>>> work.
>>>
>>> *But what to ask for?* We have chosen vaccination, because the need for
>>> it is scientifically verified, because so many people are killed or maimed
>>> because their parents deny them vaccination, and because the ignorance that
>>> causes rejection of vaccination is an easily-identifiable evil. There are
>>> no legal ambiguities where rejection of vaccination is concerned, so it is
>>> simple to require it in a license.
>>>
>>> The rejection of vaccination is not a distant evil. It is happening
>>> right around you. It effects people you care about, but you’re unable to
>>> intervene. Or you were, until now.
>>>
>>> Here are some expected arguments which might be attempted as
>>> justification to reject the Vaccine License.
>>>
>>> Argument: *The Vaccine License does not benefit the Open Source
>>> Community sufficiently to be adopted as an Open Source License.*
>>>
>>> Refutation: *By improving the physical health of members of the Open
>>> Source Community, since it requires that those members get their shots, the
>>> Vaccine License is of greater benefit to the community than any other
>>> license that simply governs the use, distribution, and modification of
>>> software.*
>>>
>>> Argument: *The Vaccine License Violates Article 5
>>> <https://opensource.org/osd/#persons-or-groups> of the Open Source
>>> Definition <https://opensource.org/osd>, “No Discrimination Against Persons
>>> or Groups”, since it discriminates against anti-vaxers.*
>>>
>>> Refutation: The text of *Article 5 *is
>>>
>>> The license must not discriminate against any person or group of persons.
>>>
>>> Since any person or group, without exception, may receive a vaccine
>>> which is medically appropriate for them, the Vaccine License does not
>>> discriminate against any person or group. So-called “anti-vaxxers” identify
>>> themselves by their misguided rejection of vaccines, but such rejection is
>>> an *action *rather than *membership in a group.*
>>>
>>> Argument: *The Vaccine License Violates Article 6
>>> <https://opensource.org/osd/#fields-of-endeavor> of the Open Source
>>> Definition, “No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor”*
>>>
>>> Refutation: The text of *Article 6* is
>>>
>>> The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a
>>> specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program
>>> from being used in a business, or from being used for genetic research.
>>>
>>> The Vaccine License does not include terms discriminating against any
>>> field of endeavor. It only places a requirement upon Complying Legal
>>> Entities that, to the greatest extent legally possible, they perform that
>>> field of endeavor using Complying Persons as their employees. There is an
>>> exception in the Vaccine License if such an action is prohibited by the
>>> locality’s law.
>>>
>>> *Distinguish (from other OSI-approved licenses):* There is not a
>>> similar license currently approved by the OSI
>>>
>>> *Legal Review:* The license was prepared by a licensing professional.
>>> In the client's best interest, the legal review can not be made public. We
>>> note that other license submissions have not submitted a detailed legal
>>> review.
>>>
>>> *License proliferation category: *This license is not yet popular. It
>>> is not duplicative of other licenses.
>>>
>>>     Respectfully Submitted
>>>
>>>     *Filli Liberandum*
>>>
>>> ------------------------------
>>>
>>> License-review mailing list
>>> License-review at lists.opensource.org
>>>
>>> http://lists.opensource.org/mailman/listinfo/license-review_lists.opensource.org
>>>
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