I am a researcher, and in my research I do a lot of programming. I am a big fan of the open-source concept – especially in research, where transparency and reproducibility is already a big part of the culture. I gladly contribute as much as I can to the community, and releasing my code for anyone to use is part of that.
However, in research there is always a certain measure of uncertainty about what the stuff you produce will be used for. I fully understand that I can't copyright any results or conclusions – but I can protect how others use my code, and I would like to make sure that there is no (legal) way to incorporate software I produce in military applications.
I've read through a few of the shorter ones of the common OSS licenses, and summaries of some more, but they all seem to focus solely on the questions "do you earn money on my code?" and "do you make my code available with your program?" – nothing about what the program actually does with the code.
Are there any good open-source licenses that explicitly prohibit all kinds of military applications?
Update:
After reading up some more on how OSS works, I've realized that a license that meets my needs by definition will not be open-source, since open-source licenses cannot discriminate against fields. Thus, I'm rather looking for a license that is like an open-source license, except that it prohibits military use. I want this license to be already existing, authored or at least reviewed by someone who actually knows licensing, since I don't.
Also, in response to a couple of remarks that this will be difficult to enforce: yes, I realize that. But this is more for myself than for the legal implications; if I use a license like this, and a military organization uses my code anyway, they are breaking the law and they are doing it despite my explicit instructions not to. Thus, the potentially gruesome things that they do with applications that include software I've written are no longer "on my conciousness", since they stole the software from me. (And somewhere I have a naïve hope that if they need something I've done, and my license prohibits them from using it legally, they'll get someone elses program that does the same thing and allows them to use it. Not that governments always do, but they always should abide by the law…)
It's a moral safeguard, so to speak, rather than something I actually expect to bring up in court (if my mediocre code is ever used by CIA…)
Best Answer
How would one enforce such a license?
Would you prohibit any military use? If the software checks air pressure in tires, and someone decides to use it on a military Hummer, is that a prohibited use? Can people in the military industrial complex use it to plan their monthly picnic?
Would it be an acceptable use if the software improved ballistic missile trajectories, and the improved accuracy of the weapon prevented civilians from being killed? Or would any use in a weapon be prohibited?
These are the kinds of questions you have to ask yourself, if you want to make a software license that satisfies your sensibilities.
Nevertheless, I'd try an keep it simple. Yahoo's Terms of Use state that their software must not be used
That's probably as good a clause as any, if you add the word "weapons" to the prohibited list of uses.