Open-source software is often described as “free as in freedom.” But does that mean total freedom, even when it’s used for things like mass surveillance, AI-driven discrimination, or worse?

Most open-source licenses don’t care how the software is used. That’s great for innovation, but it also means developers have no say when their work is used in ways they find unethical. The Ethical Open License (EOL) is an attempt to rethink that. It keeps the collaborative nature of open source but explicitly prohibits certain applications, such as autonomous weapons, exploitation networks, and mass surveillance.

Of course, this raises a lot of questions:

    - Does restricting unethical use break the philosophy of open source?
    - Who decides what’s “ethical” in the first place?
    - Could something like this even be enforced in practice?

This is more of an experiment than a finalized solution, but it’s an important conversation worth having.