Just World Cultural License
A copyleft license to make the world a better place.
Changelog
1.1 (August 13th, 2025)
Major Additions
-
New Section 9: Clarifications and Errata - Added comprehensive interpretive guidance covering:
- Scope of “promote” and “facilitate”
- Multiple licensors and termination rules
- Geographic legal compliance
- AI training and mixed datasets
- Internal use vs. public sharing
- Mixed content applications
Definition Updates
- Added “Cultural Works” definition - Explicitly defines the license scope as artistic, literary, musical, and other creative expressions, excluding software and source code
Just Use Restrictions Refinements (Section 3.2.1)
- Economic Exploitation - Expanded with specific examples (price gouging, wage theft, profit maximization disregarding welfare)
-
Environmental Harm - Restructured into two clear subcategories:
- Direct Environmental Destruction
- Systemic Environmental Obstruction (previously a separate item)
- Harmful Products and Services - Significantly clarified to focus on exploitative business models, with more explicit exceptions for education, harm reduction, research, and medical treatments
- Added clarification on what constitutes “direct” involvement in prohibited activities
Compliance & Enforcement Updates
- Observable Actions Emphasis - Shifted focus from documentation to observable ethical actions (Sections 3.2.2 and 4.2)
- Compliance Timing Clarification (Section 7.1) - Added that compliance is evaluated based on circumstances at time of most recent use; subsequent changes don’t create retroactive violations
Minor Updates
- Version references updated throughout (1.0 → 1.1)
- License statements now use “1.1+” notation to indicate forward compatibility
- Various wording refinements for clarity and precision
The overall intent and structure remain unchanged; these updates primarily clarify ambiguities and provide additional guidance for real-world application.
1.0 (December 17th, 2024)
- Initial release.