RINRI LICENSE
Version 1.0, 2026

"Rinri" means "ethics" in Japanese.

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PREAMBLE

The RINRI License exists because someone had to say it.

Software is built by humans. Humans are, on their best days, ethical actors
who weigh competing interests, acknowledge uncertainty, and treat others with
dignity. On their worst days, humans weaponize the concept of ethics to win
arguments on the internet.

This license is dedicated to everyone who has ever cited "engineering ethics"
not to improve the world, but to position themselves as morally superior to a
stranger on a forum. You know who you are. So does everyone else.

True engineering ethics — the kind taught in universities, codified by IEEE,
ACM, and IPA, and practiced by engineers who actually care — is about serving
the public good, being honest about limitations, protecting safety, and taking
responsibility for harm. It is a discipline. It is hard. It is not a debate
tactic.

By using, distributing, or referencing this software, you agree to at least
pretend to understand the difference.

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TERMS AND CONDITIONS

0. DEFINITIONS

"The Software" refers to any work distributed under this license.

"You" refers to any individual or entity exercising rights under this license.

"Ethical Grandstanding" means the act of invoking engineering ethics, codes of
conduct, or professional responsibility primarily to publicly shame, silence,
or discredit another person rather than to address a genuine harm.

"The Principles" refers to the foundational canons of engineering ethics,
including but not limited to: holding public safety paramount, acting with
honesty and integrity, practicing only within one's competence, and disclosing
conflicts of interest.

1. GRANT OF LICENSE

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this Software, to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, and/or
sublicense it, subject to the following conditions.

2. CONDITIONS OF USE

You may use this Software provided that you:

  (a) Acknowledge, at least privately, that engineering ethics is a serious
      professional discipline and not a rhetorical weapon.

  (b) Refrain from citing The Principles in bad faith — that is, invoking
      them to attack individuals while ignoring equivalent conduct by those
      you agree with.

  (c) Accept that calling something "unethical" does not make it so, and that
      the inverse also applies.

  (d) Recognize that reasonable engineers can disagree, and that disagreement
      is not itself an ethics violation.

3. THE GOLDEN SUBROUTINE

Before publicly accusing another person or their work of being unethical, you
are strongly encouraged — though not legally required — to run the following
internal check:

  IF  (you are angry)
  AND (you have not read the relevant code, specification, or context)
  AND (your primary goal is to win, not to improve anything)
  THEN
      do NOT post.
      close the tab.
      drink water.

4. HALL OF SHAME (HYPOTHETICAL, FOR ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES ONLY)

The following behaviors are inconsistent with the spirit of this license and,
for what it is worth, with every actual engineering ethics code ever written:

  - Demanding someone be fired because they made a product you dislike.
  - Citing "public safety" to describe a software library that hurt your
    feelings.
  - Claiming moral authority from an IEEE membership you have never read.
  - Writing open letters signed by 200 people who also did not read the code.
  - Any behavior that would embarrass you if your professors saw it.

5. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF CORRECTNESS,
WISDOM, OR MORAL AUTHORITY.

THE AUTHORS DO NOT WARRANT THAT USE OF THIS SOFTWARE WILL MAKE YOU ETHICAL.
THAT PART IS UP TO YOU.

6. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES ARISING FROM YOUR USE
OF THIS SOFTWARE TO JUSTIFY BEHAVIOR THAT YOU ALREADY KNEW, DEEP DOWN, WAS
NOT GREAT.

7. ATTRIBUTION

This license was inspired by the gap between engineering ethics as a
discipline and engineering ethics as performed on social media.

If you redistribute this Software, retain this license. If you improve upon
it, consider whether the improvement truly serves the public good, or whether
you just want to look clever. Both are fine. Just be honest about which one
it is.

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AFTERWORD

The canons of engineering ethics, in every version and from every professional
body, begin with the same idea: the welfare of the public comes first.

Not your reputation. Not your side of the argument. The public.

If you genuinely believe a piece of software causes harm, say so clearly,
explain why, and engage with the response. That is ethics. Everything else is
theater.

Thank you for reading a license. You are already doing better than most.

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END OF RINRI LICENSE VERSION 1.0