The Organization for Ethical Source supports a global and multidisciplinary community devoted to centering justice and equity in the practice of open source.

The practice of Ethical Source is informed by these seven principles:

Our work benefits the commons. We grant permission to modify, create derivative works, use and reuse it, in the spirit of openness and bounded by ethical constraints.
Our work is done in the open. We make our source publicly available, develop and maintain it in public view, and welcome public contributions.
Our community strives to be welcoming and just. We practice transparent and just governance, and we consistently and fairly enforce a comprehensive code of conduct that codifies our values.
Our work respects accessibility as a human right. We ensure that the full value of our work is available to everyone, regardless of ability.
Our work prioritizes the safety of people. We design safeguards to minimize the risk of abuse or harm to others through its use or misuse.
Our work protects privacy. It stores as little personal data as necessary and incorporates reasonable security measures for its protection. All personal data it collects can be deleted on request, and all such data can be delivered to its originator in an open and human-readable format.
Our work deserves support. We believe in the dignity of our work. When it is used for commercial gain, we rightfully expect those who profit from it to contribute back to its source and support our community in other tangible ways.

We measure success in adhering to these principles through our impact rather than our intentions.

Demonstrating Support for the Ethical Source Principles

Communities are encouraged to display badges for the principles they commit to:

Maintaining the Ethical Source Principles is the collective responsibility of members of the Organization for Ethical Source. Pull requests and issues in our source code repository are welcomed. Special thanks are extended to Nate Berkopec, Will Barton, Steve Phillips, and Madalyn Parker for their contributions.