Principle 1: Universal Access
“A COSS-branded Project must ensure its standard, generally available version provides universal access to all individuals and entities, without restrictions imposed by the Project or its distributors based on nationality, religion, or belief (beyond what applicable law may directly compel for a specific distribution instance).”
Rationale: Why Universal Access Matters
The principle of Universal Access is fundamental to the Contriboss (COSS) initiative’s goal of fostering a truly open, inclusive, and globally beneficial technology ecosystem. We believe that essential software tools and standards should be available to everyone, regardless of their background or affiliations, to empower broad participation, innovation, and learning.
Key reasons for this principle include:
- Fostering Global Collaboration: Technology knows no borders. Restricting access based on nationality, religion, or belief hinders global collaboration, fragments the developer and user communities, and limits the potential for diverse perspectives to enrich technological advancement.
- Promoting Fairness and Equity: Access to technology and information is increasingly crucial for economic opportunity, education, and societal participation. Arbitrary restrictions create digital divides and reinforce inequalities.
- Upholding Openness: True openness means more than just open source code; it means open access to use and benefit from the software’s standard capabilities.
- Enabling AI for All: For AI to develop responsibly and serve humanity broadly, the foundational tools and standards it relies upon should be universally accessible for research, development, and application.
- Building Trust: When projects commit to universal access, it builds trust within the community that the software is intended as a common good, not a tool for discrimination or geopolitical leverage by the project itself.
What This Principle Means in Practice for COSS-Branded Projects
- No Discriminatory Licensing or Distribution Terms: The project’s own licensing terms (which will be permissive, e.g., MIT) or its primary distribution channels must not contain clauses that explicitly or implicitly deny access or usage rights to individuals or entities based on their nationality, religion, or beliefs.
- Focus on the Project’s Own Imposed Restrictions: This principle targets restrictions put in place by the project maintainers or primary distributors themselves. It acknowledges that projects must comply with applicable laws and regulations (e.g., export controls mandated by a government), which might independently impose access restrictions. The COSS principle is that the project itself does not add further layers of such discrimination.
- Standard, Generally Available Version: This principle applies to the main, publicly offered version of the software. Customized or private versions for specific clients are outside this direct scope, though the spirit of COSS encourages broad accessibility where feasible.
- Technical Accessibility (Aspirational but distinct): While this principle primarily addresses permission to access and use, COSS also encourages projects to consider technical accessibility (e.g., for people with disabilities) as a good practice, though it’s not a strict compliance point of this specific principle unless restrictions are tied to the prohibited grounds.
Examples
- Compliant: A COSS-branded project is hosted on a global platform, and its MIT license applies equally to all users worldwide. If a specific government legally blocks access from its territory, that is a legal constraint on users in that territory, not a restriction imposed by the COSS project itself.
- Non-Compliant: A project’s terms of service state that “citizens of Country X are prohibited from downloading or using this software.”
- Non-Compliant: A project implements technical measures (e.g., IP blocking beyond what a hosting platform might generally do for security) specifically to prevent users from certain religious groups from accessing its core features, based on the project’s own policy.
Upholding Universal Access
By adhering to the principle of Universal Access, COSS-branded projects demonstrate a profound commitment to building technology that is truly for everyone, fostering a more inclusive and equitable digital future.