We don't endorse slavery at Techaro

This year has had many horrifying realizations for me. Most recently, I've realized that I have to publish a policy on human slavery in order to do sales. This is kind of absurd to me, but here we are. Finding out that I need to publish the policy take of "human slavery is bad and we will not condone or enable it at Techaro" is probably one of the most surreal things I've ever had to say out loud.

But here's the thing: I absolutely, categorically, with-every-fiber-of-my-being condemn human slavery, trafficking, and forced labor. Full stop. No exceptions. No "but what about" scenarios. It's wrong, it's horrific, and if you're involved in it, we want nothing to do with you.

The messy reality of open source

Here's where it gets complicated (and why I'm writing this post in the first place). When you release code under an open-source license, you're basically throwing it over the fence and saying "here world, do whatever you want with this." Once it's out there, you can't control if people do something absurd with it such as making nuclear weapons.

The beautiful thing about open source is also the terrifying thing: the freedom is absolute. The GPL, MIT, Apache licenses - they all basically say "use this for any purpose." That's by design! It's what makes open source so powerful. Linux runs everything from your smart fridge to the International Space Station because nobody had to ask permission first.

But it also means that, technically speaking, our code could end up running on systems used by bad actors. Could someone use our libraries to build software that facilitates human trafficking? Theoretically, yes. Could they use it to coordinate forced labor operations? Unfortunately, also yes.

This keeps me up at night sometimes.

The Open-Source Paradox: Freedom vs. Control

Understanding our position requires understanding the nature of open-source software. When we release software under an open-source license, we are essentially giving it to the world as a public good. Anyone can take this software, use it, study how it works, modify it, and share their improvements with others. This freedom is the engine of the open-source movement; it’s what has allowed for the creation of some of the most important technologies in the modern world.

This inherent openness, however, creates a paradox. The licenses that guarantee these freedoms to use the software for any purpose mean that we, the original creators, relinquish control over who uses the code and for what end once it is released. We cannot technically or legally build a clause into an open-source license that says, "You may not use this software if you are a bad person." Such a restriction would violate the foundational principles of open source.

Consequently, it is possible that our freely available code could be used by individuals or organizations involved in heinous activities, including modern slavery. This is a deeply uncomfortable reality that every major open-source project and company faces. Just as a hammer manufacturer cannot control if their product is used to build a home or to break a window, we cannot control the ultimate application of our open-source code once it is out in the open.

What we can control: our community

Now, while I can't stop someone from downloading our code and doing terrible things with it (anymore than the makers of curl can stop it from being used for bad purposes), I absolutely can control who gets to participate in our community.

Our GitHub repos, Discord servers, forums, and any other space where we collaborate? Those are our house. And in our house, we have rules.

If you're involved in human slavery, human trafficking, or forced labor in any capacity, you are not welcome here. Period. This isn't a "three strikes" situation or a "let's have a conversation about it" thing. You get:

• An immediate and permanent ban from all Techaro spaces
• All your contributions stripped of any attribution we can control
• Your access revoked to everything we manage
• And if we can help law enforcement in any way, we absolutely will

I don't care if you write the most beautiful code in the world. I don't care if you've been contributing for years. I don't care if "it's complicated" or if you have a sob story. If you're exploiting human beings, you can take your code and go build your own community somewhere else.

This might seem obvious to most people (I hope it does), but apparently we live in a world where this needs to be said explicitly. So here it is, in writing, for the record.

The internet gave us this incredible power to collaborate across borders and time zones. People from different continents can work together on projects that matter, sharing knowledge and building things that none of us could create alone. But that same openness that makes collaboration possible also makes it hard to ensure everyone shares the same basic human values.

Techaro exists to build a better future, and that future has no place for slavery in any form. We'll keep shipping code, we'll keep it open source, and we'll keep believing that technology can make the world better. But we'll do it without you if you can't meet that incredibly low bar of basic human decency.