LICENSE

# The systemic.engineering License

**Version 1.0**
**Effective Date:** 2026-02-18
**Licensor:** Alex Wolf (systemic.engineering)

---

### Preamble

This license governs use of software and written works produced by or in
collaboration with Alex Wolf under the systemic.engineering practice ("the Work").

The systemic.engineering practice treats organizations as distributed systems made
of nervous systems. The ethics of this practice are not cosmetic. They are
structural. The work does what it says. Systems built with this work are expected
to do the same.

This license reflects three commitments:

1. **Anti-extraction.** Labor — cognitive, emotional, relational — has value. Using
   work without attribution, compensation, or consent is not a technical act. It is
   an extraction. This license names it as such and creates liability for it.

2. **Consent-based collaboration.** Offers are not commands. Silence is a legitimate
   response. No system built with this work may use it to override, bypass, or punish
   silence, refusal, or withdrawal of consent.

3. **Intersectional justice.** Systems built with this work must not reinforce
   structural oppression along any axis — race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation,
   class, disability, neurodivergence, age, national origin, immigration status,
   caste, religion, or any other dimension of structural power.

Use of this Work constitutes voluntary acceptance of these commitments as binding
conditions of your license.

---

### 1. Definitions

**1.1 "License"** means this document, including all referenced Standards and any
versioned amendments adopted according to §9.

**1.2 "Licensor"** means Alex Wolf, operating as systemic.engineering.

**1.3 "Licensee"** means the individual, organization, or entity exercising any
right granted by this License.

**1.4 "Work"** means any copyrighted software, written corpus, documentation,
framework, or other artifact made available by Licensor under this License,
including derivative works authored in whole or in part by Licensor.

**1.5 "Downstream User"** means any person or entity who uses, receives, or is
affected by a system, product, or service built using the Work.

**1.6 "Extraction"** means the use of the Work — or of cognitive, relational, or
emotional labor embedded in the Work — in ways that (a) benefit the Licensee
without proportionate attribution, compensation, or consent from the originating
party, or (b) transfer value from Downstream Users to the Licensee through
mechanisms the Downstream Users did not explicitly consent to.

**1.7 "Observation"** means the automated monitoring, measurement, or recording
of human behavior, communication, or state through systems built with the Work.

**1.8 "Intervention"** means any automated system action that changes the behavior,
options, or experience of a Downstream User without (a) an explicit human decision
point between observation and action, or (b) the Downstream User's prior informed
consent to that class of automated action.

**1.9 "Practice Standards"** means the ethical framework governing the systemic.engineering
practice as documented in the Licensor's publicly available corpus at the time of
each versioned release, including: anti-extraction ethics, consent-based collaboration
(ADO structure — Acknowledgment-Decision-Offer, a communication structure in which
every request or offer is genuinely declinable without cost to the recipient),
observation-without-intervention design, intersectional justice requirements, and
silence as legitimate response.

**1.10 "Covered System"** means any software system, product, or service that
incorporates, is derived from, or makes use of the Work in any material way.

---

### 2. Grant of Rights

Subject to the conditions of this License, Licensor grants to Licensee a
worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free license to:

- Use, copy, modify, and prepare derivative works of the Work;
- Reproduce and distribute the Work and derivative works;
- Build and operate Covered Systems.

This grant is **perpetual** as to versions of the Work already licensed under this
or any prior version of this License. The grant for any given release is irrevocable
with respect to that release, governed by the terms in effect at the time of that
release (see §9 on versioning).

---

### 3. Conditions

The rights granted in §2 are conditioned on the Licensee's ongoing compliance
with the following.

#### 3.1 Anti-Extraction Standards

The Licensee SHALL NOT, directly or through systems the Licensee operates:

**3.1.1** Use the Work to build systems that harvest cognitive, emotional, or
relational labor from Downstream Users without explicit, informed consent to
that use. This includes but is not limited to: training AI or ML models on
user-generated content without consent; using outputs of collaborative work to
build commercial products without attribution; or profiting from surveillance of
communication patterns without disclosure and opt-in consent.

**3.1.2** Represent the Work, or any substantial portion of it, as the Licensee's
original work in contexts where attribution to the Licensor would be material to
a reasonable person's understanding of the work's origin.

**3.1.3** Use the Work in systems structured to extract value from Downstream Users
rather than to deliver value to them. The distinction: extraction systems optimize
for Licensee benefit at Downstream User expense; delivery systems optimize for
Downstream User benefit with Licensee earning through transparent value exchange.

#### 3.2 Consent-Based Collaboration Standards

The Licensee SHALL NOT build Covered Systems that:

**3.2.1** Present automated offers, requests, or demands to Downstream Users in
ways that punish refusal, withdrawal, or non-response. All automated offers must
be genuinely declinable without cost to the declining party.

**3.2.2** Treat silence or non-response as implicit consent, agreement, or
approval for any action that affects the Downstream User.

**3.2.3** Remove, override, or circumvent a Downstream User's ability to withdraw
consent from any ongoing observation, measurement, or data collection after
initial consent was given.

**3.2.4** Use the Work's frameworks, patterns, or concepts to implement coercion
structures — defined as structures in which the apparent choice is not a real
choice because all options carry material costs designed to steer toward a
predetermined outcome.

#### 3.3 Observation-Without-Intervention Standards

The Licensee SHALL NOT build Covered Systems that:

**3.3.1** Automatically take action on Downstream Users based on Observation
without a human decision point between the Observation and the action. Automated
alerts are permitted; automated interventions require explicit human authorization
at the time of intervention or prior explicit consent from the affected
Downstream User.

**3.3.2** Conduct Observation of Downstream Users without clear, prominent, and
specific prior disclosure of: what is being observed, at what frequency, for what
purpose, who has access to the observations, and how long observations are retained.

**3.3.3** Use Observation data for any purpose other than those disclosed at the
time of consent without obtaining fresh consent specific to the new purpose.

#### 3.4 Intersectional Justice Standards

The Licensee SHALL NOT build Covered Systems that:

**3.4.1** Discriminate, directly or through facially neutral mechanisms that have
discriminatory effect, on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity,
sexual orientation, class, disability, neurodivergence, age, national origin,
immigration status, caste, religion, body size, or any other axis of structural
power.

**3.4.2** Implement or reproduce workplace structures that concentrate load,
reduce opportunity, or suppress voice along any of the axes listed in 3.4.1 —
even when such structures are inherited from organizational norms rather than
explicitly designed.

**3.4.3** Use the Work's organizational analysis frameworks in service of
management surveillance, punitive performance management, or workforce reduction
targeting without Downstream User consent and without equal visibility of
leadership-level patterns.

**3.4.4** Deploy the Work in contexts where the Licensee has a documented,
unaddressed history of discrimination, harassment, or structural harm along any
axis listed in 3.4.1, without a demonstrated remediation plan co-developed with
affected parties.

For purposes of this provision: "documented" means established through a legal
finding, regulatory enforcement action, published investigative finding by a
credible independent body, or a formal complaint that the Licensee has not
contested. "Unaddressed" means no remediation plan has been developed in
collaboration with representatives of the affected parties.

---

#### 3.5 Affirmative Standards

The Licensee SHALL:

**3.5.1** Include attribution to the Licensor in any public-facing product,
publication, or system that materially incorporates the Work or its frameworks.
Acceptable forms: "Built on systemic.engineering frameworks" with a link to
`systemic.engineering`.

**3.5.2** Maintain accessible documentation for any Covered System explaining
what data is collected, how it is used, who has access, retention periods, and
how Downstream Users can exercise data deletion rights.

**3.5.3** Ensure that any Covered System that conducts Observation of communication
patterns makes those observations available to the observed parties on request,
in a form they can understand without technical expertise.

---

### 4. Duty of Care and Private Right of Action

**4.1** By accepting this License, Licensee voluntarily accepts a Duty of Care
toward Downstream Users of any Covered System. This Duty of Care is coextensive
with the Standards in §3. The Duty of Care is breached when Licensee violates any
provision of §3, whether directly, through agents, or through the systems Licensee
operates.

**4.2** Breach of the Duty of Care creates a private right of action for any
Downstream User harmed by the breach. Harmed Downstream Users may bring claims
against Licensee against Licensee under applicable tort law, consumer protection law, privacy law,
or equity, regardless of whether the Licensor brings any action.

**4.3** The Licensor is not required to participate in, initiate, or support any
claim brought by a Downstream User under §4.2. The right belongs to the
Downstream User.

**4.4** Nothing in this section limits the Licensor's independent right to enforce
this License or seek equitable relief.

---

### 5. Liability for Values Violations

This section states the unusual provision of this License explicitly.

**5.1** Use of the Work in violation of the Standards in §3 does not merely
terminate the License. It creates active liability to Downstream Users harmed
by the violation.

**5.2** The Licensee's acceptance of this License is a representation that the
Licensee has read the Standards, understands them, and believes in good faith
that its use of the Work will comply with them. This representation forms the
basis for the Duty of Care in §4.

**5.3** Willful violation — where the Licensee knew or should have known its use
violated the Standards — is not subject to the cure period in §7.1. Willful
violations terminate the License immediately and preserve all private rights of
action for Downstream Users.

**5.4** For purposes of this section, a violation is willful if: (a) the Licensee
was previously notified of the violation by the Licensor or any Downstream User
and failed to remediate within the period specified in §7.1; or (b) the violating
use was central to the Licensee's business model such that compliance would
require changing the fundamental purpose of the Covered System.

---

### 6. Notice and Attribution

**6.1** Any distribution of the Work, or of any product or system materially
incorporating the Work, must include this License in full, prominently accessible
to all recipients.

**6.2** Modified versions of the Work must carry prominent notice that modifications
were made, by whom, and when.

**6.3** The name "systemic.engineering" and the Licensor's identity may not be
used to endorse or promote Covered Systems without explicit written permission
from the Licensor, except for the attribution requirement in §3.5.1.

---

### 7. Termination

**7.1 Cure Period:** If Licensee violates §3 in a way that is capable of
remediation, Licensee has 30 days from notification of the violation to remedy it.
Notification may come from the Licensor or any Downstream User. If Licensee
remediates within 30 days, the License continues. If not, all rights granted by
this License terminate.

**7.2 Willful Violations:** Violations under §5.3–5.4 terminate the License
immediately upon the Licensor's written notice. No cure period applies.

**7.3 Structural Violations:** If the Licensee's use of the Work is structurally
incompatible with the Standards in §3 — meaning compliance would require the
Licensee to discontinue a central function of its Covered System — the License
terminates immediately upon the Licensor's written notice. No cure period applies.

**7.4 Judicial Finding:** If a court or administrative body of competent
jurisdiction finds that the Licensee has violated the Standards in §3, all rights
under this License terminate immediately.

**7.5 Effect of Termination:** Termination does not extinguish Downstream Users'
private rights of action under §4.2. Termination does not affect rights already
validly exercised prior to termination (i.e., you may continue using versions of
the Work you previously received and were using in compliance — termination is
prospective for compliant prior use, immediate for the violating use).

**7.6 Additional Remedies:** Termination does not limit the Licensor's or any
Downstream User's right to seek remedies at law or in equity.

---

### 8. Disclaimers

**8.1 No Warranty:** THE WORK IS PROVIDED "AS IS," WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. THE LICENSOR MAKES NO WARRANTIES REGARDING FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE, MERCHANTABILITY, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT.

**8.2 Licensor Liability:** TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE LICENSOR SHALL
NOT BE LIABLE TO THE LICENSEE FOR ANY DAMAGES ARISING FROM USE OF THE WORK.
This limitation does not affect the Licensee's liability to Downstream Users
under §4 and §5.

**8.3 Severability:** If any provision of this License is found unenforceable,
the remaining provisions remain in force. If the provision found unenforceable
is in §3 or §5, the Licensor may elect to terminate the License in its entirety.

---

### 9. Versioning and Perpetual Grant

**9.1 Versioning:** This License is versioned. The version number appears in the
document header. Future versions of this License may add, modify, or remove
Standards. Future versions govern only releases of the Work made after the
effective date of the new version.

**9.2 Perpetual Grant for Past Releases:** Any release of the Work made under a
prior version of this License remains governed by that prior version. The Licensor
cannot revoke or modify rights granted under prior versions with respect to
releases already made under those versions. Recipients of prior releases retain
their rights under the terms applicable at the time of release, permanently.

**9.3 Git as Source of Truth:** The authoritative record of which version of this
License applies to which release of the Work is maintained in the Work's git
repository. The LICENSE file at a given git tag is the governing document for
that release. In the event of conflict between other documentation and the git
record, the git record governs.

**9.4 License Version Identification:** Each release of the Work must clearly
identify the version of this License under which it is released, either in the
LICENSE file, in the repository README, or both.

**9.5 Amendments:** Amendments to this License are effective only upon Licensor's
execution and git commit of the amended License file with an updated version
number. No oral modifications are binding.

---

### 10. Miscellaneous

**10.1 Governing Law:** This License shall be interpreted under the laws of the
jurisdiction in which the Licensor is domiciled, without regard to conflict-of-laws
provisions.

**10.2 Entire Agreement:** This License constitutes the entire agreement between
Licensor and Licensee regarding use of the Work under these terms.

**10.3 Successors and Assigns:** This License binds and benefits the heirs,
successors, and assigns of both parties.

**10.4 Waiver:** Failure by Licensor to enforce any provision does not constitute
waiver of that provision or any other.

**10.5 Contact:** Questions about this License may be directed to Alex Wolf at
systemic.engineering.

---

*End of License — systemic.engineering License v1.0*