License and Disclaimer

1. Overview

FactHarbor is an open-source nonprofit project committed to transparency, accessibility, and community collaboration. This page defines how FactHarbor resources are licensed and the conditions under which they may be used, modified, and distributed.

FactHarbor operates under a multi-license model designed to:

• Maximize reuse and adaptation of our work
• Maintain transparency and openness as core values
• Prevent proprietary capture of community-contributed work
• Enable broad ecosystem participation
• Protect the "FactHarbor" brand and methodology integrity

This page explains how FactHarbor is run from a licensing and enforcement perspective — as an open, trustworthy, non-profit oriented, but professionally maintained project.

Together with other Organisation pages, it defines how FactHarbor is run:

• Governance — who decides what, and under which principles
• Finance & Compliance — how funding, transparency, and internal controls work
• Legal Framework — legal forms, contracts, and regulatory aspects

The Specification (Mission, Requirements, Architecture, Data Model, Workflows, etc.) describes what FactHarbor does.

This Open Source Model and Licensing page (together with Governance and Finance & Compliance) describes how FactHarbor is run and protected.

Note: Normative licensing decisions on this page override any older variants or drafts.

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2. Core Open Source Commitment

FactHarbor is, and will remain, an open source project that:

• Publishes its work openly whenever legally and ethically possible
• Makes its reasoning and evidence inspectable
• Invites contributions under clear, transparent rules
• Avoids situations where a "FactHarbor-branded" system becomes a black box
• Maintains exceptional organisational transparency to build trust

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3. Licensing (Current Decisions)

3.1 Documentation

All general documentation (organisational and technical) is licensed under:

• Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0)

This allows:

• Reuse, adaptation, and translation of documentation
• Including commercial reuse
• As long as:
  • Clear attribution to FactHarbor is preserved, and
  • Derivative works are shared under the same license (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Exception handling:

• In rare cases, security-sensitive or abuse-enabling documentation may be:
  • Published only in partial form, or
  • Made available under more restrictive terms, or
  • Kept internal
• Any such exceptions must be explicitly documented where they apply

3.2 Core Protocol & Data Model

The core protocol, core data model (including key ERDs), and other "defining specifications" are licensed under:

• Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Intent:

• Enable collaborative evolution of the protocol and data model
• Allow broad reuse, referencing, and implementation
• Ensure derivative specifications remain open (share-alike requirement)
• Maintain canonical status through trademark control rather than license restrictions

Implications:

• You may use, implement, and modify the protocol/data model in your own systems
• You may publish derivative or modified specifications under CC BY-SA 4.0
• Derivative specifications must:
  • Be clearly attributed to FactHarbor
  • Use different branding/names (trademark protection)
  • State they are "derived from FactHarbor protocol"
  • Remain under CC BY-SA 4.0 (share-alike)
• Changes to the canonical FactHarbor specification are governed through FactHarbor's internal review and release processes

Trademark Protection:

The "FactHarbor" name and associated marks are protected separately from the license. Derivative protocols may not use "FactHarbor" branding without explicit permission, ensuring users can distinguish official from derivative implementations.

This approach (license for sharing + trademark for brand protection) follows successful models like Mozilla Firefox and the W3C.

3.3 Code

Default License: Unless explicitly stated otherwise, code produced under the FactHarbor project is licensed under:

• MIT License

This allows:

• Broad reuse, including in commercial software
• Proprietary integrations and extensions
• As long as:
  • The MIT license text is included, and
  • Attribution to the FactHarbor project is preserved

Hybrid Licensing for Core Components:

For the core reasoning engine and AKEL components, we recommend using GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0) to prevent black-box deployments and ensure transparency of modifications.

The recommended hybrid approach:

• AGPL-3.0 for:
  • Core verdict engine
  • AKEL reasoning logic
  • Scenario evaluation engine
• MIT for:
  • Integrations
  • Utilities
  • Frontend clients
  • Libraries
  • Tools

This hybrid model (similar to Wikimedia's use of AGPL for MediaWiki) balances maximum adoption with protection of the transparency mission.

Rationale:

• AGPL-3.0 is network copyleft — requires source disclosure for network services
• Prevents "FactHarbor-as-a-service" black boxes that contradict transparency mission
• MIT for peripheral components maximizes ecosystem growth
• Strong protection of openness of reasoning is handled via:
  • Open protocol and data model (CC BY-SA)
  • Open documentation (CC BY-SA)
  • AGPL for core reasoning components
  • Explicit transparency rules

The decision to implement this hybrid model should be made explicitly before the first public release.

3.4 Structured Data & Curation Artefacts

Structured data, curated knowledge artefacts and derived datasets are licensed under:

• Open Database License (ODbL)

Note on ODbL: The Open Database License includes a share-alike requirement, ensuring derivative databases remain open. This aligns with FactHarbor's commitment to openness and prevents proprietary capture of community-curated data.

Principles:

• Data used for public reasoning should be:
  • Reusable and remixable
  • Properly attributed
  • Versioned and traceable
  • Kept open through share-alike
• Privacy, safety, and legal constraints may require:
  • Partial publication or anonymity
  • Stronger access control around certain datasets

Concrete exceptions and more restrictive handling must be documented at dataset level.

3.5 Attribution Guidelines (Non-Mandatory but Recommended)

FactHarbor encourages, but generally does not require beyond the base licenses, that:

• User interfaces show a short line such as:

Intent:

• Strengthen brand recognition and trust
• Keep attribution light-weight and compatible with open licenses
• Avoid creating extra legal conditions beyond the existing licenses

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4. Licensing Goals and Principles

Earlier "Open Source Model & Licensing" drafts contained valuable reasoning about why strong open-source protections might be needed. The core goals remain relevant, even though the exact license mix has evolved.

FactHarbor's licensing aims to:

• Protect openness of reasoning
  • Users must be able to understand how conclusions were reached
  • Code and documentation that materially affect user-visible behaviour should be inspectable or clearly described
• Discourage hostile or misleading forks
  • Avoid "closed clones" that keep the FactHarbor name or appearance while hiding important changes
  • Forks that significantly diverge should use their own branding and not pretend to be official FactHarbor instances
• Make modifications traceable
  • Substantial changes to code, specs, or governance documents should be documented and versioned
  • Users interacting with a service based on FactHarbor should be able to see which version or fork they are using
• Support long-term sustainability and legal clarity
  • Licenses and governance must be enforceable in practice
  • The organisation should have clear standing to protect the project if needed

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5. Contributors, Governance & CLA

5.1 Contributor Journey (from licensing perspective)

The contributor journey (Visitor → New Contributor → Contributor → Trusted Contributor → Moderator) is defined in more detail in the Contributor Processes and Organisation pages.

From a licensing perspective, the key points are:

• All contributions must be compatible with the chosen licenses (CC BY-SA, MIT, AGPL, ODbL, etc.)
• Contributors confirm that they have the right to contribute the material under these licenses
• Higher-trust roles (Trusted Contributors, Moderators) help enforce licensing and attribution rules when reviewing changes

For full role definitions, see the Organisation / Contributor Processes documentation.

5.2 Contributor License Agreement (CLA)

To keep the legal situation clear and enforceable, FactHarbor uses a Contributor License Agreement (CLA).

See Contributor License Agreement.

5.2.1 Dual Contributor Model

FactHarbor distinguishes between two contributor types with different copyright arrangements:

Unpaid Contributors (Volunteers):

• Retain copyright of their contributions
• Grant FactHarbor a perpetual, royalty-free license to use and distribute
• Enable the project to enforce licenses on their behalf
• Maintain attribution in version control and documentation

Paid Contributors (Employees, Contractors):

• Transfer copyright to FactHarbor Organisation
• Ensures clear ownership for sponsored work
• Simplifies long-term governance
• Still receive attribution for their contributions

This dual model:

• Respects volunteer contributions while preserving their rights
• Provides clarity for commercially sponsored work
• Ensures FactHarbor can effectively maintain and defend the project
• Maintains transparency about contribution sources

5.2.2 Core Intent (All Contributors)

Regardless of contributor type, the CLA ensures:

• Contributors grant the FactHarbor organisation:
  • A perpetual, worldwide, irrevocable license to use, modify, and redistribute their contributions under the project's chosen licenses (CC BY-SA, MIT, AGPL, ODbL, etc.), and
  • The express right to enforce those licenses and pursue legal action against infringers on their behalf

This ensures that:

• The organisation has clear standing to defend the project legally
• Individual contributors do not have to act alone against infringements
• Licensing remains enforceable even if contributors become inactive

5.2.3 Determining Contributor Type

• Default: Contributors are considered unpaid volunteers unless they have a written agreement specifying paid status
• Paid Status Indicators: Employment contract, written contracting agreement, or grant/sponsorship agreement
• Transparency: Contributor type should be disclosed where applicable

See Contributor License Agreement for complete terms.

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6. AI Models and Licensing (AKEL)

AKEL (AI Knowledge Extraction Layer) may rely on different types of models. Licensing and transparency rules are crucial here.

6.1 Open vs Proprietary Models

AKEL may use:

• Open-source models (preferred):
  • Weights and code are openly available under compatible licenses
  • Prompts, evaluation logic and integration code are made public where licenses permit
• Proprietary / hosted models (allowed but constrained):
  • Used only when necessary for quality or feasibility
  • Must be clearly disclosed to the user at point of use
  • AKEL must label which parts of its output derive from proprietary tools
  • Surrounding integration logic remains open (MIT/AGPL or compatible) and is documented

Rules:

• No deployment may suggest "fully open" AI if proprietary models are used without disclosure
• For high-impact reasoning (e.g. health, politics, safety-critical topics), open, auditable models are preferred wherever feasible
• Where proprietary models are unavoidable, additional care is taken to:
  • Document limitations
  • Avoid overstating certainty
  • Keep reasoning layers as transparent as possible

6.2 Prompts, Pipelines and Integration Code

• Orchestration code, pipelines and evaluation logic around AKEL are treated as part of the open FactHarbor codebase (MIT or AGPL)
• Where prompts or model configurations are licensed in a way that restricts publication, this must be documented clearly, and safe abstractions should be used in public documentation

6.3 AI Prompts and Orchestration

• Prompts, system instructions, and orchestration code are considered Code and licensed under MIT or AGPL (depending on component)
• They must be visible in the repository to ensure the system is not a 'black box'
• If a proprietary model requires a prompt that cannot be shared (e.g. contractual restriction), that component cannot be part of the open core

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7. Third-Party Libraries and Components

FactHarbor depends on third-party libraries under:

• Permissive licenses (MIT, Apache-2.0, BSD), and/or
• Other compatible open-source licenses

Requirements:

• All dependencies must be license-compatible with:
  • The MIT/AGPL-licensed code, and
  • The overall FactHarbor licensing strategy
• License information is documented in:
  • `/LICENSE` and, where applicable, `/NOTICE`
  • A dedicated "Third-Party Licenses" section in project documentation

FactHarbor actively avoids dependencies that:

• Restrict redistribution in ways incompatible with open-source norms
• Prevent network users from accessing the relevant source
• Conflict with the project's transparency and licensing goals

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8. Repository Standards

Each official FactHarbor repository must follow a minimum standard.

8.1 Required Files

Each repository should contain at least:

• README — purpose, scope, status, and how to use it
• LICENSE — the applicable license(s) for the repository
• CONTRIBUTING — how to propose changes; coding/writing guidelines
• CODEOWNERS — who is responsible for which parts
• CHANGELOG — human-readable log of important changes
• SECURITY (or SECURITY.md) — how to report vulnerabilities and how they are handled

8.2 Prohibited Content

FactHarbor repositories must not contain:

• Purely ideological advocacy texts unrelated to the project's purpose
• Opaque binaries or artefacts that cannot reasonably be inspected or reproduced
• Embedded secrets (API keys, passwords, private tokens)
• Content that materially contradicts the stated licenses or governance rules

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9. Attribution of Derivative Works

If you create a derivative work based on FactHarbor materials, please attribute it as follows:

Documentation & Specifications (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Code - MIT Licensed Components

Code - AGPL Licensed Components (Core Engine)

Databases (ODbL)

Please replace placeholders like '[Your Work Name]' and '[Your Name]' with actual values.

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10. Organisational Transparency

FactHarbor is committed to exceptional transparency in all aspects of its operations, governance, and finances. This commitment is essential to build trust in a system claiming to support well-grounded judgments.

10.1 Financial Transparency

We commit to publishing annually:

• Complete financial statements (audited where possible)
• Swiss tax filings (annual statements per Swiss law)
• Income sources in aggregate (grants, donations, sponsorships)
• Expense breakdown by category
• Compensation ranges for staff roles (not individual salaries)
• Major funding relationships and partnerships

10.2 Governance Transparency

We commit to publishing:

• All governance documents (bylaws, policies, procedures)
• Governing Team composition and meeting schedules
• Governing Team meeting minutes (with narrow exceptions for privacy, security, or legal matters)
• Policy changes with rationale and effective dates
• Decision-making process documentation
• Conflict of interest policies and disclosures

10.3 Operational Transparency

We commit to publishing:

• Transparency reports (published twice yearly)
• Content moderation statistics and practices
• AKEL performance metrics and audit results
• Risk tier assignment statistics
• Partnership agreements and funding relationships
• Incident reports (security, moderation, governance)
• System uptime and performance data

10.4 Privacy Protection

While maintaining organisational transparency, we protect:

• Individual user privacy and personal data
• Security vulnerabilities (until patched, typically 30-90 days)
• Personnel matters and personal information
• Ongoing legal matters (until resolved)
• Whistleblower and abuse reports
• Authentication credentials and sensitive operational details

10.5 Review and Oversight

• Annual review of all information marked "private"
• Public reporting on transparency compliance
• Community input opportunities on transparency policies
• Appeals process for information requests
• Independent transparency audits (when feasible)

See Transparency Policy for complete details.

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11. Legal Disclaimer

11.1 No Liability for Results

The materials, tools, and resources provided by FactHarbor can be used by any entity or organization.

The creators, contributors, and maintainers of FactHarbor are not liable for:

• The achievement of certain objectives or results by entities/organizations using FactHarbor materials
• Decisions made based on FactHarbor analyses or outputs
• Errors, inaccuracies, or incompleteness in analyses or data
• Any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages

11.2 "As Is" Service

FactHarbor is provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to:

• Warranties of merchantability
• Fitness for a particular purpose
• Non-infringement
• Accuracy or completeness

11.3 Content Accuracy

• We do not guarantee the accuracy of user-submitted content
• Evaluations represent community assessments, not absolute truth
• Use your own judgment when relying on information

11.4 Availability

We do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free service.

11.5 Educational and Informational Purpose

FactHarbor analyses, verdicts, and evidence models are intended for educational and informational purposes only. They should not be considered as:

• Professional advice (legal, medical, financial, or otherwise)
• Definitive truth or final judgments
• Replacements for independent verification and critical thinking
• Absolute or infallible assessments

Users are encouraged to:

• Verify information independently
• Consult qualified professionals when appropriate
• Apply critical thinking and judgment
• Understand the limitations and assumptions of AI-generated analyses

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12. Privacy and Data Handling

• User Privacy: FactHarbor respects user privacy and handles personal data in accordance with applicable privacy laws (Swiss FADP, EU GDPR)
• Transparency: Data processing practices are documented and publicly available
• No Hidden Data Collection: All data collection and usage is clearly disclosed

See Privacy Policy for complete details.

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13. Third-Party Content and AI Models

• AI-Generated Content: Some FactHarbor outputs are generated using AI models (AKEL system)
  • Proprietary models (where used) are clearly disclosed at point of use
  • AI-generated content is marked with AuthorType = AI
• Web Search Results: Evidence may be sourced from third-party websites and search results
• No Endorsement: Inclusion of third-party content does not constitute endorsement
• Third-Party Licenses: External content remains subject to its original licensing terms

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14. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, FactHarbor and its operators shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages.

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15. Governing Law

These licensing terms and disclaimers are governed by Swiss law. Disputes will be resolved under Swiss jurisdiction.

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16. Changes to License Terms

FactHarbor reserves the right to update these license terms. Any changes will be:

• Documented with clear versioning
• Announced to the community
• Applied prospectively (existing content remains under original terms unless explicitly migrated)

Material changes will be announced with reasonable notice.

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17. Contact and Questions

For questions about licensing, attribution, or use of FactHarbor materials:

• Project Website: https://schaubgroup.ch/bin/view/FactHarbor/
• Licensing Questions: [Contact information to be established]
• General Questions: [Contact information to be established]

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18. Related Policies

• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Service
• Transparency Policy
• Security Policy
• Contributor License Agreement
• Governance
• Finance & Compliance

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© 2024-2025 by Robert Schaub and the FactHarbor Community

FactHarbor is a registered trademark. Use of the FactHarbor name and logo requires explicit permission.

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License Summary Table

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FactHarbor Mission: Bring clarity and transparency to unclear, controversial, and misleading information by shedding light on the context, assumptions, and evidence behind claims.

Core Values:

• 🌍 Non-profit organization – No commercial interests
• 📖 Fully open source – All code and methodology public
• 🔍 Complete transparency – No hidden algorithms
• 🆓 Accessible to everyone – No paywalls or restrictions

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Version: Based on FactHarbor V0.9.69  
Status: Draft - To be finalized before launch