DASS: Enabling Comprehensive and Interactive Open Source Software License Compliance

DASS：实现全面、交互式的开源软件许可证合规性

• 批准号: 2217733
• 负责人: Denys Poshyvanyk
• 金额: $ 75万
• 依托单位: College of William and Mary
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-10-01 至 2025-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2217733&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DASS; Enabling; Comprehensive; Interactive; Open

Because software is protected under U.S. copyright law, software licenses represent an important legal consideration in software engineering. A license defines the terms pursuant to which software can legally be distributed, modified, and (re)used. While certain software licenses, known as open-source licenses, allow considerable use of the software in future projects by other engineers, such licenses still come with conditions that must be complied with in order to use the software legally. Determining the nature and extent of those conditions can be challenging for software engineers, who are typically not trained in the intricacies of the law. Reusing, adapting, or distributing software without abiding by its license terms can lead to significant legal and economic consequences. Software engineers need a better understanding of the licensing issues that they face and their implications, as well as guidance to address these issues, and legal practitioners need better support in collecting the information necessary for assessing licensing-related legal issues. To address these fundamental challenges, this project will conduct a series of user studies with software engineers and legal professionals to understand their needs and preferences in solving issues related to software licensing. Based on the acquired knowledge from the studies, this project will aim to develop a conversational system that will allow software engineers to address their licensing needs and issues interactively, and more efficiently and effectively, compared to existing solutions, thus preventing software license incompatibilities. The proposed system will also assist legal professionals in collecting the technical and legal information they require for solving software licensing cases. The project will produce and disseminate educational materials on the acquired knowledge in order to further the provision of legal information and guidance through interactive/conversational solutions. These materials are intended to be integrated into computing and law curricula. In addition, the project will focus on recruiting and retaining computer science and law students from traditionally underrepresented categories. The project is centered on five specific goals. First, it will create comprehensive taxonomies of licensing needs, issues, exceptions, and misconceptions for software engineers. Second, it will determine the primary legal questions that need to be answered in determining license compatibility and the information required to answer those questions. Third, it will build a comprehensive database of existing open-source licenses that encodes licensing terms and their relationships, including exceptions and other conditions, and language incompatibilities across distinct licenses. Fourth, it will elicit design requirements and user preferences for interactive license compliance. Finally, it will design, develop, and evaluate an interactive solution that uses collected data to engage with engineers and provide guidance on license compliance in a way that will make future engagement with legal counsel more efficient and effective. This project aims to improve software accountability with respect to intellectual property law and open source licensing, by assisting developers and lawyers in understanding and addressing the licensing issues that arise in their work, and to contribute to the developing research on the automation and accessibility of legal services.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

由于软件受美国版权法受到保护，因此软件许可是软件工程中重要的法律考虑。许可证根据可以合法分发，修改和（重新）使用的软件定义术语。尽管某些软件许可证（称为开源许可证）允许其他工程师在未来的项目中大量使用该软件，但此类许可仍然伴随着必须遵守的条件才能合法地使用该软件。确定这些条件的性质和程度对于软件工程师来说可能具有挑战性，这些软件工程师通常不接受法律的复杂性训练。在不遵守其许可条款的情况下重复使用，适应或分发软件可能会导致重大的法律和经济后果。软件工程师需要更好地了解他们所面临的许可问题及其含义，以及解决这些问题的指导，而法律从业者需要更好的支持来收集评估与许可相关的法律问题所需的信息。为了应对这些基本挑战，该项目将向软件工程师和法律专业人员进行一系列用户研究，以了解他们在解决与软件许可有关的问题方面的需求和偏好。基于从研究中获得的知识，该项目将旨在开发一个会话系统，该系统将使软件工程师能够与现有解决方案相比，以交互式和更有效地解决其许可需求和问题，从而防止软件许可证不兼容。拟议的系统还将协助法律专业人员收集他们解决软件许可案件所需的技术和法律信息。该项目将生产并传播有关获得知识的教育材料，以通过交互式/对话解决方案进一步提供法律信息和指导。这些材料旨在集成到计算和法律课程中。此外，该项目将着重于传统代表性不足类别的招聘和保留计算机科学和法律学生。 该项目以五个具体目标为中心。首先，它将为软件工程师创建许可需求，问题，例外和误解的全面分类法。其次，它将确定在确定许可兼容性和回答这些问题所需的信息时需要回答的主要法律问题。第三，它将构建一个全面的数据库，以编码许可条款及其关系的现有开源许可，包括异常和其他条件以及跨不同许可的语言不兼容。第四，它将引发设计要求和用户偏好，以实现交互式许可合规性。最后，它将设计，开发和评估一种交互式解决方案，该解决方案使用收集的数据与工程师互动，并提供有关许可合规性的指导，从而使未来与法律顾问的互动更加高效和有效。该项目旨在通过协助开发人员和律师理解和解决其工作中出现的许可问题，并为发展法律服务的自动化和可访问性做出贡献，以改善有关知识产权法和开源许可方面的软件问责制。该奖项将对NSF的法定任务进行评估，并通过评估范围来审查了该奖项，并促进了法律服务的自动化和可访问性的研究。