Upcoming License Change: MIT → CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (Effective August 1st, 2025)

[CodeAlDente]

Hello everyone,

I’d like to inform you that this project will transition from the MIT License to the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license starting August 1st, 2025.

Why is this change needed?

This change will help better protect the project’s content, ensure proper attribution, and support the ongoing sustainability of the project. The new license keeps the project open and free for personal and non-commercial use, while encouraging commercial users to support its continued development.

What stays the same:

• The project remains free to use for personal and non-commercial purposes.
• All versions and forks created before August 1st, 2025, remain under the MIT License.

What’s changing:

• Commercial use will require a separate license.
• Any modifications or forks must be shared under the same license (ShareAlike).
• Proper attribution will be required in all uses.

If you have feedback, questions, or concerns, feel free to post them below or drop me an email at [email protected]

Thanks for your support and understanding!

Best regards
CodeAlDente

[bursauxa]

Hello, thanks for the heads-up.

Would you already have any details to share about the separate license that will be required for commercial use?

[CodeAlDente]

Thanks for the detailed explanation — much appreciated. Based on what you described, this would be considered commercial use, so a commercial license will be required if your company continues using the list after August 1st.

Additionally, under the terms of the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license, proper attribution is required. This should include the license type, author, project name, and a link to the original source.

Here’s an example of how you can format the attribution in HTML:

<a href="https://github.com/Bon-Appetit/porn-domains">Bon-Appetit/porn-domains</a> © 2025 by <a href="https://github.com/CodeAlDente">CodeAlDente</a> is licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International</a>

Since the blocklist is not republished or shown in the frontend, attribution can be provided in one or more of the following ways:

• Internal documentation: Include the attribution in internal system or compliance docs that describe your use of third-party resources.
• Developer-facing or technical partner documentation: If you have a technical wiki, partner-facing documentation, or API documentation that mentions your filtering mechanisms, you can add the attribution there.
• Public-facing legal or about page: Add a short note under an “Open Source Credits” or “Third-party Resources” section on your site or platform.
• Log or admin panel (if applicable): If there's an internal dashboard where list sources are listed, attribution could be shown there.

For more details, I’ve added a section to the project wiki, though it largely reflects what’s already outlined in the official Creative Commons license terms, but it also includes a few specific examples of commercial use and outlines some key dos and don’ts.

Let me know if you have any questions.

[bursauxa]

Hello again,

I am not disputing that we are making commercial use of the list. However, any commercial license that you grant to paying users would be different from the CC license, so the CC terms would not apply, in particular the attribution clause.

Of course you could include an attribution clause in your commercial license as well, but in practice the guidelines above do not make much sense for material that is not intended for public display. This is not surprising, CC licenses are designed for human-facing materials (books, images, music etc.) and are notoriously inefficient for what is essentially an API call.

[CodeAlDente]

Hi @bursauxa,

Thank you for your feedback and for raising these practical concerns.

You’re absolutely right that the commercial license is a separate agreement from the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license. Since the Creative Commons license is non-exclusive, it allows for dual licensing — meaning the same content can be offered under both a CC license and a separate commercial license.

Because of that separation, the terms of the CC license (including its attribution requirements) don’t automatically carry over to the commercial license. However, the commercial license does include an attribution clause.

I'm currently in the early stages of drafting the commercial license. At this point, it will likely include the following terms:

• Commercial use allowed with a donation
• Attribution required
• The license will be personal and non-transferable
• It may expire or require renewal
• It will end upon breach (with non-commercial use still allowed)
• The list will be provided “as is” with no warranty

These terms may change, but this should give you and others a general idea of what to expect.

[notflorian]

Hello @CodeAlDente, do you have any updates on the commercial licensing prices? With Buy Me a Coffee can we get a proper invoice for our accounting?

[CodeAlDente]

Hi @notflorian!

The commercial licensing terms are still in the works but will be made public very soon. For now, here’s what I can share:

The pricing will be 60 € per year if the data is bundled with products or services.

If the data is only used internally, it will be 25 € per year — this is to make it easier for indie developers to get started with a proper commercial license.

Regarding invoices: since Buy Me a Coffee is technically a donation platform, I won’t be issuing separate invoices myself. However, Buy Me a Coffee does provide a receipt you can download, which includes:

• Receipt number
• Amount paid
• Date paid
• Payment method

Depending on your local accounting and tax requirements, this receipt could work as an invoice. 🔗 Please see this for more information

[CodeAlDente]

Hi everyone!

As part of the final drafting and legal review of the commercial license terms, the previously planned commercial-only license will NOT be implemented. Instead, starting August 1st, 2025, this project will switch to the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

👉 Please follow the new discussion for all details and the updated announcement: #79