Sign the petition
Stand up for independent work.
A movement for independent builders
Your time. Your tools. Your work.Your own time.
Your own ideas.
Your right to build.
A job should not own your weekends. We're working for the right to create, publish, and sell independent work made on your own time, with your own resources.
Company secrets stay protected. Independent work stays yours.
Bring more builders into the movement.
Contact lawmakers
Ask for protections with clear boundaries.
Check your state
See what protections already exist.
The problem
Good ideas don't clock out.
The next useful thing shouldn't need your boss's permission.
Builders notice problems and make things before the market knows what to ask for: apps, games, automations, tools, open-source projects, and small businesses.
Too often, broad policies make people afraid to publish anything under their own name. The result is quieter than a lawsuit: useful work never ships.
Right to Build exists because workers should not need permission to create unrelated work outside the job.
No trade secrets.
No company systems.
No paid work time.
No blanket ownership of a person's future ideas.
The Right to Build petition
Make your support count.
Add your name to show support for laws that protect independent work built off-hours, with personal resources, without company secrets.
What counts
What we protect
Independent work should be easy to recognize.
This should be yours
- Apps built outside work
- Software tools and games
- Open-source contributions
- Creative projects and small businesses
- Public portfolios and personal credit
This stays protected
- Trade secrets and confidential information
- Company code and private customer data
- Work made on paid company time
- Work assigned by the employer
- The company's name and representation
The principle
Companies deserve protection from theft. Workers deserve protection from overreach.
Right to Build is not anti-company. It is a practical line between paid work and personal creation: protect trade secrets, customer data, assigned work, and real conflicts, while ending vague policies that make permission the default for independent building.
The proposal
Guardrails, not gag orders
A fair policy should be clear before someone builds.
Read ProposalSafe harbor
Off-hours work made with personal resources and no company secrets should start as yours.
Define conflicts clearly
A company should not be able to veto independent work with vague claims about future markets or broad industry overlap.
No forced anonymity
Builders should not have to hide behind shell accounts, aliases, or unsigned work to avoid employer scrutiny.
Stop retaliation
Workers should not be punished for building lawful independent projects that stay outside company time, systems, and secrets.
Take action
Ask lawmakers to protect independent builders before useful work disappears.
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Keep up with the movement.
Get research notes, state updates, and action tools as the movement develops.