diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..daaa84e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+The MIT License (MIT)
+Copyright (c) 2013 Bitmessage
+
+Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of
+this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in
+the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to
+use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies
+of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do
+so, subject to the following conditions:
+
+The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
+copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
+SOFTWARE.
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diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2bc486fd..5be12604 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,2 +1,16 @@
 PyBitmessage
-============
\ No newline at end of file
+============
+
+Bitmessage is a P2P communications protocol used to send encrypted messages to
+another person or to many subscribers. It is decentralized and trustless,
+meaning that you need-not inherently trust any entities like root certificate
+authorities. It uses strong authentication which means that the sender of a
+message cannot be spoofed, and it aims to hide "non-content" data, like the
+sender and receiver of messages, from passive eavesdroppers like those running
+warrantless wiretapping programs.
+
+
+references
+----------
+* [protocol specification](https://bitmessage.org/wiki/Protocol_specification)
+* [whitepaper](https://bitmessage.org/bitmessage.pdf)
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