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| author | Marcello Stanisci <marcello.stanisci@inria.fr> | 2016-02-18 18:26:01 +0100 |
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| committer | Marcello Stanisci <marcello.stanisci@inria.fr> | 2016-02-18 18:26:01 +0100 |
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diff --git a/src/frontend_blog/articles/scrap1_33.html b/src/frontend_blog/articles/scrap1_33.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..300895bd --- /dev/null +++ b/src/frontend_blog/articles/scrap1_33.html @@ -0,0 +1,436 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/loose.dtd"> +<html> +<!-- This is the second edition of Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman. + +Free Software Foundation + +51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor + +Boston, MA 02110-1335 +Copyright C 2002, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc. +Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire book are permitted +worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided this notice is +preserved. Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations +of this book from the original English into another language provided +the translation has been approved by the Free Software Foundation and +the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all +copies. + +ISBN 978-0-9831592-0-9 +Cover design by Rob Myers. + +Cover photograph by Peter Hinely. + --> +<!-- Created on February 18, 2016 by texi2html 1.82 +texi2html was written by: + Lionel Cons <Lionel.Cons@cern.ch> (original author) + Karl Berry <karl@freefriends.org> + Olaf Bachmann <obachman@mathematik.uni-kl.de> + and many others. +Maintained by: Many creative people. +Send bugs and suggestions to <texi2html-bug@nongnu.org> +--> +<head> +<title>Free Software, Free Society, 2nd ed.: 33. Who Does That Server Really Serve?</title> + +<meta name="description" content="This is the second edition of Richard Stallman's collection of essays."> +<meta name="keywords" content="Free Software, Free Society, 2nd ed.: 33. Who Does That Server Really Serve?"> +<meta name="resource-type" content="document"> +<meta name="distribution" content="global"> +<meta name="Generator" content="texi2html 1.82"> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> +<style type="text/css"> +<!-- +a.summary-letter {text-decoration: none} +blockquote.smallquotation {font-size: smaller} +pre.display {font-family: serif} +pre.format {font-family: serif} +pre.menu-comment {font-family: serif} +pre.menu-preformatted {font-family: serif} +pre.smalldisplay {font-family: serif; font-size: smaller} +pre.smallexample {font-size: smaller} +pre.smallformat {font-family: serif; font-size: smaller} +pre.smalllisp {font-size: smaller} +span.roman {font-family:serif; font-weight:normal;} +span.sansserif {font-family:sans-serif; font-weight:normal;} +ul.toc {list-style: none} +--> +</style> +<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../style.css"> + + +</head> + +<body lang="en" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#800080" alink="#FF0000"> + +<a name="Server"></a> +<header><div id="logo"><img src="../gnu.svg" height="100" width="100"></div><h1>Free Software, Free Society, 2nd ed.</h1></header><section id="main"><a name="Who-Does-That-Server-Really-Serve_003f"></a> +<h1 class="chapter"> 33. Who Does That Server Really Serve? </h1> + +<a name="index-Software-as-a-Service-_0028SaaS_0029-_0028see-also-SaaS_0029"></a> + +<a name="Background_003a-How-Proprietary-Software-Takes-Away-Your-Freedom"></a> +<h3 class="subheading"> Background: How Proprietary Software Takes Away Your Freedom </h3> + +<a name="index-spyware"></a> +<a name="index-SaaS_002c-as-distinguished-from-proprietary-software"></a> +<a name="index-proprietary-software_002c-as-distinguished-from-SaaS"></a> +<p>Digital technology can give you freedom; it can also take your freedom +away. The first threat to our control over our computing came from +<em>proprietary software</em>: software that the users cannot control +because the +<a name="index-ownership_002c-and-users_0027-freedom-2"></a> +owner (a company such as +<a name="index-Apple-_0028see-also-DRM_0029-2"></a> +Apple or Microsoft) controls +it. The owner often takes advantage of this unjust power by inserting +malicious features such as spyware, back doors, and +<a name="index-DRM_002c-call-it-_0060_0060Digital-Restrictions-Management_0027_0027-4"></a> +Digital +Restrictions Management (DRM) (referred to as “Digital Rights +Management” in their propaganda). +</p> +<p>Our solution to this problem is developing <em>free software</em> and +rejecting proprietary software. Free software means that you, as a +user, have four essential freedoms: (0) to run the program as you +wish, (1) to study and change the source code so it does what you +wish, (2) to redistribute exact copies, and (3) to +redistribute copies of your modified versions. (See “The Free +Software Definition,” on p. @refx{Definition-pg}{.) +</p> +<p>With free software, we, the users, take back control of our +computing. Proprietary software still exists, but we can exclude it +from our lives and many of us have done so. However, we now face a +new threat to our control over our computing: Software as a Service. +For our freedom’s sake, we have to reject that too. +</p> +<a name="How-Software-as-a-Service-Takes-Away-Your-Freedom"></a> +<h3 class="subheading"> How Software as a Service Takes Away Your Freedom </h3> + +<p>Software as a Service (SaaS) means that someone sets up a network +server that does certain computing tasks—running spreadsheets, +word processing, translating text into another language, +etc.—then invites users to do their computing on that server. +Users send their data to the server, which does their computing on the +data thus provided, then sends the results back or acts on them +directly. +</p> +<p>These servers wrest control from the users even more inexorably +than proprietary software. With proprietary software, users typically +get an executable file but not the source code. That makes it hard +for programmers to study the code that is running, so it’s hard to +determine what the program really does, and hard to change it. +</p> +<p>With SaaS, the users do not have even the executable file: it is on +the server, where the users can’t see or touch it. Thus it is +impossible for them to ascertain what it really does, and impossible +to change it. +</p> +<p>Furthermore, SaaS automatically leads to harmful consequences +equivalent to the malicious features of certain proprietary software. +For instance, some proprietary programs are “spyware”: the +program sends out data about users’ computing activities. Microsoft +<a name="index-Windows_002c-SaaS-and"></a> +Windows sends information about users’ activities to Microsoft. +<a name="index-Windows-Media-Player-_0028see-also-both-DRM-and-treacherous-computing_0029-1"></a> +Windows Media Player and +<a name="index-RealPlayer-_0028see-also-DRM_0029"></a> +RealPlayer report what each user watches or +listens to. +</p> + +<p>Unlike proprietary software, SaaS does not require covert code to +obtain the user’s data. Instead, users must send their data to the +server in order to use it. This has the same effect as spyware: the +server operator gets the data. He gets it with no special effort, by +the nature of SaaS. +</p> +<a name="index-proprietary-software_002c-spying-on-users"></a> +<p>Some proprietary programs can mistreat users under remote command. +For instance, +<a name="index-Windows_002c-SaaS-and-1"></a> +Windows has a back door with which Microsoft can +forcibly change any software on the machine. The +<a name="index-Amazon-1"></a> +Amazon +<a name="index-Kindle-_0028see-also-Swindle_0029-1"></a> +Kindle e-book +reader (whose name suggests it’s intended to burn people’s books) has +an Orwellian back door that Amazon used in 2009 +to remotely delete Kindle copies of +<a name="index-Orwell_002c-George-1"></a> +Orwell’s books +<a name="index-1984_002c-George-Orwell-1"></a> +<cite>1984</cite> and +<a name="index-Animal-Farm_002c-George-Orwell"></a> +<cite>Animal Farm</cite> which the users had purchased from Amazon.<a name="DOCF49" href="#FOOT49">(49)</a> +</p> +<p>SaaS inherently gives the server operator the power to change the +software in use, or the users’ data being operated on. Once again, no +special code is needed to do this. +</p> +<p>Thus, SaaS is equivalent to total spyware and a gaping wide back +door, and gives the server operator unjust power over the user. We +can’t accept that. +<a name="index-spyware-1"></a> +</p> +<a name="Untangling-the-SaaS-Issue-from-the-Proprietary-Software-Issue"></a> +<h3 class="subheading"> Untangling the SaaS Issue from the Proprietary Software Issue </h3> + +<p>SaaS and proprietary software lead to similar harmful results, but +the causal mechanisms are different. With proprietary software, the +cause is that you have and use a copy which is difficult or illegal to +change. With SaaS, the cause is that you use a copy you don’t +have. +</p> +<p>These two issues are often confused, and not only by accident. Web +developers use the vague term “web application” to lump +the server software together with programs run on your machine in your +browser. Some web pages install nontrivial or even large +<a name="index-JavaScript"></a> +JavaScript +programs temporarily into your browser without informing +you. When these JavaScript +programs are nonfree, they are as bad as any other nonfree +software. Here, however, we are concerned with the problem of the +server software itself. +</p> +<a name="index-ownership_002c-servers-and-software"></a> +<p>Many free software supporters assume that the problem of SaaS will +be solved by developing free software for servers. For the server +operator’s sake, the programs on the server had better be free; if +they are proprietary, their owners have power over the server. That’s +unfair to the operator, and doesn’t help you at all. But if the +programs on the server are free, that doesn’t protect you <em>as the +server’s user</em> from the effects of SaaS. They give freedom to the +operator, but not to you. +</p> +<p>Releasing the server software source code does benefit the +community: suitably skilled users can set up similar servers, perhaps +changing the software. But none of these servers would give you +control over computing you do on it, unless it’s <em>your</em> server. +The rest would all be SaaS. SaaS always subjects you to the power of +the server operator, and the only remedy is, <em>Don’t use SaaS!</em> +Don’t use someone else’s server to do your own computing on data +provided by you. +<a name="index-SaaS_002c-as-distinguished-from-proprietary-software-1"></a> +<a name="index-proprietary-software_002c-as-distinguished-from-SaaS-1"></a> +</p> +<a name="Distinguishing-SaaS-from-Other-Network-Services"></a> +<h3 class="subheading"> Distinguishing SaaS from Other Network Services </h3> + +<a name="index-SaaS_002c-as-distinguished-from-other-network-services"></a> +<p>Does condemning SaaS mean rejecting all network servers? Not at +all. Most servers do not raise this issue, because the job you do +with them isn’t your own computing except in a trivial sense. +</p> +<p>The original purpose of web servers wasn’t to do computing for you, +it was to publish information for you to access. Even today this is +what most web sites do, and it doesn’t pose the SaaS problem, because +accessing someone’s published information isn’t a matter of doing your +own computing. Neither is publishing your own materials via a blog +site or a microblogging service such as +<a name="index-Twitter"></a> +Twitter or +<a name="index-identi_002eca"></a> +identi.ca. The same goes for +communication not meant to be private, such as chat groups. Social +networking can extend into SaaS; however, at root it is just a method +of communication and publication, not SaaS. If you use the service +for minor editing of what you’re going to communicate, that is not a +significant issue. +</p> +<p>Services such as search engines collect data from around the web +and let you examine it. Looking through their collection of data +isn’t your own computing in the usual sense—you didn’t provide +that collection—so using such a service to search the web is not +SaaS. (However, using someone else’s search engine to implement a +search facility for your own site <em>is</em> SaaS.) +</p> +<a name="index-SaaS_002c-e_002dcommerce-and"></a> +<a name="index-e_002dcommerce"></a> +<p>E-commerce is not SaaS, because the computing isn’t solely yours; +rather, it is done jointly for you and another party. So there’s no +particular reason why you alone should expect to control that +computing. The real issue in e-commerce is whether you trust the +other party with your money and personal information. +</p> +<a name="index-SaaS_002c-joint-projects-and"></a> +<p>Using a joint project’s servers isn’t SaaS because the computing +you do in this way isn’t yours personally. For instance, if you edit +pages on +<a name="index-Wikipedia-1"></a> +Wikipedia, you are not doing your own computing; rather, you +are collaborating in Wikipedia’s computing. +</p> +<p>Wikipedia controls its own servers, but groups can face the problem +of SaaS if they do their group activities on someone else’s server. +<a name="index-SaaS_002c-development-hosting-sites-and"></a> +Fortunately, development hosting sites such as +<a name="index-SaaS_002c-Savannah-and"></a> +<a name="index-Savannah"></a> +Savannah and +<a name="index-SaaS_002c-SourceForge-and"></a> +<a name="index-SourceForge-1"></a> +SourceForge don’t pose the SaaS problem, because what groups do there +is mainly publication and public communication, rather than their own +private computing. +</p> +<a name="index-SaaS_002c-multiplayer-games"></a> +<a name="index-games_002c-SaaS-and-multiplayer"></a> +<p>Multiplayer games are a group activity carried out on someone +else’s server, which makes them SaaS. But where the data involved is +just the state of play and the score, the worst wrong the operator +might commit is favoritism. You might well ignore that risk, since it +seems unlikely and very little is at stake. On the other hand, when +the game becomes more than just a game, the issue changes. +</p> +<a name="index-Google-Docs"></a> +<a name="index-SaaS_002c-Google-Docs-as-example-of"></a> +<p>Which online services are SaaS? Google Docs is a clear example. +Its basic activity is editing, and Google encourages people to use it +for their own editing; this is SaaS. It offers the added feature of +collaborative editing, but adding participants doesn’t alter the fact +that editing on the server is SaaS. (In addition, Google Docs is +unacceptable because it installs a large nonfree +<a name="index-JavaScript-1"></a> +JavaScript program +into the users’ browsers.) If using a service for communication or +collaboration requires doing substantial parts of your own computing +with it too, that computing is SaaS even if the communication is +not. +</p> +<a name="index-SaaS_002c-sites-offering-multiple-services_002c-including"></a> +<p>Some sites offer multiple services, and if one is not SaaS, another +may be SaaS. For instance, the main service of +<a name="index-Facebook"></a> +<a name="index-SaaS_002c-Facebook-and"></a> +Facebook is social +networking, and that is not SaaS; however, it supports third-party +applications, some of which may be SaaS. +<a name="index-Flickr"></a> +<a name="index-SaaS_002c-Flickr-and"></a> +Flickr’s main service is +distributing photos, which is not SaaS, but it also has features for +editing photos, which is SaaS. +</p> +<a name="index-SaaS_002c-publication_002dand_002dcommunication-sites-and"></a> +<p>Some sites whose main service is publication and communication +extend it with “contact management”: keeping track of +people you have relationships with. Sending mail to those people for +you is not SaaS, but keeping track of your dealings with them, if +substantial, is SaaS. +</p> +<p>If a service is not SaaS, that does not mean it is OK. There are +other bad things a service can do. For instance, Facebook distributes +video in Flash, which pressures users to run nonfree software, and it +gives users a misleading impression of privacy. Those are important +issues too, but this article’s concern is the issue of SaaS. +</p> +<a name="index-_0060_0060cloud-computing_002c_0027_0027-avoid-use-of-term-1"></a> +<a name="index-SaaS_002c-_0060_0060cloud-computing_0027_0027-obfuscating-problems-posed-by"></a> +<p>The IT industry discourages users from considering these +distinctions. That’s what the buzzword “cloud computing” +is for. This term is so nebulous that it could refer to almost any +use of the Internet. It includes SaaS and it includes nearly +everything else. The term only lends itself to uselessly broad +statements. +</p> +<p>The real meaning of “cloud computing” is to suggest a +devil-may-care approach towards your computing. It says, “Don’t +ask questions, just trust every business without hesitation. Don’t +worry about who controls your computing or who holds your data. Don’t +check for a hook hidden inside our service before you swallow +it.” In other words, “Think like a sucker.” I prefer +to avoid the term. +<a name="index-SaaS_002c-as-distinguished-from-other-network-services-1"></a> +</p> +<a name="Dealing-with-the-SaaS-Problem"></a> +<h3 class="subheading"> Dealing with the SaaS Problem </h3> + +<a name="index-SaaS_002c-dealing-with-problem-of"></a> +<a name="index-call-to-action_002c-SaaS-threats"></a> +<p>Only a small fraction of all web sites do SaaS; most don’t raise +the issue. But what should we do about the ones that raise it? +</p> +<p>For the simple case, where you are doing your own computing on data in +your own hands, the solution is simple: use your own copy of a free +software application. Do your text editing with your copy of a free +text editor such as +<a name="index-Emacs_002c-GNU-8"></a> +<a name="index-GNU_002c-GNU-Emacs-8"></a> +GNU Emacs or a free word +<a name="index-processors-1"></a> +processor. Do your photo +editing with your copy of free software such as +<a name="index-GNU_002c-GIMP-1"></a> +<a name="index-GIMP-1"></a> +GIMP. +</p> +<p>But what about collaborating with other individuals? It may be +hard to do this at present without using a server. If you use one, +don’t trust a server run by a company. A mere contract as a customer +is no protection unless you could detect a breach and could really +sue, and the company probably writes its contracts to permit a broad +range of abuses. Police can subpoena your data from the company with +less basis than required to subpoena them from you, supposing the +company doesn’t volunteer them like the US phone companies that +illegally wiretapped their customers for +<a name="index-Bush_002c-President-George-W_002e"></a> +Bush. If you must use a +server, use a server whose operators give you a basis for trust beyond +a mere commercial relationship. +</p> +<p>However, on a longer time scale, we can create alternatives to +using servers. For instance, we can create a +<a name="index-peer_002dto_002dpeer-3"></a> +peer-to-peer program +through which collaborators can share data encrypted. The free +software community should develop distributed peer-to-peer +replacements for important “web applications.” It may be +wise to release them under GNU +<a name="index-GNU_002c-GNU-Affero-General-Public-License-_0028AGPL_0029-1"></a> +<a name="index-Affero-General-Public-License-_0028AGPL_0029_002c-GNU-1"></a> +Affero GPL, since +they are likely candidates for being converted into server-based +programs by someone else. The +<a name="index-GNU_002c-GNU-Project-8"></a> +GNU Project is looking +for volunteers to work on such replacements. We also invite other +free software projects to consider this issue in their design. +</p> +<p>In the meantime, if a company invites you to use its server to do +your own computing tasks, don’t yield; don’t use SaaS. Don’t buy or +install “thin clients,” which are simply computers so weak +they make you do the real work on a server, unless you’re +going to use them with <em>your</em> server. Use a real +computer and keep your data there. Do your work with your own copy of +a free program, for your freedom’s sake. +<a name="index-call-to-action_002c-SaaS-threats-1"></a> +<a name="index-SaaS_002c-dealing-with-problem-of-1"></a> +<a name="index-Software-as-a-Service-_0028SaaS_0029-_0028see-also-SaaS_0029-1"></a> +</p><div class="footnote"> +<hr> +<h3>Footnotes</h3> +<h3><a name="FOOT49" href="#DOCF49">(49)</a></h3> +<p>Brad +Stone, “Amazon Erases Orwell Books from Kindle,” <cite>New York Times,</cite> 17 July 2009, sec. B1, <a href="http://nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html">http://nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html</a>. +</p></div> +<hr size="2"> +<table cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" border="0"> +<tr><td valign="middle" align="left">[<a href="scrap1_32.html#Can-You-Trust" title="Previous section in reading order"> < </a>]</td> +<td valign="middle" align="left">[<a href="scrap1_34.html#Java-Trap" title="Next section in reading order"> > </a>]</td> +<td valign="middle" align="left"> </td> +<td valign="middle" align="left">[Contents]</td> +<td valign="middle" align="left">[<a href="scrap1_U.4.html#Index" title="Index">Index</a>]</td> +<td valign="middle" align="left">[<a href="scrap1_abt.html#SEC_About" title="About (help)"> ? </a>]</td> +</tr></table> +<p> + <font size="-1"> + This document was generated by <em>Christian Grothoff</em> on <em>February 18, 2016</em> using <a href="http://www.nongnu.org/texi2html/"><em>texi2html 1.82</em></a>. + </font> + <br> + +</p> +</body> +</html> |