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diff --git a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/freedom-or-copyright.html b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/freedom-or-copyright.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c96ddc6 --- /dev/null +++ b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/freedom-or-copyright.html @@ -0,0 +1,237 @@ +<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> +<!-- Parent-Version: 1.90 --> +<title>Freedom or Copyright? +- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> +<!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/freedom-or-copyright.translist" --> +<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> +<h2>Freedom—or Copyright?</h2> + +<address class="byline">by Richard Stallman</address> + +<p><em>This essay addresses how the principles of software freedom +apply in some cases to other works of authorship and art. It's +included here since it involves the application of the ideas of free +software.</em></p> +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p> +Copyright was established in the age of the printing press as an +industrial regulation on the business of writing and publishing. The +aim was to encourage the publication of a diversity of written works. +The means was to require publishers to get the author's permission to +publish recent writings. This enabled authors to get income from +publishers, which facilitated and encouraged writing. The general +reading public received the benefit of this, while losing little: +copyright restricted only publication, not the things an ordinary +reader could do. That made copyright arguably a beneficial system for +the public, and therefore arguably legitimate.</p> + +<p> +Well and good—back then.</p> + +<p> +Now we have a new way of distributing +information: computers and networks. Their benefit is that they +facilitate copying and +manipulating information, including software, musical recordings, +books, and movies. They offer the possibility of unlimited access to +all sorts of data—an information utopia.</p> + +<p> +One obstacle stood in the way: copyright. Readers and listeners who +made use of their new ability to copy and share published information +were technically copyright infringers. The same law which had +formerly acted as a beneficial industrial regulation on publishers had +become a restriction on the public it was meant to serve.</p> + +<p> +In a democracy, a law that prohibits a popular and useful activity is +usually soon relaxed. Not so where corporations have political power. +The publishers' lobby was determined to prevent the public from taking +advantage of the power of their computers, and found copyright a +handy weapon. Under their influence, rather than relaxing copyright +rules to suit the new circumstances, governments made them stricter than +ever, imposing harsh penalties on the practice of sharing. The latest +fashion in supporting the publishers against the citizens, known as +“three strikes,” is to cut off people's Internet connections if +they share.</p> + +<p> +But that wasn't the worst of it. Computers can be powerful tools of +domination when software suppliers deny users the control of the +software they run. The +publishers realized that by publishing works in encrypted format, +which only specially authorized software could view, they could gain +unprecedented power: they could compel readers to pay, and identify +themselves, every time they read a book, listen to a song, or watch a +video. That is the publishers' dream: a pay-per-view universe.</p> + +<p> +The publishers gained US government support for their dream with the +Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. This law gave publishers +power to write their own copyright rules, by implementing them in the +code of the authorized player software. Under this practice, called +Digital Restrictions Management, or DRM, even reading or listening +without authorization is forbidden.</p> + +<p> +We still have the same old freedoms in using paper books and other +analog media. But if e-books replace printed books, those freedoms +will not transfer. Imagine: no more used book stores; no more lending +a book to your friend; no more borrowing one from the public +library—no more “leaks” that might give someone a +chance to read without paying. No more purchasing a book anonymously with +cash—you can only buy an e-book with a credit card. That is +the world the publishers want to impose on us. If you buy the Amazon +Kindle (we call it <a +href="/philosophy/why-call-it-the-swindle.html">the Swindle</a>) +or the Sony Reader (we +call it the Shreader for what it threatens to do to books), you pay to +establish that world.</p> + +<p> +The Swindle even has an Orwellian back door that can be used to erase +books remotely. Amazon demonstrated this capability by erasing +copies, purchased from Amazon, of Orwell's book 1984. Evidently +Amazon's name for this product reflects the intention to burn our +books.</p> + +<p> +Public anger against DRM is slowly growing, held back because +propaganda expressions such +as “<a href="/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html">protect +authors</a>” +and “<a href="/philosophy/not-ipr.html">intellectual +property</a>” have convinced readers that their rights do not +count. These terms implicitly assume that publishers deserve special +power in the name of the authors, that we are morally obliged to bow +to them, and that we have wronged someone if we see or hear +anything without paying for permission.</p> + +<p> +The organizations that profit most from copyright legally exercise it +in the name of the authors (most of whom gain little). They would +have you believe that copyright is a natural right of authors, and +that we the public must suffer it no matter how painful it is. They +call sharing “piracy”, equating helping your neighbor with +attacking a ship.</p> + +<p> +They also tell us that a War on Sharing is the only way to keep +art alive. Even if true, it would not justify the policy; but it +isn't true. Public sharing of copies is likely to increase the sales of +most works, and decrease sales only for big hits.</p> + +<p> +Bestsellers can still do well without forbidding sharing. Stephen +King got hundreds of thousands of dollars selling an unencrypted +e-book serial with no obstacle to copying and sharing. (He was +dissatisfied with that amount and called the experiment a failure, but it looks +like a success to me.) Radiohead made millions in 2007 by inviting +fans to copy an album and pay what they wished, while it was also +shared on peer-to-peer networks. In +2008, <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2008/03/05/nine-inch-nails-made.html"> +Nine Inch Nails released an album with permission to share copies</a> +and made $750,000 in a few days.</p> + +<p> +The possibility of success without oppression is not limited to +bestsellers. Many artists of various levels of fame now make an +adequate living through <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091119/1634117011.shtml">voluntary +support</a>: donations and merchandise purchases of their fans. +Kevin Kelly estimates the artist need only find around +<a href="http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fans.php"> +1,000 true fans</a>. +</p> + +<p> +When computer networks provide an easy anonymous method for sending +someone a small amount of money, without a credit card, it will be +easy to set up a much better system to support the arts. When you +view a work, there will be a button you can press saying, “Click +here to send the artist one dollar”. Wouldn't you press it, at +least once a week?</p> + +<p> +Another good way to support music and the arts is with +<a href="/philosophy/dat.html">tax funds</a>—perhaps a tax on blank media +or on Internet connectivity. The state should +distribute the tax money entirely to the artists, not +waste it on corporate executives. But the state should not distribute +it in linear proportion to popularity, because that would give most of +it to a few superstars, leaving little to support all the other +artists. I therefore recommend using a cube-root function or +something similar. With linear proportion, superstar A with 1,000 +times the popularity of a successful artist B will get 1,000 times as +much money as B. With the cube root, A will get 10 times as much as +B. Thus, each superstar gets a larger share than a less popular +artist, but most of the funds go to the artists who really need this +support. This system will use our tax money efficiently to support +the arts.</p> + +<p> +The <a +href="http://stallman.org/mecenat/global-patronage.html">Global +Patronage</a> proposal combines aspects of those two systems, +incorporating mandatory payments with voluntary allocation among +artists.</p> + +<!-- +<p> +In Spain, this tax system should replace the SGAE and its canon, +which could be eliminated.</p> --> + +<p> +To make copyright fit the network age, we should legalize the +noncommercial copying and sharing of all published works, and prohibit +DRM. But until we win this battle, you must protect yourself: don't +buy any products with DRM unless you personally have the means to +break the DRM. Never use a product designed to attack your freedom +unless you can nullify the attack.</p> + +</div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> +<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> +<div id="footer"> +<div class="unprintable"> + +<p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to <a +href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. There are also <a +href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> the FSF. Broken links and other +corrections or suggestions can be sent to <a +href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> + +<p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, + replace it with the translation of these two: + + We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality + translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. + Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard + to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> + <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> + + <p>For information on coordinating and submitting translations of + our web pages, see <a + href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations + README</a>. --> +Please see the <a +href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations README</a> for +information on coordinating and submitting translations of this article.</p> +</div> + +<p>Copyright © 2008, 2010, 2011, 2019, 2020 Richard M. Stallman</p> + +<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" +href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative +Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p> + +<!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" --> + +<p class="unprintable">Updated: +<!-- timestamp start --> +$Date: 2020/10/06 08:25:53 $ +<!-- timestamp end --> +</p> +</div> +</div> +</body> +</html> |