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diff --git a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/programs-must-not-limit-freedom-to-run.html b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/programs-must-not-limit-freedom-to-run.html index a8912d4..292bc6b 100644 --- a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/programs-must-not-limit-freedom-to-run.html +++ b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/programs-must-not-limit-freedom-to-run.html @@ -1,16 +1,24 @@ <!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> -<!-- Parent-Version: 1.79 --> +<!-- Parent-Version: 1.96 --> +<!-- This page is derived from /server/standards/boilerplate.html --> +<!--#set var="TAGS" value="essays aboutfs principles" --> +<!--#set var="DISABLE_TOP_ADDENDUM" value="yes" --> <title>Why programs must not limit the freedom to run them - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/programs-must-not-limit-freedom-to-run.translist" --> <!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> +<!--#include virtual="/philosophy/ph-breadcrumb.html" --> +<!--GNUN: OUT-OF-DATE NOTICE--> +<!--#include virtual="/server/top-addendum.html" --> +<div class="article reduced-width"> <h2>Why programs must not limit the freedom to run them</h2> -<p>by <a href="http://www.stallman.org/">Richard Stallman</a></p> +<address class="byline">by <a href="https://www.stallman.org/">Richard +Stallman</a></address> <p>Free software means software controlled by its users, rather than the reverse. Specifically, it means the software comes with <a -href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">four essential freedoms +href="/philosophy/free-sw.html">four essential freedoms that software users deserve</a>. At the head of the list is freedom 0, the freedom to run the program as you wish, in order to do what you wish.</p> @@ -78,30 +86,36 @@ restriction against commercial use. A system that we could use only for recreation, hobbies and school is off limits to much of what we do with computers.</p> -<p>I've stated some of my views about other political issues, about -activities that are or aren't unjust. Your views might differ, and -that's precisely the point. If we accepted programs with usage -restrictions as part of a free operating system such as GNU, people -would come up with lots of different usage restrictions. There would -be programs banned for use in meat processing, programs banned only -for pigs, programs banned only for cows, and programs limited to -kosher foods. Someone who hates spinach might write a program -allowing use for processing any vegetable except spinach, while a -Popeye fan might allow use only for spinach. There would be music +<p>I've stated above some parts of my views about certain political +issues unrelated to the issue of free software—about which of +those activities are or aren't unjust. Your views about them might +differ, and that's precisely the point. If we accepted programs with +usage restrictions as part of a free operating system such as GNU, +people would come up with lots of different usage restrictions. There +would be programs banned for use in meat processing, programs banned +only for pigs, programs banned only for cows, and programs limited to +kosher foods. Someone who hates spinach might license a program to +allow use for processing any vegetable except spinach, while a Popeye +fan's program might allow only use for spinach. There would be music programs allowed only for rap music, and others allowed only for classical music.</p> <p>The result would be a system that you could not count on for any purpose. For each task you wish to do, you'd have to check lots of licenses to see which parts of your system are off limits for that -task.</p> +task. Not only for the components you explicitly use, but also for +the hundreds of components that they link with, invoke, or communicate +with.</p> <p>How would users respond to that? I think most of them would use -proprietary systems. Allowing any usage restrictions whatsoever in -free software would mainly push users towards nonfree software. -Trying to stop users from doing something through usage restrictions -in free software is as ineffective as pushing on an object through a -long, soft, straight piece of spaghetti.</p> +proprietary systems. Allowing usage restrictions in free software +would mainly push users towards nonfree software. Trying to stop +users from doing something through usage restrictions in free software +is as ineffective as pushing on an object through a long, straight, +soft piece of cooked spaghetti. As one wag put it, this is +“someone with a very small hammer seeing every problem as a +nail, and not even acknowledging that the nail is far too big for the +hammer.”</p> <p> It is worse than ineffective; it is wrong too, because software @@ -118,16 +132,17 @@ It is the same for a text editor, compiler or kernel.</p> for: when you decide what functionality to implement. You can write programs that lend themselves mainly to uses you think are positive, and you have no obligation to write any features that might lend -themselves to activities you disapprove of.</p> +themselves particularly to activities you disapprove of.</p> <p>The conclusion is clear: a program must not restrict what jobs its users do with it. Freedom 0 must be complete. We need to stop torture, but we can't do it through software licenses. The proper job of software licenses is to establish and protect users' freedom.</p> +</div> </div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> <!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> -<div id="footer"> +<div id="footer" role="contentinfo"> <div class="unprintable"> <p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to @@ -145,13 +160,13 @@ to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> - <p>For information on coordinating and submitting translations of + <p>For information on coordinating and contributing 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 +README</a> for information on coordinating and contributing translations of this article.</p> </div> @@ -172,7 +187,7 @@ of this article.</p> There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. --> -<p>Copyright © 2012, 2015, 2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc.</p> +<p>Copyright © 2012, 2021, 2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc.</p> <p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative @@ -182,10 +197,10 @@ Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p> <p class="unprintable">Updated: <!-- timestamp start --> -$Date: 2016/11/18 06:31:39 $ +$Date: 2022/09/06 20:25:46 $ <!-- timestamp end --> </p> </div> -</div> +</div><!-- for class="inner", starts in the banner include --> </body> </html> |