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diff --git a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/who-does-that-server-really-serve.html b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/who-does-that-server-really-serve.html index 3c4e1a9..5dd5077 100644 --- a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/who-does-that-server-really-serve.html +++ b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/who-does-that-server-really-serve.html @@ -15,13 +15,13 @@ in <a href="http://www.bostonreview.net/richard-stallman-free-software-DRM"> Boston Review</a>.)</p></blockquote> <p><strong>On the Internet, proprietary software isn't the only way to -lose your freedom. Service as a Software Substitute, or SaaSS, is +lose your computing freedom. Service as a Software Substitute, or SaaSS, is another way to give someone else power over your computing.</strong></p> -<p>The basic point is, you can have control over a program someone else -wrote (if it's free), but you can never have control over a service -someone else runs, so never use a service where in principle a program -would do.</p> +<p>The basic point is, you can have control over a program someone +else wrote (if it's free), but you can never have control over a +service someone else runs, so never use a service where in principle +running a program would do.</p> <p>SaaSS means using a service implemented by someone else as a @@ -66,18 +66,36 @@ have to reject that too.</p> <p>Service as a Software Substitute (SaaSS) means using a service as a substitute for running your copy of a program. Concretely, it means that someone sets up a network server that does certain computing -tasks—for instance, modifying a photo, translating text into -another language, etc.—then invites users to do computing via -that server. A user of the server would send her data to the server, -which does <em>her own computing</em> on the data thus provided, then -sends the results back to her or acts directly on her behalf.</p> - -<p>The computing is <em>her own</em> because, by assumption, she -could, in principle, have done it by running a program on her own -computer (whether or not that program is available to her at -present). In cases where this assumption is not so, it isn't SaaSS.</p> - -<p>These servers wrest control from the users even more inexorably +activities—for instance, modifying a photo, translating text into +another language, etc.—then invites users to let that server do +<em>their own computing</em> for them. As a user of the server, you +would send your data to the server, which does that computing +activity on the data thus provided, then sends the results back +to you or else acts directly on your behalf.</p> + +<p>What does it mean to say that a given computing activity +is <em>your own</em>? It means that no one else is inherently +involved in it. To clarify the meaning of “inherently +involved”, we present a thought experiment. Suppose that any +free software you might need for the job is available to you, and +whatever data you might need, as well as computers of whatever speed, +functionality and capacity might be required. Could you do this +particular computing activity entirely within those computers, not +communicating with anyone else's computers?</p> + +<p>If you could, then the activity is <em>entirely your own</em>. For +your freedom's sake, you deserve to control it. If you do it by +running free software, you do control it. However, doing it via +someone else's service would give that someone else control over your +computing activity. We call that scenario SaaSS, and we say it is +unjust.</p> + +<p>By contrast, if for fundamental reasons you couldn't possibly do +that activity in your own computers, then the activity isn't entirely +your own, so the issue of SaaSS is not applicable to that activity. +In general, these activities involve communication with others.</p> + +<p>SaaSS 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 to study the code that is running, so it's hard to determine what the @@ -115,7 +133,8 @@ leaked from there</a>. point where future SaaSS services might be constructed to be unable to understand some of the data that users send them. Such services <em>could</em> be set up not to snoop on users; this does not -mean they <em>will</em> do no snooping.</p> +mean they <em>will</em> do no snooping. Also, snooping is only one +among the secondary injustices of SaaSS.</p> <p>Some proprietary operating systems have a universal back door, permitting someone to remotely install software changes. For @@ -454,7 +473,7 @@ of this article.</p> There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. --> -<p>Copyright © 2010, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018 Richard Stallman</p> +<p>Copyright © 2010, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2020 Richard Stallman</p> <p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative @@ -464,7 +483,7 @@ Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p> <p class="unprintable">Updated: <!-- timestamp start --> -$Date: 2018/12/15 14:02:39 $ +$Date: 2020/12/18 05:52:40 $ <!-- timestamp end --> </p> </div> |