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diff --git a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/scrap1_43.html b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/scrap1_43.html deleted file mode 100644 index e6c2a3e..0000000 --- a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/scrap1_43.html +++ /dev/null @@ -1,178 +0,0 @@ -<!-- 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. - --> - - - <a name="Freedom-or-Power_003f"> - </a> - <h1 class="chapter"> - 43. Freedom or Power? - </h1> - <p> - Written by - <a name="index-Kuhn_002c-Bradley-M_002e"> - </a> - Bradley M. Kuhn and Richard Stallman. - <br> - <em> - The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves. - </em> - </br> - </p> - <a name="index-Hazlitt_002c-William"> - </a> - <p align="right"> - —William Hazlitt - </p> - <br> - <a name="index-proprietary-software_002c-freedom-or-power_003f"> - </a> - <p> - In the free software movement, we stand for freedom for the users of -software. We formulated our views by looking at what freedoms are -necessary for a good way of life, and permit useful programs to foster -a community of goodwill, cooperation, and collaboration. Our criteria -for free software specify the freedoms that a program’s users need so -that they can cooperate in a community. - </p> - <p> - We stand for freedom for programmers as well as for other users. -Most of us are programmers, and we want freedom for ourselves as well -as for you. But each of us uses software written by others, and we -want freedom when using that software, not just when using our own -code. We stand for freedom for all users, whether they program often, -occasionally, or not at all. - </p> - <p> - However, one so-called freedom that we do not advocate is the -“freedom to choose any license you want for software you -write.” We reject this because it is really a form of power, -not a freedom. - </p> - <p> - This oft overlooked distinction is crucial. Freedom is being able to make -decisions that affect mainly you; power is being able to make decisions -that affect others more than you. If we confuse power with freedom, we -will fail to uphold real freedom. - </p> - <a name="index-developers_002c-copyright-law-favors"> - </a> - <p> - Making a program proprietary is an exercise of power. Copyright law -today grants software developers that power, so they and only they -choose the rules to impose on everyone else—a relatively small -number of people make the basic software decisions for all users, -typically by denying their freedom. When users lack the -freedoms that define free software, they can’t tell what the -software is doing, can’t check for back doors, can’t monitor possible -viruses and worms, can’t find out what personal information is being -reported (or stop the reports, even if they do find out). If it breaks, -they can’t fix it; they have to wait for the developer to exercise its -power to do so. If it simply isn’t quite what they need, they are stuck -with it. They can’t help each other improve it. - </p> - <a name="index-Microsoft_002c-freedom-or-power_003f"> - </a> - <p> - Proprietary software developers are often businesses. We in the free -software movement are not opposed to business, but we have seen what -happens when a software business has the “freedom” to -impose arbitrary rules on the users of software. Microsoft is an -egregious example of how denying users’ freedoms can lead to direct -harm, but it is not the only example. Even when there is no monopoly, -proprietary software harms society. A choice of masters is not -freedom. - </p> - <p> - Discussions of rights and rules for software have often concentrated -on the interests of programmers alone. Few people in the world -program regularly, and fewer still are - <a name="index-ownership_002c-developers_0027-interests-v_002e-public_0027s-prosperity-and-freedom-1"> - </a> - owners of proprietary software -businesses. But the entire developed world now needs and uses -software, so software developers now control the way it lives, -does business, communicates, and is entertained. The ethical and -political issues are not addressed by the slogan of “freedom of -choice (for developers only).” - <a name="index-developers_002c-copyright-law-favors-1"> - </a> - </p> - <p> - If “code is law,” - <a href="#FOOT53" name="DOCF53"> - (53) - </a> - then the real question we face is: who should control the code you -use—you, or an elite few? We believe you are entitled to control the -software you use, and giving you that control is the goal of free -software. - </p> - <a name="index-GPL-7"> - </a> - <p> - We believe you should decide what to do with the software you use; -however, that is not what today’s law says. Current copyright law -places us in the position of power over users of our code, whether we -like it or not. The ethical response to this situation is to proclaim -freedom for each user, just as the Bill of Rights was supposed to -exercise government power by guaranteeing each citizen’s -freedoms. That is what the GNU General Public License is for: it puts -you in control of your usage of the software while protecting you from -others who would like to take control of your decisions. - </p> - <p> - As more and more users realize that code is law, and come to feel that -they too deserve freedom, they will see the importance of the freedoms -we stand for, just as more and more users have come to appreciate the -practical value of the free software we have developed. - <a name="index-proprietary-software_002c-freedom-or-power_003f-1"> - </a> - </p> - <div class="footnote"> - <hr> - <h3> - Footnotes - </h3> - <h3> - <a href="#DOCF53" name="FOOT53"> - (53) - </a> - </h3> - <p> - William J. Mitchell, - <em> - City of Bits: Space, Place, and the -Infobahn - </em> - (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1995), p. 111, as quoted by -Lawrence Lessig in - <em> - Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace, Version -2.0 - </em> - (New York, NY: Basic Books, 2006), p. 5. - </p> - </hr> - </div> - <hr size="2"/> - </br> - |