From 2d97ecc2c1ac605ca49e8a866b309daaeb7a831c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: MS <ms@taler.net>
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2020 14:53:45 +0200
Subject: Installing the Blog

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+<!-- 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>
+
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