freedom-or-power.html (9134B)
1 <!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> 2 <!-- Parent-Version: 1.96 --> 3 <!-- This page is derived from /server/standards/boilerplate.html --> 4 <!--#set var="TAGS" value="essays licensing copyleft" --> 5 <!--#set var="DISABLE_TOP_ADDENDUM" value="yes" --> 6 <title>Freedom Or Power? 7 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> 8 <style type="text/css" media="print,screen"><!-- 9 .epigraph { margin: 2em 0 2em 15%; color: #444; } 10 --></style> 11 <meta http-equiv="Keywords" content="GNU, FSF, Free Software Foundation, Linux, general, public, license, gpl, general public license, freedom, software, power, rights" /> 12 <meta http-equiv="Description" content="In this essay, Freedom or Power?, Bradley M. Kuhn and Richard M. Stallman discuss the reasons that the free software movement doesn't advocate the so-called freedom to choose any license you want for software you write." /> 13 <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/freedom-or-power.translist" --> 14 <!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> 15 <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/ph-breadcrumb.html" --> 16 <!--GNUN: OUT-OF-DATE NOTICE--> 17 <!--#include virtual="/server/top-addendum.html" --> 18 <div class="article reduced-width"> 19 <h2>Freedom or Power?</h2> 20 21 <address class="byline">by Bradley M. Kuhn and Richard M. Stallman</address> 22 23 <blockquote class="epigraph"> 24 <p>The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the 25 love of ourselves. —<i>William Hazlitt</i></p> 26 </blockquote> 27 28 <p> 29 In the free software movement, we stand for freedom for the users of 30 software. We formulated our views by looking at what freedoms are 31 necessary for a good way of life, and permit useful programs to foster a 32 community of goodwill, cooperation, and collaboration. <a 33 href="/philosophy/free-sw.html">Our criteria for free software</a> specify 34 the freedoms that a program's users need so that they can cooperate in a 35 community.</p> 36 37 <p> 38 We stand for freedom for programmers as well as for other users. 39 Most of us are programmers, and we want freedom for ourselves as well 40 as for you. But each of us uses software written by others, and we 41 want freedom when using that software, not just when using our own 42 code. We stand for freedom for all users, whether they program often, 43 occasionally, or not at all.</p> 44 45 <p> 46 However, one so-called freedom that we do not advocate is the 47 “freedom to choose any license you want for software you 48 write.” We reject this because it is really a form of power, 49 not a freedom.</p> 50 51 <p> 52 This oft overlooked distinction is crucial. Freedom is being able to make 53 decisions that affect mainly you; power is being able to make decisions 54 that affect others more than you. If we confuse power with freedom, we 55 will fail to uphold real freedom.</p> 56 57 <p> 58 Making a program proprietary is an exercise of power. Copyright law 59 today grants software developers that power, so they and only they 60 choose the rules to impose on everyone else—a relatively small 61 number of people make the basic software decisions for all users, 62 typically by denying their freedom. When users lack the 63 freedoms that define free software, they can't tell what the 64 software is doing, can't check for back doors, can't monitor possible 65 viruses and worms, can't find out what personal information is being 66 reported (or stop the reports, even if they do find out). If it breaks, 67 they can't fix it; they have to wait for the developer to exercise its 68 power to do so. If it simply isn't quite what they need, they are stuck 69 with it. They can't help each other improve it.</p> 70 71 <p> 72 Proprietary software developers are often businesses. We in the free 73 software movement are not opposed to business, but we have seen what 74 happens when a software business has the “freedom” to 75 impose arbitrary rules on the users of software. Microsoft is an 76 egregious example of how denying users' freedoms can lead to direct 77 harm, but it is not the only example. Even when there is no monopoly, 78 proprietary software harms society. A choice of masters is not 79 freedom.</p> 80 81 <p> 82 Discussions of rights and rules for software have often concentrated 83 on the interests of programmers alone. Few people in the world 84 program regularly, and fewer still are owners of proprietary software 85 businesses. But most of humanity now uses computers (specifically, smartphones) and thus uses 86 software, so software developers now control the way they live, 87 do business, communicate, and are entertained. The ethical and 88 political issues are not addressed by the slogan of “freedom of 89 choice (for developers only).”</p> 90 91 <p> 92 If “code is law,” <a href="#f1">(1)</a> then the real 93 question we face is: who should control the 94 code you use—you, or an elite few? We believe you are entitled 95 to control the software you use, and giving you that control is the 96 goal of free software.</p> 97 98 <p> 99 We believe you should decide what to do with the software you use; 100 however, that is not what today's law says. Current copyright law places 101 us in the position of power over users of our code, whether we like it or 102 not. The ethical response to this situation is to proclaim freedom for 103 each user, just as the Bill of Rights was supposed to exercise government 104 power by guaranteeing each citizen's freedoms. That is what the <a 105 href="/licenses/copyleft.html">GNU General Public License</a> is for: 106 it puts you in control of your usage of the software while <a 107 href="/philosophy/why-copyleft.html">protecting you from others</a> who would 108 like to take control of your decisions.</p> 109 110 <p> 111 As more and more users realize that code is law, and come to feel that 112 they too deserve freedom, they will see the importance of the freedoms 113 we stand for, just as more and more users have come to appreciate the 114 practical value of the free software we have developed.</p> 115 116 <h3 class="footnote">Footnote</h3> 117 <ol> 118 <li id="f1">William J. Mitchell, 119 <cite>City of Bits: Space, Place, and the Infobahn</cite> (Cambridge, 120 Mass.: MIT Press, 1995), p. 111, as quoted by Lawrence Lessig in 121 <cite>Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace, Version 2.0</cite> (New York, NY: 122 Basic Books, 2006), p. 5.</li> 123 </ol> 124 125 <hr class="no-display" /> 126 <div class="edu-note c"><p id="fsfs">This essay is published in 127 <a href="https://shop.fsf.org/product/free-software-free-society/"><cite>Free 128 Software, Free Society: The Selected Essays of Richard 129 M. Stallman</cite></a>.</p></div> 130 </div> 131 132 </div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> 133 <!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> 134 <div id="footer" role="contentinfo"> 135 <div class="unprintable"> 136 137 <p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to <a 138 href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. There are also <a 139 href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> the FSF. Broken links and other 140 corrections or suggestions can be sent to <a 141 href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> 142 143 <p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, 144 replace it with the translation of these two: 145 146 We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality 147 translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. 148 Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard 149 to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> 150 <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> 151 152 <p>For information on coordinating and contributing translations of 153 our web pages, see <a 154 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations 155 README</a>. --> 156 Please see the <a 157 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations README</a> for 158 information on coordinating and contributing translations of this article.</p> 159 </div> 160 161 <!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to 162 files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should 163 be under CC BY-ND 4.0. Please do NOT change or remove this 164 without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first. 165 Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the 166 document. For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the 167 document was modified, or published. 168 169 If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too. 170 Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying 171 years, as long as each year in the range is in fact a copyrightable 172 year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including 173 being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system). 174 175 There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers 176 Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. --> 177 178 <p>Copyright © 2001, 2009, 2021 Bradley M. Kuhn and Richard M. Stallman</p> 179 180 <p>Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted 181 without royalty in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.</p> 182 183 <!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" --> 184 185 <p class="unprintable">Updated: 186 <!-- timestamp start --> 187 $Date: 2021/10/01 17:02:54 $ 188 <!-- timestamp end --> 189 </p> 190 </div> 191 </div><!-- for class="inner", starts in the banner include --> 192 </body> 193 </html>