rms-comment-longs-article.html (5238B)
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 laws copyright" --> 5 <!--#set var="DISABLE_TOP_ADDENDUM" value="yes" --> 6 <title>Comments on Roderick Long's Article 7 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> 8 <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/rms-comment-longs-article.translist" --> 9 <!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> 10 <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/ph-breadcrumb.html" --> 11 <!--GNUN: OUT-OF-DATE NOTICE--> 12 <!--#include virtual="/server/top-addendum.html" --> 13 <div class="article reduced-width"> 14 <h2>Comments on Roderick Long's Article</h2> 15 16 <address class="byline">by <a href="https://www.stallman.org/">Richard 17 Stallman</a></address> 18 19 <div class="introduction"><p> 20 The ideas of the free software movement are compatible with 21 social-democratic (US liberal) views and with laissez-faire (US 22 libertarian <a href="#ft1"><sup>[1]</sup></a>) views. 23 </p></div> 24 25 <p>Free software is a matter of freedom. From our point of view, 26 precisely which legal mechanism <sup><a href="#ft2">[2]</a></sup> 27 is used to deny software users their 28 freedom is just an implementation detail. Whether it is done with 29 copyright, with contracts, or in some other way, it is wrong to deny 30 the public the freedoms necessary to form a community and cooperate. 31 This is why it is inaccurate to understand the free software movement 32 as specifically a matter of opposition to copyright on software. It 33 is both more and less than that.</p> 34 35 <p>However, you will often hear people of right-wing ideological 36 persuasion argue in vague way that some general moral principle of 37 property rights compels us to cede our freedom to a system of 38 copyright, regardless of how this affects our way of life. The 39 right-wing Libertarian counterargument, coming as it does from a group that 40 regards property rights as the highest moral principle, is useful as a 41 refutation. It shows that even if you adore property rights for 42 physical objects, you are not compelled to accept copyright.</p> 43 44 <div class="infobox"> 45 <hr /> 46 <ol> 47 <li id="ft1">Roderick T. Long, “The Libertarian Case Against 48 Intellectual Property Rights” at <a 49 href="http://freenation.org/a/f31l1.html">freenation.org</a>, 1995.</li> 50 <li id="ft2">… or technical mechanism, such as withholding the 51 source code, or 52 <a href="/philosophy/can-you-trust.html">tivoization</a>.</li> 53 </ol> 54 </div> 55 </div> 56 57 </div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> 58 <!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> 59 <div id="footer" role="contentinfo"> 60 <div class="unprintable"> 61 62 <p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to 63 <a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. 64 There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> 65 the FSF. 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