why-call-it-the-swindle.html (8988B)
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 term" --> 5 <!--#set var="DISABLE_TOP_ADDENDUM" value="yes" --> 6 <title>Why call it the Swindle 7 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> 8 <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/why-call-it-the-swindle.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!--GNUN: OUT-OF-DATE NOTICE--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>Why Call It The Swindle?</h2> 15 16 <address class="byline">by <a href="https://www.stallman.org/">Richard 17 Stallman</a></address> 18 19 <p>I go out of my way to call nasty things by names that criticize 20 them. I call Apple's user-subjugating computers the 21 “iThings,” and Amazon's abusive e-reader the 22 “Swindle.” Sometimes I refer to Microsoft's operating 23 system as “Losedows”; I referred to Microsoft's first 24 operating system as “MS-Dog.”[<a href="#f1">1</a>] Of 25 course, I do this to vent my feelings and have fun. But this fun is 26 more than personal; it serves an important purpose. Mocking our 27 enemies recruits the power of humor into our cause.</p> 28 29 <p>Twisting a name is disrespectful. If we respected the makers of 30 these products, we would use the names that they chose … and that's 31 exactly the point. These noxious products deserve our contempt, not 32 our respect. Every proprietary program subjects its users to some 33 entity's power, but nowadays most widely used ones go beyond that to spy on 34 users, restrict them and even push them around: the trend is for 35 products to get nastier. These products deserve to be wiped out. Those 36 with DRM ought to be illegal.</p> 37 38 <p>When we mention them, we should show that we condemn them, and what 39 easier way than by twisting their names? If we don't do that, it is 40 all too easy to mention them and fail to present the condemnation. 41 When the product comes up in the middle of some other topic, for 42 instance, explaining at greater length that the product is bad might 43 seem like a long digression.</p> 44 45 <p>To mention these products by name and fail to condemn them has the 46 effect of legitimizing them, which is the opposite of what they call 47 for.</p> 48 49 <p>Companies choose names for products as part of a marketing plan. 50 They choose names they think people will be likely to repeat, then 51 invest millions of dollars in marketing campaigns to make people 52 repeat and think about those names. Usually these marketing 53 campaigns are intended to convince people to admire the products based 54 on their superficial attractions and overlook the harm they do.</p> 55 56 <p>Every time we call these products by the names the companies use, 57 we contribute to their marketing campaigns. Repeating those names is 58 active support for the products; twisting them denies the products our 59 support.</p> 60 61 <p>Other terminology besides product names can raise a similar issue. 62 For instance, DRM refers to building technology products to restrict 63 their users for the benefit of someone else. This inexcusable practice 64 deserves our burning hatred until we wipe it out. Naturally, those 65 responsible gave it a name that frames the issue from their point of 66 view: “Digital Rights Management.” This name is the basis 67 of a public relations campaign that aims to win support from entities 68 ranging from governments to the W3C.[<a href="#f2">2</a>]</p> 69 70 <p>To use their term is to take their side. If that's not the side 71 you're on, why give it your implicit support?</p> 72 73 <p>We take the users' side, and from the users' point of view, what 74 these malfeatures manage are not rights but restrictions. So we call 75 them “Digital Restrictions Management.”</p> 76 77 <p>Neither of those terms is neutral: choose a term, and you choose a 78 side. Please choose the users' side and please let it show.</p> 79 80 <p>Once, a man in the audience at my speech claimed that the name 81 “Digital Rights Management” was the official name of 82 “DRM,” the only 83 possible correct name, because it was the first name. He argued that 84 as a consequence it was wrong for us to say “Digital Restrictions 85 Management.”</p> 86 87 <p>Those who make a product or carry out a business practice typically 88 choose a name for it before we even know it exists. If their temporal 89 precedence obligated us to use their name, they would have an 90 additional automatic advantage, on top of their money, their media 91 influence and their technological position. We would have to fight 92 them with our mouths tied behind our backs.</p> 93 94 <p>Some people feel a distaste for twisting names and say it sounds 95 “juvenile” or “unprofessional.” What they mean 96 is, it doesn't sound humorless and stodgy—and that's a good 97 thing, because we would not have laughter on our side if we tried to 98 sound “professional.” Fighting oppression is far more 99 serious than professional work, so we've got to add comic relief. It 100 calls for real maturity, which includes some childishness, not 101 “acting like an adult.”</p> 102 103 <p>If you don't like our choice of name parodies, you can invent your 104 own. The more, the merrier. Of course, there are other ways to express 105 condemnation. If you want to sound “professional,” you can 106 show it in other ways. They can get the point across, but they 107 require more time and effort, especially if you don't make use of 108 mockery. Take care this does not lead you to skimp; don't let the 109 pressure against such “digression” push you into 110 insufficiently criticizing the nasty things you mention, because that 111 would have the effect of legitimizing them.</p> 112 <div class="column-limit"></div> 113 114 <h3 class="footnote">Footnotes</h3> 115 116 <ol> 117 <li id="f1">Take action against these products: 118 <a href="https://u.fsf.org/ithings">u.fsf.org/ithings</a>, 119 <a href="https://u.fsf.org/swindle">u.fsf.org/swindle</a>, 120 <a href="https://u.fsf.org/ebookslist">u.fsf.org/ebookslist</a>, 121 <a href="https://upgradefromwindows.org">upgradefromwindows.org</a> 122 </li> 123 <li id="f2"><a href="https://u.fsf.org/drm">u.fsf.org/drm</a></li> 124 </ol> 125 </div> 126 127 </div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> 128 <!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> 129 <div id="footer" role="contentinfo"> 130 <div class="unprintable"> 131 132 <p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to 133 <a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. 134 There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> 135 the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent 136 to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> 137 138 <p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, 139 replace it with the translation of these two: 140 141 We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality 142 translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. 143 Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard 144 to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> 145 <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> 146 147 <p>For information on coordinating and contributing translations of 148 our web pages, see <a 149 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations 150 README</a>. --> 151 Please see the <a 152 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations 153 README</a> for information on coordinating and contributing translations 154 of this article.</p> 155 </div> 156 157 <!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to 158 files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should 159 be under CC BY-ND 4.0. Please do NOT change or remove this 160 without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first. 161 Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the 162 document. For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the 163 document was modified, or published. 164 165 If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too. 166 Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying 167 years, as long as each year in the range is in fact a copyrightable 168 year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including 169 being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system). 170 171 There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers 172 Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. --> 173 174 <p>Copyright © 2013, 2021 Richard Stallman</p> 175 176 <p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" 177 href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative 178 Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p> 179 180 <!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" --> 181 182 <p class="unprintable">Updated: 183 <!-- timestamp start --> 184 $Date: 2021/09/05 10:10:11 $ 185 <!-- timestamp end --> 186 </p> 187 </div> 188 </div><!-- for class="inner", starts in the banner include --> 189 </body> 190 </html>