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Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman Introduction by Lawrence Lessig Edited by Joshua Gay GNU Press www.gnupress.org Free Software Foundation Boston, MA USA First printing, first edition. Copyright © 2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc. ISBN 1-882114-98-1 Published by the Free Software Foundation 59 Temple Place Boston, MA Tel: 1-617-542-5942 Fax: 1-617-542-2652 Email: [email protected] Web: www.gnu.org GNU Press is an imprint of the FSF. Email: [email protected] Web: www.gnupress.org Please contact the GNU Press for information regarding bulk purchases for class- room or user group use, reselling, or any other questions or comments. Original artwork by Etienne Suvasa. Cover design by Jonathan Richard. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this book provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this book under the conditions for verbatim copying Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this book into another language, from the original English, with respect to the conditions on distribution of modified versions above, provided that it has been approved by the Free Software Foundation. i Short Contents Editor’s Note. 1 A Note on Software . 3 Topic Guide . 7 Introduction . 9 Section One . 13 1 The GNU Project . 15 2 The GNU Manifesto . 31 3 Free Software Definition . 41 4 Why Software Should Not Have Owners . 45 5 What’s in a Name? . 51 6 Why “Free Software” is Better than “Open Source” . 55 7 Releasing Free Software if You Work at a University . 61 8 Selling Free Software . 63 9 Free Software Needs Free Documentation . 67 10 Free Software Song . 69 Section Two . 71 11 The Right to Read. 73 12 Misinterpreting Copyright—A Series of Errors . 77 13 Science Must ‘Push’ Copyright Aside . 87 14 What is Copyleft? . 89 15 Copyleft: Pragmatic Idealism. 91 16 The Danger of Software Patents . 95 Section Three . 113 17 Can You Trust Your Computer? . 115 18 Why Software Should Be Free . 119 19 Copyright and Globalization in the Age of Computer Networks . 133 20 Free Software: Freedom and Cooperation . 155 21 Words to Avoid . 187 Section Four . 193 GNU General Public License . 195 GNU Lesser General Public License . 203 ii Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman GNU Free Documentation License . 213 iii Table of Contents Editor’s Note . 1 A Note on Software . 3 Topic Guide . 7 Introduction . 9 Section One . 13 1 The GNU Project . 15 2 The GNU Manifesto . 31 3 Free Software Definition . 41 4 Why Software Should Not Have Owners . 45 5 What’s in a Name?. 51 6 Why “Free Software” is Better than “Open Source” . 55 7 Releasing Free Software if You Work at a University . 61 8 Selling Free Software . 63 9 Free Software Needs Free Documentation . 67 10 Free Software Song . 69 Section Two . 71 iv Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman 11 The Right to Read . 73 12 Misinterpreting Copyright—A Series of Errors. 77 13 Science Must ‘Push’ Copyright Aside. 87 14 What is Copyleft? . 89 15 Copyleft: Pragmatic Idealism. 91 16 The Danger of Software Patents . 95 Section Three . 113 17 Can You Trust Your Computer? . 115 18 Why Software Should Be Free . 119 19 Copyright and Globalization in the Age of Computer Networks . 133 20 Free Software: Freedom and Cooperation . 155 21 Words to Avoid . 187 Section Four . 193 GNU General Public License . 195 Preamble. 195 TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION. 196 Appendix: How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs. 201 GNU Lesser General Public License. 203 Preamble. 203 TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION. 205 How to Apply These Terms to Your New Libraries . 212 GNU Free Documentation License . 213 ADDENDUM: How to Use This License for Your Documents . 219 Editor’s Note 1 Editor’s Note The waning days of the 20th century seemed like an Orwellian nightmare: laws preventing publication of scientific research on software; laws preventing sharing software; an overabundance of software patents preventing development; and end- user license agreements that strip the user of all freedoms—including ownership, privacy, sharing, and understanding how their software works. This collection of essays and speeches by Richard M. Stallman addresses many of these issues. Above all, Stallman discusses the philosophy underlying the free software movement. This movement combats the oppression of federal laws and evil end-user license agree- ments in hopes of spreading the idea of software freedom. With the force of hundreds of thousands of developers working to create GNU software and the GNU/Linux operating system, free software has secured a spot on the servers that control the Internet, and—as it moves into the desktop computer market—is a threat to Microsoft and other proprietary software companies. These essays cater to a wide audience; you do not need a computer science back- ground to understand the philosophy and ideas herein. However, there is a “Note on Software,” to help the less technically inclined reader become familiar with some common computer science jargon and concepts, as well as footnotes throughout. Also it is important to note that many of the essays have been updated and revised from their originally published versions. And since every chapter has a verbatim copying notice on it, you are free to make and distribute copies of the text. The ordering of the essays is fairly arbitrary, in that there is no required order to read the essays in, for they were written independently of each other over a period of 18 years. The first section, “The GNU Project and Free Software,” is intended to familiarize you with the history and philosophy of free software and the GNU project. Furthermore, it provides a road map for developers, educators, and busi- ness people to pragmatically incorporate free software into society, business, and life. The second section, “Copyright, Copyleft, and Patents,” discusses the philo- sophical and political groundings of the copyright and patent system and how it has changed over the past couple of hundred years. Also, it discusses how the current laws and regulations for patents and copyrights are not in the best interest of the consumer and end user of software, music, movies, and other media. Instead, this section discusses how laws are geared towards helping business and government crush your freedoms. The third section, “Freedom, Society, and Software” con- tinues the discussion of freedom and rights, and how they are being threatened by proprietary software, copyright law, globalization, “trusted computing,” and other socially harmful rules, regulations, and policies. One way that industry and gov- ernment are attempting to persuade people to give up certain rights and freedoms is by using terminology that implies that sharing information, ideas, and software is bad; therefore, we have included an essay explaining certain words that are confus- ing and should probably be avoided. The fourth section, “The Licenses,” contains the GNU General Public License, the GNU Lesser General Public License, and the GNU Free Documentation License; the cornerstones of the GNU project. 2 Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman If you wish to purchase this book for yourself, for classroom use, or for dis- tribution, please write to the Free Software Foundation (FSF) at [email protected] or visit http://order.fsf.org/. If you wish to help further the cause of software freedom, please considering donating to the FSF by visiting http://donate.fsf.org (or write to [email protected] for more details). You can also contact the FSF by phone at +1-617-542-5942. There are perhaps thousands of people who should be thanked for their contri- butions to the GNU Project; however, their names will never fit on any single list. Therefore, I wish to extend my thanks to all of those nameless hackers, as well as people who have helped promote, create, and spread free software around the world. For helping make this book possible, I would like to thank: Julie Sussman, P.P.A., for editing multiple copies at various stages of develop- ment, for writing the “Topic Guide,” and for giving her insights into everything from commas to the ordering of the chapters; Lisa (Opus) Goldstein and Bradley M. Kuhn for their help in organizing, proof- reading, and generally making this collection possible; Claire H. Avitabile, Richard Buckman, Tom.
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