Hi All, I have been deeply influenced by the Free(dom) Software Movement, and I wanted to share my thoughts on the relationship between Freedom and Knowledge (as I see it). I welcome all feedback positive and negative. Thanks Krishna Freedom of Knowledge and Development Free(dom) Software: A case study
Free Software ------------- Free software is software distributed under licenses that can be thought of as code in the software commons. It is also software that represents a set of values and philosophy.
What is it? ----------- It is software that guarantees the user a few freedoms. More precisely, it refers to four kinds of freedom, for the users of the software: * The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0) * The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this. * The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2). * The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
A brief history of Free(dom) Software ------------------------------------- The software developed in the 1970's when Computer Science was a new field was almost always Free Software. However as the monetary importance of Software grew, most of the software came to be distributed with the above mentioned Freedoms stripped and in machine understandable form only. Richard M. Stallman valued those four freedoms, and started the GNU project as an alternative to Freedom stripped software. Later (in 1985) he started the Free Software Foundation to 1) Promote development and use of Free(dom) software, free (as in freedom) documentation. 2) Spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software. Since then Free(dom) Software has come a long way, with contributions from GNU project, academia, individuals and businesses.
The distance Free(dom) Software has traveled -------------------------------------------- Today GNU/Linux operating system is used 67% of web servers, 28% of all servers, and on the desktop it has overtaken Apple with 3% market share in 2003. GNU/Linux runs on cell phones to mainframes, in the social context, almost all of the Non Governmental Organizations websites are running on Free(dom) software.
Commons ------- The importance of various commons is not well recognised, and is all too easy to ignore. Such an ignorance of the utility of the commons leads to a weak defense and to the aggressive exploitation of commons by the few. The "Tragedy of the Commons" being the classic example. There are two types of software commons. They are (for lack of better words).
1) Copyleft'ed commons Copyleft is a way to defend and increase the commons. Copyleft is a general method for making a program free software and requiring all modified and extended versions of the program to be free software as well. Software in copylefted commons cannot be made into proprietary software. I will call this type of commons "CLcommons"
2) Plain vanilla commons Software in the commons that can be used by anybody to do anything including taking it proprietary. Public domain software falls into this category. I will call this type of commons just "commons"
Law --- There are three distinct concepts that form the underlying legal basis for all software.
1) Trade secrets Will ignore this, as it has nothing to with free software. Most proprietary software is a trade secret.
2) Patents Read "hindrance". The original idea of patents was to give exclusive rights to an inventor of a non-obvious idea. Nowadays it is a more a pain than gain for society. Has nothing to do with free software, except insofar as free software can act as prior art, or making some algorithms unimplementable as free software. The current term of patents is 20 years minimum.
3) Copyrights For the issues involved and background read http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/misinterpreting-copyright.html
The underlying basis and reason for the existence of copyright law is the following article in US constitution. "[Congress shall have the power] to promote the progress of science and the useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries."
The current term of copyrights is 95 years for corporations and for real people it is life + 70 years. After the copyright term expires all the software goes into the public domain. In general copyright is about hoarding, while FSF encourages a growth in the commons using copyleft licenses.
Patents and Copyrights were originally supposed to protect a species called "the lone inventor" from businesses. However this species has long since gone extinct, sadly having been digested by corporations.
Economics --------- GCC, Apache, Tcl/Tk and various other free software tools and software have come to dominate the software scene. They have been found to be good tools for the job at hand. What can explain the quality and the cost (zero) of free software?
1) Quality Knowledge grows when widely shared, and the more people possessing knowledge the faster the innovations come. Software development is charecterized by the low cost of equipment and absence of physical limits, thus keeping transaction costs low. Free software due to its nature, tends to have a large user base who run the software, some of them give feedback in the form of bug reports/patches/feature requests. The user community plays an important role in the development of the given software, in some cases interested parties pay to have software improved for their particular purpose. These ad-hoc improvements improve the quality of free software to such an extent that few business selling proprietary software can survive such competition.
2) Cost Since there are no restrictions on distributing the source code, the cost of accquiring a program is the cost of a CD, or the cost of a free download etc. I must add that although the software is free, if you want to adapt the program for your own needs or want some guarantees that it will work then you pay.
Philosophy ---------- Software is not property in the ordinary sense of the term. You can have the cake (software) and eat it too (use the software). Somebody else eating the cake (using the software) does not diminish your enjoyment of the cake (software), as it would with a real world object. That is why thinking about software as property is starting in the wrong direction.
"If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas." -- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950))
Restrictions on Software is a restriction on the freedoms of people. The restrictions are legitimate only if a greater public interest is served by those restrictions.
Misinterpreting Copyright by Richard Stallman is an important essay on freedoms in the knowledge domain. http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/misinterpreting-copyright.html
Motivations for developing free software ---------------------------------------- One of the best essays I came across on free software and motivations for developing free software is "Anarchism Triumphant: Free Software and the Death of Copyright" by Eben Moglen, he is legal counsel to the FSF, the essay can be found at http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/publications/anarchism.html
An excerpt: So I offer you Moglen's Corollary to Faraday's Law: "If you wrap the Internet around every brain on the planet, knowledge flows in the network." That's induction, and the only question is, what is the resistance of the wire? Resistance, according to Moglen's Corollary to Ohm's Law, is directly proportional to the field strength of the intellectual property system. Neither of these corollaries is my property, and you may copy them freely and without credit. I say, "resist the resistance."
The reasons for developing free software are 1) Humanistic reasons People who think about the direction of their lives, chose to contribute to humanity, and have fun doing it. "Free software" developers including FSF/RMS fall in this category. 2) Fun "Just for fun", as a book by Linus Torvalds goes. People who don't generally think in terms of their work helping others, but "Because we can" as Moglen says, because humans have the urge for creativity. "Open Source" developers fall into this category. 3) Money People for whom this is a job.
Of course there are no straight line distinctions between the three groups, most of the developers are motivated by all three reasons above. With each of the above reasons motivating people to various degrees of action.
Interested Parties ------------------ There are three distinct interested parties. 1) Corporations Corporations are in the business of making money, they don't have a stance on free software except in so far as it affects them. They are very happy using it when it decreases their costs or say increases their revenues. Corporations completely reject the underlying philosophy of sharing/caring for you neighbour. They will never be caught dead saying "free software" they only say "open source".
2) Open source community By and large a group of people who understand the that freedom of software leads to development, and support it. However they do not beleive in the ethics of the Free(dom) Software Movement.
3) Free software foundation/free software community FSF created the initial free software tools, and works on developing free software, helps with legal issues and enforcing the GNU licenses. As well as bringing the various issues regarding digital works onto the public agenda.
4) Finally there are "the people", among them nobody has heard of FSF/RMS, let alone being at a point of understanding the underlying ethical, moral, economical and political issues.
Current political battles ------------------------- The battles that are being fought are. What the corporations would like to have 1) Software patents in the rest of the world 2) Digital Rights Management 3) Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
What the free software community likes. 1) General population adopting free software and being
aware of the various issues involved. 2) Shorter Copyrights with really "limited times" determined on a per industry basis. 5 years for software would be good. 3) Governments adopting free software.
Broader Implications -------------------- Of course the above arguments apply not only to software but also to all knowledge. All of science and culture have been enriched by the free flow of knowledge, and by every individual having the freedom to use the knowledge for any purpose whatsoever. I am happy that I do not have to pay Newton every time I use "Laws of motions" that he formulated. Taking it a step further copyrights, patents, trade secrets must be limited to sensible timeframes, of say a few years. After which all of the works in the above mentioned categories must be released into the public domain. Finally all ideas must enter the commons, whether they be in terms of manufacturing specs, software code, design docs etc.
Threads ------- There are various underlying threads in this essay, the basic paradigm is the "Partnership paradigm" wherein which it is better to cooperate than to dominate. I also borrow happily from Amartya Sen, whose works amply demonstrate that illiteracy is the cause of poverty and not vice versa, likewise the bigger the intellectual commons the better off we all are. A third thread is "Small is beautiful", free software fits the philosophy of empowerment.
Attribution ----------- I have freely copied ideas from FSF and RMS, many thanks to them. An early draft has been reviewed by Ciaran O'Riordan, thank you Ciaran. Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen's works have played an important role in helping me to understand the world, many thanks to them.
Resources --------- Misinterpreting Copyright by Richard Stallman http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/misinterpreting-copyright.html
"Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard Stallman" http://www.fsf.org
Philosophy of free software http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/
A debate in the British parliament on Copyrights. http://www.baen.com/library/palaver4.htm
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