Please find a half-finished essay on "Freedom of Knowledge, Accountability and Justice" at http://www.employees.org/~krishnap/issues/freedom_of_knowledge_and_justice.t... and also at the end of this email.
Criticisms welcome.
Regards, Krishna
Freedom of Knowledge, Accountability and Justice ------------------------------------------------ This essay is highly influenced by lessons learnt from the Free Software Movement, I encourage the reader to read the companion essay on "Freedom of Knowledge and Development" before reading this one.
Knowledge: What is it? ---------------------- "The sum or range of what has been perceived, discovered, or learned." For the purposes of this essay Knowledge should be understood to include all forms of knowledge used in the public sphere, whether or not such knowledge is considered private. The knowledge not included is the personal/private/intimate kind of knowledge about natural persons, which the public has no right to know. Specifically all information in all human institutions in whether it is technology, accounts, planning documents, reports, to the minutest detail excepting knowledge infringing which is personal and intimate to natural persons.
Freedom of Knowledge --------------------
* The freedom to use knowledge for any purpose. * The freedom to learn and adapt it to your need. * The freedom to share and help your neighbor. * The freedom to improve on existing knowledge and share your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits. * The freedom to use the knowledge no matter its source.
Accountability -------------- Human institutions whether they are in the form of governments, corporations, trusts etc. must be accountable to the people. However abuse of power has been a constant throughout history irrespective of the outward form the concentrations of power have taken. The most important way in which this abuse of power is sustained is by restricting the flow of information. To make these institutions accountable, knowledge about their workings needs to be widely avaiable so that the institutions can be improved by the public in both adversarial and collaborative manner. In the absense of such knowledge power, will continue to be abused. This is the prime reason why there is enormous resistance to right to information laws around the world. To help please join a right to information advocacy group in your home country. Also do not restrict right to information only to government entities.
Justice ------- I have been concerned about Justice in the context of colonialism. The first criteria to acheive justice is that it must not be vengeful / retributive. It must be of the healing variety by nursing the sick back to health. One of the immediate responses in this context has been reparations, usually meaning money. However I see serious problems with such forms of reparations, given the history of "AID" by developed countries. The problems being 1) AID has not reached the level that the developed countries have promised. 2) 80% of AID is restricted, in the form of soft loans, requirements to buy from donor countries corporations etc. 3) Elites in the recipient countries eat the money away. 4) Money does not have value in itself, it is merely representation of wealth, it has value because of socio-economic circumstances, in particular violence that is required to maintain such violence. In light of these problems with money, reparations in the form of money seem inadvisable.
Knowledge however represents true wealth that is independent of violence, increases in utility as it is shared and leads to increased levels of development. Knowledge is thus an ideal solution to the problems brought out by money. It has a healing effect in that the developing world gains real wealth without cost to the developed world.
Attribution ----------- There are three pillars that have contributed to my understanding of the world, and in helping me form my worldview. First I would like to thank Richard M Stallman and Free Software Foundation, for their important message of software freedom. Second Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen's works inspired me in thinking about solutions to a lot of misery that I am aware of. Finally I would like to thank Noam Chomsky for helping me overcome my blindness and helping me understand how the world really works.
Resources --------- Freedom of information. http://www.freedominfo.org/
"Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard Stallman" http://notabug.com/2002/rms-essays.pdf
Philosophy of free software http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/
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Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen and ask yourself if the next step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him. Will he gain anything by it? Will it restore him to a control over his own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to self-reliance for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? -Mahatma Gandhi
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