Social and Political Aspects of Free Software, Sildes as HTML

Computer Power (and Human Reason?)

Did you use a computer yesterday?

What if it suddenly breaks?

Or refuses to work?
- "I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't load this KDE page."

How much do we depend on it?
Who controls the rules?

What is Free Software?

Software permanently granting Freedom to:

run the program, for any purpose
study how the program works, adapt it to needs
redistribute copies
publish improvements

Definition evolved during late 80s; current form: 1999

Freedom through Copyright
- Copyright allows Licensing
- Licenses granting Freedom: GNU GPL, GNU LGPL, BSD, ...

History

1983 Richard M. Stallman: announces GNU Project
- "GNU's Not Unix"
- Vision: Free Software system like Unix

1985 Richard M. Stallman: Initiates Free Software Foundation
- Licenses: GNU GPL, GNU LGPL
- Developing a definition of Free Software
- Maintaining the GNU Project

1991 Linus Torvalds: Linux (the famous kernel)
- => GNU/Linux-System

2001 Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE)

Categories of Free Software Licenses

Strong Protection
- GNU General Public License (GPL)

Weak Protection
- GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL)

No Protection
- XFree86 License (modifizierte BSD)

GPL incompatible or unbalanced
- Netscape Public License

Open Source, a failed marketing term

The Open Source Initiative is a marketing program for free software. It's a pitch for "free software" on solid pragmatic grounds rather than ideological tub-thumping. The winning substance has not changed, the losing attitude and symbolism have.
http://www.opensource.org/advocacy/faq.html

OSI (1998)

-> could not obtain Open Source Trademark
2002: New trademark "OSI Certified"

Bruce Perens (1999)
It is time to talk about Freedom again.

"What use are open sources with out freedom?"

What is the difference?

for specific software X:

Either Free Software or not.
Several stickers for the same thing

as a political statement:

Free Software: related to society
Open Source: focussed on technology
FLOSS: I-don't-known-Embrace

Social aspects

Access to software determines our access/ability for
- Communication
- Education
- Work
Software skills are a cultural technique!
Who controls it?

Freedom to study in education

No secret arts
- Everything is free to be learned

No built-in barriers
- Learn as much as you want

No sand box games
- Learn from the best at state of the art

Learn principles, not products!

Equal changes independent from wealth

Take your software home!
Teach your family!

Political aspects

Code shapes the physical laws of digital space

Code & Law are both regulators!

Governments are themselves "just users"

= Equally dependent, monitored and controlled

From Democracy to Technocracy:

Danger: transfer of mandated power to companies

increasing the "viral" effect of proprietary software,
creating monopolies harming all of national economy.

Prevent reimplementation of ideas,

A warning from 1991:

"If people had understood how patents would be granted when
most of today's ideas were invented and had taken out patents,
the industry would be at a complete stand-still today. [...]
A future start-up with no patents of its own will be forced
to pay whatever price the giants choose to impose. That price
might be high: Established companies have an interest in
excluding future competitors."

COMMAND> GO TO COURT
Legal fees are $600,000. Current funds are $400,000.
You've gone broke!

Do you want to play Patent Adventure again?> DEFINITELY NOT
http://lpf.ai.mit.edu/Patents/industry-at-risk.html

(Damn) Restriction Management

European Copyright Directive and IPRED
- Illegal to circumvent copy protection, Hard Punishment

Treacherous Computing
- Not helping security ("Look mom, a buffer overflow.")
- Only for DRM: Choice between Hollywood and Freedom

Knowledge in Cryptobottles

Is there a right to read?
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html.

"The Digital Rights Management from today is the Political Rights Management from tomorrow" (John Barlow 2003)