free software resistance

 the cost of computing freedom is eternal vigilance

### the-six-freedoms *originally posted:* dec 2022 *updated:* jan 2024 the four freedoms have become a mockery of themselves. its not that theres anything inherently wrong with the four freedoms-- we need them now as much as ever. the problem is that the four freedoms depend at least partly on certain conditions which are no longer present in the free software experiment. to keep the promise of free software, we must discover and promise the prerequisites of the four freedoms, as freedom 0 did when it was added. the six freedoms are: ### 0. the freedom to use the software for any purpose this freedom was added to the original 3, in response to drm restrictions and/or tivoisation. ### 1. the freedom to study the software software that hides its workings from the public not only denies them the right to know how their own machinery functions, it makes it (at best) more difficult for them to have control over their computing. ### 2. the freedom to share the software controlling sharing is controlling computing (and study, and all the things that depend on these things). sharing information, including the working source code of software, is a part of science and free speech that non-free software abridges. ### 3. the freedom to modify the software if you cannot modify your software, you dont have control of your computing. apart from the ethical right to modify your own computers functionality, this freedom is sometimes necessary to keep software (natively) compatible with new architectures and other software. ### 4. the freedom to remove the software one of the changes that hobbled the free software movement and made a mockery of it in the 21st century is the attitude that developers may impose software on users, because users are allegedly free to change it anyway. the four freedoms were much easier to achieve when most free software was relatively ("reasonably") modular, and without this prequisite free software operating systems begin to look like a "source blob" which only a corporation can practically modify. this attack on free software was profound, and happened deliberately and by design. ### 5. the freedom to talk about the software it should go without saying that the freedom to talk about the software is implied by the very existence of the free software movement. and yet every free software organisation in existence in the 2020s is run by cowards and traitors, who impose silence and dismissal over users who for years have sounded the alarm about what is now the state of free software. because of those cowards and traitors, it is necessary to formalise a sixth and most obvious freedom-- it clearly is not obvious enough to the free software foundation, and open source never cared about it in the first place. the purpose of open source rewriting the history of free software is to make it into something else-- fake free software (with fake freedom). the next generation of free software advocates will never tolerate this betrayal. in the cynical, marketing-based pseudoawareness of free software today, problems are ignored and goals are presented as solutions unto themselves. what do we need? free software! how do we get it? free software! without freedoms 4 and 5, the fsf can only offer you sweatshop software-- made for corporations, by developers, against user freedom. free software has gone as far as it can go without evolving into the next stage of advocacy: not cynical commercial, organisational capture by for-profit corporations-- but by users and developers who do care about freedom reasserting the four freedoms, in the context of free softwares actual mission: to make all software free, and give every user control of their computing. license: 0-clause bsd ``` # 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 # # Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for any # purpose with or without fee is hereby granted. # # THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES # WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF # MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR # ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES # WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN # ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF # OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE. ``` => https://freesoftwareresistance.neocities.org