GPL3 first public draft due early 2006

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Make No Mistake, Software IS Politics

One of the things that Professor Lawrence Lessig pointed out in his now rather seminal book "CODE" is that one of the key things to understand about twenty-first century social conditions is that code can do the work of law, and law can do the work of code in interchangeable environments. He pointed out what many have know for a long time...that technology is NOT politically neutral.

If Software code was merely about creating greater efficiency...if it was just about meeting your technical needs, I would agree with you.

But code also controls what we can access, share and how we communicate with one another. It's not a religious/ethical issue, its a free speech issue. When immediate meritocracy trumps political freedom, bad things happen. Code is more and more a part of our lives...do you want to live in a permission society (ala the former soviet union) or a free society? By requiring that GPL-ed software can only be incorporated with software that guarantees other's rights is the only way to protect our liberty. (in the same way that laws that protect you from me also work the other way around)

There is a lot of literature about the politics of technology/democracy and freedom. One entry point might be Prof. Richard E. Sclove's book "Democracy and Technology."

Don't confuse RMS's sometimes billigerent rhetoric with the underlining point he makes...many of the founding fathers of the USA also had firery personalities.

Posted by: Fiepoto   Posted on: 08/11/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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