# LANGUAGE translation of https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/why-free.html # Copyright (C) YEAR Free Software Foundation, Inc. # This file is distributed under the same license as the original article. # FIRST AUTHOR <EMAIL@ADDRESS>, YEAR. # #, fuzzy msgid "" msgstr "" "Project-Id-Version: why-free.html\n" "POT-Creation-Date: 2021-08-28 13:56+0000\n" "PO-Revision-Date: YEAR-MO-DA HO:MI+ZONE\n" "Last-Translator: FULL NAME <EMAIL@ADDRESS>\n" "Language-Team: LANGUAGE <LL@li.org>\n" "Language: \n" "MIME-Version: 1.0\n" "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=CHARSET\n" "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n" #. type: Content of: <title> msgid "Why Software Should Not Have Owners - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation" msgstr "" #. type: Attribute 'content' of: <meta> msgid "" "GNU, GNU Project, FSF, Free Software, Free Software Foundation, Why Software " "Should Not Have Owners" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h2> msgid "Why Software Should Not Have Owners" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><address> msgid "by <a href=\"https://www.stallman.org/\">Richard Stallman</a>" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Digital information technology contributes to the world by making it easier " "to copy and modify information. Computers promise to make this easier for " "all of us." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Not everyone wants it to be easier. The system of copyright gives software " "programs “owners,” most of whom aim to withhold software's " "potential benefit from the rest of the public. They would like to be the " "only ones who can copy and modify the software that we use." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The copyright system grew up with printing—a technology for " "mass-production copying. Copyright fit in well with this technology because " "it restricted only the mass producers of copies. It did not take freedom " "away from readers of books. An ordinary reader, who did not own a printing " "press, could copy books only with pen and ink, and few readers were sued for " "that." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Digital technology is more flexible than the printing press: when " "information has digital form, you can easily copy it to share it with " "others. This very flexibility makes a bad fit with a system like " "copyright. That's the reason for the increasingly nasty and draconian " "measures now used to enforce software copyright. Consider these four " "practices of the Software Publishers Association (SPA):" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li> msgid "" "Massive propaganda saying it is wrong to disobey the owners to help your " "friend." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li> msgid "Solicitation for stool pigeons to inform on their coworkers and colleagues." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li> msgid "" "Raids (with police help) on offices and schools, in which people are told " "they must prove they are innocent of illegal copying." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li> msgid "" "Prosecution (by the US government, at the SPA's request) of people such as " "<abbr title=\"Massachusetts Institute of Technology\">MIT</abbr>'s David " "LaMacchia, not for copying software (he is not accused of copying any), but " "merely for leaving copying facilities unguarded and failing to censor their " "use.<a href=\"#footnote1\">[1]</a>" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "All four practices resemble those used in the former Soviet Union, where " "every copying machine had a guard to prevent forbidden copying, and where " "individuals had to copy information secretly and pass it from hand to hand " "as samizdat. There is of course a difference: the motive for information " "control in the Soviet Union was political; in the US the motive is profit. " "But it is the actions that affect us, not the motive. Any attempt to block " "the sharing of information, no matter why, leads to the same methods and the " "same harshness." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Owners make several kinds of arguments for giving them the power to control " "how we use information:" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li> msgid "Name calling." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li><p> msgid "" "Owners use smear words such as “piracy” and “theft,” " "as well as expert terminology such as “intellectual property” " "and “damage,” to suggest a certain line of thinking to the " "public—a simplistic analogy between programs and physical objects." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li><p> msgid "" "Our ideas and intuitions about property for material objects are about " "whether it is right to <em>take an object away</em> from someone else. They " "don't directly apply to <em>making a copy</em> of something. But the owners " "ask us to apply them anyway." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li> msgid "Exaggeration." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li><p> msgid "" "Owners say that they suffer “harm” or “economic " "loss” when users copy programs themselves. But the copying has no " "direct effect on the owner, and it harms no one. The owner can lose only if " "the person who made the copy would otherwise have paid for one from the " "owner." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li><p> msgid "" "A little thought shows that most such people would not have bought copies. " "Yet the owners compute their “losses” as if each and every one " "would have bought a copy. That is exaggeration—to put it kindly." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li> msgid "The law." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li><p> msgid "" "Owners often describe the current state of the law, and the harsh penalties " "they can threaten us with. Implicit in this approach is the suggestion that " "today's law reflects an unquestionable view of morality—yet at the " "same time, we are urged to regard these penalties as facts of nature that " "can't be blamed on anyone." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li><p> msgid "" "This line of persuasion isn't designed to stand up to critical thinking; " "it's intended to reinforce a habitual mental pathway." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li><p> msgid "" "It's elementary that laws don't decide right and wrong. Every American " "should know that, in the 1950s, it was against the law in many states for a " "black person to sit in the front of a bus; but only racists would say " "sitting there was wrong." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li> msgid "Natural rights." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li><p> msgid "" "Authors often claim a special connection with programs they have written, " "and go on to assert that, as a result, their desires and interests " "concerning the program simply outweigh those of anyone else—or even " "those of the whole rest of the world. (Typically companies, not authors, " "hold the copyrights on software, but we are expected to ignore this " "discrepancy.)" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li><p> msgid "" "To those who propose this as an ethical axiom—the author is more " "important than you—I can only say that I, a notable software author " "myself, call it bunk." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li><p> msgid "" "But people in general are only likely to feel any sympathy with the natural " "rights claims for two reasons." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li><p> msgid "" "One reason is an overstretched analogy with material objects. When I cook " "spaghetti, I do object if someone else eats it, because then I cannot eat " "it. His action hurts me exactly as much as it benefits him; only one of us " "can eat the spaghetti, so the question is, which one? The smallest " "distinction between us is enough to tip the ethical balance." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li><p> msgid "" "But whether you run or change a program I wrote affects you directly and me " "only indirectly. Whether you give a copy to your friend affects you and " "your friend much more than it affects me. I shouldn't have the power to " "tell you not to do these things. No one should." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li><p> msgid "" "The second reason is that people have been told that natural rights for " "authors is the accepted and unquestioned tradition of our society." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li><p> msgid "" "As a matter of history, the opposite is true. The idea of natural rights of " "authors was proposed and decisively rejected when the US Constitution was " "drawn up. That's why the Constitution only <em>permits</em> a system of " "copyright and does not <em>require</em> one; that's why it says that " "copyright must be temporary. It also states that the purpose of copyright " "is to promote progress—not to reward authors. Copyright does reward " "authors somewhat, and publishers more, but that is intended as a means of " "modifying their behavior." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li><p> msgid "" "The real established tradition of our society is that copyright cuts into " "the natural rights of the public—and that this can only be justified " "for the public's sake." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li> msgid "Economics." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li><p> msgid "" "The final argument made for having owners of software is that this leads to " "production of more software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li><p> msgid "" "Unlike the others, this argument at least takes a legitimate approach to the " "subject. It is based on a valid goal—satisfying the users of " "software. And it is empirically clear that people will produce more of " "something if they are well paid for doing so." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li><p> msgid "" "But the economic argument has a flaw: it is based on the assumption that the " "difference is only a matter of how much money we have to pay. It assumes " "that <em>production of software</em> is what we want, whether the software " "has owners or not." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li><p> msgid "" "People readily accept this assumption because it accords with our " "experiences with material objects. Consider a sandwich, for instance. You " "might well be able to get an equivalent sandwich either gratis or for a " "price. If so, the amount you pay is the only difference. Whether or not " "you have to buy it, the sandwich has the same taste, the same nutritional " "value, and in either case you can only eat it once. Whether you get the " "sandwich from an owner or not cannot directly affect anything but the amount " "of money you have afterwards." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li><p> msgid "" "This is true for any kind of material object—whether or not it has an " "owner does not directly affect what it <em>is</em>, or what you can do with " "it if you acquire it." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li><p> msgid "" "But if a program has an owner, this very much affects what it is, and what " "you can do with a copy if you buy one. The difference is not just a matter " "of money. The system of owners of software encourages software owners to " "produce something—but not what society really needs. And it causes " "intangible ethical pollution that affects us all." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "What does society need? It needs information that is truly available to its " "citizens—for example, programs that people can read, fix, adapt, and " "improve, not just operate. But what software owners typically deliver is a " "black box that we can't study or change." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Society also needs freedom. When a program has an owner, the users lose " "freedom to control part of their own lives." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "And, above all, society needs to encourage the spirit of voluntary " "cooperation in its citizens. When software owners tell us that helping our " "neighbors in a natural way is “piracy,” they pollute our " "society's civic spirit." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "This is why we say that <a href=\"/philosophy/free-sw.html\">free " "software</a> is a matter of freedom, not price." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The economic argument for owners is erroneous, but the economic issue is " "real. Some people write useful software for the pleasure of writing it or " "for admiration and love; but if we want more software than those people " "write, we need to raise funds." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Since the 1980s, free software developers have tried various methods of " "finding funds, with some success. There's no need to make anyone rich; a " "typical income is plenty of incentive to do many jobs that are less " "satisfying than programming." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "For years, until a fellowship made it unnecessary, I made a living from " "custom enhancements of the free software I had written. Each enhancement " "was added to the standard released version and thus eventually became " "available to the general public. Clients paid me so that I would work on " "the enhancements they wanted, rather than on the features I would otherwise " "have considered highest priority." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Some free software developers make money by selling support services. In " "1994, Cygnus Support, with around 50 employees, estimated that about 15 " "percent of its staff activity was free software development—a " "respectable percentage for a software company." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "In the early 1990s, companies including Intel, Motorola, Texas Instruments " "and Analog Devices combined to fund the continued development of the GNU C " "compiler. Most GCC development is still done by paid developers. The GNU " "compiler for the Ada language was funded in the 90s by the US Air Force, and " "continued since then by a company formed specifically for the purpose." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The free software movement is still small, but the example of " "listener-supported radio in the US shows it's possible to support a large " "activity without forcing each user to pay." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "As a computer user today, you may find yourself using a <a " "href=\"/philosophy/categories.html#ProprietarySoftware\">proprietary</a> " "program. If your friend asks to make a copy, it would be wrong to refuse. " "Cooperation is more important than copyright. But underground, closet " "cooperation does not make for a good society. A person should aspire to " "live an upright life openly with pride, and this means saying no to " "proprietary software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "You deserve to be able to cooperate openly and freely with other people who " "use software. You deserve to be able to learn how the software works, and " "to teach your students with it. You deserve to be able to hire your " "favorite programmer to fix it when it breaks." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "You deserve free software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Footnote" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ol><li> msgid "The charges were subsequently dismissed." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "This essay is published in <a " "href=\"https://shop.fsf.org/product/free-software-free-society/\"><cite>Free " "Software, Free Society: The Selected Essays of Richard " "M. Stallman</cite></a>." msgstr "" #. TRANSLATORS: Use space (SPC) as msgstr if you don't have notes. #. type: Content of: <div> msgid "*GNUN-SLOT: TRANSLATOR'S NOTES*" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to <a " "href=\"mailto:gnu@gnu.org\"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. There are also <a " "href=\"/contact/\">other ways to contact</a> the FSF. Broken links and " "other corrections or suggestions can be sent to <a " "href=\"mailto:webmasters@gnu.org\"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>." msgstr "" #. TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, #. replace it with the translation of these two: # #. We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality #. translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. #. Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard #. to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> # #. <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> # #. <p>For information on coordinating and contributing translations of #. our web pages, see <a #. href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations #. README</a>. #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "Please see the <a " "href=\"/server/standards/README.translations.html\">Translations README</a> " "for information on coordinating and contributing translations of this " "article." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "Copyright © 1994, 2009, 2021 Richard Stallman" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "This page is licensed under a <a rel=\"license\" " "href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons " "Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>." msgstr "" #. TRANSLATORS: Use space (SPC) as msgstr if you don't want credits. #. type: Content of: <div><div> msgid "*GNUN-SLOT: TRANSLATOR'S CREDITS*" msgstr "" #. timestamp start #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "Updated:" msgstr ""