# LANGUAGE translation of https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/copyright-versus-community.html # Copyright (C) YEAR Free Software Foundation, Inc. # This file is distributed under the same license as the original article. # FIRST AUTHOR , YEAR. # #, fuzzy msgid "" msgstr "" "Project-Id-Version: copyright-versus-community.html\n" "POT-Creation-Date: 2022-12-26 09:25+0000\n" "PO-Revision-Date: YEAR-MO-DA HO:MI+ZONE\n" "Last-Translator: FULL NAME \n" "Language-Team: LANGUAGE \n" "Language: \n" "MIME-Version: 1.0\n" "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=CHARSET\n" "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n" #. type: Content of: msgid "" "Copyright versus Community in the Age of Computer Networks - GNU Project - " "Free Software Foundation" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h2> msgid "Copyright versus Community in the Age of Computer Networks" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><address> msgid "by Richard Stallman" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "Keynote speech at LIANZA conference, Christchurch Convention Centre, 12 " "October 2009." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "There is an <a " "href=\"/philosophy/copyright-versus-community-2000.html\">older version</a> " "of this talk, from 2000." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>BC: </b> Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa. Today I have " "the privilege of introducing Richard Stallman, whose keynote speech is being " "sponsored by the School of Information Management at Victoria University of " "Wellington." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Richard has been working to promote software freedom for over 25 years. In " "1983 he started the GNU project to develop a free operating system [the GNU " "system], and in 1985 he set up the Free Software Foundation. Every time you " "read or send a message to nz-libs, you use the Mailman software which is " "part of the GNU project. So whether you realize it or not, Richard's work " "has touched all of your lives." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "I like to describe him as the most influential person most people have never " "heard of, although he tells me that that cannot possibly be true because it " "cannot be tested." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "<b>RMS: </b> We can't tell." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>BC: </b> I said that—I still like it. His ideas about " "software freedom and free access to information were used by Tim Berners-Lee " "when he created the world's first web server, and in 1999 his musings about " "a free online encyclopedia inspired Jimmy Wales to set up what is now " "Wikipedia." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Today Richard will be talking to us about copyright vs community in the age " "of computer networks, and their implications for libraries. Richard." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "<a href=\"https://www.defectivebydesign.org/ebooks.html\">Join our mailing " "list about the dangers of e-books</a>." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>RMS: </b> I've been in New Zealand for a couple of weeks, and in the " "North Island it was raining most of the time. Now I know why they call " "gumboots “Wellingtons.” And then I saw somebody who was making " "chairs and tables out of ponga wood, and he called it fern-iture. Then we " "took the ferry to get here, and as soon as we got off, people started " "mocking and insulting us; but there were no hard feelings, they just wanted " "to make us really feel Picton." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The reason people usually invite me to give speeches is because of my work " "on free software. This is not a talk about free software; this talk answers " "the question whether the ideas of free software extend to other kinds of " "works. But in order for that to make sense, I'd better tell you briefly " "what free software means." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Free software is a matter of freedom, not price, so think of “free " "speech,” not “free beer.” Free software is software that " "respects the user's freedom, and there are four specific freedoms that the " "user deserves always to have." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li> msgid "Freedom 0 is the freedom to run the program as you wish." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li> msgid "" "Freedom 1 is the freedom to study the source code of the program and change " "it to make the program do what you wish." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li> msgid "" "Freedom 2 is the freedom to help your neighbour; that is, the freedom to " "redistribute copies of the program, exact copies when you wish." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li> msgid "" "And Freedom 3 is the freedom to contribute to your community. That's the " "freedom to publish your modified versions when you wish." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "If the program gives you these four freedoms then it's free software, which " "means the social system of its distribution and use is an ethical system, " "one which respects the user's freedom and the social solidarity of the " "user's community. But if one of these freedoms is missing or insufficient, " "then it's proprietary software, nonfree software, user-subjugating " "software. It's unethical. It's not a contribution to society, it's a power " "grab. This unethical practice should not exist; the goal of the free " "software movement is to put an end to it. All software should be free, so " "that all users can be free." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Proprietary software keeps the users divided and helpless: divided, because " "they're forbidden to share it, and helpless, because they don't have the " "source code so they can't change it. They can't even study it to verify " "what it's really doing to them, and many proprietary programs have malicious " "features which spy on the user, restrict the user, even back doors to attack " "the user." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "For instance, Microsoft Windows has a back door with which Microsoft can " "forcibly install software changes, without getting permission from the " "supposed owner of the computer. You may think it's your computer, but if " "you've made the mistake of having Windows running in it, then really " "Microsoft has owned your computer. Computers need to be defenestrated, " "which means either throw Windows out of the computer, or throw the computer " "out the window." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "But any proprietary software gives the developers unjust power over the " "users. Some of the developers abuse this power more, and some abuse it " "less, but none of them ought to have it. You deserve to have control of " "your computing, and not be forcibly dependent on a particular company. So " "you deserve free software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "At the end of speeches about free software, people sometimes ask whether " "these same freedoms and ideas apply to other things. If you have a copy of " "a published work on your computer, it makes sense to ask whether you should " "have the same four freedoms—whether it's ethically essential that you " "have them or not. And that's the question that I'm going to address today." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "If you have a copy of something that's not software, for the most part, the " "only thing that might deny you any of these freedoms is copyright law. With " "software that's not so. The main ways of making software nonfree are " "contracts and withholding the source code from the users. Copyright is a " "sort of secondary, back up method. For other things there's no such " "distinction as between source code and executable code." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "For instance, if we're talking about a text, if you can see the text to read " "it, there's nothing in the text that you can't see. So it's not the same " "kind of issue exactly as software. It's for the most part only copyright " "that might deny you these freedoms." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So the question can be restated: “What should copyright law allow you " "to do with published works? What should copyright law say?”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Copyright has developed along with copying technology, so it's useful to " "review the history of copying technology. Copying developed in the ancient " "world, where you'd use a writing instrument on a writing surface. You'd " "read one copy and write another." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "This technology was rather inefficient, but another interesting " "characteristic was that it had no economy of scale. To write ten copies " "would take ten times as long as to write one copy. It required no special " "equipment other than the equipment for writing, and it required no special " "skill other than literacy itself. The result was that copies of any " "particular book were made in a decentralized manner. Wherever there was a " "copy, if someone wanted to copy it, he could." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "There was nothing like copyright in the ancient world. If you had a copy " "and wanted to copy it, nobody was going to tell you you weren't " "allowed—except if the local prince didn't like what the book said, in " "which case he might punish you for copying it. But that's not copyright, " "but rather something closely related, namely censorship. To this day, " "copyright is often used in attempts to censor people." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "That went on for thousands of years, but then there was a big advance in " "copying technology, namely the printing press. The printing press made " "copying more efficient, but not uniformly. [This was] because mass " "production copying became a lot more efficient, but making one copy at a " "time didn't benefit from the printing press. In fact, you were better off " "just writing it by hand; that would be faster than trying to print one copy." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The printing press has an economy of scale: it takes a lot of work to set " "the type, but then you can make many copies very fast. Also, the printing " "press and the type were expensive equipment that most people didn't own; and " "the ability to use them, most literate people didn't know. Using a press " "was a different skill from writing. The result was a centralized manner of " "producing copies: the copies of any given book would be made in a few " "places, and then they would be transported to wherever someone wanted to buy " "copies." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Copyright began in the age of the printing press. Copyright in England " "began as a system of censorship in the 1500s. I believe it was originally " "meant to censor Protestants, but it was turned around and used to censor " "Catholics and presumably lots of others as well. According to this law, in " "order to publish a book you had to get permission from the Crown, and this " "permission was granted in the form of a perpetual monopoly to publish it. " "This was allowed to lapse in the 1680s, I believe [it expired in 1695 " "according to the Wikipedia entry]. The publishers wanted it back again, but " "what they got was something somewhat different. The Statute of Anne gave " "authors a copyright, and only for 14 years, although the author could renew " "it once." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "This was a totally different idea—a temporary monopoly for the author, " "instead of a perpetual monopoly for the publisher. The idea developed that " "copyright was a means of promoting writing." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "When the US constitution was written, some people wanted authors to be " "entitled to a copyright, but that was rejected. Instead, the US " "Constitution says that Congress can optionally adopt a copyright law, and if " "there is a copyright law, its purpose is to promote progress. In other " "words, the purpose is not benefits for copyright holders or anybody they do " "business with, but for the general public. Copyright has to last a limited " "time; publishers keep hoping for us to forget about this." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Here we have an idea of copyright which is an industrial regulation on " "publishers, controlled by authors, and designed to provide benefits to the " "public at large. It functioned this way because it didn't restrict the " "readers." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Now in the early centuries of printing, and still I believe in the 1790s, " "lots of readers wrote copies by hand because they couldn't afford printed " "copies. Nobody ever expected copyright law to be something other than an " "industrial regulation. It wasn't meant to stop people from writing copies, " "it was meant to regulate the publishers. Because of this it was easy to " "enforce, uncontroversial, and arguably beneficial for society." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "It was easy to enforce, because it only had to be enforced against " "publishers. And it's easy to find the unauthorized publishers of a " "book—you go to a bookstore and say “where do these copies come " "from?” You don't have to invade everybody's home and everybody's " "computer to do that." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "It was uncontroversial because, as the readers were not restricted, they had " "nothing to complain about. Theoretically they were restricted from " "publishing, but not being publishers and not having printing presses, they " "couldn't do that anyway. In what they actually could do, they were not " "restricted." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "It was arguably beneficial because the general public, according to the " "concepts of copyright law, traded away a theoretical right they were not in " "a position to exercise. In exchange, they got the benefits of more writing." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Now if you trade away something you have no possible use for, and you get " "something you can use in exchange, it's a positive trade. Whether or not " "you could have gotten a better deal some other way, that's a different " "question, but at least it's positive." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So if this were still in the age of the printing press, I don't think I'd be " "complaining about copyright law. But the age of the printing press is " "gradually giving way to the age of the computer networks—another " "advance in copying technology that makes copying more efficient, and once " "again not uniformly so." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Here's what we had in the age of the printing press: mass production very " "efficient, one at a time copying still just as slow as the ancient world. " "Digital technology gets us here: they've both benefited, but one-off copying " "has benefited the most." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "We get to a situation much more like the ancient world, where one at a time " "copying is not so much worse [i.e., harder] than mass production copying. " "It's a little bit less efficient, a little bit less good, but it's perfectly " "cheap enough that hundreds of millions of people do it. Consider how many " "people write CDs once in a while, even in poor countries. You may not have " "a CD-writer yourself, so you go to a store where you can do it." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "This means that copyright no longer fits in with the technology as it used " "to. Even if the words of copyright law had not changed, they wouldn't have " "the same effect. Instead of an industrial regulation on publishers " "controlled by authors, with the benefits set up to go to the public, it is " "now a restriction on the general public, controlled mainly by the " "publishers, in the name of the authors." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "In other words, it's tyranny. It's intolerable and we can't allow it to " "continue this way." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "As a result of this change, [copyright] is no longer easy to enforce, no " "longer uncontroversial, and no longer beneficial." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "It's no longer easy to enforce because now the publishers want to enforce it " "against each and every person, and to do this requires cruel measures, " "draconian punishments, invasions of privacy, abolition of our basic ideas of " "justice. There's almost no limit to how far they will propose to go to " "prosecute the War on Sharing." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "It's no longer uncontroversial. There are political parties in several " "countries whose basic platform is “freedom to share.”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "It's no longer beneficial because the freedoms that we conceptually traded " "away (because we couldn't exercise them), we now can exercise. They're " "tremendously useful, and we want to exercise them." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "What would a democratic government do in this situation?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "It would reduce copyright power. It would say: “The trade we made on " "behalf of our citizens, trading away some of their freedom which now they " "need, is intolerable. We have to change this; we can't trade away the " "freedom that is important.” We can measure the sickness of democracy " "by the tendency of governments to do the exact opposite around the world, " "extending copyright power when they should reduce it." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "One example is in the dimension of time. Around the world we see pressure " "to make copyright last longer and longer and longer." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "A wave of this started in the US in 1998. Copyright was extended by 20 " "years on both past and future works. I do not understand how they hope to " "convince the now dead or senile writers of the 20s and 30s to write more " "back then by extending copyright on their works now. If they have a time " "machine with which to inform them, they haven't used it. Our history books " "don't say that there was a burst of vigor in the arts in the 20s when all " "the artists found out that their copyrights would be extended in 1998." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "It's theoretically conceivable that 20 years more copyright on future works " "would convince people to make more effort in producing those works. But not " "anyone rational, because the discounted present value of 20 more years of " "copyright starting 75 years in the future—if it's a work made for " "hire—and probably even longer if it's a work with an individual " "copyright holder, is so small it couldn't persuade any rational person to do " "anything different. Any business that wants to claim otherwise ought to " "present its projected balance sheets for 75 years in the future, which of " "course they can't do because none of them really looks that far ahead." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The real reason for this law, the desire that prompted various companies to " "purchase this law in the US Congress, which is how laws are decided on for " "the most part, was they had lucrative monopolies and they wanted those " "monopolies to continue." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "For instance, Disney was aware that the first film in which Mickey Mouse " "appeared would go into the public domain in a few years, and then anybody " "would be free to draw that same character as part of other works. Disney " "didn't want that to happen. Disney borrows a lot from the public domain, " "but is determined never to give the slightest thing back. So Disney paid " "for this law, which we refer to as the Mickey Mouse Copyright Act." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The movie companies say they want perpetual copyright, but the US " "Constitution won't let them get that officially. So they came up with a way " "to get the same result unofficially: “perpetual copyright on the " "installment plan.” Every 20 years they extend copyright for 20 more " "years. So that at any given time, any given work has a date when it will " "supposedly fall into the public domain. But that date is like tomorrow, it " "never comes. By the time you get there they will have postponed it, unless " "we stop them next time." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "That's one dimension, the dimension of duration. But even more important is " "the dimension of breadth: which uses of the work does copyright cover?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "In the age of the printing press, copyright wasn't supposed to cover all " "uses of a copyrighted work, because copyright regulated certain uses that " "were the exceptions in a broader space of unregulated uses. There were " "certain things you were simply allowed to do with your copy of a book." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Now the publishers have got the idea that they can turn our computers " "against us, and use them to seize total power over all use of published " "works. They want to set up a pay-per-view universe. They're doing it with " "DRM (Digital Restrictions Management)—the intentional features of " "software that's designed to restrict the user. And often the computer " "itself is designed to restrict the user." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The first way in which the general public saw this was in DVDs. A movie on " "a DVD was usually encrypted, and the format was secret. The DVD conspiracy " "kept this secret because they said anyone that wants to make DVD players has " "to join the conspiracy, promise to keep the format secret, and promise to " "design the DVD players to restrict the users according to the rules, which " "say it has to stop the user from doing this, from doing that, from doing " "that—a precise set of requirements, all of which are malicious towards " "us." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "It worked for a while, but then some people figured out the secret format, " "and published free software capable of reading the movie on a DVD and " "playing it. Then the publishers said “since we can't actually stop " "them, we have to make it a crime.” And they started that in the US in " "1998 with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which imposed censorship on " "software capable of doing such jobs." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So that particular piece of free software was the subject of a court case. " "Its distribution in the US is forbidden; the US practices censorship of " "software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The movie companies are well aware that they can't really make that program " "disappear—it's easy enough to find it. So they designed another " "encryption system, which they hoped would be harder to break, and it's " "called AACS, or the axe." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The AACS conspiracy makes precise rules about all players. For instance, in " "2011 it's going to be forbidden to make analog video outputs. So all video " "outputs will have to be digital, and they will carry the signal encrypted " "into a monitor specially designed to keep secrets from the user. That is " "malicious hardware. They say that the purpose of this is to “close " "the analog hole.” I'll show you a couple of analog holes (Stallman " "takes off his glasses): here's one and here's another, that they'd like to " "poke out permanently.<a href=\"#footnote1\">[1]</a>" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "How do I know about these conspiracies? The reason is they're not " "secret—they have websites. The AACS website proudly describes the " "contracts that manufacturers have to sign, which is how I know about this " "requirement. It proudly states the names of the companies that have " "established this conspiracy, which include Microsoft and Apple, and Intel, " "and Sony, and Disney, and IBM." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "A conspiracy of companies designed to restrict the public's access to " "technology ought to be prosecuted as a serious crime, like a conspiracy to " "fix prices, except it's worse, so the prison sentences for this should be " "longer. But these companies are quite confident that our governments are on " "their side against us. They have no fear against being prosecuted for these " "conspiracies, which is why they don't bother to hide them." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "In general DRM is set up by a conspiracy of companies. Once in a while a " "single company can do it, but generally it requires a conspiracy between " "technology companies and publishers, so [it's] almost always a conspiracy." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "They thought that nobody would ever be able to break the AACS, but about " "three and a half years ago someone released a free program capable of " "decrypting that format. However, it was totally useless, because in order " "to run it you need to know the key." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "And then, six months later, I saw a photo of two adorable puppies, with 32 " "hex digits above them, and I wondered: “Why put those two things " "together? I wonder if those numbers are some important key, and someone " "could have put the numbers together with the puppies, figuring people would " "copy the photo of the puppies because they were so cute. This would protect " "the key from being wiped out.”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "And that's what it was—that was the key to break the axe. People " "posted it, and editors deleted it, because laws in many countries now " "conscript them to censor this information. It was posted again, they " "deleted it; eventually they gave up, and in two weeks this number was posted " "in over 700,000 web sites." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "That's a big outpouring of public disgust with DRM. But it didn't win the " "war, because the publishers changed the key. Not only that: with HD DVD, " "this was adequate to break the DRM, but not with Blu-ray. Blu-ray has an " "additional level of DRM and so far there is no free software that can break " "it, which means that you must regard Blu-ray disks as something incompatible " "with your own freedom. They are an enemy with which no accommodation is " "possible, at least not with our present level of knowledge." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Never accept any product designed to attack your freedom. If you don't have " "the free software to play a DVD, you mustn't buy or rent any DVDs, or accept " "them even as gifts, except for the rare non-encrypted DVDs, which there are " "a few of. I actually have a few [of these]—I don't have any encrypted " "DVDs, I won't take them." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "So this is how things stand in video, but we've also seen DRM in music." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "For instance, about ten years ago we started to see things that looked like " "compact disks, but they weren't written quite like compact disks. They " "didn't follow the standard. We called them 'corrupt disks', and the idea of " "them was that they would play in an audio player, but it was impossible to " "read them on a computer. These different methods had various problems." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Eventually Sony came up with a clever idea. They put a program on the disk, " "so that if you stuck the disk into a computer, the disk would install the " "program. This program was designed like a virus to take control of the " "system. It's called a 'root kit', meaning that it has things in it to break " "the security of the system so that it can install the software deep inside " "the system, and modify various parts of the system." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "For instance, it modified the command you could use to examine the system to " "see if the software was present, so as to disguise itself. It modified the " "command you could use to delete some of these files, so that it wouldn't " "really delete them. Now all of this is a serious crime, but it's not the " "only one Sony committed, because the software also included free software " "code—code that had been released under the GNU General Public License." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Now the GNU GPL is a copyleft license, and that means it says “Yes, " "you're free to put this code into other things, but when you do, the entire " "program that you put things into you must release as free software under the " "same license. And you must make the source code available to users, and to " "inform them of their rights you must give them a copy of this license when " "they get the software.”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Sony didn't comply with all that. That's commercial copyright infringement, " "which is a felony. They're both felonies, but Sony wasn't prosecuted " "because the government understands that the purpose of the government and " "the law is to maintain the power of those companies over us, not to help " "defend our freedom in any way." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "People got angry and they sued Sony. However, they made a mistake. They " "focused their condemnation not on the evil purpose of this scheme, but only " "on the secondary evils of the various methods that Sony used. So Sony " "settled the lawsuits and promised that in the future, when it attacks our " "freedom, it will not do those other things." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Actually, that particular corrupt disk scheme was not so bad, because if you " "were not using Windows it would not affect you at all. Even if you were " "using Windows, there's a key on the keyboard—if you remembered every " "time to hold it down, then the disk wouldn't install the software. But of " "course it's hard to remember that every time; you're going to slip up some " "day. This shows the kind of thing we've had to deal with." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Fortunately music DRM is receding. Even the main record companies sell " "downloads without DRM. But we see a renewed effort to impose DRM on books." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "You see, the publishers want to take away the traditional freedoms of book " "readers—freedom to do things such as borrow a book from the public " "library, or lend it to a friend; to sell a book to a used book store, or buy " "it anonymously paying cash (which is the only way I buy books—we've " "got to resist the temptations to let Big Brother know everything that we're " "doing.)" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Even the freedom to keep the book as long as you wish, and read it as many " "times as you wish, they plan to get rid of." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The way they do it is with DRM. They knew that so many people read books " "and would get angry if these freedoms were taken away that they didn't " "believe they could buy a law specifically to abolish these " "freedoms—there would be too much opposition. Democracy is sick, but " "once in a while people manage to demand something. So they came up with a " "two-stage plan." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "First, take away these freedoms from e-books, and second, convince people to " "switch from paper books to e-books. They've succeeded with stage 1." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "In the US they did it with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and in New " "Zealand, that was part of the year-ago Copyright Act; censorship on software " "that can break DRM was part of that law. That's an unjust provision; it's " "got to be repealed." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The second stage is convince people to switch from printed books to ebooks; " "that didn't go so well." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "One publisher in 2001 had the idea they would make their line of ebooks " "really popular if they started it with my biography. So they found an " "author and the author asked me if I'd cooperate, and I said “Only if " "this e-book is published without encryption, without DRM.” The " "publisher wouldn't go along with that, and I just stuck to it—I said " "no. Eventually we found another publisher who was willing to do " "this—in fact willing to publish the book under a free license giving " "you the four freedoms—so the book was then published, and sold a lot " "of copies on paper." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "But in any case, e-books failed at the beginning of this decade. People " "just didn't want to read them very much. And I said, “they will try " "again.” We saw an amazing number of news articles about electronic ink " "(or is it electronic paper, I can never remember which), and it occurred to " "me probably the reason there's so many is the publishers want us to think " "about this. They want us to be eager for the next generation of e-book " "readers." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Now they're upon us. Things like the Sony Shreader (its official name is " "the Sony Reader, but if you put on 'sh' it explains what it's designed to do " "to your books), and the <a " "href=\"/philosophy/why-call-it-the-swindle.html\">Amazon Swindle</a>, " "designed to swindle you out of your traditional freedoms without your " "noticing. Of course, they call it the Kindle which is what it's going to do " "to your books." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The Kindle is an extremely malicious product, almost as malicious as " "Microsoft Windows. They both have spy features, they both have Digital " "Restrictions Management, and they both have back doors." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "In the case of the Kindle, the only way you can buy a book is to buy it from " "Amazon<a href=\"#footnote2\">[2]</a>, and Amazon requires you to identify " "yourself, so they know everything that you've bought." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Then there is Digital Restrictions Management, so you can't lend the book or " "sell it to a used bookstore, and the library can't lend it either." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "And then there's the back door, which we found out about about three months " "ago, because Amazon used it. Amazon sent a command to all the Kindles to " "erase a particular book, namely 1984 by George Orwell. Yes, they couldn't " "have picked a more ironic book to erase. So that's how we know that Amazon " "has a back door with which it can erase books remotely." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "What else it can do, who knows? Maybe it's like Microsoft Windows. Maybe " "Amazon can remotely upgrade the software, which means that whatever " "malicious things are not in it now, they could put them in it tomorrow." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "This is intolerable—any one of these restrictions is intolerable. " "They want to create a world where nobody lends books to anybody anymore." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Imagine that you visit a friend and there are no books on the shelf. It's " "not that your friend doesn't read, but his books are all inside a device, " "and of course he can't lend you those books. The only way he could lend you " "any one of those books is to lend you his whole library, which is obviously " "a ridiculous thing to ask anybody to do. So there goes friendship for " "people who love books." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Make sure that you inform people what this device implies. It means other " "readers will no longer be your friends, because you will be acting like a " "jerk toward them. Spread the word preemptively. This device is your " "enemy. It's the enemy of everyone who reads. The people who don't " "recognize that are the people who are thinking so short-term that they don't " "see it. It's our job to help them see beyond the momentary convenience to " "the implications of this device." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "I have nothing against distributing books in digital form, if they are not " "designed to take away our freedom. Strictly speaking, it is possible to " "have an e-book reader:" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li> msgid "that is not designed to attack you," msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li> msgid "which runs free software and not proprietary software," msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li> msgid "which doesn't have DRM," msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li> msgid "which doesn't make people identify yourself to get a book," msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li> msgid "which doesn't have a back door, [and]" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li> msgid "which doesn't restrict what you can do with the files on your machine." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "It's possible, but the big companies really pushing e-books are doing it to " "attack our freedom, and we mustn't stand for that. This is what governments " "are doing in cahoots with big business to attack our freedom, by making " "copyright harsher and nastier, more restrictive than ever before." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "But what should they do? Governments should make copyright power less. Here " "are my specific proposals." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "First of all, there is the dimension of time. I propose copyright should " "last ten years, starting from the date of publication of a work." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Why from the date of publication? Because before that, we don't have " "copies. It doesn't matter to us whether we would have been allowed to copy " "our copies that we don't have, so I figure we might as well let the authors " "have as much time as it takes to arrange publication, and then start the " "clock." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "But why ten years? I don't know about in this country, but in the US, the " "publication cycle has got shorter and shorter. Nowadays almost all books " "are remaindered within two years and out-of-print within three. So ten " "years is more than three times the usual publication cycle—that should " "be plenty comfortable." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "But not everybody agrees. I once proposed this in a panel discussion with " "fiction writers, and the award-winning fantasy writer next to me said " "“Ten years? No way. Anything more than five years is " "intolerable.” You see, he had a legal dispute with his publisher. His " "books seemed to be out of print, but the publisher wouldn't admit it. The " "publisher was using the copyright on his own book to stop him from " "distributing copies himself, which he wanted to do so people could read it." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "This is what every artist starts out wanting—wanting to distribute her " "work so it will get read and appreciated. Very few make a lot of money. " "That tiny fraction face the danger of being morally corrupted, like " "J.K. Rowling." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "J.K. Rowling, in Canada, got an injunction against people who had bought her " "book in a bookstore, ordering them not to read it. So in response I call " "for a boycott of Harry Potter books. But I don't say you shouldn't read " "them; I leave that to the author and the publisher. I just say you " "shouldn't buy them." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "It's few authors that make enough money that they can be corrupted in this " "way. Most of them don't get anywhere near that, and continue wanting the " "same thing they wanted at the outset: they want their work to be " "appreciated." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "He wanted to distribute his own book, and copyright was stopping him. He " "realized that more than five years of copyright was unlikely to ever do him " "any good." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "If people would rather have copyright last five years, I won't be against " "it. I propose ten as a first stab at the problem. Let's reduce it to ten " "years and then take stock for a while, and we could adjust it after that. I " "don't say I think ten years is the exact right number—I don't know." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "What about the dimension of breadth? Which activities should copyright " "cover? I distinguish three broad categories of works." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "First of all, there are the functional works that you use to do a practical " "job in your life. This includes software, recipes, educational works, " "reference works, text fonts, and other things you can think of. These works " "should be free." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "If you use the work to do a job in your life, then if you can't change the " "work to suit you, you don't control your life. Once you have changed the " "work to suit you, then you've got to be free to publish it—publish " "your version—because there will be others who will want the changes " "you've made." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "This leads quickly to the conclusion that users have to have the same four " "freedoms [for all functional works], not just for software. And you'll " "notice that for recipes, practically speaking, cooks are always sharing and " "changing recipes just as if the recipes were free. Imagine how people would " "react if the government tried to stamp out so-called “recipe " "piracy.”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The term “pirate” is pure propaganda. When people ask me what I " "think of music piracy, I say “As far as I know, when pirates attack " "they don't do it by playing instruments badly, they do it with arms. So " "it's not music “piracy,” because piracy is attacking ships, and " "sharing is as far as you get from being the moral equivalent of attacking " "ships.” Attacking ships is bad, sharing with other people is good, so " "we should firmly denounce that propaganda term “piracy” whenever " "we hear it." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "People might have objected twenty years ago: “If we don't give up our " "freedom, if we don't let the publishers of these works control us, the works " "won't get made and that will be a horrible disaster.” Now, looking at " "the free software community, and all the recipes that circulate, and " "reference works like Wikipedia—we are even starting to see free " "textbooks being published—we know that that fear is misguided." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "There is no need to despair and give up our freedom thinking that otherwise " "the works won't get made. There are lots of ways to encourage them to get " "made if we want more—lots of ways that are consistent with and respect " "our freedom. In this category, they should all be free." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "But what about the second category, of works that say what certain people " "thought, like memoirs, essays of opinion, scientific papers, and various " "other things?<a href=\"#footnote3\">[3]</a> To publish a modified version of " "somebody else's statement of what he thought is misrepresenting [that] " "somebody. That's not particularly a contribution to society." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Therefore it is workable and acceptable to have a somewhat reduced copyright " "system where all commercial use is covered by copyright, all modification is " "covered by copyright, but everyone is free to non-commercially redistribute " "exact copies." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "[2015 note: publishing scientific papers under the CC Attribution license " "(CC-BY) is widely done, in accessible journals and arXiv.org, and it seems " "that permitting publication of modified versions does not cause any " "problem. So that license is what I now recommend for scholarly " "publications.]" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "That freedom is the minimum freedom we must establish for all published " "works, because the denial of that freedom is what creates the War on " "Sharing—what creates the vicious propaganda that sharing is theft, " "that sharing is like being a pirate and attacking ships. Absurdities, but " "absurdities backed by a lot of money that has corrupted our governments. We " "need to end the War on Sharing; we need to legalize sharing exact copies of " "any published work." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "In the second category of works, that's all we need; we don't need to make " "them free. Therefore I think it's OK to have a reduced copyright system " "which covers commercial use and all modifications. And this will provide a " "revenue stream to the authors in more or less the same (usually inadequate) " "way as the present system. You've got to keep in mind [that] the present " "system, except for superstars, is usually totally inadequate." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "What about works of art and entertainment? Here it took me a while to decide " "what to think about modifications." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "You see, on one hand, a work of art can have an artistic integrity and " "modifying it could destroy that. Of course, copyright doesn't necessarily " "stop works from being butchered that way. Hollywood does it all the time. " "On the other hand, modifying the work can be a contribution to art. It " "makes possible the folk process which leads to things which are beautiful " "and rich." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Even if we look at named authors only: consider Shakespeare, who borrowed " "stories from other works only a few decades old, and did them in different " "ways, and made important works of literature. If today's copyright law had " "existed then, that would have been forbidden and those plays wouldn't have " "been written." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "But eventually I realized that modifying a work of art can be a contribution " "to art, but it's not desperately urgent in most cases. If you had to wait " "ten years for the copyright to expire, you could wait that long. Not like " "the present-day copyright that makes you wait maybe 75 years, or 95 years. " "In Mexico you might have to wait almost 200 years in some cases, because " "copyright in Mexico expires a hundred years after the author dies. This is " "insane, but ten years, as I've proposed copyright should last, that people " "can wait." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So I propose the same partly reduced copyright that covers commercial use " "and modification, but everyone's got to be free to non-commercially " "redistribute exact copies. After ten years it goes into the public domain, " "and people can contribute to art by publishing their modified versions." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "One other thing: if you're going to take little pieces out of a bunch of " "works and rearrange them into something totally different, that should just " "be legal, because the purpose of copyright is to promote art, not to " "obstruct art. It's stupid to apply copyright to using snippets like " "that—it's self-defeating. It's a kind of distortion that you'd only " "get when the government is under the control of the publishers of the " "existing successful works, and has totally lost sight of its intended " "purpose." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "That's what I propose, and in particular, this means that sharing copies on " "the Internet must be legal. Sharing is good. Sharing builds the bonds of " "society. To attack sharing is to attack society." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So any time the government proposes some new means to attack people who " "share, to stop them from sharing, we have to recognize that this is evil, " "not just because the means proposed almost invariably offend basic ideas of " "justice (but that's not a coincidence). The reason is because the purpose " "is evil. Sharing is good and the government should encourage sharing." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "But copyright did after all have a useful purpose. Copyright as a means to " "carry out that purpose has a problem now, because it doesn't fit in with the " "technology we use. It interferes with all the vital freedoms for all the " "readers, listeners, viewers, and whatever, but the goal of promoting the " "arts is still desirable. So in addition to the partly reduced copyright " "system, which would continue to be a copyright system, I propose two other " "methods." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<a id=\"tax-money-for-artists\">One [works via] taxes</a>—distribute " "tax money directly to artists. This could be a special tax, perhaps on " "Internet connectivity, or it could come from general revenue, because it " "won't be that much money in total, not if it's distributed in an efficient " "way. To distribute it efficiently to promote the arts means not in linear " "proportion to popularity. It should be based on popularity, because we " "don't want bureaucrats to have the discretion to decide which artists to " "support and which to ignore, but based on popularity does not imply linear " "proportion." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "What I propose is measure the popularity of the various artists, which you " "could do through polling (samples) in which nobody is required to " "participate, and then take the cube root. The cube root looks like this: it " "means basically that [the payment] tapers off after a while." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "If superstar A is a thousand times as popular as successful artist B, with " "this system A would get ten times as much money as B, not a thousand times." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Linearly would give A a thousand times as much as B, which means that if we " "wanted B to get enough to live on we're going to have to make A tremendously " "rich. This is wasteful use of the tax money—it shouldn't be done." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "But if we make it taper off, then yes, each superstar will get handsomely " "more than an ordinary successful artist, but the total of all the superstars " "will be a small fraction of the [total] money. Most of the money will go to " "support a large number of fairly successful artists, fairly appreciated " "artists, fairly popular artists. Thus the system will use money a lot more " "efficiently than the existing system." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The existing system is regressive. It actually gives far, far more per " "record, for instance, to a superstar than to anybody else. The money is " "extremely badly used. The result is we'd actually be paying a lot less this " "way. I hope that's enough to mollify some of these people who have a " "knee-jerk hostile reaction to taxes—one that I don't share, because I " "believe in a welfare state." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "I have another suggestion which is voluntary payments. Suppose every player " "had a button you could push to send a dollar to the artist who made the work " "you're currently playing or the last one you played. This money would be " "delivered anonymously to those artists. I think a lot of people would push " "that button fairly often." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "For instance, all of us could afford to push that button once every day, and " "we wouldn't miss that much money. It's not that much money for us, I'm " "pretty sure. Of course, there are poor people who couldn't afford to push " "it ever, and it's OK if they don't. We don't need to squeeze money out of " "poor people to support the artists. There are enough people who are not " "poor to do the job just fine. I'm sure you're aware that a lot of people " "really love certain art and are really happy to support the artists." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "An idea just came to me. The player could also give you a certificate of " "having supported so-and-so, and it could even count up how many times you " "had done it and give you a certificate that says “I sent so much to " "these artists.” There are various ways we could encourage people who " "want to do it." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "For instance, we could have a PR campaign which is friendly and kind: " "“Have you sent a dollar to some artists today? Why not? It's only a " "dollar—you'll never miss it and don't you love what they're doing? " "Push the button!” It will make people feel good, and they'll think " "“Yeah, I love what I just watched. I'll send a dollar.”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "This is already starting to work to some extent. There's a Canadian singer " "who used to be called Jane Siberry. She put her music on her website and " "invited people to download it and pay whatever amount they wished. She " "reported getting an average of more than a dollar per copy, which is " "interesting because the major record companies charge just under a dollar " "per copy. By letting people decide whether and how much to pay, she got " "more—she got even more per visitor who was actually downloading " "something. But this might not even count whether there was an effect of " "bringing more people to come, and [thus] increasing the total number that " "this average was against." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So it can work, but it's a pain in the neck under present circumstances. " "You've got to have a credit card to do it, and that means you can't do it " "anonymously. And you've got to go find where you're going to pay, and the " "payment systems for small amounts, they're not very efficient, so the " "artists are only getting half of it. If we set up a good system for this, " "it would work far, far better." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "So these are my two suggestions." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "And in mecenatglobal.org, you can find another scheme that combines aspects " "of the two, which was invented by Francis Muguet and designed to fit in with " "existing legal systems better to make it easier to enact." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Be careful of proposals to “compensate the rights holders,” " "because when they say “compensate,” they're trying to presume " "that if you have appreciated a work, you now have a specific debt to " "somebody, and that you have to “compensate” that somebody. When " "they say “rights holders,” it's supposed to make you think it's " "supporting artists while in fact it's going to the publishers—the same " "publishers who basically exploit all the artists (except the few that you've " "all heard of, who are so popular that they have clout)." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "We don't owe a debt; we have nobody that we have to " "“compensate.” [But] supporting the arts is still a useful thing " "to do. That was the motivation for copyright back when copyright fit in " "with the technology of the day. Today copyright is a bad way to do it, but " "it's still good to do it other ways that respect our freedom." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Demand that they change the two evil parts of the New Zealand Copyright " "Act. They shouldn't replace the three strikes punishment<a " "href=\"#footnote4\">[4]</a>, because sharing is good, and they've got to get " "rid of the censorship for the software to break DRM. Beware of " "ACTA—they're trying to negotiate a treaty between various countries, " "for all of these countries to attack their citizens, and we don't know how " "because they won't tell us." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Footnotes" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ol><li> msgid "" "In 2010, the encryption system for digital video output was <a " "href=\"https://www.pcmag.com/archive/hdcp-master-key-confirmed-blu-ray-content-vulnerable-254650\"> " "definitively cracked</a>." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ol><li> msgid "" "That was true at the time. As of 2018, it is possible to load books from " "other sources, but the device reports the name of the book being read to " "Amazon servers; thus, Amazon knows every book that you read on the device, " "regardless of where you got the book." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ol><li> msgid "" "2015: I included scientific papers because I thought that publishing " "modified versions of someone else's paper would cause harm; however, " "publishing physics and math papers under the Creative Commons Attribution " "License on <a href=\"https://arxiv.org/\">arXiv.org</a> and many libre " "journals seems to have no problems. Thus, I subsequently concluded that " "scientific papers ought to be free." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ol><li> msgid "" "New Zealand had enacted a system of punishment without trial for Internet " "users accused of copying; then, facing popular protest, the government did " "not implement it, and announced a plan to implement a modified unjust " "punishment system. The point here was that they should not proceed to " "implement a replacement—rather, they should have no such system. " "However, the words I used don't say this clearly." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ol><li> msgid "" "The New Zealand government subsequently implemented the punishment scheme " "more or less as originally planned." 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 © 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2018, 2022 Free Software " "Foundation, Inc." 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 ""