Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Activist Ethos for Free Software

By Thomas Grzybowski

Speakban



Summary: Why it is not the text of software which is free, it is the process of Free Software which is Free

“Freedom” has been the starting-point for Free Software from the beginning. However, in the computer software industry huge corporations define and control the products they market, imposing boundaries, limiting freedoms, and dictating actions on their platforms. Yet directly contrary to that, “Freedom” means doing what one wants to do and only what one wants to do. Thus Free Software is necessarily an activist undertaking. It is becoming clear we should regard “Free Software” as an enablement and propagation of “Power”. As people work to create and/or modify Free Software, distributing it again and again, these cumulative creative acts provide root-systems of freedom growing for others to use in the achievement their goals. Thus Free Software is the direct empowerment of our use of computers.



Using Free Software is actively enjoying Freedom: and this is a practical matter. Obviously, this “Freedom” is directly related to that which is made possible, and this empowerment is central to any practical conception of Free Software. It must be recognized that empowerment in the development and use of software is a process. Thus, it is not the text of software which is free, it is the process of Free Software which is Free. What we see now is our entire perspective for a Free Software is changing from a limiting focus on code and licenses to an expanding emphasis on freeing the activities surrounding the creation, propagation and progressive improvement of software objects. Furthermore, to expand our freedoms inherent in Free Software, we should recognize that programmers are themselves software “users”, with “users” being the central class of people in the process… and upon examination really the only category we need to define. We can see there is no mountain between “developers” and “users” when all of us are participants. The only constraints upon Free Software come from lack of participation. The more people whom become engaged in Free Software the more Freedom it provides to all.

Protecting religionAn accurate description of this process is indeed starting to take shape. Please read the “THRIVE Guidelines” which have been proposed by Figosdev. Now, I don’t want to review each of those guidelines here, but can present a few supplementary comments:

“When we agree on something, we struggle together. When we can’t agree, we struggle apart. It’s very useful to find our commonalities, and understand our differences.” This isn’t a commitment that any central authority can impose upon us. Each of us must contribute our efforts on our own terms, or go it alone – keeping in mind that working alone comes at a significant cost. If you are not content with the progress or results of your creation, it really should be shared such that other people can improve upon it. Much of the “power” available for our common benefit results from step-wise development and improvements made by others.

"Much of the “power” available for our common benefit results from step-wise development and improvements made by others."Realization that the central nature of the "Freedom" which is attached to Free Software resides in the participation of the community should impact upon the design and character of the coding itself. To encourage community participation, to encourage more freedom, code should be made as modular and simple as possible. When code is modular and unencumbered in its functions, others can easily and directly utilize just the pieces that they wish. When code is simple to understand, it is simple to test, to trust, to modify, extend, or fork. Software becomes more simple for others to document and more simple for everyone to share. This direction will to enable more people to participate in a Free Software, empowering all.

Such an approach does not recommend centralization of Free Software efforts, repositories, or institutions Single points of control lend themselves to single points of information collection, behavior manipulation, censorship, and even outright failure. Decentralized development structures are not only more robust, they are more Free. Given the corrupt state of the Internet, in no case should anyone contributing-to or using Free Software be required to supply personal information on-line. There may be weaknesses to decentralized models for software development and distribution, but the weaknesses are far outweighed by the benefits.

"We must recognize also that our major corporations have an inherent interest in limiting this freedom: they will actively engage in designing dependencies and defining boundary lines so as to derive money from the artificial scarcities and limitations which they themselves have created. This is why Free Software is necessarily an activist undertaking."“Freedom” is largely doing what one wants to do, and only what one wants to do. One should not be required to do other than one’s intent in order to participate in Free Software. This proposition also strongly implies that no one should have to use, incorporate, or otherwise accommodate other software which they do not intend-to. Software must be open to inspection and free to share and modify, and these activities must be made practical and reciprocal. Reciprocity, or “sharing”, must be promoted if not required in order to institute the widest availability and limit corporate appropriation. It is simple really: we are all directly empowered by our efforts as they are available to us, and the more people (in numbers) who become engaged in Free Software and the more engaged they are in the process, the more free we all shall be through the compounding resources made manifest. We must recognize also that our major corporations have an inherent interest in limiting this freedom: they will actively engage in designing dependencies and defining boundary lines so as to derive money from the artificial scarcities and limitations which they themselves have created. This is why Free Software is necessarily an activist undertaking.

Licence: Creative Commons CC0 1.0 (public domain)

Recent Techrights' Posts

Under the Guise of "MIT Technology Review Insights" the Site MIT Technology Review Posts Corporate Spam as 'Articles'
Some of the articles aren't even articles but 'hit pieces' against Free software and some are paid advertisements
Brett Wilson LLP Has Track Record in Scam Coin Cases (e.g. Craig Wright and More), Now It Works for 'Crypto' Scam Purveyors
But wait, it gets worse
Will Brett Wilson LLP Handle Its Own Winding Up Petition or be Struck Off for Overt Abuse of Process?
Today we sue not only the first Microsofter
Ubuntu Becomes Microsoft GitHub, Based on Decision Made by British Army Officer
You're hopeless, Canonical
Sharing Code and Recipes
It helps explain the triviality of software freedom
How Many Women Has Microsoft's Alex Balabhadra Graveley Already Strangled and Where Does That End?
If you too are a victim of this man and wish to share information, contact us
"We Might Save Somebody's Life"
I follow the example of my father
 
UK Media Under Threat: Cannot Report on Data Breach, Cannot Report on Microsoft Staff Strangling Women
The story of super injunction (in the British media this week, years late)
Victims of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft, Alex Balabhadra Graveley, Wanted to Sue Him But Lacked the Funds (He Attacked Their Finances)
Having spoken to victims of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft
Links 17/07/2025: Science, Hardware, and Censorship
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/07/2025: Staying in the "Small Web" and Back on ICQ
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 16, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Exclusive: corruption in Tribunals, Greffiers, from protection rackets to cat whisperers
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 16/07/2025: Chip Bans and Microsoft’s “Digital Escort” Program
Links for the day
Revolving Doors: One Day You're a Judge, the Next Day You're an Attorney Paying Public Officials and Working for Violent and Dangerous Microsoft Employees
how the US justice system works
Slopwatch: Noise, Plagiarism and Even Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt/Fear-mongering/Dramatisation
What are we meant to do to prevent a false association or misleading connotations? Game the LLMs? No. Boycott slopfarms.
Gemini Links 16/07/2025: BaseLibre Numerical System and Simple Web Browsing with TLS
Links for the day
Links 16/07/2025: Fascist Slop Takes "Intelligence" Clothing, New Criminal Case Against MElon
Links for the day
Why I am Suing the Serial Strangler From Microsoft, Alex Balabhadra Graveley, in the UK High Court This Week
Out of respect to the process and to the Court, I shall not share any pertinent details about the case
Links 16/07/2025: China’s Economy Grows Steadily, France Takes Action Regarding Harm to Children by GAFAM and Fentanylware (TikTok)
Links for the day
It is Not About Politics
Beware the people who try to make this about politics
Good Journalism Saves Lives
a shocking number of women die or get seriously hurt every day due to violence from a partner
Recognition of Women's Contributions to Free Software
Being passive is not an option when bad things are happening
Slopfarms Are Going to Perish Because Public Opinion is Changing
Many slopfarms will simply go offline
19 Years of Standing Up for Justice, Equality, and Truth
This week we shall take it up a notch
Gemini Links 16/07/2025: Tmux and OCC25 Working TLS
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 15, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Links 15/07/2025: LLM Pollution and Pushback in Ukraine
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: xkcd, New Cert, and Alhena Gemlog
Links for the day
Links 15/07/2025: Press Freedom at Risk and New Facebook Blunders
Links for the day
Reboots Should Never be Necessary
"BUT WHAT ABOUT SECURITY!!"
There's Still Hope for the World Wide Web
Let's hope that the trajectory of the Web won't be leading us to over-reliance on Google, nor will it reward worthless slopfarms
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: Smolweb and Alhena 5.1.7
Links for the day
The Danes Want GNU/Linux
David Heinemeier Hansson recently moved to GNU/Linux
Cory Doctorow Explains Why Software Freedom Matters, Whereas "Open Source" Misses the Point and Helps Monopolies
It's a very long article
BillPR (EpsteinGate-Bribed NPR) is Turning Into a Partial Slopfarm that Promotes Slop
"I went on a date with a chatbot!"
Two Weeks Passed Since Latest Large Wave of Microsoft Layoffs, More Expected Next Month
Blaming the debt on "AI" is just self-serving storytelling
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 14, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 14, 2025
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: Gemini "Style Sheets" and Switching From Microsoft GitHub to Codeberg
Links for the day