30 August 2007

RMS on Art and Freedom

One of the things I admire about Richard Stallman is the clarity of his thinking. So I was interested to come across these thoughts on art/non-functional works, and why the imperatives for freedom are different here compared to software, say:

If you use something to do jobs in your life, you must be free to change it today, and then distribute your changed version today in case others need what you need.

Art contributes something different to society. You appreciate it. Modifying art can be a further contribution to art, but it is not crucial to be able to do that today. If you had to wait 10 years for the copyright to expire, that would be ok.

Interesting, too, the emphasis on sharing:

I don't think that non-functional works must be free. It is enough for them to be sharable.

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