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- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>

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<h2>Essays and Articles</h2>

<div class="summary">
<h3 class="no-display">Table of Contents</h3>
<ul>
  <li><a href="#aboutfs">About Free Software</a></li>
  <li><a href="#aboutgnu">About the GNU Operating System</a></li>
  <li><a href="#LicensingFreeSoftware">Licensing Free Software</a></li>
  <li><a href="#Laws">Laws and Issues</a>
    <ul>
      <li><a href="#patents">Patents</a></li>
      <li><a href="#copyright">Copyright</a></li>
      <li><a href="#drm">Digital Restrictions Management</a></li>
      <li><a href="#noip">The propaganda term “Intellectual Property”</a></li>
      <li><a href="#ns">Network Services</a></li>
      <li><a href="#cultural">Cultural and Social Issues</a></li>
      <li><a href="#misc">Misc</a></li>
    </ul></li>
  <li><a href="#terminology">Terminology and Definitions</a></li>
  <li><a href="#upholding">Upholding Software Freedom</a></li>
  <li><a href="#humor">Philosophical Humor</a></li>
</ul>
<hr class="no-display" />
</div>

<p>This page lists a series of articles describing the philosophy of the
free software movement, which is the motivation for our development of
the free software operating system GNU.</p>

<p>A <a href="/philosophy/latest-articles.html">list of the latest 
published articles</a> is also available.</p>

<p>
<!-- please leave both these ID attributes here. ... -->
<a id="TOCFreedomOrganizations">We</a>
<a id="FreedomOrganizations">also</a>
<!-- ... we removed this as an H$ section as it was duplicating the  -->
<!-- same information on links.html, but it's possible that some users -->
<!-- have the URLs bookmarked or on their pages. -len -->
keep a list of
<a href="/links/links.html#FreedomOrganizations">Organizations
that Work for Freedom in
Computer Development and Electronic Communications</a>.</p>

<h3 id="aboutfs">About Free Software</h3>
<p>
Free software is a matter of freedom: people should be free to use
software in all the ways that are socially useful.  Software differs
from material objects—such as chairs, sandwiches, and
gasoline—in that it can be copied and changed much more easily.
These possibilities make software as useful as it is; we believe
software users should be able to make use of them.</p>

<ul>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/free-sw.html">What is Free Software?</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/why-free.html">Why
      Software Should Not Have Owners</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/shouldbefree.html">Why
      Software Should Be Free</a>  (This is an older and longer
      essay about the same topic as the previous one)</li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/free-doc.html">Why Free Software Needs
      Free Documentation</a></li>
 <li><a href="/philosophy/when-free-depends-on-nonfree.html">
  When Free Software Depends on Nonfree</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/selling.html">Selling Free Software</a> is OK!</li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/categories.html">Categories of Free and
      Non-Free Software</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/floss-and-foss.html"> FLOSS and FOSS</a></li>
  <li><a href="/software/reliability.html">Free Software is More Reliable!</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/when-free-software-isnt-practically-superior.html">
      When Free Software Isn't (Practically) Superior</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html">Why
       “Open Source” misses the point of Free Software</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/free-open-overlap.html">How Free Software and 
      Open Source Relate as Categories of Programs</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/linux-gnu-freedom.html">Linux, GNU, and
      Freedom</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/gnutella.html"
         id="Gnutella">Regarding Gnutella</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/schools.html">Why Schools Should Use
      Exclusively Free Software</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/my_doom.html">MyDoom and You</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/15-years-of-free-software.html">
      15 Years of Free Software</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/free-software-intro.html">Free Software movement</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/your-freedom-needs-free-software.html">
      Your Freedom Needs Free Software</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/fs-motives.html">
      Motives For Writing Free Software</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/gov-promote.html">
      How Should href="/philosophy/government-free-software.html">Measures 
      Governments Can Use to Promote Free Software?</a></li> Software</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/uruguay.html">Lesson from Uruguay</a>. The FSF
      learned something from a bill presented in Uruguay.</li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/programs-must-not-limit-freedom-to-run.html">
      Why programs must not limit the freedom to run them</a> —
      Freedom 0 must not be limited.</li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/imperfection-isnt-oppression.html">
      Imperfection is not the same as oppression</a></li> 
  <li><a href="/philosophy/applying-free-sw-criteria.html">
      Applying the Free Software Criteria</a></li>
</ul>

<h3 id="aboutgnu">About the GNU Operating System</h3>

<ul>
  <li><a href="/gnu/initial-announcement.html">Initial announcement of
       the GNU Operating System</a></li>
  <li><a href="/gnu/manifesto.html">The GNU Manifesto</a></li>
  <li><a href="/gnu/gnu-history.html">Brief history of the GNU Project</a></li>
  <li><a href="/gnu/thegnuproject.html">The GNU Project</a>,
      a longer and more complete description of the project and its
      history.</li>
  <li><a href="/fsf/fsf.html">What is href="/fsf/fsf.html">The official website of the Free Software Foundation?</a></li> Foundation</a></li>
  <li><a href="/gnu/why-gnu-linux.html">Why GNU/Linux?</a></li>
</ul>

<h3 id="LicensingFreeSoftware">Licensing Free Software</h3>

<ul>
  <li><a href="/licenses/licenses.html">General information on licensing 
      and copyleft</a></li>
  <li><a href="/licenses/license-list.html">A list of specific free 
      software licenses</a></li> and nonfree
      licenses, with comments</a>.</li>
  <li><a href="/licenses/gpl-faq.html">Frequently Asked Questions About 
      the GNU Licenses</a></li>
  <li><a href="/licenses/why-not-lgpl.html">Why You Shouldn't Use the 
      Lesser GPL for Your Next Library</a></li>
  <li><a href="/copyleft/copyleft.html">Copyleft</a></li> href="/licenses/copyleft.html">Copyleft</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/why-copyleft.html">Why Copyleft?</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/university.html">Releasing Free Software if 
      You Work at a University</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/pragmatic.html">Copyleft: Pragmatic Idealism</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/javascript-trap.html">Javascript Trap</a> 
         —You Trap</a>. 
         You may be running non-free nonfree programs on your computer 
         every day without realizing it — through it—through your web browser.</li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/vaccination.html">Viral Code and Vaccination</a>, 
         an article by Robert J. Chassell</li>
  <li><a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/20050211.html">
      Censorship envy and licensing</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/x.html">The X Window System Trap</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/apsl.html">The Problems of the Apple License</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/bsd.html">The href="/licenses/bsd.html">The BSD License Problem</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/netscape-npl.html">The Netscape Public License 
      Has Serious Problems</a></li> Problems</a>. An <a href="/philosophy/netscape-npl-old.html">
      earlier version of this article</a> is also available.</li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/udi.html">The Free Software Movement and UDI</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/gates.html">It's not the Gates, it's the 
      bars</a>, an article by Richard Stallman published in BBC News in
      2008</li>
      2008.</li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/microsoft.html">Is Microsoft the Great Satan?</a>  
      (An <a href="/philosophy/microsoft-old.html">older version</a> of 
      this article is also available.)</li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/microsoft-antitrust.html">The Microsoft 
      Antitrust Trial and Free Software</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/microsoft-verdict.html">On the Microsoft Verdict</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/microsoft-new-monopoly.html">
       Microsoft's New Monopoly</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/lest-codeplex-perplex.html">
      Lest CodePlex perplex</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/plan-nine.html" id="PlanNineLicense">
      The Problems of the Plan 9 License</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/motif.html" id="MotifLicense">
      The New Motif License</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/using-gfdl.html" id="UsingGFDL">Using the GNU FDL</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/gpl-american-way.html" id="GPLAmericanWay">
      The GNU GPL and the American Way</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/gpl-american-dream.html" id="GPLAmericanDream">
      The GNU GPL and the American Dream</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/enforcing-gpl.html" id="EnforcingGPL">
      Enforcing the GNU GPL</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/selling-exceptions.html">
      On Selling Exceptions to the GNU GPL</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/freedom-or-power.html" id="FreedomOrPower">
      Freedom or Power?</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html" id="NoWordAttachments">
      We Can Put an End to Word Attachments</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/java-trap.html" id="JavaTrap">
      Free But Shackled - The Java Trap</a> (Although Sun has 
      <a href="http://www.fsf.org/news/fsf-welcomes-gpl-java.html">
      relicensed</a> most of its Java platform reference implementation
      under the GNU General Public License, the issue described in this
      article still remains important)</li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/fighting-software-patents.html" id="FightingSoftwarePatents">
       Fighting Software Patents - Singly and Together</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/software-literary-patents.html" id="SoftwareLiteraryPatents">
      Software Patents and Literary Patents</a>, by Richard M. Stallman,
      speaking of patenting artistic techniques, US patent (6,935,954)
      covers making game characters start to hallucinate when (according to
      the game) they are being driven insane. That is getting pretty close
      to the hypothetical examples cited in this article.
  </li> important.)</li>  
  <li><a href="/philosophy/rtlinux-patent.html">GPL-compliant version
      of RTLinux Open Patent License in Works</a></li>
</ul>

<h3 id="Laws">Laws and Issues</h3>

<p><a href="/philosophy/stallmans-law.html">Stallman's Law</a></p>

<h4 id="copyright">Copyright</h4> id="patents">Patents</h4>

<ul>  
  <li><a href="/philosophy/public-domain-manifesto.html">Why I Will Not Sign href="/philosophy/limit-patent-effect.html">Giving the Public Domain Manifesto</a></li> Software
  Field Protection from Patents</a></li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/pirate-party.html">How the Swedish Pirate Party 
  Platform Backfires href="/philosophy/w3c-patent.html">FSF's Position on Free Software</a></li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/misinterpreting-copyright.html">Misinterpreting
  Copyright</a> is another essay
  by <a href="http://www.stallman.org">Richard Stallman</a> about the
  flaws in popular defenses of copyright law.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/eldred-amicus.html">FSF's Brief Amicus
  Curiae in W3
  Consortium “Royalty-Free” Patent Policy</a>
  rewritten</li>

  <li>How to Protect the Eldred v. Ashcroft Supreme Court case</a></li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/push-copyright-aside.html">Science must
  “push copyright aside”</a>, another work of <a
  href="http://www.stallman.org">Richard Stallman</a> that appeared in
  the <a
  href="http://www.nature.com/nature/debates/e-access/Articles/stallman.html">
  Nature Webdebates</a> in 2001, explains how copyright is impeding
  progress in scientific research.  You may also be interested in <a
  href="https://www.plos.org/">The Public Library of
  Science</a>, which is dedicated href="/philosophy/protecting.html">Right
  to making scientific research freely
  available Write Software</a> (whether it's free or not).</li>

  <li>In <a href="https://www.eff.org/press/releases/princeton-scientists-sue-over-squelched-research">
  Felten v. RIAA</a>, scientists are asking a court to all on rule that the Internet.</li>
  Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) does not prohibit them from
  publishing their research.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/reevaluating-copyright.html">Reevaluating
  Copyright: The Public must prevail</a></li> href="https://www.eff.org/search/site/dvd cases/">EFF
  “Intellectual Property”: MPAA (Motion Picture Association of
  America) DVD Cases Archive</a></li>

  <li><a href="http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/openlaw/eldredvashcroft/cyber/complaint_orig.html">
  Eldred v. Reno</a> is about href="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.html">Patent
  Reform Is Not Enough</a></li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/savingeurope.html">Saving Europe from
  Software Patents</a></li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/europes-unitary-patent.html">Europe's 
  “unitary patent” could mean unlimited software patents</a></li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/amazon.html">Boycott Amazon!</a></li>
  
  <li><a href="/philosophy/amazon-nat.html">Amazon Boycott Success!</a>, a lawsuit 
  letter from Nat Friedman to overturn a law that extends
  copyright by 20 extra years.</li> Richard Stallman.</li>
  
  <li><a href="/philosophy/freedom-or-copyright.html">Freedom-Or
  Copyright?</a>, href="/philosophy/amazon-rms-tim.html">Letter from RMS to Tim 
  O'Reilly</a> in regard to a statement by <a href="http://www.stallman.org/">Richard
  Stallman</a> (an <a
  href="/philosophy/freedom-or-copyright-old.html">older version</a> Jeff Bezos, CEO of
  this essay remains online as well).</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/copyright-versus-community.html"
  id="StallmanTalkLSM"> Copyright versus community in Amazon, on 
  the age duration of
  computer networks</a>: is software patents.</li>
  
  <li><a href="/philosophy/amazonpatent.html">Amazon's patent on a transcript of system 
  for placing a keynote purchase order over the internet</a>, with notes by
  <a href="http://www.stallman.org"> Richard Stallman</a> at
  the LIANZA conference
  Stallman.</li>

  <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20000815064858/http://www.researchoninnovation.org/patent.pdf"
  id="SequentialIPandI">Sequential Innovation, Patents, and
  Imitation</a> is a paper that presents a mathematical model showing
  how patents can impede progress in Christchurch, New Zealand, on October 12,
  2009.</li> fields like software.</li>

  <li><a href="http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/resources/feedback/OIIFB_GPL2_20040903.pdf">
  An English translation</a> of href="/philosophy/hague.html">Harm from the famous decision Hague</a>.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/guardian-article.html">Opposing The European
  Software Patent Directive</a>, a slightly modified version of the District
  Court 
  article originally published in <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/international">
  The Guardian</a> of Munich (Germany) regarding the enforceability London, by Richard Stallman and validity Nick Hill.</li>

  <li><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2005/aug/02/comment.business">
  Soft sell</a>. Richard Stallman's comments on the defeat of the GPL. The translation was done EU 
  software patenting directive. Published in <i>The Guardian</i> in 2005.</li>

  <li><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2005/jun/23/onlinesupplement.insideit">
  Patent absurdity</a>, an article by the Oxford Internet
  Institute.</li>
  <!-- This link is broken Richard M. Stallman published in
  <i>The Guardian</i> in 2005.</li>

  <li><a href="http://www.humaninfo.org/copyrigh.htm">Examples of
  Excellent Copyright Policies</a></li>
  --> href="/philosophy/bill-gates-and-other-communists.html">Bill Gates
  and Other Communists</a>. An article by Richard Stallman published
  in CNET News.com in 2005.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/is-ever-good-use-nonfree-program.html">
  Is It Ever a Good Thing to Use href="/philosophy/trivial-patent.html">The Anatomy of a Nonfree Program?</a> By
  <a href="http://www.stallman.org">
  Trivial Patent</a>, by Richard Stallman</a></li>

</ul>

<h4 id="drm">Digital Restrictions Management</h4>

<ul> M. Stallman.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/correcting-france-mistake.html">
  Correcting My Mistake about French Law</a></li> href="/philosophy/fighting-software-patents.html" id="FightingSoftwarePatents">
  Fighting Software Patents - Singly and Together</a></li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/the-root-of-this-problem.html">The problem is href="/philosophy/software-patents.html">Software patents — 
  Obstacles to software controlled by its developer</a>, by Richard M. Stallman.</li> development</a></li>
  
  <li><a href="/philosophy/computing-progress.html">Computing
  “progress”: good href="/philosophy/software-literary-patents.html" id="SoftwareLiteraryPatents">
      Software Patents and bad</a>, Literary Patents</a>, by Richard M. Stallman.</li> Stallman.
      Speaking of patenting artistic techniques, US patent (6,935,954)
      covers making game characters start to hallucinate when (according to
      the game) they are being driven insane. That is getting pretty close
      to the hypothetical examples cited in this article.</li>  

  <li><a href="/philosophy/gif.html">Why there are no GIF files on GNU web 
  pages</a>. While this story is a historical illustration of the danger of 
  software patents, these particular patents are now no longer a concern. 
  For details of our website 
  <a href="/server/fsf-html-style-sheet.html#UseofGraphics">
  policies regarding GIFs</a>, see our <a href="/server/standards/">
  web guidelines</a>.</li> 
</ul>

<h4 id="copyright">Copyright</h4>

<ul>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/assigning-copyright.html">When a Company Asks 
  For Your Copyright</a></li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/public-domain-manifesto.html">Why I Will Not Sign
  the Public Domain Manifesto</a></li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/why-audio-format-matters.html">Why Audio
  Format matters</a> by Karl Fogel</li> href="/philosophy/pirate-party.html">How the Swedish Pirate Party 
  Platform Backfires on Free Software</a></li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/opposing-drm.html">Opposing Digital Rights
  Mismanagement</a>, href="/philosophy/misinterpreting-copyright.html">Misinterpreting
  Copyright</a> is another essay by Richard M. Stallman, answers a few common
  questions Stallman about DRM.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/ebooks.html">Ebooks: Freedom Or
  Copyright</a> a slightly modified version of the article, originally
  published
  flaws in Technology Review popular defenses of copyright law.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/eldred-amicus.html">FSF's Brief Amicus
  Curiae in 2000, by 
      <a href="http://www.stallman.org"> Richard Stallman</a></li> the Eldred v. Ashcroft Supreme Court case</a></li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/ebooks-must-increase-freedom.html">
  Ebooks href="/philosophy/push-copyright-aside.html">Science must increase our freedom, not decrease it</a></li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/can-you-trust.html">Can you trust your
  computer?</a>, a
  “push copyright aside”</a>, another work by of <a
  href="http://www.stallman.org">Richard Stallman</a> about that appeared in
  the so-called “trusted computing”
  initiatives.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/right-to-read.html">The Right to Read: A
  Dystopian Short Story</a> by <a href="http://www.stallman.org/">
  Richard Stallman</a></li>
</ul>

<h4 id="noip">The propaganda
term
  href="http://www.nature.com/nature/debates/e-access/Articles/stallman.html">
  Nature Webdebates</a> in 2001, explains how copyright is impeding
  progress in scientific research.  You may also be interested in <a href="/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html#IntellectualProperty">
“Intellectual Property”</a></h4>

<ul>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/komongistan.html">The Curious History
  href="https://www.plos.org/">The Public Library of 
  Komongistan (Busting
  Science</a>, which is dedicated to making scientific research freely
  available to all on the term “intellectual property”)</a></li> Internet.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/no-ip-ethos.html">Don't Let
  “Intellectual Property” Twist Your Ethos</a>, href="/philosophy/reevaluating-copyright.html">Reevaluating
  Copyright: The Public must prevail</a></li>

  <li><a href="http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/openlaw/eldredvashcroft/cyber/complaint_orig.html">
  Eldred v. Reno</a> is about a lawsuit to overturn a law that extends
  copyright by 20 extra years.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/freedom-or-copyright.html">Freedom-Or
  Copyright?</a>, by
  Richard M. Stallman.</li>

  <li>Comments from Richard Stallman
  on (an <a href="/philosophy/ipjustice.html">the ICLC's rejection
  href="/philosophy/freedom-or-copyright-old.html">older version</a> of the
  IP Enforcement Directive</a></li>

  <li>Richard Stallman has
  written
  this essay remains online as well.)</li>

  <li>An <a href="/philosophy/boldrin-levine.html">a review href="https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/archive/downloads/research/gpl/OIIFB_GPL2_20040903.pdf">
  English translation of the famous 
  decision of
  Boldrin and Levine's “The case against intellectual
  property.”</a></li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/not-ipr.html">Did You Say
  “Intellectual Property”?  It's a Seductive Mirage</a>.
  An essay on the true meaning District Court of Munich</a> regarding the enforceability and 
  validity of the phrase “Intellectual
  Property”, GPL. The translation was done by Richard M. Stallman</li> the Oxford Internet
  Institute.</li>
  <!-- This link is broken
  <li><a href="http://www.humaninfo.org/copyrigh.htm">Examples of
  Excellent Copyright Policies</a></li>
  -->
</ul>

<h4 id="patents">Patents</h4> id="drm">Digital Restrictions Management</h4>

<ul>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/limit-patent-effect.html">Giving the Software
  Field Protection from Patents</a></li> href="/philosophy/correcting-france-mistake.html">
  Correcting My Mistake about French Law</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/w3c-patent.html">FSF's Position on W3
  Consortium “Royalty-Free” Patent Policy</a>
  rewritten</li> href="/philosophy/the-root-of-this-problem.html">The problem is
  software controlled by its developer</a>, by Richard M. Stallman.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/guardian-article.html">Opposing The European
  Software Patent Directive</a>, href="/philosophy/computing-progress.html">Computing
  “progress”: good and bad</a>, by Richard M. Stallman.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/opposing-drm.html">Opposing Digital Rights
  Mismanagement</a>, by Richard M. Stallman, answers a few common
  questions about DRM.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/ebooks.html">Ebooks: Freedom Or
  Copyright</a> a slightly modified version of the article, originally
  published in <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">
  The Guardian</a> of London Technology Review in 2000, by <a href="http://www.stallman.org">Richard 
  Stallman</a> and Nick Hill.</li>

  <li>How to Protect the <a href="/philosophy/protecting.html">Right
  to Write Software</a> (independent of whether it's free or not)</li>

  <li>In <a href="https://www.eff.org/press/releases/princeton-scientists-sue-over-squelched-research">
  Felten v. RIAA</a>, scientists are asking a court to rule that the
  Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) does not prohibit them from
  publishing their research.</li>

  <li><a href="https://www.eff.org/search/site/dvd cases/">EFF
  “Intellectual Property”: MPAA (Motion Picture Association of
  America) DVD Cases Archive</a></li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/patent-reform-is-not-enough.html">Patent
  Reform Is Not Enough</a></li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/savingeurope.html">Saving Europe from
  Software Patents</a></li> Richard Stallman</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/amazon.html">Boycott Amazon!</a></li> href="/philosophy/ebooks-must-increase-freedom.html">
  Ebooks must increase our freedom, not decrease it</a></li>

  <li><a href="http://www.researchoninnovation.org/patent.pdf"
  id="SequentialIPandI">Sequential Innovation, Patents, and
  Imitation</a> is a paper that presents href="/philosophy/can-you-trust.html">Can you trust your
  computer?</a>, a mathematical model showing
  how patents can impede progress in fields like software.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/hague.html">Harm from the Hague</a>.</li>

  <li><a href="http://technology.guardian.co.uk/online/comment/story/0,12449,1540984,00.html">
  Soft sell</a>. An article work by Richard M. Stallman published in
  <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">The Guardian</a>.</li> about the so-called 
  “trusted computing” initiatives.</li>

  <li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2005/jun/23/onlinesupplement.insideit">
  Patent absurdity</a>, an article href="/philosophy/right-to-read.html">The Right to Read: A
  Dystopian Short Story</a> by Richard M. Stallman published in Stallman.</li>
</ul>

<h4 id="noip">The propaganda
term <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">The Guardian</a>.</li> href="/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html#IntellectualProperty">
“Intellectual Property”</a></h4>

<ul>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/trivial-patent.html">The Anatomy href="/philosophy/komongistan.html">The Curious History of a
  Trivial Patent</a>, 
  Komongistan (Busting the term “intellectual property”)</a></li>
  
  <li><a href="/philosophy/no-ip-ethos.html">Don't Let
  “Intellectual Property” Twist Your Ethos</a>, by
  Richard M. Stallman.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/gif.html">Why there are no GIF files

  <li>Comments from Richard Stallman
  on GNU web 
  pages</a>, While this story is a historical illustration <a href="/philosophy/ipjustice.html">the ICLC's rejection of the danger
  IP Enforcement Directive</a></li>

  <li>Richard Stallman has
  written <a href="/philosophy/boldrin-levine.html">a review of 
  software patents, these particular patents are now no longer
  Boldrin and Levine's “The case against intellectual
  property.”</a></li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/not-ipr.html">Did You Say
  “Intellectual Property”?  It's a concern. 
  For details Seductive Mirage</a>.
  An essay on the true meaning of our website 
  <a href="/server/fsf-html-style-sheet.html#UseofGraphics">
  policies regarding GIFs</a>, see our web <a href="/server/standards/">
  web guidelines</a>.</li> the phrase “Intellectual
  Property”, by Richard M. Stallman.</li>
</ul>

<h4 id="ns">Network Services</h4>
<ul>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/network-services-arent-free-or-nonfree.html">
  Network Services Aren't Free or Nonfree; They Raise Other Issues</a> an
  article by Richard Stallman.</li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/who-does-that-server-really-serve.html">Who
  does that server really serve?</a>  by Richard Stallman published
  in <a href="http://www.bostonreview.net/richard-stallman-free-software-DRM">
  Boston Review.</a></li>
</ul>

<h4 id="cultural">Cultural and Social Issues</h4>

<ul>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/technological-neutrality.html">
  Technological Neutrality and Free Software</a>
  by Richard Stallman</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/surveillance-vs-democracy.html">How Much
  Surveillance Can Democracy Withstand?</a> by Richard Stallman</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/nonfree-games.html">Nonfree DRM'd Games on
  GNU/Linux: Good or Bad?</a> by Richard Stallman</li> Stallman.</li>

  <li> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/apr/06/digital-economy-bill-richard-stallman"> href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2010/apr/06/digital-economy-bill-richard-stallman">
  Digital economy bill: One clown giveth and the other clown taketh away</a> 
  away</a>, by <a href="http://www.stallman.org">Richard Stallman</a></li> Richard Stallman.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/digital-inclusion-in-freedom.html">
  Is Digital Inclusion A Good Thing? How Can We Make Sure It Is?</a> 
  by <a href="http://www.stallman.org">Richard Stallman</a></li> 
  By Richard Stallman.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/wsis.html">World Summit on the Information
  Society</a></li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/lessig-fsfs-intro.html">The introduction by
  Lawrence Lessig</a>
  to <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/free-software-free-society/"><i>
  Free Software, Free Society: The Selected Essays of Richard
  M. Stallman</i></a> is available for reading.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/wassenaar.html">Encryption software
  volunteers needed in countries without export control</a>.</li>

  <li>How to Protect the <a href="/philosophy/basic-freedoms.html">
  Freedoms of Speech, Press, and Association</a> on the Internet</li> Internet.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/privacyaction.html">Protect Postal
  Privacy</a>, a campaign to resist the proposed rule by the United
  States Postal Service to collect private information from
  customers.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/ucita.html">Why We Must Fight UCITA</a></li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/second-sight.html">Free Software and
  (e-)Government</a> — an article from The Guardian, by Richard
  Stallman (originally published under the title “Second
  Sight”).</li>

  <li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20070806183422/http://www.insnet.org/ins_headlines.rxml?cust=212&id=967"> href="/philosophy/fs-and-sustainable-development.html">
  Free Software and Sustainable Development</a> — A short
  article by Richard Stallman regarding the use of proprietary
  software in cultural development.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/keep-control-of-your-computing.html">
  Keep control of your computing, so it doesn't control you!</a></li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/judge-internet-usage.html">
  A wise user judges each Internet usage scenario carefully</a></li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/the-danger-of-ebooks.html">The Danger of E-Books</a></li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/is-ever-good-use-nonfree-program.html">
  Is It Ever a Good Thing to Use a Nonfree Program?</a> By
  Richard Stallman.</li>

 <li><a href="/philosophy/contradictory-support.html">
  Beware of Contradictory “Support”</a></li>
</ul>


<h4 id="misc">Misc</h4>

<ul>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/proprietary.html">Clearly established 
  cases of proprietary software that does nasty things to the
  users</a>.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/practical.html">The advantages of free 
  software</a>.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/bug-nobody-allowed-to-understand.html">The
  Bug Nobody is Allowed to Understand</a>, By Richard Stallman.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/sun-in-night-time.html">The Curious
  Incident of Sun in the Night-Time</a>, by Richard M. Stallman.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/sco/sco-gnu-linux.html">SCO, GNU, and
  Linux</a>, by Richard Stallman, discusses how SCO's lawsuit against
  IBM pertains to the work of the GNU project.  Please see
  the <a href="/philosophy/sco/sco.html">FSF SCO Response Page</a> for
  more details on this subject.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/ms-doj-tunney.html">FSF's Statement in
  Response to Proposed Revised Final Judgment in Microsoft vs. United
  States, submitted to the US Department of Justice under the Tunney
  Act</a>.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/new-monopoly.html">U.S. Congress Threatens
  to Establish a New Kind of Monopoly</a>, an attempt of the Congress
  to create a private monopoly over repeating publicly known
  information.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/dat.html">The Right Way to Tax DAT</a></li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/censoring-emacs.html">Censoring My
  Software</a>, by <a href="http://www.stallman.org">Richard
  Stallman</a></li> Richard Stallman.</li>
  
  <li><a href="/philosophy/funding-art-vs-funding-software.html">Funding
  Art vs Funding Software</a>, by <a href="http://www.stallman.org">Richard
  Stallman</a></li> Richard Stallman.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/android-and-users-freedom.html">
  Android and Users' Freedom</a></li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/ubuntu-spyware.html">Ubuntu Spyware: What to Do?</a></li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/whats-wrong-with-youtube.html">What's Wrong with 
  YouTube</a></li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/netscape.html">Netscape and Free Software</a>,
  an old article that clarifies some misunderstandings about an 
  announcement by Netscape.</li>

  <li><a href="/philosophy/rms-comment-longs-article.html">Comments on 
  Roderick Long's Article</a>.</li>
</ul>

<h3 id="terminology">Terminology and Definitions</h3>

<ul>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/free-hardware-designs.html">
      Free Hardware and Free Hardware Designs</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html">Confusing Words</a>
      which You Might Want to Avoid</li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/wipo-PublicAwarenessOfCopyright-2002.html">
      Public Awareness of Copyright, WIPO, June 2002</a>. On how WIPO 
      recognizes that their system is designed to restrict the public, and
      how they propose to modify terminology so that people won't notice.</li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html">Why
      “Open Source” misses the point of Free Software</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html">“Open
      Source Software” or “Free Software”?</a>
      (This is an older essay about the same topic as the previous one.)</li>
  <li>Richard Stallman wrote <a href="/philosophy/drdobbs-letter.html">
      letter to the editor</a> of Dr. Dobb's Journal in June 2001 which further 
      explains the distinction between the Free Software and Open Source 
      movements.</li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/categories.html">Categories of Free and
      Non-Free Software</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/loyal-computers.html">
      What Does It Mean for Your Computer to Be Loyal?</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/fs-translations.html">Translations of the
      term “free software”</a> into various languages</li> languages.</li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/why-call-it-the-swindle.html">Why call it the
      Swindle</a></li>
</ul>

<h3 id="upholding">Upholding Software Freedom</h3>

<ul>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/use-free-software.html">The Free Software 
      Community After 20 Years</a>, With great but incomplete success, 
      what now?</li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/mcvoy.html">Thank You, Larry McVoy</a> McVoy</a>, 
      by Richard M. Stallman</li> Stallman.</li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/social-inertia.html">
      Overcoming Social Inertia</a>, by Richard M. Stallman</li> Stallman.</li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/compromise.html">Avoiding Ruinous Compromises</a></li>
  <li><a href="/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html">
      Free Software Is Even More Important Now</a></li>
</ul>

<h3>Philosophical

<h3 id="humor">Philosophical humor</h3>

<ul>
<li><a href="/fun/humor.html#Philosophy">Philosophy Humor</a>.
    We don't have to be serious <i>all</i> the time.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Links to more philosophy articles</h3>

<ul>
<li id="Speeches"><a href="/philosophy/speeches-and-interview.html">
Speeches and interviews</a></li>
<li id="ThirdPartyIdeas"><a href="/philosophy/third-party-ideas.html">
Third party ideas</a></li>
<li id="Philosophy"><a href="/philosophy/">The main philosophy page</a></li>
</ul>

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