WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.810 --> 00:00:05.950 2 00:00:05.950 --> 00:00:12.700 Free software 3 00:00:12.700 --> 00:00:17.539 is the first battle in the liberation of cyberspace. 4 00:00:17.539 --> 00:00:21.199 Who controls your computer? Is it you, 5 00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:24.920 or is it some big company that's really controlling it? 6 00:00:24.920 --> 00:00:27.650 Well, what is a computer? 7 00:00:27.650 --> 00:00:30.779 A computer is a universal machine. 8 00:00:30.779 --> 00:00:34.850 It will do any computation you want it to, 9 00:00:34.850 --> 00:00:39.890 because you give it a program that says what the computation is that you want. 10 00:00:39.890 --> 00:00:43.850 So the computer only knows how to get out an instruction and do it, 11 00:00:43.850 --> 00:00:48.469 and get another instruction and do it. The program has the instructions. 12 00:00:48.469 --> 00:00:51.550 It says what to do. 13 00:00:51.550 --> 00:00:54.940 By writing the right program, you can make it do anything. 14 00:00:54.940 --> 00:01:00.559 Well... almost anything. ;-) So who gives instructions to your computer? 15 00:01:00.559 --> 00:01:04.129 You might think it's obeying your instructions, 16 00:01:04.129 --> 00:01:07.369 when really it's obeying somebody else first, 17 00:01:07.369 --> 00:01:11.490 and you, only as much as that company wants it to, 18 00:01:11.490 --> 00:01:16.390 will let it listen to you. With software, there are two possibilities: 19 00:01:16.390 --> 00:01:18.320 either the users control the program, 20 00:01:18.320 --> 00:01:23.729 or the program controls the users. It's inevitably one or the other. 21 00:01:23.729 --> 00:01:26.700 So, in order for the users to control the program, 22 00:01:26.700 --> 00:01:31.439 they need the four essential freedoms. 23 00:01:31.439 --> 00:01:37.030 And that's the definition of free software. Free software respects the users' freedom 24 00:01:37.030 --> 00:01:38.110 and community. 25 00:01:38.110 --> 00:01:43.210 Now, we often call it “libre”, using the French or Spanish word. 26 00:01:43.210 --> 00:01:44.329 Pronounce it as you like. The point is, that's what we mean. 27 00:01:44.329 --> 00:01:48.590 We don't mean it's gratis. We're not talking about price. 28 00:01:48.590 --> 00:01:53.979 We're concerned with your freedom, and we sometimes say “free/libre” 29 00:01:53.979 --> 00:01:54.689 to show that. 30 00:01:54.689 --> 00:01:59.430 So, freedom zero is the freedom to run the program as you wish, for whatever purpose. 31 00:01:59.430 --> 00:02:04.520 Freedom 1 is the freedom to study the source code 32 00:02:04.520 --> 00:02:05.270 of the program, 33 00:02:05.270 --> 00:02:09.729 and change it so it does the computing you want it to do. 34 00:02:09.729 --> 00:02:14.300 But what is the source code? Well, every program typically will have two forms. 35 00:02:14.300 --> 00:02:17.410 There's the form that you can read, 36 00:02:17.410 --> 00:02:21.580 and you can understand if you know the programming language. That's the source. 37 00:02:21.580 --> 00:02:25.849 That's what programmers write and change. Then, there's the executable, which is 38 00:02:25.849 --> 00:02:27.030 a bunch of numbers, 39 00:02:27.030 --> 00:02:31.489 which even a programmer can't figure out. If all you get is the executable, 40 00:02:31.489 --> 00:02:34.560 it's a horrible pain in the neck to figure out what it does, 41 00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:40.120 and even harder to change it. So, to give you the real possibility 42 00:02:40.120 --> 00:02:40.860 to study and change it, 43 00:02:40.860 --> 00:02:44.160 they've gotta give you the source code. That's a requirement. 44 00:02:44.160 --> 00:02:49.300 Well, with those two freedoms, each user separately 45 00:02:49.300 --> 00:02:53.580 can make a copy and start changing it, and make it do what she wants. 46 00:02:53.580 --> 00:02:57.040 That's individual control. 47 00:02:57.040 --> 00:03:00.390 But what if you are not a programmer? You look at the source code, 48 00:03:00.390 --> 00:03:01.409 and you don't understand it. 49 00:03:01.409 --> 00:03:04.610 So, individual control isn't enough. 50 00:03:04.610 --> 00:03:09.239 We also need collective control, which means any group of users are free 51 00:03:09.239 --> 00:03:10.209 to work together, 52 00:03:10.209 --> 00:03:13.519 to adapt the program to do what they want. Of course, 53 00:03:13.519 --> 00:03:17.709 in the group some are programmers. They're the ones who actually 54 00:03:17.709 --> 00:03:18.489 write the changes. 55 00:03:18.489 --> 00:03:22.319 But they're doing it as part of the group, for what the group wants. 56 00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:26.569 Of course, the group doesn't have to be everybody, so others can use it 57 00:03:26.569 --> 00:03:29.890 some other way. They're all free to do that. 58 00:03:29.890 --> 00:03:33.340 Collective control requires two more essential freedoms: 59 00:03:33.340 --> 00:03:36.750 Freedom two is the freedom to redistribute exact copies, 60 00:03:36.750 --> 00:03:40.909 to make the copies and then give them away or sell them, when you wish. 61 00:03:40.909 --> 00:03:45.110 And freedom three is similar, but it's for your modified versions. 62 00:03:45.110 --> 00:03:48.870 You're free to make copies and give them or sell them, when you wish. 63 00:03:48.870 --> 00:03:53.209 We do have these freedoms. When it's free software, the users control 64 00:03:53.209 --> 00:03:53.860 the program. 65 00:03:53.860 --> 00:03:57.760 But if any of those freedoms is missing, then the users 66 00:03:57.760 --> 00:04:02.230 don't control the program. Instead, the program controls the users, 67 00:04:02.230 --> 00:04:05.540 and the developer controls the program. 68 00:04:05.540 --> 00:04:08.769 So, that means this program is an instrument 69 00:04:08.769 --> 00:04:12.629 of unjust power for its developer 70 00:04:12.629 --> 00:04:17.479 over the users. That means the users don't have freedom. 71 00:04:17.479 --> 00:04:21.630 That's nonfree proprietary software, which we've got to get rid of. 72 00:04:21.630 --> 00:04:25.210 Well, when you've got proprietary software, what happens? 73 00:04:25.210 --> 00:04:29.100 Sometimes the program snoops on the user. 74 00:04:29.100 --> 00:04:32.220 Sometimes it tracks the user. 75 00:04:32.220 --> 00:04:36.870 Sometimes it restricts the user, and stops users from doing 76 00:04:36.870 --> 00:04:41.380 what they want to do. You can see that the Blu-ray is your enemy. 77 00:04:41.380 --> 00:04:46.110 Sometimes, the software remotely deletes books, 78 00:04:46.110 --> 00:04:49.680 as Amazon did with “1984”, 79 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:53.199 but sometimes the developer 80 00:04:53.199 --> 00:04:57.120 compels users to install a harmful 81 00:04:57.120 --> 00:05:01.479 upgrade by threatening to take away other functionality 82 00:05:01.479 --> 00:05:04.550 if it's not installed, as Sony did. 83 00:05:04.550 --> 00:05:08.280 And sometimes they can even forcibly change the software 84 00:05:08.280 --> 00:05:14.039 at a distance, as Microsoft can with Windows through the universal backdoor. 85 00:05:14.039 --> 00:05:18.169 Sometimes, they even sabotage users, 86 00:05:18.169 --> 00:05:21.350 as Microsoft does when it tells the NSA 87 00:05:21.350 --> 00:05:26.470 about bugs in Windows, so it can use them to attack people's computers. 88 00:05:26.470 --> 00:05:30.680 Well, what you get is, basically: with proprietary software, 89 00:05:30.680 --> 00:05:33.800 the owner has power over the users, 90 00:05:33.800 --> 00:05:37.740 and takes advantage of this power putting in those various 91 00:05:37.740 --> 00:05:41.960 malicious functionalities to hurt the users. 92 00:05:41.960 --> 00:05:45.860 Of course, they don't do this because they're sadists. They're doing it 93 00:05:45.860 --> 00:05:47.699 just for money, for greed. 94 00:05:47.699 --> 00:05:51.039 They have various ways that they can profit 95 00:05:51.039 --> 00:05:54.199 from having this power over users, 96 00:05:54.199 --> 00:05:57.210 which does not make it even the tiniest bit less evil. 97 00:05:57.210 --> 00:06:00.229 But they have no shame about it. 98 00:06:00.229 --> 00:06:04.490 They have conferences where they talk about the latest ways they can 99 00:06:04.490 --> 00:06:06.180 take advantage of users 100 00:06:06.180 --> 00:06:10.940 through the power they have. Basically, proprietary software, 101 00:06:10.940 --> 00:06:16.650 which is now — for almost all the uses of proprietary software — 102 00:06:16.650 --> 00:06:20.970 proprietary malware, it's software for suckers. 103 00:06:20.970 --> 00:06:24.880 So, how do you stop being a victim? 104 00:06:24.880 --> 00:06:28.910 Formerly, you had to stop using computers, but not anymore. 105 00:06:28.910 --> 00:06:33.370 Now, you can come join us in the free world that we've built. 106 00:06:33.370 --> 00:06:37.780 In 1983, I announced I would develop 107 00:06:37.780 --> 00:06:41.810 a completely free software operating system called GNU. 108 00:06:41.810 --> 00:06:45.370 In 1992, we had it almost finished, 109 00:06:45.370 --> 00:06:50.449 but one piece was missing, the kernel. Linus Torvalds in that year 110 00:06:50.449 --> 00:06:53.970 freed his kernel Linux, which filled the last gap, 111 00:06:53.970 --> 00:06:57.900 and gave us the first complete system you could run on a PC: 112 00:06:57.900 --> 00:07:00.050 GNU plus Linux. 113 00:07:00.050 --> 00:07:06.220 Unfortunately, having freedom at one more point doesn't guarantee 114 00:07:06.220 --> 00:07:07.490 you'll keep it. 115 00:07:07.490 --> 00:07:10.569 There are over a thousand different variants of GNU/Linux. 116 00:07:10.569 --> 00:07:14.229 They're called distributions. A few of them 117 00:07:14.229 --> 00:07:19.120 are entirely free software. Most of them have nonfree software added, 118 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:22.789 because they're maintained by people who aren't concerned about freedom. 119 00:07:22.789 --> 00:07:26.860 They'd rather add convenience, but at the cost of freedom. 120 00:07:26.860 --> 00:07:30.910 So, you have to check which is a free distro. 121 00:07:30.910 --> 00:07:35.720 To keep your freedom sometimes requires a sacrifice; sometimes a big sacrifice 122 00:07:35.720 --> 00:07:39.500 as at Lexington. Sometimes... but in 123 00:07:39.500 --> 00:07:43.930 art campaign, they tend to be little sacrifices. 124 00:07:43.930 --> 00:07:48.310 Anybody with a little bit of maturity can make these sacrifices. 125 00:07:48.310 --> 00:07:52.680 For instance you want applications, but some of them are nonfree. 126 00:07:52.680 --> 00:07:56.389 If you want freedom, you've got to do without them. So there may be 127 00:07:56.389 --> 00:08:01.410 some inconveniences you have to suffer for your freedom sake. 128 00:08:01.410 --> 00:08:05.169 Then many web sites send nonfree 129 00:08:05.169 --> 00:08:09.180 programs written in JavaScript to the user's browser. 130 00:08:09.180 --> 00:08:12.300 If you don't want to run nonfree programs, you should install 131 00:08:12.300 --> 00:08:17.460 LibreJS, which blocks, keeps out nonfree JavaScript. 132 00:08:17.460 --> 00:08:22.449 And sometimes servers will offer to do your computing. They say 133 00:08:22.449 --> 00:08:26.069 “Send us all your data.” Obviously for suckers. 134 00:08:26.069 --> 00:08:30.150 Then the server does the computing, and sends you back the results, 135 00:08:30.150 --> 00:08:34.529 but you're not supposed to think about what's happening, cuz it's a... cloud, 136 00:08:34.529 --> 00:08:38.589 and you don't see what's going on. Well, you should look. 137 00:08:38.589 --> 00:08:42.419 It's software as as service, as a software substitute, 138 00:08:42.419 --> 00:08:45.899 and it takes away control of your computing. 139 00:08:45.899 --> 00:08:51.680 So, a large fraction of the world's web servers are running GNU slash Linux 140 00:08:51.680 --> 00:08:53.060 and other free software, 141 00:08:53.060 --> 00:08:56.870 but I think the most important computers to put freedom in 142 00:08:56.870 --> 00:09:00.810 are your computers, not companies' web servers. 143 00:09:00.810 --> 00:09:05.950 They deserve freedom also, but above all it's people that deserve freedom. 144 00:09:05.950 --> 00:09:10.330 So, we need to advance. And to do that, 145 00:09:10.330 --> 00:09:13.390 we have to cross obstacles. One of them is 146 00:09:13.390 --> 00:09:17.600 there are big companies that make a lot of money by having control over users, 147 00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:20.870 and they don't want to let us advance. We have to 148 00:09:20.870 --> 00:09:25.640 overcome their opposition. Another is that the mainstream media don't 149 00:09:25.640 --> 00:09:27.220 talk about free software. 150 00:09:27.220 --> 00:09:30.640 They have a term that they use to bury 151 00:09:30.640 --> 00:09:33.870 these ethical issues. They say “open source” 152 00:09:33.870 --> 00:09:39.370 instead. Now, it talks about more or less the same programs, 153 00:09:39.370 --> 00:09:43.649 but with different ideas. We, the free software activists, say 154 00:09:43.649 --> 00:09:48.040 “This is a matter of right and wrong. Users deserve freedom. We demand freedom.” 155 00:09:48.040 --> 00:09:51.380 The people who say “open source”, they don't want to say that. Instead, 156 00:09:51.380 --> 00:09:52.120 they say: 157 00:09:52.120 --> 00:09:55.690 “Let the users change the software and redistribute it, 158 00:09:55.690 --> 00:09:59.140 and they'll make the code better. They'll fix some bugs.” 159 00:09:59.140 --> 00:10:03.300 It may be true, but it's a less important issue. If we want to keep our freedom, we 160 00:10:03.300 --> 00:10:04.709 gotta talk about freedom. 161 00:10:04.709 --> 00:10:08.310 So, say “free software”, and you're helping us every time. 162 00:10:08.310 --> 00:10:12.630 Another obstacle is that lots of schools teach nonfree software, 163 00:10:12.630 --> 00:10:16.230 which is basically like teaching the kids to smoke tobacco. 164 00:10:16.230 --> 00:10:20.480 It's implanting dependence, which is the opposite of what a school should do. 165 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:24.579 A school should prepare citizens to live 166 00:10:24.579 --> 00:10:29.329 in a strong, capable, independent, cooperating 167 00:10:29.329 --> 00:10:33.399 and free society, which means teaching free software 168 00:10:33.399 --> 00:10:37.420 in school. But there's another reason to do that: for education. 169 00:10:37.420 --> 00:10:40.740 Some kids want to become programmers. They're curious. 170 00:10:40.740 --> 00:10:44.480 They wanna know how the programs work. Well the one studying free software 171 00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:45.579 can understand it. 172 00:10:45.579 --> 00:10:49.339 The one who is studying a nonfree program can't learn anything, 173 00:10:49.339 --> 00:10:53.180 because the knowledge in the nonfree program 174 00:10:53.180 --> 00:10:56.440 is withheld, denied to the students. 175 00:10:56.440 --> 00:11:00.570 So, to uphold a spirit of education, the school should make sure its programs 176 00:11:00.570 --> 00:11:01.300 are free. 177 00:11:01.300 --> 00:11:05.800 But there's an even more important reason. Schools should teach the spirit 178 00:11:05.800 --> 00:11:07.160 of goodwill, 179 00:11:07.160 --> 00:11:11.050 the habit of helping other people. So the class should say: 180 00:11:11.050 --> 00:11:15.790 “If you bring a program to class, just as if you bring cookies to class, 181 00:11:15.790 --> 00:11:19.440 you gotta share it with everyone else. You can't keep it to yourself. 182 00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:23.660 You got to share the source code so other people can learn. 183 00:11:23.660 --> 00:11:27.089 So, don't bring any proprietary software to this class.” 184 00:11:27.089 --> 00:11:31.880 The school has to set a good example by following its own rule. 185 00:11:31.880 --> 00:11:35.350 It should bring only free software to class, except 186 00:11:35.350 --> 00:11:39.279 as a reverse engineering exercise. 187 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:44.579 Another obstacle is there's hardware we don't know how to write free software for, 188 00:11:44.579 --> 00:11:48.490 because they won't tell us how to use the hardware. That's shocking. 189 00:11:48.490 --> 00:11:52.260 They want to sell you the product, and they won't tell you how to use it. 190 00:11:52.260 --> 00:11:55.760 They say: “Here's a nonfree program you can use. 191 00:11:55.760 --> 00:11:59.260 Run it, and shut up. Don't bother us.” 192 00:11:59.260 --> 00:12:03.880 Well, how do we find out how to run their hardware? With reverse engineering, 193 00:12:03.880 --> 00:12:07.589 you gotta study all those zeros and ones to figure out 194 00:12:07.589 --> 00:12:11.350 what they really do, and write down how to use that hardware, 195 00:12:11.350 --> 00:12:14.370 so someone else can write a free program to do it. 196 00:12:14.370 --> 00:12:19.250 It's hard work, but it can be done. If you wanna make a big technical contribution, 197 00:12:19.250 --> 00:12:23.079 that's what you should do. Each new area 198 00:12:23.079 --> 00:12:27.380 or activity of life can bring with it new human rights 199 00:12:27.380 --> 00:12:31.220 that are necessary, and the human rights depend on each other. 200 00:12:31.220 --> 00:12:35.440 If you lose one, it becomes harder to maintain the others. 201 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:39.750 So, nowadays computing is so important in society 202 00:12:39.750 --> 00:12:44.040 that the freedoms of free software are among the human rights 203 00:12:44.040 --> 00:12:47.100 that society must establish and protect. 204 00:12:47.100 --> 00:12:51.649 Thus... how to help? Well, you can write free software. 205 00:12:51.649 --> 00:12:54.930 You can organize groups to campaign, and 206 00:12:54.930 --> 00:12:58.149 persuade schools and governments to move to free software. 207 00:12:58.149 --> 00:13:01.709 You can help other people when they have trouble using free software, 208 00:13:01.709 --> 00:13:06.300 or help them install it. You can say “free software”, and spread 209 00:13:06.300 --> 00:13:08.399 the philosophical ideas. 210 00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:13.230 Moving to free software is the first step in the liberation of cyberspace. 211 00:13:13.230 --> 00:13:17.000 But of course, we also use the internet. We need other freedoms there, 212 00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:20.660 like network neutrality, and putting an end 213 00:13:20.660 --> 00:13:25.320 to surveillance of people in general.