www/server/staging the-moral-and-the-legal.html

[Jing Luo]

CVSROOT:        /web/www
Module name:    www
Changes by:     Jing Luo <jing> 24/01/15 10:53:41

Added files:
        server/staging : the-moral-and-the-legal.html 

Log message:
        rms via RT #2010136, dont post it before Wednesday (i.e. 2024-01-17)

CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/server/staging/the-moral-and-the-legal.html?cvsroot=www&rev=1.1

Patches:
Index: the-moral-and-the-legal.html
===================================================================
RCS file: the-moral-and-the-legal.html
diff -N the-moral-and-the-legal.html
--- /dev/null   1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 -0000
+++ the-moral-and-the-legal.html        15 Jan 2024 15:53:41 -0000      1.1
@@ -0,0 +1,145 @@
+<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
+<!-- Parent-Version: 1.99 -->
+<!-- This page is derived from /server/standards/boilerplate.html -->
+<!--#set var="DISABLE_TOP_ADDENDUM" value="yes" -->
+<title>The Moral and the Legal
+- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
+<!--#include virtual="/server/gnun/initial-translations-list.html" -->
+<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
+<!--#include virtual="/philosophy/ph-breadcrumb.html" -->
+<!--GNUN: OUT-OF-DATE NOTICE-->
+<!--#include virtual="/server/top-addendum.html" -->
+<div class="article reduced-width">
+<h2>The Moral and the Legal</h2>
+
+<address class="byline">by Richard Stallman</address>
+
+<p>Every legal issue about free/libre software is at root a moral issue.
+Before we think about the legal level of the issue, we need to understand the
+moral level.</p>
+
+<p>The legal level is about what current laws require.  When we in the free
+software movement make a legal argument, that is what we are arguing about.
+However, the moral level is what matters most &mdash; it is where our goals
+come from.  Liberty resides at that level, which is why we also call it
+&ldquo;libre&rdquo; software.</p>
+
+<p>The two levels are not the same or even parallel.  In general,
+that <i>X</i> is currently lawful says nothing about whether <i>X</i> is
+morally legitimate, and vice versa.  We might propose to change some laws to
+better follow some of our moral ideas.</p>
+
+<p>There is a pervasive tendency, especially in the US, to assume that laws
+dictate right and wrong.  If we in the free software movement post articles or
+letters that discuss only the legal level, readers will tend to assume we
+agree with that assumption &mdash; that what we judge by is legality above
+all, so that if an action is lawful we are unable to criticize it.</p>
+
+<p>Since our overall purpose is to end the lawful but unjust computing
+practices (nonfree software and SaaSS) because we judge morally that they are
+unjust, we must show we do not define morality as &ldquo;not breaking any
+laws&rdquo;.  We need to keep reminding the public to pay attention to the
+deeper level, which is the moral level.  If in a communication we focus on the
+shallow aspects alone, we miss an opportunity to show the public our deeper
+message.  Because some readers are interested only in the legalities, we must
+show we don't consider those to be paramount.</p>
+
+<p>In some cases, we contend, morality and legality say opposite things.  In
+the US, distributing a program that can break DRM is illegal; the companies
+that implement DRM point to this and hope you will confuse legality with
+morality.  We are careful not to get confused that way.  Breaking DRM is
+morally admirable; what's immoral is to <b>implement</b> DRM.</p>
+
+<p>In anything we publish, and anything we send to strangers (they might
+redistribute it to the public), we have to show that our views about issues
+are primarily based on the moral level.  Even when the immediately crucial
+part is at the legal level, we must show how we judge programs, and laws
+themselves, at the moral level.  Thus, when people ask whether a program
+follows the <i>XYZ</i> law, we can say, &ldquo;we believe it does &mdash; and,
+most importantly, it respects users' freedom.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Presenting the two levels in relation to each other is a very good way of
+showing them both, and also showing how they are related.  For instance, when
+speaking for the FSF, it can be useful to say, &ldquo;Your program <i>FOO</i>
+contains part of the source code of <i>GNU BAR</i>&rdquo; (a legal issue)
+&ldquo;and fails to follow the GNU GPL rules&rdquo; (a legal issue) &ldquo;and
+it treats the users unjustly because you release it as nonfree software&rdquo;
+(the deeper moral issue).  &ldquo;To ensure all users of code from <i>GNU
+BAR</i> enjoy the four freedoms for it&rdquo; (the goal at the moral level),
+&ldquo;we invoke our copyright to require you to stop distributing the code
+that way&rdquo; (using legal power as a tool to achieve the moral goal).</p>
+
+<p>That is not the only way to present them both.  In other contexts, not the
+FSF, you might need to say something very different.  The main thing is to
+remember to talk about the moral level often, so readers realize it is the
+deeper and more important of the two levels.</p>
+
+<p>See also <a href="/philosophy/compromise.html">Avoiding Ruinous
+Compromises</a>.</p>
+
+</div><!-- end of "article reduced-width" -->
+
+</div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above -->
+<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" -->
+<div id="footer" role="contentinfo">
+<div class="unprintable">
+
+<p>Please send general FSF &amp; GNU inquiries to
+<a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org";>&lt;gnu@gnu.org&gt;</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";>&lt;webmasters@gnu.org&gt;</a>.</p>
+
+<p><!-- 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";>
+        &lt;web-translators@gnu.org&gt;</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>. -->
+Please see the <a
+href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
+README</a> for information on coordinating and contributing translations
+of this article.</p>
+</div>
+
+<!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to
+     files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should
+     be under CC BY-ND 4.0.  Please do NOT change or remove this
+     without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first.
+     Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the
+     document.  For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the
+     document was modified, or published.
+     
+     If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too.
+     Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying
+     years, as long as each year in the range is in fact a copyrightable
+     year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including
+     being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system).
+     
+     There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers
+     Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. -->
+
+<p>Copyright &copy; 2024 Free Software Foundation, Inc.</p>
+
+<p>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>.</p>
+
+<!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" -->
+
+<p class="unprintable">Updated:
+<!-- timestamp start -->
+$Date: 2024/01/15 15:53:41 $
+<!-- timestamp end -->
+</p>
+</div>
+</div><!-- for class="inner", starts in the banner include -->
+</body>
+</html>