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From: |
Jing Luo |
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Subject: |
www philosophy/essays-and-articles.html philoso... |
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Date: |
Wed, 17 Jan 2024 05:55:53 -0500 (EST) |
CVSROOT: /web/www
Module name: www
Changes by: Jing Luo <jing> 24/01/17 05:55:53
Modified files:
philosophy : essays-and-articles.html latest-articles.html
server/gnun : gnun.mk
Added files:
philosophy : the-moral-and-the-legal.html
Log message:
New article by RMS the-moral-and-the-legal.html (RT #2010136)
CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/essays-and-articles.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.136&r2=1.137
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/latest-articles.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.78&r2=1.79
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/the-moral-and-the-legal.html?cvsroot=www&rev=1.1
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/server/gnun/gnun.mk?cvsroot=www&r1=1.556&r2=1.557
Patches:
Index: philosophy/essays-and-articles.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/philosophy/essays-and-articles.html,v
retrieving revision 1.136
retrieving revision 1.137
diff -u -b -r1.136 -r1.137
--- philosophy/essays-and-articles.html 1 Jan 2024 05:25:36 -0000 1.136
+++ philosophy/essays-and-articles.html 17 Jan 2024 10:55:52 -0000 1.137
@@ -326,6 +326,11 @@
<h4 id="action">Guide for action</h4>
<ul class="no-bullet">
+ <li><!--#set var='DATE' value='<span class="date-tag">*[2024]</span>'
+ --><!--#echo encoding='none' var='DATE' -->
+ <a href="/philosophy/the-moral-and-the-legal.html">
+ The Moral and the Legal</a>
+ (by RMS)</li>
<li><!--#set var='DATE' value='<span class="date-tag">*[2020]</span>'
--><!--#echo encoding='none' var='DATE' -->
<a href="/philosophy/saying-no-even-once.html">
@@ -1123,7 +1128,7 @@
<p class="unprintable">Updated:
<!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2024/01/01 05:25:36 $
+$Date: 2024/01/17 10:55:52 $
<!-- timestamp end -->
</p>
</div>
Index: philosophy/latest-articles.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/philosophy/latest-articles.html,v
retrieving revision 1.78
retrieving revision 1.79
diff -u -b -r1.78 -r1.79
--- philosophy/latest-articles.html 1 Jan 2024 05:25:36 -0000 1.78
+++ philosophy/latest-articles.html 17 Jan 2024 10:55:52 -0000 1.79
@@ -19,7 +19,9 @@
</div>
<ul>
-<li><a href="/gnu/road-to-gnu.html">The Road to GNU</a> — Richard
+ <li><a href="/philosophy/the-moral-and-the-legal.html">The Moral and the
+ Legal</a></li>
+ <li><a href="/gnu/road-to-gnu.html">The Road to GNU</a> — Richard
Stallman's experiences that prepared him to fight for a free software
world.</li>
<li><a href="/philosophy/tivoization.html">Tivoization</a> — When
@@ -112,7 +114,7 @@
<p class="unprintable">Updated:
<!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2024/01/01 05:25:36 $
+$Date: 2024/01/17 10:55:52 $
<!-- timestamp end -->
</p>
</div>
Index: server/gnun/gnun.mk
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/server/gnun/gnun.mk,v
retrieving revision 1.556
retrieving revision 1.557
diff -u -b -r1.556 -r1.557
--- server/gnun/gnun.mk 5 Jan 2024 16:12:47 -0000 1.556
+++ server/gnun/gnun.mk 17 Jan 2024 10:55:53 -0000 1.557
@@ -646,6 +646,7 @@
technological-neutrality \
the-danger-of-ebooks \
the-law-of-success-2 \
+ the-moral-and-the-legal \
the-root-of-this-problem \
third-party-ideas \
tivoization \
Index: philosophy/the-moral-and-the-legal.html
===================================================================
RCS file: philosophy/the-moral-and-the-legal.html
diff -N philosophy/the-moral-and-the-legal.html
--- /dev/null 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 -0000
+++ philosophy/the-moral-and-the-legal.html 17 Jan 2024 10:55:52 -0000
1.1
@@ -0,0 +1,151 @@
+<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
+<!-- Parent-Version: 1.99 -->
+<!-- This page is derived from /server/standards/boilerplate.html -->
+<!--#set var="TAGS" value="essays upholding action" -->
+<!--#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—it is where our goals come
+from. Liberty resides at that level, which is why we also call it
+“libre” 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—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 <a href="/philosophy/who-does-that-server-really-serve.html">SaaSS</a>)
+because we judge morally that they are unjust, we must show we do not define
+morality as “not breaking any laws.” 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 <em>implement</em> 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, “We believe it does—and,
+most importantly, it respects users' freedom.”</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, “Your program <i>FOO</i>
+contains part of the source code of <i>GNU BAR</i>” (a legal issue)
+“and fails to follow the GNU GPL rules” (a legal issue),
+“and that denies other users some of the rights they are entitled
+to” (the deeper moral issue). “To ensure all users of code
+from <i>GNU BAR</i> fully enjoy the <a href="/philosophy/free-sw.html">four
+freedoms</a> for it” (the goal at the moral level), “we invoke our
+copyright to require you to stop distributing the code that way” (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>
+
+<div class="announcement" role="complementary">
+<p>See also <a href="/philosophy/compromise.html">Avoiding Ruinous
+Compromises</a>.</p>
+</div>
+
+</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 & GNU inquiries to
+<a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org";><gnu@gnu.org></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";><webmasters@gnu.org></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";>
+ <web-translators@gnu.org></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 © 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: 2024/01/17 10:55:52 $
+<!-- timestamp end -->
+</p>
+</div>
+</div><!-- for class="inner", starts in the banner include -->
+</body>
+</html>
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