Information wants to be free
Encyclopedia
Information wants to be free is a slogan of technology
activists invoked against limiting access to information. According to criticism of intellectual property rights, the system of governmental control of exclusivity is in conflict with the development of a public domain of information.
. who, in the late 1960s
, founded the Whole Earth Catalog
and argued that technology could be liberating rather than oppressing. The earliest recorded occurrence of the expression was at the first Hackers' Conference
in 1984. Brand told Steve Wozniak
:
Brand's conference remarks are transcribed in the Whole Earth Review
(May 1985, p. 49) and a later form appears in his The Media Lab: Inventing the Future at MIT:
According to historian Adrian Johns, the slogan expresses a view that had already been articulated in the mid 20th century by Norbert Wiener
, Michael Polanyi
and Arnold Plant
, who advocated the free communication of scientific knowledge, and specifically criticized the patent
system.
At the 2008 RSA Conference
, Brand's original slogan was complemented by a pessimistic
expectation of bug
infestation in programming:
that imputes desire to information
. In 1990 Richard Stallman
restated the concept but without the anthropomorphization:
Stallman's reformulation incorporated a political stance into Brand's value-neutral
observation of social trends.
of will to an abstract human construct (information
) has been adopted within a branch of the Cyberpunk
movement, whose members espouse a particular political (Anarchist) viewpoint. The construction of the statement takes its meaning beyond the simple judgmental observation, "Information should be free" by acknowledging that the internal force or entelechy of information
and knowledge
makes it essentially incompatible with notions of proprietary software
, copyright
s, patent
s, subscription services, etc. Information is dynamic, ever-growing and evolving and cannot be contained within (any) ideological structure.
According to this philosophy, hackers
, cracker
s, and phreakers are liberators of information which is being held hostage
by agents demanding money for its release. Other participants in this network include Cypherpunks who educate people to use public-key cryptography
to protect the privacy of their messages from corporate or governmental snooping and programmer
s who write free software and open source
code
. Still others create Free-Net
s allowing users to gain access to computer resources for which they would otherwise need an account. They might also break copyright law etc. by swapping music, movies, or other copyrighted materials over the Internet
.
Bradley Manning is alleged to have said "Information should be free" to Adrian Lamo
when explaining a rationale for US government documents to be released to Wikileaks
. The narrative goes on with Manning wondering if he is a "'hacker', 'cracker', 'hacktivist', 'leaker' or what".
series of science-fiction books, anarchist sci-fi author Ken Macleod
riffs and puns on the expression by writing about entities composed of information actually "wanting", as in desiring, freedom and the scheming of several human characters with differing political and ideological agenda, to facilitate or disrupt these entities' quest for freedom.
In the cyberpunk world of post-singularity
transhuman culture by Charles Stross
, described in his books like Accelerando
and Singularity Sky
, the wish of information to be free is a law of nature.
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
activists invoked against limiting access to information. According to criticism of intellectual property rights, the system of governmental control of exclusivity is in conflict with the development of a public domain of information.
History
The iconic phrase is attributed to Stewart BrandStewart Brand
Stewart Brand is an American writer, best known as editor of the Whole Earth Catalog. He founded a number of organizations including The WELL, the Global Business Network, and the Long Now Foundation...
. who, in the late 1960s
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
, founded the Whole Earth Catalog
Whole Earth Catalog
The Whole Earth Catalog was an American counterculture catalog published by Stewart Brand between 1968 and 1972, and occasionally thereafter, until 1998...
and argued that technology could be liberating rather than oppressing. The earliest recorded occurrence of the expression was at the first Hackers' Conference
The Hackers Conference
The Hackers Conference is an annual invitation-only gathering of designers, engineers and programmers to discuss the latest developments and innovations in the computer industry....
in 1984. Brand told Steve Wozniak
Steve Wozniak
Stephen Gary "Woz" Wozniak is an American computer engineer and programmer who founded Apple Computer, Co. with Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne...
:
Brand's conference remarks are transcribed in the Whole Earth Review
Whole Earth Review
Whole Earth was a magazine which was founded in January 1985 after the merger of the Whole Earth Software Review and the CoEvolution Quarterly. All of these periodicals are descendants of Stewart Brand's Whole Earth Catalog...
(May 1985, p. 49) and a later form appears in his The Media Lab: Inventing the Future at MIT:
According to historian Adrian Johns, the slogan expresses a view that had already been articulated in the mid 20th century by Norbert Wiener
Norbert Wiener
Norbert Wiener was an American mathematician.A famous child prodigy, Wiener later became an early researcher in stochastic and noise processes, contributing work relevant to electronic engineering, electronic communication, and control systems.Wiener is regarded as the originator of cybernetics, a...
, Michael Polanyi
Michael Polanyi
Michael Polanyi, FRS was a Hungarian–British polymath, who made important theoretical contributions to physical chemistry, economics, and the theory of knowledge...
and Arnold Plant
Arnold Plant
Sir Arnold Plant was a British economist.Plant was born in Hoxton, London, the son of a municipal librarian.After attending Strand School, he worked for a mechanical engineering organisation....
, who advocated the free communication of scientific knowledge, and specifically criticized the patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
system.
At the 2008 RSA Conference
RSA Conference
The RSA Conference is a cryptography and information security-related conference held annually in the San Francisco Bay Area.The RSA Conference started in 1991 as a forum for cryptographers to gather and share the latest knowledge and advancements in the area of Internet security...
, Brand's original slogan was complemented by a pessimistic
Pessimism
Pessimism, from the Latin word pessimus , is a state of mind in which one perceives life negatively. Value judgments may vary dramatically between individuals, even when judgments of fact are undisputed. The most common example of this phenomenon is the "Is the glass half empty or half full?"...
expectation of bug
Software bug
A software bug is the common term used to describe an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program or system that produces an incorrect or unexpected result, or causes it to behave in unintended ways. Most bugs arise from mistakes and errors made by people in either a program's...
infestation in programming:
Gratis versus Libre
The various forms of the original statement are ambiguous: the slogan can be used to argue the benefits of propertied information, of liberated/free/open information, or of both. It can be taken merely as an expression of an amoral fact of information-science: once information has passed to a new location outside of the source's control there is no way of ensuring it is not propagated further, and therefore will naturally tend towards a state where that information is widely distributed. Much of its force is due to the anthropomorphic metaphorPathetic fallacy
The pathetic fallacy, anthropomorphic fallacy or sentimental fallacy is the treatment of inanimate objects as if they had human feelings, thought, or sensations. The pathetic fallacy is a special case of the fallacy of reification...
that imputes desire to information
Information
Information in its most restricted technical sense is a message or collection of messages that consists of an ordered sequence of symbols, or it is the meaning that can be interpreted from such a message or collection of messages. Information can be recorded or transmitted. It can be recorded as...
. In 1990 Richard Stallman
Richard Stallman
Richard Matthew Stallman , often shortened to rms,"'Richard Stallman' is just my mundane name; you can call me 'rms'"|last= Stallman|first= Richard|date= N.D.|work=Richard Stallman's homepage...
restated the concept but without the anthropomorphization:
Stallman's reformulation incorporated a political stance into Brand's value-neutral
Value judgment
A value judgment is a judgment of the rightness or wrongness of something, or of the usefulness of something, based on a comparison or other relativity. As a generalization, a value judgment can refer to a judgment based upon a particular set of values or on a particular value system...
observation of social trends.
Cyberpunks
Brand's attributionAttribution
Attribution may refer to:Something, such as a quality or characteristic, that is related to a particular possessor; an attribute.*Attribution , concept in copyright law requiring an author to be credited...
of will to an abstract human construct (information
Information
Information in its most restricted technical sense is a message or collection of messages that consists of an ordered sequence of symbols, or it is the meaning that can be interpreted from such a message or collection of messages. Information can be recorded or transmitted. It can be recorded as...
) has been adopted within a branch of the Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...
movement, whose members espouse a particular political (Anarchist) viewpoint. The construction of the statement takes its meaning beyond the simple judgmental observation, "Information should be free" by acknowledging that the internal force or entelechy of information
Information
Information in its most restricted technical sense is a message or collection of messages that consists of an ordered sequence of symbols, or it is the meaning that can be interpreted from such a message or collection of messages. Information can be recorded or transmitted. It can be recorded as...
and knowledge
Knowledge
Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something unknown, which can include information, facts, descriptions, or skills acquired through experience or education. It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject...
makes it essentially incompatible with notions of proprietary software
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...
, copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
s, patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
s, subscription services, etc. Information is dynamic, ever-growing and evolving and cannot be contained within (any) ideological structure.
According to this philosophy, hackers
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
, cracker
Software cracking
Software cracking is the modification of software to remove or disable features which are considered undesirable by the person cracking the software, usually related to protection methods: copy protection, trial/demo version, serial number, hardware key, date checks, CD check or software annoyances...
s, and phreakers are liberators of information which is being held hostage
Hostage
A hostage is a person or entity which is held by a captor. The original definition meant that this was handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war...
by agents demanding money for its release. Other participants in this network include Cypherpunks who educate people to use public-key cryptography
Public-key cryptography
Public-key cryptography refers to a cryptographic system requiring two separate keys, one to lock or encrypt the plaintext, and one to unlock or decrypt the cyphertext. Neither key will do both functions. One of these keys is published or public and the other is kept private...
to protect the privacy of their messages from corporate or governmental snooping and programmer
Programmer
A programmer, computer programmer or coder is someone who writes computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software. One who practices or professes a formal approach to...
s who write free software and open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
code
Code
A code is a rule for converting a piece of information into another form or representation , not necessarily of the same type....
. Still others create Free-Net
Free-Net
A free-net was originally meant to mean a computer system which provides public access to a large number of resources including community information through text-based dialup...
s allowing users to gain access to computer resources for which they would otherwise need an account. They might also break copyright law etc. by swapping music, movies, or other copyrighted materials over the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
.
Bradley Manning is alleged to have said "Information should be free" to Adrian Lamo
Adrian Lamo
Adrian Lamo is a threat analyst and "grey hat" hacker. He first gained media attention for breaking into several high-profile computer networks, including those of The New York Times, Yahoo!, and Microsoft, culminating in his 2003 arrest...
when explaining a rationale for US government documents to be released to Wikileaks
Wikileaks
WikiLeaks is an international self-described not-for-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. Its website, launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organisation, claimed a database of more...
. The narrative goes on with Manning wondering if he is a "'hacker', 'cracker', 'hacktivist', 'leaker' or what".
Literary usage
In the Fall RevolutionKen MacLeod
Ken MacLeod , is a Scottish science fiction writer.MacLeod was born in Stornoway. He graduated from Glasgow University with a degree in zoology and has worked as a computer programmer and written a masters thesis on biomechanics....
series of science-fiction books, anarchist sci-fi author Ken Macleod
Ken MacLeod
Ken MacLeod , is a Scottish science fiction writer.MacLeod was born in Stornoway. He graduated from Glasgow University with a degree in zoology and has worked as a computer programmer and written a masters thesis on biomechanics....
riffs and puns on the expression by writing about entities composed of information actually "wanting", as in desiring, freedom and the scheming of several human characters with differing political and ideological agenda, to facilitate or disrupt these entities' quest for freedom.
In the cyberpunk world of post-singularity
Technological singularity
Technological singularity refers to the hypothetical future emergence of greater-than-human intelligence through technological means. Since the capabilities of such an intelligence would be difficult for an unaided human mind to comprehend, the occurrence of a technological singularity is seen as...
transhuman culture by Charles Stross
Charles Stross
Charles David George "Charlie" Stross is a British writer of science fiction, Lovecraftian horror and fantasy. He was born in Leeds.Stross specialises in hard science fiction and space opera...
, described in his books like Accelerando
Accelerando (novel)
Accelerando is a 2005 science fiction novel consisting of a series of interconnected short stories by British author Charles Stross. As well as normal hardback and paperback editions, it was released as a free e-book under the Creative Commons attribution-noncommercial-no derivatives license...
and Singularity Sky
Singularity Sky
- External links :* at * * at Worlds Without End...
, the wish of information to be free is a law of nature.
See also
- 2600: The Hacker Quarterly2600: The Hacker Quarterly2600: The Hacker Quarterly is an American publication that specializes in publishing technical information on a variety of subjects including telephone switching systems, Internet protocols and services, as well as general news concerning the computer "underground" and left wing, and sometimes ,...
- Crypto-anarchismCrypto-anarchismCrypto-anarchism expounds the use of strong public-key cryptography to bring about privacy and freedom. It was described by Vernor Vinge as a cyberspatial realization of anarchism. Crypto-anarchists aim to create cryptographic software that can be used to evade prosecution and harassment while...
- CypherpunkCypherpunkA cypherpunk is an activist advocating widespread use of strong cryptography as a route to social and political change.Originally communicating through the Cypherpunks electronic mailing list, informal groups aimed to achieve privacy and security through proactive use of cryptography...
- Free contentFree contentFree content, or free information, is any kind of functional work, artwork, or other creative content that meets the definition of a free cultural work...
- Free culture movementFree Culture movementThe free culture movement is a social movement that promotes the freedom to distribute and modify creative works in the form of free content by using the Internet and other forms of media....
- Freedom of informationFreedom of informationFreedom of information refers to the protection of the right to freedom of expression with regards to the Internet and information technology . Freedom of information may also concern censorship in an information technology context, i.e...
- Free Haven Project
- Freedom of informationFreedom of informationFreedom of information refers to the protection of the right to freedom of expression with regards to the Internet and information technology . Freedom of information may also concern censorship in an information technology context, i.e...
- FreenetFreenetFreenet is a decentralized, censorship-resistant distributed data store originally designed by Ian Clarke. According to Clarke, Freenet aims to provide freedom of speech through a peer-to-peer network with strong protection of anonymity; as part of supporting its users' freedom, Freenet is free and...
- Free softwareFree softwareFree software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
- HacktivismHacktivismHacktivism is the use of computers and computer networks as a means of protest to promote political ends. The term was first coined in 1994 by a member of the Cult of the Dead Cow hacker collective named Omega...
- HacktivismoHacktivismoHacktivismo is an offshoot of CULT OF THE DEAD COW , whose beliefs include access to information as a basic human right. It was founded in 1999....
- Horror vacui (physics)Horror vacui (physics)In physics horror vacui, or plenism, is a theory first proposed by Aristotle in the Fourth book of Physics that nature abhors a vacuum, and therefore empty space would always be trying to suck in gas or liquids to avoid being empty. The theory was widely accepted for a long time and supported by...
- Information activistInformation activistAn information activist is someone who works to make information available to the general population. Library and Information Scientist Anthony Molaro coined the term in 2009: "An information activist is a vigorous advocate of knowledge gained through study, communication, research or instruction."...
- Internet censorshipInternet censorshipInternet censorship is the control or suppression of the publishing of, or access to information on the Internet. It may be carried out by governments or by private organizations either at the behest of government or on their own initiative...
- Internet privacyInternet privacyInternet privacy involves the right or mandate of personal privacy concerning the storing, repurposing, providing to third-parties, and displaying of information pertaining to oneself via the Internet. Privacy can entail both Personally Identifying Information or non-PII information such as a...
- NetsukukuNetsukukuNetsukuku is the name of an experimental peer-to-peer routing system, developed by the in 2006, created to build up a distributed network, anonymous and censorship-free, fully independent but not necessarily separated from the Internet, without the support of any server, ISP and no central...
- OpennessOpennessOpenness is the quality of being open. It sometimes refers to a very general philosophical position from which some individuals and organizations operate, often highlighted by a decision-making process recognizing communal management by distributed stakeholders rather than a centralized authority...
- Portable TorPortable TorPortableTor is a free repackaged version of the bundled Tor Software by Roger Dingledine and Nick Mathewson. The program allows the end user to connect to the Tor anonymity network from a removable media without installing anything to the hard drive...
- Streisand effectStreisand effectThe Streisand effect is a primarily online phenomenon in which an attempt to hide or remove a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely...
- Tor (anonymity network)Tor (anonymity network)Tor is a system intended to enable online anonymity. Tor client software routes Internet traffic through a worldwide volunteer network of servers in order to conceal a user's location or usage from someone conducting network surveillance or traffic analysis...
- Tor-ramdiskTor-ramdiskTor-ramdisk is an i686 uClibc-based micro Linux distribution whose only purpose is to host a Tor server in an environment that maximizes security and privacy. Tor is a network of virtual tunnels that allows people and groups to improve their privacy and security on the Internet...
- TransparencyTransparency (humanities)Transparency, as used in science, engineering, business, the humanities and in a social context more generally, implies openness, communication, and accountability. Transparency is operating in such a way that it is easy for others to see what actions are performed...