''Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman'' is a collection of writings (mostly essays, with occasional articles, interviews and speech transcripts) by

Richard Stallman Richard Matthew Stallman (; born March 16, 1953), also known by his initials, rms, is an American free software movement activist and programmer. He campaigns for software to be distributed in such a manner that its users have the freedom to ...

. It introduces the subject of history and development of the

GNU Project The GNU Project () is a free software, mass collaboration project announced by Richard Stallman on September 27, 1983. Its goal is to give computer users freedom and control in their use of their computers and computing devices by collaborat ...

and the

Free Software Foundation The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Richard Stallman on October 4, 1985, to support the free software movement, with the organization's preference for software being distributed under copyleft (" ...

, explains authors philosophical position on

Free Software movement The free software movement is a social movement with the goal of obtaining and guaranteeing certain freedoms for software users, namely the freedoms to run the software, to study the software, to modify the software, and to share copies of the s ...

, deals with the topics of software ethics, copyright and patent laws, as well as business practices in application to computer software. The author proposes

Free software license A free-software license is a notice that grants the recipient of a piece of software extensive rights to modify and redistribute that software. These actions are usually prohibited by copyright law, but the rights-holder (usually the author) ...

s (mostly

GPL The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was the first copyleft for general u ...

) as a solution to social issues created by

proprietary software Proprietary software is software that is deemed within the free and open-source software to be non-free because its creator, publisher, or other rightsholder or rightsholder partner exercises a legal monopoly afforded by modern copyright and i ...

and described in essays. The introduction is written by

Lawrence Lessig Lester Lawrence Lessig III (born June 3, 1961) is an American academic, attorney, and political activist. He is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the former director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard ...

, professor at Harvard Law School. The book is available online allowing verbatim (without making changes) copying and distribution of the whole collection, while each essay is licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0 International License.

Content

Three editions were published by GNU Press (in 2002, 2010 and 2015), each subsequent containing updated versions of the original essays and new works about emerging contemporary issues. The 3rd edition is divided into seven main parts: #''The GNU Project and Free Software'' – defines four essential software freedoms, shows ethical and social advantages of using and creating

free software Free software or libre software is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions. Free software is a matter of liberty, no ...

and explains Stallmans personal background on starting the GNU Project. It contains the original announcement of the project which became part of

GNU Manifesto __NOTOC__ The ''GNU Manifesto'' is a call-to-action by Richard Stallman encouraging participation and support of the GNU Project's goal in developing the GNU free computer operating system. The GNU Manifesto was published in March 1985 in '' D ...

. #''What's in a Name?'' – is dedicated to explaining Stallmans position on many naming conventions he considers wrong (

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

), harmful (free versus open-source), or in need of clarification ( GNU/Linux naming controversy). #''Copyright and Injustice'' – explains why current interpretation of copyright law does not meet the original purpose and goes as far as to state that it is even detrimental to that. Notably, it contains a short story entitled ''

The Right to Read ''The Right to Read'' is a short story by Richard Stallman, the founder of the Free Software Foundation, which was first published in 1997 in Communications of the ACM. It is a cautionary tale set in the year 2047, when DRM-like technologies are e ...

''. #''Software Patents: Danger to Programmers'' – does similar demonstration for patent law. #''Free Software Licensing'' – is dedicated to justifying a need for free software licenses, describing differences between them and explaining

copyleft Copyleft is the legal technique of granting certain freedoms over copies of copyrighted works with the requirement that the same rights be preserved in derivative works. In this sense, ''freedoms'' refers to the use of the work for any purpose ...

. It contains a full text of the

GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was the first copyleft for general ...

, the

GNU Lesser General Public License The GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) is a free-software license published by the Free Software Foundation (FSF). The license allows developers and companies to use and integrate a software component released under the LGPL into their own ...

and the GNU Free Documentation License. #''Traps and Challenges'' – outlines existing dangers to software freedom, like

DRM DRM may refer to: Government, military and politics * Defense reform movement, U.S. campaign inspired by Col. John Boyd * Democratic Republic of Madagascar, a former socialist state (1975–1992) on Madagascar * Direction du renseignement milita ...

software as a service Software as a service (SaaS ) is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. SaaS is also known as "on-demand software" and Web-based/Web-hosted software. SaaS is con ...

. #''Value Community and Your Freedom'' – is a set of essays on many topics, mainly Stallman's reflections on the community, society and democracy. In addition, the book contains three appendices: * ''A Note on Software'' * ''Translations of “Free Software” and “Gratis Software”'' * '' The Free Software Song'' *

References

External links

1st edition pdf download
from gnu.org
2nd edition pdf download
from gnu.org

( epub, mobi,

xhtml Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML) is part of the family of XML markup languages. It mirrors or extends versions of the widely used HyperText Markup Language (HTML), the language in which Web pages are formulated. While HTML, prior ...

)
3rd edition pdf download
from gnu.org
3rd edition in e-reader-compatible formats
(epub, mobi)
3rd edition
on FSF webshop
3rd edition TeX source code
from gnu.org
3rd edition Chinese version Online
an
its source code
by Beijing GNU/Linux User Group {{DEFAULTSORT:Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays Of Richard M. Stallman 2002 non-fiction books 2010 non-fiction books Books about free software Works about the information economy Copyleft media GNU Project

Content

See also

References

External links