From 5d6f7b414de4b04ddc19629ac6d1f5e5f3cb42ac Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Tong Hui Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2016 16:52:03 +0800 Subject: first --- docs/right-to-read.md | 339 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 339 insertions(+) create mode 100644 docs/right-to-read.md (limited to 'docs/right-to-read.md') diff --git a/docs/right-to-read.md b/docs/right-to-read.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0bfa8d0 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/right-to-read.md @@ -0,0 +1,339 @@ +--- +Generator: 'texi2html 1.82' +description: Untitled Document +distribution: global +keywords: Untitled Document +resource-type: document +title: Untitled Document +... + +1. The Right to Read {#the-right-to-read .chapter} +==================== + +@firstcopyingnotice{{ Copyright © 1996, 2002, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2014 +Richard Stallman\ + {This essay was written in 1996 and was published as “The Right to +Read: A Dystopian Short Story” in Communications of the ACM, vol. 40, n. +2, February 1997. This version is part of @fsfsthreecite} *From The Road to Tycho, a collection of articles about +the antecedents of the Lunarian Revolution, published in Luna City in +2096.*\ + For Dan Halbert, the road to Tycho began in college—when Lissa Lenz +asked to borrow his computer. Hers had broken down, and unless she could +borrow another, she would fail her midterm project. There was no one she +dared ask, except Dan. + +This put Dan in a dilemma. He had to help her—but if he lent her his +computer, she might read his books. Aside from the fact that you could +go to prison for many years for letting someone else read your books, +the very idea shocked him at first. Like everyone, he had been taught +since elementary school that sharing books was nasty and wrong—something +that only pirates would do. + +And there wasn’t much chance that the SPA—the Software Protection +Authority—would fail to catch him. In his software class, Dan had +learned that each book had a copyright monitor that reported when and +where it was read, and by whom, to Central Licensing. (They used this +information to catch reading pirates, but also to sell personal interest +profiles to retailers.) The next time his computer was networked, +Central Licensing would find out. He, as computer owner, would receive +the harshest punishment—for not taking pains to prevent the crime. + +Of course, Lissa did not necessarily intend to read his books. She might +want the computer only to write her midterm. But Dan knew she came from +a middle-class family and could hardly afford the tuition, let alone her +reading fees. Reading his books might be the only way she could +graduate. He understood this situation; he himself had had to borrow to +pay for all the research papers he read. (Ten percent of those fees went +to the researchers who wrote the papers; since Dan aimed for an academic +career, he could hope that his own research papers, if frequently +referenced, would bring in enough to repay this loan.) + +Later on, Dan would learn there was a time when anyone could go to the +library and read journal articles, and even books, without having to +pay. There were independent scholars who read thousands of pages without +government library grants. But in the 1990s, both commercial and +nonprofit journal publishers had begun charging fees for access. By +2047, libraries offering free public access to scholarly literature were +a dim memory. + +There were ways, of course, to get around the SPA and Central Licensing. +They were themselves illegal. Dan had had a classmate in software, Frank +Martucci, who had obtained an illicit debugging tool, and used it to +skip over the copyright monitor code when reading books. But he had told +too many friends about it, and one of them turned him in to the SPA for +a reward (students deep in debt were easily tempted into betrayal). In +2047, Frank was in prison, not for pirate reading, but for possessing a +debugger. + +Dan would later learn that there was a time when anyone could have +debugging tools. There were even free debugging tools available on CD or +downloadable over the net. But ordinary users started using them to +bypass copyright monitors, and eventually a judge ruled that this had +become their principal use in actual practice. This meant they were +illegal; the debuggers’ developers were sent to prison. + +Programmers still needed debugging tools, of course, but debugger +vendors in 2047 distributed numbered copies only, and only to officially +licensed and bonded programmers. The debugger Dan used in software class +was kept behind a special firewall so that it could be used only for +class exercises. + +It was also possible to bypass the copyright monitors by installing a +modified system kernel. Dan would eventually find out about the free +kernels, even entire free operating systems, that had existed around the +turn of the century. But not only were they illegal, like debuggers—you +could not install one if you had one, without knowing your computer’s +root password. And neither the FBI nor Microsoft Support would tell you +that. + +Dan concluded that he couldn’t simply lend Lissa his computer. But he +couldn’t refuse to help her, because he loved her. Every chance to speak +with her filled him with delight. And that she chose him to ask for +help, that could mean she loved him too. + +Dan resolved the dilemma by doing something even more unthinkable—he +lent her the computer, and told her his password. This way, if Lissa +read his books, Central Licensing would think he was reading them. It +was still a crime, but the SPA would not automatically find out about +it. They would only find out if Lissa reported him. + +Of course, if the school ever found out that he had given Lissa his own +password, it would be curtains for both of them as students, regardless +of what she had used it for. School policy was that any interference +with their means of monitoring students’ computer use was grounds for +disciplinary action. It didn’t matter whether you did anything +harmful—the offense was making it hard for the administrators to check +on you. They assumed this meant you were doing something else forbidden, +and they did not need to know what it was. + +Students were not usually expelled for this—not directly. Instead they +were banned from the school computer systems, and would inevitably fail +all their classes. + +Later, Dan would learn that this kind of university policy started only +in the 1980s, when university students in large numbers began using +computers. Previously, universities maintained a different approach to +student discipline; they punished activities that were harmful, not +those that merely raised suspicion. + +Lissa did not report Dan to the SPA. His decision to help her led to +their marriage, and also led them to question what they had been taught +about piracy as children. The couple began reading about the history of +copyright, about the Soviet Union and its restrictions on copying, and +even the original United States Constitution. They moved to Luna, where +they found others who had likewise gravitated away from the long arm of +the SPA. When the Tycho Uprising began in 2062, the universal right to +read soon became one of its central aims. + +### Author’s Notes {#authors-notes .subheading} + +- This story is supposedly a historical article that will be written + in the future by someone else, describing Dan Halbert’s youth under + a repressive society shaped by the enemies that use “pirate” + as propaganda. So it uses the terminology of that society. I have + tried to project it from today so as to sound even more oppressive. + See “Piracy,” on @pageref{Piracy}. +- The following note has been updated several times since the first + publication of the story.\ + The right to read is a battle being fought today. Although it may + take 50 years for our present way of life to fade into obscurity, + most of the specific laws and practices described above have already + been proposed; many have been enacted into law in the US + and elsewhere. In the US, the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright + Act (DMCA) established the legal basis to restrict the reading and + lending of computerized books (and other works as well). The + European Union imposed similar restrictions in a 2001 + copyright directive. In France, under the DADVSI law adopted in + 2006, mere possession of a copy of DeCSS, the free program to + decrypt video on a DVD, is a crime. + + In 2001, Disney-funded Senator Hollings proposed a bill called the + SSSCA that would require every new computer to have mandatory + copy-restriction facilities that the user cannot bypass. Following + the Clipper chip and similar US government key-escrow proposals, + this shows a long-term trend: computer systems are increasingly set + up to give absentees with clout control over the people actually + using the computer system. The SSSCA was later renamed to the + unpronounceable CBDTPA, which was glossed as the “Consume But Don’t + Try Programming Act.” + + The Republicans took control of the US Senate shortly thereafter. + They are less tied to Hollywood than the Democrats, so they did not + press these proposals. Now that the Democrats are back in control, + the danger is once again higher. + + In 2001 the US began attempting to use the proposed “Free Trade” + Area of the Americas (FTAA) treaty to impose the same rules on all + the countries in the Western Hemisphere. The FTAA is one of the + so-called “free trade” treaties, which are actually designed to give + business increased power over democratic governments; imposing laws + like the DMCA is typical of this spirit. The FTAA was effectively + killed by Lula, President of Brazil, who rejected the DMCA + requirement and others. + + Since then, the US has imposed similar requirements on countries + such as Australia and Mexico through bilateral “free trade” + agreements, and on countries such as Costa Rica through another + treaty, CAFTA. Ecuador’s President Correa refused to sign a “free + trade” agreement with the US, but I’ve heard Ecuador had adopted + something like the DMCA in 2003. + + One of the ideas in the story was not proposed in reality + until 2002. This is the idea that the FBI and Microsoft will keep + the root passwords for your personal computers, and not let you + have them. + + The proponents of this scheme have given it names such as “trusted + computing” and “Palladium.” We call it “treacherous + computing”[(1)](#FOOT1) because the effect is to make your computer + obey companies even to the extent of disobeying and defying you. + This was implemented in 2007 as part of Windows Vista;[(2)](#FOOT2) + we expect Apple to do something similar. In this scheme, it is the + manufacturer that keeps the secret code, but the FBI would have + little trouble getting it. + + What Microsoft keeps is not exactly a password in the traditional + sense; no person ever types it on a terminal. Rather, it is a + signature and encryption key that corresponds to a second key stored + in your computer. This enables Microsoft, and potentially any web + sites that cooperate with Microsoft, the ultimate control over what + the user can do on his own computer. + + Vista also gives Microsoft additional powers; for instance, + Microsoft can forcibly install upgrades, and it can order all + machines running Vista to refuse to run a certain device driver. The + main purpose of Vista’s many restrictions is to impose DRM (Digital + Restrictions Management) that users can’t overcome. The threat of + DRM is why we have established the Defective by Design campaign, at + [DefectiveByDesign.org](DefectiveByDesign.org). + + When this story was first written, the SPA was threatening small + Internet service providers, demanding they permit the SPA to monitor + all users. Most ISPs surrendered when threatened, because they + cannot afford to fight back in court. One ISP, Community ConneXion + in Oakland, California, refused the demand and was actually sued. + The SPA later dropped the suit, but obtained the DMCA, which gave + them the power they sought. The SPA, which actually stands for + Software Publishers Association, has been replaced in its + police-like role by the Business Software Alliance. The BSA is not, + today, an official police force; unofficially, it acts like one. + Using methods reminiscent of the erstwhile Soviet Union, it invites + people to inform on their coworkers and friends. A BSA terror + campaign in Argentina in 2001 made slightly veiled threats that + people sharing software would be raped. + + The university security policies described above are not imaginary. + For example, a computer at one Chicago-area university displayed + this message upon login: + + > This system is for the use of authorized users only. Individuals + > using this computer system without authority or in the excess of + > their authority are subject to having all their activities on this + > system monitored and recorded by system personnel. In the course + > of monitoring individuals improperly using this system or in the + > course of system maintenance, the activities of authorized user + > may also be monitored. Anyone using this system expressly consents + > to such monitoring and is advised that if such monitoring reveals + > possible evidence of illegal activity or violation of University + > regulations system personnel may provide the evidence of such + > monitoring to University authorities and/or law + > enforcement officials. + + This is an interesting approach to the Fourth Amendment: pressure + most everyone to agree, in advance, to waive their rights under it. + +### Bad News {#bad-news .subheading} + +The battle for the right to read is already in progress. The enemy is is +organized, while we are not, so it is going against us. Examples of bad +things that have happened since the original publication of this article +include: + +- Today’s commercial e-books abolish readers’ traditional freedoms. + See “The Danger of E-Books” (@pageref{E-Books Danger}) for more + on this. +- The publication of a “biology textbook” web site[(3)](#FOOT3) that + you can access only by signing a contract not to lend it to anyone + else,[(4)](#FOOT4) which the publisher can revoke at will. +- Electronic publishing’s curtailment of user freedom.[(5)](#FOOT5) +- Books inside computers:[(6)](#FOOT6) software to control who can + read books and documents on a computer. + +If we want to stop the bad news and create some good news, we need to +organize and fight. The FSF’s Defective by Design campaign has made a +start; subscribe to the campaign’s mailing list to lend a hand. And join +the FSF, at , to help fund our work. + +### References {#references .subheading} + +- @raggedright +- United States Patent and Trademark Office, Intellectual Property + \[*sic*\] and the National Information Infrastructure: The Report of + the Working Group on Intellectual Property \[*sic*\] Rights, + Washington, DC: GPO, 1995. (See “Did You Say ‘Intellectual + Property’? It’s a Seductive Mirage” (@pageref{Not IPR}) for why the + term “Intellectual Property” is incoherent and should never + be used.) +- Samuelson, Pamela, “The Copyright Grab,” *Wired,* January 1996, + 4.01, . +- Boyle, James, “Sold Out,” *New York Times,* 31 March 1996, sec. + 4, p. 15; also available at + . +- Editorial, *Washington Post,* “Public Data or Private Data,” + 3 November 1996, sec. C, p. 6, [http://web.archive.org/web/\ + 20130508120533/http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/199611/msg00012.html](http://web.archive.org/web/%3Cbr%3E20130508120533/http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/199611/msg00012.html). +- Union for the Public Domain—an organization which aims to resist and + reverse the overextension of copyright and patent powers. @end + raggedright + +
+ +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +### Footnotes + +### [(1)](#DOCF1) + +@raggedright See “Can You Trust Your Computer?” (@pageref{Can You +Trust}) for more on “trusted computing.” @end raggedright + +### [(2)](#DOCF2) + +@raggedright See for our campaigns against +Windows Vista. @end raggedright + +### [(3)](#DOCF3) + +@raggedright Nature America Inc., “Announcing Principles of Biology, an +Interactive Textbook by Nature Education,” +. @end raggedright + +### [(4)](#DOCF4) + +@raggedright Nature America Inc., “Principles of Science Privacy +Notice,” accessed August 2015, +. @end raggedright + +### [(5)](#DOCF5) + +@raggedright See Don Clark’s article “Seybold Opens Chapter on Digital +Books” (31 August 1999, +[http://www.zdnet.com/article/seybold-opens-chapter-on-\ +digital-books/](http://www.zdnet.com/article/seybold-opens-chapter-on-%3Cbr%3Edigital-books/)), +about distribution of books in electronic form and copyright issues +affecting the right to read a copy. @end raggedright + +### [(6)](#DOCF6) + +@raggedright “Microsoft Announces New Software for Reading on Screen,” +30 August 1999, +. @end +raggedright + +
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