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1. Why Copyleft? {#why-copyleft .chapter}
================
> When it comes to defending the freedom of others, to lie down and do
> nothing is an act of weakness, not humility.
In the GNU Project we usually recommend people use copyleft[(1)](#FOOT1)
licenses like GNU GPL, rather than permissive noncopyleft free software
licenses. We don’t argue harshly against the noncopyleft licenses—in
fact, we occasionally recommend them in special circumstances—but the
advocates of those licenses show a pattern of arguing harshly against
the GPL.
@firstcopyingnotice{{@footnoterule@smallskip Copyright © 2003, 2007,
2008, 2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.\
{This essay was originally published on <http://gnu.org>, in 2003. This
version is part of @fsfsthreecite}
In one such argument, a person stated that his use of one of the BSD
licenses was an “act of humility”: “I ask nothing of those who use my
code, except to credit me.” It is rather a stretch to describe a legal
demand for credit as “humility,” but there is a deeper point to be
considered here.
Humility is abnegating your own self interest, but you and the one who
uses your code are not the only ones affected by your choice of which
free software license to use for your code. Someone who uses your code
in a nonfree program is trying to deny freedom to others, and if you let
him do it, you’re failing to defend their freedom. When it comes to
defending the freedom of others, to lie down and do nothing is an act of
weakness, not humility.
Releasing your code under one of the BSD licenses, or some other
permissive noncopyleft license, is not doing wrong; the program is still
free software, and still a contribution to our community. But it is
weak, and in most cases it is not the best way to promote users’ freedom
to share and change software.
<div class="footnote">
------------------------------------------------------------------------
### Footnotes
### [(1)](#DOCF1)
@raggedright See “What Is Copyleft?” (@pageref{Copyleft}). @end
raggedright
</div>
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