Computers can be one of the best technologies to enable to unify communities around a common goal, and to give all members of a community an equal chance to get their ideas out.
But for this to be fully realized, computers and the software they run should be open to be studied, modified, and distributed freely by anyone who has an interest on doing so. There shouldn't be any barrier that impedes the person who wishes study, or modify, his computer or the software it runs.
Locking people from doing so, endangers our right to really do what we want with our property and data. We should be able to freely modify our computers and software to meet our needs and specifications, and to know that our data is safe from third parties who seek to have it without our knowledge or permission.
No single entity should be the only one with lock and key to the internals of the software and hardware we use, and rely on, to communicate and use to conduct our daily lives.
The end user should have the right to study the source code, or technical blueprint, and to make any modification that the user believes necessary.
If there should be a condition to do this, is that those modifications should be shared back with where the source code came from. Other than that, there should be no other restriction whatsoever to be able to do so.
At the end, this is the most beneficial practice for the community at large.
If there should be a condition to do this, is that those modifications should be shared back with where the source code came from. Other than that, there should be no other restriction whatsoever to be able to do so.
At the end, this is the most beneficial practice for the community at large.
No comments:
Post a Comment