Stallman Says Pirate Party Hurts Free Software

bonch writes "Richard Stallman has written an article on the GNU Web site describing the effect the Swedish Pirate Party's platform would have on the free software movement. While he supports general changes to copyright law, he makes a point that many anti-copyright proponents don't realize — the GPL itself is a copyright license that relies on copyright law to protect access to source code. According to Stallman, the Pirate Party's proposal of a five-year limit on copyright would remove the freedom users have to gain access to source code by eventually allowing its inclusion in proprietary products. Stallman suggests requiring proprietary software to also release its code within five years to even the balance of power."

Comments

Re:Stallman hurts free software

[Enderandrew]

I understand the DRM and GPL offer very differing sets of restrictions, but the point is that they are both a series of restrictions aimed at protecting the code/creation of the creator. Stallman thinks creators don't have the right to protect their code with DRM because he doesn't like that set of restrictions.

He criticizes companies like Mozilla, because they allow users to install proprietary extensions that aren't GPL. He has said USERS shouldn't have the freedom to mix proprietary software with FOSS software. Removing the rights of users is no different from DRM.