www/philosophy free-software-rocket.html

[Rob Musial]

CVSROOT:        /web/www
Module name:    www
Changes by:     Rob Musial <rmmm>       20/10/05 14:27:06

Added files:
        philosophy     : free-software-rocket.html 

Log message:
        created free-software-rocket.html per RT#1623337

CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/free-software-rocket.html?cvsroot=www&rev=1.1

Patches:
Index: free-software-rocket.html
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+<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
+<!-- Parent-Version: 1.94 -->
+<!-- This page is derived from /server/standards/boilerplate.html -->
+<title>Should Rockets Have Only Free Software? Free Software and Appliances
+- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
+<!--#include virtual="/server/gnun/initial-translations-list.html" -->
+<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
+<h2>Should Rockets Have Only Free Software? Free Software and Appliances
+</h2>
+
+<p class="byline">by Richard Stallman</p>
+<hr class="thin" />
+
+
+<p>Could there be a rocket that is totally free software?  Should we
+demand that SpaceX liberate the software in its satellite launching
+rockets?  I don't think the person who asked me this was serious, but
+answering that question may illuminate similar issues about the sorts
+of products people really buy today.</p>
+
+<p>As far as I know, software as such is not capable of generating
+thrust.  A rocket is necessarily principally a physical device.  But
+it may include computerized control and telemetry systems, and thus
+software.</p>
+
+<p>If someone offered to sell me a rocket, I would treat it like any
+other appliance.  Consider, for instance, a thermostat.  If it
+contains software to be modified, all the software in it needs to be
+free.  If, however, the software in it need not ever be altered, and
+it communicates <i>only</i> through some limited interface, such as buttons
+on the control panel, a TV remote control, or a USB interface with a
+fixed set of commands, I would not consider it crucial what is inside
+the thermostat: whether it contains a special-purpose chip, or a
+processor running code, makes no direct difference to me as user.  If
+it does contain code, it might as well have a special chip instead, so
+I don't need to care which it is.</p>
+
+<p>I would object if that thermostat sent someone data about my
+activities, regardless of how that was implemented.  Once again,
+special chip or special code makes no direct difference.  Free
+software in it could give me a way to turn off the surveillance, but
+that is not the only way.  Another is by disconnecting its digital
+communication antennas, or switching them off.</p>
+
+<p>If the rocket contains software, releasing that as free software can
+be a contribution to the community, and we should appreciate that
+contribution &mdash; but that is a different issue.  Such release also
+makes it possible for people who have bought the rockets to work on
+improving the software in them, though the irreversible nature of many
+rocket failures may discourage tinkering.</p>
+
+<p>Given the experience of Tesla cars, which are full of surveillance and
+tracking malware that Tesla can change but the owner can't, I suppose
+SpaceX rockets have that too.  If someday rockets are sold like today's
+cars and tractors, proprietary software in them would be unjust
+(<a href="/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html">
+https://gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html</a>),
+and it would probably be malware (<a href="/malware/malware.html">
+https://gnu.org/malware/</a>).  If the
+manufacturer could install modified software in it but the owner could
+not, that too would be unjust.  People are starting to recognize this:
+look at the right-to-repair movement, which demands only the beginning
+of these freedoms (much less than freeing the car's software) and
+nonetheless faces a hard fight.</p>
+
+<p>However, I don't think SpaceX sells rockets; I think it provides the
+service of launching payloads in its own rockets.  That makes the
+issue totally different: if you are a customer, you're not operating
+the rocket; SpaceX is doing that.</p>
+
+<p>The rocket that SpaceX uses is not like your own car or van, or even a
+car or van leased to you.  Rather, it's comparable to a moving
+company's van that is, for the moment, transporting your books and
+furniture to your specified destination.  It is the moving company
+that deserves control over the software in that van &mdash; not the
+customer of the moment.</p>
+
+<p>It makes sense to treat the job of transporting your things to Outer
+Mongolia, or to outer space, as a service because the job is mostly
+self-contained and mostly independent of the customer (&ldquo;mostly&rdquo;
+does not mean &ldquo;absolutely&rdquo; or &ldquo;100%&rdquo;),
+so the instructions for the job as simple (take these boxes to address
+A by date D).</p>
+
+<p>But there is one kind of activity which should never be treated as a
+service: private computational activity.  That's because a private
+computational activity is exactly what you could do on your own
+computer in freedom, given suitable free software.</p>
+
+<p>When a program's task is to do computing for you, you are entitled to
+demand control over what it does and how, not just that it obey your
+orders as it interprets them.  You are entitled, in other words, to
+use your own copy of a free program, running on a computer you
+control.</p>
+
+<p>No wonder there are companies that would like you to cede control over
+your computing activities to them, by labeling those activities as
+&ldquo;services&rdquo; to be done on their servers with programs that they
+control.  Even things as minutely directed by the user as text
+editing!  This is a scheme to get you to substitute their power for
+your freedom.  We call that &ldquo;Service as a Software
+Substitute&rdquo;, SaaSS for short (see
+<a href="/philosophy/who-does-that-server-really-serve.html">
+https://gnu.org/philosophy/who-does-that-server-really-serve.html</a>),
+and we reject it.</p>
+
+<p>For instance, imagine a hypothetical SpaceX Smart Spaceship, which as
+a &ldquo;service&rdquo; wants to know all about your business so SpaceX servers
+can decide for you what cargoes to buy and sell on which planets.
+That planning service would be SaaSS &mdash; therefore a dis-service.
+Instead of using that dis-service, you should do that planning with
+your copy of free software on your own computer.</p>
+
+<p>SpaceX and others could then legitimately offer you the
+non-computational service of transporting cargoes, and you could use
+it sometimes; or you could choose some other method, perhaps to buy a
+spaceship and operate it yourself.</p>
+
+
+</div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above -->
+<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" -->
+<div id="footer">
+<div class="unprintable">
+
+<p>Please send general FSF &amp; GNU inquiries to
+<a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org";>&lt;gnu@gnu.org&gt;</a>.
+There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a>
+the FSF.  Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent
+to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org";>&lt;webmasters@gnu.org&gt;</a>.</p>
+
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+
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+Please see the <a
+href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
+README</a> for information on coordinating and contributing translations
+of this article.</p>
+</div>
+
+<!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to
+     files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should
+     be under CC BY-ND 4.0.  Please do NOT change or remove this
+     without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first.
+     Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the
+     document.  For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the
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+     
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+
+<p>Copyright &copy; 2020 Richard Stallman</p>
+
+<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license"
+href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/";>Creative
+Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p>
+
+<!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" -->
+
+<p class="unprintable">Updated:
+<!-- timestamp start -->
+$Date: 2020/10/05 18:27:05 $
+<!-- timestamp end -->
+</p>
+</div>
+</div><!-- for class="inner", starts in the banner include -->
+</body>
+</html>