Ethics and Information Technology, 2009

Abstract To many who develop and use free software, the GNU General Public License represents an embodiment of the meaning of free software. In this paper we examine the definition and meaning of free software in the context of three events surrounding the GNU General Public License. We use a case involving the GPU software project to establish the importance of Freedom 0 in the meaning of free software. We analyze version 3 of the GNU General Public License and conclude that although a credible case can be made that the ...

RECIIS, 2009

Organizational Information Systems in the Context of Globalization, 2003

Abstract: Although there is evidence of wide-spread organizational and societal adoption of open source and free software (OS/FS) products, processes, philosophy and business models, our understanding of OS/FS in the organizational and societal contexts is still quite limited. In this panel, we seek to stimulate an open and productive conversation by articulating the key research questions which have informed, and emerged from, the study of the socio-cultural, legal, ethical and policy issues associated with OS/FS.

Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications

Source Software.

Ethics and Information Technology, 2009

Script-ed, 2006

“Free software” is software that respects the users’ freedoms by granting them access to the source code, and allowing them to modify and redistribute the software at will. Richard Stallman, founder of the Free software movement, has argued that creating and distributing non-Free software is always a moral injustice. In this essay, I try to identify the ethical foundations of Stallmanism. I identify three major trends in Stallman’s thinking—libertarian, utilitarian, and communitarian—and I argue that none is sufficient to justify the radical claim that distributing non-Free software is always wrong (unless we accept extremely demanding ethical standards that Stallman himself does not consistently endorse). I recommend thinking of Stallmanism as an attempt to optimize the satisfaction of a number of core values, including freedom, cooperation, and happiness, and I stress the importance of connecting the Free software movement to other political struggles against oppression.

2002

Executive Summary Although Open Source and Free Software are no new phenomenon, they have shown a considerable increase of their importance just in recent years. However, many aspects of this domain still appear unknown or even strange. Economic exchange relations, as they occur within the community of OS/FS developers as well as in the traditional parts of capitalist economies, are usually based on the fundamental principles of private property and monetary payments.

The John Marshall Journal of Information Technology Privacy Law, 2011