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You have to change perspective: Why don’t have I a right to keep my source code secret?

When I open an ice cream parlor you don’t have a right to know my recipe†. Why does that change with software?

Your argumentative work has to start there. You can’t just steamroll critics by saying “But the Freedoms are and should be Freedoms”.

† That right is of course limited: My right to keep the recipe secret is not absolute. I have to adhere to certain health and safety regulations, being able to keep the recipe secret does not override those regulations.



We can't really interact with ice cream on a higher level than would an animal, which is fine, that's all it's for. But software is a tool, and we learn from and improve our tools; that's what makes us human rather than mere consumers.


So substitute ice cream with hammers, axes, screwdrivers, pens, whatever. I don't see the point.




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