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Title: The right to read =
Le droit de lire
Author: Richard Stallman
Translator: Pierre Sarrazin
Release date: November 1, 1999 [eBook #1981]
Most recently updated: April 16, 2024
Language: English, French
Original publication: S.l.: s.n, 1999
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RIGHT TO READ = ***
The right to read =
["Stallman, Richard", "Sarrazin, Pierre"]
1996
2024-04-16
Unknown
en
"The Right to Read = Le droit de lire" by Richard Stallman is a thought-provoking publication written in the late 20th century. This narrative, presented as a fictional tale interwoven with real-world implications, explores the intersection of copyright law, digital access, and individual rights in an increasingly regulated society. The story critiques the limitations placed on reading and sharing knowledge due to stringent intellectual property laws and highlights the ethical dilemmas that arise from these practices. The book follows Dan Halbert, a college student faced with a moral quandary when his classmate Lissa Lenz asks to borrow his computer after hers breaks down. Concerned that lending her his computer could lead to repercussions for both of them if she accesses his books—given the oppressive presence of the Software Protection Authority (SPA) monitoring usage—Dan faces an internal conflict between helping her and adhering to the laws that restrict sharing knowledge. As the narrative unfolds, their relationship deepens and they embark on a journey of discovering the history of copyright laws and the consequences of compliance to oppressive systems, ultimately joining a movement that advocates for the universal right to read. The story serves as a cautionary tale that resonates with contemporary discussions about access to information in the digital age. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
Copyright (C) 1996 Richard Stallman
The Right to Read
by Richard Stallman
[Illustration]
Table of Contents
Author's NoteAuthor's Note
References
Other Texts to Read
This article appeared in the February 1997 issue of Communications of
the ACM (Volume 40, Number 2).
(from "The Road To Tycho", a collection of articles about the
antecedents of the Lunarian Revolution, published in Luna City in 2096)
For Dan Halbert, the road to Tycho began in college--when Lissa Lenz
asked to borrow his computer. Hers had broken down, and unless she
could borrow another, she would fail her midterm project. There was no
one she dared ask, except Dan.
This put Dan in a dilemma. He had to help her--but if he lent her his
computer, she might read his books. Aside from the fact that you could
go to prison for many years for letting someone else read your books,
the very idea shocked him at first. Like everyone, he had been taught
since elementary school that sharing books was nasty and
wrong--something that only pirates would do.
And there wasn't much chance that the SPA--the Software Protection
Authority--would fail to catch him. In his software class, Dan had
learned that each book had a copyright monitor that reported when and
where it was read, and by whom, to Central Licensing. (They used this
information to catch reading pirates, but also to sell personal
interest profiles to retailers.) The next time his computer was
networked, Central Licensing would find out. He, as computer owner,
would receive the harshest punishment--for not taking pains to prevent
the crime.
Of course, Lissa did not necessarily intend to read his books. She
might want the computer only to write her midterm. But Dan knew she
came from a middle-class family and could hardly afford the tuition,
let alone her reading fees. Reading his books might be the only way she
could graduate. He understood this situation; he himself had had to
borrow to pay for all the research papers he read. (10% of those fees
went to the researchers who wrote the papers; since Dan aimed for an
academic career, he could hope that his own research papers, if
frequently referenced, would bring in enough to repay this loan.)
Later on, Dan would learn there was a time when anyone could go to the
library and read journal articles, and even books, without having to
pay. There were independent scholars who read thousands of pages
without government library grants. But in the 1990s, both commercial
and nonprofit journal publishers had begun charging fees for access. By
2047, libraries offering free public access to scholarly literature
were a dim memory.
There were ways, of course, to get around the SPA and Central
Licensing. They were themselves illegal. Dan had had a classmate in
software, Frank Martucci, who had obtained an illicit debugging tool,
and used it to skip over the copyright monitor code when reading books.
But he had told too many friends about it, and one of them turned him
in to the SPA for a reward (students deep in debt were easily tempted
into betrayal). In 2047, Frank was in prison, not for pirate reading,
but for possessing a debugger.
Dan would later learn that there was a time when anyone could have
debugging tools. There were even free debugging tools available on CD
or downloadable over the net. But ordinary users started using them to
bypass copyright monitors, and eventually a judge ruled that this had
become their principal use in actual practice. This meant they were
illegal; the debuggers' developers were sent to prison.
Programmers still needed debugging tools, of course, but debugger
vendors in 2047 distributed numbered copies only, and only to
officially licensed and bonded programmers. The debugger Dan used in
software class was kept behind a special firewall so that it could be
used only for class exercises.
It was also possible to bypass the copyright monitors by installing a
modified system kernel. Dan would eventually find out about the free
kernels, even entire free operating systems, that had existed around
the turn of the century. But not only were they illegal, like
debuggers--you could not install one if you had one, without knowing
your computer's root password. And neither the FBI nor Microsoft
Support would tell you that.
Dan concluded that he couldn't simply lend Lissa his computer. But he
couldn't refuse to help her, because he loved her. Every chance to
speak with her filled him with delight. And that she chose him to ask
for help, that could mean she loved him too.
Dan resolved the dilemma by doing something even more unthinkable--he
lent her the computer, and told her his password. This way, if Lissa
read his books, Central Licensing would think he was reading them. It
was still a crime, but the SPA would not automatically find out about
it. They would only find out if Lissa reported him.
Of course, if the school ever found out that he had given Lissa his own
password, it would be curtains for both of them as students, regardless
of what she had used it for. School policy was that any interference
with their means of monitoring students' computer use was grounds for
disciplinary action. It didn't matter whether you did anything
harmful--the offense was making it hard for the administrators to check
on you. They assumed this meant you were doing something else
forbidden, and they did not need to know what it was.
Students were not usually expelled for this--not directly. Instead they
were banned from the school computer systems, and would inevitably fail
all their classes.
Later, Dan would learn that this kind of university policy started only
in the 1980s, when university students in large numbers began using
computers. Previously, universities maintained a different approach to
student discipline; they punished activities that were harmful, not
those that merely raised suspicion.
Lissa did not report Dan to the SPA. His decision to help her led to
their marriage, and also led them to question what they had been taught
about piracy as children. The couple began reading about the history of
copyright, about the Soviet Union and its restrictions on copying, and
even the original United States Constitution. They moved to Luna, where
they found others who had likewise gravitated away from the long arm of
the SPA. When the Tycho Uprising began in 2062, the universal right to
read soon became one of its central aims.
Author's NoteAuthor's Note
The right to read is a battle being fought today. Although it may take
50 years for our present way of life to fade into obscurity, most of
the specific laws and practices described above have already been
proposed--either by the Clinton Administration or by publishers.
There is one exception: the idea that the FBI and Microsoft will keep
the root passwords for personal computers. This is an extrapolation
from the Clipper chip and similar Clinton Administration key-escrow
proposals, together with a long-term trend: computer systems are
increasingly set up to give absentee operators control over the people
actually using the computer system.
The SPA, which actually stands for Software Publisher's Association, is
not today an official police force. Unofficially, it acts like one. It
invites people to inform on their coworkers and friends; like the
Clinton Administration, it advocates a policy of collective
responsibility whereby computer owners must actively enforce copyright
or be punished.
The SPA is currently threatening small Internet service providers,
demanding they permit the SPA to monitor all users. Most ISPs surrender
when threatened, because they cannot afford to fight back in court.
(Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 1 Oct 96, D3.) At least one ISP,
Community ConneXion in Oakland CA, refused the demand and was actually
sued. The SPA is said to have dropped this suit recently, but they are
sure to continue the campaign in various other ways.
The university security policies described above are not imaginary. For
example, a computer at one Chicago-area university prints this message
when you log in (quotation marks are in the original):
"This system is for the use of authorized users only. Individuals using
this computer system without authority or in the excess of their
authority are subject to having all their activities on this system
monitored and recorded by system personnel. In the course of monitoring
individuals improperly using this system or in the course of system
maintenance, the activities of authorized user may also be monitored.
Anyone using this system expressly consents to such monitoring and is
advised that if such monitoring reveals possible evidence of illegal
activity or violation of University regulations system personnel may
provide the evidence of such monitoring to University authorities
and/or law enforcement officials."
This is an interesting approach to the Fourth Amendment: pressure most
everyone to agree, in advance, to waive their rights under it.
ReferencesReferences
The administration's "White Paper": Information Infrastructure Task
Force, Intellectual Property and the National Information
Infrastructure: The Report of the Working Group on Intellectual
Property Rights (1995).
An explanation of the White Paper: The Copyright Grab, Pamela
Samuelson, Wired, Jan. 1996
Other Texts to ReadOther Texts to Read
FSF & GNU inquiries & questions to gnu@gnu.org. Other ways to contact
the FSF.
Comments on these web pages to webmasters@www.gnu.org, send other
questions to gnu@gnu.org.
Copyright 1996 Richard Stallman
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted
in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.
Updated: 12 Feb markg
* * * * *
Le droit de lire
Richard Stallman
[Illustration]
Table of Contents
Note de l'auteurNote de l'auteur
References
Cet article a été publié dans la parution de février 1997 de
Communications of the ACM (volume 40, numéro 2).
(extrait de "The Road to Tycho", une collection d'articles sur les
antécédents de la Révolution lunaire, publiée à Luna City en 2096)
Pour Dan Halbert, la route vers Tycho commença à l'université -- quand
Lissa Lenz lui demanda de lui prêter son ordinateur. Le sien était en
panne, et à moins qu'elle puisse en emprunter un autre, elle échouerait
son projet de mi-session. Il n'y avait personne d'autre à qui elle
osait demander, à part Dan.
Ceci posa un dilemme à Dan. Il se devait de l'aider -- mais s'il lui
prêtait son ordinateur, elle pourrait lire ses livres. À part le fait
que vous pouviez aller en prison pour plusieurs années pour avoir
laissé quelqu'un lire vos livres, l'idée même le choqua au départ.
Comme à tout le monde, on lui avait enseigné dès l'école primaire que
partager des livres était malicieux et immoral -- une chose que seuls
les pirates font.
Et il était improbable que la SPA -- la Software Protection Authority
-- manquerait de le pincer. Dans ses cours sur les logiciels, Dan avait
appris que chaque livre avait un moniteur de copyright qui rapportait
quand et où il était lu, et par qui, à la Centrale des licences. (Elle
utilisait ces informations pour attraper les lecteurs pirates, mais
aussi pour vendre des renseignements personnels à des détaillants.) La
prochaine fois que son ordinateur serait en réseau, la Centrale des
licences se rendrait compte. Dan, comme propriétaire d'ordinateur,
subirait les punitions les plus sévères -- pour ne pas avoir tout tenté
pour éviter le crime.
Bien sûr, Lissa n'avait pas nécessairement l'intention de lire ses
livres. Elle pourrait ne vouloir l'ordinateur que pour écrire son
projet. Mais Dan savait qu'elle venait d'une famille de classe moyenne
et qu'elle arrivait difficilement à payer ses frais de scolarité, sans
compter ses frais de lecture. Lire les livres de Dan pourrait être sa
seule façon de graduer. Il comprenait cette situation; lui-même avait
eu à emprunter pour payer pour tous les articles scientifiques qu'il
avait eu à lire. (10% de ces frais allaient aux chercheurs qui
écrivaient ces articles; puisque Dan visait une carrière académique, il
pouvait espérer que si ses propres articles scientiques étaient souvent
lus, il gagnerait un revenu suffisant pour rembourser sa dette.)
Par la suite, Dan apprendrait qu'il y eut un temps où n'importe qui
pouvait aller à la bibliothèque et lire des articles de journaux, et
même des livres, sans avoir à payer. Il y avait des universitaires
indépendants qui lisaient des milliers de pages sans subventions des
bibliothèques gouvernementales. Mais dans les années 1990, les éditeurs
aussi bien commerciaux qu'à but non lucratif avaient commencé à
facturer l'accès. En 2047, les bibliothèques offrant un accès public
gratuit à la littérature scientifique n'étaient qu'un pâle souvenir.
Il y avait des façons, bien sûr, de contourner la SPA et la Centrale
des licences. Elles étaient elles-mêmes illégales. Dan avait eu un
compagnon de classe dans son cours sur les logiciels, Frank Martucci,
qui avait obtenu un outil illégal de déboguage, et l'avait utilisé pour
outrepasser le code du moniteur de copyright quand il lisait des
livres. Mais il en avait parlé à trop d'amis, et l'un d'eux l'a dénoncé
auprès de la SPA pour une récompense (des étudiants criblés de dettes
pouvaient facilement être tentés par la trahison). En 2047, Frank était
en prison, non pas pour lecture pirate, mais pour possession d'un
débogueur.
Dan apprendrait plus tard qu'il y eut un temps où n'importe qui pouvait
posséder des outils de déboguage. Il y avait même des outils de
déboguage disponibles gratuitement sur des CD ou qu'on pouvait
télécharger du Net. Mais des usagers ordinaires commencèrent à s'en
servir pour outrepasser les moniteurs de copyright, et éventuellement
un juge a décidé que c'était devenu leur principale utilisation en
pratique. Ceci voulait dire qu'ils étaient illégaux; les développeurs
de ces débogueurs furent envoyés en prison.
Les programmeurs avaient encore besoin d'outils pour déboguer, bien
sûr, mais les vendeurs de débogueurs en 2047 ne distribuaient que des
copies numérotées, et seulement à des programmeurs officiellement
licenciés et soumis. Le débogueur que Dan utilisait dans son cours sur
les logiciels était gardé derrière un garde-barrière spécial afin qu'il
ne puisse servir que pour les exercices du cours.
Il était aussi possible de contourner les moniteurs de copyright en
installant un noyau système modifié. Dan apprendrait éventuellement
l'existence de noyaux libres, et même de systèmes d'exploitation
entièrement libres, qui avaient existé au tournant du siècle. Mais non
seulement étaient-ils illégaux, comme les débogueurs, mais vous ne
pouviez en installer un, si vous en aviez un, sans connaitre le mot de
passe de l'usager superviseur de votre ordinateur. Or, ni le FBI ni
l'Aide technique Microsoft ne vous le révèlerait.
Dan conclut qu'il ne pouvait simplement prêter son ordinateur à Lissa.
Mais il ne pouvait refuser de l'aider, car il l'aimait. Chaque chance
de lui parler le remplissait d'aise. Et le fait qu'elle l'avait choisi
pour demander de l'aide pouvait signifier qu'elle l'aimait aussi.
Dan résolut le dilemme en faisant une chose encore plus impensable --
il lui prêta l'ordinateur, et lui dit son mot de passe. Ainsi, si Lissa
lisait ses livres, la Centrale des licences penserait que c'était lui
qui les lisait. C'était quand même un crime, mais la SPA ne s'en
rendrait pas compte automatiquement. Ils ne s'en rendraient compte que
si Lissa le dénonçait.
Bien sûr, si l'école devait un jour apprendre qu'il avait donné son
propre mot de passe à Lissa, ce serait la fin de leurs études, peu
importe ce à quoi le mot de passe aurait servi. La politique de l'école
était que toute interférence avec ses mécanismes de surveillance de
l'utilisation des ordinateurs par les étudiants était punissable. Il
n'importait pas qu'aucun mal n'ait été fait -- l'offense était de se
rendre difficile à surveiller par les administrateurs. Ils supposaient
que ça signifiait que vous faisiez quelque chose d'autre qui était
interdit, et ils n'avaient pas besoin de savoir de quoi il s'agissait.
Les étudiants n'étaient habituellement pas expulsés pour cela -- pas
directement. Ils étaient plutôt bannis des systèmes informatiques de
l'école, et échouaient inévitablement leurs cours.
Plus tard, Dan apprendrait que ce genre de politique n'a commencé dans
les universités que dans les années 1980, quand des étudiants
commencèrent à être nombreux à utiliser des ordinateurs. Avant, les
universités avaient une approche différente au sujet de la discipline
auprès des étudiants; elles punissaient des activités qui causaient du
tort, et non pas simplement celles qui soulevaient des doutes.
Lissa ne dénonça pas Dan à la SPA. La décision de Dan de l'aider mena à
leur mariage, et les amena aussi à remettre en question ce qu'on leur
avait enseigné durant leur enfance au sujet du piratage. Le couple se
mit à lire sur l'histoire du copyright, sur l'Union soviétique et ses
restrictions sur la copie, et même sur la Constitution originale des
États-Unis. Ils déménagèrent à Luna, où ils trouvèrent d'autres gens
qui comme eux avaient pris leurs distances par rapport au long bras de
la SPA. Quand la révolte de Tycho commença en 2062, le droit universel
de lire devint bientôt un de ses buts principaux.
Note de l'auteur
C'est aujourd'hui même qu'on se bat pour le droit de lire. Même si cela
pourrait prendre 50 ans pour que notre façon de vivre actuelle s'efface
dans l'obscurité, la plupart des lois et pratiques décrites
précédemment ont déjà été proposées -- soit par l'Administration
Clinton ou par des éditeurs.
Il y a une exception: l'idée que le FBI ou Microsoft gardera les mots
de passe de l'usager superviseur des ordinateurs personnels. Ceci est
une extrapolation du Clipper Chip et d'autres propositions de
"key-escrow" de l'Administration Clinton, ainsi que d'une tendance à
long terme: de plus en plus de systèmes informatiques sont configurés
pour donner à des opérateurs absents le contrôle sur les gens qui
utilisent le système.
La SPA, qui veut en fait dire Software Publisher's Association, n'est
pas aujourd'hui une force policière officielle. De façon officieuse,
elle se comporte ainsi. Elle invite les gens à faire de la délation à
l'endroit de leur collègues et amis; comme l'Administration Clinton,
elle préconise une politique de responsabilité collective où les
propriétaires d'ordinateurs doivent activement faire respecter le
copyright ou être punis.
La SPA menace actuellement de petits fournisseurs d'accès à l'Internet,
en exigeant qu'ils lui permettent de surveiller tous les usagers. La
plupart des fournisseurs capitulent lorsqu'ils sont menacés, parce
qu'ils n'ont pas les moyens de contre-attaquer en cour. (Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, 1er octobre 1996, page D3.) Au moins un
fournisseur, Community ConneXion à Oakland en Californie, a refusé la
demande et a été conséquemment poursuivi. Il appert que la SPA a
abandonné cette poursuite récemment, mais ils vont sûrement continuer
cette campagne de diverses autres façons.
Les politiques universitaires de sécurité décrites précédemment ne sont
pas imaginaires. Par exemple, un ordinateur dans une université de la
région de Chicago affiche le message suivant quand on s'y branche (les
guillemets sont dans l'original -- ce qui suit est une traduction):
"Ce système est réservé aux usagers autorisés. Les individus qui
utilisent ce système informatique sans autorisation ou au delà de leur
autorisation pourront faire l'objet d'une surveillance et d'un
enregistrement par le personnel de toutes leurs activités sur ce
système. Lors de la surveillance d'individus utilisant le système
inadéquatement, ou lors d'activités d'entretien du système, les
activités d'usagers autorisés pourraient aussi être surveillées.
Quiconque utilise ce système consent expressément à une telle
surveillance et est avisé que si cette surveillance révèle des indices
d'une possible activité illégale ou violation des règlements de
l'Université, le personnel du système peut fournir ces indices aux
autorités de l'Université et/ou aux forces de l'ordre."
Il s'agit d'une approche intéressante face au Quatrième amendement:
faire pression sur presque tout le monde pour qu'il accepte d'avance de
renoncer aux droits qu'il leur accorde.
ReferencesReferences
The administration's "White Paper": Information Infrastructure Task
Force, Intellectual Property and the National Information
Infrastructure: The Report of the Working Group on Intellectual
Property Rights (1995).
An explanation of the White Paper: The Copyright Grab, Pamela
Samuelson, Wired, Jan. 1996
FSF & GNU inquiries & questions to gnu@gnu.org. Other ways to contact
the FSF.
Comments on these web pages to webmasters@www.gnu.org, send other
questions to gnu@gnu.org.
Copyright 1996 Richard Stallman
Translated by Pierre Sarrazin [ps@cam.org] on February 16th, 1999.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted
in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.
Updated: 13 Mar 1999 jonas
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