Anarchy and Source Code - What does the Free Software Movement have to do with Anarchism?

TitleAnarchy and Source Code - What does the Free Software Movement have to do with Anarchism?
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2005
AuthorsImhorst, C
Date PublishedMarch
Abstract

What does the hacker ethic have to do with anarchism? Why does Richard Stallman, an outstanding personality of the free software movement, described himself as an anarchist? We should not imagine the anarchists of the Free Software Movement to be like the cartoon image: A scruffy looking lunatic, with a crazy glint in his eyes and bristling with weapons. Instead of chaos, Stallman postulates a new form of order for the intellectual property in the terms of the hacker ethic - the access to knowledge should be free, decentralized, anti-bureaucratic and anti-authoritarian.

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