The Unintelligible Language

I can't lie. Chris Kelty's essay on the Free Software movement completely boggled my mind. No matter how fluidly computer science is written about, I can't seem to grasp on to the fundamentals of this language that has had such a profound effect in intellectual property. EMACS, GNUS, RMS. What?

However, Kelty the way explained the conceptual argument underlying Stallman's community made me find a few similarities with my own community of musicians. Record companies and other industry investors may fear file sharing because it is significant revenue loss. On the creative side of things, one grave fear of musicians is that the files being shared are frequently of considerably inferior quality. Many of the files available on LimeWire are third or fourth generation copies which gives the sound a dull, lifeless quality. Not to mention that special uses of the recordings by third parties that have been modified are often the ones that get leaked on file sharing networks. For example, AOL music has a program called "AOL Listen First". During the introduction to all the songs featured on the program, AOL overdubs a plug over the original recording. Undoubtedly, this compromises the artistic integrity of the music.

Kelty notes that it is necessary for these softwares to be available freely because that way they are assured to be copied perfectly, thereby preserving the integrity of the program. Whether it is free or not, hackers are going to get at it. With our increased media literacy, we are all becoming hackers and pirates. From a creative standpoint, the quality of the recordings that consumers are likely to hear would be far better if they were available for free.

briana berry