Manifesto on Information
"Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead." —Poor Richard
Information is free. This is definitional [There are, of course, many definitions of information, but one which will serve well here is "that for which its value so far surpasses the cost of reproducing it that the latter is entirely negligible". This means in particular that the total good involved in n+1 people possessing it cannot be less than if only n do.], but so long as our legal system fails to acknowledge the fact, we will continue to have ever -increasing problems, conflicts, and social discord.
Information is free. It is never created, but only discovered, or selected from the Library of Babel which is Plato's realm of the forms. You cannot own a piece of information any more than you can own an electron: for just as no one can ever tell one electron from another, every copy of a bit of information is identical (or else it would not be the same information, or not information at all). There is no "this is *my* electron and that over there is *your* electron"—there is only "these are *our* electrons". And surely to think that by discovering an electron you thereby gain control of them all is the height of foolishness—regardless of how much time, effort and expense the discovery took.
Information is free; it cannot be bought or sold. Objects (including those which contain information) may be bought; time and expertise may be sold. Wisdom and understanding may certainly be traded. But none of these is information. Secrets may be kept if one can, for no man may be compelled to share with another; but to tell one who has taken your secret that he has ipso facto done wrong, or that he may not do with it as he wishes, is nonsensical—for none may tell another what he may or may not do with his own possession. "Stealing" information (by reproduction, naturally) *cannot* be a crime, for nothing is stolen; the supposed victim has nothing less than what he had. Likewise, information may be bound up in a physical object in a way very difficult to extract. But that in no way means that if one *does* extract the information, it is any less free than any other.
Information is free. Ah, but what of the so-called "bad" information? Surely information on the construction of terrible weapons cannot be set loose upon the world. No: it too is free, insofar as it is not secret (but should governments keep secrets? I think not). After all, one needs not only information but also materials and expertise to build such a weapon, either of which can be controlled, as far as they ought to be controlled, far more easily and rationally. And think: if every citizen knew the material and personnel requirements of such a weapon, how could that but make thwarting evil plans all the easier, through the vigilance of neighbors and suppliers?
Information is free. But what of those who make their livings through the creation (discovery) and sale of information: software designers, and artists of all sorts? Surely such a policy would hurt them irreparably and cause harm to our society. Indeed, they may well be harmed—as horse-breeders were harmed by the automobile, typists by the word processor, or any number of people by globalization. Economic sectors frequently die for the greater good. But few, I think, will really be driven away. After all, software companies sell not only information but the expertise (support) needed to use it [many Linux distributions, for instance, use such a model]. And as for artists, if the public enjoys one work they will doubtless be willing to donate in order to hear another (not to mention paying the artists' time and expertise in the form of live performances, or publishing houses paying to ensure a steady stream of product). The real losers will I think be the middlemen, the repackagers and resellers of information—and who well step forward to defend them?
Information is free. It cannot, it will not be restricted, divided, parceled, doled out, bought, sold, censored, expurgated or legislated. Infinitely protean, its transfer from willing giver to willing receiver can never be interrupted or stopped. Always and everywhere, those who have attempted to do so have in the end been judged autocrats and monopolists, violators of basic human rights. It must stop, it will stop, it cannot but stop.
Information is free.
