Re: [libreplanet-discuss] Free as in Freedom Production

[Mark Holmquist]

> Once production is for Use-Value, there will
> no longer be any need to keep production and
> government separate, as such corporations will
> be on "our side" by definition.

Hi! This is an interesting idea, Patrick, but I'm not sure it's relevant 
to LibrePlanet....here are my thoughts, briefly:

Currently, non-free software occupies a niche in the world generally 
referred to as "administrative centralization," which is the act of 
bringing all of the little things that need to be handled into a central 
authority, and trusting them to take care of it.

By contract, free software occupies the "administrative 
*de*centralization" niche, because it allows individuals, communities, 
or really anyone, to fix and improve upon their own property (in this 
case, the software).

Now, your idea, while interesting, I think, is moving further towards 
administrative centralization. Admittedly, you're doing it in a 
different way (i.e., more socialism than capitalism), but it's sort of 
moving the wrong way on a different axis, from my perspective.

Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but it seems to me that _any_ intrusion on 
individual autonomy, from any player, governments and corporations 
alike, is abhorrent to those of us here fighting for freedom, digital or 
otherwise.

That being said, I'd be interested to join the political mailing list 
you find where this _is_ relevant, because workers owning the means of 
production is an interesting idea, to be sure :)

Thanks very much for the cool ideas, and I look forward to hearing back!

--
Mark Holmquist
Contractor, Wikimedia Foundation
mtraceur@member.fsf.org
http://marktraceur.info