The Free JavaScript campaign

Why can't some people understand that authors want claim over their creations? Is this really a bad thing? Not everyone writes code for the "good of mankind", and we shouldn't be forcing people to. The quality of software will just go down then.

Besides, JavaScript code is open source. The reason I push for open source is so that others can get a learning experience by looking at ideas in existing code. This campaign is being really picky. Especially since it goes into detail about "where" the code is ran. I'm sure a campaign about "freeing" servers because they generate HTML would sound a lot more ridiculous.

Honestly, this seems like a parody to me, but they are serious. Sure, some sites are open-source. But I wouldn't expect every site to be open source.

JavaScript is one of the freeist languages in common usage. On any page on the Internet, I can hit Alt+Shift+I and literally modify the source code of the page in real time. Yeah, sometimes the names are minified (which is presumably what this campaign is about), but it's a stretch of credibility for the FSF to put a proprietary OS and a minified web site in the same category.

More to the point, the sites that are big enough for this to even be an issue (such as the cited Google Docs) have a business interest in keeping that code proprietary. If you drew a Venn diagram of sites complex enough that minification prevents tinkering and sites with any likelihood of GPLing that code, you'd have two independent circles.

I joined the EFF a decade or so ago. I fully support almost everything they do with the money I give to them and am happy to be able to contribute to their efforts.

I joined the FSF right about the same time. When it comes time to renew my membership, sadly what comes to mind is not the good things that the FSF works towards.

It is stuff like this that makes me seriously question whether I should continue to give money to the FSF money or if perhaps there is someone else who might make better use of it.

I think they're talking more about the license under which the code is released and less about whether or not it's minified or obfuscated.

I want to see alternatives that allow people to be able to get paid from their creations. I don't care if its free or closed or even government enforced or constrained insofar that it allows for greater freedom in the long run. I'm waiting for the day that Jaron Lanier and Richard Stallman have a public discussion/debate.

I saw a login page. How about making your free manifesto also registration-free.

Edit: strange, no I can see the article. Maybe a bug with the URL before or some kind of site hiccup.

The FSF has gone full derp.

The source code for the page contains JavaScript.