"The idea of copyright did not exist in ancient times, when authors frequently copied other authors at length in works of non-fiction. This practice was useful, and is the only way many authors' works have survived even in part"
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Stallman’s move here is to puncture the aura of inevitability that surrounds modern intellectual property. By reaching back to “ancient times,” he’s not indulging in nostalgia; he’s staging a diagnostic test. If entire civilizations produced literature, history, and science without a concept as basic (to us) as copyright, then today’s legal regime starts to look less like natural law and more like a political choice dressed up as common sense.
The key phrase is “useful.” Stallman isn’t praising plagiarism as a moral good; he’s reframing copying as infrastructure. Ancient authors copying “at length” becomes a crude but effective archival technology: duplication as preservation, quotation as a survival strategy. The subtext is a quiet indictment of a system that treats copying primarily as theft rather than as cultural continuity. When he notes it’s “the only way many authors’ works have survived,” he’s reminding you that what we call “originals” often arrive through chains of reuse, excerpting, and remixing. Culture is a relay race, not a sealed vault.
Context matters: Stallman, architect of the free software movement, is arguing from a world where copying is functionally costless and legally fraught. Software, like texts, depends on iteration; prohibiting reuse doesn’t just limit access, it throttles progress. His historical analogy isn’t a history lesson so much as a pressure point: if preservation and transmission once depended on copying, why should the digital era - which makes copying trivial - treat it as a crime scene?
The key phrase is “useful.” Stallman isn’t praising plagiarism as a moral good; he’s reframing copying as infrastructure. Ancient authors copying “at length” becomes a crude but effective archival technology: duplication as preservation, quotation as a survival strategy. The subtext is a quiet indictment of a system that treats copying primarily as theft rather than as cultural continuity. When he notes it’s “the only way many authors’ works have survived,” he’s reminding you that what we call “originals” often arrive through chains of reuse, excerpting, and remixing. Culture is a relay race, not a sealed vault.
Context matters: Stallman, architect of the free software movement, is arguing from a world where copying is functionally costless and legally fraught. Software, like texts, depends on iteration; prohibiting reuse doesn’t just limit access, it throttles progress. His historical analogy isn’t a history lesson so much as a pressure point: if preservation and transmission once depended on copying, why should the digital era - which makes copying trivial - treat it as a crime scene?
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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