An exploration of the connections between free software, anarchism, and participatory culture. The authors suggests that free software is both a form of sharing and a coopting of the means of production. He sees it as an example of voluntary sharing and contrary to usual capitalist principles, and hopes it will lead to greater cooperation in other spheres.

When the idea of sharing software comes up, people frequently break out in debates over Capitalism vs. Communism. It doesn't take long before someone starts equating - derisively, no less - sharing software with Communism. But since when did the Communists corner the market on sharing?

"The Free Software Foundation (“Foundation”), founded in October 1985, pioneered a movement of information exchange that initially had significant impact on software development practices, but later also inspired changes in broader fields of great public benefit [...] As an important part of this worldwide free software movement, the Foundation has been both an inspiration for, and a close obs

Free software is software you can study, modify and share without restriction. But unlike proprietary software, there is no big budget marketing campaign behind it. Rather, people discover it and come to value the freedom it provides. What are these people's motivations for working on free software? Why is community and sharing so important? Why should everyone be using free software?

GNU Labs encourages the idea of sharing knowledge, supporting the ideals of the Free Software Foundation. It aims at improving the existing work of free software by helping students to complete their curricular project works.

"Over at Sphere of Networks, I published a text that tries to give a simple overview of the workings of information production in the age of the internet, covering everything from free software to free culture. This article is a slightly modified version of a chapter of this text.

"Free" has been a founding concept in the Linux world since before there was Linux — or GNU/Linux, if you prefer. In his history of the GNU project, Richard M. Stallman begins, "When I started working at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab in 1971, I became part of a software-sharing community that had existed for many years.

The chairman of the Free Software Foundation, Richard Stallman, has called for internet file-sharing to be legalised in order that people could benefit from sharing material that they should rightly be able to.

«When record companies make a fuss about the danger of "piracy", they're not talking about violent attacks on shipping. What they complain about is the sharing of copies of music, an activity in which millions of people participate in a spirit of cooperation. The term "piracy" is used by record companies to demonize sharing and cooperation by equating them to kidnaping, murder and theft...»