The Free Software Foundation and Public Domain
By Edward Willis (http://encw.xyz)
Published Jan/27/2023

The Free Software Foundation is no friend of the public domain. Copyright law,
for all the protestation of the FSF and Stallman against it, is at the heart of
the free software movement. In order for an author to impose the GPL upon their
users, the author must rely upon copyright law and software licensing. This is
clearly an imposition of terms at the threat of government force, the same as
any proprietary EULA. The FSF can, and has, leveraged the power of the state to
go after those who disobey them. According to Stallman, it's good when the FSF
uses copyright law for their uses, and it's bad when a programmer trying to make
a living does the same.

If copyright law was reverted back to its earlier, more limited form, before
powerful corporate interests lobbied for its extension, it would be limited to 7
years, with an optional paid 7 year extension, the work of GNU done in the late
80s and throughout the 90s would all be public domain now. I can't imagine
anything that would infuriate Stallman more than his work (and his users) being
out of his control, and his code subsequently being included in proprietary
software.

On the matter of the Public Domain, the FSF stands shoulder to shoulder with
corporate titans such as Disney, NOT with the people.