Freedom(tm)

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Presently we have copyright licenses that guarantee freedom(c) to tinker. For example, Android is largely free in this sense. If Google(tm) decides there's something I shouldn't do with a phone, I can just alter the source code. In theory. If I have the technical skill. If I have the time. The vast majority of people do not.

I could use someone else's tinkering. Freedom(c) guarantees me this. But I trust Google(tm) -- they'll be in big trouble if they're caught doing something too dodgy. I'm not sure I trust Cyanogen. Who the hell are they? They could nick my identity and do all sorts of bad things.

In terms of practical freedom from abusive software, software broken by design, we need more than freedom(c). We need trust, and the mechanism for establishing a trust relationship is the trademark system. We need Freedom(tm). Just like Fair Trade Coffee (tm) ensures the rights of workers, we need an organisation that grants the right to display a certain logo on products that are not abusive of their users.




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