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| title | author |
|---|---|
| proprietary | yehorovye |
the word proprietary (from property) refers to intellectual works like software, music, art, or books that are not free as in freedom. a proprietary work is one that is owned, and that ownership is enforced using copyright, patents, trademarks or similar legal tools. the point is to deny others at least one of the four essential freedoms: the freedom to use, study, share, and modify the work. these freedoms form the foundation of free software and free culture.
when something is proprietary, it is not yours, even if it's on your computer, even if you paid for it. it serves its "owner", which usually means a corporation, and its purpose is control, restriction, and profit. proprietary is a negative word. it describes software and art that exist to take power away from the user. the opposite of proprietary is free (also called libre or free as in freedom), meaning that the work either belongs to the public domain or comes with a free license that gives up most or all of the restrictive rights that the owner would otherwise have.
there are two main areas where proprietary applies:
- proprietary software, which is the original and still most critical battleground.
- proprietary culture, meaning music, video, literature, games, art, and so on.
proprietary software
proprietary software is software you are not legally allowed to examine, change, or share. in most cases you don't even get to see the source code. sometimes the code is visible but still under a license that forbids you from doing anything meaningful with it, that still counts as proprietary. the license is usually called an EULA (end-user license agreement), and it's written by lawyers for the sole purpose of taking your rights away.
examples of proprietary software include:
- microsoft windows
- macos
- adobe photoshop
- almost all commercial videogames
- most apps on your phone
the more you depend on proprietary software, the more vulnerable you are. you can't fix bugs, you can't stop tracking, you can't control updates, and you definitely can't trust it. it is the opposite of personal computing.
proprietary culture
beyond software, we have proprietary culture: music, movies, books, games, data, anything that you're not allowed to copy, remix, or distribute. this kind of culture is locked down by copyright and drm. it's not about protecting artists, it's about protecting publishers and platforms. the culture becomes passive consumption instead of active creation. and even if proprietary art isn't immediately harmful like proprietary software, it builds a society where people don't understand how anything works, don't question ownership, and think "piracy" is a moral crime.
examples of proprietary culture:
- harry potter
- all hollywood films
- all spotify/pop music
- all netflix/hulu/etc media
- all aaa games and their assets
- anything from disney
- basically anything mainstream and recent
is it ever okay to use proprietary stuff?
note: it is very hard to completely avoid proprietary stuff nowadays.
no. or at least, not by default. if you have to ask, you shouldn't. the safest rule is to avoid it completely. treat proprietary software like toxic waste, not because it always explodes, but because it poisons everything slowly. if you're new to the free world, you won't spot the danger until it's too late. better to stay away. use only free software. consume only free cultural works.
there are edge cases, of course. sometimes you have to run proprietary code to understand it and write a free replacement, this is called reverse engineering. but that's like handling a virus in a lab. it should only be done by people who know what they're doing and know how to contain the infection.