To fight the law and make it right, it sometimes is necessary to not comply
with the current and wrong law. I gave you the example of the HADOPI in
France, of scientific publications and of the fight for racial equality in
the USA. I could write about Mahatma Gandhi, about hackers such as Phil
Zimmermann, or, to take more recent examples, about Julian Assange or Edward
Snowden. There so many examples of civil disobedience that, you would not
deny, made the world a better place. Sure, in an Utopian world, nobody would
have to disobey the law because the law would be good. The sad thing is: we
are not living in an Utopian world.
Until now, good things can still be done even in the framework of bad laws.
The free software movement is an excellent example of it. But the ever
growing quantity of free software/culture does not seem to make the law
better: we had the Mickey Mouse Copyright Extension Act, the DMCA (and the
EUCD), etc. We almost had ACTA, SOPA, PIPA, etc. We are now fighting TAFTA,
TPP, CETA, etc.
Where are the laws in favor of sharing? There only are laws or proposals of
laws that are against it! The truth is: the legislation does not follow the
people's usage. Even less the people's will. The laws are made by the large
corporations with a huge political power and interests that are against that
of the people. Those corporations only want to protect their wrong business.
Even at the expense of the people's freedoms.
As for "commercial software", you misunderstood me. I am all in favor of free
software businesses! What you were suggesting is not a free software
business: users should not have to pay to have the right to modify the
software that achieves their computing. But sure, that user can pay a
programmer, the authors of the program can sell support of any kind, they can
crowd-source new features, they can sell custom improvements, etc. There are
many ethical ways to make money with free software. It actually is the most
thriving segment of the IT industry. If the society thinks that it is not
enough, a tax on Internet connections could provide additional revenues.
