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<title>Why call it the Swindle  
- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
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<h2>Why Call It The Swindle?</h2>

<address class="byline">by <a href="https://www.stallman.org/">Richard
Stallman</a></address>

<p>I go out of my way to call nasty things by names that criticize
them. I call Apple's user-subjugating computers the
&ldquo;iThings,&rdquo; and Amazon's abusive e-reader the
&ldquo;Swindle.&rdquo; Sometimes I refer to Microsoft's operating
system as &ldquo;Losedows&rdquo;; I referred to Microsoft's first
operating system as &ldquo;MS-Dog.&rdquo;[<a href="#f1">1</a>] Of
course, I do this to vent my feelings and have fun. But this fun is
more than personal; it serves an important purpose. Mocking our
enemies recruits the power of humor into our cause.</p>

<p>Twisting a name is disrespectful. If we respected the makers of
these products, we would use the names that they chose &hellip; and that's
exactly the point. These noxious products deserve our contempt, not
our respect. Every proprietary program subjects its users to some
entity's power, but nowadays most widely used ones go beyond that to spy on
users, restrict them and even push them around: the trend is for
products to get nastier. These products deserve to be wiped out. Those
with DRM ought to be illegal.</p>

<p>When we mention them, we should show that we condemn them, and what
easier way than by twisting their names? If we don't do that, it is
all too easy to mention them and fail to present the condemnation.
When the product comes up in the middle of some other topic, for
instance, explaining at greater length that the product is bad might
seem like a long digression.</p>

<p>To mention these products by name and fail to condemn them has the
effect of legitimizing them, which is the opposite of what they call
for.</p>

<p>Companies choose names for products as part of a marketing plan.
They choose names they think people will be likely to repeat, then
invest millions of dollars in marketing campaigns to make people
repeat and think about those names.  Usually these marketing
campaigns are intended to convince people to admire the products based
on their superficial attractions and overlook the harm they do.</p>

<p>Every time we call these products by the names the companies use,
we contribute to their marketing campaigns. Repeating those names is
active support for the products; twisting them denies the products our
support.</p>

<p>Other terminology besides product names can raise a similar issue.
For instance, DRM refers to building technology products to restrict
their users for the benefit of someone else. This inexcusable practice
deserves our burning hatred until we wipe it out. Naturally, those
responsible gave it a name that frames the issue from their point of
view: &ldquo;Digital Rights Management.&rdquo; This name is the basis
of a public relations campaign that aims to win support from entities
ranging from governments to the W3C.[<a href="#f2">2</a>]</p>

<p>To use their term is to take their side. If that's not the side
you're on, why give it your implicit support?</p>

<p>We take the users' side, and from the users' point of view, what
these malfeatures manage are not rights but restrictions. So we call
them &ldquo;Digital Restrictions Management.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Neither of those terms is neutral: choose a term, and you choose a
side. Please choose the users' side and please let it show.</p>

<p>Once, a man in the audience at my speech claimed that the name
&ldquo;Digital Rights Management&rdquo; was the official name of
&ldquo;DRM,&rdquo; the only
possible correct name, because it was the first name. He argued that
as a consequence it was wrong for us to say &ldquo;Digital Restrictions
Management.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Those who make a product or carry out a business practice typically
choose a name for it before we even know it exists. If their temporal
precedence obligated us to use their name, they would have an
additional automatic advantage, on top of their money, their media
influence and their technological position. We would have to fight
them with our mouths tied behind our backs.</p>

<p>Some people feel a distaste for twisting names and say it sounds
&ldquo;juvenile&rdquo; or &ldquo;unprofessional.&rdquo; What they mean
is, it doesn't sound humorless and stodgy&mdash;and that's a good
thing, because we would not have laughter on our side if we tried to
sound &ldquo;professional.&rdquo; Fighting oppression is far more
serious than professional work, so we've got to add comic relief.  It
calls for real maturity, which includes some childishness, not
&ldquo;acting like an adult.&rdquo;</p>

<p>If you don't like our choice of name parodies, you can invent your
own. The more, the merrier. Of course, there are other ways to express
condemnation. If you want to sound &ldquo;professional,&rdquo; you can
show it in other ways.  They can get the point across, but they
require more time and effort, especially if you don't make use of
mockery. Take care this does not lead you to skimp; don't let the
pressure against such &ldquo;digression&rdquo; push you into
insufficiently criticizing the nasty things you mention, because that
would have the effect of legitimizing them.</p>
<div class="column-limit"></div>

<h3 class="footnote">Footnotes</h3>

<ol>
<li id="f1">Take action against these products:
<a href="https://u.fsf.org/ithings">u.fsf.org/ithings</a>,
<a href="https://u.fsf.org/swindle">u.fsf.org/swindle</a>,
<a href="https://u.fsf.org/ebookslist">u.fsf.org/ebookslist</a>,
<a href="https://upgradefromwindows.org">upgradefromwindows.org</a>
</li>
<li id="f2"><a href="https://u.fsf.org/drm">u.fsf.org/drm</a></li>
</ol>
</div>

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<p>Please send general FSF &amp; GNU inquiries to
<a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org">&lt;gnu@gnu.org&gt;</a>.
There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a>
the FSF.  Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent
to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org">&lt;webmasters@gnu.org&gt;</a>.</p>

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<p>Copyright &copy; 2013, 2021 Richard Stallman</p>

<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license"
href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative
Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p>

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<p class="unprintable">Updated:
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$Date: 2021/08/19 07:36:45 $
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1	<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
2	<!-- Parent-Version: 1.96 -->
3	<!-- This page is derived from /server/standards/boilerplate.html -->
4	<!--#set var="TAGS" value="essays term" -->
5	<!--#set var="DISABLE_TOP_ADDENDUM" value="yes" -->
6	<title>Why call it the Swindle
7	- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
8	<!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/why-call-it-the-swindle.translist" -->
9	<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
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13	<div class="article reduced-width">
14	<h2>Why Call It The Swindle?</h2>
15
16	<address class="byline">by <a href="https://www.stallman.org/">Richard
17	Stallman</a></address>
18
19	<p>I go out of my way to call nasty things by names that criticize
20	them. I call Apple's user-subjugating computers the
21	“iThings,” and Amazon's abusive e-reader the
22	“Swindle.” Sometimes I refer to Microsoft's operating
23	system as “Losedows”; I referred to Microsoft's first
24	operating system as “MS-Dog.”[<a href="#f1">1</a>] Of
25	course, I do this to vent my feelings and have fun. But this fun is
26	more than personal; it serves an important purpose. Mocking our
27	enemies recruits the power of humor into our cause.</p>
28
29	<p>Twisting a name is disrespectful. If we respected the makers of
30	these products, we would use the names that they chose … and that's
31	exactly the point. These noxious products deserve our contempt, not
32	our respect. Every proprietary program subjects its users to some
33	entity's power, but nowadays most widely used ones go beyond that to spy on
34	users, restrict them and even push them around: the trend is for
35	products to get nastier. These products deserve to be wiped out. Those
36	with DRM ought to be illegal.</p>
37
38	<p>When we mention them, we should show that we condemn them, and what
39	easier way than by twisting their names? If we don't do that, it is
40	all too easy to mention them and fail to present the condemnation.
41	When the product comes up in the middle of some other topic, for
42	instance, explaining at greater length that the product is bad might
43	seem like a long digression.</p>
44
45	<p>To mention these products by name and fail to condemn them has the
46	effect of legitimizing them, which is the opposite of what they call
47	for.</p>
48
49	<p>Companies choose names for products as part of a marketing plan.
50	They choose names they think people will be likely to repeat, then
51	invest millions of dollars in marketing campaigns to make people
52	repeat and think about those names. Usually these marketing
53	campaigns are intended to convince people to admire the products based
54	on their superficial attractions and overlook the harm they do.</p>
55
56	<p>Every time we call these products by the names the companies use,
57	we contribute to their marketing campaigns. Repeating those names is
58	active support for the products; twisting them denies the products our
59	support.</p>
60
61	<p>Other terminology besides product names can raise a similar issue.
62	For instance, DRM refers to building technology products to restrict
63	their users for the benefit of someone else. This inexcusable practice
64	deserves our burning hatred until we wipe it out. Naturally, those
65	responsible gave it a name that frames the issue from their point of
66	view: “Digital Rights Management.” This name is the basis
67	of a public relations campaign that aims to win support from entities
68	ranging from governments to the W3C.[<a href="#f2">2</a>]</p>
69
70	<p>To use their term is to take their side. If that's not the side
71	you're on, why give it your implicit support?</p>
72
73	<p>We take the users' side, and from the users' point of view, what
74	these malfeatures manage are not rights but restrictions. So we call
75	them “Digital Restrictions Management.”</p>
76
77	<p>Neither of those terms is neutral: choose a term, and you choose a
78	side. Please choose the users' side and please let it show.</p>
79
80	<p>Once, a man in the audience at my speech claimed that the name
81	“Digital Rights Management” was the official name of
82	“DRM,” the only
83	possible correct name, because it was the first name. He argued that
84	as a consequence it was wrong for us to say “Digital Restrictions
85	Management.”</p>
86
87	<p>Those who make a product or carry out a business practice typically
88	choose a name for it before we even know it exists. If their temporal
89	precedence obligated us to use their name, they would have an
90	additional automatic advantage, on top of their money, their media
91	influence and their technological position. We would have to fight
92	them with our mouths tied behind our backs.</p>
93
94	<p>Some people feel a distaste for twisting names and say it sounds
95	“juvenile” or “unprofessional.” What they mean
96	is, it doesn't sound humorless and stodgy—and that's a good
97	thing, because we would not have laughter on our side if we tried to
98	sound “professional.” Fighting oppression is far more
99	serious than professional work, so we've got to add comic relief. It
100	calls for real maturity, which includes some childishness, not
101	“acting like an adult.”</p>
102
103	<p>If you don't like our choice of name parodies, you can invent your
104	own. The more, the merrier. Of course, there are other ways to express
105	condemnation. If you want to sound “professional,” you can
106	show it in other ways. They can get the point across, but they
107	require more time and effort, especially if you don't make use of
108	mockery. Take care this does not lead you to skimp; don't let the
109	pressure against such “digression” push you into
110	insufficiently criticizing the nasty things you mention, because that
111	would have the effect of legitimizing them.</p>
112	<div class="column-limit"></div>
113
114	<h3 class="footnote">Footnotes</h3>
115
116	<ol>
117	<li id="f1">Take action against these products:
118	<a href="https://u.fsf.org/ithings">u.fsf.org/ithings</a>,
119	<a href="https://u.fsf.org/swindle">u.fsf.org/swindle</a>,
120	<a href="https://u.fsf.org/ebookslist">u.fsf.org/ebookslist</a>,
121	<a href="https://upgradefromwindows.org">upgradefromwindows.org</a>
122	</li>
123	<li id="f2"><a href="https://u.fsf.org/drm">u.fsf.org/drm</a></li>
124	</ol>
125	</div>
126
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130	<div class="unprintable">
131
132	<p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to
133	<a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>.
134	There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a>
135	the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent
136	to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p>
137
138	<p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph,
139	replace it with the translation of these two:
140
141	We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality
142	translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection.
143	Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard
144	to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org">
145	<web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p>
146
147	<p>For information on coordinating and contributing translations of
148	our web pages, see <a
149	href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
150	README</a>. -->
151	Please see the <a
152	href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
153	README</a> for information on coordinating and contributing translations
154	of this article.</p>
155	</div>
156
157	<!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to
158	files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should
159	be under CC BY-ND 4.0. Please do NOT change or remove this
160	without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first.
161	Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the
162	document. For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the
163	document was modified, or published.
164
165	If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too.
166	Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying
167	years, as long as each year in the range is in fact a copyrightable
168	year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including
169	being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system).
170
171	There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers
172	Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. -->
173
174	<p>Copyright © 2013, 2021 Richard Stallman</p>
175
176	<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license"
177	href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative
178	Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p>
179
180	<!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" -->
181
182	<p class="unprintable">Updated:
183	<!-- timestamp start -->
184	$Date: 2021/08/19 07:36:45 $
185	<!-- timestamp end -->
186	</p>
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