Information wants to be free

Image of a large crowd, with one sign in the center of the image. The sign reads “Information Wants to be Free” in French.
Sign which says “Information Wants to be Free”, held at an anti-ACTA protest in Toulouse, France.

"Information wants to be free" is an expression that means either that all people should be able to access information freely, or that information (formulated as an actor) naturally strives to become as freely available among people as possible. It is often used by technology activists to criticize laws that limit transparency and general access to information. People who criticize intellectual property law say the system of such government-granted monopolies conflicts with the development of a public domain of information. The expression is often credited to Stewart Brand, who was recorded saying it at a Hackers Conference in 1984.[1]

  1. ^ Wagner, R Polk, Information wants to be free: intellectual property and the mythologies of control (PDF) (essay), University of Pennsylvania, archived from the original (PDF) on 26 December 2010, retrieved 9 December 2010.