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>I also found the terminology behind "free as in speech" vs. "free as in beer" so confusing. What did free beer have to do with anything? Maybe it is because o

>I also found the terminology behind "free as in speech" vs. "free as in beer" so confusing. What did free beer have to do with anything? Maybe it is because of my US perspective, but I find the confusion around it confusing. Free speech being a constitutional right and the first entry in the bill of rights makes it the quintessential textbook example of libre in the US. If you aren't in the US and someone talks about "free speech" does it not refer to libre speech? Free in "Free beer" must imply no cost, because there is no lessening of the rules and responsibilities around alcohol consumption no matter how you acquire it. Are there places with different rules and responsibilities around alcohol consumption such that "free beer" might imply libre beer?

pjmlp 4y ago
> If you aren't in the US and someone talks about "free speech" does it not refer to libre speech? Nope, there are limits to what one is allowed to say in public, regardless of how much someone feels entitled to it. No one forbids them per se, but then they should also be open to the idea of facing legal charges depending on what is being said.
abetusk 4y ago
I think the confusion is "free as in beer". I guess the idea behind it is that your friends going out drinking will pay for your beer so you get the beer gratis. To anyone hearing the word "free as in beer", their first thought is that "beer is not free, I have to pay for it". Whereas the statement "free as in speech" is descriptive, the term "free as in beer" requires you to interpret the price of beer in the exact opposite way it's usually understood. I seem to remember a story about visiting hackers going out for drinks and the expectation was that the people they were visiting would pay for the drinks, but I can't find that story now. I was under the impression that "free as in beer" was a cultural idiom which, if true, would make it further understandable why people not familiar with hacker culture wouldn't have the context to make the "free as in beer" expression make sense.

pjmlp 4y ago

> If you aren't in the US and someone talks about "free speech" does it not refer to libre speech? Nope, there are limits to what one is allowed to say in public, regardless of how much someone feels entitled to it. No one forbids them per se, but then they should also be open to the idea of facing legal charges depending on what is being said.

abetusk 4y ago

I think the confusion is "free as in beer". I guess the idea behind it is that your friends going out drinking will pay for your beer so you get the beer gratis. To anyone hearing the word "free as in beer", their first thought is that "beer is not free, I have to pay for it". Whereas the statement "free as in speech" is descriptive, the term "free as in beer" requires you to interpret the price of beer in the exact opposite way it's usually understood. I seem to remember a story about visiting hackers going out for drinks and the expectation was that the people they were visiting would pay for the drinks, but I can't find that story now. I was under the impression that "free as in beer" was a cultural idiom which, if true, would make it further understandable why people not familiar with hacker culture wouldn't have the context to make the "free as in beer" expression make sense.