Since Stallman is a leading advocate of open systems and freedom of information, especially software, I asked him what he means by this. He said: “I believe that all generally useful information should be free. By `free’ I am not referring to price, but rather to the freedom to copy the information and to adapt it to one’s own uses.” By “generally useful” he does not include confidential information about individuals or credit card information, for example.
He further writes: “When information is generally useful, redistributing it makes humanity wealthier no matter who is distributing and no matter who is receiving.” Stallman has argued strongly against user interface copyright, claiming that it does not serve the users or promote the evolutionary process.