Coding Freedom: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Hacking

entirely novel, certainly game changing, paving the way for others. In the ensuing decade, some of the biggest names in free software—Apache, GNOME, and KDE—got their start functioning and operating not in the style of the FSF but instead following the example set by Torvalds. Linux initiated a global network of associations composed of hackers who, over time, came to not only identify and alter the principles of freedom first enshrined by Stallman but also shift the material practice of collaborative hacking. The pragmatic and ethical hallmarks of hacking—innovation, creativity, collaboration, a commitment to openness, and imaginative problem solving—that Stallman established as a bulwark against proprietization became the basis of long-distance free software development.
    This emergence was not consciously engineered by Torvalds but rather was realized through the open vicissitudes of practical experimentation and action. “It is in the nature of beginning that something new is started,”writes Hannah Arendt (1998, 157), “which cannot be expected from whatever may have happened before. This character of startling unexpectedness is inherent in all beginnings.” What Arendt conveys is that because at some level the present is always in the process of becoming, we live in a temporal state with some degree of elasticity and underdetermination that allows for an experimental engagement with the world. Much of the early history of free software existed in just such a temporal state of flexibility, demanding a certain level of skeptical and open experimentation on the part of developers and hackers. Stallman’s intentional politics of resistance, however crucial to the viability of software freedom as a mode of legal production, was incomplete without the participation of social actors also willing to openly experiment with new possibilities whose future success was up in the air.
    Legal and technical groundwork were of course central to this experimentation. Notably the GPL, commonly referred to as the “Constitution” of free software, and similar licenses ensured that source code would always remain available. The availability of the personal computer, networking, and other key technologies materially enabled a sustainable form of virtual collaboration.
    An additional element fueling the early development of free software as a collaborative practice was the technical fact that most applications were centered on the Unix OS architecture. Unix is considered one of the most technically influential OSs of all time because of its philosophical elegance and flexible functionality. Since its release in 1969 by Bell Laboratories, it has elicited a dedicated and passionate following among geeks around the world, especially at universities, where it was and still is used for teaching purposes (Kelty 2008; Salus 1994). Until the arrival of Linux, hackers were usually confined to using Unix at work or a university, because most versions rarely ran on desktop personal computers and the cost of most Unix licenses ran high. Just as the hardware hobbyists of the 1970s were thrilled at the arrival of the Altair for bringing computing one step closer to home, hackers of the 1990s were excited that Linux brought their beloved Unix architecture into the private sanctuary of their personal computer. Again, domestic production helped fuel a public practice.
    All of these elements—material objects, legal agreements, leadership styles, and human practical experimentation—were significant agents and actors (Latour 1988) in the constitution of a robust sociotechnical movement. Although collaboration had previously existed in the university hacker community, it reached a new depth, breadth, and salience through networked hacking, in the process reconfiguring the environment within which free software development could take place.
    Despite this global turn, at this juncture in the early 1990s, the commercial elements of free software were yet in their infancy. It was still the grassroots period of free software, and the mood among developers was akin to festive bewilderment. Although programmers and developers were glad to have access to Unix-compatible free software for home use, manywere surprised that hackers working virtually through a volunteer association could produce reliable and stable software applications. Enthusiasts and programmers spread the news about this “new wonder” on mailing lists and IRC. Face-to-face