Negative campaigning

In conversations about the FSF and some of its campaigns, I sometimes hear criticism of "negative campaigning." For example, several people left comments on a blog post I once wrote speaking against, "negative campaigning of any sort, in any realm." It seems that some people in the free and open source software communities, drawing a analogy to political smear campaigns, have taken the position that negative campaigning in general is not useful and has no place in our advocacy.

First, I believe that there is a fundamental difference between speaking out against policies or actions and smear campaigns that employ untrue claims, ad hominem attacks, and that attempt to avoid a real conversation about issues. I have no reservations about categorically condemning the latter form of smear campaigning in campaigns for software freedom or for anything else.

That said, I believe that more careful types of negative campaigning play an important role. I have supported and participated in "negative" campaigns against proprietary software, software patents, DRM, centralized network services, and the firms behind these practices. I've done so because I believe that if one is taking an ethical position, it is justified, and often necessary, to not only speak about the benefits of freedom but against acts of dispossession and disenfranchisement.

In the most effective social movements, unambiguously negative messages have been essential tactics. Should a campaign for abolishing child labor talk only about how great a value adult workers are to their employers or how happy kids are when they don't work? Should a campaign trying to abolish land mines talk only about the benefits of bomb-free fields and intact lower limbs? Should a free speech organization only speak out about the social welfare brought by a free press and never against acts of censorship?

These may seem like outlandish comparisons but you can find people writing, only a couple centuries ago, about how slavery should be abolished by arguing in favor of the benefits of paid labor. Even if the economic arguments in favor of paid work are strong, these arguments seems irrelevant and offensive today. Whether slavery is more or less efficient is a moot point. We reject it because it is wrong.

We have made important strides toward eliminating injustices like child labor and slavery because activists waged decidedly negative campaigns against them. In doing so, activists declared the status quo unconscionable and created an ethical responsibility to find alternatives and to redefine what was "realistic." While I will not suggest that these causes have anything near comparable ethical weight as the movement for software freedom, I see the free software mission as similar in kind.

Of course, if one does think that user control over technology is an ethical issue but merely a matter of choice, one will may be more likely to feel that negative campaigns are a bad idea. It's also possible that a particular negative campaign is tactically unwise in that it will not carry out the free software movement's goals. Negative campaigns that are unlikely to reach a large audience or unlikely to bring people to our side are a bad idea because they are ineffective, not because they are negative or might annoy the people being criticized.

For those that do treat technological empowerment as an ethical ideal, it is both justified and essential to condemn the systematic disempowerment of others as we celebrate the benefits of software freedom. "Negative" campaigns against proprietary software, software patents, and DRM in music have made important -- if incomplete -- victories. We'd be wise not put these off limits in the future.