Stewart Brand – Information Wants To Be Free

In fall 1984, at the first Hackers’ Conference, I said in one discussion session: ‘On the one hand information wants to be expensive, because it’s so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting against each other.’ That was printed in a report/transcript from the conference in the May 1985 Whole Earth Review, p. 49.” -Stewart Brand