I think the fundamental disconnect here is that many people think the freedom you mention is not some sort of moral right.

I have yet to meet anyone who can convince me that freedoms 1 to 3 should, in fact, be freedoms.

(I do not have a problem with anyone giving her or his software a license that requires everyone to respect those four freedoms. What I do have a problem with is when people are berated for picking a permissive license that, however, doesn’t quite line up with the four freedoms.)

The freedoms represent an ethical issue---that software developers have unprecedented control over their users. Why should I, as a hacker, be able to tell you what you can and cannot do with your device? Furthermore, it raises deep privacy issues---what kind of data am I collecting and why should I have that data?

I entered the free software movement slowly (I began software development on Windows as a young boy and was trained to think that bossing the user around was a good thing; I thought it was fun to write DRM system and anti-features). I began using GNU/Linux while still rationalizing my use of proprietary software through Wine or by dual-booting into Windows. I then saw the benefits of the "open source" development model. It wasn't until I spent the time researching the reasons behind the free software movement that things began to click. I was able to look back on everything I learned as a developer for Windows and see that I enjoyed the thought of controlling my users. I enjoyed the power I got from programming---programming was empowerment, and the only way to squeeze the money out of those unsuspecting users was to do it forcefully.

People have fundamentally different philosophies when it comes to programming. Do all proprietary software developers do so out of greed? On some level, sure---they're not contributing that code so that others may benefit from it. But are they doing it for the purpose of controlling their users? Not necessarily, but they still are, even if they have the best of intentions. Is someone who creates proprietary educational software for children in third world companies "evil"? Certainly not. The problem is that they're denying them an additional right---the right to modify that software, learn from it and use their devices as they please.

Of course, we often see proprietary software used unethically, often times for vendor lock-in or greed; corporations are worried that if they lighten their grip on their users, that the users may run, or worse, do something [il]legal. I don't believe that is the place of software developers. I remember, back when I used Windows, I was obsessed with magic/illusion. I purchased a ton of videos online teaching me various magic tricks, but the videos were laced with DRM (which, at the time, as a Windows developer, I applauded). The problem was, that I then upgraded my hardware. My videos no longer worked. I contacted them for a new key, and could view them again. Then I got a new PC. And now I use GNU/Linux. I can no longer watch those videos that I purchased because of this unnecessary, artificial restriction. Was I going to distribute those videos? No. Did that prevent others from stripping the restrictions and distributing it anyway? Certainly not. I was being punished for others' actions and the others weren't any worse off from the restrictions, because they understood how to defeat them.

Of course, DRM's only one of the many issues (and DRM cannot exist in free software, because the community would simply remove the anti-feature). What if I were using some software---let's say Photoshop---and it crashed on me in the middle of my work. Crap. Well, if I were using GIMP, I would run gdb on the core dump (assuming a segfault) and inspect the problem. I would try to repeat it. I could, if I wanted to, get my hands on the source code, fix the problem and distribute that fix to others. If I didn't have the time or ability, others could fix the problem for me, and we have the right to share those changes. We have the right to benefit from those changes. With Photoshop, we'd better start waiting. What if I was able to magically come up with a fix, perhaps by modifying the machine code? Hold on---I'm not allowed to do that! And I'm certainly not allowed to distribute that fix to others. And I'm certainly not allowed to give my son a copy for his PC if he wanted to do an art project for school.

The FSF provides a great deal of information on their philosophy: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/. You could also gain a great deal of insight by reading up on the history: http://shop.fsf.org/product/free-as-in-freedom-2/ or by reading RMS' essays: http://shop.fsf.org/product/signed-fsfs/.

And ultimately, you may find that you do not agree with our philosophy---many don't. That's certainly your right, and I respect that. What I cannot respect, and will not respect, is when that philosophy is used to exert control over others.

(As a final note: many say we control developers through our "viral" licenses. But keep in mind that we're trying to protect the users from developers. This means taking power away from developers. This is intentional.)

Mixing the concepts of functionality and freedom into one concept do not work.

If the program has more functionality, but limits the users in way of Intellectual freedom or Liberties, it doesnt make people more "freer to do stuff". What you got is a program with less freedom but more functionality. Two distinct property of the program. Let me make an exmaple.

Is a video editing program "very free" if it have every function in the world, best usability, and is perfect in every sense, but as a legal requirement it demands all copyright ownership of any video edited? Is that program more "free" than say VLMC? What if the proprietary did allow the users to retain the copyright, but, only if the video included a ad snippet? What if non-ad included was okey, but the video had to first to go a central censor bureau to check that no kittens was harmed? what if the video instead went to the local copyright bureau to be checked for any copyright infringement? What if it included a hidden water stamp?

Freedom is more than functionality.

What proprietary software does those things? It sounds like you're throwing out absurd imaginary examples to support a position.

Adding ads or sending videos to be accepted by a copyright central are not very far away. Youtube already does this. If the video editing tool was bundled exclusively with youtube (a extreme an absurd concept I know), the examples would be instantly true. So far, I don't know of any video editing tool directly connected to youtube, but then I haven't checked on every video editing tool on iphone and android. I would be surprised if there didnt exist at least one.

Hidden watermarks already happen by printer software and some screenshot programs. Some digital cameras also do this. It not a really a big leap to say that a proprietary editing tools would/could auto-include watermarking if there was a business case for it. I would imagine that a photo editing tool bundled with getty or flickr could very easy find a business case to know when a image get posted outside its domain. Actually, there might already exist some photo-editing tools on iphone/android that do this already.

>Mixing the concepts of functionality and freedom into one concept do not work.

I don't mix them. Reality does. While the two sources are theoretically orthogonal, they are also practically connected -- and it's easy to see why: proprietary a la Adobe equals huge company and tons of paid programmers, including people doing the necessary but less glamorous grunt work, i.e more functionality. So, most of the time, in desktop application software (server OSS software fares better) people have to chose between a more featured proprietary solution, and a less featured open source one. And more often than not they chose the latter, as they for example chose Windows/OS X over Linux. We cannot just turn a blind eye to that choice.

>If the program has more functionality, but limits the users in way of Intellectual freedom or Liberties, it doesnt make people more "freer to do stuff". What you got is a program with less freedom but more functionality. Two distinct property of the program. Let me make an example. Is a video editing program "very free" if it have every function in the world, best usability, and is perfect in every sense, but as a legal requirement it demands all copyright ownership of any video edited?

Well, if what I want to do is make a movie, and I cannot do it at all with an OSS program due to functionality limitations, then yes, the proprietary one is freer, even if I have to give them my copyright.

Which is a strawman argument, by the way. Proprietary software mostly asks for your money, and for you not to tamper with the source. No video editing program asks to hand them over your copyright.

>What if the proprietary did allow the users to retain the copyright, but, only if the video included a ad snippet?

What if? It's between the users and the program. If they accept that, then they want to use the program despite the ad snippet.