When to Reject Nonfree JavaScript?
I agree with Stallman's "The JavaScript Trap" (https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/javascript-trap.html) when it comes to the issue, but I have a different opinion when it comes to the rest of the article. Just wrote a blog post about it: https://nandakumar.org/blog/2026/09/nonfree-js.html
AkshayWed 23 Sep 2026 2:36AM
I agree with your criticism of stallman's view on this and I want to take it one step further.
The whole free software movement is a bait and switch.
What we really care about is user freedom so that they can do with their devices what they want. We don't really care about licenses. Stallman first ties user freedom to license, then ties license to librejs, and then rejects any site that doesn't conform to that. What we should reject is simply sites that hamper user freedom.
AkshayWed 23 Sep 2026 2:40AM
In Malayalam there's this story of the kid who is asked to write 10 points about coconut tree. She writes
We tie cow to coconut tree
Cow gives us milk
Milk gives us butter
Butter can be used for making curry
Curry can be eaten with chappatti.
...
...
Stallman's arguments are like that.
We need freedom to modify and share software
Free license allows 1
Anything that doesn't have free license is evil
JavaScript needs to include license in it
Librejs can block JavaScript that doesn't conform to 4
Sites should work with librejs
By point 2 itself we've lost the plot
Nandakumar Edamana ·Wed 23 Sep 2026 1:34AM
Pasting the conclusion since I don't want anyone to force visit my blog:
So, here is my final criteria:
Browsing and reading: always disable JavaScript; HTML and CSS are sufficient for online articles and documentation.
General-purpose Web Apps: first, do it offline as much as possible. Offline or online, Free JavaScript is a must for Web apps.
Specific services (like netbanking): I don’t care if the JS is free or not, for I have no other use for it. Ensuring privacy is a different issue.
Others’ computing: running nonfree JS from a cloud service that your employer adopted to get their computing done (preferably on their machine) is also okay, but help them migrate eventually.