Gratis Versus Libre
The various forms of the original statement are ambiguous: the slogan can be used to argue the benefits of propertied information, of liberated/free/open information, or of both. It can be taken merely as an expression of an amoral fact of information-science: once information has passed to a new location outside of the source's control there is no way of ensuring it is not propagated further, and therefore will naturally tend towards a state where that information is widely distributed. Much of its force is due to the anthropomorphic metaphor that imputes desire to information. In 1990 Richard Stallman restated the concept but without the anthropomorphization:
I believe that all generally useful information should be free. By 'free' I am not referring to price, but rather to the freedom to copy the information and to adapt it to one's own uses... When information is generally useful, redistributing it makes humanity wealthier no matter who is distributing and no matter who is receiving.Stallman's reformulation incorporated a political stance into Brand's value-neutral observation of social trends.
Read more about this topic: Information Wants To Be Free