One of the things that open source software needs the most is the full protection of the law. Eben Moglen, Professor of Law at Columbia University Law School and a leading advocate of open source rights, congratulates the open source community on their success in becoming an important part of current technology, but also discusses how important it is to protect the user's rights. He reviews the legal atmosphere of intellectual property rights and how more restrictive to sharing they have become in recent years and how the end user has become the biggest loser because of this change.

Moglen first asks whether licenses still matter. He reviews how things are different from twenty-five years ago where open source had few adherents and software was fiercely protected by companies. Now the most important information technology can be found in the user's pocket. The user doesn't just want a music player/video player/telephone; they want a device that can do anything. This is where the open source community can be particularly skillful.

He also discusses the shift in the legal understanding of intellectual property. In the late 20th century, there was a shift to the idea that only by NOT sharing could innovation happen, leading to more restrictive copyright, trademark, and patent laws. He makes it clear that future developments will only be really useful to the end user with information sharing, open source.

Moglen also answers a few questions, such as the controversy about GPLv3 and Linux, and whether software patents are more dangerous than other patents.