Software isn't sentient...

I think Richard Stallman is right to argue that the ability to restrict the
freedom of others to use, modify and distribute software is not itself a kind
of freedom. Those who take the contrary view conveniently overlook the role of
copyright law in empowering authors and publishers of copyrighted works to
exercise control over their reproduction. It is the legal apparatus of the
state that makes this possible.

In a situation of perfect freedom - a "state of nature" - there would be no
regulation, and hence no power conferred on authors to impose such restraints,
backed up and enforced by law.

This is the sense in which the GPL, by means of a copyright licence, restores
that which the law would otherwise take away - the freedom to distribute
modified or unmodified versions of the software.

This issue aside, I agree with the earlier comments to the effect that the
article is highly misleading.