Free and Controlled Layers of Production
There are different layers of production that can be either opened or closed to the users of the end product: the physical layer (the material means needed for the production), the code layer (the logical layer, the intellectual means of the production) and the content layer (the end product that is served). In Internet, the physical layer is made of computers and other things of that kind, the code what produces the programs and determines their functioning, and the content is the services and the programs, everything that is served across the network. The source code being open means that we have free access to the code layer. We can all see, and with little training understand, the ways of producing the content, and thus we can edit it the way we like it. Other layers could be free as well – in the sense of commons. In an open source community, the content tends to be free, and both content (the services and programs) and code (the source code of the programs) free of charge too, only the physical layer (the computers etc.) remaining private. [Lessig]