History Main / InformationWantsToBeFree

* ''Comicbook/DoctorStrange: The Oath'' is all about the battle between a [[WithholdingTheCure corrupt pharmaceuticals company]] and Strange's attempt to effect a cure through magical means. The primary antagonist is another mage/doctor who was bought by the company and acts as if he half-believes their official line that medical research must proceed at its own "natural pace".
* ''ComicBook/ToxicPlanet'' is set in an unbelievably polluted future (everyone wears a gas mask all the time). At one point, the oil reserves finally, completely dry up, and the politicians look around for solutions. One BeleagueredAssistant mentions he remembers a scientist who'd found a way to completely eliminate the need for oil. [[{{Anvilicious}} The next panel has a skeleton in a lab coat shackled to the dungeon wall, while the guard asks "You sure this is the guy you want?"]]

* ''Film/TronLegacy'': Sam Flynn stages an undercover operation to release the source code of Encom's operating system to the public. He's the main stockholder of the company, it's legal for him to do so.

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'': One episode centers around a mysterious diamond. It turns out it's a lab-created diamond, huge and flawless, and capable of putting diamond mines out of business. Except for the fact that the process is owned by a diamond corporation that bought the patent to squash it. The people who want the information to be free are mostly concerned with letting people know there ''is'' an alternative to the brutality of diamond mining, while the diamond corporation wants to maintain their monopoly. Then there's a third party at play [[spoiler:the original creator of the process, who sold the rights before he realized exactly what he'd discovered, and his wife, the one who's desperate to keep the secret at all costs, because the diamond corporation would destroy the couple's lives for allowing the process to get out.]]

* "Literature/TheDeadPast", by Creator/IsaacAsimov: Director Araman's primary duty is to avert this trope, but Nimmo went ahead and * ''Literature/CradleSeries'': Emriss Silentborn, a sacred tree who gained sapience, spent her long lifetime trying to improve the world. By the time she was a Herald, she had invented [[TransferableMemory Dream tablets]], a MagiTech internet, and was in the middle of constructing a PortalNetwork, all so that people could share information and travel wherever they chose. Three different [[PhysicalGod Monarchs]] worked together to kill her. "[[HeKnowsTooMuch Free, unlimited knowledge is a threat to those who hoard secrets.]]" However, that was not the end for her; her [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Remnant]] collected all the Dream tablets she had left behind, reconstructing her consciousness and eventually allowing her to ascend to Monarch herself. Now she focuses on spreading a CommonTongue so that everyone can communicate. The other Monarchs largely dismiss her as harmless, but the Abidan reports note that she has merely changed tactics, not goals. The ability to cooperate is often more dangerous than direct knowledge.
distributed Foster's design for [[HomemadeInventions home-built chronoscopes]] to six different publishers early. Each of the publishers have probably sent it to other scientists to verify the information. The possibility of everyone having one in their home is considered a virtual certainty. Subverted in that [[spoiler:if Director Araman had just told Ninmo why the invention was suppressed Ninmo would have stopped it himself, as the chronoscope could allow you to see anything anywhere only a second in the past, destroying all privacy.]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Battletech}}'': The Inner Sphere was falling apart under the increasing strain of the ForeverWar and LostTechnology pushing things back to the Industrial Age in places. Then the Grey Death Legion finds a a Star League memory core on a planet they was supposed to be given -- and realizes they were framed for war crimes specifically to try to stop them from finding it. They download it, make a bunch of copies, and give them to anyone who will take them.

* This is the reason for Laughing Man's struggle in ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex''. A scientist found an effective cure for cyberbrain sclerosis (a phenomenon where people with electronic brain implants would have parts of their organic brains harden, essentially the future version of alzheimers and AIDS), but various people with ties to nanobot companies[[note]]Being a post cyberpunk work, the conspirators had different motives; some wanted to make more money, others had grudges and others sincerely believed letting a few people die so that more research into the nanobot treatments would be done was worth it in the long run.[[/note]] suppressed the discovery (they didn't outright kill the scientist, just discredited him and arranged a media blackout) so that they could continue selling expensive nanobot treatments which (at the time) were much less effective.
* This is the main conflict of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn'' and Laplace's Box, a mysterious object rumored to hold something with the power to destroy the Earth Federation. [[spoiler:At the beginning of the Universal Century, a group of conspirators blew up the original constitution along with the first Prime Minister on his space station. The new version created afterwards lost two of it's articles, and when the original, unedited copy of the constitution ended up in the hands of Syam Vist, he blackmailed the Federation for power and wealth. See, 70 years later came the rise of [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Zeon]] and [[TheWarOfEarthlyAggression the One Year War]] and one of the articles seemingly justifies the original philosophic background of said [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Zeon]]]]. Now the Federation and the various Zeon remnant groups are scrambling to get their hands on it because in the Federation's hands, it would be [[spoiler:destroyed to maintain the status quo]] whereas in Zeon's hands, it would [[spoiler:grant their ideology a dangerous level of perceived legitimacy and might incite the colonies to rebel and start another devastating war]]. In the end, the contents are [[CantStopTheSignal released to the public by a third party]] in a way that not only denies it to Zeon as a propaganda weapon but also discredits the extremist parts of their ideology, putting an end to the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory successive]] [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ Zeon]] [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack insurgencies]] of the past decades for good.

* The comic ''ComicBook/ToxicPlanet'' is set in an unbelievably polluted future (everyone wears a gas mask all the time). At one point, the oil reserves finally, completely dry up, and the politicians look around for solutions. One BeleagueredAssistant mentions he remembers a scientist who'd found a way to completely eliminate the need for oil. [[{{Anvilicious}} The next panel has a skeleton in a lab coat shackled to the dungeon wall, while the guard asks "You sure this is the guy you want?"]]

[[folder:FanWorks]]
* In ''Fanfic/HiccupTheUseless'', on top of being completely honest with Chief Mogadon, Hiccup thinks that the Chief could be trusted with the secrets of dragon taming as a means of solidifying their treaty. While Stoick is against this, citing the kind of danger having more than one Viking tribe with this secret, Hiccup argues that pretty much everybody knows about them at this point and that it would be better if they taught him how to properly do it rather than him trying to beat them into submission like the Outcasts and Berserkers do.
* In ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/371039/magic-school-days Magic School Days,]]'' the C-plot folks eventually start learning all about magic via careful infiltration, and manage to keep the wool over the eyes of the Aurors for long enough that they get all the proof they need. Then they release it. [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill On CNN.]]

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]
* In ''Film/{{Antitrust}}'', the BigBad CorruptCorporateExecutive acquires code for his KillerApp through multiple crimes, up to and including murder. The good guys, upon exposing him, release the source code online, accompanied by an e-mail saying, "Human knowledge belongs to the world".
* The movie ''Film/JohnnyMnemonic'' tells us about a man with a cybernetic brain implant designed to store information. The information he's hired to keep turns out to be the cure for a global disease, while Big Pharma thugs want to steal his head so the cure won't be given to the public. On the flip side, the underground resistance fighting the corporations want to share the information for free.
* The female lead of ''Film/TheSaint1997'' has invented cold fusion, thus solving the world's energy problems. Naturally, many folks want this information quashed.
* Handled with all the subtlety of a speeding truck in ''Film/{{Tron}}'', making it another example of OlderThanTheyThink. Dillinger and Master Control locked down all information and user access on our side of the screen, and it took the form of a totalitarian state on the other side of the screen. The User-Believer Programs frequently speak of their longing for a "free system" while Sark and Master control speak of "control" and "order." The lockdown is also why Alan and Lora decide to team up with Flynn in order to get Tron online in the first place.
* In ''Film/TronLegacy'', Sam Flynn stages an undercover operation to release the source code of Encom's operating system to the public. He's the main stockholder of the company, it's legal for him to do so.
* In ''Film/Unknown2011'', the assassins' goal is to prevent the open-source release of a new variety of corn on behalf of agribusiness giants.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/TheDeadPast": Director Araman's primary duty is to avert this trope, but Nimmo went ahead and distributed Foster's design for [[HomemadeInventions home-built chronoscopes]] to six different publishers early. Each of the publishers have probably sent it to other scientists to verify the information. The possibility of everyone having one in their home is considered a virtual certainty.
** Subverted in that [[spoiler:if Director Araman had just told Ninmo why the invention was suppressed Ninmo would have stopped it himself, as the chronoscope could allow you to see anything anywhere only a second in the past, destroying all privacy.]]

** ''[[Literature/InformationDoesntWantToBeFree Information Doesn't Want to be Free]]'', which discusses how attempts to prevent copying are actually damaging to the producer and the consumer, only benefiting the "lock makers".
** ''{{Literature/Printcrime}}'': A corrupt, corporatist regime trying to suppress the use of a new type of 3D printer. They are about as successful as you would probably expect.
* ''[[Literature/TheExpanse Leviathan Wakes]]'' has this conflict as a major element in the story. Holden firmly believes in this trope, though [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom bad things tend to happen when he follows through on it]]. [[spoiler:He causes Mars to go to war with the Belt and Earth to go to war with Mars by releasing incomplete information.]]

* Creator/AynRand's short story "Literature/ThinkTwice" has an inventor who wants to exploit his invention as he sees fit, while his financial backer wants to give it away to the public essentially for free. The backer is later murdered, and the prime suspect is the inventor.
* Creator/WalterJonWilliams's "Literature/TheGreenLeopardPlague" [[http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0406/greenleopards.shtml (available here)]] features [[FramingDevice a main character uncovering the history]] of how the invention of photosynthesis in humans to solve world hunger was suppressed by regimes who used hunger as a weapon.
* In the back story of the ''Literature/{{Newsflesh}}'' series, the unauthorized release of an experimental virus designed to cure the common cold is one of the factors [[GoneHorriblyRight leading to]] a ZombieApocalypse.
* ''Literature/CradleSeries'': Emriss Silentborn, a sacred tree who gained sapience, spent her long lifetime trying to improve the world. By the time she was a Herald, she had invented [[TransferableMemory Dream tablets]], a MagiTech internet, and was in the middle of constructing a PortalNetwork, all so that people could share information and travel wherever they chose. Three different [[PhysicalGod Monarchs]] worked together to kill her. "[[HeKnowsTooMuch Free, unlimited knowledge is a threat to those who hoard secrets.]]" However, that was not the end for her; her [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Remnant]] collected all the Dream tablets she had left behind, reconstructing her consciousness and eventually allowing her to ascend to Monarch herself. Now she focuses on spreading a CommonTongue so that everyone can communicate. The other Monarchs largely dismiss her as harmless, but the Abidan reports note that she has merely changed tactics, not goals. The ability to cooperate is often more dangerous than direct knowledge.
* The third act conflict of ''Literature/TheDispossessed'' centers around Shevek's discovery of the physics needed to create [[SubspaceAnsible instantaneous intergalactic communication]]. He wishes for this technology to be made available to all, but knows that A-Io will attempt to patent and sell it, Thu will seize it for the state and impose strict controls, and even his anarchist homeworld Anarres stands a good chance of rejecting it out of ingrained custom. [[spoiler:His eventual solution is to give it to the Earth ambassador after negotiating with her to make sure it will be given freely to all. Later novels in the same universe indicates that this technology is universal, so he succeeded.]]
* ''Literature/TheKingstonCycle'': {{Invoked|Trope}} by Zelinde after inventing a revolutionary wind power generator. The Crown orders that Zelinde turn over the design, so Zelinde complies, but [[LoopholeAbuse sends copies]] to every newspaper in the city, destroying the fantastically valuable royal monopoly on power.

* A running theme in ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' is the security vs. privacy debate, as well as the control vs. freedom of information debate. Interestingly, despite Whedon being liberal, the show mostly comes down in favor of the security and control of information sides. The message seems to be that it's easy to demand freedom of information when you're not responsible for its consequences.
* An episode of ''Series/TouchedByAnAngel'' revolved around a retired engineer who developed a device that could split water into oxygen and hydrogen [[ArtisticLicensePhysics with only a small input of sunlight]]. He sold it to the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive president of an energy company]], who promptly destroyed the prototype and all the plans so that he could keep making a killing on oil.
* An episode of ''Series/{{Sliders}}'' had the heroes hit a world close to ours but suffocating under a dictatorship. They manage to distribute a copy of the otherwise-unfamilar Bill of Rights by outright email spam. Though it's hard to believe that there would be public access to the Internet in J Edgar Hoover's fascist America, or that he'd manage to repress all copies held ''outside'' the USA.

** [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in the episode "Like Water for Gasoline". Langley, Byers and Frohike are trying to find an experimental prototype water-powered car before an agent of an oil company, who presumably intends to destroy it. It turns out that the agent wants to see it ''mass-manufactured'', and its original creator hid it away because he realized that freedom from oil would ultimately mean more cars and more consumption (a reference to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox Jevons' Paradox]]) - [[NiceJobBreakingItHero his "miracle" would accelerate corporate devastation of the environment rather than stop it.]]
** But played straight any other time. They ''are'' three underground journalists who allied themselves with Fox Mulder and not only work on exposing the alien conspiracy, but many of the more mundane unsavory dealings of corporations and government.
* One episode of ''Series/{{Castle}}'' centers around a mysterious diamond. It turns out it's a lab-created diamond, huge and flawless, and capable of putting diamond mines out of business. Except for the fact that the process is owned by a diamond corporation that bought the patent to squash it. The people who want the information to be free are mostly concerned with letting people know there ''is'' an alternative to the brutality of diamond mining, while the diamond corporation wants to maintain their monopoly. Then there's a third party at play [[spoiler:the original creator of the process, who sold the rights before he realized exactly what he'd discovered, and his wife, the one who's desperate to keep the secret at all costs, because the diamond corporation would destroy the couple's lives for allowing the process to get out.]]

* The Greek god Prometheus stole the secret of making fire from the [[Myth/GreekMythology Olympian gods]] and, as you could say, put it in the public domain for all mortals to use. Zeus was [[DisproportionateRetribution not]] [[ColdBloodedTorture amused]]. (He got better though.) Incredibly, this makes this trope OlderThanFeudalism.

* TabletopGame/{{Battletech}}: The Inner Sphere was falling apart under the increasing strain of the ForeverWar and LostTechnology pushing things back to the Industrial Age in places. Then the Grey Death Legion finds a a Star League memory core on a planet they was supposed to be given - and realizes they were framed for war crimes specifically to try to stop them from finding it. They download it, make a bunch of copies, and give them to anyone who will take them.
* TabletopGame/MageTheAscension: The Virtual Adepts practically breathe this trope.
** They do include a variant on that theme. The Cypherpunks believe that information doesn't want to be free; it wants to flow, travelling to the places where it is most useful. Truly free information would be like a flood, where the user is overwhelmed by massive amounts of information that is not relevant to him/her at the time. Meanwhile, information that is useful could be drowned out by the information that isn't.
* Name dropped and inverted in "The Traitor's Manual" for ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}''.
-->In Alpha Complex, information not only doesn't want to be free, it's usually Clearance [=ULTRAVIOLET=].
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'', runners can make good money off pirate radio operators, underground rebellions, or rival governments/corporations from missions involving digging up and airing some corp or government's secret dirty laundry.

* [[spoiler:Dr. Alex Mercer]] in ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' would have released the secrets of the Blacklight Virus to all of New York City. Blackwatch and its partner, Gentek, weren't about to let that happen. In this case, however, the secret-holder's motives were not at all altruistic, the ultimate goal being simply to become too dangerous to eliminate, get up the nose of the former employers, and failing that, [[TakingYouWithMe go out with one hell of a bang]].
* Parodied in ''[[VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice Sam & Max Beyond Time And Space]]'': In "Moai Better Blues", when Sam calls out the [[FunWithAcronyms C.O.P.S.'s]] [[InUniverseFactoidFailure questionable internet research]] on Easter Island, [[NoIndoorVoice Bluster Blaster]] retorts "INFORMATION WANTS TO BE WRONG!"
* Emma Emmerich in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' explains that Arsenal Gear's AI, GW, is programmed to censor and filter information that it feels people do not need to know because information flows too freely and can quickly be filled up with garbage information that people don't need to know. Along with stopping the terrorists, you're also tasked in destroying the AI so that freedom of information remains free and not censored. [[spoiler:You fail on that second part.]]
* In ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'' this is part of Cyrus's theme, with his fervent belief that knowledge is to be taught, not hoarded. He does hesitate when he gets his hands on a TomeOfEldritchLore and contemplates burning it due to how dangerous the knowledge within... [[spoiler:Then decides ''any'' knowledge is dangerous in the wrong hands anyway, so that's no reason to compromise his principles on this one.]]
* [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in ''VideoGame/{{PAYDAY 2}}'' in the ''Big Oil'' heist. A scientist has managed to discover the secret to cold fusion, and [[VillainProtagonist the crew]] is contracted by [[CorruptPolitician the Elephant]] to steal his only working prototype, as fusion energy would spell the end for the oil companies that sponsor the Elephant's career. After the heist is over, the Elephant says that the engine will be safeguarded and mass-produced by the oil companies "when it becomes profitable to do so."
* An underlying theme in ''[[VideoGame/ShadowrunReturns Shadowrun Returns: Dragonfall]]'', and one that's played with a bit. Although there is a faction in the game that offers to pay you for nearly any corporate secrets you can get your hands on, and promises to make any such knowledge public thanks to their nearly-fanatical adherence to this trope, the player is forced to seriously question whether or not some of the information they recover [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow SHOULD be shared at all.]] Given that the data they can share can involve things such as [[spoiler:research notes on genocidal blood magic or how to subject someone to a FateWorseThanDeath as an enslaved barely-living weapon]], the trope winds up generally being subverted.

* Early on in ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'', the mercenaries are attacked repeatedly by the F'sherl Ganni Gatekeepers, due to experimenting with (and holding the patent for) the 'Teraport', a method of FasterThanLightTravel that far outstrips the unwieldy PortalNetwork that got the F'sherl Ganni their name as well as discovering that [[spoiler:said PortalNetwork also works as a series of duplicators allowing the F'sherl Ganni to torture clones of their MILLIONS of users for information then kill them]]. Finally, Admiral Breya Andreyasn figures out that there's a way to stop the attacks: Release the Teraport into Open Source, essentially spreading the technology freely across the galaxy, and removing the Gatekeepers' reason to specifically target Targon's Toughs.
** [[spoiler:This has the unfortunate side effect of starting a LOT of [[NiceJobBreakingItHero wars]]]].
** [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-06-15 During the HTRN takedown arc,]] Petey quotes the trope name when letting the battleplate ''Popagai'' know that the Fleetmind warship ''Plaited Daisies'' was broadcasting their communications on an open channel so that Tagon was also in the loop.
* Parodied in ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'', as the trope name is the catchphrase of resident {{Robot|Buddy}}ic MadScientist Dvorak. First he accidentally invents robot poison and uploads the schematics to the internet. Then someone points out how it be used to kill robots without a trace, and then he uploads ''that'' to the internet. It turns out that after his owner died, he mechanized his corpse for a Day of the Dead celebration. Which wouldn't have been too bad, except he uploaded the plans for that as well. It was very memorable.
* In ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' when [[NamedAfterSomebodyFamous Dean Martin]] [[https://bobadventures.thecomicseries.com/comics/204/ steals Jean Poule's research data]] to make a monster of his own, he justifies the theft by saying, "But ''information wants to be free''! I had a public ''duty'' to steal it!"
* Used in the backstory of ''Webcomic/GenocideMan'', where various hackers that firmly believed this released a lot of information in bio-modification as Open Source. The various genocides and acts of terrorism that followed [[NiceJobBreakingItHero which made use of the technology that was released]] led to the development of the United Nations [[FunWithAcronyms GENOCIDE]] Project, which not only believes against this trope, but [[InvertedTrope inverts]] YouCannotKillAnIdea to the [[GottaKillEmAll most brutal extreme]].

* ''Webcomic/{{Paranatural}}'': Subverted for laughs when Lisa buys and sells information at the Student Store.
-->'''Lisa:''' Information may want to be free, sure, but then, so do most prisoners.

Alice has something she wants to share with the world. A scientific advancement, most often. She's going to go public and make the world, perhaps, a little better. Maybe it's the cure for a disease, a solution for world hunger or an abundant source of energy. Maybe it's [[ETGaveUsWiFi of alien origin]]. In any case, Alice doesn't want to limit access to it through copyrights or patents or anything of the sort, but... uh oh, Bob doesn't like it. You see, he [[CorruptCorporateExecutive has ties to a big business]] that stands to lose a lot if that invention is released to the general public. If only Alice wasn't so into this [[http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/why-free.en.html "free for everybody"]] nonsense, they could do some business exploiting the oppressed masses like he has been doing with much success so far. Having [[HaveYouToldAnyoneElse questioned Alice about potential confidants]], the decision is made, that [[AlwaysMurder she must die]] and her research with her.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/TheDeadPast": Director Araman's primary duty is to avert this trope, but Nimmo went ahead and distributed Foster's design for [[HomemadeInventions home-built chronoscopes]] to six different publishers early. Each of the publishers have probably sent it to other scientists to verify the information. The possibility of everyone having a one in their home is considered a virtual certainty.

* Used in the backstory of ''Webcomic/GenocideMan'', where various hackers that firmly believed this released a lot of information in bio-modification as Open Source. The various genocides and acts of terrorism that followed [[NiceJobBreakingItHero which made use of the technology that was released]] led to the development of the United Nations [[FunWithAcronyms GENOCIDE]] Project, which not only believes against this trope, but [[InvertedTrope inverts]] YouCannotKillAnIdea to the most brutal extreme.

Alice has something she wants to share with the world. A scientific advancement, most often. She's going to go public and make the world, perhaps, a little better. Maybe it's the cure for a disease, a solution for world hunger or an abundant source of energy. Maybe it's [[ETGaveUsWiFi of alien origin]]. In any case, Alice doesn't want to limit access to it through copyrights or patents or anything of the sort.

But... uh oh, Bob doesn't like it. You see, he [[CorruptCorporateExecutive has ties to a big business]] that stands to lose a lot if that invention is released to the general public. If only Alice wasn't so into this [[http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/why-free.en.html "free for everybody"]] nonsense, they could do some business exploiting the oppressed masses like he has been doing with much success so far. Having [[HaveYouToldAnyoneElse questioned Alice about potential confidants]], the decision is made, that [[AlwaysMurder she must die]] and her research with her.

* The Website/InternetArchive, and [[https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/p8bu54/how_i_collected_33_tb_of_unique_text_documents/ Library of Alexandria]]. Notable in that while the former functions more like the Library of Congress for the internet, the latter contains millions of documents including (somehow) a trove of old Russian passports.

* The academic paywalls are (obviously) large ''[[InvertedTrope opponents]]'' of this trope.

* The comic ''ComicBook/ToxicPlanet'' is set in an unbelievably polluted future (everyone wears a gas mask all the time). At one point, the oil reserves finally, completely dry up, and the politicians look around for solutions. One BeleagueredAssistant mentions he remembers a scientist who'd found a way to completely eliminate the need for oil. [[{{Anvilicious}} The next panel has a skeleton in a lab coat shackled to the dungeon wall, while the guard asks "You sure this is the guy you want?".]]

* In ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/371039/magic-school-days Magic School Days]]'', the C-plot folks eventually start learning all about magic via careful infiltration, and manage to keep the wool over the eyes of the Aurors for long enough that they get all the proof they need. Then they release it. [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill On CNN.]]

* ''[[Literature/TheExpanse Leviathan Wakes]]'' has this conflict as a major element in the story. Holden firmly believes in this trope, though [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom bad things tend to happen when he follows through on it]]. [[spoiler: He causes Mars to go to war with the Belt and Earth to go to war with Mars by releasing incomplete information.]]

* One episode of ''Series/{{Castle}}'' centers around a mysterious diamond. It turns out it's a lab-created diamond, huge and flawless, and capable of putting diamond mines out of business. Except for the fact that the process is owned by a diamond corporation that bought the patent to squash it. The people who want the information to be free are mostly concerned with letting people know there ''is'' an alternative to the brutality of diamond mining, while the diamond corporation wants to maintain their monopoly. Then there's a third party at play [[spoiler: the original creator of the process, who sold the rights before he realized exactly what he'd discovered, and his wife, the one who's desperate to keep the secret at all costs, because the diamond corporation would destroy the couple's lives for allowing the process to get out.]]

* Emma Emmerich in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' explains that Arsenal Gear's AI, GW, is programmed to censor and filter information that it feels people do not need to know because information flows too freely and can quickly be filled up with garbage information that people don't need to know. Along with stopping the terrorists, you're also tasked in destroying the AI so that freedom of information remains free and not censored. [[spoiler: You fail on that second part.]]

* An underlying theme in ''[[VideoGame/ShadowrunReturns Shadowrun Returns: Dragonfall]]'', and one that's played with a bit. Although there is a faction in the game that offers to pay you for nearly any corporate secrets you can get your hands on, and promises to make any such knowledge public thanks to their nearly-fanatical adherence to this trope, the player is forced to seriously question whether or not some of the information they recover [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow SHOULD be shared at all.]] Given that the data they can share can involve things such as [[spoiler: research notes on genocidal blood magic or how to subject someone to a FateWorseThanDeath as an enslaved barely-living weapon]], the trope winds up generally being subverted.

** [[spoiler: This has the unfortunate side effect of starting a LOT of [[NiceJobBreakingItHero wars]]]].
** [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-06-15 During the HTRN takedown arc]], Petey quotes the trope name when letting the battleplate ''Popagai'' know that the Fleetmind warship ''Plaited Daisies'' was broadcasting their communications on an open channel so that Tagon was also in the loop.

* Emma Emmerich in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'' explains that Arsenal Gear's AI, GW, is programmed to censor and filter information that it feels people do not need to know because information flows too freely and can quickly be filled up with garbage information that people don't need to know. Along with stopping the terrorists, you're also tasked in destroying the AI so that freedom of information remains free and not censored. [[spoiler: You fail on that second part.]]

* Used in the backstory of ''Webcomic/GenocideMan'', where various hackers that firmly believed this released a lot of information in bio-modification as Open Source. The various genocides and acts of terrorism that followed [[NiceJobBreakingItHero which made use of the technology that was released]] led to the development of the United Nations [[FunWithAcronyms GENOCIDE]] [[TitleDrop Project]]-which not only believes against this trope, but [[InvertedTrope inverts]] YouCannotKillAnIdea [[KillEmAll to the]] [[JudgeJuryAndExecutioner most]] [[BiologicalWeaponsSolveEverything brutal]] [[PersonOfMassDestruction extreme]].