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Richard Stallman Was Right All Along

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Re: Richard Stallman Was Right All Along

#91

Post by TeMPOraL »

Tycho wrote: post #19

I just don't see the relationship between government overstepping the mark... and buying a proprietary product form a company you respect, because you want to use the product and are willing to sacrifice the desirable but non-essential quality of unfettered access to its innards. ...OK, actually I do see the connection. The suggestion is probably that if the technology is not totally open, you don't know how much pow…

> the manufacturers could be cooperating secretly with the authorities

They might not be doing it now, but there's no telling if they won't start doing it later, when the government will ask for data or surveillance because of terrorist threat or .

Re: Richard Stallman Was Right All Along

#92

Post by city41 »

muhfuhkuh wrote: post #38
dpkendal wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A Nobel Peace Prize winner? The man who promised to close down Guantanamo Bay and has still yet to manage to do so? Whose election campaign promised "Change" yet whose only significant move in that way so far, in office for 3 years, is the repeal of DADT? The man who I (along with so many liberals) want desperately to believe in, but who just makes it too hard for us? Yes, that man.

The guy who also oversaw an economy that returned 401Ks to at least sane levels from -40% in 2007-8; the guy who actually said and then did get bin Laden; the guy who pushed for and signed a law that is as close to healthcare reform as anyone has gotten since Medicare was enacted almost 50 years ago; the guy who pulled us out of Iraq when the Republican candidate in 2008 said we should be there for 100 more years; th…

He could have vetoed NDAA. He could have not extended the Patriot Act. Those are decisions he alone made. They are solely on him and no one else. If he was one tenth what he said he would be, he would have made the right decision.

Re: Richard Stallman Was Right All Along

#93

Post by joe_the_user »

pyrhho wrote: post #80
spodek wrote: post #53

"I, too, disregarded Stallman as way too extreme... Only a short while ago I would've declared this as pure paranoia - but with all that's been going on recently, it's no longer paranoia." I considered him extreme until I thought more about it, then came to agree with him on most major points... ... that was in 1993. Glad to see others here.

Since you recognised this issue so long ago, I'm sure you have some recommendations regarding how we can solve it?

Whatever the poster's ideas might be, I have to point out that it is a fallacy to imply that the person recognizing the problem necessarily can come up with the solution or has an obligation to come up with the solution - even if the person has recognized the problem for a long time.

Re: Richard Stallman Was Right All Along

#94

Post by crgt »

hammerdr wrote: post #78
jonhendry wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It's extremely likely, given the criticality of the legislation to the military, that his veto would have been overridden by Congress. " Maybe. Or they could drop the problematic bit and redo it. Either way, the paychecks would go out.

You have to understand that the system isn't that simple. Bills do not exist in a vacuum. You cannot view these things as independent and completely unrelated to everything else going around it. Yes, the President could veto the bill but then the next few months becomes about him veto-ing a military appropriations bill. He would then need to explain to the American public why the freedoms it eroded were unacceptable…

"He would then need to explain to the American public why the freedoms it eroded were unacceptable"

Why is this a bad thing?

Re: Richard Stallman Was Right All Along

#95

Post by deskamess »

rbanffy wrote: post #56
muhfuhkuh wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The guy who also oversaw an economy that returned 401Ks to at least sane levels from -40% in 2007-8; the guy who actually said and then did get bin Laden; the guy who pushed for and signed a law that is as close to healthcare reform as anyone has gotten since Medicare was enacted almost 50 years ago; the guy who pulled us out of Iraq when the Republican candidate in 2008 said we should be there for 100 more years; th…

> we should be there for 100 more years You make several good points, but I'd like to remind you that pulling out of Iraq now is very risky. If Iraq becomes a theocracy (either through a civil war or - gasp - free elections), the US will probably be compelled to invade it again. By now, it seems that the cycle of invasion-rebuild-pullout is more profitable to the political-military-industrial complex than a single co…

I believe that post pull out, whenever it came, would be a time when Iraq reset itself politically. And it would be very messy time.

It will take a cycle or two of elections before Iraqis feel they have their country back. Might as well get that cycle started as early as possible. If the Iraqis go to an Islamic system that will be their political choice.

From a geo-political perspective, if the US wanted a non-Islamic state and, as a bonus, a buffer to Iran, then they seriously miscalculated when they overthrew the previous regime.

Re: Richard Stallman Was Right All Along

#96

Post by jiggy2011 »

chc wrote: post #62

This article is just a complete non sequitur. The Stallman angle has nothing to do with any of the problems it cites. Free software wouldn't prevent Obama from signing an indefinite detention bill, it won't stop the government from forcing ISPs and DNS roots to do harmful things — the benefits of free software are completely different things.

Pretty much, Even with everyone running 100% FOSS the government could still pass a law that said "commits made by government agencies to any source code repositories must immediately be merged into all branches, compiling a binary without these modifications being intact is a violation of federal law" or something to that effect.

It would make such things easier to spot, but spotting them in itself doesn't seem to be the biggest problem.

Re: Richard Stallman Was Right All Along

#97

Post by bonch »

spodek wrote: post #53

"I, too, disregarded Stallman as way too extreme... Only a short while ago I would've declared this as pure paranoia - but with all that's been going on recently, it's no longer paranoia." I considered him extreme until I thought more about it, then came to agree with him on most major points... ... that was in 1993. Glad to see others here.

Claiming Richard Stallman was right all along is like claiming the paranoid street preacher predicting natural disasters as God's judgement was right all along when a hurricane hits.

Re: Richard Stallman Was Right All Along

#98

Post by ypcx »

From the "Yeeloong Notebook" page:

"If you prefer warm interpersonal dialogs in solving problems, you can dial our hotline. Technical personnel will provide help in the first time."

Now I can understand Mr. Stallman!

On a more serious note, the only question is: How much worse do things have to get, in order to start getting better?

Besides, the Yeeloong thing coming from China, I wouldn't be so sure it doesn't contain a bit of tracking circuitry.

Re: Richard Stallman Was Right All Along

#99

Post by jiggy2011 »

jonhendry wrote: post #40
jasonallen wrote: post #17

Agreed - Stallman was right all along. What's working against Stallman though is that his doomsday predictions are being delivered in piecemeal fashion. Each slight erosion doesn't seem too bad by itself. Only in retrospect does the magnitude of the problem reveal itself. Governments and corporations have evolved processes to change laws in such effective manners as to evade most human observation. tldr; No one tells…

I think the main flaw is that, no matter how popular GPL software becomes, it doesn't stop the government from saying "your machines need to run this closed-source software in order to be used or sold in this country".

yes, or it could even be open source spyware that you have to run anyway to be compliant with the law.

Re: Richard Stallman Was Right All Along

#100

Post by crgt »

stfu wrote: post #69
OstiaAntica wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obama the candidate opposed the use of signing statements. http://technorati.com/politics/article/signing-statements-re...

The signing is pure politics. He has to pick his battles and by making a point on civil liberties and playing up to the libertarian crowd he is not going to win a vote. He is more likely going to "make a point" on social issues aka health care, welfare and so on - things that play well with his electorate.

"playing up to the libertarian crowd is not going to win a vote"

It sells music: http://money.cnn.com/2011/12/30/news/kelly_clarkson_ron_paul...

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