I wonder if he had a "free software" sticker on his bag. Maybe the thief thought the bag was free also.
Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina
31–40 of 124 posts
Re: Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
rms, he himself, should have kept an eye on the bag, not somebody else...
I don't understand the downvotes. Care to explain?
Like I wrote, he enjoys the ritual of interacting with the audience after the talk. I think most people at this point stop looking at their stuff for a minute.
Re: Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina
#33Something similar happened to Tom Preston Werner of Github when he was in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Conference organizers have a responsibility to emphasize the high incidence of theft and assist them however possible - most people coming from developed countries do not have experience with this type of danger. This seems like a situation that could have been avoided if someone was keeping an eye on Rms' bag.
rms, he himself, should have kept an eye on the bag, not somebody else...
I agree that would be ideal, but it's hard to expect someone who is so accustomed to not having to worry about such things to keep this in mind. This is especially true in situations where you are excited (eg: after giving a talk about something you are passionate about). Clearly he will not make this mistake again, it would have been the right thing to do for the organizers to take better care of him though and protect him from the risks of the country that they invited him to visit - at the very least within the walls of the conference venue.
Re: Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina
#34Most of us have cloud backups like Mozy or Carbonite, or keep our documents in the cloud with tools like Google Docs, iCloud, or Zoho. To us, losing a laptop is an inconvenience... but not a cause for canceling future engagements. But RMS is different. He's ethically opposed to the "cloud," calling it a "trap." That is his prerogative. But you can't cry when you lose your data!!
I think the larger problem, for him, is procuring another laptop that is 101% Free. I'd be surprised if he didn't have backups somewhere online, but a system he controls.
Re: Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina
#35Sorry to hear what happened.
It's interesting that he was at a conference, presumably speaking about what he always speaks about.
This means his bag and things were to advance his mission, which is kind of to advance a 'commons'.
it nicely illustrate's RMS's philosophy (gpl). Even though he was speaking to advance the public good, a private enterprizer took his bag, removing it from the commons he worked so hard to advance.
RMS's philosophy, code, and bags require the protection of law.
Re: Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina
#36[deleted]
Re: Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina
#37The passport replacement is relatively easy, right?
The bigger concern is the medicine. How does that work with prescription medicine outside the US?
The laptop is rather unique, so if someone pawned it you would think it could be hunted down.
Re: Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina
#38Most of us have cloud backups like Mozy or Carbonite, or keep our documents in the cloud with tools like Google Docs, iCloud, or Zoho. To us, losing a laptop is an inconvenience... but not a cause for canceling future engagements. But RMS is different. He's ethically opposed to the "cloud," calling it a "trap." That is his prerogative. But you can't cry when you lose your data!!
Could you explain how to pass through immigration using a passport stored in the cloud?
Re: Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina
#39Most of us have cloud backups like Mozy or Carbonite, or keep our documents in the cloud with tools like Google Docs, iCloud, or Zoho. To us, losing a laptop is an inconvenience... but not a cause for canceling future engagements. But RMS is different. He's ethically opposed to the "cloud," calling it a "trap." That is his prerogative. But you can't cry when you lose your data!!
I host sensitive data and perform backups on my company's servers. We're renting a rack and handle the hardware ourself. All happily running on FOSS. I don't think RMS has anything wrong with that.
Medicine has no backup, but you can buy some more.
A passport has no backup. Fortunately, embassies can issue emergency passports, but Visas are lost.
If anything, I'm sure he was not sad for his laptop.
Re: Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina
#40Well he is not the first celebrity to get robbed in B.A.
Bush daughter was visiting the city, the whole neighbourhood was crawling with CIA agents and her purse was still stolen...