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Richard Stallman Was Right All Along

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Re: Richard Stallman Was Right All Along

#121

Post by jonhendry »

spodek wrote: post #119
jonhendry wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay, he wrote a scary story. What has he done to promote laws to prevent what he fears, and to fight laws that lead to what he fears?

He co-authored a license that anyone can use to share software, prose, and other copyrightable material. That license, and others derived from it, are at the root of most non-proprietary software and many types of user-created content. Using the internet means you've used software that likely could not have been created without such licenses. Wikipedia is another example of something using a license derived from the…

Yes, but what has he done that has been directed towards US laws, regulations, and policies, to protect the right to read?

Re: Richard Stallman Was Right All Along

#122

Post by cabalamat »

jonhendry wrote: post #105
sadfasdf wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html That essay is what made me a firm supporter.

Okay, he wrote a scary story. What has he done to promote laws to prevent what he fears, and to fight laws that lead to what he fears?

He was and is a major inspiration for the international pirate party movement, which if the power of the MAFIAA is to be destroyed, is the most likely actor to do it by political means.

Re: Richard Stallman Was Right All Along

#123

Post by cabalamat »

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?

Via the technological route, or the political route.

The technological route involves software to enable darknets, and hardware/software to enable ad hoc mesh networking.

The political route involves electing representatives that care about these issues, which the Pirate Party have had success doing, e.g. in Germany and Sweden.

Re: Richard Stallman Was Right All Along

#124

Post by anatoly »

jonhendry wrote: post #105
sadfasdf wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html That essay is what made me a firm supporter.

Okay, he wrote a scary story. What has he done to promote laws to prevent what he fears, and to fight laws that lead to what he fears?

It isn't that he wrote a scary story.

It's that his story looked much less plausible in 1997 than it does now. I remember reading the story at that time. I thought it had something going for it, but was very far-fetched and unrealistic. 14 years later, it seems way more plausible.

Re: Richard Stallman Was Right All Along

#125

Post by glimcat »

jonhendry wrote: post #43
SaintSal wrote: post #30

"His only computer is a Lemote Yeelong netbook, because it's the only computer which uses only Free software - no firmware blobs, no proprietary BIOS; it's all Free." Interesting that it's made in China. I'm trying to reconcile the implications of that... http://www.lemote.com/en/products/Notebook/2010/0310/112.htm...

And how does he know there are no "firmware blobs"?

Because he can close his eyes and wish, I suppose. It's a netbook, there are microcontrollers. The microcontrollers have firmware.

Besides which, I somehow doubt that all the relevant microcircuitry is open source.

Re: Richard Stallman Was Right All Along

#126

Post by Zigurd »

adrianbye wrote: post #89
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.

same for me, except around 2003. RMS is a difficult guy but he tends to be right.

RMS is difficult because he is consistent, because he is right about difficult topics, and because people have a natural tendency to be comforted by authoritarians. But the issues RMS writes and speaks about are fundamental to human rights, and to the continued ability to create and innovate and create value without getting prior permission.

Re: Richard Stallman Was Right All Along

#127

Post by _sh »

jonhendry wrote: post #121
spodek wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He co-authored a license that anyone can use to share software, prose, and other copyrightable material. That license, and others derived from it, are at the root of most non-proprietary software and many types of user-created content. Using the internet means you've used software that likely could not have been created without such licenses. Wikipedia is another example of something using a license derived from the…

Yes, but what has he done that has been directed towards US laws, regulations, and policies, to protect the right to read?

Apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order and a legal document designed to protect the right to read and modify and a philosophy that has influenced an entire generation of creators...?

Re: Richard Stallman Was Right All Along

#128

Post by Adam503 »

wycats wrote: post #2

It's worth noting that Obama, upon signing, issued a signing statement that said that he was against the indefinite detention provision, and importantly, that he would not indefinitely hold Americans without trial: "Moreover, I want to clarify that my Administration will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens. Indeed, I believe that doing so would break with our most import…

Stop listening to Barack Obama talk. Obama talks likes FDR, but Obama's actions have way way to the right. Obama's not way right like Cheney but he is closing in on Reagan. Obama invaded more countries than Reagan, Reagan cut taxes more than Obama. Obama has kept extending Dubya tax cuts. Obama and Mittens borrowed ObamaCare from Bob Dole. Reagan never executed American citizens without trial. Actually, Obama's a bit right of Reagan now.

Re: Richard Stallman Was Right All Along

#129

Post by tjr »

jonhendry wrote: post #117
pingswept wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I understand, RMS has spent a large fraction of his working life in the last 20 years traveling the world to speak to people about free software. He could be dismissed as too extreme, but dismissing him as someone who hasn't fought for his beliefs is way off. His speaking schedule is often published in the FSF newsletter; he appears to speak to a group about free software around once per week.

That's just it, he spoke about free software, not these larger issues. And getting people to adopt free software is an orthogonal issue. Even if GPL software had 99% market share in the US, and everyone in the country were running the same kind of computer as Stallman, the government could still step in and pass all kinds of draconian laws. Getting regular people to adopt the GPL ethos is fine, but if the ethos doesn…

Richard speaks about more than just free software per se; recent speeches include Copyright vs Community, A Free Digital Society, and The Danger of Software Patents.

Re: Richard Stallman Was Right All Along

#130

Post by pg »

This article doesn't seem to give any examples of specific predictions Stallman made that have turned out to be correct. All the article seems to be saying is that Stallman seemed paranoid, and present events seem to justify paranoia.

(Incidentally, people always feel that.)

Can anyone give some examples of specific predictions Stallman made that seemed surprising at the time, but that have come true? I'm not saying there haven't been any, just that such a list would be more useful than this article.

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