Bonum Certa Men Certa

Open Letter to Richard Stallman About the Free Software Movement

By Thomas Grzybowski and figosdev

Offer help



Summary: New letter to the founder of GNU and the FSF; the authors "wish to have it published as an open letter as well."

Dear Richard,



This is a open letter of concern about Free Software and the Free Software movement, which a number of people share. It’s about a loss of freedom in the Free Software domain which we see taking place. I would like to present our concern to you here:

"There is a developing view in some areas of the Free Software community that the tech industry – much as a whole – is looking at Free Software as a goldmine for their exploitation."Now I think we can agree that the raison d’être for technology industries is profit. And the Free Software movement is not against profit, as such. A fair and logical progression from the premise that industry is essentially about making a profit would be that industry is motivated to make a profit from Free Software. Now that may be okay, and then again, it may not… There is a developing view in some areas of the Free Software community that the tech industry – much as a whole – is looking at Free Software as a goldmine for their exploitation.

First I would like to suggest a slight shift in meaning to the term “Free Software”. I think you will agree that Freedom is a practical matter, which is to say it is realized in practice. Another way to put this: it is not the software which is intrinsically free (software does not care), it is the users/developers who become free upon their use of the “free” software. Now, if the users’ ability to ("freely") benefit from the freeness licensed in a software project is in any way impacted, the users are losing some portion of their software freedom.

"The license remains as-is, but yet system elements or a non-free development environment can make the software far less free."The major mechanism for the protection of Free Software, Users, and their Four Freedoms, has been the GPL. And the GPL has worked very well. This may have lead to an over-reliance on this single device. Entities which strive to take advantage of the vast resources encompassed by the FOSS ecosystem have been searching for ways to better benefit themselves beyond that which is given to them by the GPL and the Four Freedoms. They seem to have found some ways.

How is this being accomplished? In general, through the implementation of processes (and code even) which gives certain entities more and more control over the software. The license remains as-is, but yet system elements or a non-free development environment can make the software far less free. Keep in mind that “control” is closely akin to “ownership”, and so means of control can thus be monetized. There need be no malice nor overt malfeasance involved, yet the loss of freedom prevails. I hesitate to name examples here, as these projects and environments are even now areas of controversy. I hope you are open to explore this perspective in more detail.

Thank you,

Thomas Grzybowski and figosdev

Recent Techrights' Posts

"What Comes After Free Software?" Wrongly Insinuates We've Reached the Goal (Prison is Not the Goal)
The oil tycoons use similar tactics against environmentalists, giving them fake "wins"
Making More Work Space
I learned the hard way that less is more in circumstances where more means distraction
MAHA is a Lie, Public Officials Never Valued Citizens' Health (They Still Value Private Businesses, Their Sponsors)
Reject demagogues
New Techrights Turns 2
Today starts the third year of the SSG-based Techrights
What Scares Them the Most is Independent News Sites That They Cannot Control and Censor
Wikileaks was a good example of this
If You Don't Control Your Online Platform, Then Someone Else is Controlling You
be (or become) independent
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Has a Policy on Racism and Sexism
In then future we'll show the misogyny and racial slurs
Links 22/09/2025: Murdochs Might Join Fentanylware (TikTok) 'Investors' (Masters), United Kingdom Recognises Palestinian Statehood
Links for the day
 
Code of Censorship
Extortion is peace
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has Un-cancelled the Best People, Just in Time for the Big 4-0
Mr. Oliva should have been there all along (since 2019)
Most "Modern" Technology Makes You Slower and Dumber
Because proprietary software makes you worse off
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has a New Press Kit for the Weekend After Next Weekend (40th Anniversary)
miles better than social [sic] media [sic] quips, moderated by narcissists and oil tycoons.
Microsoft Had Two Waves of Mass Layoffs This Month (That We Know of) and It'll Get Worse for Microsoft Soon
Will the axe fall again by month's end?
Gemini Links 23/09/2025: Happy Equinox, Photronic Arts, and Perception Cognition
Links for the day
Lessons We've Learned After 17 Years of American Hosting
GAFAM is "all-in" with the "Trump agenda"
Back to Normal Now, We Plan to Do More In-Depth Series (or Multi-part Stories)
Articles (or series thereof) that contain philosophy are important to us
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 22, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 22, 2025
Microsoft Media is Panicking Amid Mass Layoffs Every Month, H-1B Fees, and "Seattle’s Tech Scene in Trouble"
In "late stage Microsoft", copyleft becomes proprietary
The Next Wave of IBM/Red Hat Layoffs Being Discussed Already
Red Hat is sort of disappearing the way Tivoli did
Oracle Started This Year With Slop. Then It Stopped.
Passing fads are like this
Distros That Run on PCs Made 20 Years Ago and Don't Use Systemd
Betas for now
The Complaint About Brett Wilson LLP - Part I - Abusing British Women on Behalf of American Men Who Abuse American Women
Transparency is important to us, so we've decided to make this series
Slopwatch: Google News and the Evident Slopfarm Infestation
This is what people get about Linux when they query Google for Linux
Gemini Links 22/09/2025: Esperanto Music History and Apps For Android
Links for the day
Links 22/09/2025: More American 'Censorship' (Retaliation for Journalism), Cheeto "Might Be Losing His Race Against Time"
Links for the day
The Blob Slop
Give me more words, give me some text
The 50-Pound Note Experiment and the "War on Cash"
Britain is actually seeing a rebound in cash payments, and it's not a temporary phenomenon
Slopwatch: Blaming the Victims for Microsoft's Failures and Plagiarising Phoronix
That's what Google has been reduced to: slop and slopfarms
Links 22/09/2025: Breaches, Windows TCO, and Arrests
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/09/2025: Rabbit Hole and DeGoogling Fairphone
Links for the day
Links 22/09/2025: Russian War Planes Invade NATO Airspace While Dihydroxyacetone Man Escalates Attack on Free Speech Because of Critics
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 21, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, September 21, 2025
Links 21/09/2025: "Hey Hi" (Hype) Under Fire, Fakes Identified; Tesla Burns Family
Links for the day
Google's Software is Malware and Malware in Mobile Devices
Originally posted by Rob Musial
Links 20/09/2025: Hegemony Coming to a Close, Luigi Mangione Ruled Not Terrorist
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/09/2025: "Charlie Kirk Was a Hateful Piece of Shit" and Slop Code Attempted by Microsofter
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 20, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, September 20, 2025