Bonum Certa Men Certa

Reasons Why You (and Everybody Else) Should Join the Fight for Software Freedom

The term "Software Freedom" refers to a lot more than just a software licence

Wikipedia on Nineteen Eighty-Four
Wikipedia on Nineteen Eighty-Four



Summary: Society is being closely watched and controlled (more so during/after the latest pandemic) and people must carefully consider the true importance of resisting proprietary technology (controlled remotely by state actors)

TECHNOLOGY is taking over (almost) everything. Our rights are being gradually eroded in the process. I wasn't always an activist and as an early adopter of GNU/Linux I wasn't always an activist for "Software Freedom" or "Free Software" or whatever. When I was first introduced to it (as a teenager) I didn't even know about GNU or the GPL. Apparently the same is true for most people, even geeks...



"Remember that back then Linux was just some lousy new project almost nobody knew about, unlike GNU..."GNU predates Linux of course, BSD or UNIX predates GNU (even if not by the name "BSD"), and UNIX isn't the epoch of computing. Computers in general go a very long way back. Here in Manchester we like to pretend to be the home of the world's first computer, albeit the caveat is "programmable". We're almost certainly the home of the first GNU/Linux distro (known as "MCC", same name as my employer for about 3-4 years; my colleague was the first to combine GNU and Linux). Remember that back then Linux was just some lousy new project almost nobody knew about, unlike GNU...

Manchester BabyIn the years that followed, perhaps motivated by corporate interests, GNU philosophy was buried/ignored by the media and 6 years later they also rebranded the whole thing, using the term "Open Source" to distract from the vastly more meaningful concept, "Software Freedom" or "Free Software" (the latter has an inherently problematic ambiguity in English, as many interpret that as low-priced or gratis).

The saying "Stallman was right" (or "RMS was right," to use his initials) is being proved more and more correct, or increasingly accurate, over time. Foresight or accurate predictions can be enumerated each year as the list grows. Nowadays many kitchens come with microphones in them -- spying devices (or bugs) that are remotely connected to datacenteres of the world's richest person. Did anyone foresee this in '1984' (Nineteen Eighty-Four) or even in 1983 when RMS announced the GNU Project?

"The saying "Stallman was right" (or "RMS was right," to use his initials) is being proved more and more correct, or increasingly accurate, over time."When it comes to technology, it's fundamentally clear (and a simple concept to grasp) that unless the user is in complete control of that technology, somebody else will be, either 'online' (in real-time) or 'offline' (pre-programming the technology to do potentially malicious things). Surveillance and DRM are just two examples of that. As time goes by we see billions of people being turned into 'digital slaves' of a smaller number of increasingly-powerful 'technology masters' (connected to governments, typically autocratic regimes with imperialistic objectives/ambitions). Some are literally being sponsored by the military and their behaviour is consistent with that of 'nanny states', striving for complete social control (including prediction of citizens' behaviour, based on perceived thoughts/intents).

Dwight Eisenhower once said:

“Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.”


Technology beholden to the military's interests is a recipe for disaster (war as a goal). A more famous saying from Mr. Eisenhower:

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex."


This poses a threat to both US citizens and non-US citizens. It's not about nationality but about class, about power, about wealth...

"Many of these companies would not be profitable without subsidies."And sure, it's likely even worse when someone in France or in China is coming to depend on some American companies, whose business model revolves around sucking up government/VC cash to spy on the world. Many of these companies would not be profitable without subsidies. So the business model is perhaps the subjugation itself (inverting the relationship between people and states). Taxpayers often foot the bill for their very own subjugation and these wrongs are made possible by terrible politicians who are only accountable to corporations and oligarchs ("campaign contributors").

For people who want more control over their lives, over their politics, over elected officials and even military commanders (who must never become unaccountable), removal from the monopolistic grid and greed of proprietary software will become imperative. It's not enough to only change one's own habits; peers, friends, family and colleagues need to follow, partly because of network effects (e.g. being able to call someone or send a personal message without centralised platforms which harvest and mine communications).

"Information begets action."Free software pioneers laid the ground or planted the seeds early enough for a reactionary force to grow roots; we now have reasonably potent alternatives to back-doored (by government instructions) technology that spies, censors and sometimes assassinates people. What's needed is widespread adoption. For adoption to gain momentum we need to better inform people. Information begets action.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft XBox is Dying as More Retailers Stop Stocking It and Massive Layoffs Planned Again
Microsoft is circling down the drain
Linux and the Freedom Paradox
Linux is losing freedom if some external actors who only use Microsoft tools for development wrest control
Watch the FSF Party Live (via Livestream)
It's in WebM format, which is widely supported by now
Advocacy of Software Freedom Changed, LUGs Became Less Relevant
The way we see it, support groups like LUGs sort of outlived their usefulness when it became easier to install GNU/Linux
For the Second Time in a Few Weeks Microsoft Lunduke Makes False Accusations Against Senior Red Hat Staff to Incite a Despicable 'Troll Army'
Nothing that Microsoft Lunduke claims or says can be trusted
Compromised by NVIDIA Proprietary Library
Meanwhile in Boston there are "[r]oundtable talk with FSF volunteers (both in-person and online)"
 
Motivational Small Place to Run Large Sites
We deem this scenery motivational and inspiring
Techrights' Text Version (Daily Bulletin) Turns Five This Month
our plain-text bulletins are turning 5 this month
We'll Continue Covering the Moribund OSI and Other Dysfunctional if Not Hostile Institutions
Stefano Maffulli's departure is due to his defection and due to him failing the mission in pursuit of money (his salary)
Links 05/10/2025: Lufthansa Layoffs (4,000) and More Spotify Woes (Aside From Massive Debt)
Links for the day
The Free Software Foundation's Livestream Has Ended, Video/s Might be Online Next
I've asked whether they'll upload video of some of the event; I still wait for an answer
The Register MS Does Not Know the Difference Between Microsoft GitHub and GitLab
At the time of writing (October 5) the article from "Thu 2 Oct 2025" remains uncorrected
"Bullshit Generators" (What RMS Calls LLMs) and Fake Images Already Target the FSF
Why does Google News promote fake articles about the FSF while omitting all the real ones?
Software Patents as a Bubble
Don't invest resources in hype; if you detect a bubble, run away from it
Links 05/10/2025: Political Leftovers, Climate Change, and Security Incidents
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 04, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, October 04, 2025
When Microsoft "Integrates" Something With "AI" It Means It's Losing Money and Is Generally Hopeless
how did Bing fare after 36 months of LLM slop being hyped up as "replacement" for search?
Most Certificates Don't Improve Security, They Mostly Increase Downtime (for No Good Reason)
The 'Gemini sites' (capsules) are a growing force
The statCounter Site Has Data Integrity Problems
Maybe we'll get back to statCounter when its data becomes more "stable" again
10 Ways to Combat Software Patents
software patents are loathed also by proprietary software developers
"Just a Little Bit of Meat..."
Free software "absolutism" is not a radical stance, more so if the only "radical" belief the user possesses is that he or she must be in control of his or her software, and by extension his or her computer
Red Hat is Ignoring the Free Software Community, It's a "Fortune 1000" Vendor
Red Hat's blog also participates a lot in promoting of Wall Street's latest pump-and-dump "AI" scheme
Free Software Foundation Party Has Begun
We shall be focusing a lot on software patents today
Former Head of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Lina Khan Knows Whatever Microsoft Touches Will Die
Just like Skype (as recently as months ago) [...] When Microsoft grabs things, or when it buys things, it almost never ends well
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About LibreOffice in Austria and Wine 10.16
very short
Links 04/10/2025: "attempted Coup" Noted in Facebook, Russia Kills Journalists via Drones
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/10/2025: Anesthesia and Baudpunk
Links for the day
How Software Patents Were Viewed or Their General Status Changed Over Time
A rough summary
Links 04/10/2025: "Privacy Harm Is Harm", Criticism Outlawed in US
Links for the day
Garmin Uses Linux for Some of the Garmin Products, Now It's Sued by Strava Using Software Patents
Software patents should never have been granted in the first place
Richard Stallman Will Give a Talk in Sweden in 6 Days
Dr. Stallman, despite his battle with cancer is still alive and mentally sharp
FSF Turns 40
We'll be focusing on patent-related topics this weekend
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 03, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, October 03, 2025
Gemini Links 04/10/2025: Distro Hopping and "Part Time"
Links for the day
We Are Turning 19 in One Month, FSF Turns 40 in 3 Hours (CET)
For our anniversary next month we still have no concrete plans
Patent Docs (or PatentDocs) Learned the Wrong Lessons From the Death of TypePad
Had they gone ahead with an SSG, they'd become a lot more future-proof
USPTO Patent Bubble Already Imploding, After Decades of Artificial Inflation, Entire Offices Close for Good
we can deduce that financial pressures (lack of "demand" for monopolies) play a role
TikTok is Not Harmless (Being CheeTok in the US Will Advance Orange Agenda)
Social control media isn't "fun and games"; it's a digital weapon that lets hostile groups or nations infiltrate others, then turn them against themselves
Andy Farnell and Helen Plews Explain What "Modern" Tech Does to Old People
Imposing terrible tech "religion" on people is not helping them
Tomorrow the Free Software Foundation (FSF) Turns 40 and Its Web Site is Still Slow Due to DDoS by LLM Slop Bots
For an advocacy group, uptime is important (for its message to remain accessible)
Slopwatch: Google News as a Firehose of LLM Slop About "Linux"
Google News is really bad
Datamation, Where I Used to Publish Articles, Appears to Have Been Sold to TechnologyAdvice Only to Become a Slopfarm
I'd prefer to not associate with that site anymore
Links 03/10/2025: "NPR’s Economics Lessons Come With Neoliberal Spin" and Canada Post at Risk
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/10/2025: Panic Attacks and Food Adulteration
Links for the day
Links 03/10/2025: Lawyers Caught Using LLM Slop Explain Why They Did It, LibreSSL 4.1.1 and 4.0.1 Released
Links for the day
FSF Board Grew 50% Since Last Year, Has New President, Turns 40 in Two Days
It's a good move for the FSF and - by extension - for software freedom
Links 03/10/2025: Conflicts, Death of TypePad, and TikTok/CheeTok Gives a Boost to Far Right Groups in Europe
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 02, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 02, 2025
Slopwatch: Linux Journal, Google News, and LinuxSecurity
They carry on polluting the Web with fake articles
Gemini Links 02/10/2025: Kubernetes With FreeBSD and robots.txt
Links for the day