Richard Stallman Has Updated His Article on Why "Free Software Is Even More Important Now"
About 3 weeks ago this article by Richard Stallman got updated, based on the timestamp in the footer. As we said in recent years, Richard Stallman is still busy editing (improving or making more up-to-date) old pages in the GNU Web site. This is what the latest revision says:
Public agencies exist for the people, not for themselves. When they do computing, they do it for the people. They have a duty to maintain full control over that computing so that they can assure it is done properly for the people. (This constitutes the computational sovereignty of the state.) They must never allow control over the state's computing to fall into private hands.To maintain control of the people's computing, public agencies must not do it with proprietary software (software under the control of an entity other than the state). And they must not entrust it to a service programmed and run by an entity other than the state, since this would be SaaSS.
Proprietary software has no security at all in one crucial case—against its developer. And the developer may help others attack. Microsoft shows Windows bugs to the NSA (the US government digital spying agency) before fixing them. We do not know whether Apple does likewise, but it is under the same government pressure as Microsoft. If the government of any other country uses such software, it endangers national security. Do you want the NSA to break into your government's computers?
Richard Stallman is about to give a talk here in the UK in a few hours. █