Richard Stallman to Give Public Talk in 3 Hours, Then in the Technical University of Munich (Germany) Next Week
"I'm always happy when I'm protesting." - Richard Stallman, who will speak close to the EPO next week (he already protested against the EPO many times before)
Dr. Richard Stallman will speak at the Sapienza University of Rome this afternoon. Then, 8 days later, he'll be in Germany, based on this new page. To quote:
Richard Stallman will be visiting us on October 21, 2025.
He will be giving a talk on "Free/Libre software and freedom in the digital society".
The talk will be in Rudolf-Diesel Hörsaal (MW2001) on Campus Garching at 18:00.
The talk will be broadcast and recorded through TUM live.
The talk is open to the public and attendance is free. Registration is not required.
If you like, you can bring stickers to swap with other attendees.
Please respect Mr. Stallman's wishes of social distancing and do not try to storm the speaker's floor. Please also do not occupy the lecture hall beforehand in order to not disturb the previous (university) lecture.
Topic of the Talk
There are many threats to freedom in the digital society. They include nonfree software, massive surveillance, and censorship.
Nonfree proprams are often designed to restrict users, control users or manipulate users. The War on Sharing aims to stop users from sharing copies of published works. Computers for voting make election results untrustworthy.
Other threats come from use of web services, implemented by companies that can impose any conditions whatsoever.
Finally, most internet activities (aside from those which existed before 2000) are precarious, dependent on permission from one company.
All of these threats originate more or less in the use of nonfree software. That is why free software is the first battle in the liberation of the digital society.
The organisers will need to turn down online trolls who pressured a German organiser (against a Stallman talk) earlier this year. His accomplishments speak for themselves: (they're why he's targeted so miserably by jealous people)
Dr. Richard Stallman launched the free software movement in 1983 and started the development of the GNU operating system (see www.gnu.org) in 1984. GNU is free software: everyone has the freedom to copy it and redistribute it, with or without changes. The GNU/Linux system, basically the GNU operating system with Linux as the kernel, is used on tens of millions of computers today. Stallman has received the ACM Grace Hopper Award and the ACM Software and Systems Award, a MacArthur Foundation fellowship, the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Pioneer Award, and the the Takeda Award for Social/Economic Betterment, as well as many doctorates honoris causa, and has been inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame.
Stallman is envied (or reviled) for his accomplishments, not wealth. He cannot buy the mainstream media.
The following image will probably be spread in social control media over the coming days. █
