Bonum Certa Men Certa

Inside the Free Software Foundation (FSF) - Part III: Imagining an FSF Award Going to Anti-Stallman People

Free Speech and Free software



Summary: The next FSF award may be given to Richard Stallman himself; but it might also be given to a person largely responsible for 'ousting' Stallman, which would be catastrophic

IN PART ONE, part two and the introduction along with recent posts from Alex [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] we can see that there's definitely what some can describe as a "coup" -- typically a political term. It is an armed and sometimes violent takeover, rarely unarmed or amicable (there's a recent example in Bolivia).



"...we can see that there's definitely what some can describe as a "coup" -- typically a political term."Alex is apparently (now or very recently) being accused of "inciting violence" or something along those lines -- an implicit charge that tends to be made by gross exaggerations (as apparently happened at the OSI some days ago as well). We're well familiar with such tactics. Remember that some joke from Linus Torvalds (about the physical size of Greg K-H) was spun as physical threat. Nothing could be further from the truth and we saw the European Patent Office (EPO) making similar accusations against the workers' union.

But let's leave all that aside and instead focus on today's part and its key message. It's about a committee that shall soon decide if Stallman can receive an award from the FSF now that he's formally eligible.

"Remember that some joke from Linus Torvalds (about the physical size of Greg K-H) was spun as physical threat."This brings us back to LibrePlanet, which we mentioned yesterday (how it had attempted to control Stallman's speech, based on numerous sources of ours). "I was told the program had been chosen to avoid being divisive with respect to Stallman," we once heard. "Then the program was published, and people who presided over statements demanding the FSF to expel Stallman or celebrating his resignation are there, but someone who stood for Stallman isn't."

This is a bigger deal than it may sound.

"As a reminder, Bradley Kuhn whilst on the board pushed for Stallman to resign or be ousted."Stallman, we're told, "who got alone more nominations than all other nominees together for the FSF Award for the Advancement of Free Software, has not been passed on to the award committee, because he was a board member for part of the year, but Bradley Kuhn, who remained a board member for a larger part of the year, was passed on to the committee and might/could well get the award if the board doesn't take a stand to make things right. What an ugly and unfair mess!"

As a reminder, Bradley Kuhn whilst on the board pushed for Stallman to resign or be ousted. It was on his firm's Web site. Yes, we call it "firm" because that's what it is. And we learned from reliable sources that Kuhn was the author. It was a strongly-worded statement against Stallman.

If the FSF gives an award to an anti-Stallman person, what further damage can be caused to the FSF? Like they're rewarding someone for ousting their very founder!

Recent Techrights' Posts

What Really Matters to Companies is Net Income or Profit (Bankruptcy is Possible Even With High Revenue)
We ought to stop talking about revenue without focusing on actual profit
Carole Cadwalladr Talks About How Big Business Tried to Silence Her (and Why You Might be Next)
Our story is very different from Cadwalladr's for many reasons
LLM Slop and SEO SPAM Take Us Further Away From Facts (the Case of IBM Layoffs)
Some of these can impact Red Hat as well
Microsoft SLAPPs Against Techrights Losing Momentum
It always backfires
 
Links 14/04/2025: Russian Attack on Sumy Shows No Intention of Peace, Virgin Australia Admits Overcharging People
Links for the day
The Dilemma of Web Browsers Lying About What They Are (in Order to Bypass Discriminatory Gateways Like Clownflare) Worsens Due to LLM Slop
LLM crawlers/scrapers have made sites more restrictive and hostile towards browsers that are potent but not "famous"
Companies Conspiring to Keep Salaries Down and Undermine Competition
People who do all the practical work are being paid less and made to work for much longer
Links 14/04/2025: Disinformation, Public Disdain for LLMs, and "Lessons on Tyranny"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/04/2025: Ween and Historic Ada Project Management
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, April 13, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, April 13, 2025
Influencers: Red Hat, Inc's IPO, 1999, post-mortem on the directed share offer to open source developer community
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 13/04/2025: Microsoft Cuts to "AI" and Azure (It's Failing), ‘Ghiblification’ Shows Slop Doing Much Harm
Links for the day
Links 13/04/2025: Tariff Remorse and Chatbots Leak Again
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/04/2025: No CSS, Spring Scripting
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Turns 72 and Will Be Giving Talks in Europe Soon
We have many local copies of his talks as WebM, having converted files uploaded to YouTube
Revisionism and Lies by LLM Slop and Lazy "Media"
What happened to investigation of issues?
Exposing Corruption and Crimes Against Women Isn't a Crime, It's an Imperative
When evil and greedy people are so desperate to silence you it typically gives you more motivation - not less - to do more of the same
EPO Likely Breaking the Law Yet Again, This Time by Using Slop for Patents (to Lower Costs While Producing Monopolies That Cause Ruinous Lawsuits)
Nobody authorised this
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, April 12, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, April 12, 2025
Links 12/04/2025: Tariffs Standoffs and Spam 'Articles' About Patents
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/04/2025: Isle Release 0.0.4 (Alpha) and Pokemon
Links for the day
Links 12/04/2025: Science and "DEI" Dismantled Further in the US
Links for the day
Links 12/04/2025: "Part of the Problem" and "Facebook Is Just Craigslist Now"
Links for the day
New EPO Leaks: Replacing Patent Examiners and Classifiers With Deficient Bots (Without Even Asking for Permission)
Any consultation about it? Any media coverage? No.
The Consensus is Changing and Web Sites View LLMs as Evil, a Malicious Force of Plagiarism and a Source of DDoS
It's not about "AI" but about plagiarism of sorts
Slopwatch: Lots of Fake Articles About "Linux" Infect the Web, Google News Still Promotes These as 'News'
people who go to a site like google.com or Google News or even social control media (where users get links from Google) will be directed to read slop, i.e. pure garbage.
Gemini Links 12/04/2025: Sigrblot and Conway Calamity
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 11, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 11, 2025