Bonum Certa Men Certa

Techrights Supports the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and Confronts Those Looking to Undermine Its Mission



Summary: By cherry-picking phrases and perhaps even wrongly attributing phrases some people have been attempting to distort our record about the Free Software Foundation (FSF); it's important to set things straight

WE HAVE BEEN writing about the FSF for over 14 years and we've defended the FSF for longer than this (my advocacy predates this site and some of us have used Free software since the 1980s or 1990s). Various people wrongly mistook us for an FSF site in the early days of the site (no idea as to why) and we've generally had an amicable relationship with the FSF over the years. There are almost 600 posts in our "FSF" category and I've just (very quickly) gone through the first 100, just to remind myself of what we wrote and where we stood over a decade ago. Everything was pro-FSF, including early speculations about Stallman seeking successors.



Cherry pickingIt has come to our attention, however, that some people wrongly (and falsely, maybe by malicious intention) attempt to portray us as FSF-hostile. In this video I show our latest articles about the FSF and explain that it is truly ludicrous to suggest that we're against the very thing we've always advocated (and still advocate). It seems more than probable that misattributions and out-of-context (cherry-picked) phrases are used to construct this sort of narrative ('behind the scenes' so to speak). The goal appears to be dividing natural allies, or in other words fracturing the Free software community. We've long encouraged federation of many groups that support Free software, knowing it can help the FSF get the message across in more countries/demographies.

"Various people wrongly mistook us for an FSF site in the early days of the site (no idea as to why) and we've generally had an amicable relationship with the FSF over the years."The video is a bit of a ramble, but it's unscripted and done in one (first) take. I discuss some issues we've recently brought up and what seems to be the latest strategy, which is both a distortion and ad hominem (portraying us as exactly the opposite of what we are). It's akin to the "straw" tactics, one of which is explained below.

Straw feminism
Reference: Straw feminism

Recent Techrights' Posts

SUEPO Central Made a Strike (or Striking) Success
Europe has more than enough qualified patent officials
Wikipedia - Funded by Slop-pushing Companies and 'Broligarchs' - Gave Benefit of the Doubt to Slop, Then Regretted It
Wikipedia sucks. Without slop it'll suck a little less.
 
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 30, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, March 30, 2026
Links 31/03/2026: Rising Costs, Cyberattacks, Novo Patent Expiry
Links for the day
Gemini Links 31/03/2026: American Spring, Distributed Systems Simulator, and Calculus for Electronics
Links for the day
IBM Layoffs and Their Expected Scope in April 2026
Such layoffs impact not only IBM "proper"
SLAPP Censorship - Part 28 Out of 200: Facing Consequences for Impersonation and Worse
It's not "funny". It is moreover libellous.
Links 30/03/2026: South Korea Next to Curb Social Control Media Addiction and Manipulation, Notorious Patents in the US Challenged
Links for the day
Gemini Links 30/03/2026: Going Back to Wrist Watches and Why LLMs in Programming Suck
Links for the day
Did IBM Pay thestreet.com for Puff Pieces? (Like It Did With Forbes)
If so, there is no disclosure
Payoffs of Lifelong Commitments
"The Lifelong Activist"
Links 30/03/2026: "We Can’t Income-Tax Ultra-Elites"; "The Pirate Bay’s Oldest Torrent Turned 22"
Links for the day
Today, Europe's Second-Largest Institution (EPO) Goes on Strike That Can Last Until 2027. Nobody in the Media Covers This!
"We stand with the protesters"
When the Cost (or Time) of Maintenance Exceeds the Value
In recent years it seems like more people learn to remove things from their lives, not add more things
Passage of Wealth Upwards, Blaming the Victims
Tim Sweeney's net worth is 5.1 billion USD according to Forbes
More Media Needs to Tell the Public Slop is a Giant Bubble, It Should Stop Taking "Sponsorship" Money to Inflate This Bubble
If enough of (what's left of) the media changes its tune and quits being a parrot of GAFAM, then we can debate slop like grown-ups
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 29, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, March 29, 2026
Trying to Hide One's Abuses by Imposing Silence on Critics ("My Profile Was Private")
With enough daylight, sooner or later everyone knows you are a vampire
Fedora Badges System Shows the Demise of Fedora Under IBM
IBM isn't good at keeping what it buys
IBM is Sunsetting Red Hat, It Only Uses the Brand and the Shell
IBM buys or spins off companies as containers for "toxic assets" and debt
Cisco Systems is a Still Weak Spot With Bug Doors
nothing to offer except storytelling
EPO Strike Begins Today and It's the Longest One Yet (Can Last a Year)
Where's the media?
Gemini Links 30/03/2026: Approaching April and Arvelie Calendar
Links for the day
No Daylight Saved
Is there still any practical reason for this ritual?
Microsoft Azure Does Not Have "Hiring Freezes", It Has Had Mass Layoffs Every Year Since 2020
Things are always a lot worse than Microsoft formally or publicly acknowledges
SLAPP Censorship - Part 27 Out of 200: Using the Tor Network to Hide From Consequences
Only 1-2 weeks after the countersuit the Canadian attempted to deplatform several Web sites
The Limits of Inclusion
Inclusion with caution isn't "opinionated"; it's a defence mechanism, sometimes a survival instinct
Almost 20 Years After Microsoft/Novell
The mission has not changed, but the priorities evolve all the time
People Discuss Rumours of Mass Layoffs at IBM Becoming Public in 1-2 Weeks
IBM is killing its brand or its "goodwill"
LLM Slop Kills Sites, as Sites That Adopt Slop Are Doomed
People won't subscribe to such sites and visit them if they recognise it's just slop
Links 29/03/2026: Indonesia Cracks Down on Social Control Media Addiction, China Becomes World’s Scientific Superpower
Links for the day
Fedora at the Mercy of Microsoft Because of Back-Doored Kick-Switch Boot
We'll soon revisit the defamation attacks on Torvalds
Links 29/03/2026: Water Shortages and No Kings Rallies
Links for the day
The Old Days
In the early days of this site (2006) it was mostly just a couple of people, plus comments
Gemini Links 29/03/2026: Return to Gopherspace, "Zen of Marking Playing Cards"
Links for the day
The Real XBox is Dead, So Microsoft is Calling Everything "XBox" Now
It even wanted to run a campaign to convince everybody that XBox is not actually a console
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 28, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, March 28, 2026