Blogging Pioneer Dave Winer: Pleading for Richard Stallman
- Guest Editorial Team
- 2021-05-18 23:51:31 UTC
- Modified: 2021-05-18 23:51:31 UTC
Reprinted from the original
- I feel so sad about what's happening to Stallman.#
- He's 68. I know what that's like, I'm 65. #
- He has fixed his whole existence on a single idea that software should be free. Not free of charge, but free to use and to adapt. It's not that far from the kind of openness I believe in, that I believe is an ethical responsiblity for developers. #
- It's useful to have a person like Stallman around, consistently marking an extreme view. It's like knowing there's a North Star, you may not be going to it, exactly, but knowing where it is makes it possible to go other places. And some people agree with Stallman in total, and to them he's their leader.#
- Now, if you step back and look at what's being said about him, basically people don't like things he says or the questions he asks. I read these things completely factoring out the non-factual stuff, where they tell you what his questions mean in some pure sense, when what they're really saying is what these questions mean to them. To a reasonable person imho they're just questions. Some people don't argue with questions, they just ask them. For the people who attack him, it's the opposite, their questions are accusations. #
- I think Stallman is actually a naive innocent, almost child-like harmless person. That's based on years of observing him, being connected through communities. Maybe he did terrible things I don't know about. But maybe you have too. Is this how we're going to coexist? All of us worrying about who's going to make a credible case for destroying each others' lives? This isn't about Stallman, it's about your sense of justice and how far it extends, and how unfair that is for the rest of us who fear being judged by you. #
- PS: A quote from a 1994 blog post: "I try not to get offended on principle." I was quoting someone else, but I've remembered that. Just because I should be offended, doesn't mean, if I'm not actually offended, that I have to pretend I was. #
- PPS: If you still think Stallman should be destroyed, go see Lives of Others, a wonderful film about intellectuals in East Germany during the Cold War. #
Recent Techrights' Posts
- On Groupthink, Mindless 'Sheep', and Toxic Online Cults
- This week, treat yourself to a life free of social control media
- BetaNews is Run and Written by Bots That Make Clickbait
- At least one author is doing this
- Technology: rights or responsibilities? - Part VIII
- By Dr. Andy Farnell
- GNU/Linux Reaches All-Time High in Europe (at 6%)
- many in Europe chose to explore something else, something freedom-respecting
-
- Links 25/11/2024: Egypt Harasses Bloggers, The University of Michigan Has Become Like a Corporation
- Links for the day
- Links 25/11/2024: Climate News, Daniel Pocock Receives a Fake/Fraudulent €17,000 Electricity Bill
- Links for the day
- [Meme] Microsoft: Our "Hey Hi" Hype is Going So Well That We Have MASS Layoffs Every Month. Makes Sense?
- Contradiction
- Latest Mass Layoffs at Microsoft Are Confirmed, Bing and Vista 11 Losing Market Share
- They tried to hide this. They misuse NDAs.
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, November 24, 2024
- IRC logs for Sunday, November 24, 2024
- Gemini Links 25/11/2024: Purity and Cory Doctorow's Ulysses Pact, Smolnet Portal and SGI
- Links for the day
- Patents Against Energy Sources That Reduce Pollution
- this EV space (not just charging) is a patent mine field and it has long been that way
- DARPA’s Information Innovation Office, Howard Shrobe, Values Compartmentalisation But Loses the Opportunity to Promote GNU/Linux and BSDs
- All in all, he misses an opportunity
- Wayland is an Alternative to X
- the alternative to X (as in Twitter) isn't social control media but something like IRC
- BetaNews, Desperate for Clicks, is Pushing Donald Trump Spam Created by LLMs (Slop)
- Big clap to Brian Fagioli for stuffing a "tech" site with Trump spam (not the first time he uses LLMs to do this)
- [Meme] Social Control Media Bliss
- "My tree is bigger than yours"
- Links 24/11/2024: More IMF Bailouts and Net Client Freedom
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 24/11/2024: Being a Student and Digital Downsizing
- Links for the day
- Techrights' Statement on Code of Censorship (CoC) and Kent Overstreet: This Was the Real Purpose of Censorship Agreements All Along
- Bombing people is OK (if you sponsor the key organisations), opposing bombings is not (a CoC in a nutshell)
- [Meme] The Most Liberal Company
- "Insurrection? What insurrection?"
- apple.com Traffic Down Over 7%, Says One Spyware Firm; Apple's Liabilities Increased Over 6% to $308,030,000,000
- Apple is also about 120 billion dollars in debt
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, November 23, 2024
- IRC logs for Saturday, November 23, 2024
- [Meme] GAFAMfox
- Mozilla Firefox in a state of extreme distress
- Google Can Kill Mozilla Any Time It Wants
- That gives Google far too much power over its rival... There are already many sites that refuse to work with Firefox or explicitly say Firefox isn't supported
- Free (as in Freedom) Software Helps Tackle the Software Liability Issue, It Lets Users Exercise Greater Control Over Programs
- Microsofters have been trying to ban or exclude Free software
- In the US, Patent Laws Are Up for Sale
- This problem is a lot bigger than just patents
- ESET Finds Rootkits, Does Not Explain How They Get Installed, Media Says It Means "Previously Unknown Linux Backdoors" (Useful Distraction From CALEA and CALEA2)
- FUD watch
- Techdirt Loses Its Objectivity in Pursuit of Money
- The more concerning aspects are coverage of GAFAM and Microsoft in particular
- Links 23/11/2024: Press Sold to Vultures, New LLM Blunders
- Links for the day
- Links 23/11/2024: "Relationship with Oneself" and Yretek.com is Back
- Links for the day
- Links 23/11/2024: "Real World" Cracked and UK Online Safety Act is Law
- Links for the day
- Links 23/11/2024: Celebrating Proprietary Bluesky (False Choice, Same Issues) and Software Patents Squashed
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, November 22, 2024
- IRC logs for Friday, November 22, 2024
- Gemini Links 23/11/2024: 150 Day Streak in Duolingo and ICBMs
- Links for the day
