Software Freedom is Closely Connected to Privacy
9 years ago on April 15th (2017) Richard Stallman gave a talk focused on privacy. Despite him being a person focused on his own projects and programs, which emphasise Software Freedom, he was considered fluent in the lingo of privacy.
Back in the 1970s and 80s the importance of privacy was realised in the context of activism and many other contexts. Not many records were digitalised (stored only digitally), however, so privacy was less precarious.
In 2026 many British doctors are said - based on recent press reports - to be reluctant to use their computer systems because they have a rough idea of what Palantir (US) does to patients' data (it's a MAGA-leaning military company).
This is about patients' dignity, not just patients' privacy (in the more shallow sense, not the profound sense).
People who value their freedom would share the least data about themselves, knowing how data about them tends to be exploited or leveraged against them.
Social control media is built in a way that undermines privacy and curtails control over one's data. Mobile phones (in the US, "cellphones" or "smart phones"; we call them "skinnerboxes") are the ultimate privacy destroyer. Someone recently "Decompiled the White House's New App" and afterwards "[c]ybersecurity researchers warn that the White House’s new app regularly shares users’ IP addresses, time zones and other data to third-party services." This "app" moreover "Relies on Russia-Founded Firm Linked to Staff Data Exposure" and we know, based on the Iran war, that Russia provides data on where to strike with missiles and lethal drones (skinnerboxes also help track boats' movement and which parts of a given boat is more densely populated). In that respect, privacy can be a matter of life and death. █