Bonum Certa Men Certa

Free Speech is Becoming as Scarce as Independent Journalism (Even at the FSF)

Video download link | md5sum 9cec78b99b8a19d43c0b0b8323b16f19 The Online Speech Police Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0



Summary: Censorious tendencies and authoritarian leanings have put speech (both online and offline) at risk; it has gotten so bad that nowadays it's difficult to say what's true and factual if someone's feelings (or a clique) will be hurt

THE Free Software Foundation (FSF) has announced that it is pursuing talks, but reliable sources inside the FSF have told me that talks are closely scrutinised before they're approved. The screening process is there to ensure that no "undesirable" views get aired. So does the first F in "FSF" also relate to Free speech? It's complicated. Their IRC network and even their mailing lists are censored. Sometimes out of convenience, not to avoid offense.



"Their IRC network and even their mailing lists are censored."This isn't to 'bash' the FSF, just to openly and freely state what's factual. In LibrePlanet 2023, "software patents ought to be addressed," someone has told us, but they seem to favour lawyers as speakers, not hackers/coders who understand these issues from a technical perspective. I would have submitted a talk on this issue had I not felt the threat of being suppressed (or the talk watered down). Based on what I heard, they do both (censorship and self-censorship), so I choose to instead publish in a platform that I control. "It's partially online so speakers could be from anywhere," someone has reminded us, but that in no way tackles the free speech deficit, just aspects of convenience (no need to travel). My response was that if I had given a talk about the EPO or UPC, for instance, "it would have to be self-censored heavily [so] and I'd rather use my own platform..."

Notice how the FSF did not take note of GNU's anniversary. "Today is the 39th anniversary of the launch of GNU," we've been reminded by somebody. "I would say an important topic would be to get institutions onboard for a proper recognition of the 40th anniversary next year."

Well, so far the FSF has said nothing. It just celebrated its own 35th anniversary, but that was it. The contribution to it from the FSF's own founder was a pre-recorded and heavily sanitised 'talk'. We mentioned that at the time. Are they embarassed of their own people and projects?

Any hypothetical scenario I can think of would prevent me from speaking openly and that's not limited to the FSF's LibrePlanet. Nowadays academia is pretty much the same (scholarly environments became very corporatised) and it's hard to get anything published that contradicts phony corporate narratives. The corporate money (e.g. advertising, grants) reinforces if not cements the monopoly on narrative/s.

"I don't think I ever saw a LibrePlanet talk (seen a lot) that focuses on corruption," I noted. Ever since yesterday I've thought about it some more. I still can't think of an example. They set boundaries and those likely include protection for FSF sponsors. The organisation being not revolutionary and not even reactionary (reacting to some of Microsoft's latest competition crimes) is a very big problem. So-called diplomatic and bureaucratic people have decided to 'police' the FSF's speech, making it or shaping it like the SFC, albeit with less funding.

"The corporate money (e.g. advertising, grants) reinforces if not cements the monopoly on narrative/s."We not only needed Richard Stallman (rms) back in the institution he had founded in 1985. We needed the real rms back. We needed someone who can bluntly spell out the issues, not some career climbers who "leave it to the profe$$ial$" (like inviting lawyers to speak about patents, talking in terms like "IP").

This problem further extends to another important theme; see "Journalism: "Objectivity" and "Neutrality" Aren't the Same Thing" at CounterPunch (appeasing two misleading camps, sometimes both of which connected to the same companies). And a connected theme is social control media. See "Why Misinformation Spreads So Quickly On Social Media" (e.g. how rms was defamed without any corrections/retractions issued later).

That latter one "ties into the CounterPunch article too; objectivity is not parroting "both sides" but a matter of digging to find what the facts are," as an associate explains.

We linked to the CounterPunch piece several days ago. The only thing worse than a lack of media or misleading media is social control media because it's harmful on many levels (some aspects are explained in the video above).

"The only thing worse than a lack of media or misleading media is social control media because it's harmful on many levels...""Another theme," the associate said, "setting aside who said it or maybe not, is that computers used to be about doing work for people and under the direction of people rather than as a means to far people and their attention. Note how far the proprietary company Apple has diverged from its founder since his death."

"Most software, especially "apps", are about farming behaviors these days."

Worse yet, they actively misinform the user and even incite the user against innocent people, sometimes to distract from scandals that haunt the app maker/s.

Recent Techrights' Posts

This is How Microsoft's XBox and Entire Consoles (If Not Gaming) Ventures Will Ultimately Die
Ensure you can blame "Tariffs" (politics)? If not "hey hi", the fashionable go-to excuse when businesses fail?
The Complaint About Brett Wilson LLP - Part II - UK SLAPPs for Americans, SLAPPs for Profit
Brett Wilson LLP has a track record of this kind
Cloudflare Gives Us All Another Reason to Boycott Cloudflare
If Cloudflare wants to use its vast surveillance network (which is what it does as a CDN) to foist paywalls and maybe something worse (like DRM on top), then Cloudflare should be more widely rejected as a company
Someone Expiring Certificates on the Day of the 9/11 Attacks is Not Someone I Would Want Controlling My PC (or Deciding What's Authorised for Booting)
"social justice warriors"
More Microsoft-Red Hat Cross-Pollination as the Company Loses a Managing Director
some people move from Microsoft to Red Hat and some do the opposite
 
Punching People Doesn't Work
It makes nobody any safer
Look Ma, No "Cloud"
So far this year we've had an almost perfect uptime
Links 24/09/2025: Autism Blame-Shifting and Typhoon Ragasa Enters China
Links for the day
Buying From Oneself is Not Business Success
This isn't at all a joking matter even if you already laugh at the whole thing because your pension, savings etc. are tied to this scam at some level
What They Really Hate David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH) for
Nothing to do with code
Smart People Won't Buy 'Smart' Cars
Imagine trying to sell someone a house (proper home) while insisting that it'll need to be demolished 5 or 10 years later, then rebuilt again from scratch on the same vacant lot
The Relationship Between IBM Red Hat and Microsoft, Visualised
This metaphor goes a long way (projects, collaborations, and outsourcing
The Complaint About Brett Wilson LLP - Part III - Spying on Reporters' Families, Chaining Cases for Microsoft Employees Who Demand Censorship of Facts (Even Politely Expressed)
the time seems right to wrap up this introductory series
Links 24/09/2025: "NASA Moving Out of Entire Buildings as It's Gutted" and Purge of Online Critics (Opposing Fascism Becomes Unlawful)
Links for the day
Science is Under Attack
Oligarchy prefers a dumbed-down population
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Has Reportedly Failed People With Wrong Advice
At the moment the SRA has a PR blunder
The Man Suing Brett Wilson LLP and Gervase de Wilde (5RB)
Now he's probably using the (almost) 200,000 pounds he's supposed to receive to sue Brett Wilson LLP and former colleagues/partners
Slopwatch: A World Wide Web That's Rotting for Companies That Won't Even Exist in a Few Years
some of the junk Google News is promoting
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 23, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 23, 2025
Links 24/09/2025: Qt Creator 18 Beta, Microsoft Cannot Bail Out "ChatGPT" Anymore, China and US Intensify Censorship
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/09/2025: Gemlogs and Politics
Links for the day
Links 23/09/2025: Japan Limits Uses of Skinnerboxes ('Smartphones') With Toxic "Apps", Fentanylware (TikTok) Tapped by "MAGAts"
Links for the day
Brett Wilson LLP Has Just Been Sued (by Their Own Clients!)
Vladimir and Alla Yanpolsky sued Brett Wilson LLP in BL-2025-001167 at the end of last week
Mayday: Optus emergency calling crisis
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 23/09/2025: Massive Data Breach, Slop Versus Productivity, and Vista 11 Update Breaks Things Again
Links for the day
Code of Censorship
Extortion is peace
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has Un-cancelled the Best People, Just in Time for the Big 4-0
Mr. Oliva should have been there all along (since 2019)
Most "Modern" Technology Makes You Slower and Dumber
Because proprietary software makes you worse off
"What Comes After Free Software?" Wrongly Insinuates We've Reached the Goal (Prison is Not the Goal)
The oil tycoons use similar tactics against environmentalists, giving them fake "wins"
Making More Work Space
I learned the hard way that less is more in circumstances where more means distraction
MAHA is a Lie, Public Officials Never Valued Citizens' Health (They Still Value Private Businesses, Their Sponsors)
Reject demagogues
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has a New Press Kit for the Weekend After Next Weekend (40th Anniversary)
miles better than social [sic] media [sic] quips, moderated by narcissists and oil tycoons.
Microsoft Had Two Waves of Mass Layoffs This Month (That We Know of) and It'll Get Worse for Microsoft Soon
Will the axe fall again by month's end?
Gemini Links 23/09/2025: Happy Equinox, Photronic Arts, and Perception Cognition
Links for the day
Lessons We've Learned After 17 Years of American Hosting
GAFAM is "all-in" with the "Trump agenda"
Back to Normal Now, We Plan to Do More In-Depth Series (or Multi-part Stories)
Articles (or series thereof) that contain philosophy are important to us
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 22, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 22, 2025
Microsoft Media is Panicking Amid Mass Layoffs Every Month, H-1B Fees, and "Seattle’s Tech Scene in Trouble"
In "late stage Microsoft", copyleft becomes proprietary
The Next Wave of IBM/Red Hat Layoffs Being Discussed Already
Red Hat is sort of disappearing the way Tivoli did
New Techrights Turns 2
Today starts the third year of the SSG-based Techrights
What Scares Them the Most is Independent News Sites That They Cannot Control and Censor
Wikileaks was a good example of this
If You Don't Control Your Online Platform, Then Someone Else is Controlling You
be (or become) independent
Oracle Started This Year With Slop. Then It Stopped.
Passing fads are like this
Distros That Run on PCs Made 20 Years Ago and Don't Use Systemd
Betas for now
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Has a Policy on Racism and Sexism
In then future we'll show the misogyny and racial slurs
The Complaint About Brett Wilson LLP - Part I - Abusing British Women on Behalf of American Men Who Abuse American Women
Transparency is important to us, so we've decided to make this series
Slopwatch: Google News and the Evident Slopfarm Infestation
This is what people get about Linux when they query Google for Linux
Links 22/09/2025: Murdochs Might Join Fentanylware (TikTok) 'Investors' (Masters), United Kingdom Recognises Palestinian Statehood
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/09/2025: Esperanto Music History and Apps For Android
Links for the day
Links 22/09/2025: More American 'Censorship' (Retaliation for Journalism), Cheeto "Might Be Losing His Race Against Time"
Links for the day
The Blob Slop
Give me more words, give me some text
The 50-Pound Note Experiment and the "War on Cash"
Britain is actually seeing a rebound in cash payments, and it's not a temporary phenomenon
Slopwatch: Blaming the Victims for Microsoft's Failures and Plagiarising Phoronix
That's what Google has been reduced to: slop and slopfarms
Links 22/09/2025: Breaches, Windows TCO, and Arrests
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/09/2025: Rabbit Hole and DeGoogling Fairphone
Links for the day
Links 22/09/2025: Russian War Planes Invade NATO Airspace While Dihydroxyacetone Man Escalates Attack on Free Speech Because of Critics
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 21, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, September 21, 2025