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"Richard_Stallman_at_LibrePlanet_2019" by Ruben Rodriguez
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"Richard_Stallman_at_LibrePlanet_2019" by Ruben Rodriguez
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This is the personal web site of Richard Stallman.
The views expressed here are my personal views, not those of
the Free Software Foundation or
the GNU Project.
For the sake of separation, this site has always been
hosted elsewhere and managed separately.
If you want to send me GPG-encrypted mail, do not trust key servers! Some of them have phony keys under my name and email address, made by someone else as a trick. See gpg.html for my real key.
Richard Stallman has cancer. Fortunately it is slow-growing and manageable follicular lymphoma. Treatment put it into remission, and he can expect to live many more years. However, he now has to be even more careful not to catch Covid-19.
I urge you to vote in Democratic primaries for the progressive candidate, if there is one. And in the final election I urge you to vote for Democrats, unless a liberal independent had a good chance of winning.
The largest part of the site is the political notes, and they are typically updated every day.
I'm looking for people to![[America Means Civil Liberties / Patriotism Means Protecting
Them / www.aclu.org/safefree ]](flag_set_vectorized.png)
US citizens: call on Congress to keep private equity out of the child care business.
US citizens: call on Big Tech to stop amplifying election lies.
US citizens: call on lawmakers to ban surveillance pricing.
They should go further than that and ban collecting personal data about the purchaser.
US citizens: call on The FEC to investigate and prosecute Elon Musk's illegal campaign events now.
Urgent note to US citizens
It is vitally important that we elect Harris and Walz. And that we elect Democrats to the House and Senate. Please vote, and vote for them.
Since Bernie Sanders and Franklin D Roosevelt are not running for president this year, we can't get the sort of president we really need. But we can elect a president who is good on many issues and won't make things worse on the others.
Winning Congress is crucial because we must not allow right-wing extremist Mike Johnson to remain Speaker of the House. In that position he could sabotage the election, and has made it clear he wants to. If we elect just a few more Democrats, he won't be speaker any more.
If you're thinking of sending Democrats a message for next time, I understand why. I too would like to send them more or less the same message. But if the United States falls into a Trance now, they will never allow an election to be fair enough for them to lose. The message will be useless.
I'm looking for a cartoonist who would like to draw cartoons for me once in a while. If you're interested, please write to rms, which refers to me, at the location gnu period org.
Boycott Chevron, in the name of Steven Donziger.
A pitifully weak attempt to solve a real problem: asking for a federal law that would permit victims of domestic abuse and stalking to demand that data brokers delete information about them.
Data, once collected, will be abused. The way to prevent that abuse is to facilitate refusing to hand it over in the first place.
Here is my proposal for protecting the specific people known to be in particular danger, and everyone else who could be harmed if individuals, businesses or governments use their personal data against them without a search warrant: require services to be available anonymously.
The selfish interest of those who keep trade secrets is rational but antisocial. In many cases the only harm it does is to hold back the general advance of technology. But sometimes it does really nasty things. For digital hardware and software, it often gives companies a way to subjugate their users. Regarding use of toxic chemicals, it endangers public health.
Why would legislators pass laws to "protect" companies instead of protecting the people they harm? I suspect it is partly because these companies are influential and the legislators seek their support, and partly because the legislators ask them for campaign funds.
But it is also partly the result of the mindset of "trickle down", which assumes that the only way to get more funds for the state is to let increase the size of the economy by letting companies have what they want. Unfortunately, what they want is often to be allowed to harm the public.
Most Democrats in Congress got corrupted this way in the 80s and 90s. (The exceptions are the progressive Democrats.) Now in the UK Starmer is guiding Labour into that sort of corruption.
Clearly our laws should say that any public need to know about the presence of toxic substances in a business facility overrides the desire to keep them secret.
Whether the owners are Chinese is a question that there is no need to ask, because the state should never give money to a business "to support it." Instead it should offer to lend money to the company for suitable repayment, or else buy equity at a fair price.
These two ways of supporting a company avoid giving the owners an opporunity to rip off the state -- which the company's owners are likely to try to do, if they can, regardless of which country they are from.
With a policy like this, it wouldn't matter which country the company's owners are from.
It is exciting that SB 976 turns towards restricting recommendation algorithms. But these options should not be limited to minors — every user should have this choice. (Please do not refer to teenagers as "children"; that feeds the US tendency to treat them like children and retard their development.)
However, I suggest taking a step beyond just choosing to use or not use the platform's addiction system. Recommendation algorithms should be completely separated from platforms!
If you want to use a nontrivial recommendation algorithm, you should be able to choose it yourself and use it anonymously. You could send it the URLs you want it to base its choices on. These might be some of the pages you had visited, and perhaps pages you had not visited.
Then it should send you its recommendations. You could pass all, or just some, or none of those recommendations to the platform to look at them.
AB 1949 is admirable because it gives a small boost to privacy for users of all ages, not only for children. It isn't enough, though — users should also be guaranteed the right and possibility to access through the Tor network and to use aliases. And collection of a user's data by the state should require a warrant against the user.
Here are some quotations that I particularly like.
You can now read the political notes on Mastodon.
US citizens: call on Congress to keep private equity out of the child care business.
US citizens: call on Big Tech to stop amplifying election lies.
US citizens: call on lawmakers to ban surveillance pricing.
They should go further than that and ban collecting personal data about the purchaser.
The Putin forces are using specialized drones that drop grenades on civilians. The drone controllers do not target a specific person; rather, they generally attack anyone they come across.
As we increase the number of artificial satellites in Earth orbit, the danger of the Kessler Syndrome (a chain reaction of collisions) increases too. Humanity could bar itself from space entirely.
The movie Gravity showed an extremely fast chain reaction. It might actually take years, but be unstoppable nonetheless.
*Mozambique opposition figures killed as protest grows over election results.*
*"Crunch time for real": UN says time for climate delays has run out.*
*Time to act: UNEP paints bleak climate picture without rapid emissions cut.*
Today's US college students have no memory of a Republican Party that wasn't extremist. To those whose families were Republicans, the way they find it now is normal.
*Corporations using "ineffectual" carbon offsets are slowing path to "real zero", more than 60 climate scientists say.*
It is obvious that use of bogus "offsets" as an excuse not to do real decarbonization keeps the greenhouse emissions high.
Putin is supporting the propaganda of a US neo-Nazi group.
Putin and the corrupter support each other, too.
*Spain's apocalyptic floods [following others in countries around the world] show two undeniable truths: the climate crisis is getting worse and Big Oil is killing us.*
The annual COP conferences that was created to get the world o the road to safety has been captured by planet roasters, and it is hard to see how the US and Russia could negotiate any sort of agreement about fossil fuels.
Some large countries could set up a carbon tax system on their own, using the tax money to help the poor not to subsidize specifically fossil fuel for poor people. Maybe then other countries would join.
* A high school in California has decided not to invest in coal, oil or [fossil] gas, instead pledging to put money into clean energy..*
This was a demand made my the students. Bravo! But what we really need is to stop anyone from "investing" in fossil fuels.
*…Working-class white people were actually the dispensable pawns of white supremacy. Or as Lyndon B Johnson put it: "If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best coloured man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you."
I made a link to that article because it tells us something important about racism. Racism is an intense form of bigotry; it is a collective injustice that I condemn, and support the campaign against. I think posting a link to that article will help that campaign.
Ironically, that article itself embodies symbolic bigotry by capitalizing "black" but not "white". (To avoid this bigotry, capitalize both words or neither one.) I denounce lesser forms of bigotry too, and I don't want to normalize symbolic bigotry by letting it pass without calling it out. Normally I avoid any menton of articles that practice it.
I had conflicting feelings about that article based on these two valid goals: to make a link, because of its important point about racism, or not to link, to avoid normalizing the article's own bigotry. I concluded that the first goal could not be neglected, and made the link. But the second goal also should not be neglected — hence this note to criticize the article's own bigotry.
*Five ways [that the wrecker as president] would be disastrous for the climate.*
The billionaire owner of the LA Times blocked it at the last minute from publishing an already-written endorsement of Harris for president. Some editors resigned in protest, and many subscribers have quit.
Bezos blocked at the last minute an already written endorsement of Harris for president, according to staff. Some editors, staff and subscribers are quitting.
Since Bezos is not an ideological right-wing extremist, there are suspicions that he was afraid the bully would punish his other companies if he allowed an endorsement of Harris and then the bully somehow became president.
People have asked what Musk hopes to get if he can make the bully president.
I think Musk wants to be emperor.
The danger that billionaires pose to the American republic somewhat resembles the way concentration of wealth destroyed the Roman Republic (1). Eventually the richest Roman of all, Julius Caesar, became so powerful that no few in Rome could go against his wishes, not enough to succeed in denying him anything. He aimed for total power.
Later his nephew, Octavian, actually got that total power, so that no one could safely oppose him at all. This he obtained the official position that we nowadays call "emperor".
If we defeat the bully this time, he may go away and leave us alone, but Vance won't refuse the "support" of Musk, and they are not old enough to be likely to disappear soon. To be safe, we will have to take away most of Musk's wealth. And likewise for other billionaires.
1. There are many differences, of course. The Roman Republic never had goals such as democracy or equal rights. The vote of a rich citizen counted for more than that of a poor citizen, and a sufficiently rich citizen was automatically a senator. Wives had little more rights than slaves. Notwithstanding the revolt of Spartacus, few ever said that slavery was wrong in general.
Nonetheless, there are similarities in the evolution of the system into instability as the richest fortunes became greater.
*Israeli prison staff accused of assaulting Marwan Barghouti [in his cell],*
causing several wounds.
He is kept in solitary confinement, which is effective a form of torture,
and rarely allowed visits, even from lawyers. So the attack could hardly have been done by anyone but the prison guards.
Some famous writers have supported a campaign to boycott Israeli cultural institutions, except those that have taken a stand against the occupation or atrocities.
The reason I call Isreal's massacres of Palestinians "atrocities" but not "genocide" is that the meaning of the latter word is a matter of magnitude of the acts in question, not just the kinds of acts.
Killing 20 people in cold blood is clearly an atrocity, but it is not genocide. Killing 40,000 people out of 2.3 million, by violence or starvation, is a series of atrocities, but is it genocide? I think that is still stretching the word. Killing 10% of the population of Gaza might be genocide. Enough additional killing (which I hope will not occur) would surely make it genocide. But I don't think there is a precise line.
Why argue about that question of the meaning of the word? Killing tens of thousands of people is a grave and vicious act, and calling it a series of atrocities expresses the gravity of the crime in a way that is totally clear.
Russia has more or less taken unofficial control of Georgia, through the opposition is still fighting and claim that the election was rigged.
* The working class saw Clinton’s support of Nafta, which cut most tariffs between US, Mexico and Canada, as "a betrayal".* They continue to blame Democrats for it. It was a betrayal and it was promoted by Democrats (though not as many Democrats as Republicans).
But what counts in the election is what they would do next year. Overall, Democrats are inclined to resist the demands of rich people and the businesses they own somewhat more than Republicans would,
though not as much as Bernie Sanders would.
The four factors of the apocalypse:
global heating, global hating,
global eating, global mating.
Copy this button (courtesy of R.Siddharth) to express your rejection of Facebook.
Non-oppressive Commercial E-books
Facebook's face recognition demonstrates a threat to everyone's privacy. I therefore ask people not to put photos of me on Facebook; you can do likewise.
Of course, Facebook is bad for many other reasons as well.
I'd like to make a list of countries that do not require a national identity card, and have no plans to adopt one. If you live in or have confirmed knowledge of such a country, please send email to rms at gnu.org.
Here's my list of countries with no national ID cards and no plans for one: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK. Australia's previous government tried to institute national ID cards, but the Labor government dropped the plan.
India has mostly finished imposing a national biometric ID number in a grand act of oppression.
Switzerland has national ID cards which are optional, but they or some other government ID card are needed for some purposes.
Iceland doesn't have ID cards as such, but they have ID numbers that citizens are forced to use frequently. For example, the national ID number is often required to rent a video or use a gym.
Denmark issues non-photo ID cards with a "person number", and many services use this card to identify people.
Norway will impose a national biometric ID card.
Ireland - national ID card by stealth.
ACLU: the five dangers of national ID cards.
Wikipedia has a list of identity card policies by country.
Stay away from certain countries because of their bad immigration policies.
Avoid flight connections in these airports because of their treatment of passengers.
People often ask how I manage to continue devoting myself to progressive activism (such as the free software movement) for years without burning out. The best way I can answer is by recommending a book, The Lifelong Activist by Hillary Rettig.
I disagree with the book on one theoretical point in the last part of the book: we shouldn't think of political activism as being marketing and sales, because those terms refer to business, and politics is something much more important than mere business. However, this doesn't diminish the value of the book's practical advice about borrowing techniques from marketing and sales.
Disclosure: I am friends with the author.
Personal Declaration of Richard Stallman and Euclides Mance on Solidarity Economy and Free Software.
I have reposted some of Rick Falkvinge's articles. As posted on his site, you can't see them in a browser without running some nonfree Javascript code which is apparently non-free. These versions show the same text, without the obstacle.
These are my political articles that are not related to the GNU operating system or free software. For GNU-related articles, see the GNU philosophy directory. You can also download copies of my book, Free Software, Free Society, 3rd edition.
"Those who profess to favor freedom, yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."Frederick Douglass, American Abolitionist, Letter to an associate, 1849
Here are notes about various issues I care about, usually with links to
more information. The current notes are
here. For all previous
notes, see this page.
See this page for information on efforts to maintain links in the political notes.
Political notes about the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa, Italy are being archived on their own page.
Richard Stallman's bio and publicity photos, and other things of interest to the press, have been moved to a separate page.
The Free Software Song, by Richard M. Stallman. You can listen to a performance of the song: Free Software Song performed by Thor Here is a variant of this song called "The Free Firmware Song".
A song parody, Colors of the Lisp, by Jefferson Carpenter.
Earth under attack from planet Koch.
On doxing, and how to spell it.
A Spanish cartoon: La Ruleta
Española. 
Here I am wearing my "power tie".
Wine snobs get their comeuppance.
Here I am struggling to open a bottle of water.
My application to an join Marian Henley's ex-boyfriends list.
My funny poetry and song parodies.
My Puns in English (Little Leaguer, August 2019).
My Puns in Spanish (New pun: Apostasía April 2019)
My Puns in French (New pun: Microsoft à l'école July 2019)
My Puns in Italian (New pun: Quale pesce fa starnutire? New 10/2018)
My Puns in German (New 02/2016)
Linguistic Swifties (Now with: Wintu, Penutian, Cochiti, Taos, and Towa.)
--Saint
IGNUcius-- The Church of Emacs will soon
be officially listed by at least one person as his religion for
census purposes.
There are no godfathers in the Church of Emacs, since there are no gods, but you can be someone's editorfather.
Stallman Does Dallas: "I have to warn you that Texans have been known to have an adverse reaction to my personality…"
The Dalai Lama today announced the official release of Yellow Hat GNU/Linux.
I found a funny song about the Mickey Mouse Copyright Act (officially the Sonny Bono Copyright Act) which extended copyright retroactively by 20 years on works made as early as the 1920s.
If you are a geek and read Spanish, you will love Raulito el Friki, who said "Hello, world!" immediately after he was born. Here's an archive of this now-defunct comic strip.
Sleeping with Stallman at MIT.
ESR's favorite programming language: Objectivist C.
No Kludges in Cluj (June 2014)
Made for You (December 2012) (local copy) Esperanto translation
A science fiction story: Jinnetic Engineering (in Portuguese, Farsi, Spanish, Armenian, Russian, French, and Italian).My book of essays about the philosophy of Software Freedom, is available from the GNU Press.
Avec des chapeaux French song parody.
My radio program of Music from Georgia, originally broadcast on WUOG in Athens, Georgia on Oct 13, 2014.
Quantum Theory and Abortion Rights
A proposal for gender neutrality in Spanish, suitable for both speech and writing.
On Hacking: In June 2000, while visiting Korea, I did a fun hack that clearly illustrates the original and true meaning of the word "hacker".
Predicting the attack on Pearl Harbor
I would like to thank:
Please send comments on these web pages to rms at gnu period org.
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