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Richard Stallman Accosted For Tinfoil Hat
ndansmith writes "Bruce Perens posts in his blog about an amusing encounter between Richard Stallman and United Nations security at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis. It seems that RFID technology, which Stallman opposes for privacy reasons, was used in the identification badges for the conference. From the blog: 'You can't give Richard a visible RF ID strip without expecting him to protest. Richard acquired an entire roll of aluminum foil and wore his foil-shielded pass prominently.' During a keynote speech, Stallman also passed around the tinfoil for other to use as well. It seems that UN security was not amused, however, as they would not let him leave the room for some time." What makes this even funnier, of course, is that tin foil hats won't stop them.
Wasn't the whole point of the MIT article that aluminum amplifies and tin degrades signals?
But I think this was just a message he was trying to get accross. Now what I wonder is why the security didn't let him leave? OH NOES HE HAS TIN FOIL OVER BADGES!!1 Unless they had something to hide...?
The guy has balls and he'll make a stand against what he believes in no matter how it looks. Sure, the tinfoil hat doesn't actually work, but it's a visible symbol that cannot be ignored. Without people like him making a visible protest on a forum that so many high-level people will notice, protests against tracking technologies are just pissing into the wind.
Rock on Richard.
Not at all. The "major purpose" of Bit Torrent is to transfer large files efficiently. Bram Cohen intended that to be used for entirely legal purposes such as Linux distributions. The fact that, like most tools, it had wider application is completely irrelevant. You can break into someone's home with a screwdriver ... that doesn't make a screwdriver inherently evil.
Bit Torrent and similar technologies simply give individuals more power. Yes, more power to do things that some organizations would rather they didn't do, but also more power to make their lives better as well. A trade-off, in other words, and one that (for once) is on the side of the many, rather than the few.
Valid complaints about RFID are generally not "RFID rechnology is just inherently evil", but are oriented against governments and/or criminal organizations that would use it to hurt people. Yes, there are many legitimate benefits conferred by RFID tech, but those must be balanced against the potential for people to get hurt by them. Thoughtless dissemination of RFID technology (such as the U.S. State Department was all set to do with passports) will cause a lot more damage than it is worth.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
Whatever happened to being polite when visiting somebody?
Whatever happened to being polite to one's guests?
RMS was right, the UN organizers were wrong. End of story.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Security people rarely have any idea what they are dealing with. The main reason why is they are simply given orders to "check an RFID badge" or "wave a wand around those people who set a metal detector off". They aren't paid to think critically or anything. This is often the charge levied by Schneier. If we hired smart security people, overall we'd be more secure.
The real story for this conference is the sad irony of having an information summit in Tunis, which violently suppresses freedom of expression.
You can read lots more stories here. I'm pretty surprised the freedom-loving editors at slashdot didn't pick this up as a separate story, it's much more important than Stallman's RFID-tinfoil stunt.
- "When you want something with all your heart, the entire universe conspires to give it to you" -Paulo Coelho
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
By definition, it doesn't work if you play by their rules. If he'd just chosen not to show up, nobody would care. Doing this, however, caused enough of a commotion that we're now reading about it on Slashdot. This is exactly what RMS WANTED to happen!
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
This is exactly what he intended. If they hadn't harassed him, then the story wouldn't be in the news, and nobody would know about it. However, he knew that this would most likely cause some kind of stink, which would generated a news story that gets people talking about the issue. Now we're all here thinking about RFD, just as RMS wanted.
RMS played the UN security like puppets on strings just the same way as terrorists play the administration and congress: they know what the knee-jerk reaction will be and they use it to their advantage.
But we all know that "security" is not really about security. It's about giving people a "feel-good" product that earns some people vast amounts of money.
Most security is at best pathetic. Why? Because good security is expensive and sometimes invasive hence not acceptable by Joe Sixpack.
Example of such feel-good "security" is what's going on at airports around USA. Best illustrated in Soul Plane
If you mod me down, I *will* introduce you to my sister!
It is extreamly common for people in authority to use other who have no say to deliver their messages. This is often done with the express purpose of pushing unreasonable requests on people, and creating exactly your feelings on anyone who complains. This is not just in government, but in jobs, and even in families.
How many people have had a review, that included a "wage review", at work where they are told that someone not involved in the meeting, and unaccessable to the employee, is the final decicion on their raise. This was the same thing.
So basically you are wrong. In most situations, being a jerk to the innocent guys just trying to do their job is the only way to get things changed. If your job is Henchman, expect to be treated like it.
How is wearing tinfoil around a badge, and removing it when asked, being "a jerk to innocent guys?" Sounds to me like the confrontation is being caused by typical, officious guard behavior. Nor is it clear to me that he didn't protest the badge when it was handed to him--I don't know where you got that from.
If you read Perens' account, you doubtless saw the UN (according to Perens, anyway) broke a promise not to use RFID cards at this year's protest--presumably in response to complaints last year to the "head of security" or some such. The options are presumably complain again, boycott the conference, or do some sort of symbolic protest. Boycotting in a hissy fit would be acting like a jack ass; complaining has proven to be useless; he chose the last option.
I'm definitely not a Stallman fan (my impression of him is summed up by joking about killing an anti-Free Software spokesmen, then needing to explain to Perens that "he wouldn't really kill anyone.") But this two-bit protest became an issue because guards felt their manhood was being challenged.
Stallman wanted to make a point, not actually stop the signal.
To him, the message was more important than what it actually did.
People more immediately understood the significance of wrapping it in tin foil than anything else.
// file: mice.h
#include "frickin_lasers.h"
You don't seem to understand that the Free Software movement is a sociopolitical movement that cares more about freedom than about mainstream popularity. Strange concept in this day and age right?
I respect RMS because he has never waivered from his ideals, even though people running "Linux", think he's a crazy person. He doesn't let fear of perception goad him into giving over his integrity. He and the FSF are not just trying to become popular, they're trying to protect your freedom and mine.
IMO idealistic integrity is in too short supply in the world these days.
So, it's great that you like "Linux", but remember that without RMS and the FSF and their allies, your "Linux" would not exist.
No matter what your ideological position is, after seeing the UN in action you'll never really support them again other than in idea.
I see what they do, and what I see is hungry people being fed.
So I guess your ideological position on starving folks is "let them eat cake"?
You can't take the sky from me...
Actually the whole security paranoia and labelling people with chips, putting camera's everywhere etc. is a direct consequence of the dissolving of normal social relationships. Trust is then defined by external attributes and the authority to despense those attributes comes to lie within the hands of only a few. It's a threat to any free society. Ofcourse most people will rather go along with the herd and make themselves look good by parotting the cheap "haha look at that badly adjusted bearded idiot" stuff.
Calling someone an especially undersocialized nerd is Insightful?
Last time I checked, RMS spoke several languages, and has visited heads of state and thousands of people in many countries across the globe. Also, he seems to be the unwaivering center of a worldwide socio-political movement to protect your freedom and mine, sometimes at the cost of looking foolish to people who don't understand what he's doing.
Linux is mainstream. Mainstream does not mean number-one; mainstream means widely-used.
The ideals of FOSS are far more important than the perceptions of any corporation about it. To quote a saying: "If you are willing to become evil in order to fight evil, why are you fighting it ?"
If you are willing to give up everything that FOSS stands for in order to get it accepted as "mainstream", why do you even bother - it won't be Free or Open anymore then, so you can just use the proprietary products and save yourself the bother.
There is nothing childish or immature in demonstrating your viewpoint. No matter how much powers-that-be try to make you think so, playing by their rules and silently accepting defeat instead of using your brains to make a scene that gets everyones attention is not a sign of maturity; it is a sign of weakness and/or stupidity.
Had Stallman played by their rules and simply refused to attend, or perhaps been given a special no-RFID ID card, they would have won; there would be no article here, no fuss risen over the use of RFID. Instead, Stallman played his own game, and drew attention to this issue. Stallman used his brains, and put up an effective fight; nothing immature in that.
Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.
I second you on that, Mr Stallman is sort of a hero, to me and being a bit eccentric goes with his personnality, me thinks. Thank god there are people like him to confront major 'decision-makers' on issues that the VAST majority of human beings take for granted.
Issued that will have an impact maybe decades from now, Mr Stallman for sure has made history with an A+. He HAS made this world a better place. I strongly believe Mr Stallman's crusades DO make a difference, and we need more people like him, in this world to balance things out.
Freedom of speech. Identity protection. Not even mentioning his unbelievable track record as a programmer.
My own 2 cents. Sorry for grammar mistakes no english spellchecker on this box *yet
RMS played the UN security like puppets on strings just the same way as terrorists play the administration and congress: they know what the knee-jerk reaction will be and they use it to their advantage.
With the small but important difference that RMS did not harm or kill anyone. Makes it easy to sympathize with him and his cause, which is not possible with terrorists.
"Smart" people are easy vicitims of social engineering. People who follow orders often are not. I think a good mix of both is necessary to have good security.
-- No sig for you!
You remind me of a finicky hairdresser who complains bitterly about how awful Einstein's hair looks and wondering how anybody could possibly take him seriously when he hasn't even bothered to look at the latest fashion magazine.
Need a Python, C++, Unix, Linux develop
It saddens me that so many here don't seem to understand a simple but very important concept behind Stallmans protest. It was a catch-phrase in the '60s. I was born in the '70s, but I guess I'm lucky that it was effectively taught to me.
I wish I could make this huge:
QUESTION AUTHORITY!
That is all RMS was doing. And when he did put the question to them we saw their reaction. It scares me, the number of people who think the UN's reaction was appropriate.
"It's because they're stupid, that's why. That's why everybody does everything." -Homer Simpson
What if you're doing something morally right, but illegal, or socially unpopular?
I mod down anyone who says "I will be modded down for this", regardless of the rest of their comment
He is educating you by showing you exactly how far the authorities are willing to go. This was just a name badge for god's sake and he removed the foil when going through checkpoints and they still detained him. I knew about RFID but I didn't realize how serious people were going to be about it.
He also educated me by showing an easy and effective way to make the point. He showed how it was possible to make them look stupid while obeying their orders.
Of course the mass media are going to call him a crackpot. Do you really expect anything else? The same mass media that called John Kerry a coward and accused him of shooting himself, the same mass media that called martin Luther king a communist, the same mass media that called the beatles communists, that same mass media that called kiss satanists for gods sake. The mass media will try to destory anybody who is popular and will try to demean anybody who is fighting for change.
The powers that be use the media to try and lable people who oppose them as communists, crackpots, terrorists, haters of america and freedom, cowards and whatever other phrase is pushing the buttons of the ignorant masses that week. If you want to make a difference you can't let the press calling you a crackpot stop you.
So what are you going to do other then calling him a crackpot that's what I want to know. You certainly seem to be content with joining the chorus of the chattering masses in calling him names rather then discussing the points he is trying to make with your parents or neighbors.
evil is as evil does
Every other rich country pays a little bit more than its fair share to compensate for countries in civil war or deep economic crisis. Japan for instance is paying 19% of the budget for less than 10% of the global GDP, Gernany 8% of the budget for less than 5% of the global GDP and so on. So with 24% of the budget for 21.17% of the global GDP, the U.S. contribution seen as a share of its GDP is already the lowest of all developped countries: in raw dollars, the U.S. assessments of $440,000,000 is 0.0037% of its GDP when Japan for instance pays $346,000,000 i.e. 0.0092% of its GDP. So you personally are contributing almost 3 time less of your annual incomes to the U.N. than a japanese or me in Europe. What about "everyone except the US has already paid its (proportionaly larger) share"?
If the U.S. was at least paying 21.17% of the budget instead of 24%, the complaints would not be so loud. The problem is that the U.S. has not even paid half its commitments for 2004, and not even 15% of its due for 2005 (that is less than 4% of the U.N. budget). In contrast, every other major contributor has already fully paid 2004 and 2005.
If you aggregate the effective payements made on the last 12 months, the U.S. is only the 6th contributor to the U.N. budget, behind Italy (2.89% of the world GDP)!
Here are the hard and daunting data (remember you asked for it):
http://www.globalpolicy.org/finance/tables/reg-bu
Why do you think U.S. officials always speak of the assessments (never the payments)?