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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.
Yeah, he was being an asshole. Of course he was harassed; he deserved to be harassed.
Whatever happened to being polite when visiting somebody? If he didn't want to follow the rules, he could have just left instead of coming in like a crazy guy waving foil around.
And how was his privacy invaded? You haven't explained that part, yet. Is a security guard buying stuff with his credit card on Amazon because he scanned his name badge?
Comment of the year
And not just because he and I share the same initials, either. You show 'em, RMS.
The real face of government (the overseer on behalf of the aristocracy) comes out with things like drug laws, mandatory IDs, and seatbelt laws. These things implicitly assume you are not responsible and must be made to do what somebody else would have you do.
There is no reason you shouldn't be allowed to sit in a drugged-up stupor all day, other than the need to feed yourself, which is a self-regulating factor. There is no reason for the government to track people, except to control them.
I propose the one thing that will get us out of this mess with one hundred percent surety--a chain email about kittens. Yes, you should forward to everyone in your address book an email like this:
Viva la revolucion and all that.
Two washed up has-beens that no one pays much attention to? These two nutters are for entertainment value only.
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
The UN is completely corrupt. Don't go linking to how to feed the starving without also mentioning the child rapes and of course the oil for food program! Or how they are trying to get the US to renovate the UN building in NYC and expecting to spend about a billion extra to do so (American Tax Dollars)... Donald Trump testified for over a half hour on just how screwed up the UN was when it came to construction costs and project planning. The UN does more harm then good, it is no better then the League of Nations which proves it's nothing more then history repeating itself. Little good the League of Nations did to prevent WWII. If say the US and UK along with one other like Spain or Australia were to pull out of the UN it would collapse under it's own bloat and weight.
As far as feeding the starving goes; most of the starving people are starving because their local governments are corrupt and evil or they are living in the middle of a freaking desert and need to move. Afghanistan was more interested in growing opium then food and it's proving to be a real bitch to get them to stop as the money is too damn good. So the UN goes to feed the starving people and they rape the children and steal the money. Just do a Google News search on Zimbabwe. Mugabe stole the whites farmland and now they are letting the farmland go to waste, meanwhile millions will now starve because the warlords don't have the farming skills required nor the desire to produce enough food for the people. They just wanted the land as a possession. Zimbabwe is refusing to let the UN build housing for people whose homes the warlords destroyed. Meanwhile, the US Ambassador makes a statement about Mugabe's being responsible for the country's economic crisis and chronic food shortages and Mugabe tells him to "Go to Hell".
If the UN was so great, why the hell didn't they send in troops, kick the crap out of the warlords in Zimbabwe and Somalia (no official government to speak of) and then rebuild the crumbled societies? I'll tell you why, the UN does not care enough to do what is necessary. The UN is full of dictators who only care about their own affairs.
I think that message was "Geeks are paranoid kooks that shouldn't be taken seriously unless your computer needs the porn cleaned off of it". Thank's Richard for setting the cause of technology back another 10 years. He's our version of Pat Robertson.
I'm missing the part in this story where Richard Stallman was "accosted" by anybody. According to the website, they just wouldn't let him leave the room for a period of time.
Why is this even front page news? Over at Digg.com, they're churning out the relevant tech news left and right.
"Sufferin' succotash."
He showed he did not respect their authority, and went for the cheap target of some gaurds who had to make a fuss to keep their jobs, instead of going to have a word with the conference organiser. A publicity stunt for his politics, nothing more. If I was there, I would tell him to grow up and stop being such a wanker, but the gaurds couldn't do that either without losing their jobs.
Check this out:
..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UN_Security_Council
If one of the few members of the Security Council (like tha USA) block a proposal with a veto, the rest of the world can do jack shit.
All countries are equal, but some countries are more equal than others
life in low-res
If GPL violations aren't theft, why is it called "stolen" GPL code? The point just whooshed right over your head, didn't it?
"Sufferin' succotash."