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Lessig, Stallman in New Documentary
Alternative Freedom is a documentary on intellectual property rights featuring lots of interviews with folks like Stallman and Lessig, as well as people like DJ Danger Mouse (creator of the Grey Album). They have a trailer available, but if you're in NYC the movie is now showing. If anyone manages to go, I'd love to see some real reviews of it.
Oh - and anyone interested in hearing the grey album mentioned in the
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
His name is not LESSING!
Lessing?
I think I'll wait until this one comes out on video....I for one don't relish being cooped up in theater, wedged shoulder-to-shoulder, with the hygiene-challenged social misfits who would find a documentary of Richard Stallman interesting.
If anyone manages to go, I'd love to see some real reviews of it.
:)
bring in a cam-corder too while your at it
There are 10 types of people in this world, those who can count in binary and those who can't.
Now all we need is to get the MPAA to sue the "property rights" movie for distributing pirated info or something, and the universe will implode!
stuff |
Had the exact same reaction. Alternative freedom, indeed. Guess I'll have to wait until someone liberates the movie...
Closed formats shut people out - why else would they be closed if they weren't supposed to?
I know y'all like to leave the submissions relatively untouched, but...
Lessing?
In the freaking headline?
fer[sic] christ's sake...
I also realize this is a tech site, and 90% of people here are familiar with the gentlemen in question, but it'd be nice to reference their full names at some point in the blurb.
Lawrence LessigRichard Stallman
You can't win, Darth. If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
Hah! No kidding! One would almost think that Stallman is trying to hide his identity behind all that hair. An adversion to public scrutiny, perhaps? One way or another, he'd definitely put a better face on the OSS movement if he trimmed a bit.
P.S. Parent is not offtopic. Maybe a little trollish, but not offtopic.
for the *irony*.
Also, what's with the free Zarathustra thing at the beginning of the trailer? What does Neitzsche have to do with intellectual property rights?
And what's that burning smell?
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
Alternative Freedom is a documentary on intellectual property rights featuring lots of interviews with folks like Stallman and Lessig, as well as people like DJ Danger Mouse
Please link Danger Mouse correctly.
Thanks
http://gnucvs.vlsm.org/people/saintignucius.big.jp g
Well, that's shorter at least. You can kind of see him through all that hair. Still a long way from groomed, though.
"If anyone manages to go, I'd love to see some real reviews of it."
v _id=345768
http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?
Putting aside your personal feelings on copyright, that review is enough to make me want to stay away from it. As the review points out, I would be better served by reading Lessig's blog, among others.
Thank you! I'm so tired of having to hit "view source" just to get an URL for some proprietarily-encoded video.
http://outcampaign.org/
Will this also work on yellow sheep? Inquiring minds need to know.
What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about?
At what point do intellectual property rights cross into freedom of information?
It's a girl!
FYI, DJ Dangermouse is one half of Gnarls Barkley (along with Cee-Lo), the band who reached UK's #1 chart spot with a download only single "Crazy". See the slashdot story here: http://slashdot.org/articles/06/04/02/2232226.shtm l
Most people here made fun of their names and assumed they are trash. They're worth checking out however, St. Elsewhere, their debut album, just leaked and should be released soon. Dangermouse is a talented guy.
And for those who haven't heard the Grey Album, I'd suggest giving it a listen too. (For those who don't know its a mix of the Beatles' White Album, and Jay-Z's Black Album.
"Fahrenheit 9/11" was aimed at pretty much the same crowd"
Fahrenheit 9/11 was aimed at the "I'm too stupid to actually educate myself on policy, so I'll watch this movie by a fat sweaty retard and then ACT like I know what the fuck is going on crowd"
While they occasionally overlap, the RMS people are usually fatter (but slightly smarter)
Stallman isn't behind the "OSS movement", but anyway, we don't need a cult of personality at this point. We need people who are thinking for themselves to realize that freedom is important. This is slowly happening (and the pace is picking up, even) but what people are afraid of is that the laws and technology will increasingly make it difficult to show people the tangible reasons why freedom is important.
http://outcampaign.org/
Hmm. From the NYC movie info link:
"Free Culture at NYU presents:
ALTERNATIVE FREEDOM"
Yet tix range from $6.50 to $9.00 per. I guess that would be Free-as-in-speech, not Free-as-in-beer, Culture at NYU.
If anyone local is going, I'll be getting a pint or two at Bleecker Bar (Bleecker & Lafayette) and then walking over, the box office opens at 8:30 for the 9:00 showing tonight.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
I just emailed cineplex to ask them if they would be showing it.
here
This type of movie only get's shown if there is a demand for it.
>I am not making fun of RMS here - I greatly admire his principals
Why?
Seriously, he's not Ghandi. He just doesn't *pay for software* That doesn't exactly make him a saint.
I like open source too, but these are not the grand principles he makes them out to be. It's just a way of distributing *computer software*, which isn't that important in the grand scheme of things. Computers in general are not a major source of tyranny in the world.
I admire the EFF because they are trying to fix some broken laws. To the extent that I admire RMS, it is because he started the FSF, which has turned out some great software. To the extent that I *revile* RMS, it is because he tries to spread this nonsense that software development is a *social movement*.
Just because a few lawyers do pro bono work some of the time, doesn't mean that all lawyers want to work for free all the time. Additionally, just because some people write software and *essentially donate it to the public* doesn't mean that they intend to, or are obligated to, always do such a thing. Open Source is *Not* *NOT *NOT* a social movement. Developers are highly skilled professionals, and they are free to use their skills to make whatever software, and distribute it by whatever means they feel will benefit them the most personally.
RMS is the only person in open source development *that I know of* that actually thinks there's some kind of *moral obligation* to make software free. Its great to use open source software... but by refusing to use *any* software that is commercial, you aren't helping anyone. Certainly not developers.
Stallman has nothing to do with Open Source? Fine, he has a major semantic hair up his butt about the term "Open Source," but the whole idea of "Free Software" is his raison entière d'etre. Methinks this is why some people roll their eyes. Okay, we "get it." Now can we stop splitting hairs over it, puhhhleeaase without devloving into some asininely pedantic semiotic circle-jerk?
We need more practical, logical arguments in favor of free software and fewer ideological windbags who deal in absolutes.
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
You know that a movement is in trouble when they start trying to distance themselves from their leaders.
isn't it cynical to make a movie about free open source software and publish the trailer in the quicktime format?
The MAFIAA is a bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes
Huh? Exactly how am I "trying to distance" myself from RMS?
http://outcampaign.org/
No. If you've got some clearly defined ideological goal, hiding it behind "practical, logical arguments" won't help (also, it's called having a hidden agenda, which is considred a Bad Thing(tm)).
What if it's proven that statistically, closed source is more secure, more innovative, cheaper etc than open source. Then the Open Source Initiative is out of arguments as to why open source is a good idea. The FSF, on the other hand, can keep using the same arguments they are now.
Of course, if you disagree with the ideology, and only care about the practical, logical arguments, you won't mind giving up on open source in such a scenario. I would, though.
Stallman et. al. aren't Open Source advocates. Free Software != Open Source. If Stallman had his way, nobody would make money from producing software since it would all be freely available.
For some, that's a worthwhile goal. However that's never been the purpose behind OSS.
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
Bullshit. It wasn't true when RMS wrote the GNU Manifesto, and it isn't true now.
since it would all be freely available.
Again, that is a steaming pile of non sequitur crap. Reality dictates that people are paid to work on free software. Deal with it.
http://outcampaign.org/
I hope so, 'cause I didn't really care for that one.
My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
Yeah, I've read his crap. He goes on about how programmers should be allowed to make money from their work, but doesn't EVER explain how they are supposed to do so under a system in which their work is freely distributed.
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
New york times review is what you would expect from somebody with cursory interest and even less understanding of the issues discussed.
The movie has it's drawbacks. Production is very low budget, and theater setup is worse (they show it from vhs). There's not much eye candy as the movie is mostly interviews with some public domain clips mixed in.
But there are positive sides that easily outweight the negatives. Lessig, RMS, bunnie and others present intersting, inteligent, well thought out discussion of the current copyright laws. Even if you're familiar with all the issues, the strong coherent arguments in the movie are a pleasure to watch.
Support the moviemakers, go see it (they've spent over a year full time making the movie). If you don't want to/can't - wait 30 days. The movie is made under creative commons license and will be distributed free over the internet after the movie theater showings end.
What doesn't destroy intellectual property rights makes them stronger.
Like, say, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use.
DNA is a Turing machine. You, however, being dynamic and emergent, are not.
Hey, nice neologism!
If only all his articules were espritten like this...
RMS's personal unkemptness is actually very helpful in this instance, because it gives the RMS naysayers the easy opportunity to criticize the messenger instead of actually bothering to counter the message with reason and logic.
And since lack of reason and logic identifies morons trivially, that makes it very easy for everyone else to know who to ignore.
Thanks guys, you're doing swell.
Richard Stallman encourages seeking payment for software.
Contrast this with the copyright terms of this Buddhist website. In their faq they explain that they do not use the GNU license because they do not wish to permit resale. They go into further detail, making it clear that their philosphy differs from that of the FSF because they are opposed to charging money for dharma texts. If you wish to redistribute their translations you must do so for free.Stallman's philosophy stands in opposition to unbundling the various legal rights: Sell or don't sell. One or the other. Don't try to join the rentier class by selling a limited licence. Charge a fee for a service, like a doctor or a lawyer.
It is not that hard to grasp that Stallman encourages people to charge money for software. Other worldly Buddhist monks can reject the GNU GPL because it permits resale. I expect posters on slashdot to have at least this minimum grasp of the financial side of software licensing.