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RMS Calls to Liberate Cyberspace

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the waving-the-magic-wand dept.

Henri Poole writes "In an interview with Groklaw's Sean Daly at GPLv3 Conference in Barcelona, RMS talks with passion about the dangers of DRM. From the article: 'the point is, we shouldn't be passive victims! We should decide that it will not happen! And the way we decide that is by activism. We have to do everything possible to make sure that those products are rejected, that they fail, that they give bad reputations to whoever makes them.' He closed the interview with a far reaching goal for the Free Software Movement: 'the goal is to liberate everyone in cyberspace.'"

2 of 578 comments (clear)

  1. Re:The people who criticise Richard Stallman... by senatorpjt · · Score: 0, Troll

    I tell everyone, all the time DON'T GO TO THE FUCKING MOVIES, DON'T BUY ANY CD'S, AND DON'T BUY ANY GODDAMN DVD'S, and if *most* of us on /. just did that much DRM would go away.


    Most people on /. already pirate all their shit anyway. The point is that it doesn't matter what the people that care about it think if 99% of people don't.

  2. Insightful? How about TROLL?! by tomcres · · Score: 0, Troll
    DRM directly threatens the right to free speech. It will allow third parties to control which computers communicate with which computers. It will allow authorization of all speech by third parties. It will control whether you can or cannot alter or copy any file on your computer. Hardware implementation of this will mean that the cost to free oneself of this will be the cost of fabrication of chips to alter the code for this. In fact, it would be possible to eliminate Free Software altogether with hardware DRM. This will leave 1984 style control of free speech in the hands of the likes of Microsoft, Intel, and a handful of other companies that will be able to basically control all of your communication with the outside world.

    Give me a break. This is the worst FUD I have ever seen! No one is talking about preventing you from copying any file. DRM is about protecting copyright. If the files on your hard drive are copyrighted or were licensed by you (in other words, you paid for the privelege to use them--you don't own them), then DRM is indeed fair. It will never be used to limit what you can do with your own files. People spread all this FUD about DRM because it either: (A) offends their agenda of software anarchy or concept of private ownership, or (B) prevents them from doing the very (illegal) things that DRM prevents them from doing. Get over it and get a a life. I'm sick and tired of this post-modern crap where people fill in the void that religion used to occupy in their lives with whatever particular cause they decide to devote themselves to. It's software, not a religion!