Stallman Crashes Talk, Fights 'War On Sharing'

schliz writes "Free software activist Richard Stallman has called for the end of the 'war on sharing' at the World Computer Congress in Brisbane, Australia. He criticized surveillance, censorship, restrictive data formats, and software-as-a-service in a keynote presentation, and asserted that digital society had to be 'free' in order to be a benefit, and not an attack. Earlier in the conference, Stallman had briefly interrupted a European Patent Office presentation with a placard that said: 'Don't get caught in software patent thickets.' He told journalists that the Patent Office was 'here to campaign in favor of software patents in Australia,' arguing that 'there's no problem that requires a solution with anything like software patents.'"

Comments

Re:I don't care what anyone says

[Megaweapon]

I'd prefer Stallman's outspoken extremism vs the quiet extremism that corporations would place us under if no one spoke up.

Right, because a patent troll interrupting a FSF convention would be viewed as just as legitimate.

A false choice

[DesScorp]

I'd prefer Stallman's outspoken extremism vs the quiet extremism that corporations would place us under if no one spoke up.

I prefer neither of them. Stallman is as much of an extremist as the people and companies that he's fighting. I don't want a world without copyright of any kind OR draconian copyright laws. I want reasonable protection for content providers as well as reasonable fair use laws. I will not accept that my only recourse is to take Stallman's revolutionary position, or the position of companies that tell me I don't own the software or music that I buy.

The whole "digital rights" scene increasingly reminds me of the Spanish Civil War, where people were pressed to pick a side. But the sides were Fascists vs. Communists. I don't want to pick either side, thank you very much. They both suck.