This is not a simple matter of fanaticism because RMS holds a special position in the world of linux. He can't simply write an essay as if writing to one other person. He's writing to a legit audience, trying to trigger an emotional response.
He has felt threatened by the privacy issue, and yes, it is indeed an issue. Permit me an aside on this moment. Just because we live in the "facebook/twitter generation", as one user wrote, or apparently have free apps that also share this data, does not mean that the position of the Free Software Foundation should suddenly shift to allow for shared user privacy. Even *if* the "majority" supports sharing of private data to the "world", since when 1) are linux users are in the majority? , and 2) do GNU/Linux , the FSF, and other free software groups care about what everyone else does?
The simple point in question is that an application was sending something out without the user's knowledge. These sorts of things used to be called bugs, if not holes/security leaks. Yes, perhaps in his black/white world, as you put it, RMS is seeing this action as wrong, and can you blame him?
Now, how does a figurehead go about triggering an emotional response? With aggressive language, with glittering generalities, with reminders of ideals and goals, and yes, even with some propaganda. Some may see these techniques as overly exaggerated, fanatical, wrong, etc., but there is a term for this and it is called eloquent. He is trying to catch a problem in its early stages before it goes viral, and we must all open our eyes to examine for ourselves whether he may be on to something.
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This is not a simple matter of fanaticism because RMS holds a special position in the world of linux. He can't simply write an essay as if writing to one other person. He's writing to a legit audience, trying to trigger an emotional response.
He has felt threatened by the privacy issue, and yes, it is indeed an issue. Permit me an aside on this moment. Just because we live in the "facebook/twitter generation", as one user wrote, or apparently have free apps that also share this data, does not mean that the position of the Free Software Foundation should suddenly shift to allow for shared user privacy. Even *if* the "majority" supports sharing of private data to the "world", since when 1) are linux users are in the majority? , and 2) do GNU/Linux , the FSF, and other free software groups care about what everyone else does?
The simple point in question is that an application was sending something out without the user's knowledge. These sorts of things used to be called bugs, if not holes/security leaks. Yes, perhaps in his black/white world, as you put it, RMS is seeing this action as wrong, and can you blame him?
Now, how does a figurehead go about triggering an emotional response? With aggressive language, with glittering generalities, with reminders of ideals and goals, and yes, even with some propaganda. Some may see these techniques as overly exaggerated, fanatical, wrong, etc., but there is a term for this and it is called eloquent. He is trying to catch a problem in its early stages before it goes viral, and we must all open our eyes to examine for ourselves whether he may be on to something.
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