Richard Stallman talk in Oslo - impressions
Richard Stallman talking in Oslo. Taken by Gisle Hannemyr. (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Earlier this week, on the 23rd of february, one of the biggest advocates for free software was at Storsalen in Chateau Neuf in Oslo: Richard Stallman. Founder of the Free Software Foundation, initiator of the GNU project and creator of the original emacs. His talk was titled “Copyright vs. Community in the Age of Computer Networks - Free software and beyond”.
Summary below:
Copyright, developed in the age of the printing press, was designed to fit with the system of centralized copying imposed by the printing press. But the copyright system does not fit well with computer networks, and only draconian punishments can enforce it.
The global corporations that profit from copyright are lobbying for draconian punishments, and to increase their copyright powers, while suppressing public access to technology. But if we seriously hope to serve the only legitimate purpose of copyright-to promote progress, for the benefit of the public - then we must make changes in the other direction.
As an introduction, Richard Stallman will speak about the goals and philosophy of the Free Software Movement. The GNU operating system which he launched in 1984 is used by millions of users in conjunction with the kernel, Linux.
He did a brief introduction to to the four freedoms of free software:
- Freedom 0: The freedom to run the program for any purpose.
- Freedom 1: The freedom to study and modify the program.
- Freedom 2: The freedom to copy the program so you can help your neighbor.
- Freedom 3: The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits.
Then he mentioned, briefly the history of GNU and where Linux fits in it. Namely the GNU/Linux naming controversy. Then the real talk started, doing a quick and disputable history of copyright history from people copying text and manuscripts, to the modern printing press and age of computers. He made it clear that copyright differs from patent law and other related laws. So the talk would be focused on copyright. He then moved on to criticizing the entertainment industry such as record companies and other companies that develop and maintain DRM (Digital Restrictions Management [sic]). At the end, he changed in to his alter ego- Saint IGNUcius of the Church of Emacs. Which brought up quite some laughs. Then there was an audience Q&A.
It would be easy to dismiss Stallman as a raving mad hippie, talking about “the corrupt megacorporations” and undemocratic governments supporting their activities and limiting the freedom of the user. However, he has had such an impact on the development of free software that he is not dismissable. He brings up very many valid points and examples of companies that create software or otherwise make works that benefit the society, unaccessible or restricted.
As games is one of the large competitors to music and film in this generation, in my opinion he should have mentioned more about DRM in games (even though most games are proprietary and thus, an evil that should not be used). Malware such as StarForce and SecuRom, restricting the gamer’s freedom to play the game when he or she wants to and otherwise infringing on all four freedoms of software.
I think the Q&A could have been a panel debate instead. One of the questions from the audience came from the notable Håkon Wium Lie (CSS, web standards). The panel could have consisted of such people and maybe representatives from the government. Notably the school system (how can free software make elementary school pupils free?), NRK etc. The result was that the Q&A was abit messy. Gisle Hannemyr, the debate leader had to cut alot of people short. Some questions (and answers) were very interesting, but some were kind of a waste of time for all parts.
All in all, it was an interesting talk and I felt the audience was at periods quite enraptured. The copyright debate is an important one and highly relevant as the pirate bay trial is ongoing.
Image at the top is taken by Gisle Hannemyr and licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0