2021-05-18 14:21:48 +02:00
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% Defend Richard Stallman!
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% Leah Rowe
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% 31 March 2021
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Introduction
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============
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2 years ago, known *Thought Criminal* Richard M Stallman was falsely accused of
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defending *rape* in an Orwellian smear campaign, orchestrated by mainstream
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media at the behest of proprietary software vendors. 36 years fighting
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for *your* digital freedom, cancelled. It was so vicious that he resigned from
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his post as president of the Free Software Foundation. The FSF did nothing to
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protect or defend him. However, *you* can defend him!
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On 21 March 2021, FSF board of directors re-instated Richard Stallman. In
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response, the media started a new smear campaign. A petition was created,
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calling for the forceful removal of RMS and the entire FSF board of directors.
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RMS has been wrongly accused of sexism, transphobia, ableism and a whole host
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of things intended to discredit him. Do not listen to any of it. Richard
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Stallman's political [notes](https://www.stallman.org/archives/) and
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[articles](https://stallman.org/#politics) paint the picture of a man who has
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staunchly campaigned *against* bigotry in all its forms!
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**In response, we, the Free software movement, started our own petition. We
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wish for RMS to remain in his post, and for the FSF to hold their ground. We
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call for the FSF to defend Richard Stallman's honour and his legacy. Richard
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Stallman is a human being, whose right to free speech was heavily suppressed.
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We must demonstrate our support of him to the FSF, loudly and clearly.**
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**If you support Free Software, believe in freedom of speech, freedom of
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community and social justice (true social justice, where a person is treated
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with dignity and not cancelled just for their beliefs), sign your name here:**
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**<https://rms-support-letter.github.io/>**
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The *opposing* petition calling for Richard's removal will not be linked here,
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because it is important not to strengthen it. Boosting the search engine
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rankings of our opposition would only help them attack RMS. Similarly, their
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smear campaigns will not be linked here directly, only condemned!
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Instructions for how to sign your name are on that page. If you represent a
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project, please put that in brackets and state your position. For instance, if
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you are John Doe and your project is named Foobar Libre,
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write `John Doe (Foobar Libre developer)`
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or e.g. `John Doe (Foobar Libre founder and lead developer)`. If you are an
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FSF member (e.g. associate member), put that in brackets too.
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If you are a member of a project/organisation that signed the anti-RMS list,
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it is *especially* important to state that you are from said project when
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signing the *pro*-RMS list. You should also talk to people in your project or
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organisation, and try to persuade them to change their minds!
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In addition to signing your name, if you're in a software project, get your
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project to officially come out in support of Richard! He needs every bit of
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support we can get. We, the Free Software movement, as activists must lend him
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all of our strength!
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**Don't be fooled. If a Free Software project is on the anti-RMS list, that
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just means the leadership implemented said decision. It says nothing of the
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individuals inside said organisation.**
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Please also *email* the FSF and tell them you support Richard! The FSF's
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contact details are here: <https://www.fsf.org/about/contact/>
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Our opponents wish to destroy Free Software
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===========================================
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Our opponent's true target is *not* Richard Stallman; their real aim is to
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destroy the FSF by thoroughly infiltrating it (like they already have with
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organisations like the OSI, the Linux Foundation or Mozilla). These people even
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started an online petition calling for RMS's forceful removal and for the entire
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board of directors at the FSF to resign from their posts. This is clearly an
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attempt at a coup to overthrow the FSF! Out of fear, many known Free Software
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projects joined in on the anti-RMS witch hunt because they did not want to
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be *cancelled* either. **The list that attacks Richard has Microsoft, Google,
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OSI, Linux Foundation, Gnome Foundation and Ethical Source people on it! These
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people oppose Free Software ideologically (even if some of them do produce free
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software sometimes, for reasons other than promoting freedom) and many of them
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have actively sought to destroy it for years! How dare these people claim to
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represent us!**.
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The letter opposing RMS talks the talk, but it does not walk the walk. The
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people on that list do *not* represent us! If you do see actual Free Software
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developers on the list, please talk to them. Do not be hateful or spiteful,
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just talk to them: tell them that they have been misled by a hateful campaign.
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We need unity in our movement. You see, it's likely that a lot of people who
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signed the opposing list were just *scared*; at the beginning, the petition
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supporting RMS did not exist, and so it was not known how many people supported
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RMS. In other words, many people likely signed the anti-RMS list because they
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were scared of becoming outcasts. This is because last time, we were caught
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off guard. We stayed silent last time, but we will not be silent this time!
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**As of 31 March 2021, 02:50 AM UK time, we are winning! The letter calling for
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RMS's removal has 2959 signatures. *Our* letter supporting and defending RMS
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has 4533 signatures! That's a 60% approval rating, if you add up both numbers
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but our petition is rising in popularity much faster while the anti-RMS
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petition has stalled. People see that it's OK to support RMS, because it is.
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RMS is innocent of wrongdoing!**
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Richard Stallman is our hero
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============================
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I strongly believe in
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[free software ideology](https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html). I am the
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founder of Libreboot, and its lead developer. When I first started using Free
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Software as a teenager in the mid 2000s, Richard Stallman's lectures were among
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the biggest influences on me; Richard founded
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the [GNU project](https://www.gnu.org/) in 1983 and
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the [Free Software Foundation](https://www.fsf.org/) in 1985. I also saw the
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film *Revolution OS* and read Eric Raymond's *Cathedral and the Bazaar*. I very
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quickly became fascinated but it was the articles by Richard on the GNU project
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website that heavily inspired me. For a few years however, I identified as
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an *open source supporter* until I gravitated towards the Free Software camp
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in 2009. I had worked sysadmin and IT support jobs at companies, working mostly
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with proprietary software including Windows, while at home I taught myself
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programming on GNU+Linux. I hated working with proprietary systems, precisely
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because of how restrictive they were compared to my systems at home, which all
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ran various GNU+Linux distributions (I also toyed with OpenBSD). When I did my
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A-Levels, I studied computing but they forced us to use the proprietary Visual
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Studio IDE and C\#; I hated it, but coped with it by using Mono at home for
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class assignments. It wasn't long after I joined as an FSF Associate Member in
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2013 that my life took a huge turn, and Libreboot was a huge part of it.
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Needless to say, I strive to eliminate my dependence on proprietary software and
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I want others to experience such freedom aswell.
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Richard Stallman's articles and video lectures were what led me down this path.
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I have met the man 5 times, in 3 different countries.
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In the early days of computing, most (if not all) software was shared freely
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with source code. In the early 1980s, when software started becoming more
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commercial, companies started making software *proprietary* which meant that
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the software no longer came with source code or otherwise placed *restrictions*
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on the use, development or sharing of that software. This meant that computer
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users no longer had *freedom* over their computing; by the time the GNU project
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started in 1983, *free software* did not exist! Richard Stallman, faced with
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the possibility of making large amounts of money as a proprietary software
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developer, staunchly resisted this trend and began the GNU project to create a
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completely free operating system that people could run on their computers.
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I believe in Free Software for the same reason I believe in public education;
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I believe that knowledge is a human right. For example, I believe that all kids
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are entitled to learn Mathematics. I believe the same thing about Computer
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Science. Education is a human right. I want everyone to have freedom; the right
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to read, to a community and to free speech. *Programming* counts as speech, and
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I believe that all good work is based on the work of others; this is why the
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right to a community is critical. The *four freedoms* are paramount. I am a
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staunch supporter of *copyleft* and I believe that it should be mandatory, by
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law, for all creative and/or intellectual works. I use
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the [GNU General Public License](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/#GPL) whenever
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possible, and I strongly advocate for its adoption everywhere.
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Free software still has a *long* way to go. The mission of the GNU project and
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the Free Software movement is to *eradicate* proprietary software in our world
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and give everyone exclusively free software. That is a most noble mission which
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the Libreboot project shares. Companies like Apple and Microsoft resist us at
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every turn. Logic is highly proprietary; manufacturers of computer chips/boards
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heavily restrict access to knowledge about how the hardware works, and they put
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in DRM (such as cryptographic signature checks of firmware) to restrict our
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progress; this is why Libreboot still has very weak hardware support, as of the
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date this article is being published. *Right to repair* is a critical component
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of our fight, in particular, as a part of the wider OSHW (Free/libre Hardware)
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movement. Another problem we face is *serialization* of components, where the
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same component can no longer be used to replace another, in modern devices; the
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software on said device might check whether the new part is *authorized* and
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refuse to work if it isn't. We in the freedom movement are under constant
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attacks, in a legal and technical sense. Large tech companies use every dirty
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trick in the book to thwart our efforts.
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If it weren't for Richard Stallman's work, Libreboot would not exist. All works
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are derivative in human society; we stand on the shoulder of giants. The GNU
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project almost had a complete operating system, and finally they had one piece
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missing, the *kernel*; this program sits at the heart of the operating system,
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talking to hardware and allocating system resources, providing an interface on
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which application software can run. GNU had started work on a kernel which they
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called *Hurd*, but this is still far from complete as of 2021. Fortunately,
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another project called *Linux* appeared in the early 90s and was released under
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the GNU GPL, which meant that people were able to combine a modified GNU system
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with Linux to create a complete operating system; the first *GNU+Linux
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distributions* were born! It is from all of this that our movement, the Free
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Software movement, began, and without it, I doubt we'd have such wide access to
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free computing today. I cannot imagine a world where Libreboot and GNU do not
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both exist.
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Could coreboot have existed without GNU+Linux? I doubt it very much!
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It's possible that Linux on its own may have still existed, but would it have
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been Free Software by today? Would it have reached the level it did today?
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In that reality, BSD projects might have taken over instead, and would they
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have had the ideological drive to ensure that all computer users had freedom,
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or would they simply regard the source code as a *reference* for *educational
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purposes only*?
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You see, Richard Stallman's work in the 80s was *revolutionary* and without him,
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none of us would be here today. The people in charge of big tech companies like
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Apple and Microsoft hate us, and have been attacking our movement for years.
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That's what the attacks on RMS have been about. They do *not* care what Richard
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did or didn't do at any given point in time.
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Richard had been president of the Free Software Foundation since its inception
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in 1985, spreading Free Software ideology all over the world; until, that is,
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he was cancelled in 2019 in the most *Orwellian* smear campaign possible.
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Anyone familiar with Libreboot probably already knows all of the above, or they
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are familiar with the gist of it, so why am I talking about the FSF, GNU and
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Richard Stallman today? Because of something very sinister that is currently
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happening.
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Don't just take my word for it. Stephen Fry, a well-known GNU+Linux user, did
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this video in 2008 praising the GNU project and supporting Free Software:
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2021-07-19 18:00:09 +02:00
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<https://vid.puffyan.us/watch?v=P_mS4CIXcLY>
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2021-05-18 14:21:48 +02:00
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in case it doesn't load, try this link:
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2021-07-19 18:00:09 +02:00
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<https://vid.puffyan.us/watch?v=P_mS4CIXcLY>
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2021-05-18 14:21:48 +02:00
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RMS is NOT transphobic
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======================
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I've been good friends with Richard for many years. I *did* have a falling out
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with him (publicly so) a few years ago, but we made up. He has always
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respected me.
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When my project, Libreboot, was in the process of joining GNU, I wasn't out as
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trans. I came out as trans not long before Libreboot became GNU Libreboot.
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RMS switched to she/her with me on the spot. No problems.
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Some people have linked to the following article and suggested that he is
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transphobic: <https://stallman.org/articles/genderless-pronouns.html>
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Specifically, people believe that RMS refuses to use correct pronouns with
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people. People believe that RMS is transphobic for saying per/perse instead of
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accepting they/them.
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Let me tell you something:
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Richard sent *me* and several other people a copy of that article when he was
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drafting it. I repeatedly urged RMS not to do per/perse when he suggested it.
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I strongly suggested that he use they/them when referring to someone generically.
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When he decided to use per/perse, I was annoyed but not offended; you see, I
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regard it as *idiotic*. Clearly, they/them is commonly understood and will
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cause the least amount of misunderstanding.
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Being foolish is not the same thing as being transphobic. If you actually tell
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Richard your preferred pronouns, he'll use them with you without hesitation.
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Several of my friends are trans and also speak to Richard, mostly via email.
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He respects their pronouns also.
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Funnily enough, the GNU project has these guidelines about pronouns:
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<https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/kind-communication.en.html> - see:
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<https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/kind-communication.en.html#f1>
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Not transphobic. At all. Same per/pers bullshit. Not transphobic, just stupid.
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I wasn't misgendered by other GNU developers when my project, Libreboot, was
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in GNU. Calling RMS a transphobe is an *insult* to people who suffer from real
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transphobia.
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Background information
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======================
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*I could* address each specific accusation made against him, but other articles
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already do that; those articles are written much better than anything I could
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ever write, so please click on the links below.
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I feel no need to re-invent the wheel. The whole purpose of this article was
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just to express my support for Richard Stallman, and to defend his honour. His
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time *will* end one day, and he deserves for that to come naturally. However,
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there is still much that he can contribute!
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The following articles more or less describe accurately what happened since
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September 2019 when the events surrounding Richard Stallman started:
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<https://www.wetheweb.org/post/cancel-we-the-web>
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Here is another article expressing support for Richard, and it too has details
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about the events that took place:
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<https://jorgemorais.gitlab.io/justice-for-rms/>
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This video by *DistroTube* provides an excellent account of events aswell:
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2021-08-20 03:08:23 +02:00
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<https://vid.puffyan.us/watch?v=Uun2YhnUNGc>
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2021-05-18 14:21:48 +02:00
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Exposing our opponents for who they are
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=======================================
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Our problem, in defending Richard Stallman, is that opponents of the Free
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Software movement have learned to co-opt our language. They talk the talk and
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they wear the colours, but make no mistake: their actions and their intentions
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do not reflect the ideology they claim to represent! There *are* genuinely some
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Free Software activists and organisations on that list, who have been misled
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or have some other reason to oppose RMS; my focus will not be on those people,
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but hopefully some of those people and organisations will change their mind if
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they read what I have to say!
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I do not subscribe to *cancel culture*. Some of these people may well try to
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cancel *me* but I would never do the same to them. This entire article merely
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aims to defend RMS against the vicious smear campaigns. To do that, we will
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explore some of the people on that anti-RMS list.
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I said I wouldn't directly link to the list calling for RMS's removal, so I
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will print the URL below without making it a hyperlink (this prevents it from
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being boosted in search engines). Look at the names on their list:
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**https://rms-open-letter.github.io/**
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Don't be fooled! The open source movement is *not* the same as the Free
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Software movement! The following article describes how Open Source differs from
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Free Software:
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<https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.en.html>
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I will focus on the people in the main list of signers, and maybe talk about
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specific organisations (or other names) on that list. Some of them are
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otherwise reasonable people besides their anti-RMS stance (which means they
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were misled, most likely), whereas some people on the list are *nasty*.
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I will jump straight into it:
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Redhat pulling funding from FSF
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-------------------------------
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RedHat announced, in response to RMS's re-instatement at the FSF, that they
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would remove their funding for the FSF. They joined in on the usual smear
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campaign.
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RedHat is owned by known non-free software company IBM these days. Their
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enterprise GNU+Linux distro comes with plenty of non-free software and they
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actively tell their customers how to get more; they do nothing to advance free
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software and merely see it as something *they* can use. They do not believe in
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FSF ideology. More info about the merger: <https://www.redhat.com/en/ibm>
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Redhat *very recently* killed CentOS. CentOS was a community edition of RHEL,
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with a strong community backing. In other words, Redhat actively took a step
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that *hurts* the community. More info:
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<https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/12/centos-shifts-from-red-hat-unbranded-to-red-hat-beta/>
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Look at that:
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<https://www.ibm.com/products/software>
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Does this look like a company that cares about Free Software?
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Why should we care what RedHat thinks? If they pull funding, that's one less
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corrupting influence to worry about! Redhat does not believe in free software
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(they may have believed in open source at one point, but that time is probably
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long gone now that they've been bought by IBM)
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OSI/Microsoft connection
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------------------------
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OSI is short for *Open Source Initiative*. This organisation started as an
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offshoot of the Free Software Foundation in an attempt to make Free Software
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more marketable to large corporations. Read about the OSI here:
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<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Source_Initiative>
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They say a picture speaks a thousand words:
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![](https://web.archive.org/web/20210318230618if_/http://techrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/osi-microsoft-photo-op.jpg)
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From left to right, their names (all prominent OSI leaders/influencers), where
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left is *your* left and *their* right (for the people in the photo) are:
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Back row: Faidon Liambotis, Chris Lamb, Simon Phipps, Allison Randal, Molly de Blanc, Patrick Masson
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Front row: Josh Simmons, VM Brasseur, Carol Smith, Italo Vignoli, Richard Fontana.
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All of these people are highly influential at the OSI. Several former presidents.
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Does this look strange to you? Look where they are. The photo comes from this
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news article: <http://techrights.org/2020/01/15/osi-board-at-microsoft/>
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(archive: <http://web.archive.org/web/20200121042512/http://techrights.org/2020/01/15/osi-board-at-microsoft/>)
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Microsoft is a major sponsor of the OSI. OSI themselves have an article on
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their website, stating this: <https://opensource.org/node/901>
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(archive: <http://web.archive.org/web/20201112022740/https://opensource.org/node/901>)
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When your organisation starts to depend on large amounts of funding by
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companies like Microsoft (who have rigorously *attacked* Free Software *and*
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Open Source for years), you are *going* to lose sight of some of your ideals.
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You will lose some of that *spark* you previously had in you. You will start
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doing what your donors tell you, because you fear the loss of that funding.
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Microsoft, over the years, has dived into their version of what they regard as
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*open source*; in reality, it's just *openwashing* (like whitewashing, but with
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Open Source perspective instead), and Microsoft's core products such as Windows
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are still very much non-free! Microsoft still campaigns hard for *your* lack of
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freedom by getting more and more computers locked down with things like
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SecureBoot and cryptographically signed firmware.
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So if Microsoft has hated Richard Stallman for years, and wanted to destroy him
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for years, and Microsoft has financial influence at the Open Source Initiative,
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on organization that could *somewhat credibly* speak Free Software lingo, would
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that not be the best thing ever for Microsoft? Imagine being Microsoft. You'd
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jump at the opportunity, right? Someone tell me I'm not the only one here.
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Even if Microsoft wasn't heavily attached to the OSI, would the OSI have any
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right using the language of Free Software while claiming to be a part of our
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community? Open source is not a part of the Free Software movement! It is an
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ideological competitor to Free Software.
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Fun fact:
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The OSI recently banned Eric S Raymond (co-founder of the OSI) from their
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mailing lists, after certain comments he made defending the OSI against
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infiltration by the *Ethical Source* movement and against oppressive codes of
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conducts that stifle free speech. Despite the name, Ethical Source
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licenses are in fact *non-free* because they put restrictions on usage of the
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software; if the author of such software disagrees with your political views,
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they can ban you from using the software. This is wrong! People like Coraline
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Ada Ehmke (leader of Ethical Source movement) were trying to influence the OSI
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so as to re-write the *Open Source Definition*. This video provides some nice
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introductory information:
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2021-08-20 03:08:23 +02:00
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<https://vid.puffyan.us/watch?v=gkhmwr6O2W4>
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2021-05-18 14:21:48 +02:00
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In the OSI's case, they probably won't let Eric back in; though even if I
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disagree with Open Source (I'm a Free Software activist), Open Source isn't at
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a bad thing per se, just ideologically lacking; Ethical Source people like
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Coraline Ada Ehmke will cause extreme amounts of damage if they get their way
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(they've already infiltrated several well-known Free Software and Open Source
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aligned projects by getting them to introduce a Code of Conduct; Libreboot
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recently came to the good sense to scrap its Code of Conduct, which was none
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other than Coraline's Contributor Covenant)
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Everyone should send Eric Raymond a supportive email. He did the right thing.
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Tell him you care. I've never heard anything especially horrible about him.
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He's very reasonable and a nice person; outspoken and unfiltered while still
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being respectful (in my opinion, having read some of his articles), which is
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quite refreshing.
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Microsoft employees
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-------------------
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Yes, Microsoft employees are on the anti-RMS list.
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*What business do these people have lecturing us about Free Software ideals or
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about FSF affairs?*
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Microsoft is a mortal enemy of the Free Software movement. Microsoft isn't
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foolish enough to sign their entire company name onto the list, because then
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that would be game over for the anti-RMS campaign; so instead, they use their
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corrupting influences at various organisations that supposedly represent us.
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If I were Microsoft, I'd ask these people to remove their names from the list.
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It actually hurts their anti-RMS efforts, for such people to have their
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position at Microsoft stated like this, even if it's just a few people.
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None of their people on this list seem to be high up at Microsoft. I would be
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inclined to believe that they published their names independently, without
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direction. No sane Microsoft boss would want Microsoft listed on that page, in
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any capacity!
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Gnome Foundation (has been deeply connected to Microsoft)
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---------------------------------------------------------
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NOTE: Do not confused the Gnome *community* with the Gnome *Foundation*. They
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are *very* different things!
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There are well-known connections between members of the Gnome Foundation with
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Microsoft. Here is an article:
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<http://web.archive.org/web/20200607212123/http://techrights.org/2020/06/07/gnome-board-of-directors-2020/>
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They have been attacking RMS for years:
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<http://techrights.org/2021/01/12/gnome-foundation-rms/>
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So, of course, it's not credible for these people to represent themselves on
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behalf of the Free Software movement!
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The following Gnome Foundation members are on the core signers list of the
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anti-RMS petition, and associated with the Gnome Foundation:
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* Molly de Blanc (Debian Project, GNOME Foundation) **(also associated with OSI)**
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* Neil McGovern (GNOME Foundation Executive Director, Former Debian Project Leader)
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* Luis Villa (Former Director of the Open Source Initiative and the GNOME Foundation; contributor to the GPL v3 drafting process)
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In other cases, I wouldn't choose to list names, but Neil and Molly are two of
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the people with push/pull/review rights on the anti-RMS github site. I feel the
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need to mention their names; see also that they are both members of the Debian
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project.
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Coraline Ada Ehmke (Founder, Organization for Ethical Source)
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-------------------------------------------------------------
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Coraline is the founder of the *Ethical source* movement. Despite the name, it
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is actually distributing *non-free* licenses; non-free because they put
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restrictions on the usage of software licensed under it. If you use software
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under one of those licenses, and the author disagrees with you politically,
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the author can ban you from using that software.
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I for one believe in freedom! I want freedom for *everyone*, including those
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whom I politically disagree with!
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Discriminating based on someones beliefs is always wrong. No ifs, no buts.
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I want my *political opponents* to have freedom, because:
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* If I were able to take away my enemy's freedom, they could take away mine.
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* If my enemy were able to take away my freedom, I could take away theirs.
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Coraline is also quite abusive online. There are numerous accounts of her
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terrorizing companies/projects, acting like a bully. There's a chance that she
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might even target the Libreboot project, if someone tells her of this article.
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She is a horrible person.
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She's more well known for the Contributor Covenant, a template code of conduct
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that some projects use. We in Libreboot recommend that you do not have a code
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of conduct, because it alienates new contributors and creates a self-censored
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environment where people feel unable to express their views about issues; you
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see, freedom of speech is healthy, and it's quite common sense to just deal
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with bad behaviours. Contributor Covenant is a trojan horse; that's what they
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push on you first, and then they'll recommend you use an Ethical Source license.
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Once you take your first dose of Ethical Source, they'll sink their claws into
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your project. Do not let these types of people infiltrate your project!
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Do not listen to Coraline Ada Ehmke or anyone like her! She is fuelled by
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hatred and bigotry *herself*. She is completely intolerant of other people's
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views and regularly tries to *destroy* people she disagrees with.
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Conclusion
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==========
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That's all!
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Defend RMS!
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Can't be bothered to write more. I was going to go through the list more
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exhaustively, but I think you see the point.
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