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This is the personal web site of Richard Stallman.
The views expressed here are my personal views, not those of
the Free Software Foundation or
the GNU Project.
The largest part of the site is the
political notes, and they are typically
updated every day.
Please also look at the Urgent action notes, and occasionally at the Long-term action notes.
I am looking for a couple of additional volunteers to help edit the pages on the site for me. If you'd like to help me in this way, please write to rms at gnu period org.
Urgent action items.
Support the campaign to relegalize same-sex marriage in California.
Petition the WHO to investigate the danger of pig factories.
US citizens: phone your congresscritter to demand a strong bill to control greenhouse gas emissions. And sign this petition too.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.
US citizens:
Sign the petition to tell Congress: don't donate more arms to Israel since it violates the conditions on the arms it has already been given.
Sign the petition to Attorney General Holder to vacate the politically motivated charges against Don Siegelman as he recently did against former Senator Stevens.
US citizens: sign this petition to the senate to establish protections for credit card holders against credit card companies.
Massachusetts citizens: phone your state representative to oppose a law that would criminalize erotic photos of people over age 60.
Not satisfied with imprisoning teenagers who share nude photos of themselves, Massachusetts wants to imprison old people too. Apparently they demand that old people be asexual.
A major Swedish ISP says it will cease to keep IP address records, so that they cannot be used to inform on its customers.
Your school should do the same thing. Organize now and demand it!
If you have information for me, please email it to rms at gnu dot orgy minus the y.
I disagree with the book on one theoretical point in the last part of the book: we shouldn't think of political activism as being marketing and sales, because those terms refer to business, and politics is something much more important than mere business. However, this doesn't diminish the value of the book's practical advice about borrowing techniques from marketing and sales.
Disclosure: I am friends with the author.
If a company has changed its name within the past 5 years, or if a substantial part of it was acquired from another company, it should be legally required to include a statement to that effect in all its publications, announcements, and paid publicity. This would foil the attempt of companies such as Blackwater to escape the odium of their past deeds by changing their names.
I'm looking for people who would like to launch and run a petition where people will publicly state that if the UK starts fingerprinting air travelers, they will not fly out of UK airports. The site should display the names and cities of signers. Please write to rms at gnu.org if you are interested.
I'd like to make a list of countries that do not require a national identity card, and have no plans to adopt one. If you live in or have confirmed knowledge of such a country, please send email to rms at gnu.org.
Here's my current list of countries with no national ID cards and no plans for one: Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Australia's previous government tried to institute national ID cards, but the Labour government dropped the plan. India has none, but I've recently heard India has plans to institute them. Likewise the Philippines.
Austria doesn't require people to have a national ID card, but requires people to notify the police of where they are staying even for 3 days.
Norway, Denmark and Sweden don't have ID cards as such, but they have ID numbers that citizens are forced to use frequently.
Irish plans for a national ID card were dropped.
Wikipedia has a list of identity card policies by country.
US citizens: phone or write your congresscritter to oppose the "Fair Copyright in Research Works" act, proposed by the journal publishers to sabotage open access to scientific works. See http://taxpayeraccess.org/fcrwa.html.
For more information.
Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641, and 888-355-3588.
US citizens: The site change.org allows people to propose and support political ideas. One that I supported is a new investigation of how the 9/11 attacks were carried out, and who was responsible.
As individual suspects, Bush and Cheney must not be punished without being convicted in a fair trial. As the level of politics, however, given that they blocked and corrupted the investigation into their possible guilt, we must consider them guilty until a real investigation is allowed.
Update! Shortly after I voted for that proposal and wrote this note, change.org deleted the proposal, saying that it does not fit the site because it is not a policy change.
While that investigation is not, in and of itself, a policy change, it is essential for moving forward to change many unjust and dangerous policies that were established to "protect" us from the supposed danger according to the US government's suspect claims about the attack. Bush's whitewash investigation reinforced this basis for maintaining and exacerbating those policies. An honest investigation of those claims is therefore vital for future policy decisions.
Support the Appel de Blois, which calls for an end to laws that censor views on historical events.
The fish species you should avoid eating. Either they are endangered or catching them is very destructive.
Support the Atheist Bus Campaign, putting ads for atheism on buses in London.
Britons, support no2id.net, which campaigns to block the imposition of national ID cards.
Buy a printer which does not report your activities to the police.
Support the National Initiative for Democracy (http://Vote.org).
We cannot assume that personal voluntary changes will suffice, so treaties and laws are needed as well.
Also, see the Simultaneous Policy.
After reading this, I have a suggestion: to denounce the term "piracy" as a propaganda smear when applied to copying and sharing. (See words to avoid.)
A crucial part of rejecting the term is never using the term yourself. Another crucial part is explaining frequently that it is propaganda, that you reject it, and that that is why you don't use it.
(I only get bottled water in the US when I am going to take a long bus ride.)
It is not surprising to me that an official whose title includes the term "intellectual property rights" would act in the grasping, greedy fashion reported in that page. The term is propaganda, and interferes with clear thinking about the various disparate laws it lumps together. In general, anyone who uses the term is either trying to confuse you, or confused himself.
People will say, "That makes no sense--what does one have to do with the other?" Which provides a chance to explain:
We don't know who the perpetrators are--perhaps Muslim fanatics, perhaps Christian fanatics (supporters of the Bush regime), perhaps both. It is tricky to get even with people when you can't identify them. How can we do it in this case?
Both of those groups hate gays and oppose gay rights. Thus, supporting gay marriage offers us a way we can be sure to make the perpetrators miserable, whoever they were.
I'm annoyed by the gratuitous suggestion that you say that the ANWR wilderness was "god-given", which presumes absurd views on the nature of the universe. I suggest editing out that part of the letter.
This is a step in the right direction, but it does not go far enough. The PAT RIOT act was extended in December 2003 to give the police equally easy access to many kinds of transaction records about you. The PAT RIOT act attacks your freedom in other ways, too, and not all of them will expire in 2005. See http://www.aclu.org/safefree/.
This is a list of my political articles that are not related to the GNU Project. For GNU-related articles, see the GNU philosophy directory. You can also order copies of my book, 'Free Software, Free Society', signed or not signed.
Sad to say, this law was adopted in Britain in July 2000. Residents of the UK must now start using steganography to protect themselves from secret raids.
"Those who profess to favor freedom, yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."Frederick Douglass, American Abolitionist, Letter to an associate, 1849
Some of the notes have links to articles from The Independent or the Belfast Telegraph. It now appears that many of their past articles are available only for a fee (and not accessible anonymously at all). I would like to replace all those non-functional links with new accessible links--either links to the same article on another site, or links to other articles that provide the same information to substantiate the point of the note. Please help me find replacements for them.
Here are notes about various issues I care about, usually with links to
more information. The first file is the current one; go there to see the
latest notes.
[ Current (2009 March -
June))
2008 November -
February |
2008 July -
October |
2008 March -
June |
2007 November -
February |
2007 July -
October |
2007 March -
June
| 2006 November -
February
| 2006 July - October
| 2006 March - June
| 2005 November
- February |
2005 July -
October |
2005 March - June |
2004 November -
February | 2004 July -
October
| 2004 March - June |
2004 January - April |
2003 November - February |
2003 September - December |
2003 May - August | 2003 January - April
| 2002 | 2001 | 2000 ]
Political notes about the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa, Italy are being archived on their own page
The "security theater" with its accompanying paranoia is often galling, but usually the only substantial harm it does is to the spirit of freedom. As we get worn down and accustomed to obedience, we become more suited to living in a dictatorship than in a free society. But this instance shows that it is liable also to do major harm to individuals.
Note the fundamental injustice of arresting people for criticizing the way they are being treated.
Note also how airline personnel use absurd accusations as a way to distract attention from their mistreatment of the passengers. They are trained to put the passenger in the wrong.
Conclusive proof that most airline security is just for show. It would block stupid terrorists, but not smart ones — if the smart ones are still interested in airplanes.
Blocking stupid terrorists is worth something, but it could be done with a lot less hassle without the show.
The TSA is on guard against the Bra Bomber.
Here are EPIC's comments on TSA's "Secure Flight" program, which aims to make airlines report all air travel to a central site which will check the list of a million terrorist suspects, rather than checking it themselves.
Bruce Schneier points out that the system will be error-prone and ineffective, as well as nasty and unjust.
Even though identifying all travellers has limited value for preventing non-state-sponsored terrorism, it is really handy for general control of the populace and suppression of dissent.
An airline security bully threatened to arrest a man in Heathrow Airport for wearing a shirt with a picture of a cartoon robot with a gun.
If the bully were so stupid that he believed the cartoon robot could actually shoot someone, it would be hard to be angry at him. Someone so badly retarded is not fit for the job, but it's not his fault that he is retarded.
However, what really happened is much worse. That bully was perfectly aware that the cartoon robot could not shoot anyone. But he thinks he should forbid it anyway, because he has lost all sense of proportion.
Airline pilot James Robinson has trouble getting to his flights because he's on the terrorist watch list.
Another pilot has sued for being listed, since it cut him off from his livelihood.
A TSA inspector got a clever idea for "inspecting" planes. Nine planes he damaged were grounded for repairs.
In a rare act of thoughtfulnes, the TSA has decided not to add to its "terrorist suspect" list everyone that forgets to bring ID.
John Gilmore was once kicked off a plane for wearing a sticker saying "terrorist suspect". The morons on the flight crew thought that meant he was dangerous, but it only referred to the fact that everyone who flies in a plane is treated by the TSA as a terrorist suspect.
Sherri Davidoff reports on flying in the US without her wallet, concluding that the TSA's attempts to identify people have nothing to do with protecting passengers and are solely about control.
A TSA agent took from an airline pilot the standard issue knife that the airline gives to all its pilots.
This TSA idiot firmly denied that he was enforcing a dumb rule.
The worst thing about the TSA is not that its staff enforce rules in stupid ways. It is that they insist it is right to enforce rules in stupid ways. They are being paid to act like robots instead of humans.
When people act like robots, do they still deserve to be treated like people, or is it legitimate to treat them as robots?
Air travellers now face strip searches in public.
Remember the Shoe Bomber? Wait till they catch the Bra Bomber and start requiring all women passengers to remove their bras.
The TSA has abruptly abolished the right to board a plane without showing ID.
As the article explains, this and the "no fly" list are "security theater", with results that are unjust.
Student with 2" gun necklace pendant stopped at airport.
This tendency towards absurd zeal is not limited to the occasional idiot. It pervades the whole system.
When the TSA insisted on opening James Hoyne's backup feeding tube, they put his life in danger.
Here's another person who the TSA deceptively harassed about his shoes. The article also explains how ineffective the TSA is at catching real weapons.
TSA agents took stole a baby's food. "You need a doctor's note," they said. The parents are both doctors, the TSA refused to accept their note, or to let them contact another doctor.
Once the TSA has found an excuse to take something away from you, their policy is to be as cruel as possible.
The "liquid explosive" danger is fantasy. When the TSA confiscates liquids, this is gratuitous abuse.
TSA searches, detains 5 year old because his name was on no-fly list.
Here's the text of a complaint that I am sending to the TSA for misleading treatment at Logan Airport.
When I continued to verbally criticize the conduct of the agents, and didn't sit down and shut up, they called the State Police, and one Officer Gillespie told me that "Unless you shut up I will throw you out." I asked if that meant he would arrest me for speaking, and he said, "No, for making a scene." (Different words for the same act.) I told him that was bullying and abuse of power, and refused to shut up.
I then promised I would write about it for my web site, and he asked what it was, so I told him. Unfortunately it took a few days for me to get the work done. I hope he has not concluded I failed to follow through.
In another incidence, a man who put a note saying "Kip Hawley Is An Idiot" (that's the head of the TSA) on his plastic bag of liquids was treated like a criminal by the TSA.
This was, in effect, perfect proof that the TSA attacks those who criticize it, even in the total absence of any legitimate reason to do so.
The TSA's response to subsequent inquiries followed the standard dishonest rule of unjust government: admit nothing, deny everything, make counterallegations.
Don't fly Air France if you can help it. This is not a boycott, just a suggestion. Air France is unbelievable.
The Transportation Security Administration is tyrannizing airline passengers in the name of security.
For future trips, I think I will print copies of that article so I can hand them out while waiting in the line at the checkpoint.
Go to China or else! (12 April 2003)
Distinguishing real, useful air security measures from snake oil.
The US government keeps track of lots of information about Americans who travel — including what books you read, and the size of your hotel bed, if they can find it out.
To search all air passengers for bombs and weapons is legitimate provided the search does nothing else. When the government uses this search as an excuse to take note of anything other than bombs and weapons, that is dishonest, and therefore unjust.
Richard Matthew Stallman is a software developer and software freedom activist. In 1983 he announced the project to develop the GNU operating system, a Unix-like operating system meant to be entirely free software, and has been the project's leader ever since. With that announcement Stallman also launched the Free Software Movement. In October 1985 he started the Free Software Foundation.
The GNU/Linux system, which is a variant of GNU that also uses the kernel Linux developed by Linus Torvalds, are used in tens or hundreds of millions of computers, and are now preinstalled in computers available in retail stores. However, the distributors of these systems often disregard the ideas of freedom which make free software important.
That is why, since the mid-1990s, Stallman has spent most of his time in political advocacy for free software, and spreading the ethical ideas of the movement, as well as campaigning against both software patents and dangerous extension of copyright laws. Before that, Stallman developed a number of widely used software components of the GNU system, including the original Emacs, the GNU Compiler Collection, the GNU symbolic debugger (gdb), GNU Emacs, and various other programs for the GNU operating system.
Stallman pioneered the concept of copyleft, and is the main author of the GNU General Public License, the most widely used free software license.
Stallman gives speeches frequently about free software and related topics. Common speech titles include "The GNU Operating System and the Free Software movement", "The Dangers of Software Patents", and "Copyright and Community in the Age of the Computer Networks". A fourth common topic consists of explaining the changes in version 3 of the GNU General Public License, which was released in June 2007.
In 1999, Stallman called for development of a free on-line encyclopedia through the means of inviting the public to contribute articles.
In Venezuela, Stallman has promoted the adoption of free software in the state's oil company (PDVSA), in municipal government, and in the nation's military. Stallman is on the Advisory Council of TeleSUR, the television station launched by Venezuela and other countries to counter the biased news of the corporate stations.
After personal meetings, Stallman has obtained positive statements about free software from the then-President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, from French 2007 presidential candidate Ségolène Royal, and from the president of Ecuador Rafael Correa.
Stallman's writings on free software issues can be found in Free Software, Free Society (GNU Press, ISBN 1-882114-98-1). He has received the following awards:
Stallman graduated from Harvard in 1974 with a BA in physics. During his college years, he also worked as a staff hacker at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab, learning operating system development by doing it. He wrote the first extensible Emacs text editor there in 1975. He also developed the AI technique of dependency-directed backtracking, also known as truth maintenance. In January 1984 he resigned from MIT to start the GNU project.
(this biography was published in the first edition of "The Hacker's Dictionary".)
I was built at a laboratory in Manhattan around 1953, and moved to the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab in 1971. My hobbies include affection, international folk dance, flying, cooking, physics, recorder, puns, science fiction fandom, and programming; I magically get paid for doing the last one. About a year ago i split up with the PDP-10 computer to which i was married for ten years. We still love each other, but the world is taking us in different directions. For the moment I still live in Cambridge, Massachusetts, among our old memories. "Richard Stallman" is just my mundane name; you can call me "rms".
(jpeg 2k) (jpeg 64k) There is a black-and-white photograph of me as a 5820K Encapsulated Postscript file, a 3762K JPEG file, and a 5815K TIFF file.
Here is a color photo in JPEG format.
"You assist an evil system most effectively by obeying its orders and decrees. An evil system never deserves such allegiance. Allegiance to it means partaking of the evil. A good person will resist an evil system with his or her whole soul."-Mahatma Gandhi
Photos from Copyright vs. Community event, Jan 31, 2008.
A photo from a recent interview.A photo of RMS with a large "aureole" by Roberto Brenlla.
An imaginative painting of Richard Stallman, by Jin Wicked.
Another drawing of me, by Banlu Kemiyatorn.
I like computers, music and butterflies---among other things.
Here I am wearing my "power tie".
Here I am struggling to open a bottle of water.
My application to an Ex Boyfriends List
I am also a saint, in the Church of Emacs--Saint IGNUcius. The Church of Emacs will soon be officially listed by at least one person as his religion for census purposes.
There are no godfathers in the Church of Emacs, since there are no gods, but you can be someone's editorfather.
Here are my funny poetry and song parodies and some puns.
Stallman Does Dallas: "I have to warn you that Texans have been known to have an adverse reaction to my personality . . . "
The Dalai Lama today announced the official release of Yellow Hat GNU/Linux.
I found A funny song about the Mickey Mouse Copyright Act (officially the Sonny Bono Copyright Act) which extended copyright retroactively by 20 years on works made as early as the 1920s.
If you are a geek and read Spanish, you will love Raulito el Friki, who said "Hello, world!" immediately after he was born. Here's an archive of this now-defunct comic strip.
A science fiction story: Jinnetic Engineering (and in Portuguese).
On Hacking: In June 2000, while visiting Korea, I did a fun hack that clearly illustrates the original and true meaning of the word "hacker".
I would like to thank:
Please send comments on these web pages to rms at gnu period org.
Copyright (c) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
Richard Stallman
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