Stallman told the audience that proprietary software should not exist as it “imposes an unethical social system”. Microsoft Windows is “Malware”. Apple’s “iGroan and iBad” are as bad. Amazon’s “Swindle” is a “threat to human rights”. Software-as-a-service “is an insidious threat”. Facebook “is not your friend”. And ACTA is “a dishonestly named treaty”.
Open source developers were not spared criticism either. “They co-opt our work and bury our ideals,” said Stallman.
Stallman is a computer programmer who formerly worked on artificial intelligence at MIT and launched the GNU operating system in 1983.
He is the main author of the GNU General Public Licence and an advocate of copyleft, a way of providing open access to digital works.
During a tour of Europe, he spoke at the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) on Monday night. Managing IP was in the audience along with dozens of computer programmers, engineers and students.
In a speech followed by questions that lasted nearly two hours, he asked: what freedoms do people need in a digital society?
Contrary to accepted views, said Stallman, “digital technology can work against us in a harmful way”. He gave examples of how technology increases surveillance and censorship and restricts freedom of speech, including as a result of software patents, which he, predictably, finds unacceptable.
In the speech, he also criticised governments for launching a “war on sharing data”. He described this as an “attack on society”, with teenagers being sued for sharing music files and voiced his “undying hostility” to the UK’s Digital Economy Act.
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is “designed to ramp up the war on sharing”, he added, saying it will prohibit the distribution of free software that can break digital handcuffs.
“We’ve got to legalise P2P sharing and other kinds of sharing on the internet.”
Since the mid-1990s, Stallman has focused on political advocacy for free software, mainly through the Free Software Foundation (FSF). “All programs should be free. We want to liberate cyberspace and all its inhabitants,” he said on Monday.
“Free” software refers to the freedom of users, and has nothing to do with price. Stallman argued that four characteristics distinguish free software from proprietary software: you should be able to run the program as you wish; study and change the source code; help others to run the program; and contribute to the wider community.
Stallman argued that proprietary software such as Microsoft Windows enables the developer to spy on the user, place restrictions (such as digital rights management) on them, and gain backdoor entry.
For example, he said, Amazon’s Kindle (which he calls the Swindle) allowed the company to delete books that readers had bought (ironically copies of Orwell’s dystopian 1984). “This is a threat to human rights. You should never accept one,” said Stallman.
Apple’s products pose similar threats through their use of DRM, he added: “We need to picket those [Apple] stores.”
“With proprietary software, the users are not in control. Instead, the program controls the users,” he said. “By rejecting proprietary software we can protect ourselves from some of these threats. But only political action can fully address these threats to freedom.”
For this reason, said Stallman, he uses cash rather than credit cards in principle, and will only let his talks be distributed on non-restricting formats. Naturally he generally refuses to use non-free software or any product incorporating DRM.
Some of his harshest words were reserved for software-as-a-service (SaaS), or cloud computing, which many observers believe will be the biggest trend in computer software in the next few years.
For example, Google Docs is a SaaS program, as it hosts programs remotely from the user. Facebook also hosts users’ data on remote servers, taking away control over issues such as ads that are displayed next to their photos.
Stallman said SaaS is “inherently equivalent” to proprietary software: “You’ve even further away from having the control you deserve … there’s no way to make SaaS respect users’ freedom.”
Stallman, who spoke shoeless and without notes, was warmly welcomed by the audience, with occasional bursts of applause and laughter. However, he also faced some searching questions, particularly from unashamed owners of iPhones and Kindles. “Don’t be defeatist,” he repeatedly urged.
Before the talk, he signed copies of his book Free Software Free Society, priced at £10 each. He also sold FSF lapel badges.
Afterwards, he auctioned a cuddly Gnu in aid of FSF. The auction raised £75.
