Many of us know that governments can threaten the human rights of software users through censorship and surveillance of the Internet. Many do not realize that the software they run on their home or work computers can be an even worse threat. Thinking of software as "just a tool", they suppose that it obeys them, when in fact it often obeys others instead.

Many of us know that governments can threaten the human rights of software users through censorship and surveillance of the Internet. Many do not realize that the software they run on their home or work computers can be an even worse threat. Thinking of software as `just a tool', they suppose that it obeys them, when in fact it often obeys others instead.

RMS: « Skype software in China is built for censorship and surveillance.

"Surveillance, censorship, restrictive data formats and software-as-a-service threatened the freedom of IT users, GNU founder and free software activist Richard Stallman claimed..."

The free software community understands that free software gives the user more freedom than proprietary software. Proprietary software confines its users, prohibits them from making changes that would allow everyone to benefit, etc. Free software advocates (myself included) have a habit of claiming that using free (libre) software means the same thing as having freedom.

"If you think computers and the internet have done a power of good for individual freedom, you've clearly not been exposed to the thinking of Richard Stallman.

Stallman, an American, is part-way through a speaking tour on which he is outlining the philosophy of the Free Software Foundation, of which he is founder and president.

Richard Mathew Stallman or “RMS”, his famous initials of the hacker community at Harvard where he graduated magna cum laude in Physics in 1974, is the most prominent American Free Software Advocate alive today.

"Hello, finally. This is an unusual talk in which I'm going to start by explaining the ideas of free software, and then go on to talk about how they extend to some things other than software.

Today, I watched the president of the USA speak at the installation of the statue of Rosa Parks. She was an icon of the US movement for civil rights when I was just a child. In the world of computers we have our own Rosa Parks, Richard Stallman, who expanded the concept of freedom to include running the software, examining the software, modifying the software, and distributing the software.