Richard Stallman Was Right All Along

Richard Stallman Was Right All Along

Los recientes desarrollos legales hacia un mayor monitoreo del tráfico en Internet (SOPA) hacen evidente hacia dónde van las cosas. Dentro de poco no estaremos seguros usando software propietario, es decir, controlado por las mismas grandes corporaciones que cada vez más imponen la represión hacia los ciudadanos. El autor del texto era escéptico cuando Stallman decía que era indispensable pasarse completamente al software libre, pero con el tiempo ha terminado por convencerse.

"But here we are, at the start of 2012. Obama signed the NDAA for 2012, making it possible for American citizens to be detained indefinitely without any form of trial or due process, only because they are terrorist suspects. At the same time, we have SOPA, which, if passed, would enact a system in which websites can be taken off the web, again without any form of trial or due process, while also enabling the monitoring of internet traffic. Combine this with how the authorities labelled the Occupy movements - namely, as terrorists - and you can see where this is going. (...)

unlike the days of yore, where repressive regimes needed elaborate networks of secret police and informants to monitor communication, all they need now is control over the software and hardware we use. (...)

If we lose the ability to check what our own computers are doing, we're boned.
That's the very core of the Free Software Foundation's and Stallman's beliefs: that proprietary software takes control away from the user, which can lead to disastrous consequences, especially now that we rely on computers for virtually everything we do. (...)

With computers taking care of things like hearing, driving, and more, we really can't afford to be locked out of them. We need to be able to peek inside of them and see what they're doing, to ensure we're not being monitored, filtered, or whatever. (...)

This is why you should support Android (not Google, but Android), even if you prefer the iPhone. This is why you should support Linux, even if you use Windows. This is why you should support Apache, even if you run IIS. There's going to be a point where being Free/open is no longer a fun perk, but a necessity."