re:publica 2012 - Eben Moglen - Freedom of Thought Requires Free Media

Media that spy on and data-mine the public are capable of destroying humanity's most precious freedom: freedom of thought. Ensuring that media remain structured to support rather than suppress individual freedom and civic virtue requires us to achieve specific free technology and free culture goals. Our existing achievements in these directions are under assault from companies trying to bottleneck human communications or own our common culture, and states eager to control their subjects' minds. In this talk--one of a series beginning with "The dotCommunist Manifesto" and "Die Gedanken Sind Frei"--I offer some suggestions about how the Free World should meet the challenges of the next decade.

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[silentdissonance]

I have seen this coming for a while, and I have a hard time explaining it to my friends. They can't, or won't, understand the wider implications of their actions.

What can I do, right now, to stop this push into an Orwellian future?

[videochemist]

Fans of Apple products skip to 31:30

[Ramon Thomas]

This was an one of the most informative lectures I've come across this year on Youtube. Eben Moglen is both articulate and his use of rhetoric draws you into his ideas. Freedom is valuable, we must work harder in Africa.

[Jeyekomon]

Now I understand, but first I thought (and I bet it's a common misunderstanding) that "free software" means "do whatever you want"...

[Rob Adornato]

Nothing in the MIT, Apache, GNU or CC licences says you can copy something and claim it as yours. And nothing stops copying if you have a very restrictive, commercial-style licence. Either way, you need lawyers to stop the example you're giving.

[jahierkommjetz]

You can't push your friends to use open software or systems. The best thing to do is to be a good example for them and others and use open software extensively. 'Tis like in front of kids or non-vegetarians.

[Salvatore Shiggerino]

It's perfectly ethical to make works of opinion and works of artistic expression non-free. For instance the creative commons licenses that forbid people from making changes or using them commercially.

Things like software, textbooks and manuals, on the other hand, are designed for practical use, and therefore it is important that they are free so that they can adapt to the needs and be improved by the community.

[Salvatore Shiggerino]

gnu.org/philosophy/ is also a good resource for learning more. An unfortunate side-effect of the habit of calling the whole GNU/Linux operating system just 'Linux' is that most users never find out about the GNU project, whose goals differ widely from those of the Linux project. And one of those goals is making all software free, not zero price, but free as in freedom.

[Michael Hanson]

The free licenses are actually restrictive against terms that limit freedom. So, some of your examples would not be allowed.

[Jeyekomon]

"Free doesn't imply unrestricted"

Uhh, thank you. Now I realized that I've never really thought about the real meaning of the word "free". I will read through those GPL licences, I'm quite curious about that.

[Michael Hanson]

You just need to pick the proper "free" license. Free doesn't imply unrestricted. Read any of the GPL's and you'll better understand.