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from the resign:-to-sign-and-sign-again? dept.
Richard M. Stallman Resigns as FSF President and from its Board of Directors
https://www.fsf.org/news/richard-m-stallman-resigns (emphasis from original retained):
On September 16, 2019, Richard M. Stallman, founder and president of
the Free Software Foundation, resigned as president and from its board
of directors.The board will be conducting a search for a new president, beginning
immediately. Further details of the search will be published on
fsf.org.For questions, contact FSF executive director John Sullivan at
johns@fsf.org.Copyright © 2004-2019 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Privacy Policy.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 license (or later version) — Why this license?
Computer Scientist Richard Stallman Resigns from MIT Over Epstein Comments
Computer Scientist Richard Stallman Resigns From MIT Over Epstein Comments
Famed free software advocate and computer scientist Richard Stallman has resigned from MIT, according to an email he published online. The resignation comes after Stallman made comments about victims of child trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, including that the victims went along with the abuse willingly.
"I am resigning effective immediately from my position in CSAIL at MIT," Stallman wrote in the email, referring to MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. "I am doing this due to pressure on MIT and me over a series of misunderstandings and mischaracterizations."
[...] Last week, Motherboard published the full email thread in which Stallman wrote that the "most plausible scenario" is that Epstein's underage victims in his campaign of trafficking were "entirely willing." Stallman also argued about the definition of "rape" and whether the term applies to the victims.
[Ed.'s note - just because Vice say things in the above blockquote does not mean that SoylentNews or its editors consider it a demonstrably provable representation of reality. We're just reporting that they are reporting, nothing more. At least this Ed. finds out-of-context quoting of short inflamatory phrases to be particularly disingenuous, and perhaps even a warning sign that manipulation of a quote has taking place. -- FP.]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by canopic jug on Tuesday September 17 2019, @07:44AM (5 children)
If you do find any, do post the links, but I would be surprised that any accurate accounting of the messages actually exist. Outside of Techrights.org and a few mailing lists, I've only seen the same anti-RMS tripe filled with false statements, lies. I would not be surprised if some of it was even partially preplanned. Even some inside the FSF turned on him, opportunists or moles. The media has been active in spreading lies and misrepresenting the situation. Either way, there is great damage being wrought against our software freedom. M$ has been finding ways to work around the letter of individual licenses. Here is a handful of their methods:
Anyway, the M$ rants are relevant. Not only does M$ work hard even to this day to maintain its bad reputation, its people are involved in this specific event rather directly. Bill Gates was hanging out and managing money together with Epstein, including "donations" to MIT. Gates is still up to his ears in M$.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Gaaark on Tuesday September 17 2019, @12:11PM
And as 'weird' as Stallman is, he is also correct in his assessment of corporate takeover of software.
Stallman foresaw the likes of Microsoft (E-corp).
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 17 2019, @02:28PM (2 children)
I completely agree that the anti-MS parts are important, the issue is just that when trying to share an article with friends/family outside of the bearded hippies circles it is a bit distracting to have the article full of anti-MS rants. To one not already drinking the kool-aide It make the story as a whole look like it was written by crackpots and doesn't actually do much to bring legitimacy to Stallman's case if this is the only person supporting him.
So far the only article that I feel comfortable distributing outside of the tech community is a followup that showed up on Forbes in the gaming section https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2019/09/17/richard-stallman-has-resigned-as-president-of-the-free-software-foundation/#5927d1725527 [forbes.com]
It isn't exactly the best portrayal, but heck of a lot better than the original Forbes article "MIT Computer Scientist Richard Stallman Resigns After Claiming Epstein Victim Was ‘Entirely Willing’"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 17 2019, @03:22PM
How about sending out links to the discussion here on SN instead.
Just a crazy thought.
(Score: 4, Informative) by canopic jug on Tuesday September 17 2019, @05:34PM
You still don't get it. M$ is not a part of the problem, it is the problem. I suppose all the mainstream articles from the 1990s, if read out loud now would be described as screeds.
Anyway, MIT threw RMS under a bus, figuratively, rather than let the discussions continue until their major donor Bill Gates get put in the spotlight.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 18 2019, @09:09PM
this is a war for the future of humanity. FOSS folk need to treat it as such.