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This is the personal web site of Richard Stallman.
The views expressed here are my personal views, not those of
the Free Software Foundation or
the GNU Project.
For the sake of separation, this site has always been
hosted elsewhere and managed separately.
If you want to send me GPG-encrypted mail, do not trust key servers! Some of them have phony keys under my name and email address, made by someone else as a trick. See gpg.html for my real key.
Richard Stallman has cancer. Fortunately it is slow-growing and manageable follicular lymphoma. Treatment put it into remission, and he can expect to live many more years. However, he now has to be even more careful not to catch Covid-19.
I urge you to vote in Democratic primaries for the progressive candidate, if there is one. And in the final election I urge you to vote for Democrats, unless a liberal independent had a good chance of winning.
The largest part of the site is the political notes, and they are typically updated every day.
I'm looking for people to![[America Means Civil Liberties / Patriotism Means Protecting
Them / www.aclu.org/safefree ]](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.stallman.org/flag_set_vectorized.png)
US citizens: call on Congress to pass the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal and Transparency Act.
More information: https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/359
US citizens: call on the Federal Trace Commission to oppose the billion-dollar Koch fertilizer merger.
Biden created the possibility for the FTC to block his merger by appointing the competition law champion, Lina Khan, to head the FTC. Previous Democratic presidents, Clinton and Obama, did little more than Republican presidents to oppose concentration of industry.
US citizens: call on Congress to protect abortion and birth control by repealing the Comstock Act.
If you phone, please spread the word! Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121
US citizens: Thank the FCC commissioners for stopping companies from gouging prisoners for their phone calls.
Because prisoners are a captive market, US companies impose unconscionable fees that cut them off from their families — and make it more likely they will commit further crimes once released.
US citizens: call on Congress to pass the Raise the Wage Act and lift millions of people out of poverty.
Everyone: call on mainstream media not to repeat the corrupter's absurd claims about Project 2025 as if they were true.
US citizens: call on Congress to ban utilities and monopoly corporations from making political contributions.
If you phone, please spread the word! Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121
US residents: denounce Republicans attacks on public education.
US citizens: call on Congress to support Biden's initiative to reduce prices on some drugs.
Biden did this through a change in a regulation, which (unlike a law) does not require specific approval from Congress, but Republicans will push to override it, and plutocratist Democrats might support it, acting on the principle that the income of lobbying corporations is sacrosanct. The point is to dissuade them from doing so.
By the way, please vote to defeat the corrupter and all Republicans!
If you phone, please spread the word! Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121
US citizens: call on Biden to avert war in Lebanon.
If you phone, please spread the word! White House: +1-202-456-1111 and (TTY/TDD) +1-202-456-6213
Boycott Chevron, in the name of Steven Donziger.
Whether the owners are Chinese is a question that there is no need to ask, because the state should never give money to a business "to support it." Instead it should offer to lend money to the company for suitable repayment, or else buy equity at a fair price.
These two ways of supporting a company avoid giving the owners an opporunity to rip off the state -- which the company's owners are likely to try to do, if they can, regardless of which country they are from.
With a policy like this, it wouldn't matter which country the company's owners are from.
It is exciting that SB 976 turns towards restricting recommendation algorithms. But these options should not be limited to minors — every user should have this choice. (Please do not refer to teenagers as "children"; that feeds the US tendency to treat them like children and retard their development.)
However, I suggest taking a step beyond just choosing to use or not use the platform's addiction system. Recommendation algorithms should be completely separated from platforms!
If you want to use a nontrivial recommendation algorithm, you should be able to choose it yourself and use it anonymously. You could send it the URLs you want it to base its choices on. These might be some of the pages you had visited, and perhaps pages you had not visited.
Then it should send you its recommendations. You could pass all, or just some, or none of those recommendations to the platform to look at them.
AB 1949 is admirable because it gives a small boost to privacy for users of all ages, not only for children. It isn't enough, though — users should also be guaranteed the right and possibility to access through the Tor network and to use aliases. And collection of a user's data by the state should require a warrant against the user.
The door plug that blew out of a Boeing 737 Max 9 airplane was missing four bolts meant to hold it in place. They were missing because Boeing maintenance removed them and did not put them back in again.
Some workers actually made the mistake, but they were working as part of a work system that Boeing management was responsible for setting up and running. That's where the real fault is.
I suggest passing a law to require aircraft manufacturing and repair companies to have a certain fraction of licensed commercial pilots on their boards. Perhaps 66%.
Private equity is gobbling up large parts of the US nursing home business. This puts patients in danger since private equity can amass lots of money, create an oligopoly, and get away with abuses.
The study suggests that "regulation may be needed." I will take a stronger stand and call for firm limits — perhaps even prohibiting private equity combinations from owning home nursing businesses.
I'v also proposed prohibiting private equity from buying up lots of rental housing.
Here are some quotations that I particularly like.
You can now read the political notes on Mastodon.
US citizens: call on Congress to protect abortion and birth control by repealing the Comstock Act.
If you phone, please spread the word! Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121
US citizens: Thank the FCC commissioners for stopping companies from gouging prisoners for their phone calls.
Because prisoners are a captive market, US companies impose unconscionable fees that cut them off from their families — and make it more likely they will commit further crimes once released.
*Half of Americans live in states without rules restricting disconnections for unpaid or overdue bills.* With the dangerous and occasionally deadly heat caused by humanity's cumulative greenhouse gas emissions, that system can kill them.
Republicans value keeping rich people rich above keeping poor people alive. Their policies accord with those values.
They have those values because they work for the rich who fund their campaigns and reward them personally. If you are too poor to pay your bills, they won't miss you if you die — and your death is very effective for suppressing your vote.
Comparing the statements and positions of Biden and the corrupter in regard to Gaza, Israel and Palestine.
*Election Deniers Have Taken Over the Republican National Committee.*
Not only the RNC's leaders, but even people seeking staff jobs there, were asked to affirm the corrupter's election lies.
Netanyahu said that there can be an investigation into Israel's security failures on Oct 7 when Israel has defeated HAMAS.
In other words, when pigs fly.
Bernie Sanders thanked the musk-rat for doing "an exceptional job of demonstrating a point that we have made for years — and that is the fact we live in an oligarchic society."
CODEPINK accused a Republican congresscritter, who is a right-wing fanatic, of bashing into one of its leaders from behind and then falsely accusing per of assaulting him.
In the absence of real political violence from political opposition, the trumpets make false accusations. Why would they hesitate? Following their leader, they have rejected truth and honesty entirely, so there is no kind of lie they would refrain from due to conscience.
US citizens: call on certain drug companies to drop their lawsuits that aim to block Biden's new regulation that would reduce prices of certain drugs.
The UN International Court of Justice concluded that Israel's occupation of Palestine, and its colonization, are de-facto annexation, and illegal. (Annexation of conquered territory is also illegal.)
The ruling also *called for Israel to rapidly quit the occupied territories and ruled Palestinians were due reparations for the occupation.*
*While non-binding, the ruling will provide ample ammunition for government lawyers already actively examining future sanctions against those linked to Israeli settlement.*
Computers running Windows around the world were unable to run due to a broken change remotely installed in them.
With GNU/Linux, no one can forcibly install an "upgrade" (or a 'downgrade", as might prefer to call it). You decide when, and whether, to install changes, and whose changes to install.
Can anyone tell me what job this CrowdStrike software does? I have a hunch that this is one of the unjust consequences of the proprietary nature of Windows, but I don't actually know. It would be very useful to know for certain.
Republicans in Georgia have signed up tens of thousands of election vigilantes, each of whom will be empowered to challenge the legitimacy of voters with just a little excuse.
Marathon Petroleum published an article in 1977 about the danger of climate mayhem.
Many US small businesses are very vulnerable to local disasters. They could easily be wiped out.
As business owners become aware of how climate disaster threatens their businesses, increasingly every year, if they have long-term sense they will actively support decarbonization politically. If they don't, I expect they are fools.
I do not believe that fools deserve disaster. Nobody deserves that, whether fools or not. Alas, fools are likely to make it happen to them.
There are people in Gaza who have polio infections. The lack of hygiene and water treatment means nothing stops it from spreading to anyone there who has not been vaccinated.
Minister Ben-Gvir, the political leader of the extremist "settlers" that take land in the West Bank from its Palestinian inhabitants, pushed his way into the al-Aqsa complex in Jerusalem, as a gesture to keep the war in Gaza killing.
The al-Aqsa Mosque complex was built on the hill where the Hebrew Second Temple had been destroyed by Romans 600 years earlier. Peace in the Middle East depends on the various religions' respecting each others' sacred buildings, especially in Jerusalem; Israelis who totally reject peace sometimes enter the al-Aqsa complex as a political gesture of war.
If Biden wants to inspire Democrats to vote for him, he could bar Ben-Gvir from entering the US.
Shell committed to increase recycling of plastics, but now admits it is unable to do that.
To decrease the amount of waste caused by use of plastic, we need to replace current plastic with recyclable plastic, or with other materials, and make sure that the recyclable plastic can be separated from the rest of the packaging.
Vance would encourage the wrecker to sell Ukraine to Putin.
Republicans think they can avoid being defeated by the supporters of abortion rights by avoiding the issue until the election.
US citizens: call on Congress to pass the Raise the Wage Act and lift millions of people out of poverty.
The four factors of the apocalypse:
global heating, global hating,
global eating, global mating.
Copy this button (courtesy of R.Siddharth) to express your rejection of Facebook.
Non-oppressive Commercial E-books
Facebook's face recognition demonstrates a threat to everyone's privacy. I therefore ask people not to put photos of me on Facebook; you can do likewise.
Of course, Facebook is bad for many other reasons as well.
I'd like to make a list of countries that do not require a national identity card, and have no plans to adopt one. If you live in or have confirmed knowledge of such a country, please send email to rms at gnu.org.
Here's my list of countries with no national ID cards and no plans for one: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK. Australia's previous government tried to institute national ID cards, but the Labor government dropped the plan.
India has mostly finished imposing a national biometric ID number in a grand act of oppression.
Switzerland has national ID cards which are optional, but they or some other government ID card are needed for some purposes.
Iceland doesn't have ID cards as such, but they have ID numbers that citizens are forced to use frequently. For example, the national ID number is often required to rent a video or use a gym.
Denmark issues non-photo ID cards with a "person number", and many services use this card to identify people.
Norway will impose a national biometric ID card.
Ireland - national ID card by stealth.
ACLU: the five dangers of national ID cards.
Wikipedia has a list of identity card policies by country.
Stay away from certain countries because of their bad immigration policies.
Avoid flight connections in these airports because of their treatment of passengers.
People often ask how I manage to continue devoting myself to progressive activism (such as the free software movement) for years without burning out. The best way I can answer is by recommending a book, The Lifelong Activist by Hillary Rettig.
I disagree with the book on one theoretical point in the last part of the book: we shouldn't think of political activism as being marketing and sales, because those terms refer to business, and politics is something much more important than mere business. However, this doesn't diminish the value of the book's practical advice about borrowing techniques from marketing and sales.
Disclosure: I am friends with the author.
Personal Declaration of Richard Stallman and Euclides Mance on Solidarity Economy and Free Software.
I have reposted some of Rick Falkvinge's articles. As posted on his site, you can't see them in a browser without running some nonfree Javascript code which is apparently non-free. These versions show the same text, without the obstacle.
These are my political articles that are not related to the GNU operating system or free software. For GNU-related articles, see the GNU philosophy directory. You can also download copies of my book, Free Software, Free Society, 3rd edition.
"Those who profess to favor freedom, yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."Frederick Douglass, American Abolitionist, Letter to an associate, 1849
Here are notes about various issues I care about, usually with links to
more information. The current notes are
here. For all previous
notes, see this page.
See this page for information on efforts to maintain links in the political notes.
Political notes about the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa, Italy are being archived on their own page.
Richard Stallman's bio and publicity photos, and other things of interest to the press, have been moved to a separate page.
The Free Software Song, by Richard M. Stallman. You can listen to a performance of the song: Free Software Song performed by Thor Here is a variant of this song called "The Free Firmware Song".
A song parody, Colors of the Lisp, by Jefferson Carpenter.
Earth under attack from planet Koch.
On doxing, and how to spell it.
A Spanish cartoon: La Ruleta
Española. 
Here I am wearing my "power tie".
Wine snobs get their comeuppance.
Here I am struggling to open a bottle of water.
My application to an join Marian Henley's ex-boyfriends list.
My funny poetry and song parodies.
My Puns in English (Little Leaguer, August 2019).
My Puns in Spanish (New pun: Apostasía April 2019)
My Puns in French (New pun: Microsoft à l'école July 2019)
My Puns in Italian (New pun: Quale pesce fa starnutire? New 10/2018)
My Puns in German (New 02/2016)
Linguistic Swifties (Now with: Wintu, Penutian, Cochiti, Taos, and Towa.)
--Saint
IGNUcius-- The Church of Emacs will soon
be officially listed by at least one person as his religion for
census purposes.
There are no godfathers in the Church of Emacs, since there are no gods, but you can be someone's editorfather.
Stallman Does Dallas: "I have to warn you that Texans have been known to have an adverse reaction to my personality…"
The Dalai Lama today announced the official release of Yellow Hat GNU/Linux.
I found a funny song about the Mickey Mouse Copyright Act (officially the Sonny Bono Copyright Act) which extended copyright retroactively by 20 years on works made as early as the 1920s.
If you are a geek and read Spanish, you will love Raulito el Friki, who said "Hello, world!" immediately after he was born. Here's an archive of this now-defunct comic strip.
Sleeping with Stallman at MIT.
ESR's favorite programming language: Objectivist C.
No Kludges in Cluj (June 2014)
Made for You (December 2012) (local copy) Esperanto translation
A science fiction story: Jinnetic Engineering (in Portuguese, Farsi, Spanish, Armenian, Russian, French, and Italian).My book of essays about the philosophy of Software Freedom, is available from the GNU Press.
Avec des chapeaux French song parody.
My radio program of Music from Georgia, originally broadcast on WUOG in Athens, Georgia on Oct 13, 2014.
Quantum Theory and Abortion Rights
A proposal for gender neutrality in Spanish, suitable for both speech and writing.
On Hacking: In June 2000, while visiting Korea, I did a fun hack that clearly illustrates the original and true meaning of the word "hacker".
Predicting the attack on Pearl Harbor
I would like to thank:
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