Why richard stallman is wrong

Another Epstein-Related Resignation. By Colleen Flaherty. September 18, Richard Stallman. The most recent academic casualty in the Jeffrey Epstein case is Richard Stallman -- so he says. Read more by Colleen Flaherty. Most Shared Stories Ex-dean at Southern California indicted for bribery Inside Higher Ed Satiric look at this year's implicit bias module season opinion Inside Higher Ed Suit claims department chair shielded serial sexual predator Higher education should prepare for five new realities opinion Inside Higher Ed Faculty call for reinstatement of acquitted professor.

Subscribe for free today. Inside Higher Ed Careers Hiring? You may also be interested in Department to Hold Loan Servicers to Higher Standards Department of Education settles loan forgiveness lawsuit Research advocates for fixes to income-driven repayment. Compromising on Diversity? People began digging into Stallman's past writings and found other controversial comments. In , he criticized laws against child pornography. What's heinous about having such a photo?

In the last week, after his comments received widespread attention, Stallman said he was rethinking some of these views. This changed my mind about the matter: I think adults should not do that. In another post later the same day, Stallman objected to headlines saying he defended Jeffrey Epstein.

I've called him a 'serial rapist,' and said he deserved to be imprisoned. But many people now believe I defended him—and other inaccurate claims—and feel a real hurt because of what they believe I said. You must login or create an account to comment.

Julian Pardo Cepeda. Eurynom0s wrote:. You'd think a guy as paranoid about computer security as Stallman would know better than to send this kind of stuff over email. Interesting dissonance: Insists on a near insane level of ideological purity regarding software.

Meanwhile exploiting young girls for the sexual gratification of older and powerful men is an ambiguous gray area. Fancy Internet Person wrote:. Aurich wrote:. If your "free thinking" is actually oppression, then it's not free. This is, unfortunately, typical of Stallman — and exactly why the self-appointed leader of the free software movement is the last person who should be spokesperson for anything.

He manages to offend common decency by celebrating the absence of a man who contributed enormously to the world of computing, and insult millions of Apple users simultaneously. My sympathies are with his family at this time. To me, that says Stallman would be happy to force his ideals on users rather than persuading them that free software actually matters.

For the record, while I admire some of the things that Stallman has achieved, I think he does the cause of free software far more harm than good these days.