Richard Stallman came to Portcullis House on the 8th March, from the other Cambridge, as part of his UK tour to talk about Internet freedoms and his ethical approach to the use of software and computing technology.  He met with Julian Huppert MP, Eric Joyce MP, Alan Berry (Institute of Engineering and Technology) Pete Bradshaw (Open Rights Group) and  Grahame Danby (HoC Library ).

Richard was interviewed by ORG after a long chat with Julian Huppert and before making a solid presentation about his views on the use of proprietary software and the role of the state in managing technology for maximum public benefit. You can see the main part of his talk in you tube here. It was a refreshing and  entertaining talk  from a person who inserts ‘unusual sense of humour’ on his business card. This proved to be true, Eric Joyce asked about the manipulation and devaluation of the Internet, referring to the mass following of Justin Bieber, adding: Have you heard of Justin Bieber? Richard replied: No, adding: if we dont mention him he does’nt exist.

Stallman or RMS, as he is known, is very serious about free software. He is the founder of the free software foundation. Interestingly he says, his views are not really entertained by American legislators but he was able to translate his ideas into a useful British political context of  state versus privatisation. His views on fairness and state intervention in the use of technology for public service seemed reasonable to us. The private public division is more blurred here than across the water and it seems we are probably in a better position to start a conversation here about free software issues: the state, personal privacy and public security. RMS asks that the state invests first in a free operating system in order to open the door to using more free software, mainly because public entities are losing control of their technology. He suggests this is a  serious problem more serious in some areas, such as defence, health and policing.

As with most interesting people, RMS is also a person of (apparent) contradictions. A private person who does not want to share personal information (with corporate software involuntarly?) online and…. who will not buy anything on the internet. He said he would like to write an alternative software program to paypal, so that he could make purchases online anonomously. If that did’nt happen he would like to see a version of a North Korean shop over here: where the customer goes to the counter and the shop makes online purchases for you from various sites. He is also a person who believes most strongly  in building communities by improving connectivity and online cooperation. He does do email: rms@gnu.org

RMS’s real strength is that he offers a counterpoint with his copyleft vs copyright view. He argues strongly against the creative industries polemic and the deact (as it stands) arguing for the large public value of creativity and the importance of the  role of the state in overseeing technology companies. In short he believes governments should legalise sharing: “sharing is too important… companies who attack this undermine society because bit by bit people become a market, not people in their own right.” His criticism included examples from Amazon, Microsoft and the BPI,  who he believes restrict creativity and our freedom to share. He also talke at length about the importance of education to improve creativity and digital literacy. In order for us to go forward we should  alter the way we offer education about and with technology in schools… so that young people understand what is good software code: without handcuffs, back doors and catches. Young people must experience  the principles of good collaboration through collective improvement and shared knowledge. If we had a few more Richard Stallmans we might not have the ugly spectacle that we see in the copyright court this week with ACS Law who have been involved in speculative invoicing against the public for alleged copyright infringements.