Richard Stallman speaks on GPLv3
The transcript of Richard Stallman's talk on GPLv3 in Torino, 18th March 2006, is reproduced on the FSF Europe website. If you've been following the emergence of GPLv3, the topics that are covered will not surprise you. The question and answer sequence is interesting as the dialogue is less dry and Stallman's didactic approach becomes more visible. A member of the audience puts forward a question but is unable to finish, "…do you think the fight against Digital Rights Managements and Trusted Comp…", "Digital Restrictions Management, and Treacherous Computing", interrupts Stallman, "Don't use the enemy's propaganda terms, every time you use those terms you are supporting the enemy". I like that. It also brings to mind his comments on the term intellectual property at the top of the talk. Stallman then tells it how it is: "…governments mostly are not very democratic anymore. They mostly are the pro-consuls of the mega corporations, their job is to keep us in line under the rule of the empire. That's why they run for office, they get into office, they do what the emperor — the emperor being the mega corporations — tells them to do, and their job is explaining to us why they can't do what we want them to do. It's very very sad and once in a while somebody has enough courage to refuse to obey, somebody like [sounds like Hugo Chavez]." In the absense of a democratic government, Stallman goes on to give some sound consumer advice on the purchase of DVDs: "If you can't copy it - don't buy it!" There's no need to confuse the issue. He is then questioned about the fact that it is he alone who decides what modifications of the licence will be done, he replies, (rather suspectly in my opinion, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt), "I don't know other people who can do this", but expresses the hope "that the process that's going on now will help develop people who can be part of some group activity". I think he's kept it true so far, and I hope, I believe, he will continue to do so.
