Richard Stallman — "The greatest threat to democracy is proprietary software."
The greatest threat to democracy is proprietary software.
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More from Richard Stallman
"Proprietary software is a violation of human rights."
"The purpose of free software is to give users freedom, not to make software popular."
"Freedom is not free. It requires constant struggle."
"The internet is a tool for corporate control."
"I don't shower often because I don't like wasting water."
About Richard Stallman (born 1953)
American programmer who founded the Free Software Foundation and the GNU Project, whose copyleft GPL licensing made the modern Linux ecosystem possible. Closely associated with Linus Torvalds (Linux kernel creator who builds on GNU userland) and Eric S. Raymond (open-source advocate (The Cathedral and the Bazaar)). For an intellectual contrast, see Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder — Gates's 1976 Open Letter to Hobbyists arguing for software-as-property is the foundational document Stallman's GPL was specifically written to refute — the two opposing answers to 'who owns the code'.