Free Software and Freedom in the Digital Society
Free software is computer-software, the license of which allows its users to access the software's program code, change the software according to their own needs and freely redistribute its code with these modifications. The free-software movement originated 40 years ago in the "Hacker"-culture, it gained traction with arrival of the internet so that, today, software-developers can rely on vast ecosystems of free-software. Even more importantly, free software has become an indispensible prerequisite for digital souvereignity. In his talk Richard Stallman will explain what free software means and what the implications of using free software vs. non free software are. Also, he will discuss why in a society that has become increasingly dependent on digital technology, free software has become a requirement for preserving freedom in general.
Vortragende
Dr. Richard Stallman is one of the best-known activists for free software. As the founder of the Free Software Foundation and initiator of the GNU Project, he has made decisive contributions to establishing the idea of free software. As a programmer, he has also made significant contributions to the corpus of free software with the well known Emacs editor and the GNU C Compiler. Even more important than the code, however, was the invention of the GNU Public License, which makes it possible to legally protect free software. Stallman has received the ACM Grace Hopper Award and the ACM Software and Systems Award, a MacArthur Foundation fellowship, the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Pioneer Award, and the the Takeda Award for Social/Economic Betterment, as well as many doctorates honoris causa, and has been inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame.