[fsf-community-team] Presenting Myself

[Pedro M. Rosario Barbosa]

It is required of me to fulfill these requirements to answer these questions:

>1) Send us a quick introduction. What blogs, news sites, or
>communities do you follow? Are there particular news topics that you
>would like to focus on?

I'm Pedro M. Rosario Barbosa, I work as a university teacher, and undergoing 
philosophical research and studying for my PhD in History.  I am an associate 
member of the Free Software Foundation, and also belong to the Creative 
Commons Network.  I follow mostly those communities that focus on free 
software, open source, and free culture.  I have published books, essays and 
"poetic" works under Creative Commons licenses.  Other than that I belong to 
online communities that focus on poetry, philosophy and science.  In the 
political arena I struggle for progressive causes such as health care reform, 
copyright reform, focus fusion energy alternative, GLBT rights, and Puerto 
Rico's independence from the United States.  Finally, I am a Roman Catholic 
with progressive theological views.

I think I can offer the free software community an adequate philosophical basis 
for free software, and a bit of conceptual clarity.


>2) Let us know that you've read these five articles about the FSF's
>basic philosophy and common mistakes that people make.

I read these long before I joined this group.


>3) Write some short responses to these excerpts below, as if you were
>responding with a short comment to somebody's blog post. These are
>representative of the sort of things we often find ourselves
>responding to. Be polite, concise, and -- most of all -- make sure you
>hit the most important points.

> * Excerpt: Richard Stallman started the FSF in order to promote
>open source software like the Linux operating system, as an
>alternative to expensive software like Windows.

It is clear from the history of the FSF that Stallman began the GNU Project in 
order to create a free alternative to proprietary operative systems at the 
time.  The GNU Project focused on creating the GNU operative system.  
Stallman's philosophy, as well as that of the FSF, is that all software should 
be free ("free" as in "free speech", not "free beer").  This is an ethical 
point he focuses constantly.  He does _not_ do open source software, since the 
people who develop "open source" focus more on the technical advantages of 
making the source code available for study, copying and modification.  Stallman 
does not oppose these technical advantages, but he believes that the priority 
is ethical.  All software should be free, and should not be as the open source 
group says, that there can be a "peaceful" coexistence between proprietary and 
free software.

Another important difference is that the GNU Project developed the GNU 
operative system.  GNU along with Linux as the kernel, has become a widely 
used operative system used by both in the free and open source communities.  
The latter, though, calls the operative system "Linux", purposely 
disassociating the operative system from the project that made it be.

>   * Excerpt: Now with cloud computing and web-based applications,
>even Linux users can use the same software as everyone else, through
>their browsers. With other popular programs like Skype and Adobe Flash
>producing Linux versions, the Linux desktop may finally be catching
>on!

Again, we should be careful regarding the term "Linux" which is used 
ambiguously here in association with "cloud computing".  For example, the 
future Chrome OS (or its free version Chromium OS) uses the Linux kernel, but 
it is not a GNU system.  However, GNU/Linux is the OS widely used in the free 
and open source worlds, but often the open source community refers to it as 
"Linux".  The term "cloud computing" is also a problematic term, and its 
implications can mean the direct control of computers by corporations using 
their own online applications.  

Finally, the fact that Adobe Flash and Skype produce "Linux" versions (meaning 
applications that run on GNU/Linux) is not an advance to our community, since 
these are proprietary applications.  We should support Gnash, Ekiga, and other 
free applications instead.

>* Excerpt: When combined with the other chapters that include
>statutory damages, search and seizure powers for border guards,
>anti-camcording rules, and mandatory disclosure of personal
>information requirements, it is clear that there is no bigger
>intellectual property issue today than the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade
>Agreement being negotiated behind closed doors this week in Korea.

First, one of the questionable terms used in this context is "intellectual 
property".  There is no such thing, since all expressions and ideas cannot be 
property in any sense.  People can restrict how ideas are applied 
technologically (patents), or the tangible forms the expressions are copied on 
(copyright), but not expressions or ideas themselves.  Copyright, patents, 
trademarks and trade secret, have different reasons for being, different 
histories, and different effects on society.

Secondly, as Bruce Schneier says, making bits harder to copy is like trying to 
make water less wet.  The fallacy regarding the term "intellectual property" 
is that there is an effort to conceive expressions, ideas, and software itself 
as being equivalent to scarce commodities in the market.  Commodities such as 
books, apples, and water are scarce in principle.  When I give you a book, you 
have one and I lose one.  But when I share an idea or an expression, or share 
a file in a file-sharing network, I never lose it, and everyone gains it.

The imposition of DRM on software has a variety of problems.  As Schneier 
points out, DRM does not work ... period.  Secondly, DRM harms society due to 
the anti-circumvention policies applied in many countries of the world through 
laws such as the DMCA and similar laws around the world.


-- 
Pedro M. Rosario Barbosa 
prosario2000 
http://pmrb.net
http://prosario2000.wordpress.com
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Remember, avoid sending me MS Word and PowerPoint attachments. 
Join me in the Boycott to MS Word and PowerPoint attachments. 
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html

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