Bonum Certa Men Certa

Free Speech Rejected by Opponents of Free Software

Summary: Free Speech needs to be protected, but people who attack the Free Software Movement do not agree

YESTERDAY our long-timer (15 years!) Ryan Farmer wrote about Matthew Garrett [1], berating him for attacking the American First Amendment after he had become a naturalised US citizen. Mr. Farmer had accused him in IRC some days ago of moreover committing perjury by doing so. While we don't want to go into all the gory details (it's a rather long post that cites Techrights IRC a lot), we thought it would be a suitable time to bring up Free Speech and cite some examples from the past week.

Techrights not only believes in Free Speech (yes, capitalised!) but relies on it. We criticise many powerful companies and if we were based in Russia or China, we'd probably have been raided by now based on some false pretext (like some drugs planted in the home or something related to taxes, "insulting the leader", "discrediting the state" etc.).

In this post I don't want to berate Matthew Garrett (arrogant person, terrible person by the way!) or interpret what his sick mind compels him to say. Instead I'll focus on new examples of what happens in countries that lack Free Speech.

Daniel Ellsberg has just died. It was expected because of a cancer diagnosis, but I found out about his death only minutes after I said in IRC that he could die any day, even "tomorrow" (I then checked what he was up to and found out he had in fact died hours earlier!). Project Censored paid a tribute to him (we'll included many more in the next batch of Daily Links), citing [2] "part on an interview with Project Censored’s Mickey Huff and Peter Phillips on KPFA, Pacifica Free Speech Radio, The Project Censored Show, April 3, 2013."

Ellsberg used Free Speech to stop a war. The general consensus in the US is that he did the right thing, the moral thing, the necessary thing.

"Ellsberg used freedom of the press more than individual Free Speech," an associate has noten, "there was even a major court case as the result."

Now fast-forward about half a century. Axios reported yesterday [3] that "Department of Justice probe finds pattern of racist policing, excessive force in Minneapolis", stating: "Violated free speech rights of protestors and members of the press, including by physically retaliating against people engaging in protected speech."

You see where this is going? So Matthew Garrett, who pretends to be against police violence, is in fact enabling it. He's attacking Free Speech. He regrets Free Speech. He wants to take it away (see examples in Mr. Farmer's post).

Yesterday there was also a new article [4] in the Journal of Free Speech Law. There were many of those recently. Try to overcome the left/right wing barrier and focus on the core issues. Many people are too infantile to do this. Even voting machines' integrity seems to have become a 'wing' thing [1, 2]. That same journal published "Noisy Speech Externalities," by Prof. Gus Hurwitz, just 3 days ago [5]. These aren't a bunch of cranks but rather a professor or many professors with a grasp of history and why Free Speech matters, even if it can sometimes be misused as a shield by rather terrible people to say rather terrible things.

Related/contextual items from the news:


  1. Matthew Garrett Says San Francisco People “Get it.” With the City in Court Attacking Homeless Americans. Also Blasts US Constitution.
    Matthew Garrett, Says San Francisco People “Get it.” With the City in Court Attacking Homeless Americans. Also Blasts US Constitution. Matthew Garrett told me the other day on TechRights IRC that it’s unfortunate that American citizens can’t be arrested for talking about things he doesn’t agree with.


  2. On Civil Courage and Its Punishments - Censored Notebook

    Editor’s Note: The late Daniel Ellsberg’s article, “On Civil Courage and its Punishments,” was originally published in Censored 2014: Fearless Speech in Fateful Times, edited by Mickey Huff, Andy Lee Roth, and Project Censored (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2013), 208-13. The article was based in part on an interview with Project Censored’s Mickey Huff and Peter Phillips on KPFA, Pacifica Free Speech Radio, The Project Censored Show, April 3, 2013.



  3. Department of Justice probe finds pattern of racist policing, excessive force in Minneapolis
    Violated free speech rights of protestors and members of the press, including by physically retaliating against people engaging in protected speech.



  4. Journal of Free Speech Law: My "The Reverse Spider-Man Principle: With Great Responsibility Comes Great Power"
    Just published as part of the symposium on Media and Society After Technological Disruption, edited by Profs. Justin "Gus" Hurwitz & Kyle Langvardt.


  5. Journal of Free Speech Law: "Noisy Speech Externalities," by Prof. Gus Hurwitz
    Just published as part of the symposium on Media and Society After Technological Disruption, edited by Profs. Justin "Gus" Hurwitz & Kyle Langvardt.


Recent Techrights' Posts

EPO: Language of Conflict
A letter about this has already been sent
Windows in Chad: Going Extinct
From 100% to 1%?
 
[Video] LinuxFest Northwest is Letting GAFAM Take Over (and Why It's Hard to Resist)
Microsoft and LinuxFest Northwest
Links 14/05/2024: Bounties on Terrible Patents, China Censors Dissidents Internationally via Attack Dogs
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/05/2024: Server Failure Swallows rawtext.club
Links for the day
Links 14/05/2024: SoftBank and ARM Chasing Hype, "Why Are You Working?"
Links for the day
Links 14/05/2024: Microsoft Edelman Works for Climate Change Deniers, NATO Draws a Cyber Red Line in Tensions With Russia
Links for the day
Feasibility of Self-Hosting is About More Than Speeds
Speed helps, but the Internet (Net) is a global, interconnected system that no single person or company or government fully controls
IRC Proceedings: Monday, May 13, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, May 13, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Watching Our Videos Before We Write Articles for Them
It has long been possible
Microsoft is Measured at Lower Than Apple in Niger (Of Course Android Dominates)
Niger's OS share (as measured by Web sites) is subjected to significant fluctuations because it's not highly connected
Refuting the Ludicrous, Laughable Idea I Don't (or Cannot) Code
I've written code for 30 years
[Meme] "Talk is Cheap. Show Me the Code." - Linus Torvalds
be like Chad
Doing the Site From Home (What I Always Wanted to Do)
Even some of the hosting was done from home (since 2020)
[Video] Systemd Helps Microsoft Break Apart Linux and Hijack the Vocabulary
Systemd and Halloween Documents
Links 13/05/2024: Melinda French Gates Quits Gates Foundation After Leaving Husband Over Strong Jeffrey Epstein Ties
Links for the day
Slashdot Parrots Microsoft/Red Hat PR, Sponsored by Microsoft/Red Hat
The editorial work by "EditorDavid" leaves much to be desired
Links 13/05/2024: Clown Computing Failing Again, Navalny Posthumously Awarded Prize
Links for the day
FSF-EEE (FSFE) and Microsoft, or How Microsoft Keeps Paying the Fake 'FSF Europe'
The FSF-EEE is not even authorised to use the name FSFE
[Meme] Unconstitutional Proceedings in Foreign Languages for the Benefit of Corporations Outside Europe
Why does the UPC even exist?
Android Rises to 59% Market Share in Hungary, Windows Falls to All-Time Low
GNU/Linux in Hungary Reaches 3.5%
Approaching Our 3,000th Post (After Moving to a Static Site Generator Back in September)
the main purpose is to enable people to catch up
[Video] The Microsoft Crisis Isn't Over (More Mass Layoffs Planned)
We saw many attempts at suppressing information lately
Don’t Use Disney Minus. (Disney “Plus”)
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Links 13/05/2024: Wikimedia Rides Hype Wave, XBox Expected to Go Through More Layoffs This Summer (July)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/05/2024: Kingdom of the Dead and Narrative Adventure Game Gem
Links for the day
When Lunatics Attack Your Family (Especially Women)
The attacks on my wife and my mom are rather revealing. These are acts of extreme misogyny.
Visually Enhanced Interviews With ESR and RMS on Free Software (With French)
Nom de code - Linux
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, May 12, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, May 12, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
GNU/Linux Rises to Record High in Macao
iOS and Android are very big there
Debian: Let's Pretend We Never Knew Daniel Pocock
Ad hominem is what happens when the message is hard to dispute
DPL Sam Hartman proves blackmail is alive and well in Debian
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
What is a safe space?
Reprinted with permission from the Free Software Fellowship
Does Debian deserve an independent news service?
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Linux.com So Neglected If Not Abandoned That It Promotes Deals That Expired 4 Weeks Ago
Quite some "stewardship" by the Linux Foundation
The Fall of Meritocracy in Tech
nuff said
Microsoft Has Lost Malta
Android has caught up
Linux is Released Too Often, Tested Insufficiently (Same as Chromium, Firefox, and Systemd)
Driven by schedule, not quality (objective criterion)
In Asia, Baidu Has Become Bigger Than Bing and Yandex is Getting There Too
XBox and Bing are going through existential crises
"Having IBM Next to Your Name is a Scarlet Letter"
IBM staff just motivated not to work
Techrights Browsing Made Easier
a draft for discussion
Links 12/05/2024: XBox Founders Say Microsoft Lost Its Identity
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/05/2024: Enshitification and Mind Maps
Links for the day
Aside From Red Hat Spam and Partisan Media There's a Lingering Rumour of Layoffs
Some rumour said IBM had second thoughts about a WARN notice and delayed that a bit
The Albanian open source community is very healthy indeed
Windows nosedives from 99.1% to a lot less
When I discovered people trafficking in open source software
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Web Sites Hijacked by WIPO on Behalf of Microsoft-Sponsored SPI (and People Looking to Hide Embarrassing Facts)
debian.chat; debiancommunity.org; debian.day; debian.family; debian.finance; debian.giving; debiangnulinux.org; debian.guide; debian.news; debian.plus; debianproject.community; debianproject.org; debian.team; debian.video
Julian Assange on Privacy of People, Even Little Children
Facebook/Google (or GAFAM, an acronym I coined with Assange) knows you better than your mom knows you
[Meme] Miscomprehension of GDPR
Social control in general is a ticking timebomb
In Haiti, the Market Share of Windows Collapsed (From 97% to 27% on Desktops/Laptops)
A couple of months ago Windows was measured at 3.04%
In Most Countries It's Still Possible Not to Have a 'Smartphone' and to Pay for Nearly Everything With Cash
Withdrawing money will be possible as long as enough people use many ATMs (cash machines)
Expect Lots of Material From Daniel Pocock as Election Day Nears
The experiences of Daniel Pocock were an excellent example of reprisal or retribution against either whistleblowers or people who give a voice to whistleblowers
I've Been Promoting Free Software for Over 25 Years
I wrote my first computer program when I was about 14, maybe a little younger (I have visual memory of it)
Reminder: Richard Stallman's Talk is This Week in Paris (and in French)
Defending rms isn't the same as defending everything he has ever said
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, May 11, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, May 11, 2024
Online Bullying (Trying to Make People Unhappy)
Narcissists and bullies behind mice and keyboards, no honesty or fact-checking required
Talk About Software Freedom
"Linux" and "BSD" may mean a lot to more and more people, but they're still just brands or acronyms
Windows in South Korea: From 98.5% in 2010 to About 30% (Android Rises to Almost 50%)
Samsung ships like a million Linux devices per day