Richard Stallman, MIT presents “Copyright vs. Community”

Copyright developed in the age of the printing press, and was designed to fit with the system of centralized copying imposed by the printing press. But the copyright system does not fit well with computer networks, and only draconian punishments can enforce it.
The global corporations that profit from copyright are lobbying for draconian punishments, and to increase their copyright powers, while suppressing public access to technology. But if we seriously hope to serve the only legitimate purpose of copyright–to promote progress, for the benefit of the public–then we must make changes in the other direction.

6:00pm Monday February 22, at the University at Buffalo North Campus, Student Union Theater

Stallman launched the GNU Project and initiated the free software movement years before others even thought about ‘open software’. Don’t miss the Fidel Castro of Computer Science !

All are invited – there is no admission charge.

As originally posted:

It’s official – Stallman @RIT Feb 23

The good news – It’s official – RMS will be at RIT on Tuesday, February 23 from 10:30-12:30 am.

“Richard Stallman will speak about the goals and philosophy of the Free Software Movement, and the status and history of the GNU operating system, which in combination with the kernel Linux (sic) is now used by tens of millions of users world-wide.”

Click on the image to the right to see a larger version. You can also download a PDF version of the flier.

The bad news – his talk will be in the Innovations Center and it’s going to fill to capacity before 200 people get in the door.

I asked and was told that they will be setting up video in other rooms, but I’m going to suggest you contact RIT and ask them to find a bigger space and/or stream the talk live.

I would also suggest that you not let the space limitations and time of day stop you from making plans to attend or prevent you tweeting, forwarding, etc to anyone you think might want to attend.