Richard Stallman: Cell Phones Are 'Stalin's Dream' - Slashdot

[Owen Densmore]

I kinda like Stallman's rants, always food for thought.  Basically he sees them as far too controllable by proprietary software and wireless vendors.

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/03/15/0432226/
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/031411-richard-stallman.html

"I don't have a cell phone. I won't carry a cell phone," says Stallman, founder of the free software movement and creator of the GNU operating system. "It's Stalin's dream. Cell phones are tools of Big Brother. I'm not going to carry a tracking device that records where I go all the time, and I'm not going to carry a surveillance device that can be turned on to eavesdrop."

        -- Owen


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[Russell Standish]

You can always turn off the phone when you don't want to be
tracked. I really don't get his argument - any device based on
transmitting radio is inherently trackable - at least identified to
the device level. So if you want the convenience of portable
connections, you must accept the possibility that someone is tracking
you. You can, of course, obfuscate where necessary.

On Tue, Mar 15, 2011 at 10:12:15AM -0600, Owen Densmore wrote:

> I kinda like Stallman's rants, always food for thought.  Basically he sees them as far too controllable by proprietary software and wireless vendors.
>
> http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/03/15/0432226/
> http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/031411-richard-stallman.html
>
> "I don't have a cell phone. I won't carry a cell phone," says Stallman, founder of the free software movement and creator of the GNU operating system. "It's Stalin's dream. Cell phones are tools of Big Brother. I'm not going to carry a tracking device that records where I go all the time, and I'm not going to carry a surveillance device that can be turned on to eavesdrop."
>
> -- Owen
>
>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

--

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Prof Russell Standish                  Phone [phone] (mobile)
Mathematics                        
UNSW SYDNEY 2052                 [hidden email]
Australia                                http://www.hpcoders.com.au
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Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

[Roger Critchlow-2]

I think Stallman would argue that there are good technologies for making portable communication devices which do not share the problems he sees with cell phones.  The government knows what these technologies are and uses them for military tactical communications, which makes those communications hard to intercept, hard to track, hard to jam, and even hard to find.  But the portable communication technologies sold to consumers have exactly the opposite properties.  As Al Qaeda and Hamas have discovered, governments are happy to use those properties for tactical targeting.

-- rec --

On Tue, Mar 15, 2011 at 4:05 PM, Russell Standish <[hidden email]> wrote:

You can always turn off the phone when you don't want to be
tracked. I really don't get his argument - any device based on
transmitting radio is inherently trackable - at least identified to
the device level. So if you want the convenience of portable
connections, you must accept the possibility that someone is tracking
you. You can, of course, obfuscate where necessary.

On Tue, Mar 15, 2011 at 10:12:15AM -0600, Owen Densmore wrote:
> I kinda like Stallman's rants, always food for thought.  Basically he sees them as far too controllable by proprietary software and wireless vendors.
>
> http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/03/15/0432226/
> http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/031411-richard-stallman.html
>
> "I don't have a cell phone. I won't carry a cell phone," says Stallman, founder of the free software movement and creator of the GNU operating system. "It's Stalin's dream. Cell phones are tools of Big Brother. I'm not going to carry a tracking device that records where I go all the time, and I'm not going to carry a surveillance device that can be turned on to eavesdrop."
>
>       -- Owen
>
>

> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

--

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prof Russell Standish                  Phone [phone] (mobile)
Mathematics
UNSW SYDNEY 2052                         [hidden email]
Australia                                http://www.hpcoders.com.au
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org