Type of Talk:  UTCS Distinguished Lecture Series

Speaker/Affiliation:  Richard Stallman/Free Software Foundation (gnu

.org)

Date/Time:  Friday, April 24, 2009  2:15 p.m. - 4

:15 p.m.

Location:  WEL 1.308

Host:  J Strother Mo

ore

Talk Title:  "Copyright vs Community in the Age of Co

mputer Networks"

Talk Abstract:

Copyright developed in th

e age of the printing press, and was designed to fit with the system of ce

ntralized copying imposed by the printing press. But the copyright system d

oes not fit well with computer networks, and only draconian punishments ca

n enforce it.

The global corporations that profit from copyright
are lobbying for draconian punishments, and to increase their copyright p

owers, 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 di

rection.

Speaker Bio:

Richard Stallman launched the

development of the GNU operating system (see www.gnu.org) in 1984. GNU is f

ree software: everyone has the freedom to copy it and redistribute it, as

well as to make changes either large or small. The GNU/Linux system, basic

ally the GNU operating system with Linux added, is used on tens of million

s of computers today. Stallman has received the ACM Grace Hopper Award, a

MacArthur Foundation fellowship, the Electronic Frontier Foundation''s Pio

neer award, and the Takeda Award for Social/Economic Betterment, as well

as several honorary doctorates.