Skip to main contentSkip to navigation
Print subscriptions
Newsletters
Sign in

Richard Stallman

Headshot of Richard Stallman

Richard Stallman, president of the Free Software
Foundation, launched the development of a free/libre
operating system called GNU, which is often erroneously
referred to as Linux

April 2018

  • double quotation markA radical proposal to keep your personal data safe

    Richard Stallman
    The surveillance imposed on us today is worse than in the Soviet Union, says president of the Free Software Foundation, Richard Stallman

September 2016

  • (FILES)A woman reads the front page of the New York Times on the Internet in this October 19, 2010 file photo in Washington, DC. The website for the New York Times nytimes.com is down. Attempts to access the URL return a white screen with the error message, “Http/1.1 Service Unavailable.” according to a Times spokesperson on Twitter. AFP PHOTO/Karen BLEIER / FILESKAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images

    double quotation markPublishers must let online readers pay for news anonymously

    Richard Stallman
    Some newspaper and magazine websites are cutting off access to readers unless they accept being surveilled by advertisers – no thank you!

May 2015

  • Foot Shackled to Ball and Chain

    double quotation markMalware is not only about viruses – companies preinstall it all the time

    Richard Stallman
    Since I started free software in the 80s, developers have grown to routinely mistreat users by shackling behaviour and snooping – but we have ways to resist

January 2013

  • A womnan listening to music on headphones in HMV, London

    Technology blog
    double quotation markBuying music online is a bad deal - and that's why I mourn HMV and its ilk

    Richard Stallman

    Richard Stallman: Being able to listen to music in a shop, buy it with cash and then lend or resell it to friends was one of the great advantages of retail chains. Buying music online carries all sorts of subtle restrictions

April 2012

  • Actress Jean Arthur Reading

    Battle for the internet
    double quotation markTechnology should help us share, not constrain us

    Richard Stallman

    Richard Stallman: The battle for the net: Companies like Amazon can control the way we use the ebooks we buy. Instead let's build a publishing model based on freedom

September 2011

  • Google Honeycomb

    double quotation markIs Android really free software?

    Richard Stallman

    Richard Stallman: Google's smartphone code is often described as 'open' or 'free' - but when examined by the Free Software Foundation, it starts to look like something different

August 2011

  • Angry Birds

    Beware: Europe's 'unitary patent' could mean unlimited software patents

    The battles seen in the US over software patents could spread to the UK and the rest of Europe if the unitary patent is allowed to come into force. By Richard Stallman

December 2010

  • WikiLeaks Anonymous supporters wear masks during a demonstration in Malaga

    double quotation markThe Anonymous WikiLeaks protests are a mass demo against control

    Richard Stallman
    Richard Stallman: The actions against MasterCard and Amazon are not 'hacking'. People are just finding a way to protest in a digital space

April 2010

  • Technology blog
    Digital economy bill: One clown giveth and the other clown taketh away

    Richard Stallman: MPs are pushing for faster broadband – but also planning to restrict what the public can do with it

August 2005

  • double quotation markSoft sell

    Richard Stallman

    The defeat of the EU software patenting directive only provides a breathing space, in which programmers and consumers should gather forces, writes Richard Stallman.

June 2005

  • Inside IT
    Patent absurdity

  • double quotation markPatent absurdity

    Richard Stallman

March 2005

  • double quotation markSecond sight

    Richard Stallman

    Richard Stallman: The UK government has funded the development of software useful for e-government, and now doesn't know what to do with it.

June 2003

  • That's fighting talk

    Our computer use is being threatened by a wild west-style land grab that only the rich giants can win, argue Richard Stallman and Nick Hill. Software patents will lead to job losses, higher prices, and less choice

November 1999

  • Second sight

    Richard Stallman fears an attack on civil rights in Britain
Explore more on these topics