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Cell phones are 'Stalin's dream,' says free software movement founder
NetWork World ^ | 3/14/11 | Jon Brodkin

Posted on 03/16/2011 1:56:57 AM PDT by LibWhacker

Richard Stallman: iPhones and Androids are 'Big Brother' tracking devices

Nearly three decades into his quest to rid the world of proprietary software, Richard Stallman sees a new threat to user freedom: smartphones.

"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."

Stallman firmly believes that only free software can save us from our technology, whether it be in cell phones, PCs, tablets or any other device. And when he talks about "free," he's not talking about the price of the software -- he's talking about the ability to use, modify and distribute software however you wish.

To continue reading, register here and become an Insider. You'll get free access to premium content from CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. See more Insider content or sign in.

Nearly three decades into his quest to rid the world of proprietary software, Richard Stallman sees a new threat to user freedom: smartphones.

"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."

(Excerpt) Read more at networkworld.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: bigbrother; cell; phones; richardstallman; smartphones; stallman
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1 posted on 03/16/2011 1:57:04 AM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: ShadowAce

/mark


2 posted on 03/16/2011 1:59:26 AM PDT by KoRn (Department of Homeland Security, Certified - "Right Wing Extremist")
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To: KoRn

> 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.

I have a lot of respect for the developer of Emacs. However, Mr. Stallman needs to get out more. There are many places in this world where you can buy a cell phone with a prepaid sim card and no id of any kind. Pay cash.


3 posted on 03/16/2011 2:15:16 AM PDT by bluejay
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To: LibWhacker
"To continue reading, register here and become an Insider..."

...ans that registration would, no doubt, require an email address....hmmmm...


Just commenting on a seeming incongruous situation. I do and am "registered" at several websites.

Good points made in the article and I have seen/heard this well-founded argument made before.

4 posted on 03/16/2011 2:28:06 AM PDT by Tainan (Cogito Ergo Conservitus.)
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To: LibWhacker

I have been in radio communications all of my life, starting as a ham in 1958, up to being in the two-way radio business
and even owning a 2 channel mobile phone company, pre cellular days.

I have to say that the internet and cellular phones are markers for the end of times.
While I love both, deep inside I am beginning to see the damage that both have started.


5 posted on 03/16/2011 3:03:19 AM PDT by AlexW
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ping my tracking device


6 posted on 03/16/2011 3:31:20 AM PDT by campaignPete R-CT (Palin '12 begins in '11. In western New Hampshire pour moi.)
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To: LibWhacker
"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."

I suppose it's too much to ask for him to realize that if you turn the phone off and remove the battery... it can no longer function as a tracking/surveillance device. And if you want to use it, all you'll have to do is put the battery back in and power it up.

7 posted on 03/16/2011 4:03:48 AM PDT by gogogodzilla (Live free or die!)
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To: LibWhacker

Anyone tracking me would be bored out of their skulls.


8 posted on 03/16/2011 4:12:34 AM PDT by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink)
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To: R. Scott

My politics are extreme enough that the feds have already bugged my landline. I found the bug when it failed and screwed up the phoneline. So I assume they bug my cell too, so I keep them entertained. Never a dull moment for my FBI/DHS buddy.


9 posted on 03/16/2011 4:16:20 AM PDT by RadiationRomeo (Step into my mind and glimpse the madness that is me)
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To: R. Scott

“Anyone tracking me would be bored out of their skulls.”

+1

“Hey look... OMG OMG OMG he’s going to rake his backyard!!!!”


10 posted on 03/16/2011 4:27:01 AM PDT by Ueriah
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To: bluejay
"I have a lot of respect for the developer of Emacs."

So do I, but I always preferred Vim myself. ;^p

11 posted on 03/16/2011 5:01:44 AM PDT by KoRn (Department of Homeland Security, Certified - "Right Wing Extremist")
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To: LibWhacker
RE :”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

All the time?? Not when you turn it off.

12 posted on 03/16/2011 5:02:25 AM PDT by sickoflibs ("It's not the taxes, the redistribution is the federal spending=tax delayed")
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To: Ueriah
“Anyone tracking me would be bored out of their skulls.” +1 “Hey look... OMG OMG OMG he’s going to rake his backyard!!!!”

OTOH, they MAY be a bit more interested in me: "Hey look... OMG OMG OMG he's going to Skycraft!!!!"

(google "Skycraft, Winter Park, FL" B^)

13 posted on 03/16/2011 5:08:14 AM PDT by nomodem
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To: bluejay
There are many places in this world where you can buy a cell phone with a prepaid sim card and no id of any kind.

Like Walmart.

14 posted on 03/16/2011 5:37:29 AM PDT by Sherman Logan
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To: gogogodzilla
I suppose it's too much to ask for him to realize that if you turn the phone off and remove the battery... it can no longer function as a tracking/surveillance device.

Isn't just turning it off enough? If not, why not?

15 posted on 03/16/2011 5:38:36 AM PDT by Sherman Logan
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To: sickoflibs

Not when you turn it off.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I believe that phones can be activated remotely. They can listen and report location when ‘off’. Need to remove battery to prevent this.


16 posted on 03/16/2011 5:42:32 AM PDT by loungitude ( The truth hurts.)
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To: loungitude
They can listen and report location when ‘off’. Need to remove battery to prevent this.

Does this mean that the plane I was on on Monday night was lucky to make it back to Newark?

ML/NJ

17 posted on 03/16/2011 5:47:47 AM PDT by ml/nj
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To: Ueriah
“Hey look... OMG OMG OMG he’s going to rake his backyard!!!!”

LOL! How true. With myself, it'd be more like, "is he still sleeping in that damn barcalounger!?".

18 posted on 03/16/2011 5:50:46 AM PDT by 6SJ7 (atlasShruggedInd = TRUE)
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To: AlexW

Agreed.

Also long time Ham.

We were running remote base operations out West in the early 1980’s with autopatch that I could punch into from as far as 120 mile out. We built the first computer controlled VHF/UHF remotebase/repeater long before there was even a thought of that commercially.

I am 63 now, and don’t own a cell phone. All my family members have them. Ocassionally I use one of them. I was the only salesman/manager in one of the companies I worked for who did not own one.

Yes, they place time of call, location of call, who you talked to and a lot more.

But many don’t know that the “red light camera’s” do a lot more than generate tickets. They can also track auto license and traffic movement of individuals by that.

Welcome to the World of Big Brother (or Big Siss).


19 posted on 03/16/2011 6:02:14 AM PDT by Texas Fossil (Government, even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one)
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To: bluejay; AlexW
“There are many places in this world where you can buy a cell phone with a prepaid sim card and no id of any kind. Pay cash.”

Unless you constantly change your handset and number, they can track a prepaid as easily as a regular phone. Think getting a new phone every day will cut it? No, it is easy as pie to have a software sniffer on people you frequently call and have voice recognition accurately detect your new number as soon as you use it. Most calls go unsecured through IP and can be easily sniffed.

Buying phone cards with “cash” is also getting impossible to do. A great deal of them are activated and send a time stamp to the phone company. All but a few stores now use HD digital surveillance that is often sent through IP. By creatively applying face and iris recognition, the possibilities are endless.

All of the networks, media, devices and software are already available for them. As are the jackbooted thugs. We are always days away from a total police state. All it takes some “event” that will make the sheep and useful idiots give them a green light.

20 posted on 03/16/2011 6:26:29 AM PDT by varyouga ("The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax." - Albert Einstein)
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