[BozemanLUG] Preparing for RMS

[Kevin Locke]

On Wed, 2019-01-09 at 17:42 -0700, Scott Dowdle wrote:
> Unless something changes, Richard Stallman will be speaking on campus on Feb 11th.  I'm still not sure of what time or where... but I'd like to come up with some reasonable questions for him... just in case there is a shortage from the crowd.
> 
> Now, posing that... I know there could be a million jokes... but seriously... what questions?

Cool!  One question that I am curious about:  Does RMS think it is
morally necessary for organizations which produce Free Software to
adopt policies which empower users, or is producing Free Software
sufficient on its own?

In particular I'm thinking about the prevalence of Free Software which
is designed, developed, maintained, and hosted behind closed doors,
sometimes in ways which are user-hostile or malicious.  Especially in
domains with large network effects, which create high barriers to
competition.  I am curious in what ways RMS thinks this advances or
impedes the goals of the Free Software movement.

An obvious follow-up question would be whether RMS (and FSF) are
doing, or plan to do, anything to advocate for such policies.

Cheers,
Kevin

P.S.  I would encourage anyone to ask this question.  I may not be at
the seminar to ask it myself.