The University of Nottingham

Dr Richard Stallman — computer programmer and free software activist — will give a public lecture at The University of Nottingham on Monday 11 March.

The lecture, ‘Copyright vs Community in the Age of Computer Networks’, will examine the role copyright law plays in limiting access to technology.

It takes place on Monday 11 March at 7pm on the University’s Jubilee campus.

“Copyright developed in the age of the printing press, and was designed to fit with the system of centralized copying imposed by the printing press,” said Dr Stallman. “But the copyright system does not fit well with computer networks, and only draconian punishments can enforce it.

“The global corporations that profit from copyright are lobbying for draconian punishments, and to increase their copyright powers, 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 direction.”

Dr Stallman launched the free software movement in 1983 and started the development of the GNU operating system in 1984. GNU is free software — everyone has the freedom to copy and redistribute it, with or without changes. The GNU/Linux system, basically the GNU operating system with Linux added, is used on tens of millions of computers around the world today.

Dr Stallman has received the ACM Grace Hopper Award, a MacArthur Foundation fellowship, the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Pioneer Award, and the Takeda Award for Social/Economic Betterment, as well as several honorary doctorates. He was invited to speak in Nottingham by The University of Nottingham Computer Science Society and the School of Computer Science.

Ali Jahanshahi , President of CompSoc, said: “CompSoc are honoured and privileged to have such a respectable figurehead of the computer science community visit Nottingham to give a talk to students and academics at our institution.”

For more information on the lecture contact admissions@cs.nott.ac.uk, call 0115 846 6524 or book your place on the registration website.