We have some great philosophy for you today. I'm really excited... to introduce- the importance of free software in the liberation of cyberspace...... Now... A computer is a UNIVERSAL machine. You can make it do ANYTHING! with the right program. Most of these programs have 2 forms: the source code that programmers write and change, and the executable which is a bunch of signals for the processor. And the problem is who gives the instructions to your computer? It turns out it might be obeying someone else!

Software either controlls the users, or it's controlled BY the users. It's that simple. When the users do control it, we call it "free software." It respects the user's freedom and community. Now... "free" actually means freedom, not free of charge. And so.. we can say "free slash libre" to show that.

To have control we need 4 essential freedoms. The 1st one...... is the freedom to run the program as you wish for any purpose. The 2nd...... is the freedom to study and change the source code so it does what you want. If you only get the executable then its really complicated to study and change it. To get the real possibility to study and change the program you gotta get the source code. Now. With those 2 freedoms. Each user SEPARATELY can make a copy and make changes. But thats just INDIVIDUAL control. What if your not a programmer and you dont understand it? We also need COLLECTIVE control which means any group can work TOGETHER to adapt the program to what they want. So we need 2 more freedoms: the freedom to give away or sell exact copies when you wish, and the freedom to do the same with modified versions. Now... if any of those freedoms is missing then it's nonfree proprietary software and the users dont control the program. Instead the developer controls the program and the program controls the users! So the program is an instrument of unjust power. And the developer often takes advantage of this power with malicious functionalities. Most users of proprietary software are actually using MALWARE! It can spy on users and stop them from doing what they want. It can even remotely delete books as Amazon did with 1984! Developers can remotely change the software. Microsoft does this with Windows through a universal backdoor. Microsoft also sabotages users by telling the NSA about bugs in Windows so it can use them to attack computers! And this is driving us crazy! Fortunately, the FSF has been able to intruduce a free world.

In 1983... we introduced- the plan to develop a totally free OS called Gnu..... In 1992... Linus Torvalds introduced the Linux kernel which filled the last gap and gave us Gnu+Linux. Today there's many distros of Gnu+Linux. But heres the thing: most of them actually have nonfree software added! Why. Well, they're maintained by people who dont care about freedom! They add convenience but at the cost of freedom!

At times... keeping your freedom requires sacrifice. It can be huge as at Lexington but in our campaign they tend to be LITTLE sacrifices. Anyone with a bit of maturity can make these sacrifices. So as an example some programs are nonfree so to have freedom you gotta do without them. Now, websites can send nonfree JavaScript to your browser. You can block it with LibreJS. And companies may offer to do your computing. They say "send us all your data" (obviously for suckers), then they do the computing on their servers and send you results. It turns out they're actually taking away your control. And we call it a service as a software substitute.

We need to cross obstacles. 1 of them is big companies that profit by having control over users. They dont wanna let us advance. Another is the more mainstream "open source" philosophy. It's about the same programs, but not the moral OBLIGATION to give freedom. To keep our freedom we gotta talk about it and say "free software." There's also nonfree software in schools. It's like teaching kids to smoke tobacco! It creates dependence! Schools must prepare kids for an independent cooperative and free society. And some kids wanna know how the programs work. With nonfree software you cant learn anything. Schools should also teach goodwill. You're all familiar with the concept of sharing.. right? We learned it in kindergarten. If you bring cookies to class you share them with your friends. They should also say, "If you bring a program, you cant keep it to yourself. Share the source code so other people can learn. So only bring free software." Now the school must follow its own rule which means only free software in class except for reverse engineering exercises. Another obstacle is hardware we dont know how to write free software for. They wont tell us how to use it. They say "Here's a nonfree program you can use. Run it and shut up." So we need reverse engineering.

New areas of life.. can make new human rights needed. These rights actually support and strengthen one another. So. In the world of computing, the freedoms of free software are among the human rights that society must establish and protect. ...Now... there's many ways to help. You can WRITE free software, tell schools and governments to use free software, help other people install and use it, and spread the philosophical ideas by saying "free software."