Richard Stallman Resigns From The Free Software Foundation

Good. Never use any GPL'd software again then. Let us know how it works out for you.

The point is not, that GPL'd software is badly written. But, that GPL is cutting off some adoption paths, especially regarding priorietary solutions. Therefore, choice of different license, which wouldn't restrict creation of proprietary solutions on top of those software, would make various software more popular.

You can see this effect, when it comes to LLVM,... Even when LLVM was still very behind GCC regarding performance, LLVM had already have lots of adoption and traction.

[moilami]

I would say RMS has done a lot of very important work, which is much appreciated and respected. He could retire anytime and be happy of that he did more than 99% of people have done for the universal good of humankind. I would say he should keep doing what he want to do the most.

I would also say that RMS should make careful self-examination and review of his life, and if he has wronged specific groups of people he should begin to do something to compensate that, if he want to keep believing he have morally high standards.

[Geopirate]

People are wild, talking about exceptions for someone 19 hooking up with someone who may be 17 or 18. That's basically an off by one error, which should make a lot of sense to anyone that does any programming.

The situation with all of these 50+ year old men has literally nothing to do with any of that......

Do people not realize that the ones bending over backwards to try and minimize this are literally the reason they came down so hard on RMS? He has responsibility as a role model and a leader to set an example that is not defending this sort of behavior. This isn't about the legality of anything.

[moilami]

Somehow I am not surprised at all of what happened. There were people just waiting for a chance to start witch hunt on RMS.

That said, every man should make sure they do not touch under age females, unless they themselves are underage. When I was underage I fucked underage females of my age, and when I was not anymore underage I did not even touch underage women. It is not hard to do, you just need to respect the underage females and not try to take advantage of them.

[lowflyer]

The revolution eats its own children.

[ElectricPrism]

Someone that's 17 years and 364 days can't consent one day, but can the next (same with alcohol, drivers license, guns etc.) because of the legal definition? I realize why the law does it that way, but that doesn't mean it makes sense.
So yes, you can count me as someone with an IQ over 100 that thinks older "minors" could theoretically consent to sex. Heck, I know 16 year olds that I would trust to make that decision more than some of the 26 or 36 year olds I know.

The law is required to draw a line somewhere, and in most countries they draw it at 18 years old for legal purposes -- such-as lawsuits.

Additionally, a 19 year old and a 17 year old having consensual" sex is not by definition a situation of disparity.

A 17 year old "allegedly consenting" and 70 year old has a age greater disparity.

A 10 year old and a 30 year old has a even greater age disparity.

It is the disparity that is the "spirit of the law" where one party is much more intellectually intelligent and manipulative, older, or the gap between the two is greater that makes it wrong morally.

For lawful purposes, each government defines the age of consent a little different.

Additionally, in the United States according to law (like it or not) everyone under 18 is technically by law property of the United States government, which is why if the government deems your parents as unqualified they can select new parents for you and remove you from your problem-home.

Pre 18 you are not allowed to sign a contract.

And the United States law system defines consent for sex as a type of contract; an agreement between two or more parties technically.

There is no situation a pre-18 year old in the US can consent to sex, they cannot legally contract. the law does allow for a relaxing to such rules as I recall if both parties are within 2 years of age, and that's it.

Edit: Oh, also -- whether by definition this qualifies as rape is debatable, but it most definitely qualifies as Extortion. A BIG no no.

Edit 2: For anyone considering the law as a factor, RMS is a United States Citizen and MIT is a United States university, so obviously United States law would be #1 relevant to this discussion of what is and is NOT legal. Any other discussion on laws elsewhere are a diversion and expansion away from the topic with little to no benefits to compiling the situation that happened inside US MIT and US FSF.

[Farmer]

Virginia Giuffre is 35 in 2019. The incident happened in 2002. She would have become 18 that year. Legal ages of consent are 17 in New York where Epstein lived and 16 in Massachusetts. Even if Minsky did have sex with the girl, which Stallman said he didn't, it would have been 100% legal. Before someone chimes in with Romeo and Juliet laws, that's below legal age of consent. They literally shamed the guy into resigning OVER NOTHING.

No, it would not have been 100% legal under any circumstances. Age of consent in the U.S. Virgin Islands is 18. Ergo that would be rape. Compounding that problem is that it would be a clear violation of the Mann Act and thus a Federal set of crimes - irrespective of the location. From there it just gets worse.

Why was Minsky on an island with what were clearly underage girls brought there for the sole purpose of sex? Stew that and what it tells us about Minsky.

As for Stallman, he clearly, early on, let everybody know he was ok with paedophiles. He then claimed to have "seen the light" and "changed his mind."

Here's the important bit.

In defending Minsky he made it clear that his "change of mind" was a farce as he tried to defend Minsky with the claim that perhaps Minsky believed the girl was consensual. A minor, by definition, cannot consent. Ergo Stallman lied when he claimed he'd changed his mind - get that? His entire premise that she could consent is a refutation of his claimed "change in position." Anyone with a basic understanding of minors and sex understands that they cannot consent. Unless they're not really against paedophilia.

Good riddance to RMS. He's a creeper.

[ElectricPrism]

He should have created a blog post REVISING his prior statements to better reflect his intent and then get a second major news article to cover it.

[tildearrow]

Open source licenses do not close anything down. I’m not sure how this ignorance ever developed. GPL has actually been pretty horrible for open source.

Permissive open-source licenses allow anybody to do so though.

[tuxd3v]

I don't understand at all...

me to