www/philosophy computing-progress.html

[Richard M. Stallman]

CVSROOT:        /webcvs/www
Module name:    www
Changes by:     Richard M. Stallman <rms>       09/09/27 02:03:33

Modified files:
        philosophy     : computing-progress.html 

Log message:
        Clarifications, some from jrasata.

CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/computing-progress.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.4&r2=1.5

Patches:
Index: computing-progress.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /webcvs/www/www/philosophy/computing-progress.html,v
retrieving revision 1.4
retrieving revision 1.5
diff -u -b -r1.4 -r1.5
--- computing-progress.html     20 Jun 2008 11:40:15 -0000      1.4
+++ computing-progress.html     27 Sep 2009 02:03:29 -0000      1.5
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
-<title>Computing &ldquo;progress&rdquo;: good and bad - GNU Project - Free 
Software Foundation (FSF)</title>
+<title>Computing &lsquo;progress&rsquo;: good and bad - GNU Project - Free 
Software Foundation (FSF)</title>
 <!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
-<h2>Computing &ldquo;progress&rdquo;: good and bad</h2>
+<h2>Computing &lsquo;progress&rsquo;: good and bad</h2>
 
 <p>by <a href="http://www.stallman.org/";><strong>Richard
 Stallman</strong></a></p>
@@ -9,14 +9,14 @@
 <p><i>
 The BBC invited me to write an article for their column series, The
 Tech Lab, and this is what I sent them.  (It refers to a couple of
-other articles published in that series.)  But the BBC was unwilling
-to publish it with a copying permission notice, so I have published it
+other articles published in that series.)  The BBC was ultimately unwilling
+to publish it with a copying-permission notice, so I have published it
 here.</i></p>
 
 <p>
 Bradley Horowitz of Yahoo proposed here that every object in our world
-should have a unique number, so that your cell phone can record
-everything you do &mdash; even which cans you pick up while in the
+have a unique number so that your cell phone could record
+everything you do&mdash;even which cans you picked up while in the
 supermarket.</p>
 
 <p>
@@ -36,43 +36,42 @@
 &ldquo;terrorism&rdquo;.</p>
 
 <p>
-In the UK, it is literally an offence to be suspect.  (More precisely,
+In the UK, it is literally an offense to be suspect&mdash;more precisely,
 to possess any object in circumstances that create a &ldquo;reasonable
-suspicion&rdquo; that you might use them in certain criminal ways.)
+suspicion&rdquo; that you might use it in certain criminal ways.
 Your phone will give the police plenty of opportunities to suspect
-you, so they can charge you with having been suspected by them.
-Similar things will happen in China, where Yahoo already gave the
-government all the information it needed to imprison a dissident, and
-asked for our understanding on the excuse that it was &ldquo;just
-following orders&rdquo;.</p>
+you so they can charge you with having been suspected by them.
+Similar things will happen in China, where Yahoo has already given the
+government all the information it needed to imprison a dissident; it 
subsequently asked for our understanding on the excuse that it was &ldquo;just
+following orders.&rdquo;</p>
 
 <p>
-Horowitz would like cell phones to tag information automatically based
+Horowitz would like cell phones to tag information automatically, based
 on knowing when you participate in an event or meeting.  That means
-the phone company will also know precisely who you meet.  That
+the phone company will also know precisely whom you meet.  That
 information will also be interesting to governments, such as those of
 the UK and China, that cut corners on human rights.</p>
 
 <p>
 I do not much like Horowitz's vision of total surveillance.  Rather, I
-envision a world in which our computers never collect, or release any
+envision a world in which our computers never collect, or release, any
 information about us except when we want them to.</p>
 
 <p>
-Non-free software does other nasty things besides spying.  It often
-implements digital handcuffs &mdash; features designed to restrict the
+Nonfree software does other nasty things besides spying; it often
+implements digital handcuffs&mdash;features designed to restrict the
 users (also called DRM, for Digital Restrictions Management).  These
-features control how you can access, copy or move the files in your
+features control how you can access, copy, or move the files in your
 own computer.</p>
 
 <p>
 DRM is a common practice: Microsoft does it, Apple does it, Google
-does it, even the BBC's iPlayer does it.  Many countries, taking the
+does it, even the BBC's iPlayer does it.  Many governments, taking the
 side of these companies against the public, have made it illegal to
 tell others how to escape from the digital handcuffs.  As a result,
 competition does nothing to check the practice: no matter how many
-proprietary alternatives you might have to choose from, they all
-handcuff you just the same.  If the computer knows where you are
+proprietary alternatives you might have to choose from, they will
+all handcuff you just the same.  If the computer knows where you are
 located, it can make DRM even worse: there are companies that would
 like to restrict what you can access based on your present
 location.</p>
@@ -96,8 +95,8 @@
 Even if you don't exercise this control yourself, you are part of a
 society where others do.  If you are not a programmer, other users of
 the program are.  They will probably find and remove any nasty
-features, such as spying or restricting you, and publish safe
-versions.  You will have only to elect to use them &mdash; and since
+features, which might spy on or restrict you, and publish safe
+versions.  You will have only to elect to use them&mdash;and since
 all other users will prefer them, that will usually happen with no
 effort on your part.</p>
 
@@ -107,17 +106,17 @@
 Big Brother doesn't see and hear all of them.  Today's cell phones are
 already capable of listening to their users without informing them, at
 the request of the police, the phone company, or anyone that knows the
-requisite commands.  As long as phones use non-free software,
+requisite commands.  As long as phones use nonfree software,
 controlled by its developers and not by the users, we must expect this
 to get worse.  Only free software enables computer-using citizens to
 resist totalitarian surveillance.</p>
 
 <p>
-Dave Winer's article suggested that Mr Gates should send a copy of
+Dave Winer's article suggested that Mr. Gates should send a copy of
 Windows Vista to Alpha Centauri.  I understand the feeling, but
 sending just one won't solve our problem here on Earth.  Windows is
 designed to spy on users and restrict them.  We should collect all the
-copies of Windows, and MacOS and iPlayer for the same reason, and send
+copies of Windows, and of MacOS and iPlayer for the same reason, and send
 them to Alpha Centauri at the slowest possible speed.  Or just erase
 them.</p>
 
@@ -154,7 +153,7 @@
 <p>
 Updated:
 <!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2008/06/20 11:40:15 $
+$Date: 2009/09/27 02:03:29 $
 <!-- timestamp end -->
 </p>
 </div>