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The fact that people are being evicted after not using Zoom https://www.fsf.org/bulletin/2020/spring/trial-by-proprietary-software https://www.fsf.org/bulletin/

The fact that people are being evicted after not using Zoom https://www.fsf.org/bulletin/2020/spring/trial-by-proprietary-software https://www.fsf.org/bulletin/2020/spring/trial-by-proprietar... is insane. The industrial revolution and all of its consequences may not have been exclusively a disaster for the human race, and I personally don’t share Bill Joy’s fears of mass extinction https://www.wired.com/2000/04/joy-2/ https://www.wired.com/2000/04/joy-2/, but proprietary software can cause serious problems for members of the human race and they should have a right to choose not to “use” it. Doesn’t the US Constitution support the Amish’s right to abstain from the power grid, etc.? The Federal Source Code Policy should revert from requiring 20% of software written with forcibly extracted public money to be free to 100% as it was when open for public comment. Any software that the public is forced to use, fund, or through network effects promote, the public should be able to audit and control. Windows is explicitly banned from the ISS. The lowly common people down here deserve a fraction of that privilege.

sukilot 6y ago
Why? If Zoom hurts you in some weird way, you can sue. That's how US law works.
- boogies 6y ago
  Because that’s a massive, expensive endeavor that may only solve one specific problem between one person and one company if it works at all. (Edit:) Much like anti-trust hearings: https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/a-tech-antitrust-hearing-misses-the-point https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/a-tech-antitrust-hearing...
fsflover 6y ago
> Any software that the public is forced to use, fund, or through network effects promote, the public should be able to audit and control. Sounds like you should agree with this petition: https://publiccode.eu https://publiccode.eu (all publicly funded software must be public).
anon3280 6y ago
Zoom is important, but zoom didn't evict anyone. The US government did. The government is the only organization "allowed" to use physical violence against anyone it wants to. The author raises many valid points, but I think the logical conclusion of his points condemns the US legal system more than it does zoom. Author: Having to agree to a contract with a private company in order to access public services is immediately objectionable. Me: I agree! But unlike the US Government, Zoom doesn't make threats of violence against people that don't want to use it's services. Author: Second, for the state to require use of Zoom is for it to promote and subsidize that company. Me: I agree! The but the state wouldn't even BE ABLE to subsidize Zoom if it didn't first threaten me with violence in order to take a large fraction of my money.
devmunchies 6y ago
> The industrial revolution and all of its consequences may not have been exclusively a disaster for the human race for those unaware, this is based from the first line from Ted Kaczynski's "Unabomber Manifesto", which starts with "The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race". It's actually an interesting read, that is... as long as you don't feel hostility towards rebelious literature: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/unabomber/manifesto.text.htm https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/unab...
- ShamelessC 6y ago
  Oh, wow. Starts off fairly innocent then comes in with this craziness - "Many leftists have an intense identification with the problems of groups that have an image of being weak (women), defeated (American Indians), repellent (homosexuals) or otherwise inferior. The leftists themselves feel that these groups are inferior. They would never admit to themselves that they have such feelings, but it is precisely because they do see these groups as inferior that they identify with their problems. (We do not mean to suggest that women, Indians, etc. ARE inferior; we are only making a point about leftist psychology.)"
  - krapp 6y ago
    That pathological contempt for "the left" is how you know you're dealing with a work of true intellectual gravity.
    - devmunchies 6y ago
      There's lots of geniuses who are a little crazy or unhinged. e.g. bobby fischer
      - pvg 6y ago
        He was a raging anti-semite, holocaust denier, etc.

sukilot 6y ago

Why? If Zoom hurts you in some weird way, you can sue. That's how US law works.

boogies 6y ago
Because that’s a massive, expensive endeavor that may only solve one specific problem between one person and one company if it works at all. (Edit:) Much like anti-trust hearings: https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/a-tech-antitrust-hearing-misses-the-point https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/a-tech-antitrust-hearing...

fsflover 6y ago

> Any software that the public is forced to use, fund, or through network effects promote, the public should be able to audit and control. Sounds like you should agree with this petition: https://publiccode.eu https://publiccode.eu (all publicly funded software must be public).

anon3280 6y ago

Zoom is important, but zoom didn't evict anyone. The US government did. The government is the only organization "allowed" to use physical violence against anyone it wants to. The author raises many valid points, but I think the logical conclusion of his points condemns the US legal system more than it does zoom. Author: Having to agree to a contract with a private company in order to access public services is immediately objectionable. Me: I agree! But unlike the US Government, Zoom doesn't make threats of violence against people that don't want to use it's services. Author: Second, for the state to require use of Zoom is for it to promote and subsidize that company. Me: I agree! The but the state wouldn't even BE ABLE to subsidize Zoom if it didn't first threaten me with violence in order to take a large fraction of my money.

devmunchies 6y ago

> The industrial revolution and all of its consequences may not have been exclusively a disaster for the human race for those unaware, this is based from the first line from Ted Kaczynski's "Unabomber Manifesto", which starts with "The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race". It's actually an interesting read, that is... as long as you don't feel hostility towards rebelious literature: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/unabomber/manifesto.text.htm https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/unab...

ShamelessC 6y ago
Oh, wow. Starts off fairly innocent then comes in with this craziness - "Many leftists have an intense identification with the problems of groups that have an image of being weak (women), defeated (American Indians), repellent (homosexuals) or otherwise inferior. The leftists themselves feel that these groups are inferior. They would never admit to themselves that they have such feelings, but it is precisely because they do see these groups as inferior that they identify with their problems. (We do not mean to suggest that women, Indians, etc. ARE inferior; we are only making a point about leftist psychology.)"
- krapp 6y ago
  That pathological contempt for "the left" is how you know you're dealing with a work of true intellectual gravity.
  - devmunchies 6y ago
    There's lots of geniuses who are a little crazy or unhinged. e.g. bobby fischer
    - pvg 6y ago
      He was a raging anti-semite, holocaust denier, etc.