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A comment on China to Set Up ‘Security Offices’ Inside Internet Companies. Parent comment

Re:China to Set Up ‘Security Offices’ Inside Internet Companies by krapp on Wednesday August 05, 2015 @12:12PM (#10010803)
The only thing free software is intended to liberate people from is closed-source binaries and proprietary code.

If governments choose to use GPL code to spy on and oppress their people, that's perfectly within the spirit of free software, as long as they respect the users' freedoms regarding the source code while doing so.

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Re:China to Set Up ‘Security Offices’ Inside Internet Companies by codeshaman on Wednesday August 05, 2015 @12:30PM (#10010932)
Stallman's book on my book shelf is called "Free Software, Free Society" and I believe the spirit of GPL goes beyond just software.

It's the idea that sharing and collaboration will bring us more freedom - freedom from opressors or owners of any kind, who can control our lives for their benefit.

I believe this to be the deeper philosophical implication of free and open source software. It's the dream of a better, freer, smarter society.

So I don't think government spying is perfectly in the spirit of free software, it's exactly opposite to it.

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