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Dr. Richard Stallman launched the free software movement in 1983 and started the development of the GNU operating system (see www.gnu.org)
in 1984. GNU is free software: everyone has the freedom to copy it and redistribute it, with or without changes. The GNU/Linux system, basically the GNU operating system with Linux added, is used on tens of millions of computers today. Stallman has received the ACM Grace Hopper Award, a MacArthur Foundation fellowship, the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Pioneer Award, and the the Takeda Award for Social/Economic Betterment, as well as several doctorates honoris causa, and has been inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame.
Cooperativism’s digital platforms must respect endangered digital freedoms.
Digital activity today typically imposes two injustices: massive surveillance, and running software that is controlled by someone other than its users.
In moving cooperativism to the digital world, we must take care to avoid those injustices. Digital cooperatives must avoid amassing dossiers about their participants or their customers, since those would help the state snoop on everyone. And they must not involve use of non-libre programs, because those subordinate their users to someone else’s power.