<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">The creator of GNU and Free Software will give a talk at the University of Birmingham next week! This event is likely to be of interest to many of us, hence the wide circulation. Thanks to Rami for the invite. <div><br></div><div>-- Bruno<br><div><br><div>Begin forwarded message:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);"><b>From: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">Rami Bahsoon <<a href="mailto:r.bahsoon@cs.bham.ac.uk">r.bahsoon@cs.bham.ac.uk</a>><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);"><b>Date: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">17 August 2011 14:45:31 GMT+01:00<br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);"><b>To: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">"B. Wassermann" <<a href="mailto:B.Wassermann@cs.ucl.ac.uk">B.Wassermann@cs.ucl.ac.uk</a>><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);"><b>Cc: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">Bob Hendley <<a href="mailto:R.J.Hendley@cs.bham.ac.uk">R.J.Hendley@cs.bham.ac.uk</a>><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);"><b>Subject: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;"><b>Richard Stallman at Birmingham: Thursday 25 August, 6pm</b><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);"><b>Reply-To: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;"><a href="mailto:r.bahsoon@cs.bham.ac.uk">r.bahsoon@cs.bham.ac.uk</a></span></div><div><br><br>Speaker: Richard Stallman, of the Free Software Foundation<br>Title: Copyright vs Community in the Age of Computer Networks<br>The University of Birmingham<br><br>Abstract:<br>Copyright developed in the age of the printing press, and was designed<br>to fit with the system of centralized copying imposed by the printing<br>press. The copyright system does not fit well with computer networks,<br>and only draconian punishments can enforce it. The global corporations<br>that profit from copyright are lobbying to increase their copyright<br>powers, while suppressing public access to technology. If we seriously<br>hope to serve the only legitimate purpose of copyright - to promote<br>progress for the benefit of the public - then we must make changes in<br>the other direction.<br><br>About The speaker:<br>Richard Stallman launched the free software movement in 1983 and<br>started the development of the GNU operating system in 1984. GNU is<br>free software; everyone has the freedom to copy it, redistribute it,<br>and make changes either large or small. The GNU/Linux system is used<br>on tens of millions of computers today. Stallman has received the ACM<br>Grace Hopper Award, a MacArthur Foundation fellowship, the Electronic<br>Frontier Foundation’s Pioneer Award, and the Takeda Award for<br>Social/Economic Betterment, as well as several honorary doctorates.<br>Unusual Time & Place:<br>Date/Time: Thursday 25 August, 6pm<br>Venue: Haworth Lecture Theatre, Haworth Building, The University of Birmingham<br>Directions to Birmingham University:<br><a href="http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/contact/directions/index.aspx">http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/contact/directions/index.aspx</a><br><br>-- <br>---<br>Dr. Rami Bahsoon<br><br>Lecturer in Software Engineering<br><br>School of Computer Science,<br>The University of Birmingham<br>Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK<br>http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~rzb/<br></div></div><br></div></body></html>