Brad Kuhn Talk

Software Freedom, Digital Restriction, and the Age of the Personal Terabyte

A Talk by
Bradley M. Kuhn
Chief Technology Officer, Software Freedom Law Center
February 28th at 6:00 PM
545 Baldwin Hall

Abstract

In the first half of this decade, Open Source and Free Software finally achieved a new level of mainstream success; it has become an integral part of our technological infrastructure. Most higher tech businesses, universities, and individuals depend on Free Software infrastructure such as GNU/Linux. This "new" infrastructure is the culmination of almost three decades of work by individual and institutional contributors who assisted each in their own way to make software that respected, rather than rejected, the rights of users. These freedoms ­­ which allow users to copy, share, modify and redistribute that software ­­ created a unique ecosystem that allowed a community to f lourish.

As online file sharing and extremely portable digital media devices become central parts of life in the industrialized world, our culture as a whole faces the same question that has been hotly debate in the software world since its inception: What rights should the holder of some stream of bits have? Historically, these ethical principles of users' rights led to the creation and eventual f lourishing of the Software Freedom Movement. These core principles, combined with the wide availability of bandwidth and personal file storage, now fall in direct conf lict with the goals of the modern cultural robber barrons (the large patent­ and copyright­holding regimes).

In this talk, Kuhn introduces the historical context that led to this conf lict, explains the motivations of the key parties, and presents the positions that must be upheld for the advancement of Software Freedom Movement and open source software.

Biography

Bradley M. Kuhn serves as the Chief Technology Officer of the Software Freedom Law Center (a non­profit law firm that represents the interests of Open Source and Free Software projects) and as president of the Software Freedom Conservancy (a organization founded by SFLC that provides legal and organizational infrastructure for those projects). Kuhn began his work in the Software Freedom Movement as a volunteer for the Free Software Foundation (FSF) in the mid­1990s. He worked during the 1990s as a system administrator and software development consultant on Free Software systems. He also spent one year teaching Advanced Placement Computer Science, using GNU/Linux and GCC, at Walnut Hills High School in Cincinnati. In early 2000, he was hired to work for FSF, and he served as its Executive Director from March 2001 until March 2005. Kuhn holds a summa cum laude B.S. in Computer Science from Loyola College in Maryland, and an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Cincinnati. His Master's thesis, advised by John Franco, discussed methods for dynamic interoperability of Free Software languages.

Directions

From North (I-75)

• Take exit 3 - Hopple Street
• Turn left onto hopple street
• Continue straight through light - will turn into Martin Luther King Drive
• After passing Clifton Ave. UC will be on your right

From North (I-71)

• Take exit 3 - William Howrd Taft
• Continue straight - will turn into Calhoun Street
• Turn right onto Clifton Ave - UC will be on your right

From South (I-75)

• Take exit 3 - Hopple Street
• Turn left onto hopple street
• Continue straight through light - will turn into Martin Luther King Drive
• After passing Clifton Ave. UC will be on your right

Download his speech!

If you missed his talk you can download it here.

Copyright (C) 2007, Bradley M. Kuhn

Verbatim copying and verbatim transcription of this recording is permitted in any medium provided this notice is preserved.