Richard Matthew Stallman (/ˈstɔːlmən/ STAWL-mən; born March 16, 1953), also known by his initials, rms,[1] is an American free software movement activist and programmer.

Stallman launched the GNU Project in September 1983 to write a Unix-like computer operating system composed entirely of free software.

[6] Stallman pioneered the concept of copyleft, which uses the principles of copyright law to preserve the right to use, modify, and distribute free software.

In September 2019, Stallman resigned as president of the FSF and left his visiting scientist role at MIT after making controversial comments about the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking scandal.

"[11] In 1971, near the end of his first year at Harvard, he became a programmer at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory,[16] and became a regular in the hacker community, where he was usually known by his initials, RMS, which he used in his computer accounts.

[17] He became an ardent critic of restricted computer access in the lab, which at that time was funded primarily by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

[22] When Brian Reid in 1979 placed time bombs in the Scribe markup language and word processing system to restrict unlicensed access to the software, Stallman proclaimed it "a crime against humanity".

[25] In 1980, Stallman and some other hackers at the AI Lab were refused access to the source code for the software of a newly installed laser printer, the Xerox 9700.

While both companies delivered proprietary software, Stallman believed that LMI, unlike Symbolics, had tried to avoid hurting the lab's community.

For two years, from 1982 to the end of 1983, Stallman worked by himself to clone the output of the Symbolics programmers, with the aim of preventing them from gaining a monopoly on the lab's computers.

[28] He argues that freedom is vital for the sake of users and society as a moral value, and not merely for pragmatic reasons such as possibly developing technically superior software.

[29] Eric S. Raymond, one of the creators of the open-source movement,[30] argues that moral arguments, rather than pragmatic ones, alienate potential allies and hurt the end goal of removing code secrecy.

Call it fixity of purpose, or just plain cussedness, his single-minded commitment and brutal honesty are refreshing in a world of spin-meisters and multimillion-dollar marketing campaigns.

[43]In 2018, Stallman instituted "Kind Communication Guidelines" for the GNU project to help its mailing list discussions remain constructive while avoiding explicitly promoting diversity.

[57] Stallman was on the Advisory Council of Latin American television station teleSUR from its launch[58] but resigned in February 2011, criticizing pro-Gaddafi propaganda during the Arab Spring.

[59] In August 2006, at his meetings with the government of the Indian State of Kerala, he persuaded officials to discard proprietary software, such as Microsoft's, at state-run schools.

[60] After personal meetings, Stallman obtained positive statements about the free software movement from the then-president of India, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam,[61] French 2007 presidential candidate Ségolène Royal,[62] and the president of Ecuador Rafael Correa.

[73] And before the T400s, Stallman used a ThinkPad X60, and even further back in time, a Lemote Yeeloong netbook (using the same company's Loongson processor) which he chose because, like the X200, X60 and the T400s, it could run with free software at the BIOS level, stating "freedom is my priority.

[76][77] Stallman has regularly given a talk entitled "Copyright vs. Community" where he reviews the state of digital rights management (DRM) and names many of the products and corporations which he boycotts.

He suggests that, instead of restrictions on sharing, authors be supported using a tax, with revenues distributed among them based on cubic roots of their popularity to ensure that "fairly successful non-stars" receive a greater share than they do now (compare with private copying levy which is associated with proponents of strong copyright), or a convenient anonymous micropayment system for people to support authors directly.

[81] Stallman has helped and supported the International Music Score Library Project get back online, after it had been taken down on October 19, 2007, following a cease and desist letter from Universal Edition.

[85] Stallman has suggested that the United States government may encourage the use of software as a service because this would allow them to access users' data without needing a search warrant.

[90] Stallman places great importance on the words and labels people use to talk about the world, including the relationship between software and freedom.

He asks people to say free software and GNU/Linux, and to avoid the terms intellectual property and piracy (in relation to copying not approved by the publisher).

[91] Stallman argues that the term intellectual property is designed to confuse people, and is used to prevent intelligent discussion on the specifics of copyright, patent, trademark, and other areas of law by lumping together things that are more dissimilar than similar.

[114] In the thread, discussion had turned to deceased MIT professor Marvin Minsky, who was named by Virginia Giuffre as one of the people that Epstein had forced her to have sex with.

[114][119] Stallman's writings from 2013 and earlier related to underage sex and child pornography laws resurfaced, increasing the controversy.

The arguments that it causes harm seem to be based on cases which aren't voluntary, which are then stretched by parents who are horrified by the idea that their little baby is maturing.

[127][128] Shortly thereafter, an open letter was published on GitHub asking for Stallman's removal, along with the entire FSF board of directors, with the support of prominent open-source organizations including GNOME and Mozilla.

[152] In September 2023, while giving his keynote presentation at the GNU 40th anniversary event, Stallman revealed he had been diagnosed with follicular lymphoma, a form of cancer, and said that his prognosis was good and he hopes to be around for years to come.