Norwich hosts notable speaker on free software movement

For Immediate Release
Nov. 9, 2011

Contact: Daphne Larkin
802-485-2886 or 595-3613(m)
dlarkin@norwich.edu

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NEWS RELEASE

NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Norwich University will host political and free computer software activist Richard Stallman for a presentation titled “Copyright versus Community in the Age of Computer Networks,” on Wednesday, Nov. 16 from 4-6 p.m. in Dole Auditorium.

This event is free and open to the public.

Stallman, a computer programmer, launched the GNU Project in 1983 to create a free Unix-like computer operating system, initiating the free software movement. He is its lead architect and organizer. In 1985 he founded the Free Software Foundation, and in 1989 he co-founded the League for Programming Freedom.

Stallman is known for developing several pieces of widely used free software and is the main author of the most widely used free software license – the GNU General Public License.

His talk will focus on the need to reform copyright laws in order to promote progress for the benefit of the public.

“Richard Stallman has been at the forefront of one of the most important movements in the field of computing, and I consider it an honor to hear what he thinks our students, both technical and nontechnical, can do to help improve the copyright system in the United States,” said Jeremy Hansen, assistant professor of computer science. “I am also interested in hearing about how the recent US patent legislation and cloud computing affect how we look at today’s copyright system.”


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Norwich University is a diversified academic institution that educates traditional-age students and adults in a Corps of Cadets and as civilians. Norwich offers a broad selection of traditional and distance-learning programs culminating in Baccalaureate and Graduate Degrees. Norwich University was founded in 1819 by Captain Alden Partridge of the U.S. Army. Norwich University is the oldest private military college in the United States of America and the birthplace of our nation's Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). www.norwich.edu