He called age-verification laws "unjust surveillance... imposed by laws. There's been no campaign to require a compromise so that you can prove you're an adult without their knowing who you are."
To a question about gaming hardware, Stallman said "I don't pay much attention to games. They're almost all proprietary software, so let them end up in the trash." (Though he added later that "There are some free games implemented in free software, which is nice if you've got time to play a game.")
He uses a ThinkPad that's "old enough that in this model, you can shut off [Intel's] Management Engine permanently and never let it run again."
Richard Stallman's preferred free distro is Trisquel. But when it comes to mobile device operating systems, "Basically, they're all bad... I don't want the tracking that mobile devices do, so I don't want to have one."
What does he think of the push to rewrite GNU's coreutils in Rust "I think it shows that some people hate copyright."
And what does he think of Rust in general? "I'm in favor of all languages as long as they're implemented in free software." (His one issue is "the trademark conditions on Rust don't make it concretely clear what changes you have to make to be allowed to distribute a modified version... I sure wish they would clarify this.")
Has he had run-ins with U.S. intelligence agencies trying to foist back doors or surveillance into GNU? "Uh, no... I would suspect that if they wanted to do that, they wouldn't approach me."
Stallman also had suggestions for educators. "Universities should teach students to do reverse engineering. It should help them focus on the projects that will remove obstacles to winning freedom." And later he recommended universities try educational programs where students contribute to free software programs.
He also pointed out that today's web sites have what he calls "a sucker clause" typically saying "we may change these terms and conditions. If you continue to use the site, you will be held to have accepted the new conditions, even if you have not seen them." Stallman believes this should be illegal. (He says one medical site added updated terms saying users agreed not to sue over mishandling of personal data, but instead to resolve it in arbitration.)
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