The last decade of technological progression has witnessed major friction between the interests of organizations of centralized power and distributed networks of individuals. We are currently witnessing a dramatic transformation of social organization towards a new model that requires transparency, participation, and non-hierarchical collaboration. Eben Moglen delivers this keynote address at Linux Conf AU in which he describes how this transformation is occurring and what our roles are in this process.
- [1:00 – 7:00] The last decade saw a lot of great software, but also saw the expansion of patent conflicts between major companies. Progress has been made towards building a legal establishment to protect free software patents, but there are still major legal issues.
- [ 6:30 – 9:00 ] In the next 10 years, the patent system of China will begin to become the dominant system of patent protection over the US patent system. The high levels of censorship in China, make this development something major to be concerned about.
- [9:00 – 18:00] Social organization is changing in the 21st century, a trend deeply entrenched in the free software movement. The new social organization is based on three key tenets, transparency, participation, and non-hierarchical collaboration. The new type of social organization requires individuals to be involved both politically and technically.
- [18:00 – 28:00] We must consider securing our privacy and distributing power in the Internet. The Internet serves as a central nervous system for the entire human species, and we will need to determine whether this will be built to be controlled by individuals or directed from centralized directors. People involved with the free software movement are at the core of the political progress towards securing individual freedoms.
- [29:00 – 39:00] Businesses will be forced to understand the software they rely on, pushing them towards free software. The youngest generation (18 years and younger) are deeply motivated by the actions of individuals like Edward Snowden, far more than any generation before them. Businesses are just beginning to wake up to the realities of humanity’s new perceptions.
- [39:00 – 44:00] Exposure of centralized spying has made both the successes and the failures of the free software movement visible. Emerging developer markets, like India, are going help push the free software movement forward, and anyone involved in this movement has a major potential to effect how humanity will progress.
