Xah Talk Show 2025-11-11 Ep711 the Crimes of Open Source and Free Software Foundation

Video Summary (Generated by Ai, Reviewed by Human.)

The video, titled "Xah Talk Show Ep711 the Crimes of Open Source and Free Software Foundation," features Xah Lee discussing various topics, primarily focusing on his critical views of the open-source and Free Software Foundation movements, as well as the practices of major tech companies.

Here's a summary of the key points:

• Emacs Lisp Coding (0:08-2:36): Xah Lee initially intended to code in Emacs Lisp, demonstrating how to write a command to move the current file or directory to its parent directory by pressing a single key. He briefly shows the manual process and the goal of automating it.

Critique of Free Software Foundation (FSF) and Richard Stallman (4:48-22:41):

• Richard Stallman's Ideology (5:20-6:09): Lee explains that Richard Stallman, the creator of Emacs and founder of the FSF, believes that all software source code must be shared for ethical reasons, even if it means financial hardship for developers.
• General Public License (GPL) (6:10-6:39): The FSF created the GPL to legally enforce the sharing of source code.
• Open Source Initiative (OSI) (6:40-8:00): Eric Raymond (ESR) and others started the OSI in 1997 as a spin-off from the FSF. They aimed to remove the strong ethical and moral elements of Stallman's ideology, focusing only on the requirement of source code availability, which Lee likens to a "communist ideology" (7:40-7:58).
• Conflict and Decline (9:06-9:59): Stallman dislikes the open-source movement, believing they "stole the idea" (8:09-8:13). Lee claims both movements have largely "died" today, with Stallman becoming a "damaging figure" (10:22-10:27).

Open Source Taken Over by "Deep State" and Corporations (10:30-18:00):

• Deep State Influence (10:33-11:25): Lee alleges that the open-source movement has been taken over by the "deep state," which he associates with the military-industrial complex and war-profiteering.
• Corporate Control (11:47-15:58): He asserts that open source is now "99.9% entirely funded by ... greedy organizations" like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft. He gives examples like Google Chrome being proprietary despite Chromium being open source, and GitHub being bought by Microsoft. He also mentions how open-source projects often get bought out, citing MySQL being acquired by Oracle.
• Code of Conduct and Cancel Culture (14:49-16:50): Lee criticizes the imposition of "code of conduct" in open-source projects, arguing that it forces developers to adhere to certain political ideologies (e.g., "men can get pregnant") or face cancellation.

The Problem with Closed Source and Solutions (23:01-26:10):

• Lee addresses the concern of trusting closed-source software. His solution is stronger legal enforcement against corporate crimes, stating that if companies "sniff" or have backdoors, they should "go to jail" (23:41-24:00). He believes law and order are more important than open source, as most people cannot understand source code anyway.

Critique of HTTPS Enforcement (29:30-34:36):

• Lee claims that browsers like Chrome and Firefox are "semi-enforcing" HTTPS, automatically adding "s" to HTTP links despite user settings. He argues this has "instantaneously censored 20 million websites" (31:05-31:13) that are older and don't use HTTPS, effectively erasing internet history. He also points out the hypocrisy of caring about HTTPS encryption while Google and Apple allegedly "sniff" all phone data (32:16-32:46).

Google and YouTube "Crimes" (34:52-43:55):

• Lee discusses Google's AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) as a "plot to entrap all publishers" (37:15-37:25).
• He alleges Google sponsors Firefox to avoid being a monopoly (37:43-38:10) and that Firefox funds organizations like Antifa (38:10-38:11).
• He heavily criticizes YouTube's decision to hide dislikes on videos (39:46-42:00), attributing it to government videos receiving millions of dislikes, which Google then hides to "look bad."
• He views the like/dislike system as a "psychological control" (40:45-41:17) that manipulates user behavior.

Final Thoughts on Society and Technology (48:02-50:46):

• Lee dismisses alternative platforms (Fediverse, alternative Reddit/Twitter) as "idiotic" and ineffective attempts by "nerds" who don't understand society.
• He concludes that fixing society is "not about technology" (49:30-49:35) but about fixing human behavior and getting those who commit crimes (like corporations) into jail.