https://www.fastcompany.com/90618666/mozilla-and-tor-join-calls-to-oust-richard-stallman-from-free-software-foundation * Fast Company Follow * * * * * Login * COVID-19 * Co.Design * Tech * Work Life * News * Impact * Podcasts * Video * Recommender * Subscribe + Newsletters + Magazine * * FastCo Works + Deloitte + Honeywell + Lenovo * Homepage * COVID-19 * Co.Design * Tech * Work Life * News * Impact * Podcasts * Video * Recommender * Subscribe Help Center fastco works * DEEM * Deloitte * Grail * Honeywell * Lenovo * Lexus * Visa * FastCo Works An award-winning team of journalists, designers, and videographers who tell brand stories through Fast Company's distinctive lens FC Executive Board collections * Fast Government The future of innovation and technology in government for the greater good * Most Innovative Companies Our annual guide to the businesses that matter the most * Most Creative People Leaders who are shaping the future of business in creative ways * World Changing Ideas New workplaces, new food sources, new medicine--even an entirely new economic system * Innovation By Design Celebrating the best ideas in business Newsletter Events * Most Innovative Companies Summit Courses and LearningAdvertiseCurrent Issue Current Issue SUBSCRIBE Follow us: Social media iconsSocial media iconsSocial media iconsSocial media icons advertisement advertisement * 03-24-21 * 4:38 pm Mozilla and Tor join calls to oust Richard Stallman from Free Software Foundation More than 1,500 people have signed a petition calling for Richard Stallman to be removed from positions of leadership in free software. Richard Stallman [Photo: Massimiliano Ferraro/Pacific Press/ LightRocket via Getty Images] * * * * By Steven Melendez2 minute Read advertisement advertisement advertisement More than 1,500 people, along with prominent software projects including Mozilla and the Tor Project, have signed a petition calling for the board of the Free Software Foundation to resign and Richard Stallman to be "removed from all leadership positions." The group recently reappointed the controversial developer and activist to its board; he had previously departed in the wake of sexual-harassment allegations and comments he made about the Jeffrey Epstein case that many found repellent. advertisement advertisement We can't demand better of the internet if we don't demand better of our leaders, colleagues and ourselves. We're with the Open Source Diversity Community, Outreachy & the Software Conservancy project in supporting this petition: https://t.co/doPgJ0mSve -- Mozilla (@mozilla) March 24, 2021 Stallman, whose GNU Project built free software tools that have become standard accompaniments to Linux and other operating systems, founded the Free Software Foundation in the 1980s to promote computer programs that would be free for users to redistribute and alter as they saw fit. For years, the bearded Boston-area resident was widely known to be argumentative, but as the #MeToo movement brought sexual harassment and sexist abuse into the spotlight, many women came forward to describe years of unpleasant and abusive behavior by Stallman that reportedly even caused women to avoid walking near his office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Stallman resigned from a position at MIT and from the Free Software Foundation, where he had served as president, in 2019 after being widely criticized for comments about the Epstein case. In calling for the FSF board resignation, the petition organizers point to those comments, to the harassment complaints, to comments Stallman made about people with Down syndrome, and to his repeated comments about the singular pronoun "they," which the petitioners refer to as "poorly disguised transphobia." The Free Software Foundation didn't immediately respond to an inquiry from Fast Company. "There has been enough tolerance of RMS's repugnant ideas and behavior," the petition organizers write. "We cannot continue to let one person ruin the meaning of our work. Our communities have no space for people like Richard M. Stallman, and we will not continue suffering his behavior, giving him a leadership role, or otherwise holding him and his hurtful and dangerous ideology as acceptable." advertisement Stallman is one of several onetime tech counterculture luminaries whose behavior, once seen as merely eccentric, has since widely been classified as abusive. Linux creator Linus Torvalds took time off from the open-source operating system project in 2018 after The New Yorker reported on years of what were called "abusive emails" to others on the project. And John Draper, a celebrated hacker known as Cap'n Crunch for his discovery that toy whistles in that cereal could at one time be used to make free phone calls, was barred from a number of security conferences after allegations of sexual misconduct toward young men and teenage boys. He's denied having sexual motivations for leading the men and boys in high-touch "energy workouts." About the author Steven Melendez is an independent journalist living in New Orleans. More [fc-compass] Innovation in your inbox Sign up for the daily newsletter [ ]Sign UpSee All Newsletters Video Impact Impact A chatbot named Riley will train volunteers to respond to LGBTQ youth in crisis Impact What's working in the global fight against COVID-19 vaccine misinformation Impact This interactive map shows how making apartment buildings illegal creates unaffordable cities News News Mozilla and Tor join calls to oust Richard Stallman from Free Software Foundation News Did you spend your stimulus check on a PlayStation 5 or sex toy? You're probably not alone News Your Slack inbox is now open to millions of users Co.Design Co.Design Dyson's latest vacuum shoots green laser beams Co.Design A simple way to tackle America's most entrenched problems? Retrofit houses Co.Design Is your clothing really sustainable? 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