Right to Read by Richard Stallman
Hacker ApprovedRanked 5 of 60 articles by recommenders
A short, free essay by Richard Stallman warning that control over digital works can lock away knowledge; readers say it anticipated today's restrictions.
A short, free essay by Richard Stallman warning that control over digital works can lock away knowledge; readers say it anticipated today's restrictions.
12 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 12
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 12 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Predicted today's locked-down digital world
“His dystopia is exactly where we're going to be headed quickly if we keep demanding someone to "do something".”
Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “Tell HN: Fiverr left customer files public and searchable” “His dystopia is exactly where we're going to be headed quickly if we keep demanding someone to”
Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “Tell HN: Fiverr left customer files public and searchable” “His essay The Right to Read seems to be a vision of how knowledge gets locked down.”
Comment from 10 Jun 2026 in “FCC Wants to Kill Burner Phones by Forcing Telecoms to Get All Customers' IDs” - Comment from 29 Apr 2026 in “Online age verification is the hill to die on”
- Comment from 29 Apr 2026 in “Online age verification is the hill to die on”
- Comment from 3 Apr 2026 in “Age Verification on Systemd and Flatpak”
- Comment from 27 Feb 2026 in “New California law requires age verification for all OS accounts”
Stallman's warnings still hold true
“Stallman was right, as always. Time to give his "Right to Read" another read.”
Comment from 10 May 2026 in “Hardware Attestation as Monopoly Enabler” “RMS was correct in his Right to Read and so many other things”
Comment from 10 Jul 2026 in “AI 2040: Plan A” Warns about greed and locked knowledge
“The Right to Read is a great story on showing just how greedy and stupid people would get if we allow them.”
Comment from 5 Mar 2026 in “The L in "LLM" Stands for Lying” “His essay The Right to Read seems to be a vision of how knowledge gets locked down.”
Comment from 10 Jun 2026 in “FCC Wants to Kill Burner Phones by Forcing Telecoms to Get All Customers' IDs”
Other articles people recommend
The four most recommended other articles, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Programming as Theory Buildingby Peter Naur | 32 | 0 | 100% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Ur-Fascismby Umberto Eco | 18 | 2 | 90% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Politics and the English Languageby George Orwell | 14 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | Approved |
| The Grug Brained Developer by Carson Gross | 13 | 1 | 93% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Right to Read by Richard StallmanThis page | 12 | 0 | 100% | 7 | — | Approved |
What people said
13 of the 16 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Here are some things to radicalize you”
“RMS was correct in his Right to Read and so many other things”
“His essay The Right to Read seems to be a vision of how knowledge gets locked down.”
“Stallman was right, as always. Time to give his "Right to Read" another read.”
“It's mind boggling how far Stallman saw into the future.”
“All the things it was warning about have come to pass, in spades.”
“His dystopia is exactly where we're going to be headed quickly if we keep demanding someone to "do something".”
“His dystopia is exactly where we're going to be headed quickly if we keep demanding someone to”
“it portrays a very similar scenario”
“The Right to Read is a great story on showing just how greedy and stupid people would get if we allow them.”
“disturbingly prescient, as usual”
“as to why that's a horrible idea”
“Read this and tell me free software is not politics”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.