Privacy and Intellectual Property Rights

Nowadays, millions of people from all over the world use free software even though they often ignore the events that gave birth to the free software movement and the philosophy for which free software is developed and promoted.

This paper describes the key events that have led to the emergence of the free software movement and its evolution over the years.

Furthermore, starting with the history of Richard Stallman, one of the main exponents of the free software movement, this paper provides an overview of the GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation.