Until I met Eben Moglen a few months ago when he came to speak at a national affairs reporting class, I’d never heard his name. Then, a few months later, in a story about a group of computer science majors from NYU who are creating an open-source social networking site called Diaspora, I saw his name again. He’s the man who inspired them to begin working on it. Actually, at a speech at NYU he explained the framework for how it could be done.

Moglen is the legal brainchild behind the Software Freedom Law Center, the only nonprofit legal organization that advocates for open-source projects and free software and provides pro bono legal help to those who are trying to keep software code open. He’s a brilliant guy who has a lot to say. We need to listen.

It’s one reason why I’m working on a story about him.

Listen to his inspiring talk at NYU: