Isn’t it a bit petty to deny him that? It seems a hell of a lot harder to me to get a honorary doctorate than a normal PhD, and I can think of a lot of PhDs who deserve their doctor title a lot less than Stallman.
Kanye West, Ben Affleck, Jon Bon Jovi, etc, all have honorary doctorates. Why does nobody call them Doctor? For the same reason you shouldn't call Stallman Doctor - because you don't do that for honorary doctorates.
Well that’s just social convention, and I don’t place much emphasis on that. I reserve the right to address anyone I choose as “doctor”, and if Stallman prefers to be addressed that way I’m happy to oblige. He has certainly earned it in my book.
Same goes for Benjamin Franklin btw, whom I see you left out of your list.
If no one (including MIT) decided they could grant him a PhD on the basis of publications (rather than the more traditional thesis route) I don't see why we should use the honorific. Also, I know plenty of distinguished engineers who don't have a PhD, and they seem fine with it. It is the extremely vain who travel around being feted for faded laurels who I have no time for.