Negative effects of non-free software
i am emailing a UK Member of Parliament (Jeremy Corbyn)
to inform him about the restrictions in place in the majority of computers
and i am trying to come up with a convincing argument that shows the damage non-free software has done
so i need sources that show this.
dose anyone know of any sources of information that show things such as
[*] non-free software that spy’s on the user
[*] non-free software that censors
[*] etc etc
thanks in advance.
There are so many examples. You can take Apple's App Store as an example for both points.
Censorship:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/17/books/17cartoonist.html?_r=0
http://www.cnet.com/news/apple-rejects-app-for-tracking-u-s-drone-strikes/
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/appsblog/2011/sep/14/apple-phone-story-rejection
http://www.wired.com/2014/12/papers-please-ios-censored/
Surveillance:
http://www.gnu.org/proprietary/proprietary-surveillance.html
for me it the mind set that really push me to opensource -there been too many times i been cuss out and told i was stupid going to opensource because it broke - it not broke there too many to chose............
Open source is something else, Trisquel follow the free software philosophy.
https://gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html
thanks for your reply’s this is the main part of the email
dose anyone have any suggestions?
> https://gnu.org/philosophy/proprietary.html
I agree, and I'd add Richard Stallman's pages from his personal site on
various companies which include pointers to reasons to avoid various
proprietors and specific non-free software programs:
Reasons not to use Apple
http://stallman.org/apple.html
Reasons not to use Skype
https://stallman.org/skype.html
Reasons not to use Google
https://stallman.org/google.html
Reasons not to use Spotify
https://stallman.org/spotify.html
The theme is the same -- proprietary software grants control to the
proprietor. Therefore it's unsurprising that proprietary software is often
a vector for malware, censorship, spying, and any other nasty behavior the
proprietor can implement. Sometimes freedom requires computer users to
sacrifice something, but the sacrifice is small compared with the loss of
one's software freedom.
ok i have sent the email.
Congratulations on electing Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party! :)
The best of a shit bunch!
There are some good UK Labour politicians other than Jeremy Corbyn
Tony Benn is an example
I wasn't disputing that there may be a few *well-intentioned* politicians in
the Labour Party- like Corbyn and Benn. That doesn't exclude them from
inevitably buckling to the demands of the market once in power- like every
single Labour government before them. No matter how well-intentioned the
politician, capitalism cannot be made to work in the interests of working
people, contrary to what Labour seem to believe. I do however, welcome Corbyn
as at least a relic of some good old Labour orthodoxy- back in the day when
Labour still at least used to make some sort of pretence of being left-wing.
I think he'll raise the right questions- the working class must choose from the
answers.
just saw this video from the UK conservative party’s youtube channel thought it was a joke at first...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hgJokgNJHo
You should also add a note about how it makes people controlled by computers and, in effect, those that make it.
I wish you all the luck in the world. I doubt this will get anywhere, but
Corbyn seems like a nice chap.
I know some Nonfree software; Steam, Google Chrome (without chromium), Ms Windows, Os X, and many more...