FSFE convinces 1125 public administrations to remove proprietary software advertisements
press at fsfeurope.org
press at fsfeurope.org
Tue Oct 13 07:53:55 CEST 2015
= FSFE convinces 1125 public administrations to remove proprietary software advertisements =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2015/news-20151013-01.fi.html ]
After six years of activity, the PDFreaders campaign[1] is coming to a
close this month as one of our most successful campaigns.
The campaign began in 2009 with the intent of removing advertisements
for proprietary PDF reader software from public institutions' websites.
To start it all off, volunteers submitted 2104 "bugs", or instances of
proprietary PDF software being directly promoted by public authorities,
and the FSFE listed[2] them online. Since then, hundreds of Free
Software activists took action by writing to the relevant public
institutions and calling for changes to their websites. We received a
lot of positive feedback from the institutions thanking us for our
letters, and to date, 1125 out of the 2104 websites (53%) edited their
websites by removing links to proprietary PDF readers, or adding links
to Free Software PDF readers.
In addition to writing letters, FSFE also collected signatures for a
petition calling for an end to advertisement for proprietary software
products on government websites[3]. 90 organizations, 63 businesses, and
2731 individuals signed this petition.
Furthermore, we were able to push for change at both national and
international levels.
- In Germany, national parties[4] gave statements in favor of free PDF
readers and the German Government itself has recommended the usage of
our text snippet in their migration guide[5]. FSFE's coordinator for
Germany, Max Mehl, covers it[6] in more detail on his blog.
- In the EU: the European Parliament directly asked[7] the European
Commission what were the reasons for advertising a specific software
and which steps were taken to solve this problem.
- In 2011 one of our pdfreaders.org coordinators, Hannes Hauswedell, was
in contact with Google[8], asking them to release the PDF reader
included in their Chrome browser as Free Software. Finally, in May
2014, the pdfium sources were published openly[9], and while FSFE's
enquiry might not have been the only reason they were released, it
marks an important change for the widespread adoption of Free Software
PDF readers.
"This success would not have been possible without the help and hard
work from our volunteers and the support from our donors. *Thank
you!* While many public and private web-sites still promote
proprietary readers, the level of awareness has changed
significantly during our campaign and now it should be much easier
for you to approach the remaining web-site administrators. Also most
internet users today already use Free Software when they open a PDF
file in their browser -- a huge difference from 2009!" says Hannes
Hauswedell who started the campaign. "Of course work still remains
and we invite you to keep on reminding (public) administrators to
use Open Standards and not recommend proprietary software. And with
your support, we too, will continue to fight for a web that respects
its users' privacy and freedom!"
To get involved[10] you can use our sample letter[11] to send to the
relevant public administration, or you can write one of your own. Just
make sure to include where to find a list of Free Software PDF
readers[12] that could replace the link from their website.
A special thanks again to the activists, volunteers, and donors who
helped make this campaign a success!
1. https://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/pdfreaders.fi.html
2. https://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/buglist.fi.html
3. https://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/petition.fi.html
4. http://gruen-digital.de/2012/03/document-freedom-day-kleine-anfrage-zur-werbung-fuer-adobe-reader-eingereicht/
5. http://www.cio.bund.de/Web/DE/Architekturen-und-Standards/Migrationsleitfaden-und-Migrationshilfen/migrationsleitfaden_node.html
6. http://blog.mehl.mx/2015/german-government-wants-authorities-to-advertise-pdfreaders/
7. https://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/parliamentary-questions-eu.en.html
8. http://blogs.fsfe.org/polina/2015/09/10/free-pdf-reader-for-the-web-browser/
9. https://twitter.com/nasko/status/469595752734269440
10. https://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/follow-up.fi.html
11. https://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/letter.fi.html
12. http://pdfreaders.org
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology. Software is deeply involved in all aspects of our
lives; and it is important that this technology empowers rather than
restricts us. Free Software gives everybody the rights to use,
understand, adapt and share software. These rights help support other
fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how Free
Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination.
It enhances users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software
adoption, encourage people to use and develop Free Software, and
provide resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software
in Europe.
http://fsfe.org/
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