Is it acceptable to use proprietary software (platforms) to promote software freedom?

[Paul Boddie]

On Tuesday 25. July 2017 14.56.55 Erik Albers wrote:
> 
> But still, this is not so special about "social media". It is the internet
> in general. And it also effects for example your email-exchange. There is
> a disturbing analysis by Benjamin Mako Hill who runs his own email-server
> but has to realise that more than 30% of all his emails come from google
> and more than 50% go to google [2].

It is true that communications are only secure if the endpoints are also 
secure. (Worth remembering when people talk about "uncrackable" encryption 
methods in the media, especially when device exploits exist but rarely 
mentioned in the same article.) So if the mail all ends up at Google in 
unencrypted form, then using such services obviously undermines privacy and 
provides a means of surveillance.

What the FSFE should probably be doing is helping people find alternative ways 
of managing their communications. This should also go beyond advocacy and 
actually cover the concrete steps people would need to take to adopt such 
alternatives. And upon realising that it can seem like an intimidating project 
for people not versed in technology, it should also involve facilitating 
projects that seek to reduce the complexity involved.

[...]

> Should we, however, take down our web-page for saving users from being
> tracked by third-parties (e.g. via their cookies) while they are browsing
> our web-pages?

Are the FSFE Web pages serving up tracking cookies?

Paul