[Savannah-register-public] [task #13995] Submission of Teach Freedom

[Adonay Felipe Nogueira]

URL:
  <http://savannah.gnu.org/task/?13995>

                 Summary: Submission of Teach Freedom
                 Project: Savannah Administration
            Submitted by: adfeno
            Submitted on: Ter 10 Mai 2016 13:47:21 BRT
         Should Start On: Ter 10 Mai 2016 00:00:00 BRT
   Should be Finished on: Sex 20 Mai 2016 00:00:00 BRT
                Category: Project Approval
                Priority: 5 - Normal
                  Status: None
                 Privacy: Public
        Percent Complete: 0%
             Assigned to: None
             Open/Closed: Open
         Discussion Lock: Any
                  Effort: 0.00

    _______________________________________________________

Details:

A new project has been registered at Savannah 
This project account will remain inactive until a site admin approves or
discards the registration.


= Registration Administration =

While this item will be useful to track the registration process, *approving
or discarding the registration must be done using the specific Group
Administration
<https://savannah.gnu.org/siteadmin/groupedit.php?group_id=11589> page*,
accessible only to site administrators, effectively *logged as site
administrators* (superuser):

* Group Administration
<https://savannah.gnu.org/siteadmin/groupedit.php?group_id=11589>


= Registration Details =

* Name: *Teach Freedom*
* System Name:  *teach-freedom*
* Type: non-GNU software and documentation
* License: GNU Lesser General Public License (Note about the license: This is
only the project idea. There's no code yet. The LGPL was initially chosen
because we think Teach Freedom could be best served as a library or a middle
application. However, we're welcoming suggestions.

The idea for the project came from a person who's not a programmer, so we need
all the help we can get.

# Initial ideas

* It shouldn't be a dependency for the projects which decide to implement it.
* Should check if the caller software is free, which could be done by getting
a list of known free software
** Perhaps from directory.fsf.org?
*** Threat: Server downtime
**** Save lists for off-line use?
**** Mirror the location of the file?
***** How to know available mirrors?
** This idea could be discarded, but would open room for abuse if the software
being used is not known to exist in the directory
** Weakness: How to recognize if the software being used is the same in the
list?
* Weakness: Could be seem as spyware by the public
* Weakness: Could annoy the public with many repetitive appearances
** Something to check if the called program was called at least once since the
system started?
** A special trigger that checks how it was called?
*** If it was called by a script, don't show message
** A special long option that the user types so that he can be sure of what he
is about to do
*** Suggestion: "--open-source-misses-freedom"
*** Suggestion: "--free-as-in-freedom"
*** Suggestion: "--free-not-gratis"
* If intended to be used to evaluate JavaScript, must be client-side, to avoid
abuse by possible JavaScript developers
** Alternative, Opportunity: Suggest GNU LibreJS projecto to always show the
"complain" tab even if no contact could be found and if at least one
JavaScript code is blocked. This way, even if the developer of the JavaScript
abuses the project's functionalities, GNU LibreJS would warn the user
* Should check if the current system distribution is free or not, perhaps by
getting a list of known free and non-free ones
* Should display an explanation of the four freedoms, and why free software
mustn't depend on non-free software, and provide useful links, like: the free
software definition, why our movement is important to the State, why digital
inclusion with non-free software is bad
** If the system distribution is non-free, display a paragraph pointing to the
list of free system distributions
** The messages should be timed pop-ups, that is, they must initially be
programmed to disappear after some time. Only if the user clicks a button the
message should stay.
*** Accessibility, Weakness: Since the message is timed, perhaps it's a good
idea to tell the screen reader to give the user a short description of the
pop-up and then give the description on how to click/activate the button to
stop the timer)

----

==== Description: ====
A project that aims to develop a functional data that, when correctly
interfaced, displays a timed pop-up on the caller program window on how free
software is important to secure the essential freedoms of society.

Programming language: Teach Freedom aims to interface with many languages so
that it can be called by all the projects which really have a *goal* of
securing the essential freedoms.

According to our short research, Teach Freedom is the first project to attempt
this goal. Besides, according to some users on irc://chat.freenode.net/fsf
this project can be used to comply with the criteria that free system
distributions must teach users about their essential freedoms regarding
functional data:

http://www.gnu.org/distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html


==== Other Software Required: ====
Ncurses (X11 License?): https://www.gnu.org/software/ncurses/ncurses.html
# Should be able to be used along with

GTK+ (GNU LGPL 2): http://www.gtk.org/
Qt (GNU LGPL 2.1?): https://www.qt.io/download/
IUP (Expat License): http://webserver2.tecgraf.puc-rio.br/iup/
EFL (GNU LGPL 2.1): https://download.enlightenment.org/rel/libs/efl/
GNUstep (GNU LGPL 2.1): http://wwwmain.gnustep.org/index.html

# Additional notes

There's a possibility that it will also need to be ready to be used with other
libraries or functional data which is used to build programs which interact
with the end user.


==== Other Comments: ====
There is no code yet because we're planning and waiting for contributors to
develop the basis of the project.

# IRC conversation which started this project

(09:12:09) ADFENO: Keziolio: So far as I and Mike Gerwitz *think*, Microsoft
is not violating licenses, and also, most of the software seems to come from
Ubuntu *directly*. https://mikegerwitz.com/2016/04/GNU-kWindows
(09:12:10) Keziolio: are you for real?
(09:12:34) Keziolio: yes they are not violating gpl
(09:12:35) MY123: Keziolio: yes
(09:12:45) MY123: no they are violating nothing
(09:13:08) Keziolio: but, they are doing something that is not liked by a lot
of people
(09:13:44) ADFENO: .... So, Windows users will have the chance to use more
free software. *However* yo are right about *one important thing:* Microsoft
and Canonical don't teach users about the essential freedoms that the digital
society ought to have.

[...]

(09:19:22) Keziolio: yes i agree with that
(09:19:46) ADFENO: Keziolio: And that is where we have to attack on.
(09:20:15) random_nick address@hidden entrou na sala.
(09:20:28) Keziolio: I'ts a was lost in advance
(09:20:31) Keziolio: war*
(09:20:40) Keziolio: it's * dammit
(09:21:51) ADFENO: Here in Brazil, whenever I see someone saying that "Windows
is free" or or even the old "Windows is better", I usually talk about the four
freedoms in a easy way to understand (by making real-life examples, such as
disabled users hiring a developer, and both sharing or selling the result
work, and so on).
(09:23:01) Keziolio: That's not sustainable and you can't convince anyone,
without doing crusades
(09:23:01) ADFENO: ... And of course, I tell people how non-free system
dostributions (like Windows, Ubuntu, Fedora, Android, CyanogenMod, and so on)
harm the essential freedoms of society in general.
(09:23:41) Keziolio: if microsoft has gone in the effort to port linux to
windows, it means that free software has a great value
(09:24:10) ADFENO: Keziolio: So... What is your strategy proposition?
(09:24:12) Keziolio: so we (free software community/developers) are in a
position to apply force
(09:24:13) bruce_lee: is fedora considered non-free?
(09:24:34) ADFENO: bruce_lee: Yes. It's non-free.
(09:24:42) Keziolio: maybe I said that badly, you can't convince everyone
(09:25:02) Keziolio: we're still the <1% of the population
(09:25:16) ADFENO: bruce_lee: And yes,Fedora is making a false propaganda with
"Freedom", Friends, First.
(09:25:27) bruce_lee: ok, I'm not going to tell you which distribution I am
using!
(09:25:53) Keziolio: it's rather useless to talk about free software to
un-technical people, they wont give a sh*t now or ever
(09:26:04) ADFENO: bruce_lee: What *you* use is yours for the taking of
emprisonment.
bren2010 brendyn bruce_lee 
(09:26:23) bruce_lee: what about redhat?
(09:26:29) ADFENO: bruce_lee: But please, do not recommend it to society in
general.
(09:27:37) bruce_lee: to which distribution should I switch?
(09:27:56) bruce_lee: centos?
(09:27:58) ADFENO: bruce_lee: RedHat is, as far as I know, a for-profit
organization. They can do things against our movement, and they can sometimes
be in favor. But we shouldn't relly on them.
(09:28:03) ***jxself uses Trisquel
(09:28:34) ADFENO: bruce_lee: Trisquel is my first guess.
(09:28:54) bruce_lee: thx, I'll check triquel
(09:29:44) ADFENO: Keziolio: It's difficult, but we must try.
(09:29:59) ADFENO: Here in Brazil things are even wrose.
(09:30:40) ADFENO: But the few 15 free software activists are still trying.
(09:30:49) Keziolio: Yeah but it there was a license that denies usage on
non-free systems, that would be easier
(09:30:55) Keziolio: if*
(09:31:08) ADFENO: Keziolio: But that would be non-free software license.
(09:31:26) Keziolio: but the alternative is super-non-free
(09:31:41) Keziolio: but yeah it was just an idea
(09:32:10) qft address@hidden entrou na sala.
(09:32:16) Keziolio: because things have changed a lot, it's possible that the
old paradigm is not the best possible now
(09:33:09) ADFENO: Still... It doesn't change the fact that Windows is still a
non-free system distribution... Nothing changed.
(09:33:41) Keziolio: yes but now windows (non-free) has the power of bot
non-free and free software
(09:33:50) Keziolio: both*
(09:34:15) Keziolio: if I make an application for linux now, I'm giving power
to windows and non-free software
(09:34:50) Keziolio: and that's bad because now there's no way as a developer
to promote free software
(09:35:14) ADFENO: Keziolio: There is a way...
(09:35:29) Keziolio: what? systemd as a dependency?
(09:35:40) ADFENO: ... You can educate users about free software philosophy in
your own applications.
(09:35:59) Keziolio: yeah that's going to work in utopia
(09:36:22) ADFENO: Do you know those so called "user-friendly" software? So,
they have friendly interfaces, pop-up windows and other things.
(09:36:35) Keziolio: Yes that's friendly
(09:36:40) ADFENO: Colored windows.
(09:36:45) CapsAdmin saiu da sala (quit: Read error: Connection reset by
peer).
(09:36:46) ADFENO: and so on...
(09:37:17) OpenPony address@hidden/openpony] entrou na sala.
(09:37:19) CapsAdmin address@hidden entrou na
sala.
(09:38:12) Keziolio: do you think that a popup can "convert" a major part of
the population and developers to free software, by 2100?
(09:38:25) ADFENO: ... Point is: Make your software education the user about
those freedoms. (I was actually going to suggest putting examples, but things
change, and there might be a time where some non-free software or non-free
system distribution becomes free, and your software becomes outdated with the
examples).
(09:38:42) pitelpan saiu da sala (quit: Ping timeout: 276 seconds).
(09:39:48) ADFENO: Keziolio: You're right: I don't think so. But if we do it
the right way... The user won't even notice that it's a popup.
(09:39:53) Keziolio: but given the power of free software, it would be best do
dissociate and block microsoft's usage asap, instead of acting like nothing
happened and then pray for support when all the developers switched to
windows
(09:40:14) Keziolio: best to* sorry
(09:41:36) ADFENO: Perhaps there is even some kind of software that can be
used to simply tell your program that the user is using non-free system
distribution like Windows.
(09:44:03) ADFENO: This way you could program it to receive this response and
say "Hey! It appears that you're using non-free software (Windows). If you
wish to help humanity, and to regain your essential freedoms, please click
here. <- Points to the list of free system distributions.
(09:44:28) Keziolio: yeah that's not going to make any tangible difference
(09:44:44) ADFENO: Really?
(09:45:11) jxself: That's a nice idea. Seems to fit with the "Please Teach
Users about Free Software" part of
http://www.gnu.org/distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html
(09:45:31) ADFENO: jxself: Exactly!

[...]

(09:46:01) ADFENO: I think that is what we as movoement were missing for quite
some time.

[...]

(09:46:30) Infiltrator: ADFENO: Perhaps something a little less jarring might
win over more people.

[...]

(09:48:30) ADFENO: I mean, we develop free software to help humanity, and then
we do our best to fight to preserve that without denying the essential
freedoms, and then when we talk about our own feats, even though people use
some kind of free software, then what, they give us no part of their
attention.

[...]

(09:50:58) ADFENO: I think that we should also put those "advertisements" in
GNU LibreJS-compliant code.
(09:51:07) specing: Keziolio: bullshit, Linux is way better on the desktop
than other OSs
(09:51:09) ADFENO: (or in free JavaScript in general)
(09:51:23) jxself: adfeno: Maybe write to the LibreJS people about that idea?

[...]

(09:51:40) ADFENO: jxself: Sure I will .:D

[...]

(10:04:09) Infiltrator: ADFENO: The "you are running free software on a
non-free platform" idea won't work, ironically, because it's free software, so
the distributors of the likes of microsoft and canonical would be able to hack
out those messages.

[...]

(10:26:37) ADFENO: Infiltrator: Question is: Will they?

[...]

(10:27:52) ADFENO: I think the license should be copyleft, but I also think
that it should be a package recommendation/suggestion, not a dependency.
(10:29:15) Infiltrator: I think that they would.  If they've gone to all the
effort of porting.
(10:29:48) Infiltrator: What should be a suggestion and not a dep?

[...]

(10:30:29) ADFENO: Infiltrator: If they would, then the already educated
people will notice something wrong.
(10:31:41) ADFENO: And, if these people know the importance of their essential
freedoms, then they'll say "Hey! This software doesn't pop-up the 'free
software' message, so it's *probably* non-free".

[...]

(10:39:47) ADFENO: I'm thinking about this idea I just gave... And it seems
that the best thing to do is to implement it at the (client|user)-side, both
because this would allow integration with existing free software in the system
distribution, and also because it would try to avoid "non-official" messages
that could be written by, for example, a website administrator (if the
software would be at the server-side).

[...]

(10:42:17) ADFENO: I also think that it shouldn't be writen to be used as
client-side JavaScript. Of course, nothing stops web developers to port it to
be such a thing. But the original intent of the project is to be
"light-ly-tied" to the system distribution.

[...]

(10:43:59) ADFENO: And also,,, Since it would interface with GNU LibreJS,
people would probably know if the message is really legit, because LibreJS
pops-up that "Complain!" button (although it only appears when it has found
contact information).

[...]

(11:01:11) ADFENO: Infiltrator: The package that arises from this idea, this
package should be suggested by other packages.
(11:01:32) ADFENO: However, as I said, it shouldn't be a dependency.


==== Tarball URL: ====
http://savannah.gnu.org/submissions_uploads/teach-freedom.tar.gz






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