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www/education remote-education-children-freedom...
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From: |
Dora Scilipoti |
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Subject: |
www/education remote-education-children-freedom... |
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Date: |
Thu, 25 Jun 2020 05:51:50 -0400 (EDT) |
CVSROOT: /web/www
Module name: www
Changes by: Dora Scilipoti <dora> 20/06/25 05:51:50
Added files:
education :
remote-education-children-freedom-privacy-at-stake.html
Log message:
New page.
CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/education/remote-education-children-freedom-privacy-at-stake.html?cvsroot=www&rev=1.1
Patches:
Index: remote-education-children-freedom-privacy-at-stake.html
===================================================================
RCS file: remote-education-children-freedom-privacy-at-stake.html
diff -N remote-education-children-freedom-privacy-at-stake.html
--- /dev/null 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 -0000
+++ remote-education-children-freedom-privacy-at-stake.html 25 Jun 2020
09:51:49 -0000 1.1
@@ -0,0 +1,347 @@
+<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
+<!-- Parent-Version: 1.92 -->
+<!-- This page is derived from /server/standards/boilerplate.html -->
+<!--#set var="DISABLE_TOP_ADDENDUM" value="yes" -->
+<!--#set var="TAGS" value="resist" -->
+<title>Remote Education: My Children's Freedom and Privacy at Stake
+- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
+
+<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/side-menu.css" media="screen" />
+
+<!--#include virtual="/server/gnun/initial-translations-list.html" -->
+<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
+
+<div class="nav">
+<a id="side-menu-button" class="switch" href="#navlinks">
+ <img id="side-menu-icon" height="32"
+ src="/graphics/icons/side-menu.png"
+ title="Education Contents"
+ alt=" [Education Contents] " />
+</a>
+
+<p class="breadcrumb">
+ <a href="/"><img src="/graphics/icons/home.png" height="24"
+ alt="GNU Home" title="GNU Home" /></a> /
+ <a href="/education/education.html">Education</a> /
+ <a href="/education/resisting-proprietary-software.html">
+ Resistance</a> /
+ <a href="/education/successful-resistance-against-nonfree-software.html">
+ Successful resistance</a> /</p>
+</div>
+
+<!--GNUN: OUT-OF-DATE NOTICE-->
+<!--#if expr="$OUTDATED_SINCE" --><!--#else -->
+<!--#if expr="$LANGUAGE_SUFFIX" -->
+<!--#set var="DISABLE_TOP_ADDENDUM" value="no" -->
+<!--#include virtual="/server/top-addendum.html" -->
+<!--#endif -->
+<!--#endif -->
+
+<div style="clear: both"></div>
+<div id="last-div" class="reduced-width">
+
+<h2>Remote Education: My Children's Freedom and Privacy at Stake</h2>
+
+<p class="byline">by Javier Sepúlveda
+<a href="#sepulveda" id="sepulveda-rev"><sup>[*]</sup></a></p>
+<hr class="thin" />
+
+<div class="article">
+<p>At the beginning of March 2020, we started to hear worrisome news
+about the spread of COVID-19 in Spain. Within days, all public events,
+conferences<a href="#conferences">[1]</a> and gatherings were
+disallowed. Even a traditional celebration historically held in this
+period, the <cite>Falles</cite><a href="#falles">[2]</a>, was
+canceled.</p>
+
+<p>Next came the stay-at-home order from the government and the
+indefinite suspension of all in-person educational activities.
+Teaching had to go online, but were schools, colleges and universities
+prepared for this? The answer is no. In order to switch to remote
+education, they needed videoconferencing platforms, communication
+systems and servers they did not always have. And this is where the
+problem starts.</p>
+
+<p>Educational institutions began to choose whatever they needed
+unilaterally and independently. Each teacher, school or university
+picked a different program or platform on the spur of the moment,
+basing their choices on the sole criteria of practicality and
+popularity of the software. Far more important factors, such as the
+freedom and privacy of their students—or their own—were
+left aside. Students and parents had no say, it was a
+take-it-or-leave-it approach.</p>
+
+<p>Why were hundreds of students being condemned to use software that
+is unfair to them? Why should all data (voice, images, videos,
+handwritten documents) be owned by a company? The price of proprietary
+systems is the surrender of our freedom. It is the voice of our
+children and their image on video—everything is recorded on
+third-party servers for later analysis and exploitation. Too high a
+price to pay.</p>
+
+<p>The situation was unacceptable. It was time to say <em>NO</em>.</p>
+
+<h3>My children's schools</h3>
+
+<p>Marta (10) and Javi (12) attend public schools in San Antonio de
+Benagéber, Valencia, for their compulsory education. Apart from that,
+they are involved in extracurricular activities at three different
+private institutions. Marta takes elementary clarinet classes at the
+local non-profit Music Association (to which I provide web and email
+hosting.) Javi takes trumpet lessons at the Professional Conservatory
+of Music to prepare for admission to higher music studies in that
+institution. They both also attend a local English Academy.</p>
+
+<h3>My fight</h3>
+
+<p>For my moral grounds, I cannot let my children use nonfree
+software. I was determined to fight, but how? I was alone in this, and
+still under quarantine. I realized I could help people cope with the
+emergency by offering solutions I could easily find in my field of
+knowledge: free software they could use for their specific needs.</p>
+
+<p>But I also realized the task was not easy. It was necessary to
+start with small steps, realistic goals. With the private schools, I
+thought, they should be more inclined to listen, since there I am not
+only a parent, but also a paying costumer. And at Marta's Music
+Association I was also their server provider, so surely they would
+trust my opinion on issues related to information technology.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p><em>“A walk of a thousand miles consists of lots of steps.
+Each time you don't install some nonfree program, or decide not to run
+it that day, that is a step towards your own freedom.”</em>
+(Richard Stallman, <a href="/philosophy/saying-no-even-once.html">
+Saying No to unjust computing even once is help</a>).</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<h3>The first step</h3>
+
+<p>When a professor from Marta's music school called me to invite me
+to create a Skype account for my daughter's lessons, I said,
+“Have you read the terms and conditions of that service? Skype
+is widely known software, but that doesn't mean it's the best choice.
+Have you heard about Jitsi? I can help you. I will send you all the
+information right now with an explanation on how to use it so that you
+can try it. It's also free/libre software, it does not intercept
+communications and it does not collect or store any data.”
+Very enthusiastically, he replied, “Thank you, I really
+appreciate your advice.”</p>
+
+<p>I immediately emailed him all the necessary information, complete
+with detailed instructions he might need to get started. Two days
+later, I received an email from the school principal thanking me and
+saying that <a
+href="https://www.socmusab.es/noticias/escuela-de-musica-clases-on-line-mas-justas-y-seguras/";>
+all teachers and students had agreed to use Jitsi</a>.</p>
+
+<p>I was amazed. By being positive and showing my intention to help,
+I got the school teacher to understand and listen to my advice.</p>
+
+<div class="pict">
+<a href="/education/misc/jitsi-marta-espejo.png">
+<img src="/education/misc/jitsi-marta-espejo-sm.png"
+alt="Screenshot showing Marta and her teacher during a clarinet lesson
+over Jitsi."/></a>
+<p>Marta takes a clarinet lesson over Jitsi.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h3>The second step</h3>
+
+<p>Results were not as immediate at the English Academy.</p>
+
+<p>When they decided to go online, they surprised me with a call to
+say I needed to open a Skype account for my children's first remote
+class, which was due the following day. There was no time. There was
+no way out. Either that, or the kids would miss their lessons. I
+accepted—for the moment.</p>
+
+<p>Later that day, I engaged in what seemed a never ending battle with
+them. To make my case, I first sent them a well reasoned and
+informative letter. I reminded them that Skype is owned by Microsoft,
+a company that develops freedom-denying software, and explained what
+free/libre software is. I mentioned the abusive clauses in the
+company's terms of service, among which: Microsoft records and
+analyzes conversations, and it can hand that data over to other
+companies. I suggested to replace Skype with Jitsi and offered to
+help. I even said my children would quit the institution unless it
+changed to a free/libre platform.</p>
+
+<p>They did not respond. They were forcing almost one hundred
+students, their teachers and their parents to open a Microsoft account
+in order to use a piece of software that takes advantage of them. They
+were failing to see the seriousness of the issue, dazzled as they
+were by an impressive display of misleading information about the
+software they considered to be “well-known,” thus good.</p>
+
+<p>I resent my email to the principal of the school, and this time I
+forwarded it to teachers as well. I waited. I called them and talked
+to them at length. Once again, I made it clear I would withdraw my
+children from their school unless they changed that software.</p>
+
+<p>Eventually they understood my position and became aware of the
+dangers of Skype. They finally agreed to use Jitsi!</p>
+
+<h3>The third step</h3>
+
+<p>In the meantime, after two weeks of staying indoors, Javi was
+taking his trumpet classes over Skype. At the next lesson, I sat next
+to my son and spoke to the teacher. I began by thanking him for his
+work, since Javi was making progress despite the difficult situation.
+Then I mentioned my concern about privacy and other issues that these
+nonfree programs present. I told him pretty much the same things I had
+told the other teachers. He was surprised, “I didn't know about
+this! Is there any other program we can use?” So I invited him
+to use <a href="https://videoconferencia.valenciatech.com/";>
+my Jitsi server</a>, to avoid interruptions and guarantee the best
+sound quality.</p>
+
+<p>Since then, Javi takes his trumpet lessons on Jitsi. The teacher
+then asked me if he could use the same server with <em>all</em> his
+trumpet students and I agreed, of course. The purpose of that server
+is to help anyone who may need it.</p>
+
+<div class="pict">
+<a href="/education/misc/jitsi-javi-garcia.png">
+<img src="/education/misc/jitsi-javi-garcia-sm.png"
+alt="Screenshot showing Javi and his teacher during a trumpet lesson
+over Jitsi."/></a>
+<p>Javi takes a trumpet lesson over Jitsi.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h3>Going forward</h3>
+
+<p>I managed to raise awareness about freedom and privacy issues and
+expand the use of free software in my community. More than two hundred
+people in town are now using Jitsi. But I want to do more, I want to
+keep walking. For one thing, I want to reach the local public schools,
+knowing beforehand what a challenge that is.</p>
+
+<p>I will keep fighting nonfree software, specially in schools, armed
+with the resources I have at hand: my servers, on which I have
+installed free/libre high quality platforms for everyone to use,
+such as <a href="https://docs.valenciatech.com/";>Etherpad</a>, <a
+href="https://bbb.valenciatech.com";>BigBlueButton</a>, and the Jitsi
+server I mentioned before. Right now many people are using them, so
+I am soon going to upgrade the hardware to allow more simultaneous
+connections without loosing quality.</p>
+
+<p>What is most important, I am armed with knowledge about the <a
+href="/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html">
+philosophical foundations</a> of the Free Software Movement and the
+increasingly significant role that software plays in our daily
+lives.</p>
+
+<h3>Thanks</h3>
+
+<p>Thanks to my mentor, Richard Stallman, whose support and
+encouragement helped me become aware of the value of my efforts.
+Thanks to him for urging me to share my experience with
+the Free Software Foundation, and to the FSF for mentioning my work
+among others they included in an article about <a
+href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/remote-education-does-not-require-giving-up-rights-to-freedom-and-privacy";>
+freedom and privacy in remote education</a>. Thanks to Dora Scilipoti
+from the <a
+href="/education/edu-team.html">GNU Education Team</a>, for her
+precious advice and help in writing this text.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="infobox">
+<hr />
+<h4>Author's Notes</h4>
+<ol>
+ <li id="conferences">With help from the GNU/Linux Users Group
+of Valencia, I had organized a series of Richard Stallman's speeches
+in several areas of Spain from March 22 to 26. They all had to be
+canceled.</li>
+
+ <li id="falles">More information about the <a
+href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falles";><cite>Falles</cite></a>
+and the rare moments in history when this old event was
+suspended.</li>
+</ol>
+
+<h4>Footnote</h4>
+<p><a href="#sepulveda-rev" id="sepulveda">[*]</a> Javier Sepúlveda
+is an Industrial Design and Computer Science Engineer. He is the
+founder and executive director of VALENCIATECH, a server
+administration company that runs and offers exclusively free
+software. He is a <a
+href="/people/speakers.html#Sepulveda">GNU speaker</a> and free
+software advocate.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="infobox">
+<hr />
+<p class="italic">
+Photos courtesy of Javier Sepúlveda. Licensed under
+<a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/";>
+Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
+License</a>.</p>
+</div>
+
+</div>
+<!--#include virtual="/education/education-menu.html" -->
+<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" -->
+<div id="footer">
+<div class="unprintable">
+
+<p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to
+<a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org";><gnu@gnu.org></a>.
+There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a>
+the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent
+to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org";><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p>
+
+<p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph,
+ replace it with the translation of these two:
+
+ We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality
+ translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection.
+ Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard
+ to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org";>
+ <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p>
+
+ <p>For information on coordinating and contributing translations of
+ our web pages, see <a
+ href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
+ README</a>. -->
+Please see the <a
+href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
+README</a> for information on coordinating and contributing translations
+of this article.</p>
+</div>
+
+<!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to
+ files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should
+ be under CC BY-ND 4.0. Please do NOT change or remove this
+ without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first.
+ Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the
+ document. For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the
+ document was modified, or published.
+
+ If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too.
+ Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying
+ years, as long as each year in the range is in fact a copyrightable
+ year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including
+ being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system).
+
+ There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers
+ Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. -->
+
+<p>Copyright © 2020 Francisco Javier Sepúlveda Sanchis</p>
+
+<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license"
+href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/";>Creative
+Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p>
+
+<!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" -->
+
+<p class="unprintable">Updated:
+<!-- timestamp start -->
+$Date: 2020/06/25 09:51:49 $
+<!-- timestamp end -->
+</p>
+</div>
+</div><!-- for class="inner", starts in the banner include -->
+</body>
+</html>
- www/education remote-education-children-freedom...,
Dora Scilipoti <=