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www/education dangers-of-proprietary-systems-in...


From: Dora Scilipoti
Subject: www/education dangers-of-proprietary-systems-in...
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2020 13:27:34 -0500 (EST)

CVSROOT:        /web/www
Module name:    www
Changes by:     Dora Scilipoti <dora>   20/11/10 13:27:34

Modified files:
        education      : 
                         dangers-of-proprietary-systems-in-online-teaching.html 
                         teachers-help-students-resist-zoom.html 

Log message:
        Some changes.

CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/education/dangers-of-proprietary-systems-in-online-teaching.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.2&r2=1.3
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/education/teachers-help-students-resist-zoom.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.1&r2=1.2

Patches:
Index: dangers-of-proprietary-systems-in-online-teaching.html
===================================================================
RCS file: 
/web/www/www/education/dangers-of-proprietary-systems-in-online-teaching.html,v
retrieving revision 1.2
retrieving revision 1.3
diff -u -b -r1.2 -r1.3
--- dangers-of-proprietary-systems-in-online-teaching.html      8 Nov 2020 
19:57:54 -0000       1.2
+++ dangers-of-proprietary-systems-in-online-teaching.html      10 Nov 2020 
18:27:34 -0000      1.3
@@ -45,15 +45,14 @@
 to the COVID-19 sanitary emergency. For many schools, this constituted 
 a first important step towards digitalization. However, the 
 transition to <strong>remote teaching has brought an unwelcome guest: 
-nonfree software</strong>.</p>
+nonfree software for classes online</strong>.</p>
 
-
-<p>Most of the software that is being adopted, like video conferencing
-programs and Learning Management Systems (LMS), are proprietary
-software used by software development companies as weapons against
+<p>Many schools have adopted video conferencing programs and Learning 
+Management Systems (LMS) that are proprietary software. These nonfree 
+programs are used by software development companies as weapons against 
 students' and teachers' fundamental rights to computer freedom and
-privacy. These programs are the antithesis of education since they
-forbid the sharing of knowledge and are specifically designed to 
+privacy. Nonfree software is the antithesis of education since it 
+forbids the sharing of knowledge and is specifically designed to 
 prevent it. <strong>There should be no place for nonfree software in 
 educational environments</strong>.</p>
 
@@ -133,7 +132,7 @@
 
 <p class="unprintable">Updated:
 <!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2020/11/08 19:57:54 $
+$Date: 2020/11/10 18:27:34 $
 <!-- timestamp end -->
 </p>
 </div>

Index: teachers-help-students-resist-zoom.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/education/teachers-help-students-resist-zoom.html,v
retrieving revision 1.1
retrieving revision 1.2
diff -u -b -r1.1 -r1.2
--- teachers-help-students-resist-zoom.html     8 Nov 2020 19:19:57 -0000       
1.1
+++ teachers-help-students-resist-zoom.html     10 Nov 2020 18:27:34 -0000      
1.2
@@ -39,18 +39,16 @@
 <h2>Teachers: Help Your Students Resist Zoom</h2>
 
 <div class="article">
-
-<p>Today more than ever, technology has become an instrument of
-surveillance and oppression that can only be fought back
-by empowering citizens with the ability to inspect and control the
-software they use. It is the responsibility of all educational
-institutions to provide the means to that end by teaching and
-installing only <a
-href="/philosophy/free-sw.html">free/libre software</a>.</p>
+<p>In the wake of the global COVID-19 emergency, the urgency of 
+ensuring the continuity of classes left little to no space for a 
+healthy debate on how to favor software that empowers students to 
+learn. As a consequence, freedom-denying and privacy violating 
+software has seen widespread adoption in education.</p>
 
 <p>Zoom, a proprietary online conferencing program that is becoming 
 more and more dangerously popular, is an example of such harmful 
-technology. No educational institution should ever use it.</p>
+technology. <strong>No educational institution should ever use 
+it</strong>.</p>
 
 <p>Please don't force students to install Zoom on their computers, or
 to use its web version.</p>
@@ -71,11 +69,12 @@
 
 <p>There are better programs you can use for teaching remote classes,
 free/libre programs like <a 
-href="https://jitsi.org/jitsi-meet/";>Jitsi</a> or <a 
-href="https://bigbluebutton.org/";>BigBlueButton</a>. By choosing these 
-programs you are enabling motivated students to learn about the 
-software they use everyday, and some of them one day will be able to 
-adapt it to their needs, serving a larger community. Those who will 
+href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Jitsi";>Jitsi</a> or BigBlueButton. 
+By choosing these and <a 
+href="/software/free-software-for-education.html">other free programs 
+for education</a>, you are enabling motivated students to learn about 
+the software they use everyday, and some of them one day will be able 
+to adapt it to their needs, serving a larger community. Those who will 
 not pursue such curiosity, will still benefit from using a software 
 that respects their freedoms and doesn't spy on them.</p>
 
@@ -93,8 +92,9 @@
 
 <p>If Zoom was imposed on you by your school's administration, we
 recommend you to contact them and ask to drop Zoom in favour of a free
-program. Ask other teachers for help, and explain why software freedom 
-is paramount for education.</p>
+program. Ask other teachers for help, and explain <a
+href="/education/edu-schools.html">why</a> software freedom is 
+paramount for education.</p>
 
 <h3 id="last-resort">Last resort</h3>
 
@@ -114,9 +114,9 @@
 alongside.</li>
 
   <li>Tell them that you regret the use of Zoom and show them which
-are the free programs to replace it. Explain <a
-href="/education/edu-why.html">why</a> proprietary software such as
-Zoom has no place in schools (and in any other aspect of life.)  You
+are the free programs to replace it. Explain that <a
+href="/education/edu-why.html"> proprietary software such as
+Zoom has no place in schools</a> (or in any other aspect of life.) You
 could take this opportunity and talk about free software, and why <a
 href="/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html">software
 freedom is even more important today</a>.</li>
@@ -129,12 +129,12 @@
 such as examinations, and students refuse to use Zoom, then you, as a
 teacher, could set up a different meeting in parallel or an
 alternative exam session using one of the free programs mentioned
-above. Or you could provide a computer in your school with Zoom
-installed, and ask the student to join the exam using that computer.
-That way, the student won't be forced to install non-free software on
-their computer, and the use of Zoom will be limited to the exam. If
-you opt for this choice, we recommend the school computer to run a
-<a
+above. Another possibility is to provide a computer in your school 
+with Zoom installed, and ask the student to join the exam using that 
+computer. That way, the student won't be forced to install non-free 
+software on their computer, and the use of Zoom will be limited to the 
+exam. If you opt for this choice, we recommend the school computer to 
+run a <a
 href="/distros/free-distros.html">free software distribution</a>.</p>
 
 <p>Simply by telling students about this possibility, which you can do
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@
 
 <p class="unprintable">Updated:
 <!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2020/11/08 19:19:57 $
+$Date: 2020/11/10 18:27:34 $
 <!-- timestamp end -->
 </p>
 </div>



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