rsiddharth <rsiddharth(a)ninthfloor.org> has given his suggestions to
improve the article :
I've written down my suggestions for improving the article below.
It would be great if you can open a merge request for this at
git.fosscommunity.in/fsfi/fsfi. Email me directly if you need help.
> ----------
> Title: Educational Institutes should use exclusively
> freedom-respecting software
>
> We urge educational institutes and webinars to stop requiring students
> to use proprietary software, and to adopt free/swatantra software
> (free as in freedom), which is [readily
> available]<https://www.gnu.org/software/free-software-for-education.html>.
How about re-phrasing this:
We urge educational institutes to [use free (as in
freedom)/swatantra software that respects students' freedom and
privacy ][fsw-edu].
[fsw-edu]:
https://www.gnu.org/software/free-software-for-education.html
> Remote
> education does not require [giving up rights to freedom and privacy]
> <https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/remote-education-does-not-require-givin…>.
Snip this and put it in "Relating Links"?
> For example, the Department of Scientific Computing, Modeling, and
> Simulation, Savitribai Phule Pune University uses exclusively free
> software for education <https://fsf.org.in/case-study/unipune/> which
> shows that it is entirely possible to use exclusively free software in
> education.
It's not clear from https://fsf.org.in/case-study/unipune if they
exclusively use free software, how about re-phrasing this to:
For example, the Department of Scientific Computing, Modeling, and
Simulation, Savitribai Phule Pune University [has been using
free/swantra software tools for more than 20 years and it's currently
helping other departments at Savitribai Phule Pune University adopt
free software][cs-unipune].
[cs-unipune]: https://fsf.org.in/case-study/unipune
> A speech by Richard Stallman on why schools should use exclusively
> free software can be watched and downloaded from [here]
> <https://audio-video.gnu.org/video/richard_stallman_speech-sina.com-2005-09.…>.
Snip this and put it in "Relating Links"?
> What is Free/Swatantra Software?
>
> Free/Swatantra software means that you, as a user, have four essential
> freedoms: (0) to run the program as you wish, (1) to study and change
> the source code so it does what you wish, (2) to redistribute exact
> copies, and (3) to redistribute copies of your modified versions.
> (See the [free software
> definition]<https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html>.)
... as user, have [the freedom to run, study, modify, and redistribute
the program].
[free-sw]: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
> With these freedoms, the users (both individually and collectively)
> control the program and what it does for them. When users don't
> control the program, we call it a “nonfree” or “proprietary”
> program. Proprietary software is an injustice to the user because it
> puts its developer or owner in a position of power over its users
> <https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html>. They
> use this power [to spy on the users, restrict them, censor them, and
> abuse them] <https://gnu.org/malware/>.
> For example, nowadays, all the major proprietary operating systems for
> the general public [spy on the
> users]<https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/proprietary-surveillance.html>.
proprietary-surveillance.html covers not just operating systems, so:
For example, many [propietary programs are known to unjustly snoop on
its users][ps]
[ps]: https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/proprietary-surveillance.html
> Why should educational institutes use free software?
>
> Any computer user should use free software for their own freedom, but
> educational institutes have [additional reasons to insist only on free
> software]<https://www.gnu.org/education/edu-schools.html>.
>
> Some reasons are listed below:
>
> - Software should [respect the user's
> freedom]<https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/shouldbefree.html> of its
> users .
>
> - [Proprietary Software Is Often Malware]<https://gnu.org/malware/>.
>
> - Educational Institutes have a moral responsibility to respect
> students' freedom and teach students to appreciate it -- for their
> own future and their country's future.
>
> - Educational institutes often expose students to [privacy-invading
> technology]<https://www.eff.org/wp/school-issued-devices-and-student-privacy>
> without any real choice to escape from it. Educational institutes
> should respect students' privacy. Free Software is controlled by its
> users and therefore it can protect them from surveillance.
>
> - Students cannot learn from proprietary software because it is
> secret, and it prohibits learning as well as sharing while free
> software encourages learning and sharing which align with the mission
> of the schools.
>
> - Proprietary software makes the institute dependent on the owner of
> the software while free software allows the institute to be in
> control.
>
> Free software can save schools money, but this is a secondary
> benefit. Savings are possible because free software gives schools,
> like other users, the freedom to copy and redistribute the software;
> the school system can give a copy to every school, and each school can
> install the program on all its computers, with no obligation to pay
> for doing so. Schools can also do necessary modifications as per their
> requirements without further cost.
>
> Problems with commonly used proprietary tools for education
>
> A lot of institutes rely on Google's Gmail and Microsoft's Outlook for
> their email communications. Offering Google or Outlook accounts is an
> injustice because:
> a. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Apple, and AOL are [surveillance
> systems]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_%28surveillance_program%29>.
>
> b. Gmail [makes psychological
> profiles]<https://www.alternet.org/2013/12/google-using-gmail-build-psychological-pro…>
> not only of Gmail users but of everyone who sends mail to Gmail users.
>
> c. Microsoft Outlook is known to block incoming mails from other email
> service providers [without providing a
> reason]<https://disroot.org/en/blog/microsoft_hostility>. [Another
> link]<https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook_com/forum/oemail-osend/outlookc…>
> .
>
> Proprietary software is an injustice to the user and gives developer
> power over the users which leads to further injustices as we discuss
> in this section.
>
Snip the above paragraph?
> Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams are proprietary software
> generally used in live classes and webinars. All of them use their
> power over the users to collect personal and location data. Zoom
> [collects a lot of
> data]<https://studentprivacymatters.org/what-you-need-to-know-about-zoom-for-educ…>
> on students. Microsoft Teams and Google also [snoop on their
> users]<https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/1/21244058/google-meet-microsoft-teams-webe…>.
> We urge teachers to help their students in resisting against
> proprietary videoconferencing platforms; some ideas are [listed here]
> <https://www.gnu.org/education/teachers-help-students-resist-zoom.html>.
>
> A lot of times, students are asked to join a WhatsApp group for
> important announcements which is an injustice to the student because
> WhatsApp is a nonfree program. Further, WhatsApp [does not respect
> user's
> privacy]<https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlypage/2021/01/08/whatsapp-tells-users-shar…>.
>
> Google Classroom is another commonly used nonfree program which is an
> [assault on student's privacy]
> <https://gomindsight.com/insights/blog/privacy-with-google-classroom-educati…>. Google
> Forms are used for filling personal details which sends data to
> Google, [a surveillance
> company]<https://stallman.org/google.html#surveillance> known to track
> and profile users. Google Drive [mistreats
> users]<https://www.vice.com/en/article/9kgwnp/porn-on-google-drive-error>
> as well.
>
> Chromebooks for schools [collect far more data on students than is
> necessary, and store it
> indefinitely]<https://www.eff.org/wp/school-issued-devices-and-student-privacy>.
>
> Many exam websites, institute and webinar websites report all their
> visitors to Google by using the Google Analytics service, which [tells
> Google the IP address and the page that was
> visited]<http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/434164/google_analytics_breaks_norweg…>.
> Many conferences/webinars host their site on Google and that site
> reports details of every visitor to Google.
Snip the above paragraph?
> G-Suite is another data collection tool which is used in education and
> needless to say it also collects a lot of data on each user: Search in
> [this
> link]<https://web.archive.org/web/20170222113929/https://gsuite.google.com/faq/se…>,
> for "Do you store multiple customers' information on the same
> server?", they clearly say "Yes, we store multiple customers’
> information on the same serving infrastructure." This means G-Suite
> puts the students under surveillance and institutes should avoid it.
I think storing customers' data on the same infrastructure and
surveillance of the customers when they use G-Suite are two different
issues.
Snip the above paragraph?
> Further, educational institutes are [invading student's
> privacy]<https://www.dw.com/en/anti-plagiarism-tools-a-new-age-of-truth-at-universit…>
> through cheating-detection systems. Requiring students to install a
> proprietary monitoring software in their own computers is an
> injustice. Monitoring software, by design, runs even when the owner of
> the computer tries to stop it from running long after the exam is
> finished and takes full control of the computer which [subjects users
> to abuse] <https://twtext.com/article/1252225044861693954>. These
> monitoring apps [collect a lot of data on
> students]<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/08/proctoring-apps-subject-students-unne…>
> such as: Recorded patterns of keystrokes, facial-recognition,
> microphones and cameras record students’ surroundings such as
> biometric data, full name, date of birth, address, phone number, scans
> of government-issued identity documents, educational institution
> affiliation, and student ID numbers, records of operating systems,
> make and model of the device, as well as device identification
> numbers, IP addresses, browser type and language settings, software on
> the device and their versions, ISP, records of URLs visited, and how
> long students remain on a particular site or webpage etc. The
> algorithms of these monitoring software could easily flag students who
> don’t have control over their surroundings as "suspicious" [which
> could further penalize
> them]<https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/04/01/online-proctoring-coll…>
> . No student should be forced to make the choice to be put into
> surveillance continuously or to fail their course.
>
> Free Software Recommendations
> If you are a parent, we urge you to talk to your child's school
> regarding the privacy concerns and raise awareness about free
> software. If you are a student, then you can form a group of students
> who are concerned about their privacy and freedom, and write
> collective letters to administration and teachers to raise
> awareness. You can learn from people who [successfully
> resisted]<https://www.gnu.org/education/successful-resistance-against-nonfree-softwar…>
> the use of nonfree software in the institutes.
If you're a parent, talk to your child's school about the importance
of using free software that respects the freedom and privacy of
students and push for its adoption. If you're a student, team up with
your peers and write collective letters to the school raising
awareness about free software and urge them to provide a free software
infrastructure for your school...
> We list freedom-respecting software that can be used in education:
Here's a list of freedom-respecting...
> Operating system: [GNU/Linux distros]
> <https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-distros.html>
>
> Online Classes- Jitsi, BigBlueButton. Check [this]
> <https://fsf.org.in/article/better-than-zoom/> for more details.
>
> Instant Messenger- Element, Quicksy or Conversations. Check [this]
> <https://fsf.org.in/article/better-than-whatsapp/> for more details.
>
> Uploading videos- [PeerTube] <https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/PeerTube>
>
> E-learning platforms- [Moodle] <https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Moodle>.
>
> Recording Lectures- [OBS]<https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Obs-studio>
>
> Sharing notes, lecture videos etc. -
> [Nextcloud]<https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Nextcloud>,
> Lufi<https://upload.disroot.org/>
>
> Digital writing pad- [Xournal] <https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Xournal>
>
> Document editor: Libre-Office <https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/LibreOffice>
>
> Email- 1. Institutes can self host their own server
> 2. [Tutanota's] https://tutanota.com software is freedom-respecting
> and you can install it in your own server or pay Tutanota for plan
> which suits your needs.
>
> The GNU website lists free software that can be used in schools and
> educational institutions of all levels
> <https://www.gnu.org/software/free-software-for-education.html>. The
> Free Software Foundation keeps a comprehensive database of educational
> software at the Free Software Directory
> <https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Category/Education>.
>
> Freeduc-USB <https://usb.freeduc.org/index-en.html> is a bootable USB
> stick that contains useful applications for the classroom.
>
> When an educational institute provides laptops to students, they
> should choose laptops which can run fully free software-- check [RYF
> laptops by FSF]<https://ryf.fsf.org/products?category=1> and
> [LibreTech] <https://libretech.shop/>. For other hardware which can
> run fully free software, check <https://h-node.org/>.
>
> Educational resources should be 'free' as in freedom
>
> Poster here: https://static.fsf.org/nosvn/appeal2020/spring/7-blackhole.png
>
> In today's age, free sharing of scientific knowledge has become the
> [worst conceivable crime]
> <https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/how-did-the-free-sharing-of-scie…>
> one can think of. Scientific journals like Elsevier lock up academic
> research behind paywalls and prohibit sharing with others. Since, the
> academic research is funded by public money, it should be available
> free of cost as well as free in freedom. For arguments on how the
> principles of software freedom apply to academic papers, please check
> [this
> essay]<https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/push-copyright-aside.html>.
> Educational resources-- like videos, recorded lectures, academic
> papers [should be released under free/swatantra licenses
> only]<https://www.stallman.org/articles/online-education.html>. The
> GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL)
> <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html> is a free license that can be
> used for educational works. Creative Commons has two free licenses:
> CC-BY and CC-BY-SA for this purpose. If you release your academic
> papers under a free license, it will give everyone an opportunity to
> learn from you. Some Free Learning Resources are mentioned [here]
> <https://www.gnu.org/education/edu-free-learning-resources.html>. We
> must not allow scientific knowledge to get locked.
>
> Free Software adoption in Indian education
> IT syllabus of class XI in Maharashtra now includes free software
> <https://fsf.org.in/news/mh-schools-floss/>.
> The state of Kerala migrated more than 2,600 public schools to free
> software <https://www.itschool.gov.in/>. Unfortunately, Kerala is the
> only state in India where IT education is imparted over a Free
> software operating system
> <https://www.academia.edu/10236947/IT_at_SCHOOL_PROJECT_OF_KERALA_A_LANDMARK…>
> and other states should also take initiative in this direction.
> A free software named Tux Paint
> <http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/TuxPaint> used at VHSS Irimpanam
> school, Kerala, where 11 and 12 years old students exercised the
> freedom to learn how the program works and modify the program, which
> demonstrates that even non programmers or children, can actually
> influence and improve information technology when software freedom is
> granted
> <https://www.gnu.org/education/edu-software-tuxpaint.html>. School-age
> children were able to effectively and quickly exercise software
> freedom with Tux Paint in the PC-in-the-Village Experiment, Goa
> <http://www.digitalequalizer.org/kids.htm>
>
> Some of the educational institutions in India that are using
> exclusively Free Software:
>
> Ambedkar Community Computing Center (AC3)
> <https://www.gnu.org/education/edu-cases-india-ambedkar.html>
>
> Vocational Higher Secondary School Irimpanam (VHSS Irimpanam)
> <https://www.gnu.org/education/edu-cases-india-irimpanam.html>
>
> Department of Scientific Computing, Modeling, and Simulation,
> Savitribai Phule Pune University --- [Statement
> here]<https://fsf.org.in/case-study/unipune/>
>
> If you know of other institutes which use free software, please let us
> know, we would like to add them in this list. If you need help in
> switching your institute to free software, feel free to [contact us]
> <https://fsf.org.in/contact/>, we would be very glad to help you.
>
> Some Related Links:
> [Richard Stallman's speeches]<https://audio-video.gnu.org/> to learn
> more about free software.
>
> [Sign Free Software Foundation's
> petition]<https://my.fsf.org/give-students-userfreedom> to call on
> school administrators around the world to stop requiring students to
> run nonfree software.
>
> [Free software enables free science]
> <https://media.libreplanet.org/u/libreplanet/m/free-software-enables-free-sc…>
>
> [Guri]<https://guri.hipatia.net/> - a project for free software in
> education
>
> Ways in which technology used in education [puts students under
> surveillance]<https://ssd.eff.org/en/module/privacy-students>
>
> Schools are [deploying massive surveillance on their
> students]<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/02/schools-are-pushing-boundaries-survei…>
> as if they are dissidents of an authoritarian regime
>
> Join Students and Scholars In Speaking Out About the Effects of Mass
> Surveillance on Campus
> <https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/05/join-students-and-scholars-speaking-o…>
>
> How Much Surveillance Can Democracy Withstand?
> <https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/surveillance-vs-democracy.html>
>
> [Don’t
> Let]<https://www.eff.org/id/deeplinks/2019/10/dont-let-science-publisher-elsevie…>
> Science Publisher Elsevier Hold Knowledge for Ransom
> -------------------
- - - - - - - -
> I have incorporated all the comments on the educational institutes
> articles in the pad here
> <https://pad.disroot.org/p/educationfreesoftware>.
> After the changes, the section on email in the draft says:
> "Email- Institutes can hire a free software consultancy to run their
> own mail server. For self-hosting mails, Mail-in a-Box
> <https://mailinabox.email/> , iRedMail <https://www.iredmail.org/> and
> Freedom Box <https://www.freedombox.org/> are also good options.
...Freedom Box <https://www.freedombox.org/> are good options.
> Further, the users of the mail server(students, teachers, other staff
> etc) can use end-to-end encryption so that only the participants of a
> communication can read the mails.
> Thunderbird on desktop/laptop and K9 Mail with OpenKeyChain for
> Android supports Open PGP.
> [PEP plugin]<https://pep.software/thunderbird/> for Thunderbird and
> PEP app<https://www.pep.security/en/> (a modified version of K9 Mail)
> makes the encryption process automatic and transparent to users
> without any manual intervention. All a user need to do is start using
> the app and all mails to other users already using pep will be
> encrypted automatically. Additionally it also makes key verification
> easier by comparing a few trust words in person or over phone to
> verify they keys belong to the person we are talking to and not
> someone impersonating them. "
I don't think we to delve into how pEp works. How about re-phrasing it
like this:
Furthermore, PGP or pEp may be used to encrypt emails to
recipients. For information about using PGP see [FSF's Email
Self-Defense guide][fsf-esg]; for pEp see
[pep.security/docs][pep]. For most users, pEp might be more
straightforward to use.
[fsf-esg]: https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org
[pep]: https://www.pep.security/docs
--
Ravi Dwivedi
My PGP key
https://keys.openpgp.org/vks/v1/by-fingerprint/430F5BE41D681CD30711B9AE4D03…
Dear fsf-discuss members,
I recently had to add myself to the list of admins of this mailing list
to process the "pending confirmation" requests because there were more
than 2000 of them and they were causing gateway timeouts on the list
info page. This was caused due to a huge number of spam sign-ups (about
3 per day) since November 2020. I've cleared them as described in
https://wiki.fsci.org.in/index.php/Mailing_list#Remove_spam_confirmation_re…
The source of this spam is unknown and it continues.
If anyone has any suggestion on how to deal with this, it would be welcome.
Meanwhile, as admin, I have been receiving notifications about uncaught
bounces from mailman with permanent failures on about 6 yahoo.com emails.
Bounce processing is supported only on mailman 3.3.1 and above.
I am going to remove these bouncing emails from the list next week
unless someone objects.
Akshay
Dear FSF India friends,
I am looking for a free software substitute for Google forms. I would really appreciate if you can suggest something on urgent basis. I wish to turn down 2 requests in which students are being forced to fill their information in Google forms.
Thanks and regards,
SS
--
Snehal M Shekatkar
Pune, India
https://inferred.co
Below are the comments by Richard Stallman on our rough draft.
-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: [FSF-WG] Re: Update on the article about using free software in
education
Date: Mon, 01 Mar 2021 00:18:53 -0500
From: Richard Stallman <rms(a)gnu.org>
Reply-To: rms(a)gnu.org, Private discussion list for Working Group of FSF
India <fsf-wg(a)mm.gnu.org.in>
To: Private discussion list for Working Group of FSF India
<fsf-wg(a)mm.gnu.org.in>
[[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider ]]]
[[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies, ]]]
[[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]
> censor them, and abuse them >
<https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/proprietary.html>.
The name we use nowadays is https://gnu.org/malware/.
> -Proprietary Software is a malware >
<https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/proprietary.html>
Likewise.
Also, there should never be an indefinite article before "malware".
It is uncountable.
> For example, Apple > iPhone's proprietary operating system does
[all of these] >
<https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/why-call-it-the-swindle.html>.
Nowadays all the major proprietary operating systems for the general public
spy on the users. It's in https://gnu.org/malware/.
> -It is an injustice to require students to sacrifice their freedom
to > proprietary software in pursuit of an education. Educational
Institutes > have a moral responsibility to respect students' freedom.
I would delete the first sentence -- it is weak. The item is stronger
without it. Can you see what I mean?
Furthermore, I would add "and teach students to appreciate it -- for
their own future and their country's future."
> -Educational institutes often expose students to privacy-invading
> technology without any real choice to opt out of it
"Opt out" implies it is a minor choice, a matter of convenience. Some
people prefer garlic on their naan and some opt out of the garlic.
Surveillance is an injustice. I suggest the right word to use here is
"avoid", or perhaps "escape".
> <https://www.eff.org/wp/school-issued-devices-and-student-privacy>.
> Educational institutes should respect students' privacy.
A more powerful point, they must never help a company snoop on
students.
> -Proprietary software makes the institute dependent on the owner of
the > software, while free software makes them independent.
The student is "it", not "them".
> Many instructors [require students to install > proprietary
proctoring software in their own > devices]
This is a sudden shift of topic from "teaching" to "proctoring".
Both topics should be covered. I suggest making them separate items.
Instead of "proctoring", why not say "monitoring"?
> Cloud storage - Nextcloud <https://nextcloud.com/>
"Cloud" is an incoherent term -- can you describe more clearly
what job you're proposing a method to do?
> [should be released under free/swatantra licenses >
only]<https://www.stallman.org/articles/online-education.html>. Two such
> free licenses are CC-BY and CC-BY-SA. The GNU Free Documentation
License > (GFDL) <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html> can also be
used for > educational works.
Would you please list the GNU FDL first?
> A free software named Tux Paint
<http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/TuxPaint> > was used at VHSS Irimpanam
school, Kerala where 11 and 12 years old
You need a second comma after "Kerala". That is a fundamental rule of
English punctuation: an explanatory phrase requires a pause before and
after.
Readers will note the word "was". Did it stop using Tux Paint? If
so, why?
--
Dr Richard Stallman
Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)
--
Ravi Dwivedi
My PGP key
https://keys.openpgp.org/vks/v1/by-fingerprint/430F5BE41D681CD30711B9AE4D03…
From RMS' earlier email I shared the link
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-meme-hustler in some discussion
groups. In one group where a lot of open source proponents were present,
I got this response:
> A good post should have acknowledged that "free software" fails to
> address sustainability robustly. This is why "open source" exists in
> the first place. Both "freedom" and "sustainability" are moral goals.
I don't intend to respond to this person myself as they make the
foregone conclusion that free software isn't sustainable and it is
rarely a good idea to respond to that.
On the other hand, I am personally in a life-situation where I'm looking
to build a career. I wish to write lots of free software.
What are some good links to read/listen about "sustainability" in free
software? Things that I can use to think about what to do in life.
Akshay
