rsiddharth rsiddharth@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-giving-up-rights-to-freedom-and-privacy.
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.ogg.
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:
users .
own future and their country's future.
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-profiles-hundreds-millions-people/?paging=off
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/outlookcom-is-blocking-all-incoming-mails-from/fe2790d9-4ab5-498b-a8f6-46dbfd3a09e4
.
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-education/
on students. Microsoft Teams and Google also [snoop on their
users]https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/1/21244058/google-meet-microsoft-teams-webex-personal-data-collection-privacy-policy-concerns.
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-share-your-data-with-facebook-or-well-deactivate-your-account/.
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-education-industry-news/. 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_norwegian_privacy_laws_local_agency_said/.
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/security/,
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-university/a-45475465
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-unnecessary-surveillance
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-college-exams-coronavirus/
. 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-software.html#content
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,
Lufihttps://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-scientific-knowledge-and-culture-become-the-worst-crime-our-justice-systems-could-think-of/
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_IN_ICT_INITIATIVE_IN_GENERAL_EDUCATION
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-science/
[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-surveillance-technologies
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-out-about-effects-mass-surveillance-campus
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-elsevier-hold-knowledge-ransom
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 apphttps://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
Snehal M Shekatkar