Re: [libreplanet-discuss] The future of Free Software and Free Society

[Giuseppe Molica]

> At least in the US, I'm not so sure that the general public sees the
> importance or usefulness of things such as access to source code or
> the selection of well-documented, free/open file formats. For many
> (all?) of us on this list, we may personally feel as though such
> policies are self-evident, but that is not the case for so many of our
> neighbors in meatspace.

In Italy too, and this is a problem. First of all, we have to let people
know WHY we need free software and free formats; this is our most
important "fight".

> One of the reasons why I'm working hard on Document Freedom Day this
> year (apologies for this shameless plug) is because I think that we've
> got to start with small tidbits such as the intrinsic, personal
> benefits of having access to one's own data, and build upon that
> starting point as the basis for greater education and acceptance.
> http://documentfreedom.org/

This is the point: having access to our own data is not a "benefit",
it's a RIGHT. We are in a critical situation, because all big companies
are trying to steal users' data using as argument that a practical
advantage is more important than freedom.

> Indubitably, but that requires education! We need packs of information
> we can hand to teachers, educators, homeschoolers, and retirees. The
> material needs to be crisp, clean, intelligent, have a
> theme/uniformity, and use accessible language.

As I said, the question is that people don't care about their rights. In
this list, we talk about freedom, copyright law, copyleft; but what
about "normal" people?

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Giuseppe Molica