Re: The Imperative of Free Software

[Jorge P. de Morais Neto via libreplanet-discuss]

Hello,

Em [2023-04-25 ter 18:56:52-0400], Greg Farough escreveu:

> It was probably right on the line of relevance to the list, but it
> ultimately seemed okay to me.

Thank you for your consideration Greg!

I do not want to weigh on whether the original message was on topic for
this list, but personally I happened to like it a lot.  Software freedom
is not a highly specialized topic for technology-obsessed nerds; it
strongly relates to human equality, solidarity, community and
fraternity/sorority.

Anyway, I take this as an opportunity to publicize gnu-misc-discuss.  It
is a mailing list for miscellaneous discussion with fellow GNU
activists.  I am subscribed.  It is currently very low volume, but it is
up to us to revive it.  So if anyone wants to share some interesting
professional article or even a personal essay, but it is actually
off-topic for libreplanet-discuss, I recommend gnu-misc-discuss.

Regards!

-- 
- Many people hate injustice but few check the facts; this causes more
  injustice.  Ask me about 
- I am Brazilian.  I hope my English is correct and I welcome feedback.
- Free Software Supporter: https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter
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Re: Announcing Zoë Kooyman as our new executive director

[Jorge P. de Morais Neto via libreplanet-discuss]

Hi,

Em [2022-03-01 ter 15:32:35-0500], Greg Farough escreveu:

> We have some news to share, which is that Zoë Kooyman has been
> appointed our new executive director.  I hope that you'll all join me
> in welcoming her, and in thanking John S. for so many years with us.

Congratulations Zoë!

Kind regards,
  Jorge

-- 
- Many people hate injustice but few check the facts; this causes more
  injustice.  Ask me about 
- I am Brazilian.  I hope my English is correct and I welcome feedback.
- Free Software Supporter: https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter
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Is Telegram or Signal acceptable for harm reduction?

[Jorge P. de Morais Neto via libreplanet-discuss]

Hi.  Sometime ago I submit to a proprietary instant messenger for a work
chat room.  I want to get rid of it ASAP.

As I had it installed and active on my smartphone (for the work room), I
ended up joining three other chat rooms about civil service public
exams.  These three are big, so I have no hope of convincing everyone to
switch to an ethical network.  I then intend to join these rooms from my
wife’s account, on her smartphone, which I would consult weekly for new
chat messages¹.  The other room (the work one) has only seven members
(including me), so I hope to convince them to switch to a better
platform.  If they don’t want to switch, then I’ll ask them to forward
me the rare important messages via an ethical technology like SMS or
e-mail.

Now, what if my six work colleagues accept switching to another chat
network but refuse both XMPP and Matrix because "no one uses that",
accepting only Telegram or Signal?  I do currently have Telegram and
Signal accounts, but I worry about their ethics.

Telegram /does/ have free clients on GNU Guix and PureOS repositories,
which is great, but it is a centralized network, the server code is
hidden, and it doesn’t even have end-to-end encryption!  So is it a real
improvement over the fully proprietary---but allegedly end-to-end
encrypted---status quo?

What about Signal?  Compared to Telegram, it has the big advantage of
end-to-end encryption, but the disadvantage of obstructing the
distribution of modified versions of its client; it is not even
available on F-Droid, Guix or Debian (let alone PureOS).

So, should I insist on a really ethical network---XMPP or maybe
Matrix---despite the big likelihood that they will refuse, or should I
swallow Telegram or Signal?

Regards

¹ You may wonder what is the point of refusing to use the proprietary
application on my smartphone, but still using it on my wife’s
smartphone.  It is clearly still not ideal, but it does have significant
advantages:

1. I would not be discoverable in the network, so people who want to
   reach me (outside those three remaining rooms) would send an email or
   SMS instead.
2. I would be able to delete my account, thus reducing the unethical
   network’s market value.
3. The surveillance AI would be confused with two people using the same
   account.
4. I would be less tempted to join other rooms in the unethical network.

Regards

-- 
- Disinformation flourishes because many people care about injustice
  but very few check the facts.  Ask me about 
- I am Brazilian.  I hope my English is correct and I welcome feedback.
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Re: Moderation + Bias = Censorship

[Jorge P. de Morais Neto via libreplanet-discuss]

Hi everyone.

Em [2021-07-21 qua 05:40:21+0200], Miroslav Rovis escreveu:

> Maybe somebody could notify the moderators about this at the relevant
> email address (Do you Jorge, have it at hand, remember when we had
> some of our emails filtered or whatever, you Cc'ed me and Greg sent us
> where to complain...)

I initially complained to  about silently dropped
messages in this mailing list.  I got a reply telling me that the
problem was probably an accident.  They suggested trying to send it
again, and, if the problem persisted, emailing  (the
team that does the moderation).

I hope I am not violating netiquette by posting this information that I
got from a private email.  I did omit the person's name and I did not
quote their exact words, so I hope it is OK.

Anyway, if you do complain, I suggest assuming good faith and using a
conciliatory, friendly tone.  The FSF staff is already under pressure
and probably overworked.

Regards!

-- 
- Disinformation flourishes because many people care about injustice
  but very few check the facts.  Ask me about 
- I am Brazilian.  I hope my English is correct and I welcome feedback.
- https://www.defectivebydesign.org
- https://www.gnu.org

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Re: Ethical and inexpensive mailing list service?

[Jorge P. de Morais Neto via libreplanet-discuss]

Hi Jean Louis!

Em [2021-06-14 seg 20:04:18+0300], Jean Louis escreveu:

> I am using my Emacs packages and M-x rcd-mail-mailing-list and my
> programs for mailing list. Of course I have my domains and online
> servers where I relay the mail.

But even with your Emacs package I would still need a 24/7 server to
host the mailing list, right?

Regards

-- 
- https://stallmansupport.org "In Support of Richard Stallman"
- I am Brazilian.  I hope my English is correct and I welcome feedback.
- Free Software Supporter: https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter
- If an email of mine arrives at your spam box, please notify me.

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Re: Ethical and inexpensive mailing list service?

[Jorge P. de Morais Neto via libreplanet-discuss]

Hi.

Em [2021-06-14 seg 19:37:15+0300], Federico Leva (Nemo) escreveu:

> The GNU mailman wiki lists a few hosting services:
> https://wiki.list.org/COM/Mailman%20hosting%20services

Thank you for the tip.  I then looked at that list of services.  Some of
the websites don't work on GNU IceCat (probably because of proprietary
JavaScript or maybe JavaScript that is libre but lacks license tags).
Others were more promising, specially ; in
its website I saw no JavaScript, let alone proprietary JavaScript (so it
works great on GNU IceCat and even on Emacs EWW) and they charge US$
40.80/year for a list of 26 to 1000 subscribers.  Still a bit more
expensive in Brazilian reais than I would like.

> For small mailing lists (say, if you are a group of 10 friends), note 
> that many hosting companies offer basic mailing lists in association 
> with a domain name and/or mailbox (often using ezmlm), so you can look 
> for that too.

The smallest list would have ≃ 38 subscribers; the other would have more
than 100.  Anyway, I contacted a friend who hosts the website of my
wife's clinic and asked if he can host the two lists for a small price.
He said he already "has" (I think he meant "rents") a Digital Ocean
server that could host the mailing list.  He is currently busy, but soon
we will talk more about this.

Regards!

-- 
- https://stallmansupport.org "In Support of Richard Stallman"
- If an email of mine arrives at your spam box, please notify me.
- Please adopt free/libre formats like PDF, ODF, Org, LaTeX, Opus, WebM and 7z.
- Free/libre software for Replicant, LineageOS and Android: https://f-droid.org
- https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html "What is free software?"

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Re: Ethical and inexpensive mailing list service?

[Jorge P. de Morais Neto via libreplanet-discuss]

Hi.  

Em [2021-06-14 seg 20:18:36+0300], Jean Louis escreveu:

> For mailing lists, well, you can keep mailing list yourself:
>
> The Courier Mail Server
> http://www.courier-mta.org/

Are you suggesting I use Courier alongside GNU Mailman, or instead of
it?

Regards

-- 
- https://stallmansupport.org "In Support of Richard Stallman"
- I am Brazilian.  I hope my English is correct and I welcome feedback.
- https://www.defectivebydesign.org
- https://www.gnu.org

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Re: Ethical and inexpensive mailing list service?

[Jorge P. de Morais Neto via libreplanet-discuss]

Hi.

Em [2021-06-14 seg 18:18:22-0300], Pedro Lucas Porcellis escreveu:

> I would strongly recommend sourcehut or riseup.

Unfortunately my friends will probably not want to use sourcehut
(because it forbids HTML), and riseup.net mailing lists must be used for
radical social change.  Ali Reza Hayati wrote "I don't see any
requirement for being an activist", by which I think he meant that the
rule isn't enforced; but if I create the list against their rules, I
fear it could be disabled in the future.

Regards

-- 
- https://stallmansupport.org "In Support of Richard Stallman"
- I am Brazilian.  I hope my English is correct and I welcome feedback.
- Free Software Supporter: https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter
- If an email of mine arrives at your spam box, please notify me.

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Ethical and inexpensive mailing list service?

[Jorge P. de Morais Neto via libreplanet-discuss]

Hi.  I am part of a few Google Groups mailing lists and I would like to
move further away from G$$gle.  Do you recommend an inexpensive (note
that the Brazilian Real is very undervalued against the US Dollar) and
ethical (privacy and software freedom) mailing list service?

I know about sourcehut lists, but they forbid emails containing HTML
parts; I much prefer plain text myself, but I bet many of my colleagues
and friends will refuse to use a mailing list that forbids HTML.

I know about groups.io; its privacy policy seems acceptable, and I can
perform many operations in it without proprietary JavaScript, but it has
significant downsides:

1. The gratis plan has a limit of 100 members per list, and the paid
   plans are too expensive in Brazilian reais.
2. It does not commit itself to software freedom, so at any moment it
   could start requiring proprietary JavaScript for important
   operations.  I don't want to have to frequently change mailing list
   provider.
  
So, despite the shortcomings, do you recommend I move to groups.io (at
least for small lists that fit the gratis plan)?  Do you know a better
option?

Regards

-- 
-  "In Support of Richard Stallman"
- I am Brazilian.  I hope my English is correct and I welcome feedback.
- 
- 

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Re: Boxer syndrome

[Jorge P. de Morais Neto via libreplanet-discuss]

Hi Pedro!

Em [2021-05-09 dom 11:24:24-0300], Pedro Lucas Porcellis escreveu:

> I honestly don't know if your criticizing for or against the Free
> Software Community, because it seems to me, that (essentially on this
> mailing list) people are mostly against the changing world we're
> living in, *outside of software* as if people only live within the
> bounds of a computer and it's all it matters, i.e. "if I defend free
> software any other criticism is completely to disrupt my free software
> activism".

You misrepresent the situation.  I think that, while the FSF is
/institutionally/ neutral to many political causes, /individual/ free
software activists often also support other social reform causes.  I
myself have moved strongly leftwards in the last decade, largely
influenced by free software friends.  Please do not conflate /opposition
to the excesses of cancel culture/ with /opposition to social reform/.

Please bear in mind that 75% of African-Americans (as well as 79% of all
Americans under age 24) agree that “political correctness is a problem
in our country.”  While we (sometimes literally) kill each other because
of political correctness issues such as whether ex-vice President Mike
Pence had the right to avoid eating alone with an opposite-sex person
other than his spouse¹, the 1% laughs all the way to the bank.  For the
record, I strongly oppose Trump/Pence (although I do not vote on the US)
but not for this ridiculous reason.

¹ 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/03/30/mike-pence-doesnt-dine-alone-with-other-women-and-were-all-shocked/
  "Mike Pence doesn’t dine alone with other women.  And we’re all shocked."

Please see the fairly short /Tolerance and open mindedness/² section of
my essay.  For more on that, some of the references in the /See also/
section are very relevant, especially [3] and [4] (both from progressive
sources).

² https://jorgemorais.gitlab.io/justice-for-rms/#open-mindedness

[3] 
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/08/05/censorship-cancel-culture-may-ultimately-be-most-dangerous-social-justice-champions
"The Censorship of ’Cancel Culture’ May Ultimately Be Most Dangerous for 
Social Justice Champions"

[4] 
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/10/large-majorities-dislike-political-correctness/572581/
"Americans Strongly Dislike PC Culture"

As Noam Chomsky says, liberal "democracy" (capitalism) allows us to
fiercely dispute certain selected issues but severely stymies
discussions that risk undermining the foundations of the class system.

Best regards

-- 
-  "In Support of Richard Stallman"
- I am Brazilian.  I hope my English is correct and I welcome feedback.
- 
- 

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Re: Carefully written essay asking for proportionality for rms

[Jorge P. de Morais Neto via libreplanet-discuss]

Hi.

Em [2021-04-20 ter 21:23:03+0200], Miroslav Rovis escreveu:

> It wasn't much search:
>
> https://lists.dyne.org/lurker/message/20210326.120708.aaaed337.en.html

Interesting.  And if you are subscribed, you might want to publicize
stallmansupport.org there.  It is a more comprehensive effort (and it
links to my essay).

> And it would take me time.  But it does not show well in Pale Moon.

How about if you disable CSS for the article?  Maybe then it shows well
on Pale Moon.

> BTW, I sent you another email because what I replied is not on:
> https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/libreplanet-discuss/2021-04/index.html
> They do seem to be censoring, or clumsily deleting mail by accident...
> This email of yours that I am replying to, and it's some 30 hours old,
> is not there either...  Why?

I have no idea.  I have just reported the problem to sysad...@gnu.org in
an email message CC’ed to you.

> In case the conversation is to be soon concluded: It has been a
> pleasure to converse with you!  Maybe we meet again on the net. (But
> I'm still open if there's any more to discuss!)

Its my pleasure.  Do you use free instant messaging technologies so we
can chat?  I use XMPP and Matrix.  I will send you my usernames via a
private message.

God bless!

-- 
-  "In Support of Richard Stallman"
- I am Brazilian.  I hope my English is correct and I welcome feedback.
- 
- 

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Re: Carefully written essay asking for proportionality for rms

[Jorge P. de Morais Neto via libreplanet-discuss]

Hi Miroslav!  Good morning from Brazil.

Em [2021-04-08 qui 15:45:54+0200], Miroslav Rovis escreveu:

> After 69 minutes, my mail does not show on:
> https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/libreplanet-discuss/2021-04/index.html

I did receive an email of yours from 08 Apr 2021 14:36:58, but I just
take a long time to reply.  I apologize.  And I suppose the mailing list
archives have a delay too.

> Thanks for this work.

You are welcome.

> I read it the first time you posted in this list.

I didn’t remember I had already posted it on this list.

> Firstly, I am unable to view much of
> https://gitlab.com/jorgemorais/justice-for-rms
> Apparently, gitlab.com does not support my Pale Moon browser.

I didn’t know about that.  I am considering getting out of gitlab.com.
But what exactly happens when you try to view my page on Pale Moon?  And
for curiosity: why do you use Pale Moon instead of GNU IceCat or even
Firefox?

> On this second reading, I found, insofar, that there appears to be a
> (probably) new link, but it does not work:
> https://invidious.snopyta.org/watch?v=fIK5st2s3kA

In the latest version that link was removed anyway (the article was too
long and a bit hard to follow, so I am summarizing it).  Anyway, next
time I provide a link to Invidious, I will include a footnote; and in
the footnote, I will provide a link to the video on
the  service.

> Maybe if there be a way to do gradual translation, just as if it were a way to
> somehow further section your work so that, say, a casual reader can only read 
> a
> complete but short part, and the translator can, at first, translate just that
> complete short part, and the info that get/provide-by-translation is still not
> partial?  And then you offer all the details separately because all those
> details are worthy.

Thank you for the suggestion.  I will think about it.  A complementary
approach could be moving more details into footnotes.

Regards

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- Free Software Supporter: 
- If an email of mine arrives at your spam box, please notify me.

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Carefully written essay asking for proportionality for rms

[Jorge P. de Morais Neto via libreplanet-discuss]

Hi.  I am sorry to post another message about this subject, but I have
carefully written an essay asking for proportionality for rms.  It is
conciliatory and based on good sources such as Suzanne Nossel, CEO of
PEN America and former executive director of Amnesty International USA.

https://jorgemorais.gitlab.io/justice-for-rms/

It is on gitlab.com, but people who want to contribute without a
gitlab.com account can send patches or suggestions via email or free
social networks.  I take suggestions of another more ethical (software
freedom) hosting provider.  It should be reasonably inexpensive---the
Brazilian Real is severely undervalued against the US Dollar and the
Euro.

Regards

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- Please adopt free/libre formats like PDF, ODF, Org, LaTeX, Opus, WebM and 7z.
- Free/libre software for Replicant, LineageOS and Android: https://f-droid.org
- [[https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html][What is free software?]]

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