There is a growing concern about government surveillance. At the same
time, those of us who live and breathe technology do so because it
provides us with a service and freedom to share our lives with others.
There is a tacit assumption that once we leave the store, the device we have in our pocket, backpack, or desk is ours.
We buy a computer, a tablet, a smartphone, and we use applications and
apps without even thinking about who really owns the tools and whether
we truly own any of it. You purchase a device, yet you are not free to
modify it or the software on it in any way. It begs the question of who really owns the device and the software?
The Free Software Foundation (FSF)
is a nonprofit with a worldwide mission to promote computer user
freedom and defend the rights of all free software users. FSF proudly
promotes the idea of free software—not "free" as in "free beer," but
"free" as in "free to modify the code, share the code, and distribute it
freely." Continue Reading
