Free software foundation android

FSF Europe Launches «Free Your Android»

Last Fall, Richard Stallman published an article in which he states that, «for a computer user that values freedom», the most important question to be asking yourself about the Android operating system is: «[t]o what extent does Android respect the freedom of its users?»

If you are interested in finding the answer to this question, then the Free Software Foundation Europe has just the resource for you! Their new campaign, Free Your Android, delves into issues of freedom, privacy, and control as they relate to the various services, markets, and apps for Android. While there is only one distribution of Android that does not include some nonfree software — Replicant — the site does provide helpful information, as well as cautionary warnings on other, nonfree distributions of Android. The purpose of the site is to eliminate proprietary software for Android and replace it with free software — or, as they write: «Liberate your Android device: learn how to regain control of your data, with a free operating system and free apps!»

Here at the FSF, many of us are fortunate enough to own phones that are able to run Replicant. But, we have put Replicant on our list of High Priority Reverse Engineering Projects to encourage people to work on Replicant so it will be able to support more devices than just the HTC Dream and the Nexus One phones. Please support FSFE’s campaign, and also stay tuned for more news very soon about the FSF and GNU working in the area of mobile device freedom!

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FSF launches fundraising program for Replicant, the fully free Android-based mobile OS

The FSF’s previous purchase and donation of a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 allowed the project’s developers to support the tablet, but adding support for a new device requires between $400 and $600 in donations for hardware costs alone. Each device that this long-term fundraising program is able to provide is likely to allow thousands of users of that device to run a free mobile OS for the first time.

Supporters are making these contributions at the FSF-hosted page for the campaign.

While most of Android is already free software, device manufacturers distribute the OS with some key nonfree parts. Those parts are in the layer of Android that communicates with the phone or tablet hardware, such as the WiFi and Bluetooth chips. In addition, every commonly available Android device comes pre-loaded with a variety of proprietary applications running on top of the operating system. Replicant seeks to provide all of the same functionality using only free software.

Users of Replicant have a full suite of free software mobile-optimized applications at their fingertips through F-Droid, Replicant’s default app repository. F-Droid isn’t just for Replicant — it works on all Android-based systems, and the FSF recommends it as a replacement for Google Play store.

FSF executive director John Sullivan, who has been using Replicant on his primary phone for three years, said, «Mobile operating systems distributed by Apple, Microsoft, and Google all require you to use proprietary software. Even one such program in a phone’s application space is enough to threaten our freedom and security — it only takes one open backdoor to gain access. We are proud to support the Replicant project to help users escape the proprietary restrictions imposed by the current major smartphone vendors. There will still be problems remaining to solve, like the proprietary radio firmware and the common practice of locking down phones, but Replicant is a major part of the solution.»

The Replicant project was founded in 2010 by Aaron Williamson, Graziano Sorbaioli, Denis «GNUtoo» Carikli and Bradley M. Kuhn, to unify the efforts of various individuals attempting to produce a fully free Android distribution. Most of the recent development has been done by Carikli and Paul Kocialkowski, both of whom have been instrumental in developing the project’s relationship with the FSF.

Kocialkowski said, «For a long time, it wasn’t possible to operate a mobile phone using free software, even though that is one of the areas of computing where the most important issues are at stake. Replicant is a free Android derivative, while other Android versions usually require nonfree components to actually run on phones. We expect that having our project supported by the Free Software Foundation’s fundraising program will greatly help the project, particularly by enabling us to build support for more phones.»

As of its 4.0 0004 release on July 22nd, Replicant works on ten devices, including multiple phones from the Samsung Galaxy S line and tablets from the Samsung Galaxy Tab line, as well as the Google Nexus S.

In addition to funding, the Replicant project needs developers, and is listed on the FSF’s High Priority Projects page. Hackers interested in working on Replicant or those with questions about the project should introduce themselves to the IRC channel, #replicant on irc.freenode.org, and the mailing list. Developers interested in porting Replicant to new devices should visit the project’s wiki to get started. Supporters can also help by installing Replicant and submitting bug reports to the developers.

The fundraising campaign is part of the FSF’s Working Together for Free Software initiative, a broad campaign to connect software freedom advocates with projects that need their help. Other projects that have benefited from this program include the web media-publishing platform GNU MediaGoblin and the GNU Octave mathematics and data manipulation package.

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Free software foundation android

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a nonprofit with a worldwide mission to promote computer user freedom.

LibrePlanet 2022 will be held March 19-20, CFS extended to December 15th

Have you submitted a talk for LibrePlanet 2022 yet? For those unsure if they could make it to the virtual event, we have now set the dates: March 19 and 20, 2022! We have also extended the Call for Sessions (CfS) until Wednesday, December 15, 2021 at 10:00 EST (15:00 UTC). This gives us time to get a little more organized, and more importantly, gives you the chance to make sure you’re a part of LibrePlanet 2022: Living Liberation!

Take the next step to software freedom: Become a member before Dec. 31

Free software means that the users have the freedom to run, edit, contribute to, and share the software. Thus, free software is a matter of liberty, not price. We have been defending the rights of all software users for the past 35 years. Help sustain us for many more; become an associate member today.

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter, the Free Software Supporter:

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Our initiatives

Defective by Design is a grassroots campaign to eliminate Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) in media and devices.

Read the Email Self-Defense Guide to get started with email encryption, a skill necessary to combat bulk surveillance.

The End Software Patents initiative fights to abolish software patents around the world.

Join us in calling for a Web that respects our freedom by being compatible with free software and stand up against nonfree JavaScript.

The Free Software Directory is a collaborative catalog of computer programs and apps that are fully free.

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The Licensing and Compliance Lab is the preeminent resource for public education on licensing best practices and enforcing the GPL.

The «Respects Your Freedom» program certifies retailers who sell hardware in a manner that respects the rights of their users.

«This community that we have, that we’re building, that does so much, has to grow. We can’t compete with Apple, we can’t compete with Google, directly, in the field of resources. What we can eventually do is head count and heart count. We can compete on the ground of ideology because ours is better.»

— Edward Snowden, NSA whisteblower, speaking at LibrePlanet 2016.

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Добро пожаловать в наш офис

Это экскурсия по офису FSF для людей, которые не могут выбраться сюда, к нам в гости.

Это приемная — когда вы приедете в FSF, то это будет первое, что вы увидите.

Вот здесь работает Джон, наш исполнительный директор.

Это комната команды системщиков — Пибо, Берни и Уорда. В любое время дня и ночи тут повсюду разбросаны запчасти от компьютеров.

Это кухня. Даже тому, кто с головой ушел в свободные программы, нужно иногда перекусить.

За эти годы мы завоевали кое-какие призы… остановитесь на минуту, чтобы взглянуть на некоторые из них и полистать наши альбомы с вырезками.

Конференц-зал (за стеклом с эмблемой Emacs) — это то место, где мы встречаемся, болтаем по телефону и обедаем вместе каждый день.

Это вид на отдел системщиков с другой стороны — отсюда видно преамбулу GPL на стекле.

Если вы закажете что-то в нашем магазине, то мы упаковываем это здесь…

… А это наш колоссальный запас футболок и прочего товара с эмблемами GNU.

В задней комнате много нештукатуреных кирпичных стен, заполненных сообщениями строительной компании, неподдающимися расшифровке.

Мы так и не выяснили, чем на самом деле занимается компания на той стороне улицы, но они, кажется, никогда не замечают людей, которые шагают вокруг нашего офиса, напялив огромные головы GNU, так что там, должно быть, что-то интересное.

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FSF Europe Launches «Free Your Android»

Last Fall, Richard Stallman published an article in which he states that, «for a computer user that values freedom», the most important question to be asking yourself about the Android operating system is: «[t]o what extent does Android respect the freedom of its users?»

If you are interested in finding the answer to this question, then the Free Software Foundation Europe has just the resource for you! Their new campaign, Free Your Android, delves into issues of freedom, privacy, and control as they relate to the various services, markets, and apps for Android. While there is only one distribution of Android that does not include some nonfree software — Replicant — the site does provide helpful information, as well as cautionary warnings on other, nonfree distributions of Android. The purpose of the site is to eliminate proprietary software for Android and replace it with free software — or, as they write: «Liberate your Android device: learn how to regain control of your data, with a free operating system and free apps!»

Here at the FSF, many of us are fortunate enough to own phones that are able to run Replicant. But, we have put Replicant on our list of High Priority Reverse Engineering Projects to encourage people to work on Replicant so it will be able to support more devices than just the HTC Dream and the Nexus One phones. Please support FSFE’s campaign, and also stay tuned for more news very soon about the FSF and GNU working in the area of mobile device freedom!

Источник