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161 lines
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<html>
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<version>1</version>
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<head>
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<title>PDFreaders - Free Software PDF Readers</title>
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</head>
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<body class="article" microformats="h-entry">
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<h1 class="p-name">Free Software PDF Readers </h1>
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<div class="captioned right" style="max-width: 650px; width: 53%">
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<a href="/activities/pdfreaders/highway.png">
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<img src="/activities/pdfreaders/highway.png" alt="highway" width="100%"/>
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</a>
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</div>
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<div class="e-content">
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</div>
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<div class="p-summary">
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<p>What would you think about a sign on the highway saying “You need a
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Toyota to drive on this road. Contact your Toyota dealer for a gratis
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test drive -- Your Government”? When it comes to software that opens PDF
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files, many public sector organisations do this every day.</p>
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</div>
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<p>With the pdfreaders.org campaign we have turned the spotlight on
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government organisations who behave in this way, exposing how frequent such
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advertisements for non-free software are. With the help of activists across
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Europe, <a href="/activities/pdfreaders/follow-up.html">we contacted</a> these
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organisations and explained to them how to improve their websites so that
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they respect our freedom.</p>
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<h2>Why should we care?</h2>
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<p>Even when a certain software is given away for free, the company behind it
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can have an economic gain: promoting that software means prioritising a
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specific company. Public bodies should not promote any specific private
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company, instead they should promote equality and choice on the software
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market. That is why FSFE and its volunteers intervened to fix the
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problem.</p>
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<p>This campaign was based on three core principles we support at FSFE:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>Neutrality - Public institutions should not engage in advertising</li>
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<li>Freedom - Public institutions should not ask citizens to use non-free
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Software</li>
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<li><a href="/freesoftware/standards/def.html">Open Standards</a> – The versions of
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the PDF format which are Open Standards can be implemented by all PDF
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readers</li>
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</ul>
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<h2>What did we achieve?</h2>
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<div class="captioned left">
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<a href="/activities/pdfreaders/finanzBrandenburg.png">
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<img src="/activities/pdfreaders/finanzBrandenburg_p.png" alt="Finance ministry Brandenburg" /></a>
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<footer>
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<p>Example from Germany with the advertisement</p>
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</footer>
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</div>
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<p>Every day, public institutions advertise non-free software on their
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websites. With the help of our Fellows and of hundreds other Free Software
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activists, we collected <a
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href="/activities/pdfreaders/buglist.html">2104 bug
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reports</a> over the course of one month from every country in Europe,
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and also nine countries outside of Europe. </p>
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<p>Next, the FSFE and its volunteers sent letters to all the public
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administrations on our list asking them to either remove their advertising
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for proprietary software, or to at least run equal advertising for Free
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Software, so that users of their websites realise that they have a choice. In
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response, we received a lot of positive feedback from the institutions
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thanking us for our letters.</p>
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<p>Now, several years, and thousands of letters later, the FSFE has closed
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the campaign. Thanks to all the dedicated Free Software activists who helped
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contact institutions, we can proudly announce that we were able to remove
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advertisements for proprietary PDF readers in 1125 of the 2104 public
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administration websites (53%).</p>
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<div class="captioned right">
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<a href="/activities/pdfreaders/BrandenburgResolved.png">
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<img src="/activities/pdfreaders/BrandenburgResolved_p.png" alt="resolved" /></a>
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<footer>
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<p>The same website after they fixed it</p>
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</footer>
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</div>
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<p>Furthermore, we were able to push for a change at both national and
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international levels.</p>
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<ul>
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<li> In Germany, <a
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href="http://gruen-digital.de/2012/03/document-freedom-day-kleine-anfrage-zur-werbung-fuer-adobe-reader-eingereicht/">national
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parties</a> gave statements in favour of free PDF readers and the
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German Government itself has recommended the usage of our text snippet
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in their <a
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href="http://www.cio.bund.de/Web/DE/Architekturen-und-Standards/Migrationsleitfaden-und-Migrationshilfen/migrationsleitfaden_node.html">migration
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guide</a>. FSFE's coordinator for Germany, Max Mehl, <a href="http://blog.mehl.mx/2015/german-government-wants-authorities-to-advertise-pdfreaders/">covers it</a>
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in more detail on his blog.</li>
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<li>In the EU: the European Parliament <a
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href="/activities/pdfreaders/parliamentary-questions-eu.html">directly
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asked</a> the European Commission what were the reasons for advertising
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a specific software and which steps were taken to solve this problem.</li>
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<li> In 2011 one of our pdfreaders.org coordinators, <a
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href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/polina/2015/09/10/free-pdf-reader-for-the-web-browser/">
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Hannes Hauswedell, was in contact with Google</a>, asking them to
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release the PDF reader included in their Chrome browser as Free Software.
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Finally, in May 2014 the <a
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href="https://twitter.com/nasko/status/469595752734269440"> pdfium
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sources were published openly</a>, and while FSFE's enquiry might not
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have been the only reasons they were released, it marks an important
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change for the widespread adoption of Free Software PDF readers.</li>
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</ul>
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<p>In addition to contacting public institutions to resolve the issue, FSFE
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also collected signatures from 90 organisations, 63 businesses, and 2731
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individuals who demanded equal access for Free Software PDF readers. This
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wide-ranging support also demonstrated the popularity of the campaign
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overall.</p>
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<h2>What's next?</h2>
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<p>The Free Software movement is, above all, supported by its community; we
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always need your help to continue to help promote free PDFreaders, and
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together we can make a difference for the future of Free Software! We
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encourage you to continue to <a href="/activities/pdfreaders/letter.html">use
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our template and send letters</a> or emails to public bodies that are still
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advertising for proprietary software and closed standards. We also have a
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link for tips on <a href="/activities/pdfreaders/follow-up.html">how to
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follow-up with the relevant institution</a>. This is a great (and easy)
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activity for a local Free Software groups to spread Free Software knowledge
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in the public administration.</p>
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</body>
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<sidebar GoingFurther="pdfreaders" promo="about-fsfe">
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<h3>More on PDF Readers</h3>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="/activities/pdfreaders/follow-up.html">How to contact institutions</a></li>
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<li><a href="/activities/pdfreaders/buglist.html">List of reported institutions</a></li>
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<li><a href="/activities/pdfreaders/petition.html">The petition</a></li>
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<li><a href="/activities/pdfreaders/letter.html">Model Letter</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://www.pdfreaders.org">List of Free Software PDF readers</a></li>
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</ul>
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</sidebar>
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<followup>subscribe-nl</followup>
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</html>
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