52 lines
2.1 KiB
HTML
52 lines
2.1 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
|
|
<html newsdate="2010-09-13">
|
|
<head>
|
|
<title>FSFE: Stop unfair advertising - get your government to promote free PDF readers!</title>
|
|
</head>
|
|
<body>
|
|
|
|
<h1>FSFE: Stop unfair advertising - get your government to promote free PDF readers!</h1>
|
|
|
|
<p newsteaser="yes">The Free Software Foundation Europe calls on all Europeans to seek out
|
|
advertisements for proprietary PDF readers on their government's
|
|
websites, and report them. In addition, FSFE has prepared
|
|
<a href="/campaigns/pdfreaders/petition.html">a petition</a>
|
|
demanding an end to such advertising practices, and encourages the
|
|
public to <a href="/campaigns/pdfreaders/petition.html">sign it</a>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>"Every time that state websites link to non-free applications and
|
|
encourage visitors to use them, they needlessly encourage citizens to
|
|
throw away their freedom", says Karsten Gerloff, FSFE's President.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>As websites such as <a href="http://pdfreaders.org/">pdfreaders.org</a> demonstrate, Free
|
|
Software PDF readers exist for all major operating systems. Fellows of
|
|
FSFE launched the project in 2009 in response to public bodies' habit
|
|
of advertising a particular non-free product on their sites.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>FSFE's Fellowship Coordinator Matthias Kirschner comments: "What would
|
|
you think about a sign on the highway saying 'You need a Volkswagen to
|
|
drive on this road. Contact your Volkswagen dealer for a gratis test
|
|
drive'? When it comes to PDF readers, governments seem to think that
|
|
this is acceptable."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Such endorsements give unfair advantage to whichever proprietary
|
|
product they recommend, and are often accompanied by inaccurate
|
|
statements presenting the application as the only available option.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The hunt begins on September 13th, and will continue until October
|
|
17th 2010. Prizes will be awarded at the end of October to the
|
|
individuals and groups who report the greatest number of proprietary software
|
|
advertisements on government websites.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Happy hunting!</p>
|
|
|
|
</body>
|
|
</html>
|
|
<!--
|
|
Local Variables: ***
|
|
mode: xml ***
|
|
End: ***
|
|
-->
|
|
|
|
|