51 lines
2.1 KiB
HTML
51 lines
2.1 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<html newsdate="2010-09-13">
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<version>1</version>
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<head>
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<title>FSFE: Stop unfair advertising - get your government to promote free PDF readers!</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>FSFE: Stop unfair advertising - get your government to promote free PDF readers!</h1>
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<p>The Free Software Foundation Europe calls on all Europeans to seek out <a href="/activities/pdfreaders/pdfreaders.html">advertisements for proprietary PDF readers on their government's
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websites, and report them</a>. In addition, FSFE has prepared
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<a href="/activities/pdfreaders/petition.html">a petition</a>
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demanding an end to such advertising practices, and encourages the
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public to <a href="/activities/pdfreaders/petition.html">sign it</a>.</p>
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<p>"Every time that state websites link to non-free applications and
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encourage visitors to use them, they needlessly encourage citizens to
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throw away their freedom", says Karsten Gerloff, FSFE's President.</p>
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<p>As websites such as <a href="http://pdfreaders.org/">pdfreaders.org</a> demonstrate, Free
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Software PDF readers exist for all major operating systems. Fellows of
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FSFE launched the project in 2009 in response to public bodies' habit
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of advertising a particular non-free product on their sites.</p>
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<p>FSFE's Fellowship Coordinator Matthias Kirschner comments: "What would
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you think about a sign on the highway saying 'You need a Volkswagen to
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drive on this road. Contact your Volkswagen dealer for a gratis test
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drive'? When it comes to PDF readers, governments seem to think that
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this is acceptable."</p>
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<p>Such endorsements give unfair advantage to whichever proprietary
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product they recommend, and are often accompanied by inaccurate
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statements presenting the application as the only available option.</p>
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<p>The hunt begins on September 13th, and will continue until October
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17th 2010. Prizes will be awarded at the end of October to the
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individuals and groups who report the greatest number of proprietary software
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advertisements on government websites.</p>
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<p>Happy hunting!</p>
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</body>
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</html>
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