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+Free Software Community                                            A. Yu
+                                              The 2nd School Aff. to FDU
+                                                           16 April 2022
+
+
+                   Pragmatic Use of Nonfree Software
+                       Request for Discussions 1
+
+Abstract
+
+   Free Software is undoubtably a good thing for society.  However,
+   modern computer users are stuck in the proprietary "ecosystem" for
+   historical reasons.  This document describes the author's viewpoint
+   of using proprietary platforms to spread the ideas of Free Software.
+
+Status of This Memo
+
+   This document is currently in the DRAFT status.
+
+   This document describes the author's viewpoint.  This does not
+   represent the ideas of the Free Software Foundation or any other
+   entity.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
+
+Table of Contents
+
+   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   1
+   2.  Justification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
+   3.  Action Procedure  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
+   4.  Technical Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
+   5.  Conclusion  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
+   6.  FSF Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
+   7.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
+   Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
+   Contributors  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
+   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
+
+1.  Introduction
+
+   Readers of this memo probably understand the ideals of the Free
+   Software Movement, and avoid proprietary software when possible.
+   However, as most outsiders are unaware and are deeply buried inside
+   the proprietary dystopia created by mostly multibillion-dollar
+   technology coorporations, our methods of communicating with the
+   masses are ineffective.
+
+   In February 2022, the author decided to adjust his dogma, and
+   permitted limited usage of nonfree chat platforms to hopefully spread
+   our ideas to the general public.  This was attempted by registering a
+
+
+
+Yu                            Informational                     [Page 1]
+
+                    Pragmatic Use of Nonfree Software         April 2022
+
+
+   Discord account, creating a Guild called "Free Software
+   Introductions", and setting up a basic Discord-to-IRC relay to #fsi
+   on both irc.andrewyu.org and irc.libera.chat.
+
+   One of the communities that he knows about, the VF-Technic Minetest
+   community, primarily uses Discord as a means of communication by
+   plays not in-game.  As the users inside are Minetest players, a Free
+   Software voxel sandbox game, similar to but much more flexible and
+   freedom-respecting than Minecraft, it is believed that the users have
+   some contact with Free Software, although they might not understand
+   the freedom part of the issue, i.e. they might be thinking in terms
+   of "open source" instead.  After sharing the invite link in the VF-
+   Technic Guild, some people joined, and we've partially converted two
+   users.
+
+2.  Justification
+
+   Two users is definitely few, but it sets a start and an example for
+   how freedom can be spread.
+
+   There are numerous free replacements to proprietary services such as
+   Discord, such as Internet Relay Chat, the Extensible Messaging and
+   Presense Protocol, the Matrix protocol, and email.  As Free Software
+   activists, we generally prefer these protocols over nonfree services.
+   This section explains the reasons to consider nonfree services and
+   protocols.
+
+   Generally, users on IRC and XMPP have a fair understanding of the
+   Free Software Movement, and it is quick and easy to inform them what
+   we mean by "free", "the four freedoms", and similar ideas.  For users
+   on the Libera Chat IRC network, which by far has the most users of
+   any network, it is exceptionally easy to introduce a user into the
+   #fsf channel for discussions with people supporting Free Software.
+   Introducing ignorant users on these protocols and platforms are a
+   day-to-day simple task.
+
+   Furthermore, the amount of users we can reach on these protocols are
+   rather limiting.  Libera has around forty thousand users according to
+   the USERS command, and considering the fact that around 90% of these
+   people aren't ignorant, there isn't much we can do.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Yu                            Informational                     [Page 2]
+
+                    Pragmatic Use of Nonfree Software         April 2022
+
+
+   Matrix users, in particular users of the matrix.org homeserver,
+   typically know but don't completely understand Free Software.  Rather
+   than using Matrix IDs to identify users, the Matrix specification
+   specifies that third-party platform identities, such as email and
+   GitHub, are how users should be referenced both internally by servers
+   and shown to other users.  This is obviously an increadibly foolish
+   idea, especially considering the use of centralized identity servers
+   (similar to X509 certificate authorities) for 3PIDs.  These are our
+   first targets, but these should also be easy to get the idea across.
+
+   It is true that Libera Chat and similar IRC networks, though multi-
+   centered in a technical way (i.e. multiple IRC servers form an IRC
+   network), the network is politically centralized, controlled by one
+   entity, Libera.  The Internet Relay Chat server-to-server protocol
+   implies that servers fully trust each other and are expected to not
+   send damaging commands, which in turn implies full trust between
+   server operators, no federation, and political centralization.  The
+   privacy policy and network policy of Libera Chat are in the author's
+   opinion non-intrusive, therefore the use of which is acceptable and
+   is promoted by the FSF.  (Obviously, most methods of using IRC do not
+   involve nonfree software.)
+
+   Nevertheless, those that have never touched Free Software are often
+   on giant proprietary platforms, and take these as universal methods
+   of communication.  Many people go months before checking their
+   mailbox (physical or electronic), refuse to use XMPP or IRC for its
+   age.
+
+   An alternative protocol, Internet Delay Chat, is being developed.
+
+   There is one special case where using some nonfree software, and even
+   urging others to use it, can be a positive thing.  That's when the
+   use of the nonfree software aims directly at putting an end to the
+   use of that very same nonfree software.[RMSGP] The author believes
+   that the following fall within this scope:
+
+   *  Developing a free program that requires nonfree environments to
+      bootstrap;
+   *  To spread awareness of software freedom issues to users in nonfree
+      environments.
+
+   As almost all types of programming can be done on most types of BSD
+   and GNU operating systems, the author hasn't found any software that
+   fit this category.  Extending the interpretation allos for using
+   nonfree software's behavior as a reference in Free Software
+   development, though an arguable programming practice, may help the
+   community to progress by understanding common features that users of
+   nonfree services use.
+
+
+
+Yu                            Informational                     [Page 3]
+
+                    Pragmatic Use of Nonfree Software         April 2022
+
+
+   The latter is more interesting, as explained above our methods of
+   spreading awareness is limited.
+
+3.  Action Procedure
+
+   Activists MUST NOT list such nonfree services in "Contact
+   Information" pages on their website or similar sources, unless
+   followed by a explanation that the purpose of the nonfree platform is
+   to introduce users thereof onto free protocols and to eventually
+   exterminate the nonfree platform.  Whenever these references to
+   nonfree platforms appear, the author MUST present free methods of
+   communication.  Activists SHOULD pragmatically use as many of the
+   popular free protocols as possible, to ensure that oppurtunities of
+   introductions are not lost.  In cases involving competition between
+   free and nonfree protocols and platforms, ethical concerns (i.e.
+   enabling talking to a new user on any ethical platform) MUST take
+   precedence over technical concerns (such as disliking the XMPP
+   protocol for its inefficent use of XML) whenever possible.
+
+   Communities for introducing users to Free Software on nonfree
+   platforms MUST be bridged to a free protocol in some obvious way, in
+   order to minimize the usage of nonfree platforms even for the purpose
+   of communicating ideology to new users and allow members of the Free
+   Software community refusing to use nonfree platforms in any way to
+   participate.  Usages of nonfree platforms, besides part of the user-
+   introduction process that must happen on the nonfree platform, SHOULD
+   be avoided.
+
+   For example, the author created a Discord Guild called Free Software
+   Introductions, which is one-way-puppeted to #fsi on irc.andrewyu.org,
+   which is then one-way-puppeted to Libera.  The relay system is sort-
+   of messed up, but it's working.  Inviting new users to it via
+   https://discord.gg/7CYp7ntww7 (https://discord.gg/7CYp7ntww7) is
+   good, but as the author has made his own sacrifice already, there
+   exists no need for other existing Free Software activists to join and
+   use it instead of IRC.
+
+4.  Technical Limitations
+
+   The old and centralized nature of IRC, the insane 3PID recommendation
+   of Matrix, the bad routing and efficency of XMPP, and the lack of
+   documentation on PSYC, has led us to develop a new protocol, Internet
+   Delay Chat[IDC], which aims to be free, modern (i.e. support for
+   channel groups and shared permission sets, non-text data with MIME
+   types), sane (i.e.  TCP, UDP and SCTP-based, instead of HTTP POST
+   APIs) and simple.
+
+
+
+
+
+Yu                            Informational                     [Page 4]
+
+                    Pragmatic Use of Nonfree Software         April 2022
+
+
+5.  Conclusion
+
+   Hi
+
+6.  FSF Considerations
+
+   Hi
+
+7.  Normative References
+
+   [IDC]      Yu, A., "Internet Delay Chat", April 2022,
+              <https://git.andrewyu.org/internet-delay-chat>.
+
+   [RMSGP]    Stallman, R., "Is It Ever a Good Thing to Use a Nonfree
+              Program?", September 2013, <http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/
+              is-ever-good-use-nonfree-program.en.html>.
+
+Acknowledgements
+
+Contributors
+
+   Many thanks to everyone in the Free Software community for the
+   freedom we have today.
+
+Author's Address
+
+   Andrew Yu
+   The 2nd School Aff. to FDU
+   Email: andrew@andrewyu.org
+   URI:   https://www.andrewyu.org/
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+Yu                            Informational                     [Page 5]