Mid-Hudson Valley, New York

Local groups that are assisting in the organization of this event

Flier

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Info

When:

Saturday September 15, 2007

Where:

Hyde Park Free Library Annex 2 Main Street Hyde Park New York 12538 Phone: 845-229-7791

Schedule:

Talk Highlights:

About

Summary1:

Computers have become such an integral part of everyday living that it's no longer possible to dismiss them as simply a privilege and a luxury. Just as this technology impinges on many aspects of life, it now touches on many basic human rights -- to communicate, to educate oneself, to advance one's station in life, to earn a living, among others.

Consequently, access to computers should be made universally available to anyone who wants it, if only as a tool that is as fundamental as pen and paper. No one organization should have a monopoly, commercial or otherwise, that bars segments of society from its use.

With PC hardware costs coming down to commodity appliance levels, this ideal is coming close to reality. The same cannot be said of commercial proprietary software, their use and distribution is strictly controlled under pain of heavy legal penalties.

Software Freedom Day, held every third Saturday of September, is an international celebration that attempts to correct this imbalance by making more people aware of the availability of free software. Now on its third year, Software Freedom Day is celebrated in over 60 countries.

Free software allows people to do the same things they do with commercial proprietary software. There are free operating systems, free office productivity suites, free graphics editing software, free business applications, and free games. Free software doesn't just mean free in cost: people can give away or receive free software without facing anti-piracy lawsuits. Free software can be used by anyone, can be studied by anyone, can be improved by anyone.

Summary2:

In an increasingly digital age, more and more of our everyday experiences depend upon software. Software influences how we interact with each other, enjoy different media, vote, get paid, and even navigate our roads. Software underpins our very way of life, our basic freedoms such as freedom of association, freedom of thought, freedom of choice and much more, yet many people do not realize the importance and influence of software and other technologies on their lives.

What do we mean by Software Freedom? Software Freedom is about a technology future that we can trust, that is sustainable, and that doesn't negatively impact on the basic human freedoms we take for granted. Untrusted electoral systems can lead to civil unrest and a lack of trust in governing bodies. Spyware that watches what we listen to, our banking details and who we email can be installed on our computers without our knowledge. Region encoding of movies introduces an artificial barrier to the international content; where is our personal choice? Proprietary data formats can mean lockout to accessing our own information! Software Freedom can be maintained by transparent systems (such as Free and Open Source Software) that are based on open, secure and sustainable standards including data formats and communication protocols.

ToDo

mhv (last edited 2010-07-27 20:13:39 by anonymous)

This wiki is now archived! Please move on to wiki.softwarefreedomday.org for 2010!