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<title>Saying No to unjust computing even once is help
- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
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<h2>Saying No to unjust computing even once is help</h2>
<address class="byline">by Richard Stallman</address>
<hr class="thin" />
<p class="italic">A misunderstanding is circulating that the GNU
Project demands you run 100% <a href="/philosophy/free-sw.html">free
software</a>, all the time. Anything less (90%?), and we will tell
you to get lost—they say. Nothing could be further from the
truth.</p>
<p>Our ultimate goal is <a
href="/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html">digital
freedom for all</a>, a world without nonfree software. Some of us, who
have made campaigning for digital freedom our goal, reject all nonfree
programs. However, as a practical matter, even a little step towards
that goal is good. A walk of a thousand miles consists of lots of
steps. Each time you don't install some nonfree program, or decide not
to run it that day, that is a step towards your own freedom. Each time
you decline to run a nonfree program with others, you show them a wise
example of long-term thinking. That is a step towards freedom for the
world.</p>
<p>If you're caught in a web of nonfree programs, you're surely looking
for a chance to pull a few strands off of your body. Each one
pulled off is an advance.</p>
<p>Each time you tell the people in some activity, “I'd rather
use Zoom less—please count me out today,” you help the free
software movement. “I'd like to do this with you, but with Zoom on
the other side of the scale, I've decided to decline.” If you
accepted the nonfree software before, you could say this: “I'd
like to participate, but the software we are using is not good for us.
I've decided I should cut down.” Once in a while, you may convince
them to use free software instead. At least they will learn that some
people care about freedom enough to decline participation for
freedom's sake.</p>
<p>If you say no, on one occasion, to conversing with someone or some
group via Skype, you have helped. If you say no, on one occasion,
to conversing via WhatsApp, Facebook, or Slack, you have helped. If
you say no, on one occasion, to editing something via Google Docs,
you have helped. If you say no to registering for one meeting in
eventbrite.com or meetup.com, you have helped. If you tell one
organization you won't use its “portal” or app, so you will
deal with it by phone, that helps. Of course, you help more if you stick
to your refusal (with kind firmness, of course) and don't let the
others change your mind.</p>
<p>Steps add up. If on another day you decline the nonfree program
again, you will have helped again. If you say no a few times a
week, that adds up over time. When people see you say no, even
once, you may inspire them to follow your example.</p>
<p>To give help consistently, you can make this refusal a firm
practice, but refusing occasionally is still help. You will help more
if you reject several of the nonfree programs that communities have
blindly swallowed. Would you ever want to reject them all? There is
no need to decide that now.</p>
<p>So tell someone, “Thanks for inviting me, but
Zoom/Skype/WhatsApp/whichever is a freedom-denying program, and
almost surely snoops on its users; please count me out. I want a
different kind of world, and by declining to use it today I am
taking a step towards that world.”</p>
<p>The FSF recommends <a
href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/better-than-zoom-try-these-free-software-tools-for-staying-in-touch">
freedom-respecting methods</a> for the sorts of communication that
unjust systems do. If
one of them would be usable, you could add, “If we use XYZ
for this
conversation, or some other libre software, I could
participate.”</p>
<p>You can take one step. And once you've done it, sooner or later you
can do it again. Eventually you may find you have changed your
practices; if you get used to saying no to some nonfree program, you
could do it most of the time, maybe even every time. Not only will
you have gained an increment of freedom; you will have helped your
whole community by spreading awareness of the issue.</p>
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<p>Copyright © 2020 Richard Stallman</p>
<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license"
href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative
Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p>
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<p class="unprintable">Updated:
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$Date: 2020/10/06 08:00:33 $
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</p>
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