As far as standards and protocols are concerned, the story of the Internet is one of free software. But its popularity and potential make big firms jealous. They would like to claim control of it by establishing closed code in locked systems that are not interoperable. To keep the Internet faithful to the founding principles which led to its success, it is important that there should be free apps on the Internet, that is to say, apps with opensource codes, accessible under free license.
We wish to support a participative and independent Internet. Exploitation, surveillance, censorship, and data appropriation are trends we refuse in favor of transparency (integrity), clearly displayed policies for users of the various services, and the refusal of all forms of discrimination.
The genius of the Internet must dwell at the margins of the network in a peer-to-peer sharing dynamic, to avoid creating a Minitel 2.0. To insure equality for all concerned, from citizens to businesses, monopolies must not only be excluded, but also prevented from monopolizing personal or public data. Through clear tutorials explaining how to propagate free solutions for establishing a fairer Internet, we intend to facilitate the spreading of codes and a diversification of usages.
Through the services we provide, we promote a model based on cost participation, resource sharing, and accessibility for the largest number of people. Any abuse will thus be avoided, for we all remain fully aware of our common interests. This model also has an educational purpose since, as we document the roll-out of services, many users will in their turn be able to share those resources.
The year is 2016 AD. The whole web is occupied by centralized services… Well… not entirely. One small village of indomitable Free Software lovers still holds out against the invaders. And life is not easy for the legionaries who garrison the fortified camps of Closedum, Centralizum, Trackum, and Proprietarum.
In addition to @:meta.F, the non-profit association leading the campaign described here, we may also mention <a href="http://april.org">l’April</a>, <a href="http://laquadrature.net">la Quadrature du Net</a> or <a href="http://aful.org">l’Aful</a>. These organizations can only keep going with the help of your donations, so don’t forget to support them!
Online services are often closed-source: once you start using them, it is very difficult to leave, because these companies do everything to keep you captive by preventing you, for example, from migrating your data elsewhere.
Using open source services means making sure that you will never be controlled by a particular website, but also that you can always migrate your data elsewhere.
Centralized services raise many problems: they make your data very vulnerable (one inaccessible website and everything is down) and make it very easy for third parties to exploit your data.
