Dear Fellow members, Distinguished guests,

Good morning.

The title of my speech is free software is even more important today.

When a program respects users’ freedom and community, we call it “free software.” We also sometimes call it “libre software” to emphasize that we’re talking about liberty, not price. Some nonfree programs, such as Photoshop, are very expensive; others, such as Wechat, are gratis. Either way, they give the program’s developer power over the users, the power that no one should have.

Those two nonfree programs have something else in common: they are both malware. That is, both have functionalities designed to mistreat the user. Non-free software nowadays is often malware because the developers’ power corrupts them. There is a website that lists around 530 different malicious functionalities as of August, 2020, but it is surely just the tip of the iceberg.

The trend shows that more malicious functionalites are coming as more mobile phones and smart devices are produced. This means the more non-free programs you use, the more deeply you will be controlled by malware. To avoid being controlled, free software becomes even more important today.

For example, girls like to use “beauty camera” apps, and think these apps will help them to take beautiful pictures. However, Twenty nine “beauty camera” apps that used to be on Google Play had one or more malicious functionalities, such as stealing users’ photos instead of “beautifying” them, pushing unwanted and often malicious ads on users, and redirecting them to phishing sites that stole their credentials. Furthermore, the user interface of most of them was designed to make uninstallation difficult.

Dear friends, do you like that your personal photos are sent to strangers? Do you like to receive ads when you take a photo? If you do not, stop using these no-free software. You should uninstall these dangerous apps if you haven’t yet, and you should also stay away from nonfree apps in general. All nonfree apps carry a potential risk because there is no easy way of knowing what they really do.

In outrageous cases non-free programs are designed to spy on the users, restrict them, censor them, and abuse them. Let me share with you another example. Smart device like Siri can listen to you even you do not activate it. In the United States, there is a frightening case that police use these devices to investigate you. If you do not control the software you run on your smart device, it will give you new meaning to the phrase “everything you say can be used against you.” Remember, if you don’t control your devices, they can be used to control you, and the smartest thing you can do with “smart” devices is to avoid them!

If you want this not to happen, make sure the program is controlled by its users. This means you should use free software. With free software, the users control the program, both individually and collectively. So you control what your computers and mobile phones do.

Freedom means having control over your own life. If you use a program to carry out activities in your life, your freedom depends on your having control over the program. You deserve to have control over the programs you use, and all the more so when you use them for something important in your life.

Life without freedom is oppression. Today, we are living convinent life with all those smart devices running smart programs, but without control over the computing we do, we lose the control of own life, we lose freedom. Free software is even more important today because we have no more freedom to lose. Using free software is the right thing to do, for selfish reasons; but not solely for selfish reasons.

Thank you.

Reference: Free Software Is Even More Important Now