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-<!-- pubdate: 20210317 -->
-
-# Educational Institutes should use exclusively freedom-respecting software
-
-We urge educational institutes to [use free (as in freedom)/swatantra
-software that respects students' freedom and
-privacy][free-sw-edu]. For example, the Department of Scientific
-Computing, Modeling, and Simulation, Savitribai Phule Pune University
-[has been using free/swatantra software tools for more than 20 years
-and it's currently helping other departments at Savitribai Phule Pune
-University adopt free software][cs-unipune]. Free software is readily
-available for all activities in the digital classroom and should be
-preferred over their proprietary counterparts.
-
-[free-sw-edu]: https://www.gnu.org/software/free-software-for-education.html
-[cs-unipune]: https://fsf.org.in/case-study/unipune
-
-## What is Free/Swatantra Software?
-
-Free/Swatantra software means that you, as user, have the freedom to
-run, study, modify, and redistribute the program. With these freedoms,
-the users, both individually and collectively, control the program and
-what it does for them.  When users don't control the program, we call
-it &ldquo;nonfree&rdquo; or &ldquo;proprietary&rdquo;
-program. Proprietary software is an injustice to the user because it
-puts its developer or owner in a [position of power over its
-users][free-sw-imp]. The developer uses this power [to spy, restrict,
-censor, and abuse the user][gnu-malware].
-
-[free-sw]: https://gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
-[free-sw-imp]: https://gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html
-[gnu-malware]: https://gnu.org/malware
-
-## Why should educational institutes use free software?
-
-Any computer user should use free software for their own freedom, but
-educational institutes have [additional reasons to insist only on free
-software][gnu-edu].
-
-[gnu-edu]: https://www.gnu.org/education/edu-schools.html
-
-Some reasons are listed below:
-
-- Software should [respect the user's freedom][gnu-sbf].
-
-- [Proprietary software is often malware][gnu-malware].
-
-- Educational Institutes have a moral responsibility to respect
-  students' freedom and teach students to appreciate it &mdash; for
-  their own future and their country's future.
-
-- Educational institutes often expose students to [privacy-invading
-  technology][eff-sp] without any real choice to escape from
-  it. Educational institutes should respect students' privacy. Free
-  software is controlled by its users and therefore it can protect
-  them from surveillance.
-
-- Students cannot learn from proprietary software because it is
-  secret, and it prohibits learning as well as sharing while free
-  software encourages learning and sharing which align with the
-  mission of the schools.
-
-- Proprietary software makes the institute dependent on the owner of
-  the software while free software allows the institute to be in
-  control.
-
-[gnu-sbf]: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/shouldbefree.html
-[eff-sp]: https://www.eff.org/wp/school-issued-devices-and-student-privacy
-
-Free software can save schools money, but this is a secondary
-benefit. Savings are possible because free software gives schools,
-like other users, the freedom to copy and redistribute the software;
-the school system can give a copy to every school, and each school can
-install the program on all its computers, with no obligation to pay
-for doing so. Schools can also do necessary modifications as per their
-requirements without further cost.
-
-## Problems with commonly used proprietary tools for education
-
-A lot of institutes rely on Google's Gmail and Microsoft's Outlook for
-their email communications. Offering Google or Outlook accounts is an
-injustice because:
-
-a. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Apple, and AOL are [surveillance
-systems][prism].
-
-b. Gmail [makes psychological profiles][alternet-gmail] not only of
-Gmail users but of everyone who sends mail to Gmail users.
-
-c. Microsoft Outlook is known to block incoming mails from other email
-service providers [without providing a reason](disroot-msh).
-
-[prism]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_%28surveillance_program%29
-[alternet-gmail]: https://www.alternet.org/2013/12/google-using-gmail-build-psychological-profiles-hundreds-millions-people/?paging=off
-[disroot-msh]: https://disroot.org/en/blog/microsoft_hostility
-
-Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams are proprietary software
-generally used in live classes and webinars. All of them use their
-power over the users to collect personal and location data. Zoom
-[collects a lot of data][spm-zoom] on students. Microsoft Teams and
-Google also [snoop on their users][verge-mz].  We urge teachers to
-help their students in resisting against proprietary videoconferencing
-platforms; some ideas are [listed here][gnu-rz].
-
-[spm-zoom]: https://studentprivacymatters.org/what-you-need-to-know-about-zoom-for-education
-[verge-mz]: https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/1/21244058/google-meet-microsoft-teams-webex-personal-data-collection-privacy-policy-concerns
-[gnu-rz]: https://www.gnu.org/education/teachers-help-students-resist-zoom.html
-
-A lot of times, students are asked to join a WhatsApp group for
-important announcements which is an injustice to the student because
-WhatsApp is a nonfree program. Further, WhatsApp [does not respect
-user's privacy][forbes-wa].
-
-[forbes-wa]: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlypage/2021/01/08/whatsapp-tells-users-share-your-data-with-facebook-or-well-deactivate-your-account/
-
-Google Classroom is another commonly used nonfree program which is an
-[assault on student's privacy][gm-gc]. Google Forms are used for
-filling personal details which sends data to Google, [a surveillance
-company][rms-gs] known to track and profile users. Google Drive
-[mistreats users][vice-gd] as well.
-
-[gm-gc]: https://gomindsight.com/insights/blog/privacy-with-google-classroom-education-industry-news/
-[rms-gs]: https://stallman.org/google.html#surveillance
-[vice-gd]: https://www.vice.com/en/article/9kgwnp/porn-on-google-drive-error
-
-Chromebooks for schools [collect far more data on students than is
-necessary, and store it indefinitely][eff-sp].
-
-Many exam websites, institute and webinar websites report all their
-visitors to Google by using the Google Analytics service, which [tells
-Google the IP address and the page that was visited][pw-ga].
-
-Further, educational institutes are [invading student's privacy][dw-p]
-through cheating-detection systems. Requiring students to install a
-proprietary monitoring software in their own computers is an
-injustice. Monitoring software, by design, runs even when the owner of
-the computer tries to stop it from running long after the exam is
-finished and takes full control of the computer which [subjects users
-to abuse][twtext-doctorow]. These monitoring apps [collect a lot of
-data on students][eff-pa] such as: Recorded patterns of keystrokes,
-facial-recognition, microphones and cameras record students'
-surroundings such as biometric data, full name, date of birth,
-address, phone number, scans of government-issued identity documents,
-educational institution affiliation, and student ID numbers, records
-of operating systems, make and model of the device, as well as device
-identification numbers, IP addresses, browser type and language
-settings, software on the device and their versions, ISP, records of
-URLs visited, and how long students remain on a particular site or
-webpage etc. The algorithms of these monitoring software could easily
-flag students who don’t have control over their surroundings as
-&ldquo;suspicious&rdquo; [which could further penalize them][wp-op].
-
-No student should be forced to make a choice between getting
-surveilled or to fail the exam.
-
-[pw-ga]: http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/434164/google_analytics_breaks_norwegian_privacy_laws_local_agency_said
-[dw-p]: https://www.dw.com/en/anti-plagiarism-tools-a-new-age-of-truth-at-university/a-45475465
-[twtext-doctorow]: https://twtext.com/article/1252225044861693954
-[eff-pa]: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/08/proctoring-apps-subject-students-unnecessary-surveillance
-[wp-op]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/04/01/online-proctoring-college-exams-coronavirus
-
-## Free Software Recommendations
-
-If you're a parent, talk to your child's school about the importance
-of using free software that respects the freedom and privacy of
-students and push for its adoption. If you're a student, team up with
-your peers and write collective letters to the school raising
-awareness about free software and urge them to provide a free software
-infrastructure for your school. You can learn from people who
-[successfully resisted][gnu-sr] the use of nonfree software in the
-institutes.
-
-[gnu-sr]: https://www.gnu.org/education/successful-resistance-against-nonfree-software.html#content
-
-Here's a list of freedom-respecting software that can be used in
-education:
-
-Operating system: [GNU/Linux distros][gnu-fd]
-
-Online Classes: Jitsi, BigBlueButton. See [this][fsfi-zoom] for more
-details
-
-Instant Messenger: Element, Quicksy, Conversations. See
-[this][fsfi-wa] for more details
-
-Uploading videos: [PeerTube][peertube]
-
-E-learning platform: [Moodle][moodle]
-
-Recording Lectures: [OBS][obs]
-
-Sharing notes, lecture videos etc. : [Nextcloud][nc], [Lufi][lufi]
-
-Digital writing pad: [Xournal][xournal]
-
-Document editor: [LibreOffice][libreoffice]
-
-Form filling: [KoBoToolbox][kobotoolbox], [NextCloud Forms][nc-f]
-&mdash; [Disroot][ds-nc-f] provides NextCloud Forms.
-
-[gnu-fd]: https://gnu.org/distros/free-distros.html
-[fsfi-zoom]: https://fsf.org.in/article/better-than-zoom
-[fsfi-wa]: https://fsf.org.in/article/better-than-whatsapp/
-[peertube]: https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/PeerTube
-[moodle]: https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Moodle
-[obs]: https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Obs-studio
-[nc]: https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Nextcloud
-[lufi]: https://framagit.org/fiat-tux/hat-softwares/lufi
-[xournal]: https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Xournal
-[libreoffice]: https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/LibreOffice
-[kobotoolbox]: https://www.kobotoolbox.org
-[nc-f]: https://apps.nextcloud.com/apps/forms
-[dr-nc-f]: https://disroot.org/en/services/nextcloud
-
-Email: Institutes can hire a free software consultancy to run their
-own mail server. For self-hosting mails, [Mail-in a-Box][mib] ,
-[iRedMail][irm] and [Freedom Box][fb] are good options.  Further, the
-users of the mail server(students, teachers, other staff etc) can use
-end-to-end encryption so that only the participants of a communication
-can read the mails.  Furthermore, PGP may be used to encrypt emails to
-recipients. For information about using PGP see [FSF's Email
-Self-Defense guide][fsf-esg].
-
-[fsf-esg]: https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org
-[mib]: https://mailinabox.email
-[irm]: https://www.iredmail.org
-[fb]: https://www.freedombox.org
-
-The GNU website [lists free software that can be used in schools and
-educational institutions of all levels][free-sw-edu]. The Free
-Software Foundation keeps a comprehensive database of educational
-software at the [Free Software Directory][fsd-edu].
-
-[Freeduc-USB][freeduc] is a bootable USB
-stick that contains useful applications for the classroom.
-
-When an educational institute provides laptops to students, they
-should choose laptops which can run fully free software-- check [RYF
-laptops by FSF][ryf-l] and [LibreTech](https://libretech.shop/). For
-other hardware which can run fully free software, check
-[h-node][].
-
-[fsd-edu]: https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Category/Education
-[freeduc]: https://usb.freeduc.org/index-en.html
-[ryf-l]: https://ryf.fsf.org/categories/laptops
-[h-node]: https://h-node.org
-
-## Educational resources should be 'free' as in freedom
-
-<div class="file is-centered" style="margin-bottom:5px;">
-   <img src="/assets/img/blackhole.png" alt="[ Don't let proprietary limitations stand in the way of discovery - Image ]" />
-</div>
-
-In today's age, free sharing of scientific knowledge has become the
-[worst conceivable crime][pia] one can think of. Scientific journals
-like Elsevier lock up academic research behind paywalls and prohibit
-sharing with others. Since, the academic research is funded by public
-money, it should be available free of cost as well as free in
-freedom. For arguments on how the principles of software freedom apply
-to academic papers, please read [this essay][gnu-pca]. Educational
-resources-- like videos, recorded lectures, academic papers [should be
-released under free/swatantra licenses only][rms-oe]. The [GNU Free
-Documentation License (GFDL)][gnu-fdl] is a free license that can be
-used for educational works. Creative Commons has two free licenses:
-CC-BY and CC-BY-SA for this purpose. If you release your academic
-papers under a free license, it will give everyone an opportunity to
-learn from you. Some free (as in freedom) learning resources are
-mentioned [here][gnu-lr]. We must not allow scientific knowledge to
-get locked.
-
-[pia]: https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/how-did-the-free-sharing-of-scientific-knowledge-and-culture-become-the-worst-crime-our-justice-systems-could-think-of
-[gnu-pca]: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/push-copyright-aside.html
-[rms-oe]: https://www.stallman.org/articles/online-education.html
-[gnu-fdl]: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html
-[gnu-lr]: https://www.gnu.org/education/edu-free-learning-resources.html
-
-## Free Software adoption in Indian education
-
-IT syllabus of class XI in Maharashtra [now includes free
-software][fsfi-mh].  The state of Kerala [migrated more than 2,600
-public schools to free software][kite]. Unfortunately, Kerala is the
-only state in India where IT education is [imparted over a Free
-software operating system][ae-k] and other states should also take
-initiative in this direction.  A free software named [Tux
-Paint][tux-paint] used at VHSS Irimpanam school, Kerala, where 11 and
-12 years old students exercised the freedom to learn how the program
-works and modify the program, which demonstrates that even non
-programmers or children, [can actually influence and improve
-information technology][gnu-tp] when software freedom is
-granted. School-age children were able to effectively and quickly
-exercise software freedom with Tux Paint in the [PC-in-the-Village
-Experiment, Goa][de-k].
-
-[fsfi-mh]: https://fsf.org.in/news/mh-schools-floss
-[kite]: https://kite.kerala.gov.in/KITE
-[ae-k]: https://www.academia.edu/10236947/IT_at_SCHOOL_PROJECT_OF_KERALA_A_LANDMARK_IN_ICT_INITIATIVE_IN_GENERAL_EDUCATION
-[tux-paint]: http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/TuxPaint
-[gnu-tp]: https://www.gnu.org/education/edu-software-tuxpaint.html
-[de-k]: https://web.archive.org/web/20070203150611/www.digitalequalizer.org/kids.htm
-
-Some of the educational institutions in India that are using
-exclusively Free Software:
-
-- [Ambedkar Community Computing Center (AC3)][gnu-ac3].
-
-- [Vocational Higher Secondary School Irimpanam (VHSS
-  Irimpanam)][gnu-vi].
-
-- Department of Scientific Computing, Modeling, and Simulation,
-  Savitribai Phule Pune University &mdash; [Statement
-  here](cs-unipune)
-
-If you know of other institutes which use free software, please let us
-know, we would like to add them in this list. If you need help in
-switching your institute to free software, feel free to [contact
-us][fsfi-contact], we would be very glad to help you.
-
-[gnu-ac3]: https://www.gnu.org/education/edu-cases-india-ambedkar.html
-[gnu-vi]: https://www.gnu.org/education/edu-cases-india-irimpanam.html
-[fsfi-contact]: https://fsf.org.in/contact
-
-
-## Some Related Links:
-
-- Remote education does not require [giving up rights to freedom and
-  privacy][fsf-re].
-
-- Richard Stallman on [why schools should use exclusively free
-  software][rms-sina].
-
-
-- [Sign Free Software Foundation's petition][fsf-gsu] to call on
-  school administrators around the world to stop requiring students to
-  run nonfree software.
-
-
-- [Free software enables free science][lp-fs].
-
-
-- [Guri][guri] &mdash; a project for free software in education.
-
-
-- Ways in which technology used in education [puts students under
-  surveillance][eff-ps].
-
-
-- Schools are [deploying massive surveillance on their
-  students][eff-st] as if they are dissidents of an authoritarian
-  regime.
-
-
-- [Join Students and Scholars In Speaking Out About the Effects of
-  Mass Surveillance on Campus][eff-ms].
-
-
-- [How Much Surveillance Can Democracy Withstand?][gnu-svd]
-
-
-- [Don't Let][eff-ks] Science Publisher Elsevier Hold Knowledge for
-  Ransom.
-
-
-[fsf-re]: https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/remote-education-does-not-require-giving-up-rights-to-freedom-and-privacy
-[rms-sina]: https://audio-video.gnu.org/video/richard_stallman_speech-sina.com-2005-09.ogg
-[fsf-gsu]: https://my.fsf.org/give-students-userfreedom
-[lp-fs]: https://media.libreplanet.org/u/libreplanet/m/free-software-enables-free-science
-[guri]: https://guri.hipatia.net
-[eff-ps]: https://ssd.eff.org/en/module/privacy-students
-[eff-st]: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/02/schools-are-pushing-boundaries-surveillance-technologies
-[eff-ms]: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/05/join-students-and-scholars-speaking-out-about-effects-mass-surveillance-campus
-[gnu-svd]: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/surveillance-vs-democracy.html
-[eff-ks]: https://www.eff.org/id/deeplinks/2019/10/dont-let-science-publisher-elsevier-hold-knowledge-ransom