Re: [GNU/consensus] [RFC][SH] User Data Manifesto

[hellekin (GNU Consensus)]

On 01/08/2013 07:47 AM, Frank Karlitschek wrote:
> The original motivation behind this idea was that in the "old" days everybody 
> had exactly one computer with one hard-disk. Everything that I type into this 
> computer is stored on the hard-disk and is considered private first. Examples 
> are notes, draft emails, photos and all kind of documents. It's an conscious 
> decision to share some of the stuff with others. Like publishing a blog post, 
> sending a email, uploading a photo on a website and so on. This is all fine.
> 
> The challenge nowadays is that people have more than one computer. Like a 
> work computer, a home notebook, a tables, a phone, a coffee machine with 
> internet connection and so on. So it is convenient to people to have their 
> stuff somewhere on the internet to sync it and access it from all their 
> devices. But it is bad if the administrator of this internet services decides 
> to access and copy and distribute the information without the permission of 
> the user. The default has to be private. Just as my personal hard disk is 
> mine and shouldn't be public by default. 
> This is what I meant with the word "I own the data that I create until I 
> decide to share it if someone."
>
*** Can we get inspiration from the Franklin Street Statement[1]? Maybe
we should invite its signatories to participate in the discussion.

The statement (2008-07-14) says:

*Franklin Street Statement on Freedom and Network Services*

The current generation of network services or Software as a Service can
provide advantages over traditional, locally installed software in ease
of deployment, collaboration, and data aggregation. Many users have
begun to rely on such services in preference to software provisioned by
themselves or their organizations. This move toward centralization has
powerful effects on software freedom and user autonomy.

On March 16, 2008, a workgroup convened at the Free Software Foundation
to discuss issues of freedom for users given the rise of network
services. We considered a number of issues, among them what impacts
these services have on user freedom, and how implementers of network
services can help or harm users. We believe this will be an ongoing
conversation, potentially spanning many years. Our hope is that free
software and open source communities will embrace and adopt these values
when thinking about user freedom and network services. We hope to work
with organizations including the FSF to provide moral and technical
leadership on this issue.

We consider network services that are Free Software and which share Free
Data as a good starting-point for ensuring users’ freedom. Although we
have not yet formally defined what might constitute a ‘Free Service’, we
do have suggestions that developers, service providers, and users should
consider:

Developers of network service software are encouraged to:

  - Use the GNU Affero GPL, a license designed specifically for network
service software, to ensure that users of services have the ability to
examine the source or implement their own service.
  - Develop freely-licensed alternatives to existing popular but
non-Free network services.
  - Develop software that can replace centralized services and data
storage with distributed software and data deployment, giving control
back to users.

Service providers are encouraged to:

  - Choose Free Software for their service.
  - Release customizations to their software under a Free Software license.
  - Make data and works of authorship available to their service’s users
under legal terms and in formats that enable the users to move and use
their data outside of the service. This means:
    - Users should control their private data.
    - Data available to all users of the service should be available
under terms approved for Free Cultural Works or Open Knowledge.

Users are encouraged to:

  - Consider carefully whether to use software on someone else’s
computer at all. Where it is possible, they should use Free Software
equivalents that run on their own computer. Services may have
substantial benefits, but they represent a loss of control for users and
introduce several problems of freedom.
  - When deciding whether to use a network service, look for services
that follow the guidelines listed above, so that, when necessary, they
still have the freedom to modify or replicate the service without losing
their own data.

==
hk

[1] http://autonomo.us/2008/07/14/franklin-street-statement/

signature.asc
Description: OpenPGP digital signature