Dear list,
The FSF has endorsement criteria for - hardware: https://www.fsf.org/news/endorsement-criteria - repositories: https://www.gnu.org/software/repo-criteria.html - distributions: https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html - software: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/applying-free-sw-criteria.html That leads me to ask: *Has the FSF, or anyone else, created comparable endorsement criteria for institutions?* I am thinking especially of employers, or educational institutions: the kind of institution a person might apply to (as a prospective employee, or a prospective student, respectively) in the course of a career. For example, an employer would only be endorsed if it neither recommends non-free software, nor requires its employees or customers/clients to use non-free software. Likewise an educational institution would only be endorsed if it met the criteria for employers, and also did not require any current, prospective or past students to use non-free software. It would be great to be confident in advance which institutions respect their employees'/students' freedom. The process of applying to work or study at an institution is usually very time-consuming, and sometimes also financially costly. Making that expenditure and only afterwards discovering that you will be expected to use non-free software (and that you might, therefore, prefer to turn down an offer from that institution) would be exceedingly disappointing. Alternatively, it would be exhausting to have to individually write to every prospective employer or place of study, etc., in advance of applying, to enquire whether they would respect your preference to use only free software. Publishing a set of endorsement criteria and campaigning around them might create some welcome change. Looking at institutions locally and nationally, the current situation strikes me as ripe for improvement. Many institutions require their employees/students/etc. to use non-free software. Some employers and educational institutions even require candidates to interact with proprietary software during the *application* process. The latter is typically a Service as a Software Substitute, often including non-free JavaScript. I believe Oracle iRecruitment is an example of such a SaaSS. I would love to have a whitelist of enlightened institutions that would be a first port of call for people who want to move into a new job or studentship! Best wishes, Sam Pablo Kuper P.S. If FSF endorsement criteria for institutions have already been discussed, please could you point me to that discussion? P.P.S. I am aware of [email protected] but have not used it. Would my question have been more appropriate there? Or somewhere else?
