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Dear Free Software Supporter,

On [July 29th][1], the CEOs of Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon
were called before the US Senate Judiciary Committee to give testimony
to lawmakers considering substantial revisions to antitrust laws. Yet
despite a five-hour hearing, conducted using some of the very same
software which is at the root of these issues, little headway was
made.

[1]: [link removed]

It's easy to focus, like these hearings, on the specific objectionable
purposes for which the software these companies are involved with has
been used. Specific actions have caused specific harms, and we
understand the importance of talking about that and potentially taking
or requiring remedial actions. However, it is imperative that we not
stop there. We must go deeper, and expose the fact that it is the very
way our predominant proprietary software culture and legal regimes
operate -- giving software companies immense power over users -- which
will inevitably lead to recurring specific problems until addressed.

Attempting to address the problem of monolithic corporations like the
ones in question, and their control over the digital sphere, will fail
without addressing the issue at the core of their exploitation of
users: proprietary software, or software that does not respect its
users' [freedom][2]. The terms of use and distribution for
software are by no means the only issue, but they are central to many
of the issues causing public concern. We've been waiting for follow-up
coverage to acknowledge the conspicuous absence of discussion about
our rights as users to control the software we use, but it has not
happened. This is evidence that the Free Software Foundation, the free
software movement, and anyone else concerned with ending the dystopian
control tech companies have achieved over our lives, have our work cut
out for us.

[2]: [link removed]

Proprietary software is one of the chief ways in which these
corporations are able to continually abuse their users. If the
software were instead free to study, share, and modify, others would
be able to detect and remove (or substantially mitigate) unwanted
"features" like the [user tracking][3] frequently discussed throughout
the hearing. Even users without technical know-how could then use the
altered software to protect themselves, and would benefit tremendously
from a robust community of software professionals and hobbyists able
to verify that their computer or cell phone isn't violating their
rights. Giving the community of users insight into and control over the
tools that they use is crucial to retaining their freedom.

[3]: [link removed]

Besides enabling abusive features, nonfree software also helps these
companies achieve and maintain their monopolistic dominance on the
market. The Apple App Store uses [Digital Restrictions Management][4]
(DRM) to ensure that only programs that Apple approves are able to run
on Apple devices. This gives them tremendous control over the
applications people get to download, and naturally tends toward a
monopoly. As long as Apple uses DRM to ensure that their phones are
only able to run software with their permission, Apple retains
unilateral control over its users, and over an entire industry of
developers, creatives, and tinkerers who develop applications for
mobile phones. To make matters worse, the US and other governments
actually subsidize this control via laws that make breaking it or
sharing information about how to break it a criminal offense. The
solution here isn't to tell Apple that it can't use its control in
some specific ways, like banning apps that compete with Apple
products, which is something it regularly does. The solution is to
take this unjust control away from them and other companies that push
DRM.

[4]: [link removed]

During the course of the hearing, subcommittee chairman David
Cicilline continually referred to Google and the other firms up for
discussion as "walled gardens." Proprietary software is the core
reason for this term, yet in the hearing itself, there was no
indication of the understanding that nonfree software establishes the
conditions to trap users in the first place.

Likewise, nowhere in the hearing did we hear a reference to any free
and easily deployable software that could challenge the monopolizing
powers while giving users similar functionalities. Through network
federation and decentralization, communities could deploy smaller
servers that mesh together to form one larger network, avoiding the
further "siloization" of the Internet. Decentralized social networks
like [Mastodon][5] have already attracted millions to their platform.
Even Google's dominance on Web queries could be challenged by
deploying federated search software, such as [YaCy][6]. Twitter has
[publicly said][7] that they are exploring such possibilities -- there is
no reason all of the platform companies in this hearing shouldn't be
doing the same.

[5]: [link removed]
[6]: [link removed]
[7]: [link removed]

The Free Software Foundation has been campaigning for complete
software freedom for nearly thirty-five years, and is the
organizational home of [GNU][8], the first operating system written
for the sole purpose of giving users their freedom. If we want to heed
chairman Cicilline's warning and not "[bow before the emperors of the
online economy][9]," we should start by letting our friends,
families, and lawmakers know that as long as software is nonfree, we
enable corporations like these to continue their assault on human
dignity and user freedom.

[8]: [link removed]
[9]: [link removed]

In solidarity,

Greg Farough
Campaigns Manager

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Sent from the Free Software Foundation,

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