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Read and share online: https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/new-changes-to-twitter-make-it-even-worse-for-free-software-users
Dear Free Software Supporter,
There are many complicated debates happening right now around Twitter
and its role in public discourse. These discussions are important, but
we also shouldn't forget a very basic and clear principle -- whatever
its policies are about who can and can't post or how, it's of
fundamental importance that Twitter should not require users to run
nonfree software in order to use the site. Unfortunately, on December
15th, Twitter removed its "legacy" Web interface. As opposed to its
much larger and more complex default Web client, the legacy interface
did not use proprietary JavaScript (or any JavaScript).
Previously, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) could tolerate the
use of Twitter because of this legacy interface. While it was active,
we referred free software advocates to it, or to third-party free
software applications. Twitter's removing access to this interface
means that users are forced to use the site's nonfree JavaScript if
they don't have a dedicated desktop or mobile client, preventing
freedom-respecting browsers like GNU IceCat from posting to the
service.
But why use Twitter in the first place, if we know that it has these
issues? As any charity can attest, engaging users on social media is
one of the chief ways of getting their message across. The same is
true for software freedom. We need to be talking about free software
in places where everyone is not already a committed free software
supporter -- we won't be successful if we are only in our own echo
chamber, or preaching to the choir. It's important for us as activists
to be reaching the people on these platforms, even if we have some
reservations about using them ourselves. Twitter has its share of
issues, but until we're able to drive enough users to the software
freedom movement to where we can rely solely on word of mouth, we need
to include them in our messaging strategy. We are, however, careful to
make sure that you don't have to follow the FSF on Twitter in order
to receive news or updates. Everything we publish is also posted on
platforms based on free software principles, including Mastodon and
GNU social.
The Free Software Definition, which is how we decide whether a
program is free or nonfree, is about software you run on your own
computer. Services, where you use software running on someone else's
computer, are neither free nor nonfree -- they raise their own
different issues. This is not to say that we don't hear the other
concerns with platforms like Twitter, but the first step is clear: you
shouldn't be forced to run nonfree software in order to use it. When
you visit Twitter, your browser runs its proprietary JavaScript
locally on your computer. The FSF urges you not to run that software
for the same reasons we urge you not to run any other nonfree
software: you can't see what it's actually doing, and you can't change
it or use someone else's changed version to stop it from doing
something bad. We know that nonfree JavaScript is ubiquitous, but we
won't change this norm if we don't refuse it whenever we can. Now, if
this JavaScript were free software, all of the problems with Twitter
as a service would not necessarily be fixed. However, if users were
able to share and run modified versions of that JavaScript, the power
dynamics would look much different, and potentially lead to new
solutions for those issues. While Twitter's legacy interface didn't
embrace the power of free software in this way, at least it didn't
require users to give up their freedom.
Since the interface that did not depend on Twitter's nonfree
JavaScript has been removed, those who care strongly for their freedom
must now take additional steps in order to use the platform and retain
their autonomy at the same time. At the FSF, we use a tweaked version
of the Rainbowstream tool for GNU/Linux, customized by our senior
systems administrator Ian Kelling. The script Ian wrote allows us
to programmatically call Rainbowstream, as well as the Toot utility
for Mastodon, the Diaspy client for Diaspora, and a Curl script we use
to post on our GNU social instance, https://status.fsf.org.
Thanks to some Bash glue from Ian, we're able to make posts to these
services all at once, and attach images to our posts as well. This
setup has worked well for us for nearly a year. If you're in need of a
free software Twitter client, we recommend Rainbowstream, or mobile
clients that are available on the freedom-respecting F-Droid
Android repository, like Twidere.
Although we've worked out a way the campaigns team can post to
Twitter without compromising our freedom, this doesn't mean that the
FSF isn't affected by the deprecation of the old interface. Since we
won't suggest using nonfree software in any context whatsoever, we've
had to make some changes to our "share" page, and remove the link
to our Twitter profile from the emails that we send. We want users to
spread the free software message far and wide, and learn about us from
social media, but as clicking any link to Twitter now involves
running nonfree JavaScript, we don't want to point people toward
anything that we know will not work without running nonfree software.
On IRC and other internal office chats, FSF staff will also often use
the Nitter service as a way to view and share microblog posts
made to Twitter or to check things like hashtag uses. Nitter uses
Twitter APIs to show tweets in a way that's compatible with both
freedom and privacy, since the JavaScript it serves is freely
licensed. Yet such setups only work for now. It's never comfortable
to rely on third-party clients, as Twitter can disallow them at any
time, and has done so in the past.
"User-hostile" problems like these are why the FSF supports
decentralized network services wherever we can. We have done so as
early as 2008, when we were the host of a summit on network
services that culminated in the publication of the Franklin
Street Statement. The statement's focus on promotion of
decentralized services and freedom from bulk corporate and government
surveillance remain part of our campaigns strategy. Twitter may have
the most users of any microblogging network of its type, but in the
long run, decentralized platforms like Mastodon or
PeerTube will win out. Even Jack Dorsey of Twitter has
acknowledged the appeal of these networks, which are based on
ActivityPub, in a conversation that our executive director John
Sullivan had with him on Twitter. We remain hopeful that Twitter will
support decentralization, and at the same time prioritize software
freedom.
Being such a popular social media network, there are a variety of
issues surrounding Twitter and what it means for the Web. We shouldn't
let that complexity obscure what isn't complex: Twitter shouldn't
require anyone to use nonfree software in order to participate on the
site. This can be as easy as bringing back an interface that does not
require it, writing a new Web interface powered by free
JavaScript for that purpose, or promising to support full access
by free software clients. Allowing its users to access the service
and retain their freedom at the same time is the baseline of
acceptability, but from there, there are other steps that Twitter can
take in the right direction, including embracing the promising future
of decentralization. Dismantling its own silo and becoming one among
many decentralized network nodes might be unprecedented from a
business or developmental point of view, but it would also be
unprecedented in terms of the respect for user freedom it would
demonstrate.
In freedom,
Greg Farough
Campaigns Manager |
