Browser
Freedom Alert

You have probably been directed to this page by an alert that certain web pages on the Free Range Activism Web Site generate. This alert was activated because the browser you are using appeared to identify itself as a proprietary software system. The purpose of this alert, and this page, is to highlight the dangers of proprietary software to your use of the Internet and your freedom of expression.

To find out more read on, or to return to the page that you just
came from press your "back" button now (or click this link).

The success of the Internet has been based on its use of open standards, and the free interoperability this creates for Internet users – or to put it in less geeky terms, you can use the Internet because the people writing the software agree that all the programs should be compatible with one another.

Over the next few years this compatibility is threatened:

• Firstly, because organisations such as Microsoft do not properly implement the standards agreed by software developers. At its simplest this means that Microsoft browsers, such as Internet Explorer, will not properly display web pages created to operate with the globally accepted standards. At a more subtle level, what Microsoft are seeking to do is lock Internet service providers into using Microsoft's software in order that Microsoft can maintain their market share in global desktop computer software industry.
  
  
• The second threat comes from the systems that are being developed today to provide 'digital rights management'. This is a grandiose term which means, at its simplest, that controls over the use of the information you download will be enforced by the next generation of proprietary web browsers. At its simplest the pages you download might not print, or allow the cut and pasting of information. At the most extreme you might have to pay to view a web page using an online credit account managed through Microsoft's dot-Net and Passport systems.

Software that is 'free' or 'open source' does not have these restrictions. As the online community have access to the source code, and because the system of open license permits the modification and re-release of the code, and problems such as incompatibility with global standard, or technical blocks to accessing data, can be circumvented and the new program released for everyone to use.

However in the longer term the use of locked-up browsers, protected from circumvention or modification by intellectual property law, could be used as a means of censorship or control over the information that is accessible online. It's not just that the digital rights management systems will only accept certain kinds of information, whilst rejecting others. The failure of organisations such as Microsoft to properly implement open standards on the access and display of information, purely because they wish to retain their dominance over computer software, threatens the global compatibility of the Internet.

So, we ask you, DO NOT ACCEPT NON-FREE SOFTWARE WHEN USING THE INTERNET

The best thing you could do would be to get rid of proprietary software altogether – for example erasing your Microsoft Windows system and installing a Gnu/Linux system instead. Obviously for most people who use computers this isn't realistic. Therefore, in the short term, we suggest that you download and install a free software browser such as Firefox (see below for details).

Finally, thanks to Dave Fischer for the article, entitled "Time for the Fox to Stop Barking and Start Biting", in Linux User and Developer (issue 47) for highlighting the browser issue, and helping to crystallise the idea of the browser alert on the FRAW site. Thanks also the the electrohippies for the coding.

Related links:

The Firefox Explosion, Wired, February 2005 (an article about Firefox, and the growing battle between Microsoft and the developers of free software systems) – http://wired.com/wired/archive/13.02/firefox.html

The Firefox Web Site – http://www.firefox.com/

Get Firefox Web Site (find out all about Firefox, why it's better than Internet Explorer,
and download it for free) – http://www.getfirefox.com/

Spread Firefox Web Site (Firefox browser advocacy site) – http://www.spreadfirefox.com/

The Gnu/Linux Operating System, The Free Range Community-Linux Training Centre Project'Practice Briefing' No.1 (what is Gnu/Linux, and where did it come from?) – http://www.fraw.org.uk/pubs/cltcpb/cltc_pb-01.html

Broken Windows with Stronger Fences, Free Range Briefing 03/01 (why do so many activists use Micro$oft products when Micro$oft actively supports the political philosophy that they are campaigning against?) – http://www.fraw.org.uk/pubs/frb/frb-03_01.html

A note about the browser alert system:

This 'Browser Alert' scripts were created by members of the electrohippie collective to assist the Free Range Network in its advocacy of free software and the Gnu/Linux operating system.

'Browser Alert' uses JavaScript to identify the ID of the browser that accesses the page containing the browser alert scripts. Most browsers identify themselves as part of the design of the JavaScript system. To find out what your browser ID's as click here.

If you got the alert, and you were using a free software browser, we'd like to know (just so we can fix the erroneous alert!). If this is the case please check you browser ID by clicking here, and then email your details to browseralert@fraw.org.uk. If you have any feedback you can also send it to this address.

The code for FRAW's browser alert system is available via the tools page.