Re: GNU Accessibility Statement Online

  • From: Chris Hofstader <cdh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2010 12:23:22 -0400

Hi,

I don't disagree and wanted the statement removed but it is a GNU statement and 
must, therefore, it needs to reflect the fundamentals of FSF.

Also, people with disabilities need privacy more so than others as everything 
from insurance premiums to potential lawsuits may cause problems when and if 
someone gets access to their information. Remember, a person with disability 
will cost more to insure so companies may be reluctant to hire them for that 
reason alone.

If asked about this statement, though, we can point to Bill Gates who, in a 
COMDEX keynote address a bunch of years ago, he made a strong statement against 
server based programs, citing a value of putting computes in the hands of the 
individual and also raising privacy concerns.

Also, there are people in jail in China because Yahoo turned over records 
stored on their servers. Why not expect that the US security infrastructure 
would be following all transactions on Skype, MSN, etc. giving them a lot of 
information into which they can cast a wide net.

There's a lot of problems with server based systems ranging from privacy to a 
centralized data bank that can be mined for all sorts of reasons.

Lastly, there is the question of who controls your computing and your data. 
Local systems put you in charge while who knows what google might do with or to 
your information.

Of course, I could be wrong.

cdh
On Mar 27, 2010, at 11:03 AM, Sina Bahram wrote:

> The following statement really got to me:
> 
> "and please don't invite users to do something on a server that they could 
> conceivably do on their own computers."
> 
> I understand that Stallmann is one of the leading activists against cloud 
> computing, but why on earth are you allowing such an
> agenda to creap into a statement on accessibility?
> 
> In my opinion, this one statement completely undermines the rest of the 
> things you're trying to do.
> 
> Take care,
> Sina
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
> [mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Chris Hofstader
> Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2010 9:00 AM
> To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: GNU Accessibility Statement Online
> 
> Hi,
> 
> For a couple of months, Richard Stallman and I have been working on the GNU 
> Accessibility Statement (GAS)  which takes a no nonsense
> approach to endorsing the rights of people with disabilities as regard 
> software within the context of free software. I've never read
> a more strongly worded statement from any organization regarding software and 
> people with disabilities.
> 
> GAS also takes a strong stance on free software values but does not endorse 
> any specific license, although we would like people to
> use GPL.
> 
> You can read the statement at: 
> http://www.gnu.org/accessibility/accessibility.html
> and send comments to me that we can consider for future revisions of the 
> statement.
> 
> Thanks,
> cdh
> 
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