A libre program is a program that fulfills these 4 basic freedoms.

  • The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose (freedom 0).
  • The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
  • The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help others (freedom 2).
  • The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others (freedom 3). By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
  • Bonus points if it is cross-platform (can run on Windows or MacOS) or replaces a proprietary program

Jitsi Meet

Jitsi Meet is a free software program that allows users to create video calls with each other. Licensed under Apache 2.0, anyone is able to launch their own Jitsi Meet instance and be able to talk to their friends and family without having their freedoms revoked.

This application can be used to replace proprietary video conferencing apps like Zoom and Google Meets which in addition to being nonfree, un-auditable programs have also shown time and time again to disrespect its users even further such as forcefully integrating AI anti features and forcing users to be trapped in their cultivated video conferencing garden of stings.

  • Read more about the security of Jitsi if you’re interested.

Jitsi Meet can be run on any operating system that has access to a web browser. There is also offline binaries for Linux distributions from Flathub. It’s also available on mobile operating systems in both F-Droid and proprietary app stores.

How can I use it?

Jitsi Meet can be used gratis on the behalf of Jitsi here, however it requires the user to sign in with either Google, Facebook, or Github; all proprietary platforms.

Luckily, Framasoft still has a fully gratis Jitsi Meet service at Framatalk which does not require a third-party login.

Stop Zoomin’ and use Jitsi Meet, self host one if you can to further ensure your freedom and your community.

Share your favorite Free software program here and help others!

Day 4 of libreposting :-)

  • supafuzz [comrade/them]English
    18•9 months ago

    I have replaced a lot of proprietary web services with SyncThing

    Syncthing is a free, open-source peer-to-peer file synchronization application available for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, Solaris, Darwin, and BSD. It can sync files between devices on a local network, or between remote devices over the Internet. Data security and data safety are built into its design.

    Some of the things I use it for:

    • My encrypted password store is a local KeyPass (also libre) database file, which syncthing keeps up to date on all my computers and phones and tablets. so no LastPass or Bitwarden.
    • I have gPodder (also libre) running on my desktop, which pulls podcast episodes from RSS feeds. SyncThing sends 'em to my phone instead of using Spotify
    • I have replaced DropBox/Google Drive/OneDrivewith a synced folder for keeping reference documents or active work tasks up to date across my devices
    • I have replaced Google Photo phone camera backups by setting up my camera storage as a synced folder that transfers everything to my home server (where it’s backed up with a separate process)

    Nothing in the cloud, no data leaves my control. It has been critical for the ongoing process of decommodifying my computing.