Internet freedom is something we take very seriously at Crowd Supply. It is an essential tool for the sharing of information, for social justice, for human rights, and for democracy — for all people.
The Free Software Foundation has fought for Internet Freedom in software for the past 30 years. Today, these same rights need to be extended and adapted to hardware in order to protect consumers. The lines between hardware and software are blurring, so it only makes sense to consider them jointly rather than separately.
We’re proud to say that we now have the endorsement of Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation for respecting the freedom of backers and consumers purchasing new hardware products on the Crowd Supply platform. As a first step, our website and e-commerce engine have been completely reengineered to comply with the FSF’s Free Javascript Campaign, an initiative to make websites work without requiring users to run non-free software.
We have also been selected by the FSF as its preferred crowdfunding platform and marketplace. The organization recommends us for hardware and software creators looking to crowdfund, sell or purchase products online.
We’re happy to promote Crowd Supply. Finally there is a crowdfunding site that respects people’s freedom while asking them to donate to projects.
— Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation
The four tenants of the Free Software Foundation state:
- 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 your neighbor (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.
In the future, we will be working together to promote and launch new software and hardware products that adhere to FSF’s guiding principles, with the first project to be announced soon. If you’d like to join the effort to preserve Internet Freedom with the FSF, join here. You can also read more about the partnership in the exclusive article on Ars Technica, Crowdfund Insider, and FOSS Force.