[libreplanet-discuss] FSF endorsement criteria for institutions?

[Sam Pablo Kuper]

Dear list,


The FSF has endorsement criteria for


- hardware: https://www.fsf.org/news/endorsement-criteria

- repositories: https://www.gnu.org/software/repo-criteria.html

- distributions:
https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html

- software: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/applying-free-sw-criteria.html


That leads me to ask:


*Has the FSF, or anyone else, created comparable endorsement criteria
for institutions?*


I am thinking especially of employers, or educational institutions: the
kind of institution a person might apply to (as a prospective employee,
or a prospective student, respectively) in the course of a career.

For example, an employer would only be endorsed if it neither recommends
non-free software, nor requires its employees or customers/clients to
use non-free software.

Likewise an educational institution would only be endorsed if it met the
criteria for employers, and also did not require any current,
prospective or past students to use non-free software.

It would be great to be confident in advance which institutions respect
their employees'/students' freedom. The process of applying to work or
study at an institution is usually very time-consuming, and sometimes
also financially costly. Making that expenditure and only afterwards
discovering that you will be expected to use non-free software (and that
you might, therefore, prefer to turn down an offer from that
institution) would be exceedingly disappointing. Alternatively, it would
be exhausting to have to individually write to every prospective
employer or place of study, etc., in advance of applying, to enquire
whether they would respect your preference to use only free software.

Publishing a set of endorsement criteria and campaigning around them
might create some welcome change. Looking at institutions locally and
nationally, the current situation strikes me as ripe for improvement.
Many institutions require their employees/students/etc. to use non-free
software. Some employers and educational institutions even require
candidates to interact with proprietary software during the
*application* process. The latter is typically a Service as a Software
Substitute, often including non-free JavaScript. I believe Oracle
iRecruitment is an example of such a SaaSS.

I would love to have a whitelist of enlightened institutions that would
be a first port of call for people who want to move into a new job or
studentship!


Best wishes,

Sam Pablo Kuper


P.S. If FSF endorsement criteria for institutions have already been
discussed, please could you point me to that discussion?

P.P.S. I am aware of fsf-community-team@gnu.org but have not used it.
Would my question have been more appropriate there? Or somewhere else?