Fwd: Re: Adobe Reader 10

[Greg Knittl]

Hi All,

There may be a couple of legal angles to force Ontario to act:

1/ There may be a legal requirement for Ontario to support people with 
disabilities - i.e. to support screen reader software. Does anyone know? 
Does anyone know if there are any screen readers for XFA on any 
operating system?

2/ These are estate forms and estates are required to keep records. I 
still be able to read these forms in 10 years if I'm audited. Ontario 
can't expect me to keep an old computer around just in case. The 
response will be that I should print the forms and keep the paper so I 
doubt this is a very strong legal argument in itself.

3/ I'm not blind at the moment, but I might become blind and need to use 
a screen reader to pass an audit later. This might make 2/ into a 
workable legal argument. The legal counter argument is that I could OCR 
the paper...

I have had some success getting the Federal government to supply text 
based income tax forms (etext). When I tried to actually submit a tax 
return by printing the etext forms they totally mangled the return and I 
had to file numerous corrections, to the point where I went back to 
filing on paper forms filled out by hand.

Due to personal circumstance, I can't pursue these angles right now. I'm 
suggesting them because they probably apply more widely than just in 
Canada. It would seem to be a win-win for Free Software to ally with the 
disabled. Generally, they also need simpler, text based forms.

thanks,
Greg

-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: Re: Adobe Reader 10
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2021 08:56:37 +0300
From: Jean Louis <bugs@gnu.support>
To: quiliro <quiliro@riseup.net>
CC: m0dese7en@member.fsf.org, J Leslie Turriff <jlturriff@mail.com>, 
libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org

Regarding the requirement to run Adobe on private computer, at stake
are many people, not one, that is why I recommend sending letters to
government and demanding free software while explaining why
propriatery is inhibiting users' freedom.

Many times such letter writings worked.

While poster of the request may find solution for him -- it would be
better to continue solving this problem for future and follow up with
those in charge.

Canad is so much recommending proprietary software, that is because
people find individual solutions and don't complain.

One should learn from protests and campaigns of FSFE in Europe, and
simply do what they do, warning public officials of disservice and
demanding fair treatment so that free software products can be used.

By making forms in such way that only proprietary software can handle
such forms, I would additionally asked of any ties to Adobe, and
preferred treatment as that definitely increases income of US based
company -- why would Canada be favoring it? It is sign of possible
corruption in administration.

From an article on:
https://www.pcworld.com/article/214034/article.html

EU Websites to Stop Promoting Proprietary PDF Readers

Just one month after an organization that promotes free software hit
out at the European Union for promoting proprietary PDF readers on its
websites, 172 public institutions have removed such advertisements.

The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) found that the main
E.U. portal europa.eu and the European Patent Office both promoted
proprietary software. Other sites doing that included national
ministries, parliaments and law enforcement agencies. "Several
institutions replied stating that they agree with our concerns and
that they will modify their websites," said campaign manager Matthias
Kirschner.

The PDF file format, originally developed by Adobe Systems, has now
been adopted by the International Organization for Standardization
(ISO) as an international standard. Adobe Reader remains proprietary,
but the file format can be read or written by a number of other
software applications, some proprietary, some of them open source or
free software.

Most versions of the PDF file reader are open standards and free, but
FSFE has received reports of 2,286 public sector institutions that
advertise non-free PDF readers on their websites across 41
countries. The FSFE believes that by promoting proprietary software,
"the public sector becomes a marketing channel for that company and
its products, making it harder for free PDF readers to gain market
share."

"By advertising non-free software, they're doing citizens a
disservice," said Karsten Gerloff, president of FSFE. "Democratic
governments are supposed to give us freedom, not to drive us into
dependence on a single software vendor."

Of those that agreed to change their sites following the FSFE
campaign, almost all reported institutions in Croatia deleted the
advertisement. Half of those contacted in Russia and Slovenia also
fulfilled FSFE's request.

_______________________________________________
libreplanet-discuss mailing list
libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org
https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss