Software Freedom Pledge

We, who have gathered together for Software Freedom Day 2015, believe that software freedom is both a matter of ethical principle as well as a matter of pragmatism, and is necessary for a democratic, open society.

We believe that it is desirable that all people, but especially governments, use, contribute to, and spread open standards, free/libre/open source software, open APIs, openly-licensed content (including open data, open access, and open education resources), leading to a vibrant public domain, and ensure that all of the above are accessible for all, including persons with disabilities and other marginalised sections of society.

Given that, we pledge to:

• use and spread free software amongst our family, friends, and neighbours, both in person and virtually.
• demand that services we use in turn use open standards and open APIs, and thus be available for all using free/libre/open source software, without the payment of any royalties.
• raise the issue of software freedom with our democratic representatives, to seek that they in turn respect and promote these principles.
• as far as possible, making our own work openly available, and seek to convince our employers, publishers, producers, and other persons who might be in a position to restrict
• work against any laws, policies — corporate or governmental — or technical restrictions that seek to prevent people from full exercise of their rights, and which are contrary to the above principles.

Signed by:

Abhaya Agarwal Ananth Subray Asutosha Sarangi Chirag Sarthi J Prakash Hebballi Pranesh Prakash Ralph Andrade Subhashish Panigrahi Tito Dutta Veethika Mishra