April, France's free software advocacy group, has relaunched its campaign to make the country's politicians aware of this type of ICT solution, aiming to gather support statements from candidates for the municipal elections of 23 and 30 March. The group want politicians to defend the rights of developers and users of free software. They also hope to encourage public administrations to use, create and distribute such software.
The advocacy group is asking free software users to approach their political candidates, make them aware of its benefits and advantages, and request them to pledge support for this type of software. Candidates for the municipal elections are asked to sign the 'Free Software Pact'. The campaign can also be used by others to show their commitment, by stating that they use and favour this type of solution. More than 17,000 people and over 450 organisations are in in this way contributing to the campaign, April said in a statement published on 4 January.
Tax evasion
One of the most recent to sign the Free Software Pact, in December, is the town of Voreppe, a municipality in the Rhône-Alpes region. On its website the municipality explains that it is committed to "a sustainable and efficient IT, for the benefit of all". Public administrations that use free and open source software help to fight tax evasion by multinational IT companies, the town writes. The municipality explains that proprietary software can expose its users to espionage. "It is a question of values: public administrations have to make multiple considerations including local economic development and public access."
Presidential
April has been campaigning on local, regional and national elections since 2007, the organisation added. In that first year, for example, April managed to get the four leading French presidential candidates to make statements on free software, and published these on its candidats.fr website. In 2009, April approached many candidates for the European Parliament. In 2012, the campaign focussed on France's National Assembly and the Presidential elections.
"These campaigns are an opportunity to educate policy makers on the opportunities offered by free software and the threats that it faces. It's also an occasion for citizens to become involved and get to know their local politicians, at a time when they're easier to meet."
More information:
Free Software Pact (in French)
Announcement by April (in French)
Results of the first, 2007 Free Software Pact (in French)
Statement by the municipality of Voreppe (in French)
Free Software Pact