version=pmwiki-2.2.130 ordered=1 urlencoded=1 agent=Mozilla/5.0 (X11; OpenBSD amd64; rv:76.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/76.0 author=jrmu charset=UTF-8 csum= ctime=1596258706 host=38.81.163.143 name=Freedom.Equalaccess rev=1 targets= text=Closed, proprietary software is often very expensive. Buying a legal copy of Microsoft Windows, for example, can easily cost your monthly salary in a poorer country. Buying a legal Mac is something only the rich can afford. Basic tools that we need for work, like our operating system, photo editors, word processors, and movie editors often cost more than what average people in poor countries can afford. It forces them into poverty and often theft, and proprietary software puts them at a serious disadvantage.%0a%0aEven when users can afford these services, they are denied access to study, modify, and share that information. As a result, any new work they produce will become part of the property of that company rather than helping the rest of society as a whole. All this does is reinforce their monopoly and control over the disadvantaged.%0a%0aPolitical factors can also make it impossible for users to use internet services. For example, users living in countries embargoed by the USA are often unable to use American internet services. With a free network, it is possible to continue to legally provide these services to users who would otherwise have no internet access. time=1596258706 author:1596258706=jrmu diff:1596258706:1596258706:=1,5d0%0a%3c Closed, proprietary software is often very expensive. Buying a legal copy of Microsoft Windows, for example, can easily cost your monthly salary in a poorer country. Buying a legal Mac is something only the rich can afford. Basic tools that we need for work, like our operating system, photo editors, word processors, and movie editors often cost more than what average people in poor countries can afford. It forces them into poverty and often theft, and proprietary software puts them at a serious disadvantage.%0a%3c %0a%3c Even when users can afford these services, they are denied access to study, modify, and share that information. As a result, any new work they produce will become part of the property of that company rather than helping the rest of society as a whole. All this does is reinforce their monopoly and control over the disadvantaged.%0a%3c %0a%3c Political factors can also make it impossible for users to use internet services. For example, users living in countries embargoed by the USA are often unable to use American internet services. With a free network, it is possible to continue to legally provide these services to users who would otherwise have no internet access.%0a\ No newline at end of file%0a host:1596258706=38.81.163.143