After the success of the collection of institutional websites advertising for non-free PDF readers, the Free Software Foundation Europe starts now to contact the [FIXME add the number] institutions that have been reported by a great number of motivated volunteers in [FIX ME number] countries across Europe. The FSFE intends to close a maximum of bugs until Christmas.
The bug hunt has shown that endorsements for one single and proprietary software to open the PDF files on the institutionnal websites are widespread at any level of the administration : town halls, local collectivities, ministries and parliaments. Since 2001 the FSFE has been creating awareness for the questions of equal participation in the information age, as well as freedom of competition, namely in promoting Free Software. Now, it wants to go further in making public institutions realize that they are breaking their vow of neutrality with these advertisings, and wants to help them improve their practice.
Exclusive advertisings for one single proprietary PDF reader poses indeed the problems of freedom of competition, of neutrality and independence of the public service, but also of Open standards with the different implementation of the PDF format, and of freedom with the question of which model is being promoted by the public institutions : the proprietary software model, or the free software model.
On an initiative of the Fellowship of FSFE, Free Software PDF readers for all major operating systems have been listed on pdfreaders.org, with recommandation to help you make a choice on the basis of practical criteria, for example : easyinstallation, best compatibility with your operating system, etc...
The FSFE encourages public institutions to think about making non-discriminatory indications for people wanting to open their PDF files, and strongly advocates the use of Free Software PDF readers to prevent our society to fall into the trap of a vendor lock-in.
The PDFreaders campaign page will keep track of the progresses of the campaign in showing a closing date f or all the [FIXME : add the number] bug reports listed.