Freedom Respecting Technology: the Next Generation of Open Source, Free Software, Open Knowledge, Open Culture, and Technological Freedom
Welcome to the home of the Freedom Respecting Technology Initiative!
What we believe
Truly open knowledge and true technological freedom fundamentally require trivial ease in fully and cleanly copying allegedly open digital works in forms useful for offline study.
For example, in the case of software, the overly narrow focus on easy access to the main program sources isn't enough. Trivial access to offline documentation, for any official documentation that may exist, is critical.
Needing a constant network connection to properly study something claiming to be open isn't freedom. Needing the site hosting an allegedly open work to always be up isn't freedom.
We think system wide in terms of the full Open Knowledge Set associated with any given technology. We strongly believe withholding any parts of the OKS from easy offline study is fundamentally no better than withholding any part of the main source material.
Low as this bar is, it's one the current generation of allegedly open works mostly fails to properly clear. Makers of open works don't owe anyone any set of features. The one and only thing they do owe is actual openness. If they outright claim or indirectly imply that a work is open, then it should actually be open.
It's time for Open Source and Open Knowledge to truly be for everyone, not just well off people with reliable Internet connections.
What we do
- We maintain the Freedom Respecting Technology Definition. While they make an excellent base to build on, documents like the Open Source Definition and Free Software Definition are silent on many important issues both obvious and subtle.
- We're working on building FRTD compliant works in various mediums and releasing them to the public. Mediums will include at least software, firmware, hardware, protocols, technical specifications, algorithms, scientific research, knowledge, media(informative and artistic), and combinations thereof(which is what most things are when looked at from a holistic system wide perspective). People intellectually understanding the freedoms FRTs provide is one thing, feeling them hands on is another.
- We maintain an official directory of FRTs associated with us as well as pointers to other good FRTs implemented by independent individuals/groups.
- We maintain official spaces interested people can gather for discussion and collaboration. We hope other independent groups form unofficial spaces of their own and are happy to mention them here to boost their visibility provided they are working in good faith.
- We will vigorously campaign for Open Source projects that aren't FRTs to make the transition to FRTs. Once our hands on demos show what's possible, and that there are no excuses for lack of true openness, our campaigns will be harder for others to ignore. We are also happy to assist any projects that proactively choose to transition to the best of our capabilities.
- We will vigorously campaign for our ideas to be absorbed whether in whole or in part back into the foundational definition documents of our ideological predecessors such as the Open Source Definition, Free Software Definition, Definition of Free Cultural Works, and Open Definition.
- We keep an eye on how technological advances, such as the recent surge in powerful new AI models, result in new kinds technological works, and strive to update the FRTD as needed to clarify what it means for such works to be truly open.
- We monitor what various other thinkers in this problem space are up to and will happily integrate any good ideas we find.
We will also seriously consider more controversial ideas. For example, both now and in the foreseeable future the FRTD demands 100% compatibility with things like the Open Source and Free Software definitions, and simply adds some fundamental requirements on top that they missed. However, we aren't necessarily totally opposed to very carefully broadening the FRTD to include certain classes of Source Available systems, especially if it means people willing to share their knowledge for the public good don't have to choose between that and making a living in the current brutal economic climate. So long as users can study the system, users can help each other, the original developers can make money, perhaps other developers can start businesses based on the Source Available system, and we can avoid bad higher order side effects, then we're absolutely okay backing licenses that limit commercial uses for big predatory organizations that don't contribute their fair share in financing and/or development to the Source Available project.
The best part is we will likely never need to make such decisions. The ideas we pose in the FRTD are absolutely required for adequate technological freedom, but a lot of them are also good ideas in their own right, and can be reused in other contexts completely unrelated to technological freedom. For example, no Source Available or closed source system was worsened by making its documentation available for offline study. We'd also go so far as to say that a system perfectly compliant with the FRTD, except for being merely Source Available, would often accomplish an order of magnitude more social good than a system seeking to maximize FRTD violations within the constraints of still being perfectly Open Source Definition compliant.
Freedom Respecting Technology Definition
The PDF version is recommended for the best reading experience.
Current version
2.5.2 | PDF | web page
Obsolete versions
archive here
FRT Directories
- FRTs we maintain
- Hoping to add FRTs maintained by other independent individuals/groups here...
As more platforms are added to the following lists please prioritize using the more open ones. Closed platforms are tolerated for maximum inclusiveness but discouraged.
Spaces we maintain
Spaces others maintain
Hoping we can populate this soon...
Other lesser known movements with good ideas
We don't necessarily totally agree with all their ideas. If we did we'd just back them instead of also doing our own thing and pointlessly increasing fragmentation. That said all of these other movements are also trying to fix real problems with the technological status quo. Thus we endorse them and mention them here because they deserve serious study, consideration, and support.