----- Forwarded message from Matt Lee <[email protected]> -----

Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2011 17:43:17 -0400 From: Matt Lee <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Subject: [FSF] Avoid the pitfalls of the JavaScript Trap on Gmail User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux x86_64; en-US; rv:1.9.2.14) Gecko/20110223 Lightning/1.0b2 Thunderbird/3.1.8

Today we're launching the first in a series of features on how to use common websites without using JavaScript.

You may not be aware of the dangers of JavaScript -- a problem we've deemed The JavaScript Trap -- proprietary software running on your computer, inside your web browser.

* <http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gmail-jstrap>

When you visit a website such as Gmail, your browser will download and run several thousand lines of JavaScript code. This JavaScript code is no different to other programming languages -- applications written in those languages running on our computers should be free software, so we can run, modify and share them if we wish.

While some people have already made free software that alters and manipulates Google's JavaScript, they are doing so at the mercy of Google, who may change it at any time.

So, while it's clear that JavaScript is a very powerful and useful technology in the right hands, we're calling on Google and others to step up and let people make useful, interesting contributions available to others, by releasing the JavaScript code as free software for Gmail users to modify.

Check out our guide to using Gmail without JavaScript and send us your suggestions for future websites to feature:

* <http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:NoJavaScript>

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----- End forwarded message ----- -- Salud! Nicolás Reynolds, xmpp:[email protected] omb:http://identi.ca/fauno blog:http://selfdandi.com.ar/ gnu/linux user #455044 OTR: C0CB1F0F 01DB5E18 2D634C2A A4626858 E7C7C3A2 http://parabolagnulinux.org http://endefensadelsl.org