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For current political commentary, see the daily political notes.

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Spanish translation.

Reasons not to use Skype

Skype requires the use of a client program that is not free software; in other words, the users don't control it — it controls them.

A nonfree program denies users freedom, which is unjust in itself. Making the ethical issue sharper, for you to use Skype is to encourage someone else to use Skype, which means you're pressuring someone else to surrender freedom as well. This is plenty of reason to refuse to use Skype, but there are more reasons.

What to use instead? The most obvious alternative is a long-distance phone card. They are quite cheap nowadays, and they work with any phone. There are also free programs you can use, such as Jami, Linphone, Mumble, Jitsi and more.


Copyright (c) 2012, 2017, 2018, 2019 Richard Stallman Verbatim copying and redistribution of this entire page are permitted provided this notice is preserved.