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<title>Proprietary Censorship - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
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<h2>Proprietary Censorship</h2>
<div class="infobox">
<hr class="full-width" />
<p>Nonfree (proprietary) software is very often malware (designed to
mistreat the user). Nonfree software is controlled by its developers,
which puts them in a position of power over the users; <a
href="/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html">that is the
basic injustice</a>. The developers and manufacturers often exercise
that power to the detriment of the users they ought to serve.</p>
<p>This typically takes the form of malicious functionalities.</p>
<hr class="full-width" />
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<div class="article">
<p>One kind of malicious functionality is censorship of what
users can access. Here are examples of programs which do this.
We have a <a
href="/proprietary/proprietary-jails.html">separate
list of proprietary systems that censor installation</a> of
application programs (we call them “jails”).</p>
<p>Selling products designed as platforms for a
company to impose censorship ought to be forbidden by law, but it
isn't.</p>
<div class="important">
<p>If you know of an example that ought to be in this page but isn't
here, please write
to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>
to inform us. Please include the URL of a trustworthy reference or two
to serve as specific substantiation.</p>
</div>
<h3 id="apple">Apple</h3>
<p>Apple mainly uses iOS, which is a typical jail, to impose censorship
through the Apple Store. Please refer to <a
href="/proprietary/proprietary-jails.html#apple">Proprietary Jails</a>
for more information.</p>
<h3 id="google">Google</h3>
<ul class="blurbs">
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<li id="M201703160">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2017-03</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>Google <a
href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2017/0316/Google-Family-Link-gives-parents-a-way-to-monitor-preteens-accounts">
href="https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2017/0316/Google-Family-Link-gives-parents-a-way-to-monitor-preteens-accounts">
offers censorship software</a>, ostensibly for parents to put into
their children's computers.</p>
</li>
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<li id="M201701180">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2017-01</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>On Windows and MacOS, Chrome <a
href="https://sites.google.com/a/chromium.org/dev/developers/extensions-deployment-faq">
disables extensions</a> that are not hosted in the Chrome Web
Store.</p>
<p>For example, an extension was <a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170120094917/https://consumerist.com/2017/01/18/why-is-google-blocking-this-ad-blocker-on-chrome/">
banned from the Chrome Web Store, and permanently disabled</a> on
more than 40,000 computers.</p>
</li>
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<li id="M201602030">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2016-02</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p><a
href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/feb/03/google-pulls-ad-blocking-app-for-samsung-phones">
href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/feb/03/google-pulls-ad-blocking-app-for-samsung-phones">
Google censored installation of Samsung's ad-blocker</a> on Android
phones, saying that blocking ads is “interference” with
the sites that advertise (and surveil users through ads).</p>
<p>The ad-blocker is proprietary software, just like the program
(Google Play) that Google used to deny access to install it. Using
a nonfree program gives the owner power over you, and Google has
exercised that power.</p>
<p>Google's censorship, unlike that of Apple, is not total: Android
allows users to install apps in other ways. You can install free
programs from f-droid.org.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="consoles">Game consoles</h3>
<ul class="blurbs">
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<li id="M201408290">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2014-08</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>The <a
href="https://www.gamespot.com/articles/nintendos-new-3ds-charges-30-cents-to-remove-an-in/1100-6421996/">
Nintendo 3DS</a> censors web browsing; it is possible to turn off
the censorship, but that requires identifying oneself to pay, which
is a form of surveillance.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="online-conferencing">Online conferencing</h3>
<ul class="blurbs">
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<li id="M202006120">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2020-06</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>The company behind Zoom does not only deny
users' computer freedom by developing this piece
of nonfree software, it also violates users' civil rights by <a
href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/12/21288995/zoom-blocking-feature-chinese-government-censorship">banning
events and censoring users</a> to serve the agenda of governments.</p>
<p>Freedom respecting programs such as <a
href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Jitsi">Jitsi</a> or <a
href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/BigBlueButton">BigBlueButton</a>
can be used instead, better still if installed in a server controlled
by its users.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="other">Other</h3>
<ul class="blurbs">
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<li id="M202411050">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2024-11</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>As of 2021, <a
href="https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-40-apps-preinstalled-electronic-devices/32532513.html">
preinstallation of Russian-made proprietary software has
been mandatory</a> on new computers and “smart”
devices sold in Russia, under threat of a fine for the retailer, and <a
href="https://tadviser.com/index.php/Article:Pre-installation_of_Russian_software_on_smartphones_and_computers">
the list of mandatory applications keeps
growing</a>. This gives the government a convenient way to <a
href="https://www.article19.org/resources/russia-pre-installation-of-apps-matters-for-free-speech/">
censor information, spy on people's online activity, and restrict
free speech</a>.</p>
</li>
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<li id="M202204040">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2022-04</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>New Amazon worker chat app <a
href="https://theintercept.com/2022/04/04/amazon-union-living-wage-restrooms-chat-app/">would
ban specific words Amazon doesn't like</a>, such as
“union”, “restrooms”, and “pay
raise”. If the app was free, workers could modify the program
so it acts as they wish, not how Amazon wants it.</p>
</li>
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<li id="M202109220">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2021-09</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>Some Xiaomi phones <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/22/lithuania-tells-citizens-to-throw-out-chinese-phones-over-censorship-concerns">have
a malfeature to bleep out phrases that express political views
China
the Chinese government does not like</a>. In phones sold in Europe,
Xiaomi leaves this deactivated by default, but has a back door to
activate the censorship.</p>
<p>This is the natural result of having nonfree software in a device
that can communicate with the company that made it.</p>
</li>
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