Every choice we make about the technology we use in our daily lives shapes the world. Think for example, about electric cars, about the apps on your phone, your computer, the Internet, the programs you use for work, or school. The makers of these programs build a convincing way of experiencing the world. But make no mistake, they do not serve you. We end up with software that often deprives us of important rights and freedoms. With non-free software, in a sense we are walking in the dark. We can't understand today's popular software because it is mostly proprietary, which means our active participation is limited by design. Instead, the software ends up controlling us. This is a story about how the world is, and how it could be. What happens when we don't look up? What happens when we follow the breadcrumbs of the promise of convenience? Considering the presence of software in your life, shouldn't you be able to look inside programs to see how they worked? Shouldn't you be able to use them however you wanted, make whatever changes you wanted, and share them freely in your community? To live in a world where we do control our technology, we need software that is free -- as in freedom. All software is basically a set of instruction to a computer, which comes together like building blocks to make up your program. There is a global community of people that believe that software should serve you, the user. That you should be able to freely access, make changes, and share these building blocks to your liking. And when you can, we call it free software. With free software, you can not only check that software does what it says it does, like protect your privacy, you can also adjust it to make it do something new, something creative. You can solve any issue that you can think of. We protect this freedom by using a concept called copyleft. This makes it so that all modified and extended versions of a program are required to be free (as in freedom) as well. Software freedom is worth fighting for. As the user, you have the power to demand change. You can make conscious decisions toward freedom, one step at a time. There are free as in freedom programs that you can begin to use today, which provide an ethical replacement for the apps on your computer or phone. Over time, you can replace more and more of the parts of your digital life with tools that respect your freedom, and help others to do the same, by learning about and advocating for software freedom in your home, school, and workplace. Every time you use free software, you are helping to create a freer existence for yourself, and for the rest of us, too. Free software is important, not just when thinking of technology, but it matters for a free society. So from now on, when you are speaking about any kind of freedom, please consider the role that software plays in that cause. The Free Software Foundation has been fighting for software freedom sine 1985. The journey won't be over until we've all climbed the ladder to freedom.