Select language

This control panel sets your preferred language for the present visit to www.gnu.org, and has priority over the preferences of your web browser. This setting is stored in a session cookie, and will not affect your language preferences on other websites. The Reset option will delete the cookie, thus going back to the preferences of your browser.


How do you know my native language?

With each web resource requested, your browser sends an HTTP header that indicates your language preference as configured by you or by your system administrator. Our server reacts to this header by providing all web pages in the requested language, if an appropriate translation exists; otherwise, the original English page is served.

This control panel can be used to override this preference and impose any arbitrary language over your browser's default setting. For example, you could choose English to browse www.gnu.org even if your browser is set to Danish. This feature uses a technical cookie called “session cookie.”

You're right that the language setting of your browser can be used by some sites or third parties to identify your specific browser and target you for advertising. Tor Browser provides the safest way we know to avoid such targeting. Nevertheless, the GNU project only uses technical cookies, and only to make browsing easier for you. We have no interest in collecting data about your browsing sessions.

We also do not track the IP addresses of our visitors and the site itself is mostly made of static pages which can be used with JavaScript limited or disabled. Rest assured that the GNU project and the FSF are very careful about users' privacy. If you have any doubt, feel free to contact us.