Free Software Supporter
Issue 69, December 2013
Support our winter fundraiser with a donation
The Free Software Foundation depends on the contributions of our supporters to provide us with the resources to defend and further the free software movement.
Donate today to help us build a world where every computer user is able to use software without sacrificing their essential freedoms. Your donation will help us meet our annual fundraising goal of $450,000 by January 31st. Contributions can be made at https://u.fsf.org/r9.
Welcome to the Free Software Supporter, the Free Software Foundation's monthly news digest and action update -- being read by you and 74,210 other activists. That's 1,702 more than last month!
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Build us up! Free software is a cornerstone of a free society
- Register for LibrePlanet today!
- Defective by Design visits an Apple store (with photos)
- Gluglug X60 Laptop now certified to Respect Your Freedom
- LibrePlanet for all!
- FSF responds to Microsoft's privacy and encryption announcement
- Chirp along with us on your microblogging service of choice
- FSF: Reform corporate surveillance
- Windows 8: A "certifiable flop"
- Ask reddit to upvote user freedom by serving no nonfree JavaScript
- Upcoming changes for Ututo
- Interview with Frank Karlitschek of ownCloud
- Spring 2013 FSF Bulletin now available online
- Celebrate Computer Science Education Week with free software
- GNU Press announces gray GPLv3 hoodies
- Avoiding surveillance
- More Libre.fm news — server move, new design, kittens
- GnuPG - Sixteen years of protecting privacy
- GNU MediaGoblin 0.6.0 released
- Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
- LibrePlanet featured resource: LibreDWG
- GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry: 20 new GNU releases!
- Richard Stallman's speaking schedule and other FSF events
- Thank GNUs!
- Take action with the FSF!
Build us up! Free software is a cornerstone of a free society
They know when you are sleeping. They know when you're awake. They know if you've been bad or good... You guessed it. We're not talking about Santa. The NSA and the world's big Internet and telecommunications companies have built a massive Surveillance Industrial Complex that undermines all our freedoms.
Register for LibrePlanet today!
From December 9th
Registration is now open for LibrePlanet 2014: "Free Software, Free Society," March 22-23, 2014 in Cambridge, MA.
Defective by Design visits an Apple store (with photos)
From December 20th
Ever wonder if you're the only one concerned about DRM when you're doing your holiday shopping? The Defective by Design anti-DRM crew hit the streets to make sure that you aren't.
Press release:
Gluglug X60 Laptop now certified to Respect Your Freedom
From December 19th
The FSF has awarded Respects Your Freedom (RYF) certification to Gluglug X60 laptops. The RYF certification mark means that the product meets the FSF's standards in regard to users' freedom, control over the product, and privacy. This is the first laptop to receive RYF certification from the FSF.
LibrePlanet for all!
From December 23rd
Everyone at the FSF is excited for LibrePlanet 2014, and to make it the best conference yet, we've launched a scholarship fund so that we can bring free software movers and shakers to Cambridge in March for the conference.
FSF responds to Microsoft's privacy and encryption announcement
From December 5th
Earlier this month, Microsoft announced a new effort to "[protect] customer data from government snooping." FSF executive director John Sullivan issued a statement in response to Microsoft's announcement.
Chirp along with us on your microblogging service of choice
From December 4th
There are many ways to follow with what's going on at the Free Software Foundation, and we now also have pump.io accounts.
FSF: Reform corporate surveillance
From December 11th
A group of technology companies, most of whom were implicated in handing user information over to the NSA, recently came together to ask world governments to reform the way they conduct surveillance. FSF executive director John Sullivan wrote a statement pointing out how proprietary software vendors have enabled government surveillance around the world.
Windows 8: A "certifiable flop"
From December 5th
Looking to upgrade your computer? Join a growing movement of software users and steer clear of Windows 8.
Ask reddit to upvote user freedom by serving no nonfree JavaScript
From December 27th
Reddit is a major Internet hub that's home to lots of awesome communities, and it's always been very supportive of computer user freedom. Since 2008, the vast majority of the codebase has been available under a free software license, but the JavaScript that reddit.com serves its users isn't labeled with the licensing information necessary for it to meet the free software definition.
Upcoming changes for Ututo
From December 18th
Although the oldest fully free GNU/Linux distribution has come to an end, there are many other actively maintained fully free distributions to choose from.
Interview with Frank Karlitschek of ownCloud
From December 20th
In this edition of our Licensing and Compliance Lab's series on free software developers who choose GNU licenses for their works, we conducted an email-based interview with Frank Karlitschek, the lead developer of ownCloud, a server software project that provides universal access to your files via the Web, your computer, or your mobile devices — wherever you are.
Spring 2013 FSF Bulletin now available online
From December 10th
The latest Free Software Foundation Bulletin for spring 2013 is now online. For this semester's update in free software and free software activism, check it out.
Celebrate Computer Science Education Week with free software
From December 10th
December 9th to 13th marked the first ever Computer Science Education Week. Unfortunately, the Computer Science Education Week 2013 website and the affiliated Code.org website recommend sites that promote proprietary software.
GNU Press announces gray GPLv3 hoodies
From December 10th
Stay warm this winter with our GPLv3 hoodie, now available in gray! The front of the hoodie features the stylish "GPLv3: Free as in Freedom" logo in maroon, with the v3 logo emblazoned on the back.
Avoiding surveillance
By Jason Self, from December 20th
Free software activist Jason Self writes about the threat of surveillance and steps people can take to mitigate snooping.
More Libre.fm news — server move, new design, kittens
By Matt Lee, from December 19th
This month sees a massive update to Libre.fm's infrastructure thanks to our good friends at Bytemark.
GnuPG - Sixteen years of protecting privacy
By Same Tuke, from December 20th
It's been sixteen years since the first release of GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG). In that time the project has grown from being a hacker's hobby into one of the world's most critical anti-surveillance tools. Today GnuPG stands at the front line of the battle between invasive surveillance and civil liberties.
GNU MediaGoblin 0.6.0 released
From December 3rd
GNU MediaGoblin 0.6.0 has been released, featuring LDAP support, a default Terms of Service, and a new admin interface including moderation tools.
Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
From December 31st
Tens of thousands of people visit https://directory.fsf.org each month to discover free software. Each entry in the Directory contains a wealth of useful information, from basic category and descriptions to version control, IRC channels, documentation, and licensing. The Free Software Directory has been a great resource to software users over the past decade, but it needs your help staying up-to-date with new and exciting free software projects.
To help, join our weekly IRC meetings on Fridays. Meetings take place in the #fsf channel on irc.gnu.org, and usually include a handful of regulars as well as newcomers. Everyone's welcome.
The next meeting is Friday, January 3rd from 2pm to 5pm EST (19:00 to 22:00 UTC). Details here:
After this meeting, you can check https://www.fsf.org/events to see the rest of January's weekly meetings as they are scheduled.
LibrePlanet featured resource: LibreDWG
Every month on LibrePlanet, we highlight one resource that is interesting and useful -- often one that could use your help.
For this month, we are highlighting LibreDWG, which provides information about GNU LibreDWG, an effort to develop a free C library to handle DWG files. You are invited to adopt, spread and improve this important resource.
Do you have a suggestion for next month's featured resource? Let us know at campaigns@fsf.org.
GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry: 20 new GNU releases!
20 new GNU releases in the last month (as of December 25, 2013):
- 3DLDF-2.0.3
- automake-1.14.1
- binutils-2.24
- bison-3.0.2
- coreutils-8.22
- denemo-1.1.0
- freeipmi-1.3.4
- gdb-7.6.2
- gnunet-0.10.0
- gnunet-fuse-0.10.0
- gnupg-1.4.16
- libcdio-0.92
- libextractor-1.3
- libmicrohttpd-0.9.33
- libtasn1-3.4
- parallel-20131222
- rcs-5.9.2
- serveez-0.2.2
- unifont-6.3.20131221
- xorriso-1.3.4
To get announcements of most new GNU releases, subscribe to the info-gnu mailing list: https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu. Nearly all GNU software is available from https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/, or preferably one of its mirrors (https://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html). You can use the url http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/ to be automatically redirected to a (hopefully) nearby and up-to-date mirror.
This month we welcome Joseph Myers as a new co-maintainer of GCC, and Mike Gerwitz as the author and maintainer of his new GNU package easejs, and German Arias as the author and maintainer of his new GNU package fisicalab. Thanks to all.
A number of GNU packages, as well as the GNU operating system as a whole, are looking for maintainers and other assistance. Please see https://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint if you'd like to help. The general page on how to help GNU is at https://www.gnu.org/help/help.html. To submit new packages to the GNU operating system, see https://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html.
As always, please feel free to write to me, karl@gnu.org, with any GNUish questions or suggestions for future installments.
Richard Stallman's speaking schedule
For event details, as well as to sign-up to be notified for future events in your area, please visit https://www.fsf.org/events.
So far, Richard Stallman has the following events in January:
- Dec 07, 2013, Chennai, India, "Richard Stallman to speak in Chennai, India"
- Dec 16, 2013, Thiruvananthapuram, India, "Richard Stallman to speak in Thiruvananthapuram, India"
- Dec 18, 2013, Hyderabad, India, "Richard Stallman to speak in Hyderabad, India"
- Dec 28, 2013, Paris, France, "Richard Stallman to speak in Paris, France"
Thank GNUs!
We appreciate everyone who donates to the Free Software Foundation, but we'd like to give special recognition to the folks who have donated $500 or more in the last month.
This month, a big Thank GNU to:
- Hiroo Yamagata
- John David Stone
- Aleph Objects, Inc.
- Julian Kalbhenn
- Justin Baugh
- Skowronski Foundation
- Igalia
- Boulder Inc.
- Joseph Kohler
- Donald Craig
- Huisking Foundation
- Kahle/Austin Foundation
- Manoj Kumar
- Michael Viren Towanda Charitable Foundation
- Alipes Inc.
- John Ramsdell
- Viktor Przebinda
- Michael Cavanaugh
- Russell McManus
- Scott Boughton
- Eben Moglen
- Bill Bogstad and Lenore Cowen
- Gabor L Toth
- Matthew Neiger
- Agaric
- Tom Puckett
- Cadoles
- Howard Bampton
- Benjamin Wiley Sittler
You can add your name to this list by donating at https://donate.fsf.org.
Take action with the FSF
Contributions from thousands of individual members enable the FSF's work. You can contribute by joining at https://www.fsf.org/join. If you're already a member, you can help refer new members (and earn some rewards) by adding a line with your member number to your email signature like:
I'm an FSF member -- Help us support software freedom! https://www.fsf.org/jf?referrer=2442
The FSF is also always looking for volunteers (https://www.fsf.org/volunteer). From rabble-rousing to hacking, from issue coordination to envelope stuffing -- there's something here for everybody to do. Also, head over to our campaign section (https://www.fsf.org/campaigns) and take action on software patents, DRM, free software adoption, OpenDocument, RIAA and more.
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Copyright © 2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.
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