Free Software Supporter
Issue 63, June 2013
Welcome to the Free Software Supporter, the Free Software Foundation's monthly news digest and action update.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Free Software Foundation statement on PRISM revelations
- A second FSF-certified device from ThinkPenguin: long-range USB Wifi adapter with Atheros chip
- April's English translation team is recruiting volunteers
- MediaGoblin 0.4.0: Hall of the Archivist
- Announcing the newest fully free GNU/Linux distribution: LibreWRT
- FSF polo shirts have arrived at the shop!
- As Microsoft repeal some Xbox restrictions, more apply to other products
- Fight PRISM through the Free Software Directory
- LibrePlanet featured resource: Group:PRISM
- GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry: 22 new GNU releases!
- GNU Toolchain Update
- Richard Stallman's speaking schedule
- Other FSF and free software events
- Thank GNUs!
- Take action with the FSF!
Free Software Foundation statement on PRISM revelations
From June 7th
To protect their freedom and privacy, the FSF urges everyone to contact their representatives, avoid Software as a Service, and donate to support projects working for a better, safer world. In response to the Guardian report that major Internet companies including Microsoft, Facebook, Apple, Google, YouTube, Skype, Yahoo, PalTalk, and AOL, have apparently been providing sensitive user data to the National Security Agency (NSA), FSF executive director John Sullivan made the following statement:
A second FSF-certified device from ThinkPenguin: long-range USB Wifi adapter with Atheros chip
From June 24th
The FSF has awarded Respects Your Freedom (RYF) certification to the TPE-N150USBL long-range 802.11n USB adapter, sold by ThinkPenguin. This wireless adapter is based on the Atheros AR9271, using the same chip and firmware as the TPE-N150USB, which was awarded RYF certification in April. The RYF certification mark means that the product meets the FSF's standards in regard to users' freedom, control over the product, and privacy.
April's English translation team is recruiting volunteers
From June 11th, by april.org
Founded in 1996, April is the main French advocacy association devoted to promoting and protecting Free/Libre Software. Most of the documents published by April are in French; more and more campaigns, however, need to be run at an international level. For example, in the fight against software patents in Europe, we set up the English-language Web site Unitary-Patent.eu. Furthermore, we wish to share our experience with readers from other countries. To do this, we need to reinforce our translation team, especially for English translations. We are looking for volunteers.
MediaGoblin 0.4.0: Hall of the Archivist
From June 17th, by Christopher Webber
MediaGoblin's newest release is here, 0.4.0! We've got a whole lot of cool things, most excitingly document support and an improved plugin infrastructure. Now more than ever before MediaGoblin has the tooling to become a real library of knowledge.
Announcing the newest fully free GNU/Linux distribution: LibreWRT
From June 6th
The FSF is proud to announce the newest addition to our list of fully free GNU/Linux distributions, adding its first ever small system distribution, LibreWRT. LibreWRT is a GNU/Linux distribution for computers with minimal resources, such as the Ben Nanonote and some ath9k-based wifi routers. We have actually been using LibreWRT here at the office since late last year.
FSF polo shirts have arrived at the shop!
From June 11th
FSF polo shirts have arrived at the shop! Responding to the overwhelmingly popular demand on our Ideas page for FSF polo shirts, the shop is now selling these stylish maroon polos for $35! It has two white buttons, and features the Free Software Foundation logo embroidered in white stitching over the left chest. This polo shirt is perfect for a free software sysadmin to wear at the office.
As Microsoft repeals some Xbox restrictions, more apply to other products
From June 20th, by FSFE
Faced with user protests, Microsoft has been forced to make the terms for its latest Xbox gaming console look a little less restrictive. However, the "new" terms which had caused such outrage were not in fact new at all: they were similar to most other proprietary software licenses, including those covering other Microsoft software products and online services.
Fight PRISM through the Free Software Directory
From June 13th
To protect their freedom and privacy, the FSF urges everyone to avoid Software as a Service, and to support projects working for a better, safer world. One small way you can help support free software projects and encourage use of free software is to help maintain and improve the Free Software Directory.
Tens of thousands of people visit 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 from 2PM to 5PM EDT. 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.
Details here:
- http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Collection:PRISM
- http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Free_Software_Directory:Participate
LibrePlanet featured resource: Group:PRISM
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 Group:PRISM, which is an action center for a free software response to the NSA surveillance scandal. 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: 22 new GNU releases!
22 new GNU releases this month (as of June 25, 2013): #61
- autoconf-archive-2013.06.09
- automake-1.14
- ccrtp-2.0.6
- ed-1.9
- electric-9.04
- freeipmi-1.2.8
- gcc-4.8.1
- glpk-4.51
- gnu-c-manual-0.2.3
- gnubik-2.4.1
- gtypist-2.9.3
- gzip-1.6
- help2man-1.43.2
- libidn-1.27
- libzrtpcpp-2.3.3
- parallel-20130622
- sipwitch-1.6.1
- teseq-1.1
- teximpatient-2.3
- unrtf-0.21.4
- vera-1.20
- xnee-3.16
To get announcements of most new GNU releases, subscribe to the info-gnu mailing list: http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu. Nearly all GNU software is available from http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/, or preferably one of its mirrors (http://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.
I'd like to welcome Cyril Adrian, Paolo Redaelli, and Raphael Mack as co-maintainers of the GNU liberty-eiffel package, renamed/revived from the previous GNU smarteiffel.
I'd also like to mention the GNU Hackers Meeting for 2013, scheduled to take place from August 22 to August 25 in Paris, France. More information at http://www.gnu.org/ghm/2013/paris/.
A number of GNU packages, as well as the GNU operating system as a whole, are looking for maintainers and other assistance. Please see http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint if you'd like to help. The general page on how to help GNU is at http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html. To submit new packages to the GNU operating system, see http://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.
GNU Toolchain update
From June 24th
The GNU toolchain refers to the part of the GNU system which is used for building programs. These components of GNU are together often on other systems and for compiling programs for other platforms.
There are a lot of updates this month. Read about updates to NEWLIB, GCC, and more.
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 http://www.fsf.org/events.
So far, Richard Stallman has the following events in July:
July 01, 2013, 7:30 PM, Passo Fundo, Brazil, A free digital society
July 05, 2013, 3:00 PM, Porto Alegre, Brazil, Keynote speech at FISL14
July 10, 2013, 2:00 PM, Brussels, Belgium, Vers une société numérique libre
July 12, 2013, 3:00 PM, London, United Kingdom, Abusive computing and networks, and how we fight them
July 13, 2013, 5:45 PM, Brighton, United Kingdom, Free software, free education
July 15, 2013, 5:00 PM, Oxford, United Kingdom, Free software and your freedom
Other FSF and free software events
- August 22, 2013 to August 25, 2013, Paris, France, GNU Hackers Meeting
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:
- Dr Riccardo M Bennett-Lovsey
- Renée Verlaan
You can add your name to this list by donating at http://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 http://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! http://www.fsf.org/jf?referrer=2442
The FSF is also always looking for volunteers (http://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 (http://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 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.
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