Friday, January 31, 2014

Free Software Supporter - Issue 70, January 2014

Free Software Supporter

Issue 70, January 2014

Welcome to the Free Software Supporter, the Free Software Foundation's monthly news digest and action update -- being read by you and 75,648 other activists. That's 1,528 more than last month!

View this issue online here: https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2014/january

Encourage your friends to subscribe and help us build an audience by adding our subscriber widget to your web site.

Miss an issue? You can catch up on back issues at https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter.

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El Free Software Supporter está disponible en español. Para ver la versión en español haz click aqui: https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2014/enero

Para cambiar las preferencias de usuario y recibir los próximos números del Supporter en castellano, haz click aquí: https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=34&reset=1

Pour modifier vos préférences et recevoir les prochains publications du Supporter en français, cliquez ici: https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=34&reset=1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • FSF licensing team: Doing even more in 2014
  • Speakers and venue announced for FSF's LibrePlanet 2014 -- register today!
  • Help the FSF bury Windows 8
  • As free software users, we need to speak out against the TPP
  • Don't let the MPAA buy the Web
  • Coreboot-supported Asus F2A85-M/CSM added to recommended hardware list
  • Cambridge, MA City Council adopts resolution to commemorate thirty years of GNU
  • Two new ways to get involved in the planning for LibrePlanet 2014
  • Interview with Joerg Henrichs of SuperTuxKart
  • Setting up your own app store with F-Droid
  • Italy puts free software first in public sector
  • When free software isn't (practically) better
  • GSRC version 2014.0.1.06 released
  • Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
  • LibrePlanet featured resource: LibrePlanet ideas
  • GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry: 28 new GNU releases!
  • GNU Toolchain Update
  • Richard Stallman's speaking schedule and other FSF events
  • Thank GNUs!
  • Take action with the FSF!

FSF licensing team: Doing even more in 2014

From January 30th

The free software movement was born out of a response to a rising tide of restrictions being placed on users via contracts and non-disclosure agreements. Whether it is enforcing the terms of the license, educating the public about their rights to use and share software, or promoting software and devices that respect users, the FSF's Licensing and Compliance Lab works hard to keep the GPL's promise and make sure it is shared as widely as possible.

Speakers and venue announced for FSF's LibrePlanet 2014 -- register today!

From January 23rd

This year, LibrePlanet will be held at MIT in Cambridge, MA, and will feature nearly 30 sessions centered around the theme, "free software, free society." Register today to reserve your spot at the conference and to learn more about the amazing keynotes by Sue Gardner, Eben Moglen, Karen Sandler, and Richard Stallman.

Help the FSF bury Windows 8

From January 28th

The widely-accepted failure of Windows 8 provides a critical moment for the free software movement.

As free software users, we need to speak out against the TPP

From January 29th

Lobbyists and officials from twelve countries, including the US, are currently bickering over the details of this massive international "free trade" treaty. They are creating the TPP to strongly promote Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) and enforce draconian copyright law, which will hinder free software development.

Don't let the MPAA buy the Web

From January 17th

Together, W3C, the MPAA, and a handful of the world's most powerful Web companies are preparing to build Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) deep into our public Web standards. We must stop them.

Coreboot-supported Asus F2A85-M/CSM added to recommended hardware list

From January 2nd

The FSF has updated its list of Recommended Complete Systems to include the Asus F2A85-M/CSM.

Cambridge, MA City Council adopts resolution to commemorate thirty years of GNU

From January 7th

This past September, the GNU System celebrated thirty years of fighting for software freedom with a celebratory hackathon at MIT. To commemorate this occasion, the Cambridge City Council issued a statement in support of GNU and software freedom.

Two new ways to get involved in the planning for LibrePlanet 2014

From January 21st

LibrePlanet is only two months away and we need your help drumming up interest and reaching out to communities you would like to see attend.

Interview with Joerg Henrichs of SuperTuxKart

From January 30th

This is the latest installment of our Licensing and Compliance Lab's series on free software developers who choose GNU licenses for their works.

Setting up your own app store with F-Droid

By the Guardian Project, from November 5th

F-Droid is a repository of free software for Android and Replicant devices. Like the package management systems of many mainstream GNU/Linux distributions, like Trisquel, F-Droid helps users add third-party repositories.

Italy puts free software first in public sector

By FSF Europe, from January 14th

The Italian government has made free software the default choice for public administrations. In a document published last Wednesday, the Italian Digital Agency issued rules saying that all government organisations in the country must consider using free software before buying licenses for proprietary programs.

When free software isn't (practically) better

By Benjamin Mako Hill, from December 31st

In a video from LibrePlanet 2013, a FSF board member Benjamin Mako Hill talks about the importance of sticking with free software even when it is not practically better.

GSRC version 2014.0.1.06 released

By Brandon Invergo, from January 6th

Version 2014.01.06 of GSRC, the GNU Source Release Collection, has been released. GSRC is a convenient means to fetch, build and install the latest GNU software from source via a BSD Ports-like system.

Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory

From January 29th

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. 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 31 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 February's weekly meetings as they are scheduled.

LibrePlanet featured resource: LibrePlanet ideas

Every month on LibrePlanet, we highlight one resource that is interesting and useful -- often one that could use your help.

For this month, our highlighted resource is a bit "meta." The LibrePlanet ideas page collects ideas about expanding LibrePlanet and its community.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: 28 new GNU releases!

28 new GNU releases in the last month (as of January 26, 2014):

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, a belated welcome to Bruno Felix Rezende Ribeiro as the author and maintainer of GNU ccd2cue, which has already seen several releases. We also welcome Jerome Benoit as the author and maintainer of his new GNU package mpria, and Sebastien Diaz as the new maintainer of dap and for reviving GNU rpge. 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.

GNU Toolchain update

From January 27th

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.

This month features updates to GCC and binutils.

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 February:

Other FSF and free software events

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:

  • Chris Cunningham
  • Lawrence Lessig
  • Nathan Boy
  • Aaron Culliney
  • Anthony J. Stieber
  • Denis López
  • Daniel Dehennin
  • Orlando
  • Damian Kokot
  • Paul Eggert
  • iFixit
  • Neil Gower
  • MeansofInquiry.org
  • Michael Dorrington
  • Matt Kraai
  • Oleg Lyubimov
  • Dennis W. Tokarski
  • Tyng-Ruey Chuang
  • Eric Brown
  • Jean-Baptiste Giraudeau
  • Michael Yang
  • Craigslist Fund
  • Stanley Yamane
  • Terence O'Gorman
  • Douglas Hauge
  • Gary Steinmetz
  • Joseph Fields
  • Eric Brown
  • Robert Peters
  • Aaron Symko
  • Deke Clinger
  • Ovidiu Predescu
  • Lars Thon
  • Detlef Girke
  • Andreas Berg
  • Creative Commons
  • Gandi US, Inc.
  • Dmitriy Korolev
  • Tim Oertel
  • Huang Ming Nan
  • Cristian & Andreea Francu
  • René Genz
  • Pär Smårs

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 © 2014 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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Thursday, January 30, 2014

FSF licensing team: doing even more in 2014

Dear free software supporter,

The free software movement was born out of a response to a rising tide of restrictions being placed on users via contracts and non-disclosure agreements. The GNU General Public License (GPL) and other free licenses provide legal mechanisms that help ensure that software can carry to each user the freedom to run the software for any purpose and to study, modify and share the source code.

Whether it is enforcing the terms of the license, educating the public about their rights to use and share software, or promoting software and devices that respect users, the FSF's Licensing and Compliance Lab works hard to keep the GPL's promise and make sure it is shared as widely as possible. We wish to share with you a bit of what we did in 2013 in each of these areas, as well as let you know how we want to do more in 2014.

We hope you will support our efforts and our fundraising goal by signing up as an associate member before the end of January. If you are already a member, please consider gifting a membership to a friend.

Copyright & Compliance

GPLv3 logo AGPLv3 logo
LGPLv3 logo GFDL logo

The FSF holds the copyright on a large proportion of the GNU operating system, and other free software. Every year we collect and register hundreds of copyright assignments from individual software developers and corporations working on free software. We register these copyrights with the US copyright office and enforce the licensing terms of the software — typically the GNU General Public License. We do this to ensure that free software distributors respect their obligations to pass on the freedom to all users.

What we did in 2013

We responded and resolved over four hundred reports of suspected license violations and over eight hundred general licensing and compliance questions. We reduced the backlog of old requests substantially, and are now focused on new and exciting compliance cases. Our corps of volunteers handling licensing questions has grown considerably, thus reducing wait times and improving the depth and detail of the answers served.

How we want to do more in 2014

With the backlog in check, we can now focus on building up our compliance program, work on resolving new cases, and dedicate more time to handling cutting edge licensing questions.

Verification & Certification

The FSF Licensing & Compliance Lab celebrates and promotes free software distributions and computer hardware products that have made a firm policy commitment to only including and promoting free software. Simply put, we want you to be able to purchase computer hardware or download an operating system and be confident that it is designed to respect your freedom and privacy.

ryf logo gluglug x60 taz 3 ThinkPenguin wireless USB

What we did in 2013

We awarded Respects Your Freedom (RYF) hardware certification to the Gluglug X60 Laptop on December 18th, 2013. Our goal when launching the RYF certification program was to be able to endorse a complete system built on 100% free software, from firmware to OS, and the Gluglug X60 marked the achievement of that goal. Elated on hearing the news of this achievement, FSF president Richard Stallman stated, "Finally there is a free software laptop that respects your freedom as it comes from the store!"

But, that's not all! We also certified three new models of 3D printers by Aleph Objects, Inc and two wireless USB adapters sold by ThinkPenguin. Learn more about all of these at www.fsf.org/ryf.

How we want to do more in 2014

In order to build the reputation and public awareness of the FSF's RYF certification mark, we need a lot of hardware products that respect your freedom. Our goal is to continue growing, promoting, and certifying more products that respect your freedom.

Education & Support

The FSF Licensing & Compliance Lab has been the preeminent resource of free licensing for free software developers. We publish copyleft free software licenses so that anybody can quickly and easily add terms that ensure the software will carry freedom to every user. But our work doesn't stop there; we also publish educational materials such as licensing recommendations, analysis, and FAQs; we offer a gratis consulting service to the global free software community; and we advocate for legal reform to patent and copyright-related laws that leave free software developers vulnerable to attack.

What we did in 2013

In 2013, we made several updates to the GPL FAQ and our list of software licenses, which received approximately a million unique visitors. Further, we published a number of interviews with free software projects that release their work under GNU GPLv3, and we hosted weekly IRC meetings to support our growing base of volunteers who are working to improve the Free Software Directory.

However, not all of our work is online: the licensing team has also been getting out into the world to add the FSF's voice with policy makers and legal experts, while at the same time staying connected with the free software community.

In March, Josh represented the FSF's position on the elimination of software-idea patents, first at a USPTO-hosted event on patent reform at New York University, and again, later that month at a Harvard Law School conference on patent and copyright law that included federal district and circuit court judges and White House advisers.

Also in March, Donald and Josh, along with FSF board member, Bradley Kuhn hosted a panel titled, Licensing & compliance: a collective effort at LibrePlanet, the FSF's annual free software conference. In May, Donald took part in the Day Against DRM in Seattle. And in September, Josh hosted a Software Freedom Day & Cryptoparty event in New Haven, CT. Lastly, in November, Donald shared the FSF's philosophy and approach to free software licensing at a continuing legal education conference in San Francisco.

How we want to do more in 2014

All this speaking and teaching has geared us up for a big event this year -- one that brings together the free software community and the legal community under one roof: we will be hosting a legal summit running along side LibrePlanet. In the past, the License and Compliance Lab has offered continuing legal education courses on the GPL and free software licensing. With our expanded capacity we are ready to start that program up once again. We hope that this year's legal summit will be the first in an ongoing program to educate and engage the legal community directly on the issues that matter the most when it comes to free software licensing.

How you can help

We have shared with you some of the important work that the Licensing & Compliance Lab will be doing this year. In order to accomplish this work and the many other goals we have set for ourselves, we need your support.

If you are interested in becoming a licensing volunteer for the FSF, please email us — we'd love your help!

Sincerely,

The FSF Licensing & Compliance Lab

You can read this post online at http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/fsf-licensing-team-doing-even-more-in-2014.


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Wednesday, January 29, 2014

As free software users, we need to speak out against the TPP

Trans Pacific Partnership

Dear free software supporter,

You may already be involved in the international grassroots movement against the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Lobbyists and officials from twelve countries, including the US, are currently bickering over the details of this massive international "free trade" treaty. They are creating the TPP to strongly promote Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) and enforce draconian copyright law, which will hinder free software development.

Similar to 2012's SOPA and PIPA, TPP would likely entrench the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's (DMCA) measures that make it a crime to circumvent DRM, even when circumvention is done for non-commercial purposes. It would also export this criminalization to other countries with less onerous DRM policies. But that's not all: it would restrict fair use, lengthen copyright terms, and regulate the temporary copies of media that computers make, in a way that our friends at the Electronic Frontier Foundation have called "out of touch with the realities of the modern computer." All of these restrictions would make it much harder for free software applications to interface with media and the Internet, chilling free software development and use.

Facing opposition, President Obama is attempting to bypass the US's standard approval process for treaties and unilaterally ram through the TPP, in a process known as a "fast track." Today (Wednesday, January 29th), the FSF is joining the diverse StopFastTrack coalition in urging our US supporters to simultaneously take action against this.

If you can vote in the United States, please take five minutes to call your representatives and tell them you oppose the fast track because TPP would promote Digital Restrictions Management and hinder free software development. The StopFastTrack Web site will connect you automatically. We recommend you visit the site with JavaScript turned off, as it includes some nonessential proprietary scripts. If we all raises our voices at once today, we can make TPP and the fast track too unpopular to pass.

Not reading this until after January 29th? We encourage you to call in anyway, sustained pressure is just as important as raising a big uproar all at once.

If you can't vote in the United States, we encourage you to stand up against TPP wherever you are. If you live in one of the other participating countries, you can do this by contacting your elected officials. Please email us at campaigns@fsf.org if you know of any actions in your country, so that we can help promote them.

Because it's widely known as the TPP, (and because of its generally low moral worth) some have referred the agreement as the "Toilet Paper Protocol." We think this is apt. But with toilet paper, the labels at least allow you some degree of information about what you're getting. TPP, however, is being negotiated almost entirely behind closed doors, in chambers populated by lobbyists and government officials, but empty of journalists. Most of the information we have about this utterly undemocratic deal comes from leaked documents.

TPP focuses on more than just copyright and DRM -- it is a giant mess of things that lobbyists couldn't get passed through more democratic channels. That's part of the reason that people from so many different groups and walks of life are coming together to oppose it.

Of the groups speaking out against TPP, we are proud to be one of the few that is putting free software first in our argument against the partnership. If you can vote in the US, please call in and say that you oppose TPP because it would promote DRM and harm the development of free software. Let's make sure that congress knows our movement has something to say in this fight.

This isn't the first time the FSF has stood up against proposed laws and trade agreements that would hurt free software -- we played a role in the fight against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) as well as SOPA/PIPA, and we sent a licensing expert to Australia to advocate for free software at an earlier TPP negotiation session. But we'd like to be doing even more to bring your voice to the debate. To give us the tools we need, we've set an ambitious fundraising goal of $450,000 by this Friday, and we're almost there. Can you chip in $25 to help us expand our work in 2014? Thanks for your support.

Zak Rogoff
Campaigns Manager

Image CC-BY Electronic Frontier Foundation.
You can view this post online at https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/as-free-software-users-we-need-to-speak-out-against-the-tpp.


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Friday, January 24, 2014

Speakers and venue announced for FSF's LibrePlanet 2014 -- register today!

LibrePlanet 2014

Dear free software supporter,

There is so much to look forward to at LibrePlanet 2014 that I don't even know where to begin. Let me break it down for you.

Keynotes

The keynotes at LibrePlanet 2014 are sure to be amazing. We'll be joined by Sue Gardner, outgoing executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, Eben Moglen, director-counsel of the Software Freedom Law Center, Karen Sandler, executive director of the GNOME Foundation, and the Free Software Foundation's founder and president, Richard Stallman.

Register Today. You won't want to miss these fantastic speeches.

Sessions

This year, LibrePlanet will feature nearly 30 sessions centered around the theme, "free software, free society." You can find a sneak peek of all our sessions on the conference site now--sessions like "Everybody spies," "Lessons in tech activism," "TPP and free software," and "Updating Mailman's UI." Whether you're a developer seeking to deepen your knowledge, a free data advocate who wants to nerd out over OpenStreetMap, an academic who wants more free software in the classroom, or an organizer just starting to see the link between your work and free software, you'll find plenty of great conversations at LibrePlanet 2014.

Register today to catch all of these amazing sessions at LibrePlanet.

Location, Location, Location

LibrePlanet 2014 will be held in the iconic Stata Center on the MIT campus in Cambridge, MA. We'll have some beautiful lecture halls for our sessions and a great big hallway for our exhibitors. (If you're thinking about applying for an exhibit table, the deadline is January 31st, so get crackin'.) This building was designed by Frank Gehry and is also home to the offices of World Wide Web Consortium. So, while you're at LibrePlanet, you just may want to drop in and ask W3C why they are considering weaving support for DRM into HTML5!

Register today to bask in the shiny glory of the Stata Center.

Extracurriculars

Our traditional Friday night open house at the FSF offices is getting a new twist this year--we're adding a cryptoparty! We've also got the Free Software Awards, and a few new and exciting events we're working on announcing. Needless to say, there will be lots of fun activities to fill your evenings during LibrePlanet.

So, what are you waiting for? Registration is open, and, as always, admission to the conference is gratis for FSF members and students. Not a member? Join today and you'll get admission to the conference, plus you'll be helping us meet our winter fundraising goal of $450,000 by January 31st. See you in eight weeks!

Sincerely,

Libby and the LibrePlanet team

You can read this post online at https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/speakers-and-venue-announced-for-fsfs-libreplanet-2014-register-today.
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Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Free Software Supporter - Issue 69, December 2013

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!

View this issue online here: https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2013/december

Encourage your friends to subscribe and help us build an audience by adding our subscriber widget to your web site.

Miss an issue? You can catch up on back issues at https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter.

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El Free Software Supporter está disponible en español. Para ver la versión en español haz click aqui: https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2013/diciembre

Para cambiar las preferencias de usuario y recibir los próximos números del Supporter en castellano, haz click aquí: https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=34&reset=1

Le Free Software Supporter est disponible en français. Pour voir la version française cliquez ici: https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2013/decembre

Pour modifier vos préférences et recevoir les prochains publications du Supporter en français, cliquez ici: https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=34&reset=1

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):

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:

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.

#

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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Monday, December 30, 2013

GNU is growing, and we need your help

Dear ,

GNU30 logo

The GNU System is more than a collection of software components; it's a philosophy, a social movement. The ideas Richard Stallman articulated in the GNU Manifesto spawned some of the most important ideas of our time: copyleft and free culture. It is vital that we continue to develop the ideas in the GNU Manifesto and apply them to our rapidly changing relationship to technology. In a world where our computing freedoms, privacy, and security are eroding rapidly, Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation will continue to demand better.

Donate $30 today to help GNU build on thirty years of software freedom. Your donation by January 31st will help us meet our $450,000 annual fundraising goal.

Building on GNU's mission means expanding our focus to protect users of networked computers. This includes prioritizing the development of replacements for Service as a Software Substitute (SaaSS), as well as encryption and privacy protecting software. GNU is going to need more infrastructure, support, and coordination to be successful at this new goal.

Free software developers all over the world rely on GNU's infrastructure to build software that protects user freedom both online and offline. As the fiscal sponsor of GNU, the FSF provides this scaffolding, everything from maintaining server space for developers on Savannah, to hosting https://ftp.gnu.org/, which provides bandwidth for GNU downloads. All of these developer tools are run with entirely free software. FSF staff and volunteers also assist GNU projects with fundraising, promotion. and licensing, and enforce the GPL on their behalf.

We need your support to do all of this work on a larger scale. Can you give $30 to help us expand GNU in 2014?

GNU started as a way to guarantee user control over the software running on their local machine. But now, that's no longer enough. In an always-on networked world, machines elsewhere pose just as much of a threat to user freedom, even if we have complete control over what is sitting in front of us. GNU needs to -- and is -- evolving to meet this challenge.

As the GNU system turns thirty, free software and its philosophy are more relevant than ever, but there is still work to be done.

Will you help to ensure a bright future for the GNU system by donating $30 today?

Sincerely,

Libby Reinish
Campaigns Manager
Free Software Foundation

You can view this post online at https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-is-growing-and-we-need-your-help.


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Monday, December 23, 2013

LibrePlanet for all!

Dear ,

I can't even tell you how excited I am for LibrePlanet 2014 on March 22 and 23, 2014, which is fast approaching! Right now, the rest of the FSF staff and I are working hard on the program for our annual conference so that in the next few weeks we'll be able to share our amazing roster of speakers with you. But here's the thing: to put together the strongest possible program, we need the funds to help some of our speakers travel to Cambridge, MA so that they can share their ideas with all of us. We also want to bring attendees who will learn a ton at LibrePlanet and bring that new knowledge back to their communities, helping us make LibrePlanet's reach truly global.

We've launched a scholarship fund so that we can bring free software movers and shakers to Cambridge in March for LibrePlanet. Will you consider giving someone the gift of LibrePlanet this year by donating today?

We only have a few short weeks before we will start awarding travel scholarships. The money raised between now and January 10, 2014 will help us subsidize airfare and hotel rooms for all kinds of amazing people. We've never had a formal scholarship program for LibrePlanet before. With your help, we can get off to a great start.

A donation of $50 covers one night in a shared Boston-area hotel room, but any amount helps. Please donate to the scholarship fund today.

On the flip side of this request of course are all of you out there who need assistance in order to make it to LibrePlanet 2014. I'm happy to announce that we've just launched the scholarship application on LibrePlanet.org -- applications are due by January 10, 2014 at 22:00 UTC. Apply today!

And please, help us spread the word. If you know someone who would love to attend LibrePlanet if only they had some help paying for their travel, send them this email right away. January 10, 2014 is right around the corner.

Happy hacking,

Libby Reinish
Campaigns Manager (and Conference Guru)

You can view this post online at https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/libreplanet-for-all.


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