Bradley Kuhn's talk at LibrePlanet 2017 on enforcing the GNU GPL at the Software Freedom Conservancy explains the challenge of enforcing the GPL against today's violators.

The Conservancy provides various kinds of administrative services for free software projects, while promoting the free software ethical ideals and the use of copyleft. It also does GPL enforcement for Linux and some other non-GNU, GPL-covered software packages. In doing so, it undertakes a crucial job.

The Conservancy, like the FSF, follows the community-oriented enforcement principles that adopt the goal of bringing redistributors into compliance, so that users will have the freedom they are supposed to have. This implies starting with private conversations in a civil tone, and taking legal action only as a last resort.

However, as I wrote long ago, the GPL is not Mr. Nice Guy. When a redistributor obdurately persists in violating the GPL, a lawsuit may be the only way to make it respect the freedom users are entitled to. In this last-resort situation, going to court is justified if it's necessary.

The FSF urges people to become supporters of the Conservancy.

This guest post from David Testé discusses the video streaming package he debuted at LibrePlanet 2016, while a Free Software Foundation (FSF) intern. The new version was deployed at LibrePlanet 2017.

During LibrePlanet 2016, the ABYSS package was used to livestream sessions from the conference. This year, at LibrePlanet 2017, we used a new version of this free package...with a new name. It's now called HUBAngl, which stands for HUBAngl Uses Broadcaster Angle. This name sticks with the idea of depth: the HUmpBack Anglerfish lives in the abyss.

As I mentioned, HUBAngl was used for LibrePlanet 2017, successfully streaming and recording around 50 sessions. Those sessions are already available on the LibrePlanet's GNU MediaGoblin instance. HUBAngl behaved well despite its experimental state -- we used the v0.1 release for the event.

Using HUBAngl

Wanna give HUBAngl a try? Grab a camera and/or a microphone and then clone the project repository. Follow the very straightforward instructions to start a session. That's all. Just remember that HUBAngl is a streaming client: if you want to stream a session you must direct your feed(s) to an Icecast server instance. Since the package is in experimental state, if you encounter any problem or have bugs when running HUBAngl, please open an issue on the project repository, or even better make a pull request to fix the problem, that's very helpful.

Next features/releases

Although HUBAngl v0.1 is an improvement on ABYSS, some key components and features are missing. Nevertheless, a bunch of them should be implemented in forthcoming releases, like the following:

• Streaming placeholder screen: useful when you want to warn viewers through the video player (instead of displaying a black screen) about an upcoming session. v0.2 release
• Tuneable camera settings: will allow you to change settings like resolution, color space, white balance, and others. v0.2 release
• IP camera support: currently only USB camera input is supported. v0.3 release
• Screencast from a selected screen: will allow you to display a screen feed (for instance, this could be used to display slides from a presentation). v0.3 release
• JACK audio support: currently only PulseAudio server is supported.
• Audio input mixer and equalizer: will allow multi-source audio input to be streamed.
  
• Live subtitles: will allow you to display subtitles during a streaming session.
• Monitoring mode: will allow a control-room HUBAngl instance to do most of the heavy lifting for the configuration phase and then the data processing.
• Control-room mode: will allow you to have control over a pool of monitoring HUBAngl instances.
• Many more...

If you have any ideas about features to implement into HUBAngl, just ask for it by opening an issue on the project repository.

LibrePlanet 2018

Since day one, the FSF and especially its tech team, put trust in this project by running it for the LibrePlanet conference. Each time, it has been a big deal for me, because this is a great proving ground for HUBAngl (4 instances running in parallel for a whole weekend). LibrePlanet 2018 will again be the HUBAngl's real-life proving ground, and I'll be there in person to ensure everything works as planned.

Thanks to the FSF for all their hard work to make LibrePlanet possible. Special thanks to Andrew Engelbrecht and Ruben Rodriguez for their feedback and their help during the development of HUBAngl: without them the package wouldn't have been ready for LibrePlanet 2017.

If you want to contribute to the project or if you just want to talk about HUBAngl send me an email soonum[at]gnu.org. All contributions are welcome.

If you live in Paris and want to grab a drink while discussing HUBAngl (or anything else), shoot me an email. In any case, see you in Boston at LibrePlanet 2018.

Happy (deep-sea) diving!

David received travel assistance from the LibrePlanet 2017 scholarship fund -- consider contributing to the fund for LibrePlanet 2018 today. You will help more people afford to attend this annual free software conference. Learn more about FSF internships here.

Participate in supporting the Directory by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the #fsf channel on irc.freenode.org.

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 providing detailed info about version control, IRC channels, documentation, and licensing info that has been carefully checked by FSF staff and trained volunteers.

While the Directory has been and continues to be a great resource to the world over the past decade, it has the potential of being a resource of even greater value. But it needs your help!

This week we're going back to the golden oldies, looking to update entries that haven't been reviewed in a while. As we add more and more software to the Directory, we can't forget about the entries that have come before. Software can change locations, or the license could be updated, so we want to make sure every entry is up to date and useful.

If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to make it onto IRC on Friday, our participation guide will provide you with all the information you need to get started on helping the Directory today! There are also weekly Directory Meetings pages that everyone is welcome to contribute to before, during, and after each meeting.

Every week free software activists from around the world come together in #fsf on irc.freenode.org to help improve the Free Software Directory. This recaps the work we accomplished at the Friday, May 5th, 2017 meeting.

This week the theme centered on backup tools. As always, the conversations weren't limited to that though. This meeting saw graphical desktop sharing software and remote administration configurations being discussed. Also, the conferencing and telephony categories got a shout out during the meeting as someone was looking for video communication programs that they could suggest to their university in the hopes of moving the school towards free software. The topics may change but the chance to talk free software remains the same.

If you would like to help update the directory, meet with us every Friday in #fsf on irc.freenode.org from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. EDT (16:00 to 19:00 UTC).

I started with the Free Software Foundation (FSF) while completing my doctoral course work in Sociology at Boston University, back in the early 2000s. During those formative years, I learned the importance of freedom when it comes to talking about software as the FSF copyright assignment administrator and the Free Software Directory maintainer. Moreover, I was blown away with the manner in which copyleft inverts the copyright paradigm to ensure freedom when normally it builds fences. Motivated to not be a player in the tragedy of the commons, I became deeply interested in alternatives during law school. What interested me most about this component of the law was that it was set for rapid development, as well as its cyclic nature. Initial copyright rules stemmed from a technological shift, the printing press, and it seems that this was to be the case again.

Leaving the FSF, I trained as a trial lawyer. I worked at the Committee for Public Counsel Services, Children and Family Law Program (CAFL). At CAFL, I represented parents accused of, and children alleged to be suffering from, abuse and/or neglect. There are no higher stakes than the loss of one's child to the government, or the exodus from an abusive situation. During this period I came to see the complex family dynamics at play when issues pertaining to family are hotly contested. Following this, I entered private practice. Throughout this period I was in the courtroom nearly every day presenting evidence, examining witnesses, and making oral arguments.

Although I felt my work was important, something left me longing. When the opportunity presented itself to return to the FSF I jumped at it. My time away from the organization confirmed for me the importance of the mission and my passion for the work. I've returned to the FSF renewed and excited to continue to help cement the framework of free software by serving as the copyright and licensing associate.

As the copyright and licensing associate, I coordinate all of the software copyright documents for the FSF. Also, I work on analyzing discrepancies in copyright and generally working to ensure the protection necessary for the enforceability of FSF copyrights. In addition, I'm part of the Compliance Lab team and assist in advancing the FSF's free software licensing advocacy and compliance efforts, through such activities as background research on licensing policy and investigating license violations.

This is a very exciting time for free software and I am amped to be a part of it!