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Even though the vast majority of software development and news articles on technology still predominantly focus on proprietary software, public pressure is increasingly shifting the conversation to include ethical considerations. Whenever you feel that free software is not making strong enough waves, I urge you to look at the LibrePlanet conference video collection (or listen to the talks), to strengthen your belief. Making free software a kitchen table issue in every home can at times seem like an insurmountable challenge, but there are so many community members doing incredibly inspiring work driving user freedom forward.

This is why we have been updating our "Working Together for Free Software" pages in the last few weeks, with new testimonials from activists and enthusiasts. We have heard why people believe in free software, and how free software can make a difference in all industries. This third blog post in the series inspired by interviews with community members will bring some attention to the success that people have had advocating for free software through their occupations. It manifests how appeals to user freedom, and successful free software implementations, are driving forces behind the advancement of businesses all over the world.

Adam Monsen, senior director of engineering at C-SATS R&D, and a founder of SeaGL, the Seattle GNU/Linux Conference, puts it simply:

Free software is the backbone of our robust software supply chain at C-SATS. We know we'll always be able to improve or customize it.

But for some people, free software is not an option their employer presents for them, or it doesn't seem like a natural go-to for the business or its customers. Alper Atmaca, a law professional, and board member of the Free Software Association (Özgür Yazılım Derneği) in Turkey, runs into this daily, and poetically explains:

A needle that refuses to go through certain fabric is as ridiculous as today's computing restrictions. But we laugh about the former, and continue to use the latter.

As a law professional who works in criminal and data protection cases mainly, I see this is truer everyday. It is generally accepted that a law office runs on overpriced, hyped nonfree software. That expectation drives an unwarranted standardization of tools that do not necessarily drive the client's best interest in law spheres.

Alper starts conversations about free software every day, and convinces his clients of its value in his professional field. You can read his entire statement to learn more about how he invests time in his clients to educate them. He states:

I am proud to have had some clients who became even fiercer freedom advocates than I am.

Individuals who bring their advocacy to their workplace can make a huge difference for the movement. We can benefit greatly if we bring conversations around software freedom to the conference table as well as the kitchen table. In recent years, we have seen organizations that prioritize freedom secure a stronger foothold in a range of industries. One example is Nextcloud, the popular file sharing and collaboration platform founded by Frank Karlitschek:

Working in a global community where decisions aren't purely dependent on boring company politics and where code is reused instead of reimplemented is just so much more interesting and rewarding!

He continues:

[...] when I was young, free software was still almost always a hobby, something you did as a student, until you got a "real" job. One where you showed up in a suit, did things you knew were often useless, working on projects that were not going anywhere and didn't help anyone. I wanted to change that for myself, and later, also for others. And today, my company employs several dozen developers, and we're hiring new ones all the time!

As Adam, Alper, and Frank show us, the use of free software in business for reasons related to freedom is not just viable, but advantageous. You can advocate for free software within your industry by making an effort to show how free software fits your clients' needs, and your passion for free software can translate into a successful business. Your advocacy through your workplace will help make progress towards free software becoming a true kitchen table issue.

Check out our working-together pages for the complete testimonials.

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Free software is an idea, a set of principles, and a community that's been growing in both size and importance every day for over 35 years. This set of principles needs to be protected against constant threats, like the novel coronavirus, and the billions of dollars from governments and proprietary software corporations that we're up against. It's an uphill battle, but we most certainly are making headway.

Right now, we are very close to reaching our associate member goal before August 7th. A larger community means more speaking power, and a greater ability to uplift community members who refuse to accept the proprietary status quo, like the inspiring group of people we have interviewed over the past few weeks.

To help raise awareness, you can also share your own story about your work or business using free software and how you are defending #UserFreedom via social media using the hashtag and one of our beautifully designed free software images. You can connect with community members on our LibrePlanet mailing list, or, if you are an FSF associate member, on the forum. Knowing that there are people standing up for freedom all over the world is so inspiring to us, and we hope it's inspiring to you as well.

Thank you for being part of this fight.

Illustration Copyright © 2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc., by Raghavendra Kamath, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

Right now, in a rapidly changing and uncertain world, free software has a special role to play. This issue of the biannual Free Software Foundation Bulletin addresses some of the challenges that life during the COVID-19 pandemic poses to software freedom, but it also highlights some of the unique contributions that activists are making to safeguard your rights today. Whether through manufacturing desperately-needed medical supplies, advocating for and supplying free and secure videoconferencing for remote learning, or creating flexible and portable libre medical information systems, activists have put in extraordinary effort to ensure that our user freedom is protected along with our safety.

Read the Free Software Foundation Bulletin online

Every free software supporter is important to our mission, and we’re so grateful for your commitment. If you can spare just $10/month ($5 for students), it’s more important than ever to take that commitment to the next level by becoming an associate member of the Free Software Foundation (FSF).

The value of a membership goes far beyond the dollars and cents needed to help us weather the challenges of this year: a membership is a vote of confidence that helps us launch and support initiatives like the ones you’ll read about in this Bulletin. Plus, membership comes with plenty of benefits, including the newest member perk: access to our Jitsi Meet videoconferencing server.

The Bulletin is one way that the FSF gives a platform to hard-working activists all over the world. This deluxe edition makes the articles even easier to share, in order to introduce others to the work that is being done globally. Despite the pandemic challenging us, we also managed to send out printed versions of the Bulletin, so you may already have one in your mailbox! If you’ve gotten yours, we encourage you to post a picture on social media with /#fsfbulletin.

In these difficult times, it’s so encouraging to see the community come together and apply their diverse skills and inspiring idealism to the challenges of the moment. New threats may arise, but free software users and developers are creative problem-solvers with an ironclad commitment to freedom and ethical treatment of others. We hope the stories in this Bulletin inspire as well as inform, and we can’t wait to see how you and the rest of our vibrant community continue to put free software into action.

"John F. Kennedy once said that a farmer is the only person 'in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways.'

This exploitation has extended into the age of data, where corporate agriculture tech giants sell proprietary software to farmers that funnel enormous amounts of valuable data into closed and proprietary databases, which is then used to sell more seed, inputs, and hardware back to the farmers. Free software offers a way to give back control to the people in this economy who produce valuable resources like food, and the environmental and agricultural knowledge surrounding it.

Working together, we can ensure that this knowledge is put toward the benefit of everyone, not just a small set of large company shareholders. This is how we will achieve true sustainability in the coming centuries."

The above is a statement from Michael Stenta, lead developer of FarmOS, and a LibrePlanet 2020 speaker. He submitted his thoughts for us to add to the "Working Together for Free Software" pages, which we have been updating as part of a summer push highlighting "free software in action." On these pages, we explore the different reasons why people dedicate their time to free software, and highlight all the different ways that user freedom is important to them.

With each submission that comes in, we realize again just how far the fight for software freedom stretches. Thankfully, like Michael and many other community members that we have spoken to recently, there are people all over the globe and in many industries, who are fighting for justice.

Right here in the Boston area, Micky Metts (also known as FreeScholar, and a member of Agaric, a worker-owned cooperative of Web developers), is working with the Boston Public School system to host an online Learning Management System (LMS), as schools will not be open for the summer, and possibly not even in the fall. Agaric is using some packages the FSF put together with Canvas as the LMS and BigBlueButton as the video chat/whiteboard. On Micky's "Working Together" page, you can find more information about the timely and relevant work that Agaric does with free software in education, immigration, and community engagement.

When asked why free software is so important, Micky tells us:

"When data consumption and data breaches at large corporations are at an all-time high, organizations need to understand that using proprietary solutions for their customers and clients puts everyone at a great disadvantage."

Even where the FSF is not directly involved, our broad work advocating for the principles of free software and best practices in its licensing and development help make and hold the space for others to accomplish impressive feats for freedom. We will continue to give people like Michael and Micky a platform, and, most importantly, we help grow the community of people that are taking on this important work of defending user freedom in this time when proprietary software corporations are exploiting the consequences of the virus in more ways than we can imagine.

Check out our working-together pages for the complete testimonials

Together, we can continue to protect crucial rights for freedom. This summer, our goal is to reach 200 new associate members before August 7, and we could really use your help. You can use one of the beautifully designed free software images to help raise awareness, and publicly bring attention to the need for free software.

You can also share your own story about your field or industry, and how you are using free software to defend #UserFreedom via social media, on our LibrePlanet mailing list, or, if you are an FSF associate member, on the forum. Knowing that there are people standing up for freedom all over the world is inspiring. Connecting with the community over your challenges and successes will help us all get stronger.

The FSF is also taking action to defend students' #UserFreedom. Read more, and sign the petition for freedom in the classroom.

Thank you for being part of this fight.

Illustration Copyright © 2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc., by Raghavendra Kamath, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

Read, sign, and share the petition: https://my.fsf.org/give-students-userfreedom

Use this embed code to add this image to your Web site or blog to link to the petition:

<a href="https://my.fsf.org/give-students-userfreedom?pk_campaign=frspring2020&pk_source=bagde"><img src="https://static.fsf.org/nosvn/appeal2020/spring/petition_rect.png" alt="Fight for students' #UserFreedom. Sign the petition today!"></a>

As we've recently written, learning remotely does not have to (and shouldn't have to) mean forsaking basic freedoms. New developments in the remote education landscape have only contributed to the worrying trend of treating the school as a testing ground for ubiquitous surveillance and other dystopian practices. This is especially dangerous for digitally native children, who may be unaware that there are alternatives, let alone that the perceived "alternative" is in actuality the only ethical option.

As discussion among free software activists on our libreplanet-discuss mailing list has shown in recent weeks, digital education can thrive when we make freedom a priority. No student should have to trade their freedom for an education. The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has already worked together with an MIT professor to free his classes, and have been sharing our knowledge with the Boston public school system. Today, we're taking the next step in that commitment.

Beginning today, we are working to change the remote education landscape with a new petition targeting the serious harm proprietary software poses to students, and at the same time, emphasizing the idea that there is an ethical solution. Whether it's Microsoft Teams being used to connect students to each other, Google Classroom being used to write every document, or Zoom being used for the classroom session itself, we want to get the message across that the only acceptable answer when it comes to how much proprietary software should be permitted in schools is none. Making students depend on nonfree software to learn is not only harmful to them in the short-term, but it is a failed opportunity to impart the values of free access, studying, sharing, and collaboration.

At the FSF, we are working hard to make free software a kitchen table issue: one that's spoken about and taken seriously by people from all walks of life, and is not just a cause taken up by a small but impassioned community. We understand that speaking up for yourself about these issues can be difficult, which is why we're offering to put our voice behind yours as the leading organization in the movement. When signing the petition, you have the option to let us know if you're a student, parent, teacher, or administrator of a school that requires the use of proprietary software. We'll get in touch with their administration on your behalf, and let them know that a global community of activists and everyday people alike have signed a statement in support of free software in education.

This initiative and petition were motivated by the loss of student rights caused by the pandemic, but we don't plan to call it quits when the novel coronavirus is finally under control. We envision this statement having a permanent place on https://fsf.org, and we are committed to getting in touch with as many schools as we can as part of our efforts to encourage free software adoption.

Your standing together with us on this issue means the world to us. The success of any petition is only as strong as its messaging and the people who rally behind it, which is why we deeply appreciate you taking the time to sign. Signing this statement of principles is one way we're offering you to help put "freedom in action" during our summer appeal, and to be a voice for #UserFreedom around the world.

For thirty-five years, the FSF has been campaigning for complete software freedom. In all that time, and though it would have been convenient and popular to do so, we've never compromised our principles. Being the "last lighthouse" of user freedom means keeping a vigilant eye on the state of how computer software is being used to help or harm those who depend on it. Please take a moment to sign the petition to stand up for the rights of students everywhere, whether those rights are your own, your child's, or simply those of someone you know. Together, we can sever the connection education has to proprietary software, and nurture freedom instead.

This spring, as the time for planning our biannual appeal came around, we discussed the difficult time all of us are experiencing: charities like us, the free software community, and every individual. And it led us to consider why people from all walks of life cherish user freedom.

The socially distant, digital way in which we are carrying on our work and private lives is affecting our software freedom. Globally, decisions to transition to an online and remote life were made with less consideration than we normally put into them, giving proprietary corporations access to parts of our lives we normally protect. Lately, we have been pointing to grim examples of bulk surveillance and privacy violations in the realms of education and communication to help everyone understand why this fight is so important.

But we shouldn't forget that free software is an inherently positive story. It celebrates the creativity and skill that come from collaboration, and the freedom that you have if you understand a program or can freely choose to rely on information about it from someone you trust. Having the right to read, modify, contribute to, and share software we use has changed our lives, and countless others. There are so many people who continue to motivate us to fight for free software with their work, so we decided to ask them to share their stories on why they love free software, and what user freedom means to them or their business.

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We spoke with Pouhiou, co-director of the French nonprofit organization Framasoft, who told us:

"What I love about the free software movement: we care about the people and their emancipation, so we make digital tools to empower both. I mean, I've never written a single line of code, but I've been contributing to free software culture for many years just by writing words and talking with (beautiful) people!"

He further explained:

"By itself, free software is not enough. But mixed with respect for privacy, user-oriented design, and popular education, it is a cornerstone. To me, and to Framasoft, free software is the first and essential step on the road where we can built digital tools that can change the world, one byte at the time."

We also heard from Jim Garrett, long-time free software supporter and LibrePlanet 2020 volunteer:

"I've found that it doesn't occur to most people that there exists an ethical dimension to software at all. To them, it's not a question of one mode being more ethical than another, it's thinking about ethics at all. Frankly, I didn't see this clearly myself until attending the LibrePlanet conference some years ago."

One of the most endearing and positive submissions was created by Sacha Chua, whom you may know from her weekly Emacs News, and her notes on her personal blog at sachachua.com. We share her visual contribution with you in this post as a reminder of why we fight for software freedom.

Check out our working-together pages for the complete testimonials

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Whether your support for and approach to free software is philosophical and ethically motivated, or purely technical, we love hearing and amplifying these stories. If you have your own story to contribute, please share it in the libreplanet-discuss email list. We will be publishing items from our collection of new testimonies on our pages from now until the end of the summer fundraiser on August 7th.

It's your support that makes this work so impactful. Together, we can continue to protect crucial rights for freedom that are being sacrificed in favor of transitioning business or social life to be remote. Like one of our recent donors said: "Not enough people know about or understand free software. I just want to spread the word." And so do we. We are working towards our new member goal of 200 new FSF associate members before August 7, and we could really use your help. You can use one of the beautifully designed free software images to help raise awareness, and publicly bring attention to the need for free software using the hashtag #UserFreedom.

Illustration Copyright © 2020 by Sacha Chua, Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.