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.