# articles

feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/stop-software-patents-from-muscling-in-on-europe
title: Stop software patents from muscling in on Europe
uri: Stop-software-patents-from-muscling-in-on-Europe
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/stop-software-patents-from-muscling-in-on-europe
content:
If the corrupt European Patent Office succeeds in imitating America's software patent system, it will be a disaster for software development. Join April, the FSF's French ally, in calling for strong legislation against software patents in Europe.<p>Originally, most countries did not consider software patentable. Over recent decades, however, corporations and the US Patent Office have gradually worked them into the American legal system by any means possible. Software patents have become a real problem for software developers, because they create land mines for anyone trying to write code, leaving small, creative organizations constantly in fear of litigation by the likes of Microsoft and Apple.</p>
<p>Software patents in Europe aren't as bad as here in the US, but there are people trying to change that. Despite a prohibition of software patents by the European Union's parliament, the European Patent Office (EPO) has gone rogue and started handing them out, collecting a hefty fee each time. <span>April, France's primary free software organization and a long-time collaborator with the FSF, recently asked us to spread the word that they are organizing Europeans to demand an end to these illegal patents.</span> They've already helped organize <a href="http://www.april.org/en/against-software-patents-460-companies-demand-improvement-unitary-patent-europe">460 companies to sign a statement</a> against software patents, but to win, they need the grassroots power of people picking up the phone and calling Parliament.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://call.unitary-patent.eu/">Click here to call your MEP (if you're European).</a></strong></p>
<p>If you're not European, please share this with anyone you know in Europe; if we can't pass this restriction and get the EPO under control, pro-patent corporations will keep finding new ways to bend the law until they are able to exercise the same stifling control over European software users as they do in the US.</p>
<p>April's president, Lionel Allorge, says, "The EPO keeps on granting software patents, irrespective of the European Convention on Patents that clearly states that computer programs are not patentable. In 2005, at the time of rejection of software patents by the European Parliament, we had called for a democratic control of the EPO. It is time to [finish] the job."</p>
<p>He's right about that. This is our best chance to reign in the corrupt EPO and free Europe from software patents.</p>
<p>You can read the rest of April's statement on their Web site <a href="http://www.april.org/en/general-mobilisation-against-return-software-patents-europe">here</a> <span>or check out the homepage for this campaign </span><a href="http://www.unitary-patent.eu/">here</a><span>.</span></p>


title: Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
uri: Join-the-FSF-and-friends-in-updating-the-Free-Software-Directory
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-1

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-1

content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday September 14th, from 2pm to 5pm EDT
(18:00 to 21:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p> 

<p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p> 
 
<p>While the Free Software 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!</p> 
 
<p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to
make it onto IRC on Friday, our
<a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> 
will provide you with all the information you need to get started on
helping the Directory today!</p> 


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/celebrate-software-freedom-day-2012-in-cambridge-massachusetts
title: Celebrate Software Freedom Day 2012 in Cambridge, Massachusetts!
uri: Celebrate-Software-Freedom-Day-2012-in-Cambridge-Massachusetts
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/celebrate-software-freedom-day-2012-in-cambridge-massachusetts
content:
Software Freedom Day 2012 is Saturday, September 15th at Cambridge College, 1000 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA.<p>Join <a href="http://wiki.softwarefreedomday.org/2012/USA/Massachusetts/Cambridge/BostonCambridge">us</a> at Cambridge College for <a href="http://softwarefreedomday.org/">Software Freedom Day</a> on Saturday, September 15th from 10am to 5pm. The theme of this year's event is bringing the community together. </p>

<p><strong>10:00am to 12:30pm: Workshops.</strong> After complimentary coffee and the welcome address, the morning sessions will focus on hands-on learning featuring tutorials on media editing by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bassam_Kurdali">Bassam Kurdali</a> who is a well-known <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blender_%28software%29">Blender</a> expert, and software contribution for beginners by <a href="http://web.mit.edu/jesstess/">Jessica McKellar</a>. Learners of all levels are welcome, and be sure to bring your laptop for a more enriching education experience! </p>

<p><strong>12:30pm to 1:30pm: Lunch.</strong> Lunch is up to you. Cambridge College is located between Harvard Square and Central Square which both have many options, including vegan. </p>

<p><strong>2:00pm to 2:30pm: Lightning talks.</strong> Sign up in the morning to participate in one of six lightning talks slots. This is a great opportunity to share a hobby, side-project or emerging project that doesn't yet warrant a full talk slot.</p>

<p><strong>2:40pm to 3:50pm: Talks.</strong> Hear talks on decentralizing the web from Deb Nicholson (Community Manager for <a href="http://mediagoblin.org/">MediaGoblin</a> ), and campus organizing from Kira (campaigns organizer for the <a href="http://www.fsf.org/">Free Software Foundation</a> and member of the board of directors for <a href="http://freeculture.org/">Students for Free Culture</a> ). </p>

<p><strong>4:00pm to 4:50pm: Hot topics panel.</strong> An exciting new addition to this year's Software Freedom Day: the hot topics panel will consist of 3 experts -- <a href="http://oddletters.com/">Molly Sauter</a>, Ian Muir from <a href="http://givecamp.org/">GiveCamp</a>, <a href="http://pault.ag/">Paul Tagliamonte</a> -- debating some of the latest topics concerning the Internet, software, and freedom. Audience participation is strongly encouraged and attendees can submit topic ideas earlier in the day.</p>

<p><strong>After party:</strong> A social mixer will follow at Tommy Doyle's -- directions will be provided at the event. A great way to wrap up the day, mingle, and network!</p>

<p>Cambridge College is located at 1000 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge. It is conveniently located between the Harvard Square and Central Square subway stations. One can also reach the venue by taking the #1 bus. This event is free and open to the public!</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory
title: Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
uri: 2012-09-19-Join-the-FSF-and-friends-in-updating-the-Free-Software-Directory
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday September 7th, from 2pm to 5pm EDT
(18:00 to 21:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p> 

<p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p> 
 
<p>While the Free Software 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 far greater value. But it needs your help!</p> 
 
<p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to
make it onto IRC on Friday, our
<a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> 
will provide you with all the information you need to get started on
helping the Directory today!</p> 


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-august-2012
title: GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry (August 2012)
uri: GNU-Spotlight-with-Karl-Berry-(August-2012)
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-august-2012
content:
19 new GNU releases as of August 28, 2012:<ul>
<li>alive-2.0.0</li>
<li>emacs-24.2</li>
<li>help2man-1.40.12</li>
<li>autogen-5.16.2</li>
<li>freeipmi-1.2.1</li>
<li>icecat-14.0</li>
<li>automake-1.12.3</li>
<li>gdb-7.5</li>
<li>mediagoblin-0.3.1</li>
<li>bison-2.6.2</li>
<li>gnubatch-1.6</li>
<li>parallel-20120822</li>
<li>ccide-0.6.5-1</li>
<li>gnuhealth-1.6.3</li>
<li>wget-1.14</li>
<li>coreutils-8.19</li>
<li>gnutls-3.1.0</li>
<li>cppi-1.17</li>
<li>grep-2.14</li>
</ul>

<p>To get announcements of most new GNU releases, subscribe to the info-gnu
mailing list: <a href="http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu">http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu</a>. Nearly
all GNU software is available from <a href="http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/">http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/</a>, or
preferably one of its mirrors (<a href="http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html">http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html</a>). You
can use the url <a href="http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/">http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/</a> to be automatically
redirected to a (hopefully) nearby and up-to-date mirror.</p>

<p>This month we welcome Thien-Thi Nguyen as a new maintainer of alive
(first release above) in addition to his work maintaining RCS, Jordi
Hermoso as a new co-maintainer of Octave, and Thomas Young as the author
of the new GNU package ccide.</p>

<p>Several GNU packages are looking for maintainers and other assistance.
Please see <a href="http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint">http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint</a> if you'd
like to help. The general page on how to help GNU is at
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html</a>. To submit new packages to GNU, see
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html</a>.</p>

<p>As always, please feel free to write to me, <a href="mailto:karl@gnu.org">&#x6B;&#x61;&#114;&#108;&#64;&#103;&#110;&#117;&#46;&#x6F;&#114;g</a>, with any
GNUish questions or suggestions for future installments.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/interview-with-john-w.-eaton-of-gnu-octave
title: Interview with John W. Eaton of GNU Octave
uri: Interview-with-John-W-Eaton-of-GNU-Octave
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/interview-with-john-w.-eaton-of-gnu-octave
content:
This is the first in a series of interviews the FSF's Licensing and Compliance team is doing with maintainers of free software projects who choose GNU licenses for their work.<p><img src="http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/images/logo.png" alt="GNU Octave" width="250" /></p>

<p>Today we interview John W. Eaton of the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/">GNU
Octave</a> project, which is
licensed under the GNU GPLv3. </p>

<h3>What is GNU Octave?</h3>

<p>GNU Octave is a high-level interpreted language, primarily intended
for numerical computations.  It provides capabilities for the
numerical solution of linear and nonlinear problems, and for
performing other numerical experiments.  It also provides extensive
graphics capabilities for data visualization and manipulation. Octave
is normally used through its interactive command line interface, but
it can also be used to write non-interactive programs.  The Octave
language is quite similar to Matlab so that most programs are easily
portable.</p>

<p>One of the goals of the Octave project is to liberate the code written
for the proprietary program, Matlab, and allow it to run in Octave
with as little modification as possible.</p>

<p>There is also a companion project called Octave Forge that is a
collection of collaboratively developed packages for Octave that are
analogous to Matlab's toolboxes.</p>

<h3>How are people using it?</h3>

<p>There are many users of Octave and their reasons are many and varied!
You can read about some of them on our
<a href="http://wiki.octave.org/Who_Uses_Octave%253F">wiki</a>.</p>

<h3>Why did you decide to release it under the GNU GPLv3?</h3>

<p>Well, it was originally published under the GNU GPLv2 or any later
version, and when GPLv3 came out, I decided to upgrade. </p>

<p>But, there were two reasons I published GNU Octave under the GPL.
First, I thought it was the right license.  I wanted to make Octave
free software and I didn't want someone to be able to make a
proprietary derivative of it.  Second, I wanted to use GNU readline,
which is also licensed under the GPL, and I did not want to write my
own command-line editing library from scratch.  But the first reason
was really the more important one for me. If I hadn't liked the aims
of the GPL, I would have worked around the readline issue somehow.</p>

<h3>As a volunteer, what's the best way to get involved in developing GNU Octave?</h3>

<p>We encourage people to start out by just being around and being social
with other developers. An easy way to start is to join the
maintainers' mailing lists. Find things about Octave you don't like,
and start thinking about how to fix them. Some people spend years
helping in the mailing list before they ever delve into code. Others
sometimes jump right into coding. But, in general, a good way to learn
Octave is to understand the problems other people are having with it,
so being helpful in the mailing lists not only helps Octave as a
whole, but it also prepares you to be a better Octave contributor.</p>

<p>See our
<a href="http://wiki.octave.org/FAQ#How_can_I_get_involved_in_Octave_development.3F">FAQ</a>
for me details on how to get involved.</p>

<h3>What are ways that people without strong math programming abilities could start helping, today?</h3>

<p>The documentation is always in need of improvement.  People can also
help with the web pages, answering questions on the mailing lists or
IRC channel.
<a href="https://my.fsf.org/donate/working-together/octave/">Donating to the project</a>
is also always an option!</p>

<h3>What aspects of the project do you think could use the most help?</h3>

<p>We currently have several large projects under development including a
graphical user interface, a just-in-time compiler, and an
implementation of Matlab's "classdef"-style object system.  All of
these projects have a lot of room for additional contributors.</p>

<p>
<em>See the GNU Octave entry in the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Octave">Free Software Directory</a> for more information.</em>
</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/gnu-press/gnu-press-announces-a-smaller-edition-of-the-fsf-knife
title: Show your support for GNU with our new pocketknife!
uri: Show-your-support-for-GNU-with-our-new-pocketknife
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/gnu-press/gnu-press-announces-a-smaller-edition-of-the-fsf-knife
content:
GNU Press unveils a GNU head logo knife in either blue or red.<img src="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/small-knife.png">

<p>The Free Software Foundation is now offering a <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/fsf-small-knife/">smaller knife </a> that serves as a great complement to our <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/fsf-knife/"> cybertool </a>. GNU/Linux aficionados will appreciate the iconic GNU head logo. This 2 1/4" rally comes in your choice of blue or red, and boasts 9 useful tools: </p>
<p>
<ul>
<li>Blade,</li>
<li>Nail File with Screwdriver,</li>
<li>Bottle Opener with Magnetic Phillips Screwdriver,</li>
<li>Wire Stripper,</li>
<li>Key Ring,</li>
<li>Tweezers,</li> and
<li>Toothpick.</li>
</ul>
</p>
<p>Show your support for GNU with this cool knife!</p>
<p>As always, if you can't find something in the store but think we should offer it, please add your suggestion to our <a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki?title=GNU_Press_Shop_Items_Ideas#Store"> Ideas </a> page. And remember, associate members of the Free Software Foundation get a 20% discount on all purchases made through the GNU Press store, so if you are not a member already, <a href="https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom"> join today</a>! To keep up with announcements about new products available in the GNU Press store, <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=88&amp;reset=1">subscribe to the mailing list.</a> </p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/programs-must-not-limit-freedom
title: Why programs must not limit the freedom to run them
uri: Why-programs-must-not-limit-the-freedom-to-run-them
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/programs-must-not-limit-freedom
content:
Free software means software controlled by its users, rather than the
reverse.<p>Specifically, it means the software comes with four essential
freedoms that software users deserve. At the head of the list is
freedom zero, the freedom to run the program as you wish, in order to
do what you wish.</p>

<p>Some developers propose to place usage restrictions in software
licenses to ban using the program for certain purposes, but that would
be a disastrous path.</p>

<p>Richard Stallman's latest article explains <a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/programs-must-not-limit-freedom.html">why freedom zero must
not be limited.</a>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/20120711-munich
title: Summer 2012 Trip to Europe: Photos from the Technical University of Munich
uri: Summer-2012-Trip-to-Europe-Photos-from-the-Technical-University-of-Mu
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/20120711-munich
content:
<p>Please fill out our contact form, so that we can inform you about
future events in and around <a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=101&reset=1>London,</a>
<a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=100&reset=1>Leicester,</a>
<a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=104&reset=1>Manchester,</a>
<a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=90&reset=1>Marly-le-Roi,</a>
<a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=46&reset=1>Paris,</a>
<a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=99&reset=1">Vigo,</a>
<a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=95&reset=1">Prague,</a>
<a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=75&reset=1">Dresden,</a>
and <a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=98&reset=1">Munich,</a>
which RMS visited while he was in Europe on this last trip.</p>

<p>RMS was at the Technische Universität-München, in Garching,
Germany, on 11 July, to deliver his speech "Copyright vs. Community in
the Age of Computer Networks," hosted by the Department of Computer
Science's Lehrstuhl für Netzarchitekturen und Netzdienste, to a packed
room.</p>

<p><a href="http://audio-video.gnu.org">We'll be posting a recording of the speech soon.</a></p>

<!-- Start of image + caption block -->
<div style="border-style:solid; border-width:2px;text-align:center; margin: 4px 50px 4px 50px; padding-top:4px;">

<p>:</p>

<!-- Image(s) start below -->
<!-- Adjust the width="150" part to change how wide the image appears on the page  -->

<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120711-munich-01-thumb.JPG" alt="" width="250" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120711-munich-06-thumb.JPG" alt="" width="250" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120711-munich-05-thumb.JPG" alt="" width="250" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120711-munich-03-thumb.JPG" alt="" width="250" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120711-munich-04-thumb.JPG" alt="" width="500" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120711-munich-07-thumb.JPG" alt="" width="165" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120711-munich-10-thumb.JPG" alt="" width="165" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120711-munich-11-thumb.JPG" alt="" width="165" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120711-munich-12-thumb.JPG" alt="" width="165" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120711-munich-13-thumb.JPG" alt="" width="165" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120711-munich-14-thumb.JPG" alt="" width="165" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120711-munich-15-thumb.JPG" alt="" width="250" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120711-munich-16-thumb.JPG" alt="" width="250" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 

<!-- Photo credits start below -->
<p style="padding: 0px 20px 0px 20px; margin-top:1px; text-align:center;">
<em>(Photos courtesy of Marc-Oliver Pahl and Jeanne Rasata.)</em>

<p style="text-align:center;">Please see <a href="http://www.fsf.org/events">www.fsf.org/events</a> for a full list of all of RMS's confirmed engagements, and contact <a href="mailto:rms-assist@gnu.org">rms-assist@gnu.org</a> if you'd like him to come speak.</p>

</p></div>

<!-- End of image+caption block -->


<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Thank you to Dr. Christian
Grothoff for organizing the event!</strong></p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/guest-post-why-schools-should-refuse-ipads
title: Guest Post: Why schools should refuse iPads
uri: Guest-Post-Why-schools-should-refuse-iPads
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/guest-post-why-schools-should-refuse-ipads
content:
My name is David and I'm 24 years old, and I was born and educated in Minnesota. My high school exclusively used Apple computers.<p><em>This is a guest post by FSF <a href="http://www.fsf.org/register_form?referrer=10916">associate member #10916</a>, David
Steinhafel. It is a slightly edited version of a letter sent in April
2012 to discourage the Fort Bend Independent School District (FBISD)
in Texas from <a href="http://studentsagainstipadspending.doodlekit.com/home/background">spending $4,000,000
USD</a>
on iPads for their 2nd - 8th grade students. I hope others will send
letters like this. <a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Free_Software_in_schools">The LibrePlanet
wiki</a> is a great
place to share them.</em></p>

<p>by David Steinhafel <br />
FSF Member #10916  </p>

<p>My name is David and I'm 24 years old, and I was born and educated in
Minnesota. My high school exclusively used Apple computers. I can say
confidently that Apple computer use in my high school resulted in most
of my peers:</p>

<ul>
<li>being incapable of using non-Apple computer products;</li>
<li>becoming "locked in" to the vendor Apple, so all their current and future devices and software are purchased through Apple because they don't have the "know how" to migrate their data or even use other operating systems and software interfaces; and</li>
<li>spending far more money for their education than was necessary to learn how to best utilize computing technologies.</li>
</ul>

<p>Apple software is proprietary. There is no way to study how the
programs and machines work, no way to verify that the programs work
correctly, and even no way to determine whether the products secretly
collect private or sensitive user information.</p>

<p>Educational institutions shouldn't use proprietary software for these
(and other) reasons. There are free software replacements that:</p>

<ul>
<li>allow the students to study the program and even change it to function differently or better;</li>
<li>don't cost any money or cost way less than Apple and Windows machines;</li>
<li>help emphasize general and best computer practices, so students can figure out how to use any computing operating system and platform, not just the one they were forced to use in school.</li>
</ul>

<p>Companies such as Apple and Microsoft offer "free" or "discounted"
prices on their proprietary software licenses, so that students become
"hooked" on their platforms and have to pay for them at home or at
work whenever they graduate from school.</p>

<p>I strongly recommend your students become broadly educated computer
users, so they can not only keep their machines and identities secure
and private, but also so they can maximize the effectiveness of their
computing and be more employable because of their high ability to
adapt to whatever computer platform their employer may be using. It is
for these reasons and more that I recommend FBISD invests in
non-proprietary software systems such as GNU/Linux.</p>

<p>You can learn why free software should be used in education at the
following links:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-schools.html">Why Schools Should Exclusively Use Free Software</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-why.html">Why Educational Institutions Should Use and Teach Free Software</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-system-india.html">The Education System in India</a></li>
</ul>

<p>More information on GNU/Linux computers and free software is available at:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/">The GNU operating system</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">What is free software?</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html">Guidelines for Free System Distributions</a></li>
</ul>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/fall-licensing-internship-application-deadline-fast-approaching
title: Fall licensing internship application deadline fast approaching
uri: Fall-licensing-internship-application-deadline-fast-approaching
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/fall-licensing-internship-application-deadline-fast-approaching
content:
We are looking for an intern to work in our Licensing and Compliance Lab from September 17th to December 14th.<p>If you are interested in interning with the Licensing and Compliance Lab this fall, the deadline for applications is September 3rd. You can review the full application details and apply at our <a href="http://www.fsf.org/volunteer/internships">internships page</a>. </p>

<p>This is an educational opportunity to work with the organization that publishes the GNU General Public License (GPL), handles license review and compliance for the GNU Project, and fights for software freedom. As an intern, you work closely with FSF staff members learning about free software licensing and helping to educate the community about copyleft, patents, and other legal issues related to software. This is a great opportunity for law students or legally minded hackers.</p>

<p>Please send in your application today, or prod students you know who might be interested in this opportunity for the Fall. Questions can be directed to <a href="mailto:hiring@fsf.org">&#x68;&#105;&#x72;&#x69;&#110;&#103;&#64;&#x66;&#x73;&#x66;&#x2E;&#111;&#x72;&#x67;</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/the-shield-act-fails-to-protect-free-software-from-patents
title: The Shield Act fails to protect free software from patents
uri: The-Shield-Act-fails-to-protect-free-software-from-patents
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/the-shield-act-fails-to-protect-free-software-from-patents
content:
The Saving High-Tech Innovators from Egregious Legal Disputes Act (SHIELD Act) fails to protect the free software community from software patents.<p>On August 1st, 2012, the Saving High-Tech Innovators from Egregious Legal Disputes Act, or <a href="https://www.eff.org/sites/default/files/SHIELD_ACT_0.pdf">SHIELD Act</a>[PDF], was introduced to Congress by Representatives Peter DeFazio and Jason Chaffetz. This act is meant to deal with the problem of patent trolls destroying software businesses. The bill would enable victims of patent trolling to have their costs covered if the judge decides that the plaintiff was not likely to succeed on their claims. While many are hailing the bill for fighting against patent trolls, it does not go far enough for us to support it, and it carries some risks that concern us.</p>

<p>The bill defines a software patent as "any process that could be implemented in a computer regardless of whether a computer is specifically mentioned in the patent or ... any computer system that is programmed to perform a process described [above]." It then goes on to state that nothing in the bill is meant to affect the scope of patentable subject matter. This is really a lost opportunity to once and for all end the entire software patent mess. The bill might help large corporations avoid costly litigation or settlements, but it does nothing to alleviate the problem for the free software community. The bill works to diminish a harm for some that it could simply remove for all.</p>

<p>Even if the SHIELD Act does succeed in blocking patent trolls, the software patent system would continue to threaten the free software community. Developers would still have to worry about the threat of patent lawsuits. Companies would still be able to use the threat of a patent to abuse and manipulate others into either costly settlements or into not developing much-needed free software. The free software community would still have to waste time and resources trying to avoid or defend against the software patent minefield. Removing a few mines from the field won't change this calculation, since stepping on a single mine is so devastating.</p>

<p>The bill attempts to patch a broken system without questioning whether that system is harmful to begin with. This carries the unfortunate consequence of possibly prolonging the damage wrought by software patents.  Any reform to reduce the risk of "bad" patents risks entrenching a false notion of "good" software patents. We are also concerned that legislation like this would make judges more sympathetic to patent claims, since the risks for anyone initiating the claims would be greater. In software, the problem is not limited to bad patents, frivolous claims, or patent trolls -- the problem is that patents exist at all. </p>

<p>The scope of patentable subject matter is defined legislatively, but if the bill passes then the legislature will have punted on this most important issue. We encourage Congress to end software patents, and to legislate that computer-based implementations should be immunized from patent infringement claims.  That would be a <b>real</b> shield for all software developers. 

<p><ul>
<li>Please join us in our campaign against software patents at <a href="http://news.swpat.org/">http://news.swpat.org/</a>. You should also join the campaign <a href="https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/esp-action-alert">mailing list</a> to stay up-to-date.</li> 
<li>To learn more about the SHIELD Act, please see our resources at <a href="http://en.swpat.org/wiki/SHIELD">http://en.swpat.org/wiki/SHIELD</a>.</li>
<li>You can also support our future work against software patents by <a href="https://my.fsf.org/donate/">making a donation</a> to the FSF.</li>
</ul>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-july-2012
title: GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry (July 2012)
uri: GNU-Spotlight-with-Karl-Berry-(July-2012)
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-july-2012
content:
There were 21 new GNU releases this month!<p>New GNU releases as of July 30, 2012:</p>

<pre>
aris-1.8        grep-2.13            linux-libre-3.5-gnu
automake-1.12.2 guile-2.0.6          mpc-1.0
bison-2.6       help2man-1.40.11     mpfr-3.1.1
gama-1.12       icecat-13.0.1        nettle-2.5
gcc-4.5.4       libmicrohttpd-0.9.21 source-highlight-3.1.7
gnujump-1.0.8   libobjc-1.6.1        xorriso-1.2.4
gnutls-3.0.21   librejs-4.8          zile-2.4.8</p>
</pre>

<p>To get announcements of most new GNU releases, subscribe to the info-gnu
mailing list: <a href="http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu">http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu</a>.  Nearly
all GNU software is available from <a href="http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/">http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/</a>, or
preferably one of its mirrors (<a href="http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html">http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html</a>).  You
can use the url <a href="http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/">http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/</a> to be automatically
redirected to a (hopefully) nearby and up-to-date mirror.</p>

<p>This month we welcome Tassilo Horn as a new co-maintainer of auctex, and
Graham Percival as a new co-maintainer of Lilypond.</p>

<p>Several GNU packages are looking for maintainers and other assistance.
Please see <a href="http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint">http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint</a> if you'd
like to help.  The general page on how to help GNU is at
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html</a>.  To submit new packages to GNU, see
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html</a>.</p>

<p>As always, please feel free to write to me, <a href="mailto:karl@gnu.org">&#x6B;a&#x72;&#108;&#64;&#103;&#x6E;u&#46;&#111;&#114;&#x67;</a>, with any
GNUish questions or suggestions for future installments.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/gnu-press/introducing-fsf-logo-knife-cybertool
title: Show your support for the FSF with our new knife and cybertool
uri: Show-your-support-for-the-FSF-with-our-new-knife-and-cybertool
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/gnu-press/introducing-fsf-logo-knife-cybertool
content:
Gnu Press announces the availability of an FSF logo knife/cybertool including twelve tools.<img src="//static.fsf.org/nosvn/knife.logo.jpeg" alt="" class="imgright" width="250" />
<p>The Free Software Foundation shop is now offering a portable toolkit suitable for both IT professionals and at-home computer users. Perfect for the GNU/Linux sysadmin, this <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/fsf-knife/"> 3.5-inch Victorinox/Swiss Army Cybertool 29 </a> features the Free Software Foundation logo in white lettering on a red translucent background. The Cybertool includes: </p>
<p>
<ul>
<li>a small blade, </li>
<li>a corkscrew, </li>
<li>a can opener with small screwdriver complete with Philips screws, </li>
<li>a bottle opener with large screwdriver and wire stripper, </li>
<li>reamer, </li>
<li>a key ring, </li>
<li>tweezers, </li>
<li>a toothpick, </li>
<li>a sewing eye, </li>
<li>a bit wrench with </li>
<ul>
<li>5mm hex socket</li>
<li>#0 Philips bit</li>
<li>#1 Philips Bit, </li>
</ul>
<li>bit case with </li>
<ul>
<li>4mm flat head</li>
<li>#2 Philips head bit </li>
<li>4mm Hex bit</li>
<li>#8 Torx bit </li>
<li>#10 Torx bit</li>
<li>#10 Torx Bit </li>
<li>#15 Torx bit, </li>
</ul>
<li>a pressurized ball point pen, </li>
<li>a DIP switch setter straight pen, </li>
<li>and a mini-screwdriver. </li>
</ul>
</p>
<p>Show your support for the FSF with this cool knife!</p>
<p>As always, if you can't find something in the store but think we should offer it, please add your suggestion to our <a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki?title=GNU_Press_Shop_Items_Ideas#Store"> Ideas </a> page. And remember, associate members of the Free Software Foundation get a 20% discount on all purchases made through the GNU Press store, so if you are not a member already, <a href="https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom"> join today</a>! To keep up with announcements about new products available in the GNU Press store, <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=88&amp;reset=1">subscribe to the mailing list.</a> </p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/compliance-lab-in-the-news
title: Compliance Lab in the news
uri: Compliance-Lab-in-the-news
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/compliance-lab-in-the-news
content:
Joshua Gay and I were recently interviewed about our new roles here at the Free Software Foundation.<p>Joshua Gay and I were recently interviewed for an article by Bruce Byfield, "<a href="http://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/Blogs/Off-the-Beat-Bruce-Byfield-s-Blog/The-FSF-Compliance-Lab-Doubles">The FSF Compliance Lab Doubles</a>." Bruce shares our excitement in super-charging our ability to help the free software community with licensing issues. Byfield discusses how our expanded capacity means that we are better able to make use of the volunteers we have, as well as to recruit new members to our licensing team. If you would like join the licensing team and help answer community questions about free software licensing, please send an email to <a href="mailto:licensing@fsf.org">licensing@fsf.org</a>.</p>

<p>We thank Bruce for taking the time to talk with us. If you are a reporter looking for insight into a particular licensing issue, a recent headline, or you just want to know the latest news in the free software licensing world, don't hesitate to contact us at <a href="mailto:licensing@fsf.org">licensing@fsf.org</a>. We would love the opportunity to discuss the things that we are so passionate about.</p>


title: Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
uri: 2012-09-21-Join-the-FSF-and-friends-in-updating-the-Free-Software-Directory
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-2

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-2

content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday September 21st, from 2pm to 5pm EDT
(18:00 to 21:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p> 

<p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p> 
 
<p>While the Free Software 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!</p> 
 
<p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to
make it onto IRC on Friday, our
<a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> 
will provide you with all the information you need to get started on
helping the Directory today!</p> 


title: Apple v. Samsung: A patent battle with freedom as the collateral damage
uri: Apple-v-Samsung-A-patent-battle-with-freedom-as-the-collateral-damag
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/apple-v.-samsung-a-patent-battle-with-freedom-as-the-collateral-damage

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/apple-v.-samsung-a-patent-battle-with-freedom-as-the-collateral-damage

content:
Apple's patent aggression harms us all.<p>Since Samsung was <a href="http://www.groklaw.net/pdf3/ApplevSamsung-1931.pdf">found liable for infringing some of Apple's mobile patents</a>[PDF] on August 24th, 2012, there has been widespread anger directed at Apple. Many people rightly note that Apple's strong-arming of Samsung harms free software users everywhere and mobile users in particular. Phones and tablets could be banned from the market, and there will certainly be a chilling effect on free software development in the area. Apple's victory here is our collective loss, as the ruling magnifies the damaging effects of Apple's proprietary systems. </p>

<p>Using software patents as a weapon, Apple is restricting mobile devices that eschew its <a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/mac-osx-mistakes-and-malfeatures">escalating systems of digital restrictions management</a>. Apple is also effectively trying to lock users into devices that cannot easily install free software, trapping them within its App Store which <a href="http://www.fsf.org/news/blogs/licensing/more-about-the-app-store-gpl-enforcement">does not permit the distribution of GPL licensed works</a>. This ruling will also help block replacements for Apple's iPad being distributed to students, a <a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/guest-post-why-schools-should-refuse-ipads">disastrous consequence for educators</a>. </p>

<p>The damage from this ruling, however, goes beyond the realm of mobile devices. The software patents involved could potentially dominate a large swath of free software. Even prior to this verdict, free software projects like GNUstep were so threatened by the specter of such patents that they were not able to accept contributions related to multi-touch.  <em>Apple v. Samsung</em> crystallizes the threat that software patents already pose to everyone, everywhere. The problems with the patent system, such as absurdities like patents on "pinch to zoom," will persist as long as the Patent Office is allowed to grant software patents. </p>

<p>Google (via Motorola) recently filed <a href="http://www.groklaw.net/pdf3/775088-488817.pdf">a suit against Apple</a>[PDF] as a defensive response to Apple's actions, which will also have disastrous consequences for everyone else involved. Many people are hopeful that these ridiculous lawsuits will be so damaging as to cause a "software patent apocalypse"; that they will somehow force change to the patent system merely by their destructiveness. While we can hope that change could result, the problem is that we have no way of knowing what direction that change would take. Current congressional responses to patent dysfunction, like <a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/the-shield-act-fails-to-protect-free-software-from-patents">the Shield Act</a>, show that while representatives are starting to understand that the system is broken, they do not see the right way to fix it.</p>

<p>Instead of waiting on a possible "apocalypse," we need to take action now to end software patents:</p>

<ul>
<li>Please join us in our campaign against software patents at <a href="http://news.swpat.org/">http://news.swpat.org/</a>. You should also join the campaign <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=130&amp;reset=1">mailing list</a> to stay up-to-date. </li>
<li>Help stop software patents from being forced onto Europe by the European Patent Office by joining <a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/stop-software-patents-from-muscling-in-on-europe">April's action against software patents</a>.</li>
<li>Check out our film on the preposterous state of the patent system: <em><a href="http://patentabsurdity.com/">Patent Absurdity: how software patents broke the system</a></em>.</li>
<li>For more information on ending software patents, please see our <a href="http://en.swpat.org/wiki/Software_patents_wiki:_home_page">End Software Patents Wiki</a>.</li>
<li>You can also support our future work against software patents by <a href="https://my.fsf.org/donate/">making a donation</a> to the FSF.</li>
</ul>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/hi-im-zak-one-of-the-new-campaigns-managers
title: Hi, I'm Zak (one of the new campaigns managers)
uri: Hi-I-m-Zak-(one-of-the-new-campaigns-managers)
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/hi-im-zak-one-of-the-new-campaigns-managers
content:
I just started here at the FSF, so I thought I'd introduce myself on the blog.<p>My background is in activism around digital rights and environmental issues, along with some plain old software engineering. I'll be doing activism and writing with the FSF, as well as working with the community. So far, I've spent my first two weeks deepening my understanding of free software philosophy, getting to know the awesome staff and volunteers at the FSF and learning about <a href="../../campaigns">existing FSF campaigns</a>. I've also written one other <a class="external-link" href="stop-software-patents-from-muscling-in-on-europe">blog post</a>, calling for an end to software patents in Europe.</p>
<p>I'm interested in free software because I think our economy is way too focused on using technology to manipulate people, when we should really be using it to make the world more productive and just. This issue became important to me when I was studying robotics engineering in college. It upset me to see the kind of life my fellow students looked forward to as professional engineers: do the work that's put in front of you, hope it's fun and makes you money, but give no serious thought to the effect that it has on the broader world. Technical skills bring such power, but our culture discourages us from thinking about the ethics of the ways they are used. I decided I'd make a career where I could use my technical background for something I thought people really needed. Though that decision has made it a lot harder for me to find a job, it led me into tech activism and eventually to the FSF. Here is a community of people who know their technical skills are needed to make our society more fair and our communities stronger.</p>
<p>My feeling is that the FSF's the kind of organization we need to open people's eyes in our high-tech society. We're living at a time of great technological change, and I think it's extremely important that we learn to make and use software in a way that is conscientious and principled. Thirty years from now, I want to see a world where people feel empowered by information technology and use it to solve the big problems of the 21st century, not a world where giant corporations use our personal computers to spy on us (any more than they do now). So basically, I'm here for a reason, and I'm excited to be a new FSF campaigns manager.</p>
<p>I can see that the FSF and the GNU Project have a wonderful community, and I'd love to meet to you all. Expect to see emails from me in the future, and please hit me up on Freenode's #fsf IRC channel under the name Zakkai or by email at <a href="mailto:campaigns@fsf.org">campaigns@fsf.org</a> with campaigns ideas and discussion or <a href="mailto:zak@fsf.org">zak@fsf.org</a> with anything else.</p>


title: Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
uri: 2012-09-27-Join-the-FSF-and-friends-in-updating-the-Free-Software-Directory
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-3

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-3

content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday September 28th, from 2pm to 5pm EDT
(18:00 to 21:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p> 

<p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p> 
 
<p>While the Free Software 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!</p> 
 
<p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to
make it onto IRC on Friday, our
<a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> 
will provide you with all the information you need to get started on
helping the Directory today!</p> 


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-september-2012
title: GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry (September 2012)
uri: GNU-Spotlight-with-Karl-Berry-(September-2012)
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-september-2012
content:
There were 12 new GNU releases this month!<p>New GNU releases as of September 26, 2012:</p>
<ul>
<li>alive-2.0.1 gnutrition-0.32</li>
<li>aris-2.0 gsrc-2012.09.06</li>
<li>autoconf-archive-2012.09.08 less-451</li>
<li>automake-1.12.4 libextractor-1.0.0</li>
<li>ccide-0.6.6 libmatheval-1.1.9</li>
<li>denemo-0.9.6 libmicrohttpd-0.9.22</li>
<li>enscript-1.6.6 libtasn1-2.14</li>
<li>gama-1.13 lilypond-2.16.0</li>
<li>gcc-4.7.2 mpc-1.0.1</li>
<li>gnu-ghostscript-9.05.0 octave-3.6.3</li>
<li>gnutls-3.0.23 patch-2.7</li>
<li>gnutls-3.1.1 tramp-2.2.6</li>
</ul>
<p>To get announcements of most new GNU releases, subscribe to the info-gnu mailing list: <a href="http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu">http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu</a>. Nearly all GNU software is available from <a href="http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/">http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/</a>, or preferably one of its mirrors (<a href="http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html">http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html</a>). You can use the url <a href="http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/">http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/</a> to be automatically redirected to a (hopefully) nearby and up-to-date mirror.</p>
<p>I'd like to specially mention the new release of GNU GSRC <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/gsrc/">http://www.gnu.org/software/gsrc/</a>, providing a simple way to install GNU packages from their original sources, entirely independent of any distro packaging system. Its maintainer, Brandon Invergo, has developed additional and most welcome support for configuring Python-based packages in the standard way for GNU <a href="http://savannah.gnu.org/forum/forum.php?forum_id=7375">http://savannah.gnu.org/forum/forum.php?forum_id=7375</a>.</p>
<p>This month we welcome John Meinel as the new maintainer of GNU Bazaar, aka bzr. We also welcome Gary Vaughan as the new maintainer of GNU Zile, in addition to being co-maintainer of GNU libtool and GNU m4. Many thanks to Reuben Thomas, Zile's original author, for contributing the program (and much else).</p>
<p>Several GNU packages, as well as the GNU system as a whole, are looking for maintainers and other assistance. Please see<a href="http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint">http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint</a> if you'd like to help. The general page on how to help GNU is at <a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html</a>. To submit new packages to the GNU operating system, see <a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html</a>.</p>
<p>As always, please feel free to write to me, <a href="mailto:karl@gnu.org">karl@gnu.org</a>, with any GNUish questions or suggestions for future installments.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/save-the-web-from-software-patents
title: Save the Web from software patents
uri: Save-the-Web-from-software-patents
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/save-the-web-from-software-patents
content:
PersonalWeb's software patent suit against Github and others threatens the freedom of the Web. In order to make sure that the Web can remain a free and accessible space for everyone, we need to rid ourselves of all the patents that threaten its viability. We need to end software patents.<p>In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee, then a researcher at CERN, invented the World Wide Web as we know it. When he created it, he could have chosen a path wherein the Web would have remained under his control. Instead, he chose to share his work with the world. Thanks to that decision, the standards behind the Web are free to all. The ability to communicate and share freely via the Internet has become such an integral part of our lives that the U.N. has stated that access to the Web should be considered a human right.</p>
<p>In short, the Web belongs to everyone. But now and then an individual, a nation, or a company decides that this should not be the case. Today that company is PersonalWeb, a shell company from the Eastern District of Texas, which has set out on a course of patent litigation against some of the largest Internet companies in an attempt to claim the Web as their own. In December of 2011 they filed a series of suits against Amazon, Caringo, EMC, Google, Hewlett-Packard, and NetApp regarding a bevy of software patents they partially hold. They have followed this action up recently with even more lawsuits, this time against the likes of  Apple, Facebook, IBM, Microsoft, and Yahoo. They even accidentally sued Rackspace, a company that merely hosts Github, the company they were actually trying to assault.</p>
<p>For several years, now, through our campaign to end software patents, we have been warning people that a day would come when <a href="http://endsoftpatents.org/resources">simply running a Web site could subject you to a ruinous patent lawsuit</a>. It appears that this day has come. PersonalWeb claims that their patents cover a whole slew of functionality and technology integral to the Web. In particular, they even claim to have patents covering certain ways of sharing source code. This particular claim poses a threat to free software developers, but PersonalWeb's scatter-shot approach to filing lawsuits shows that they will go after almost anyone with a Web site.</p>
<p>If PersonalWeb succeeds in getting a judgment or a settlement out of these large companies, it will only increase the "market value" on these sorts of ridiculous patents. It will make it easier and more profitable to extract larger and larger payments from anyone who tries to run a Web site while having money in their bank account. It will encourage opportunistic individuals to file or buy more broad software patents in a <em>land rush</em> to try and lock down and seek rent on the Web.</p>
<p>While PersonalWeb's claimed patents are particularly onerous (the name of the examiner who granted these patents has been suggested as a sort of "Heisman" trophy of patent misfortune, an <a href="http://www.m-cam.com/patently-obvious/you-re-pirate-mr-grinch-intellectual-property-analysis-personalweb-technologies">"award to best commemorate the ultimate, the outrageous, the most horrifically unacceptable patent examination performance of the current patent system"</a>), the reality is that there are literally thousands of patents that could cover the basic tools necessary to run a modern Web site. Tim Berners-Lee actually set foot in a courtroom for the first time this year in order to defend against another <a href="http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/02/tim-berners-lee-patent/">patent monopolist who laid claim to the web</a>. PersonalWeb is just the latest example of how software patents threaten freedom on the Web.</p>
<p>In order to make sure that the Web can remain a free and accessible space for everyone, we need to rid ourselves of all the patents that threaten its viability. <strong>We need to end software patents.</strong></p>
<h3>You can help</h3>
<ul>
<li>Please <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=130&amp;reset=1">join our mailing list</a> to stay up-to-date with our <a href="http://en.swpat.org/">campaign to end software patents</a>. </li>
<li>Help stop software patents from being forced onto Europe by the European Patent Office by joining <a href="../community/stop-software-patents-from-muscling-in-on-europe">April's action against software patents</a>.</li>
<li>Check out our film on the preposterous state of the patent system. <a href="http://patentabsurdity.com/"><em>Patent Absurdity: how software patents broke the system</em></a>.</li>
<li>Support our future work and help us put an end to software patents by <a href="https://my.fsf.org/donate/">making a donation</a> to the FSF, or even better, <a href="https://www.fsf.org/jf">becoming a member.</a></li>
</ul>


title: Hampshire College distributes free software bundle to all incoming students
uri: Hampshire-College-distributes-free-software-bundle-to-all-incoming-stu
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/hampshire-college-distributes-free-software-bundle-to-all-incoming-students

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/hampshire-college-distributes-free-software-bundle-to-all-incoming-students

content:
Hampshire student and FSF campaigns organizer Kira shares the success of their ambitious project to help fellow students get started with free software. The achievements of Kira's organization, LibrePlanet/Students for Free Culture, is exciting and replicable outside of Hampshire. Kira provides suggestions to help other students realize the same changes at their schools.<p>My name is Kira, and I am a campaigns organizer for the FSF as well as a full-time student at <a href="http://www.hampshire.edu/">Hampshire College</a> in Massachusetts. I wanted to share some of the progress we have made at Hampshire. Thanks to the success of our student organization, <a href="https://hampedia.org/wiki/LibrePlanet%2BStudents_for_Free_Culture">LibrePlanet/Students for Free Culture</a>, the school has just taken big steps to promote students' adoption of free software. Firstly, all incoming Hampshire College students this semester received a USB drive with download links for free software (listed below). The drives also included information about our student group and the importance of free software because people need to know how it is different from nonfree software and why the distinction matters. Secondly, GNU/Linux has been added as a boot option on all computers in our library. The student group has managed to achieve both of these milestones in the span of just two semesters.</p>
<p>This type of action is surprisingly easy to reproduce; if you try it at your own school, you'll almost certainly be able to make important headway whether or not you succeed in getting full institutional support. You can start a <a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Main_Page">LibrePlanet</a> chapter for your school as a local team to organize with your peers, or you can work independently. If you are a high school or other pre-university student, join <a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:GNU_Generation">GNU Generation</a> to meet other young activists and get help starting a club. While you should always try to get support from your school's IT department and administrators, an enthusiastic group is all you need to distribute free software to your peers. On the other hand, if you would like to add GNU/Linux as a boot option on school computers, you will definitely need to work with the sysadmins.</p>
<p>One of LibrePlanet/Students for Free Culture's next steps at Hampshire is to provide better support for the GNU/Linux boot option, including a desktop wallpaper with text explaining how to contact us for support, what GNU/Linux is and, again, why free software matters. We are also working on improving the default list of applications that are installed on the non-free operating systems. Already, Firefox and LibreOffice are on all school computers, but we would like to find free software replacements to other proprietary applications still being used. Our big goal for this year is have the school require professors to use Open Document Format so that students are no longer forced to pay for expensive, proprietary software.</p>
<p>Hampshire College is definitely in a relatively good place in regards to recommending free software, but that doesn't mean that there isn't a lot of work and effort needed to move things forward. Other schools may not be as receptive to promoting free sof
Read More…

tware, but that is what makes your involvement so important. Never underestimate what a small number of committed individuals can accomplish. Join the <a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:LibrePlanet_Activists">LibrePlanet Activists</a> and our <a href="http://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss">discussion list</a> to share your experiences and get help promoting free software at your school.</p>
<hr />
<p>Below is the list of links that were distributed to each incoming Hampshire student this fall. They were .url internet shortcut files organized into folders for easy reference. We distributed them on USB drives, but if those aren't something your school provides, you could just as easily post fliers or send a mass email containing the same information. We paid particular attention to the difficulty of navigating each of the programs' websites. For any that did not have a prominent download link or had a confusing path to the download, we included direct links to download the software for Windows and OS X. We will be iterating this list in the future and we invite you to make your own improvements. You can see what other software we are recommending to students on our <a href="https://hampedia.org/wiki/Free_Software_Recommendations">free software recommendations</a> page on Hampedia, Hampshire College's wiki.</p>
<p>Folder names are in quotes:</p>
<ul>
<li>Our <a href="https://hampedia.org/wiki/Free_Software_Introduction">Free Software Introduction</a></li>
<li>Our <a href="https://hampedia.org/wiki/LibrePlanet%2BStudents_for_Free_Culture">student group</a></li>
<li>Our <a href="https://hampedia.org/wiki/Free_Software_Portal">free software portal</a></li>
<li>Links to download different GNU/Linux distributions</li>
<li>"All Students Should Have"
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.clamav.net/">Clam Antivirus</a>/(<a href="http://www.clamxav.com/">ClamXav for OS X</a>)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/">Firefox</a> -- the extension URL should be set to <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/gnuzilla/addons.html">the GNU IceCat one</a>, which shows only free software. </li>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-plus/">Adblock Plus</a></li>
<li><a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/after-the-deadline-spell-and-g/">After the Deadline</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere">HTTPS Everywhere</a></li>
<li><a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/noscript/">NoScript</a></li>
<li><a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-tab/?src=ss">Tree Style Tabs</a></li>
<li><a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/zotero/">Zotero Research Helper</a></li>
</ul>
<li><a href="https://www.libreoffice.org/">LibreOffice</a></li>
<li><a href="http://pdfreaders.org/">PDF Readers</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li>Communication and Networking
<ul>
<li><a href="http://adium.im/">Adium</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.pidgin.im/">Pidgin</a></li>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.cypherpunks.ca/otr/">Off-the-record</a></li>
</ul>
<li><a href="https://www.mozilla.org/thunderbird/">Thunderbird</a></li>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/enigmail/?src=ss">Enigmail</a></li>
</ul>
<li><a href="https://www.keepassx.org/">KeePassX</a></li>
<li><a href="https://boinc.berkeley.edu/">BOINC</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li>Graphics and Animation
<ul>
<li><a href="http://al.chemy.org/">Alchemy Sketching</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.blender.org/">Blender 3D Suite</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gimp.org/">GIMP Photo Editing</a></li>
<li><a href="http://hugin.sourceforge.net/">Hugin Panorama Stitcher</a></li>
<li><a href="http://inkscape.org/">Inkscape Vector Illustrator</a></li>
<li><a href="http://qtpfsgui.sourceforge.net/?page_id=2">Luminance HDR Photography</a></li>
<li><a href="http://mypaint.intilinux.com/">MyPaint Drawing</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.scribus.net">Scribus Print Layouts</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.synfig.org/">Synfig 2D Animation</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li>Media Players and Studio Editing
<ul>
<li><a href="http://ardour.org/">Ardour Digital Audio Workstation</a></li>
<li><a href="http://audacity.sourceforge.net/">Audacity Audio Recorder and Editor</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.getmiro.com/">Miro Video Player</a> &amp; <a href="http://www.mirovideoconverter.com/">Converter</a></li>
<li><a href="http://mixxx.org/">Mixxx DJ</a></li>
<li><a href="http://lilypond.org/">LilyPond</a> and <a href="http://musescore.org/">Musescore</a> Musical Notation</li>
<li><a href="http://www.videolan.org/vlc/">VLC Media Player</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.videolan.org/vlmc/">VLMC Video Editor</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li>Study Helpers
<ul>
<li><a href="http://calibre-ebook.com/">Calibre Ebook Library</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gnaural.sourceforge.net/">Gnaural Brainwave Entrainment</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.mnemosyne-proj.org/">Mnemosyne Flashcards</a></li>
<li><a href="http://notational.net/">Notational Velocity</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.taskcoach.org/">TaskCoach ToDo List</a></li>
<li><a href="http://zim-wiki.org/">Zim Notes</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li>The Extras
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.shatters.net/celestia/">Celestia Space Simulation</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.electricsheep.org/">Electric Sheep Fractal Screensaver</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gramps-project.org/">Gramps Family Tree</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.mandelbulber.com/">Mandelbulber 3D fractals</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.stellarium.org/">Stellarium Planetarium</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li>Online
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.bewelcome.org/">BeWelcome couch hopping</a></li>
<li><a href="https://pad.riseup.net/">Etherpad collaborative word docs</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.jamendo.com/en/search#qs=fq=license_cc:%28-nd AND -nc%29&amp;q=*:*">Jamendo free culture music</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/">OpenStreetMap</a></li>
<li><a href="https://p2pu.org/en/">P2PU Learning for Everyone, by Everyone</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.seeks-project.info/search.php">Seeks Web Search</a></li>
<li><a href="https://identi.ca/">StatusNet Microblogging Identi.ca</a></li>
</ul></li>
</ul>


title: Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
uri: 2012-10-05-Join-the-FSF-and-friends-in-updating-the-Free-Software-Directory
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-4

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-4

content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday October 5th, from 2pm to 5pm EDT
(18:00 to 21:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p> 

<p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p> 
 
<p>While the Free Software 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!</p> 
 
<p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to
make it onto IRC on Friday, our
<a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> 
will provide you with all the information you need to get started on
helping the Directory today!</p> 


title: Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
uri: 2012-10-11-Join-the-FSF-and-friends-in-updating-the-Free-Software-Directory
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-5

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-5

content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday October 12th, from 2pm to 5pm EDT
(18:00 to 21:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p> 

<p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p> 
 
<p>While the Free Software 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!</p> 
 
<p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to
make it onto IRC on Friday, our
<a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> 
will provide you with all the information you need to get started on
helping the Directory today!</p> 


title: GNU MediaGoblin offers what you've been missing in an Internet media-sharing system
uri: GNU-MediaGoblin-offers-what-you-ve-been-missing-in-an-Internet-media-s
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-mediagoblin-offers-what-youve-been-missing-in-an-internet-media-sharing-system

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-mediagoblin-offers-what-youve-been-missing-in-an-internet-media-sharing-system

content:
Today the Free Software Foundation is proud and excited to assist the GNU MediaGoblin project in its fundraising effort. MediaGoblin's volunteer team is working on a next-generation social web system where users will share their experiences through photos, videos and audio, all without running proprietary software. This project is ambitious, not just because it will support multiple media types, but also because it will use a special new network system called federation, which unifies a group of separately-owned servers into a single interface for the user. This means that anyone wishing to start a MediaGoblin server will be able to do so, optionally customizing the code to their needs and offering unique options to users.<p><a href="http://mediagoblin.org/pages/campaign.html">Go here to donate to MediaGoblin.</a></p>
<p>Federation will also help MediaGoblin respects users' freedom and privacy in ways that traditional media-sharing Web sites generally do not. By removing data from a central source and allowing anyone to create their own instance of the system, federation encourages transparency and inclusion. This commitment to respecting its users comes at a time when online communications are increasingly threatened by intervention and censorship from governments and corporations, often with the help of the communications companies themselves. The MediaGoblin team and FSF have faith that the trust they build with users will draw people away from places like Facebook, Flickr and YouTube, as well as make MediaGoblin a hit in the free software community.</p>
<h2>About MediaGoblin, and why they need our help</h2>
<p>The MediaGoblin team is made up of about fifty part-time volunteers, led by project founder Chris Webber. They've made surprising progress in the year-and-a-half since the project's founding, but they need donors' help to perfect the system. If they reach their goal of $60,000, they plan to use the money to support a full-time project lead to organize volunteers and polish the project to a professional level. With this support and more hard work, Chris estimates that MediaGoblin will be usable within a year. MediaGoblin is offering donors goblin-themed items designed and made by Chris himself. Help out enough, and he'll even cook you a wholesome dinner at his home in Madison, WI.</p>
<p>To pitch in, go to <a href="http://mediagoblin.org/pages/campaign.html">http://mediagoblin.org/pages/campaign.html</a>. Don't forget to pick a reward!</p>
<h2>A new kind of media-sharing system</h2>
<p>MediaGoblin's distributed system is called a federation because it will spread users' media across multiple servers, all running the free MediaGoblin software and communicating with each other. As compared to a system like Facebook, which is based in one set of servers controlled by a corporation, this system lets anyone set up a MediaGoblin server and hook into the network, making it very difficult for others to shut down all of MediaGoblin at once. In fact, StatusNet, a free software Twitter replacement with a similar federated system, has become popular in countries like Iran, where the state blocks Twitter to quash dissent. And the benefits of federation come at no cost to ease of use -- the programmers at MediaGoblin have designed the system to take information from multiple servers and combine it into one convenient interface for the user, making it just as easy to use as a traditional centralized media-sharing system.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>We're developing GNU MediaGoblin because we believe user freedom is important, especially in the Web. More and more users are becoming trapped by proprietary, centralized media publishing systems where problems like automated censorship are becoming serious. We believe in the vision of the decentralized Web as a mechanism to empower people, and we want to bring that Web back! We're proud to be teaming up the Free Software Foundation in the fight to put power back into the hands of users. We've done a lot of good already, but we need your help to make this federated future a reality!</em> --Chris Webber, MediaGoblin founder</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As a GNU project, MediaGoblin gets support, publicity and advice from the FSF. Many famous programs have developed with similar assistance from the FSF, including the software behind the GNU/Linux family of operating systems and the GCC C compiler. Recently, the FSF has started accepting donations directed toward particular free software problem areas in need of development at <a href="https://my.fsf.org/donate/directed-donations/working-together">https://my.fsf.org/donate/directed-donations/working-together</a>. The FSF intends to offer this service and hosting for MediaGoblin-style fundraisers to more GNU projects in the future. FSF executive director John Sullivan has high hopes for MediaGoblin:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>We're excited about the GNU MediaGoblin project, and we're thrilled to be providing its grassroots fundraising infrastructure. Without a doubt, we need a decentralized, free software system for sharing our photos and videos. We need a system that doesn't require using nonfree software or handing our memories and artwork over to a single point of privacy-violating, proprietary ownership-claiming failure. MediaGoblin can be that system, and its future users can make it so. I look forward to the result -- and to the example this could set for funding other critical free software projects.</em> --John Sullivan, executive director of the Free Software Foundation</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Almost thirty years ago, the free software movement was founded to make it possible to use a computer without compromising basic freedoms. Projects like MediaGoblin and StatusNet are part of the next phase of that effort, working to return to an Internet that respects and empowers people. The FSF believes that this new old Internet is needed now more than ever, as government intervention and corporate control is reaching a new peak. We can get to this vision of a free Internet faster by finding a way to fund these projects, which is why MediaGoblin needs your help. To donate to MediaGoblin (and claim some awesome rewards), go to<a href="http://mediagoblin.org/pages/campaign.html">http://mediagoblin.org/pages/campaign.html</a>. Thank you.</p>
<p>You can check out MediaGoblin's blog post about the fundraiser here: <a href="http://mediagoblin.org/news/crowdfunding-campaign-launches">http://mediagoblin.org/news/crowdfunding-campaign-launches</a>.</p>
<p>For a formal press release from the FSF, see <a href="../../news/fsf-rallies-support-for-gnu-mediagoblin-to-make-media-publishing-free-as-in-freedom">http://www.fsf.org/news/fsf-rallies-support-for-gnu-mediagoblin-to-make-media-publishing-free-as-in-freedom</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/nominate-your-free-software-heroes
title: Nominate your free software heroes
uri: Nominate-your-free-software-heroes
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/nominate-your-free-software-heroes
content:
The nomination window for the 15th annual Free Software Awards is open. Now is your chance to show some love for your favorite free software hero or an inspiring project that uses free software or free
software principles to benefit humanity.<p>Don't delay, nominations are due on November 15th. To nominate an individual for the Award for the Advancement of Free Software or a project for the Award for Projects of Social Benefit, send your nomination along with a description of the project or individual to <a href="mailto:award-nominations@gnu.org">award-nominations@gnu.org</a>.</p>
<p>The free software movement is powered by dedicated individuals and has fostered many incredible projects that are making a difference in the world with the help of free software tools and principles. You can read more about the awards and past winners in our <a href="../../news/the-free-software-foundation-opens-nominations-for-the-15th-annual-free-software-awards">official announcement</a>.</p>
<p>What are you waiting for; take a few minutes to give props to people and projects that inspire you. Your nominations will be reviewed by our awards committee and the winners will be announced at LibrePlanet 2013.</p>
<h2>Award for the Advancement of Free Software</h2>
<p>The Free Software Foundation Award for the Advancement of Free Software is presented annually by FSF president Richard Stallman to an individual who has made a great contribution to the progress and development of free software, through activities that accord with the spirit of free software.</p>
<h2>Award for Projects of Social Benefit</h2>
<p>Nominations are also open for the 2012 Award for Projects of Social Benefit.</p>
<p>This award is presented to the project or team responsible for applying free software, or the ideas of the free software movement, in a project that intentionally and significantly benefits society in other aspects of life.</p>
<p>We look to recognize projects or teams that encourage collaboration to accomplish social tasks. A long-term commitment to one's project (or the potential for a long-term commitment) is crucial to this end.</p>
<p>This award stresses the use of free software in the service of humanity. We have deliberately chosen this broad criterion so that many different areas of activity can be considered. However, one area that is not included is that of free software itself. Projects with a primary goal of promoting or advancing free software are not eligible for this award (we honor those projects with our annual Award for the Advancement of Free Software).</p>
<p>We will consider any project or team that uses free software or its philosophy to address a goal important to society. To qualify, a project must use free software, produce free documentation, or use the idea of free software as defined in the Free Software Definition. Work done commercially is eligible, but we will give this award to the project or team that best utilizes resources for society's greater benefit.</p>
<h3>Nomination Requirements</h3>
<p>In the case of both awards, previous winners are not eligible for nomination, but renomination of other previous nominees is encouraged. Only individuals are eligible for nomination for the Advancement of Free Software Award, and only projects can be nominated for the Social Benefit Award.</p>
<p>Award recipients will be chosen by a committee of previous winners and FSF president Richard Stallman.</p>
<p>Please send your nominations to <a href="mailto:award-nominations@gnu.org">award-nominations@gnu.org</a>, on or before Thursday, November 15th, 2012. Please submit nominations in the following format:</p>
<p>In the email message subject line, either put the name of the person you are nominating for the Award for Advancement of Free Software, or put the name of the project for the Award for Projects of Social Benefit.</p>
<p>Please include, in the body of your message, an explanation (40 lines or less) of the work done and why you think it is especially important to the advancement of free software or how it benefits society, respectively.</p>
<p>Please state, in the body of your message, where to find the materials (e.g., software, manuals, or writing) which your nomination is based on.</p>
<p>Information about the previous awards can be found at <a href="../../awards">http://www.fsf.org/awards</a>. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony at the LibrePlanet conference tentatively scheduled for March 2013, in Boston, Massachusetts.</p>


title: Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
uri: 2012-10-21-Join-the-FSF-and-friends-in-updating-the-Free-Software-Directory
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-6

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-6

content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday October 19th, from 2pm to 5pm EDT
(18:00 to 21:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p> 

<p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p> 
 
<p>While the Free Software 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!</p> 
 
<p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to
make it onto IRC on Friday, our
<a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> will provide you with all the information you need to get started on helping the Directory today!</p> 


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/happy-ada-lovelace-day
title: Happy Ada Lovelace Day!
uri: Happy-Ada-Lovelace-Day
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/happy-ada-lovelace-day
content:
Today is  Ada Lovelace Day, a day to celebrate women's contributions to science and technology. 
<p>Last year, FSF executive director John Sullivan wrote, "these stories are an important way to simultaneously highlight both the under-representation of women in these fields and &mdash; based on the achievements of women who are in these fields &mdash; the potential we could realize if barriers to participation can be named and removed." This year, I want to take this thought and build on it.</p>
<p>Women face barriers to participation in science and technology fields starting at a very young age and continuing throughout their entire careers. Even women that manage to overcome enough barriers to make technology a career face so many challenges to advancement that drop-out rates are high. We have to acknowledge deeply rooted cultural biases here. To wit: a recent <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/09/30/breaking-the-bias-against-women-in-science">Yale study</a> found that science professors presented with two equivalent resumes, one from "James" and one from "Jennifer", were much more likely to hire the mythical male applicant (they offered him a higher starting salary too). What's more, female professors shared this bias with their male counterparts.</p>
<p>Basically, we've got a big problem on our hands. I'm pretty sure this isn't news to anyone.</p>
<p>Here's the thing: even though there are even less women in computer science than in other STEM fields, and even though the number of women in free software may be even lower than that, I think the free software movement may be uniquely positioned to do something about it. Allow me to elaborate:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><b>The free software movement needs diverse participation to achieve its goals.</b> If we want to make proprietary software extinct, we need everyone on the planet to engage with free software. To get there, we need people of all genders, races, sexual orientations, and abilities leading the way. That gives the free software movement a mandate to identify under-represented groups and remove their barriers to access.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><b>The free software movement values empowerment.</b> The free software movement exists to empower people to take control of their computers and their data. We can apply this value to proliferate and support projects that give women and girls the experiences they need to overcome the cultural bias against women in technology.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><b>The free software movement is a community.</b> One of the free software movement's strengths is a community built on collaboration.  Free software folks are used to working together effectively, but we may require additional tools as our movement becomes more diverse. We can always do more to invite new people in, create safe spaces for them, and make their contributions visible so that they can inspire others to get involved.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>It's that inspiration that <a href="http://findingada.com">Ada Lovelace Day</a> is all about.</p>
<p>This Ada Lovelace Day, you can help to raise the profile of women in free software by nominating a woman for the Free Software Awards. Each year, the Advancement of Free Software award is given to an individual who has made incredible contributions to free software. There are plenty of women out there who fit the bill, and we need your help to make sure they will be considered for this year's award.</p>
<p>The FSF is currently accepting nominations for the 15th annual Free Software Awards. You can submit your nomination by emailing <a href="mailto:award-nominations@gnu.org">award-nominations@gnu.org</a>, on or before Thursday, November 15th, 2012. For more details on submitting a nomination, visit: <a href="../../news/the-free-software-foundation-opens-nominations-for-the-15th-annual-free-software-awards">http://www.fsf.org/news/the-free-software-foundation-opens-nominations-for-the-15th-annual-free-software-awards</a></p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/20120627-marlyleroi
title: Summer 2012 trip to Europe: Photos from InterTice, in Marly-le-Roi
uri: Summer-2012-trip-to-Europe-Photos-from-InterTice-in-Marly-le-Roi
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/20120627-marlyleroi
content:
<!-- Start of image + caption block -->
<div style="border-style:solid; border-width:2px;text-align:center; margin: 4px 50px 4px 50px; padding-top:4px;">

<p>RMS was in <a href="http://www.fsf.org/events/20120627-marlyleroi">Marly-le-Roi,</a> France, on 27 June, to deliver his speech <a
href="http://audio-video.gnu.org/video/#2012">"Logiciels Libres et éducation,"</a>
at <a href="http://www.intertice.fr/interTICE-Logiciels-Libres">InterTice Logiciels Libres,</a> a selection of practical workshops
designed to present possible pedagogical uses of free software, to an
audience of over 200 educational inspectors, teachers, school
directors, and local authorities.</p>

<!-- Image(s) start below -->
<!-- Adjust the width="150" part to change how wide the image appears on the page  -->

<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120627-marlyleroi-06.jpg" alt="" width="140" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120627-marlyleroi-22.jpg" alt="" width="250" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120627-marlyleroi-23.jpg" alt="" width="140" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120627-marlyleroi-08.jpg" alt="" width="530" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120627-marlyleroi-03.jpg" alt="" width="175" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120627-marlyleroi-04.jpg" alt="" width="175" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120627-marlyleroi-14.jpg" alt="" width="175" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120627-marlyleroi-05.jpg" alt="" width="175" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120627-marlyleroi-10.jpg" alt="" width="175" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120627-marlyleroi-21.jpg" alt="" width="175" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120627-marlyleroi-02.jpg" alt="" width="175" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120627-marlyleroi-12.jpg" alt="" width="175" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120627-marlyleroi-11.jpg" alt="" width="175" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120627-marlyleroi-09.jpg" alt="" width="175" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120627-marlyleroi-24.jpg" alt="" width="175" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120627-marlyleroi-01.jpg" alt="" width="175" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120627-marlyleroi-16.jpg" alt="" width="175" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120627-marlyleroi-18.jpg" alt="" width="175" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120627-marlyleroi-17.jpg" alt="" width="175" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120627-marlyleroi-19.jpg" alt="" width="190" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120627-marlyleroi-20.jpg" alt="" width="339" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 

<!-- Photo credits start below -->
<p style="padding: 0px 20px 0px 20px; margin-top:1px; text-align:center;">
<em>(Photos under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA 3.0</a> and courtesy of intertice.fr.)</em>

<p>...and in Paris, at La Mutinerie, on 28 June, where hacktivists,
human-rights and anti-censorship activists, and journalists came to
hear his speech « Logiciels Libres et Droits de l'Homme » , both in
person and over a live stream:</p>

<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120628-paris-01.jpg" alt="" width="263" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120628-paris-04.jpg" alt="" width="263" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120628-paris-03.jpg" alt="" width="530" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 

<!-- Photo credits start below -->
<p style="padding: 0px 20px 0px 20px; margin-top:1px; text-align:center;">
<em>(Photos under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA 3.0</a> and courtesy of Ophelia Noor.)</em>

<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Many thanks to Louis-Maurice De
Sousa and Pascal Fautrero, who helped make the event in Marly-le-Roi
possible, and to Fred Bardeau and Nicolas Diaz, for organizing the
speech in Paris!</strong></p>

<p style="text-align:center;">Please see <a
href="http://www.fsf.org/events">www.fsf.org/events</a> for a full
list of all of RMS's confirmed engagements, and contact <a
href="mailto:rms-assist@gnu.org">rms-assist@gnu.org</a> if you'd like
him to come speak.</p>

<p>Please fill out our contact form, so that we can inform you about
future events in and around <a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=121&reset=1">London,</a>
<a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=100&reset=1">Leicester,</a>
<a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=104&reset=1">Manchester,</a> <a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=46&reset=1">Paris,</a>  <a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=99&reset=1">Vigo,</a> <a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=95&reset=1">Prague,</a> <a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=75&reset=1">Dresden,</a> and <a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=98&reset=1">Munich,</a>
all of which RMS visited while he was in Europe, on his <a
href="http://www.fsf.org/events/aggregator/previous">last
trip.</a></p>

</p></div>

<!-- End of image+caption block -->


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/copyright-office-fails-to-protect-users-from-dmca
title: Copyright Office fails to protect users from DMCA
uri: Copyright-Office-fails-to-protect-users-from-DMCA
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/copyright-office-fails-to-protect-users-from-dmca
content:
The Copyright Office picked Sony over you; fails to expand DMCA anti-circumvention exemptions to devices other than cell phones, or to the sharing of anti-circumvention software<p>The FSF has fought for years against the threat of <a href="http://www.defectivebydesign.org/what_is_drm_digital_restrictions_management">Digital Restrictions Management</a> (DRM). Users should have the right to modify, share and learn from the software on their devices, and technical measures put in place in the name of DRM offer a substantial roadblock. It's even worse when those measures have the force of criminal law behind them, threatening people who simply want to change the software on their computers with jail time. The FSF wants to create a world in which there is no DRM. Until then, at the very least, users shouldn't have to worry about legal consequences for disabling these malfeatures on their own devices. </p>

<p>The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of course circumvents the rights of users by making it illegal to modify your devices in ways that would give you actual access to them, or to share tools to help others do this. Congress did create one small carve-out from this belligerence; that once every three years the Library of Congress (via the Copyright Office), would consider making exceptions to this broad rule. In 2010, the Office recommended exempting the freeing of cellphones. They did not, however, make clear that this exemption extended to people who distributed tools for freeing these devices. In 2012, we had hoped to expand the exempted class of uses, and <a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/supporting-dmca-exemptions">encouraged the Copyright Office</a> to extend exemptions to tablets, gaming consoles, and computers running restricted boot. We were on the side of organizations like the <a href="https://www.eff.org/cases/2012-dmca-rulemaking">EFF</a>, and the <a href="http://www.mozilla.org/foundation/">Mozilla Foundation</a> as well as hundreds of other individuals calling for the protection of those who simply want to be able to use their own devices in freedom.</p>

<p>But we were not the only ones to send recommendations to the Copyright Office. Large corporations like Sony, and corporate-backed groups like "Joint Creators and Copyright Holders" also sent comments opposing these reasonable exemptions. And the Copyright Office fell for their FUD. The Copyright Office has <a href="http://www.copyright.gov/fedreg/2012/77fr65260.pdf">announced</a> that while freeing your phone in order to install your own software is still permitted, unlocking the phone in order to switch carriers will be phased out. And even that minimal remaining protection has not been extended to tablets. Offering the duplicitous explanation that they weren't sure what a tablet was, the office completely abdicated its responsibility to protect users' rights to run their own software on their devices, as well as their  rights to works locked down on those tablets. They similarly rejected exemptions for users wanting to install their own operating system on game consoles, and even worse, failed to extend protection to users who want to install their own operating system on computers with restricted boot. </p>

<p>This means no longer being able to switch your own cell phone carrier without permission. This means no modifying tablet operating systems without legal threat. It means that trying to install a different operating system on your game console could result in the <a href="http://www.defectivebydesign.org/stopsony">FBI breaking down your door</a>. It means that you cannot even be sure of your right to remove proprietary software from devices encumbered with restricted boot. </p>

<p>The Copyright Office picked Sony over you. They had an opportunity to protect users, but instead chose to protect corporate interests. This is a terrible outcome for users everywhere, and just proves that we need wholesale elimination of the anti-circumvention laws.</p>

<p>We need to band together. Here is what you can do to help:</p>

<ul>
<li>Join our <a href="http://www.defectivebydesign.org/">Defective By Design</a> campaign to end DRM.</li>
<li>Join our <a href="http://www.defectivebydesign.org/sony">Boycott Sony</a> campaign to let Sony know that this sort of behavior is not acceptable.</li>
<li>Sign our statement to <a href="http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/secure-boot-vs-restricted-boot/statement">Stop Restricted Boot</a>.</li>
<li><a href="donate.fsf.org">Donate</a> to the Free Software Foundation to support our efforts to fight bad laws like the DMCA.</li>
</ul>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnus-trick-or-treat-at-windows-8-launch
title: GNUs trick-or-treat at Windows 8 launch
uri: GNUs-trick-or-treat-at-Windows-8-launch
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnus-trick-or-treat-at-windows-8-launch
content:
Yesterday morning, the Free Software Foundation crashed the Windows 8 launch event in New York City. A cheerful GNU and her team handed out DVDs loaded with Trisquel, FSF stickers, and information about our new pledge, which asks Windows users to upgrade not to Windows 8, but to GNU/Linux. <p>Check out these great photos of the fun, and don't forget to <a href="http://www.defectivebydesign.org/windows8">sign our pledge!</a></p>
<p><img src="http://static.fsf.org/fsforg/img/windows8-publish/windows8-11.jpeg" width="600" /></p>
<p><img src="http://static.fsf.org/fsforg/img/windows8-publish/windows8-01.JPG" width="600" ></p>
<p><img src="http://static.fsf.org/fsforg/img/windows8-publish/windows8-02.JPG" width="600" ></p>
<p><img src="http://static.fsf.org/fsforg/img/windows8-publish/windows8-03.JPG" width="600" ></p>
<p><img src="http://static.fsf.org/fsforg/img/windows8-publish/window8-04.JPG" width="600" ></p>
<p><img src="http://static.fsf.org/fsforg/img/windows8-publish/window8-05.JPG" width="600" ></p>
<p><img src="http://static.fsf.org/fsforg/img/windows8-publish/windows8-06.JPG" width="600" ></p>
<p><img src="http://static.fsf.org/fsforg/img/windows8-publish/windows8-07.JPG" width="600" ></p>
<p><img src="http://static.fsf.org/fsforg/img/windows8-publish/windows8-08.JPG" width="600" ></p>
<p><img src="http://static.fsf.org/fsforg/img/windows8-publish/windows8-09.JPG" width="600" ></p>
<p><img src="http://static.fsf.org/fsforg/img/windows8-publish/windows8-10.JPG" width="600" ></p>
<p><img src="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/gnu-head-w8-launch.jpg" width="600" ></p>
<p>Special thanks to our volunteers, Linnea the GNU and Tristan the photographer, for helping make this action a huge success!</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/play-it-again-sam-but-only-if-you-pay-for-it-again
title: Play it Again, Sam (But only if you pay for it again)
uri: Play-it-Again-Sam-(But-only-if-you-pay-for-it-again)
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/play-it-again-sam-but-only-if-you-pay-for-it-again
content:
When it comes to making sales, once just isn't enough for big publishers and record labels. Publishers, Hollywood, and the music industry--many of the same folks who brought you SOPA and PIPA--are trying new tactics to control what we can do with copyrighted material after we buy it. <a href="https://eff.org/r.a7pC"><img align="left" hspace="15" width="200" src="https://eff.org/files/owned.jpg" alt="You've Been Owned: Stand Up For Digital First Sale"/></a><br/>

Our friends at the <a href="https://action.eff.org/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8935">Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)</a> are fighting them hard in court. This week the Supreme Court is hearing <em>Kirtsaeng v. Wiley</em>, and the outcome could have enormous repercussions for the longstanding "first sale" doctrine. First sale is what gives you the right to resell things you have purchased, but now companies are trying to find a way to control the secondary market (like ebay, craigslist, or your tag sale). According to the EFF, "The Kirtsaeng case specifically deals with textbooks, but the Court's decision is likely to affect a range of markets and consumers. If the court goes the wrong way on this, it could threaten your ability to buy and sell all kinds of products that might contain copyrighted material."</p>


<p>It should come as no surprise that while this case relates to textbooks, the RIAA and the MPAA are all over it. They have filed their own legal briefs and have lobbied the Obama administration to do the same. But they won't stop there. These powerful lobbying interests are also working to find loopholes that will take away our ability to own anything copyrighted in the future. We increasingly live in a world where digital books, music and movies cannot be purchased, only "licensed." These "end user license agreements" -- often combined with proprietary software -- prevent us from selling or modifying what we've paid for, and even prevent us from lending ebooks to friends or using text-to-speech to read ebooks aloud.</p>

<p>Big Hollywood and big music won't stop there. New legislation will undoubtedly be their next attempt to satiate their greed. The Free Software Foundation is working with our friends at the EFF and Demand Progress to defend our first sale rights and fight coercive end user license agreements. Visit the EFF's site to <a href="https://action.eff.org/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8935">tell Congress to defend your rights to do want you want with the digital goods you paid for.</a>


title: Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
uri: 2012-10-31-Join-the-FSF-and-friends-in-updating-the-Free-Software-Directory
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-7

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-7

content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday November 2nd, from 2pm to 5pm EDT
(18:00 to 21:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p> 

<p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p> 
 
<p>While the Free Software 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!</p> 
 
<p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to
make it onto IRC on Friday, our
<a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> will provide you with all the information you need to get started on helping the Directory today!</p> 


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/free-software-supporter-now-available-in-spanish
title: Free Software Supporter available in Spanish!
uri: Free-Software-Supporter-available-in-Spanish
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/free-software-supporter-now-available-in-spanish
content:
Starting tomorrow (November 1st), Spanish speakers will be able read our monthly e-mail newsletter in their native language. <p>October's <i>Supporter </i>was published today. Tomorrow, when we finish translation, you'll be able to read it in Spanish at <a class="external-link" href="../../free-software-supporter/2012/octubre-espanol">http://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2012/octubre-espanol</a>.</p>
<p>If you haven't already, please <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=34&amp;reset=1">let us know what language</a> you prefer to read, so we can do our best to send you the right newsletter and other materials. If you change your preference to Spanish today, we'll email you the Spanish <i>Supporter</i> tomorrow.</p>
<p>This first translation was done by FSF sysadmin Nico Cesar, but he would love to have more help. If you are available to assist with Spanish translation -- or any language -- please email us at <a href="mailto:campaigns@fsf.org">campaigns@fsf.org</a>. The newsletter is published without fail at the end of each month, so that's when we'll need the help.</p>
<p>The articles the <em>Supporter</em> refers to are mostly in English, though an increasing number are being translated to other languages. Please let us know if you are available to help with full article translations as well.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/update-on-the-effort-to-defeat-restricted-boot
title: Update on the effort to defeat Restricted Boot
uri: Update-on-the-effort-to-defeat-Restricted-Boot
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/update-on-the-effort-to-defeat-restricted-boot
content:
Ubuntu has decided to stick with GRUB 2 after all; 48 organizations and over 37,000 people have signed the statement opposing Restricted Boot, but Microsoft's new tablet is hitting stores.<p>Think twice before purchasing Microsoft's new ARM-based tablet,
especially if you are hoping to replace the new Windows RT operating
system, with a free software operating system such as <a href="http://www.gnu.org/distros/free-distros.html">GNU/Linux</a> or
<a href="http://www.replicant.us">Android</a>. These new devices ship with Restricted Boot, which prevents you from installing free software on the device.</p>

<p>If this new approach by Microsoft of handcuffing users to its
operating system bothers you, then join us in signing the statement,
<a href="campaigns/secure-boot-vs-restricted-boot/statement"><em>stand up for your freedom to install free software</em></a>. </p>

<p>So far 48 organizations and over 37,000 people have signed the
statement. What's more, the free software community has pulled
together over the past six months to begin ensuring that the GNU/Linux
operating system will be able to run on computers that ship with
Secure Boot. In June we published a
<a href="campaigns/secure-boot-vs-restricted-boot/statement/campaigns/secure-boot-vs-restricted-boot/whitepaper-web">white paper</a>,
of our recommendations for free operating system distributions
considering Secure Boot. We will be making some important updates to
this white paper in the near future. One update of note that we are
very pleased with is the decision by
<a href="http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/09/ubuntu-to-use-signed-grub2-bootloader-for-secure-boot">Ubuntu to use GNU GRUB version 2</a>
as its bootloader.</p>

<p>While there is still much work to be done to ensure that users will
be able to purchase computers running free software versions of UEFI
along with a free software operating system, we are happy to see the free
software community has decided to begin taking a more unified effort
against Microsoft's Restricted Boot and in favor of Secure Boot.</p>

<h2>Learn more</h2>

<ul>
<li>Support our effort to defeat Restricted Boot by <a href="https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom/join_fsf?referrer=10050">becoming a member</a> of- or making a <a href="http://donate.fsf.org">donation</a> to the FSF.</li>
<li>Read about the difference between  <a href="campaigns/secure-boot-vs-restricted-boot/about/">Secure Boot and Restricted Boot</a></li>
<li>Sign our <a href="campaigns/secure-boot-vs-restricted-boot/statement">statement</a> to show your support!</li>
<li>Read our <a href="campaigns/secure-boot-vs-restricted-boot/whitepaper-web">white paper</a>, <em>Free Software Foundation recommendations for free operating system distributions considering Secure Boot</em> (<a href="campaigns/secure-boot-vs-restricted-boot/whitepaper.pdf">PDF</a>). </li>
<li>See the <a href="news/fsf-announces-winner-of-restricted-boot-webcomic-contest">winning entry</a> of our webcomic contest.</li>
<li>You can also stay up-to-date on this issue by subscribing to the monthly <a href="free-software-supporter/subscribe">Free Software Supporter</a>. </li>
</ul>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/jeremy-allison-on-why-samba-switched-to-gplv3
title: Jeremy Allison on why Samba switched to GPLv3
uri: Jeremy-Allison-on-why-Samba-switched-to-GPLv3
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/jeremy-allison-on-why-samba-switched-to-gplv3
content:
This is the second installment of our Licensing and Compliance Lab's series on free software developers who choose GNU licenses for their works.<p>Jeremy Allison is a long-time free software advocate and a lead developer of <a href="http://www.samba.org/">Samba</a>. He has given a talk on why Samba chose the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html">GNU GPL version 3</a> on several occasions, and we wanted to highlight that talk again as part of our series.</p>

<h2>What is Samba?</h2>

<p>Samba is a suite of tools that enables interoperability between GNU/Linux or other Unix servers and Windows clients. It provides file and print services to SMB/CIFS clients. Samba was released in 1992 by Andrew Tridgell as a free software alternative to proprietary implementations, and 20 years later has grown to be one of the most popular clients available. Previously released under the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html">GNU General Public License version 2</a>, Samba has now upgraded its license to <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html">GPLv3</a>.</p>

<h2>Why Samba switched to GPLv3</h2>

<p>The following talk was given in 2011, and was shared via the <a href="http://faif.us/cast/2011/may/10/0x0F/">Free as in Freedom Oggcast.</a> The slides are included below so that you can follow along with the talk. These materials are available under the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC-BY-SA 3.0</a> license.</p>

<p><a href="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/linuxcollab-why-samba-went-gplv3.pdf">Download the slides of the talk.</a></p>

<p><audio controls="controls" src="//static.fsf.org/nosvn/FaiF_0x0F_Samba-GPLv3.ogg" /></p><p><a href="//static.fsf.org/nosvn/FaiF_0x0F_Samba-GPLv3.ogg">Download the Ogg Vorbis file.</a></p>

<p>
If you're a developer of a GPLv3-covered project, <a href="mailto:licensing@fsf.org">write and tell us about your experience.</a>
</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/librewrt-what-we-use-for-wifi-at-the-fsf
title: LibreWRT: What we use for wifi at the FSF
uri: LibreWRT-What-we-use-for-wifi-at-the-FSF
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/librewrt-what-we-use-for-wifi-at-the-fsf
content:
I would like to take a few moments to introduce Buffalo, the access
point and router which provides network connectivity to portable
computers in the FSF's office. <p>More specifically, we are using Buffalo
WZR-HP-G300NH, which features the free-software-supported Atheros
AR9132 chipset with 32MB of flash memory and 64MB of RAM.</p>

<p>
<img src="//static.fsf.org/nosvn/blogs/buffalo_post.JPG" alt="" style="float:right; padding: 0.5em; width: 30%;" />
</p>

<p>Previously, Buffalo ran OpenWRT, a GNU/Linux firmware
distribution which is very popular with tinkerers seeking to gain a
greater understanding and control of their own embedded devices.
Despite representing an important advancement compared to proprietary
stock firmware which usually comes preinstalled on devices like
Buffalo, OpenWRT unfortunately still contains some binary blobs for
which source code is not available.</p>

<p>Recently, a community of concerned programmers has emerged determined
to remedy this situation. To advance the free software frontier in yet
another area, they have built LibreWRT, a completely free GNU/Linux
distribution for embedded devices, based on OpenWRT. Once the project
evolved into a full–fledged distribution, the FSF was eager to give it
a try.</p>

<p>Thus, encouraged by assurances in the documentation that Buffalo is
virtually impossible to brick, I set out to flash the device with
"Creative Craftsman," the current development version of LibreWRT.
First, I needed to build the image. Thanks to clear documentation and
use of familiar tools such as GNU make, the process of building the
LibreWRT image for Buffalo turned out to be pretty straightforward.<a href="http://librewrt.org/index.php?title=How_To_Build_LibreWRT" title="How To Build LibreWRT">1</a>
When in doubt about the next step to take, I sought help on the
#librewrt IRC channel of Freenode, where I received useful advice 
from the developers of the project every time I asked.</p>

<p>After I finished the build process and identified which of the
generated images is the appropriate one, I proceeded with flashing via
TFTP without major difficulties following instructions on the OpenWRT
wiki.<a href="http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/buffalo/wzr-hp-g300h" title="Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH">2</a> Once logged in, I was presented with BusyBox, a popular
lightweight free software Unix-like environment. Even for those
without much expertise in router configuration, configuring LibreWRT
is relatively painless. Again, the OpenWRT wiki has plentiful
resources to guide the user through the entire process with many
examples of the most commonly used setups.<a href="http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/basic.config" title="OpenWrt Configuration">3</a></p>

<p>With the final stage concluded, I am happy to report that Buffalo has
been chugging along without any hiccups providing wired as well as
wireless network connectivity for all the portable computers in our
office for over a week now. It used to be the FSF's only computing
device containing binary blobs. Now, the FSF can proudly confirm that
even all of the <em>unused</em> software present on its computing devices is
free. To learn more about LibreWRT, and how you can use and
support the project, head to their official wiki at
<a href="http://librewrt.org">http://librewrt.org</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-en-foco-con-karl-berry-octubre
title: GNU en foco con Karl Berry (octubre)
uri: GNU-en-foco-con-Karl-Berry-(octubre)
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-en-foco-con-karl-berry-octubre
content:
¡Hay 13 nuevos lanzamientos de GNU!<ul>
<li>binutils-2.23</li>
<li>bison-2.6.4</li>
<li>coreutils-8.20</li>
<li>freeipmi-1.2.2</li>
<li>gnuhealth-1.6.4</li>
<li>gnutls-3.1.3</li>
<li>libcdio-0.90</li>
<li>libextractor-1.0.1</li>
<li>parallel-20121022</li>
<li>patch-2.7.1</li>
<li>units-2.01</li>
<li>xnee-3.14</li>
<li>zile-2.4.9</li>
</ul>
<p>Para obtener los anuncios de los lanzamientos GNU mas recientes, suscribete a la lista de correos info-gnu: <a href="http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu">http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu</a>. Casi todo el software GNU está disponible de<a href="http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/">http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/</a> o preferentemente alguno de sus mirrors (<a href="http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html">http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html</a>). Tu puedes usar la URL <a href="http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/">http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/</a> y seras automaticamente redireccionado a mirror actualizado más cercano.</p>
<p>Algunos paquetes GNU, como también el sistema operativo GNU en su conjunto están buscando tener gente que se encargados de ellos y otros tipos de ayuda. Por favor ve a<a href="http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint">http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint</a> si te interesa ayudar. Los lineamientos generales de cómo ayudar a GNU estan en <a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html</a>. Para enviar nuevos paquetes al sistema operativo dale una mirada a <a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html</a>.</p>
<p>Como siempre, sientete libre de escribirme, <a href="mailto:karl@gnu.org">karl@gnu.org</a>, con cualquier pregunta relacionada con GNU o sugerencia para instancias futuras.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-october-2012
title: GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry (October 2012)
uri: GNU-Spotlight-with-Karl-Berry-(October-2012)
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-october-2012
content:
There were 13 new GNU releases this month!<p>Releases as of October 29, 2012:</p>

<ul>
<li>binutils-2.23      </li>
<li>bison-2.6.4        </li>
<li>coreutils-8.20     </li>
<li>freeipmi-1.2.2     </li>
<li>gnuhealth-1.6.4    </li>
<li>gnutls-3.1.3       </li>
<li>libcdio-0.90</li>
<li>libextractor-1.0.1</li>
<li>parallel-20121022</li>
<li>patch-2.7.1                 </li>
<li>units-2.01           </li>
<li>xnee-3.14            </li>
<li>zile-2.4.9           </li>
</ul>

<p>To get announcements of most new GNU releases, subscribe to the
info-gnu mailing list:
<a href="http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu">http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu</a>. Nearly all GNU
software is available from <a href="http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/">http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/</a>, or preferably
one of its mirrors (<a href="http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html">http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html</a>). You can use
the url <a href="http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/">http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/</a> to be automatically redirected to
a (hopefully) nearby and up-to-date mirror.</p>

<p>A number of GNU packages, as well as the GNU operating system as a
whole, are looking for maintainers and other assistance. Please see
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint">http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint</a> if you'd like to
help. The general page on how to help GNU is at
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html</a>. To submit new packages to the GNU
operating system, see <a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html</a>.</p>

<p>As always, please feel free to write to me, <a href="mailto:karl@gnu.org">&#107;&#x61;&#x72;&#x6C;&#64;&#x67;&#110;&#x75;&#46;&#111;&#x72;&#x67;</a>, with any
GNUish questions or suggestions for future installments.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/last-day-to-donate-support-mediagoblin
title: Last day to donate! Support MediaGoblin!
uri: Last-day-to-donate-Support-MediaGoblin
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/last-day-to-donate-support-mediagoblin
content:
It's time to give a big fundraising bump to the next big thing in media sharing.<p><img align="left" src="http://static.fsf.org/fsforg/img/mediagoblin.png" /></p>
<p>Today is the last day to donate to GNU MediaGoblin, a project that will change the way media is stored and shared online. MediaGoblin puts media sharing in the hands of the people, making sharing, storing, and talking about media a better experience for the people (and cats) of the Internet. Today is the final day of a major <a href="http://mediagoblin.org/pages/campaign.html">fundraising campaign</a> that will take MediaGoblin over the finish line and onto the Internets so we can all avail ourselves of its awesomeness. <a href="http://mediagoblin.org/pages/campaign.html">Show this worthy endeavor some love</a> by making MediaGoblin's last day of fundraising the best yet.</p>
<p>Need to know more? GNU MediaGoblin is free software and part of the <a href="http://gnu.org">GNU project</a>. It's <a href="http://mediagoblin.org/news/decentralizing-opportunity.html">decentralized</a> to keep your media safe from server failures. GNU MediaGoblin is <a href="http://mediagoblin.org/pages/tour.html">gorgeous</a>. And have you seen <a href="http://mediagoblin.org/">Gavroche</a>, its mascot? Total SQUEE.</p>
<p>So, I know I said this already, but seriously. The folks behind this amazing project need your support to build their great ideas into MediaGoblin. <a href="http://mediagoblin.org/pages/campaign.html">Let's make it happen.</a></p>


title: Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
uri: 2012-11-16-Join-the-FSF-and-friends-in-updating-the-Free-Software-Directory
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-8

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-8

content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday November 16th, from 2pm to 5pm EDT
(18:00 to 21:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>. While these meetings will continue, this Friday will be our volunteer Andrew's last time running them, so lets make it a big one!</p> 

<p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p> 
 
<p>While the Free Software 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!</p> 
 
<p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to
make it onto IRC on Friday, our
<a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> will provide you with all the information you need to get started on helping the Directory today!</p> 


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/fsf-to-begin-accepting-scanned-assignments-from-germany
title: FSF to begin accepting scanned assignments from Germany
uri: FSF-to-begin-accepting-scanned-assignments-from-Germany
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/fsf-to-begin-accepting-scanned-assignments-from-germany
content:
The FSF is pleased to announce that we can begin accepting scanned assignments from contributors residing in Germany.<p>Last year, the FSF was happy to <a href="http://www.fsf.org/bulletin/2011/fall/gnu-contributors-update">announce a change to our copyright assignment policy</a>. Based on the advice of our counsel we were able to begin accepting scanned copies of assignments from U.S. residents. We also updated our policy to enable sending digital documents worldwide, but we unfortunately could not begin accepting scanned documents in return from non-U.S. contributors.</p>

<p>We needed to connect with lawyers in other countries who were familiar with local requirements in order to ensure the safety of accepting scanned documents. Our assignment process is integral to our compliance efforts, and so we have a hefty amount of caution when it comes to changing it. With that said, we are pleased to announce that we can begin accepting scanned documents from contributors residing in Germany as well. After the United States, Germany is the country where the most contributions to the GNU Project originate, so this is a big step forward for easing the process of assignment. These contributors will no longer have to mail physical paper across the Atlantic, which means their contributions can be accepted with much less delay.</p>

<p>Going forward, we hope to be able to accept scanned documents from even more countries in the near future. The list of countries where we can currently accept scanned documents is kept as part of the GNU Maintainer's manual at <a href="http://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain/maintain.html#Copyright-Papers">http://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain/maintain.html#Copyright-Papers</a>. Wondering why the FSF goes through all this trouble at all? <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/why-assign.html">Prof. Eben Moglen explains why</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/last-day-to-submit-free-software-awards-nominations
title: Last day to submit Free Software Awards nominations!
uri: Last-day-to-submit-Free-Software-Awards-nominations
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/last-day-to-submit-free-software-awards-nominations
content:
Once a year around this time, we pause to contemplate everything we are thankful for.  <p>Here at the Free Software Foundation, we are grateful to the people who have devoted their lives to advancing free software. We're thankful for the developers working hard to bring new free software tools into the world. We're thankful for the legal eagles working to defend the GNU General Public License. We're thankful for the organizers committed to introducing free software to new audiences. That's why, each year, we give out the Award for the Advancement of Free Software to an individual who has made a great contribution to the progress and advancement of free software.  </p>

<p>It's not just those working to advance free software who deserve our gratitude. It's also the many projects that employ free software in the service of humanity. That's why we also give out an Award for Projects of Social Benefit , which is awarded to a project or team that has used free software or free software ideas in a project that benefits society in another field, from health care to education and everything in between.  You can learn more about the criteria for each award by checking out our <a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/nominate-your-free-software-heroes">submission guidelines</a>.</p>

<p>If you're as thankful as we are for the people and projects that take free software and its ideas to new heights, take a few minutes to nominate one of them for the <a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/nominate-your-free-software-heroes">15th annual Free Software Awards</a>. The nomination window closes today, so drop whatever you're doing and write up a few sentences (40 lines or less) about the work done and why you think it is so important. Don't forget to include a link or two so we can learn more about your nominee. Put the name of the person or project in the subject of the email and send it off to <a href="mailto:award-nominations@gnu.org">award-nominations@gnu.org</a>. </p>

<p>See? That wasn't so hard.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/give-freely-this-cyber-monday-introducing-the-2012-giving-guide
title: Give freely this Cyber Monday: Introducing the 2012 Giving Guide
uri: Give-freely-this-Cyber-Monday-Introducing-the-2012-Giving-Guide
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/give-freely-this-cyber-monday-introducing-the-2012-giving-guide
content:
On Cyber Monday, hordes of Americans will take to the Internet in search of the newest gadgets to bestow upon their loved ones.<p>Most of these "gifts" are trojan horses that will spy on their recipients, prevent them from doing what they want with their device, or maybe even block access to their favorite books or music. </p>

<p><img align="right" src="http://static.fsf.org/fsforg/img/buyingguideemail.png"</></p>

<p>The Free Software Foundation is proud to introduce the antidote: our <a href="http://www.fsf.org/givingguide">2012 Giving Guide</a>. The Giving Guide features gifts that will not only make your recipients jump for joy, these gifts will also protect their user freedom. </p>
<br><br>
<p><strong>Here are some of the gift ideas based on the <a href="http://www.fsf.org/givingguide">2012 Giving Guide</a>:</strong> </p>

<ul>
<li>Help your mom, dad, brother or sister upgrade to a laptop that comes preinstalled with GNU/Linux. </li>
<li>Get yourself a Lulzbot AO-100 3D printer and make 3D-printed stocking stuffers for the whole family. </li>
<li>Give a membership to the Free Software Foundation, or make a donation on behalf of a friend to another worthy organization, like the Electronic Frontier Foundation or Creative Commons. </li>
</ul>

<p>You can give copies of the Giving Guide to friends and family to encourage them to get you gifts that respect your freedom. And as you do your own holiday shopping, think about giving the gift of free software, and the hardware that supports it, to your loved ones. </p>

<p>If you plan to "give freely" this year, shout it from the rooftops! <a href="http://www.fsf.org/share?u=http://www.fsf.org/givingguide&amp;t=Give%20 tech%20gifts%20that%20support%20user%20freedom">Please share the Giving Guide with your networks</a> on identi.ca and other social media sites you use. </p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/left-wondering-why-vlc-relicensed-to-lgpl
title: Left Wondering Why VLC Relicensed to LGPL
uri: Left-Wondering-Why-VLC-Relicensed-to-LGPL
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/left-wondering-why-vlc-relicensed-to-lgpl
content:
<p><em>The FSF's License and Compliance Lab had previously written about the issues involved with <a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/vlc-enforcement">VLC and Apple's App Store</a>.</em></p>

<p>I first met the original group of VLC developers at
              the <a href="http://www.solutionslinux.fr/">Solutions GNU/Linux</a>
              conference in 2001.  I had been an employee of FSF for about a year at
              the time, and I recall they were excited to tell the FSF about the
              project, and very proud that they'd used FSF's premier and preferred
              license (at the time): GPLv2-or-later.</p>
            
            <p>What a difference a decade makes.  I'm admittedly sad
              that <a href="http://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/525718/8f76745afb86cb3a/">VLC
              has (mostly) finished its process of relicensing under
              LGPLv2.1-or-later</a>.  While I have
              occasionally <a href="http://ebb.org/bkuhn/blog/2009/01/14/qt-lgpl.html">supported
              relicensing from GPL to LGPL</a>, every situation is different and I
              think it should be analyzed carefully.  In this case, I don't support
              VLC's decision to relicense.</p>
            
            <p>The main reason to use the LGPL,
              as <a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/why-not-lgpl.html">RMS put
              eloquently long ago</a>, is for situations where there are many
              competitors and developers would face serious difficulty gaining
              adoption of a strong-copylefted solution.  Another more recent reason
              that I've discovered to move to weaker licenses (and this was the case
              with Qt) is to normalize away some of
              the <a href="http://ebb.org/bkuhn/blog/2009/10/16/open-core-shareware.html">problems
              of proprietary relicensing</a>.  However, neither reason applies to
              VLC.</p>
            
            <p>VLC is the most popular media player for desktop computers.  I know
              many proprietary operating system users who love VLC and it's the first
              application they download to a new computer.  It is the standard for
              desktop video viewing, and does a wonderful job advocating the value of
              software freedom to people who live in a primarily proprietary software
              world.</p>
            
            <p>Meanwhile, the VideoLan Organization's press statements have
              been <a href="http://www.videolan.org/press/lgpl.html">quite vague on
              their reasons for changing, saying only that "this change was
              motivated to match the evolution of the video industry and to spread the
              VLC engine as a multi-platform open-source multimedia engine and
              library."</a>  The only argument that I've seen discussed heavily in
              public for relicensing is ostensibly to address the widely publicized
              incompatibility of copyleft licensing with various App Store agreements.
              Yet, those incompatibilities <strong>still exist</strong> with the LGPL
              or, indeed, any true copyleft license.  The incompatibilities of Apple's
              terms are so strict that they make it absolutely impossible to comply
              simultaneously with any copyleft and Apple's terms at the same time.
              Other similar terms aren't much better, even with Google's Play Store
              (&mdash; its terms are incompatible with any copyleft license if the
              project has many copyright holders).</p>
            
            <p>So, I'm left baffled: does the VLC community actually believe the LGPL
              would solve that problem? (To be clear, I haven't seen any official
              statement where the VideoLAN Organization claims that relicensing will
              solve that issue, but others speculate that it's the reason.)  Regardless,
              I don't think it's a problem worth solving.  The specters of
              &ldquo;Application Store&rdquo; terms and conditions are something to
              fight against wholly in an uncompromising way.  The copyleft licensing
              incompatibilities with such terms are actually a signaling mechanism to
              show us that these stores are working against software freedom
              actively.  I hope developers will reject deployment to these application
              stores entirely.</p>
            
            <p>Therefore, I'm left wondering what VLC seeks to do here.  Do they want
              proprietary application interfaces that use their core libraries?  If
              so, I'm left wondering why: VLC is already so popular that they could
              pull adopters toward software freedom by using the strong copyleft of
              GPL.  It seems to me they're making a bad trade-off to get only
              marginally more popular by allowing some proprietary derivatives.  OTOH,
              I guess I should cut my losses on this point and be glad they stuck with
              any copyleft at all and didn't go all the way to a permissive
              license.</p>
            
            <p>Finally, I do think there's one valuable outcome shown
              by <a href="http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Relicensing-VLC-to-the-LGPL-the-hard-way-1750805.html">this
              relicensing effort</a> (<a href="http://lwn.net/Articles/526366/">which
              Gerv pointed out first</a>): it <strong>is</strong> possible to
              relicense a multi-copyright-held code based.  It's a lot of work, but it
              can be done.  It appears to me that VLC did
              a <a href="http://www.jbkempf.com/blog/post/2012/How-to-properly-relicense-a-large-open-source-project">responsible</a> <a href="http://www.jbkempf.com/blog/post/2012/How-to-properly-relicense-a-large-open-source-project-part-2">and</a> <a href="http://www.jbkempf.com/blog/post/2012/How-to-properly-relicense-a-large-open-source-project-part-3">reasonable</a>
              job on that part, even if I disagree strongly with the need for such a
              job here in the first place.</p>

<p>
          <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/" rel="license">
            <img alt="Creative Commons License" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/3.0/us/88x31.png" style="border-width:10" />
          </a></br>
          This article is licensed licensed under a
          <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/" rel="license">
            Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
          </a>
          .
        </p>


title: Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
uri: 2012-11-30-Join-the-FSF-and-friends-in-updating-the-Free-Software-Directory
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-9

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-9

content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday November 30th, from 12:30pm to 2pm EDT
(17:30 to 19:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p> 

<p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p> 
 
<p>While the Free Software 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!</p> 
 
<p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to
make it onto IRC on Friday, our
<a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> 
will provide you with all the information you need to get started on
helping the Directory today!</p> 


title: Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
uri: 2012-12-01-Join-the-FSF-and-friends-in-updating-the-Free-Software-Directory
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-10

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-10

content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday December 7th, from 2:00pm to 5pm EDT
(19:00 to 22:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p> 

<p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p> 
 
<p>While the Free Software 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!</p> 
 
<p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to
make it onto IRC on Friday, our
<a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> 
will provide you with all the information you need to get started on
helping the Directory today!</p> 


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/left-wondering-why-vlc-relicensed-some-code-to-lgpl
title: Left wondering why VLC relicensed some code to LGPL
uri: Left-wondering-why-VLC-relicensed-some-code-to-LGPL
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/left-wondering-why-vlc-relicensed-some-code-to-lgpl
content:
<p><em>The FSF's License and Compliance Lab had previously written about the issues involved with <a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/vlc-enforcement">VLC and Apple's App Store</a>.</em></p>

<p>I first met the original group of VLC developers at
              the <a href="http://www.solutionslinux.fr/">Solutions GNU/Linux</a>
              conference in 2001.  I had been an employee of FSF for about a year at
              the time, and I recall they were excited to tell the FSF about the
              project, and very proud that they'd used FSF's premier and preferred
              license (at the time): GPLv2-or-later.</p>
            
            <p>What a difference a decade makes.  I'm admittedly sad
              that <a href="http://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/525718/8f76745afb86cb3a/">VLC
              has (mostly) finished its process of relicensing some of its code under
              LGPLv2.1-or-later</a>.  While I have
              occasionally <a href="http://ebb.org/bkuhn/blog/2009/01/14/qt-lgpl.html">supported
              relicensing from GPL to LGPL</a>, every situation is different and I
              think it should be analyzed carefully.  In this case, I don't support
              VLC's decision to relicense the libVLC code.</p>
            
            <p>The main reason to use the LGPL,
              as <a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/why-not-lgpl.html">RMS put
              eloquently long ago</a>, is for situations where there are many
              competitors and developers would face serious difficulty gaining
              adoption of a strong-copylefted solution.  Another more recent reason
              that I've discovered to move to weaker licenses (and this was the case
              with Qt) is to normalize away some of
              the <a href="http://ebb.org/bkuhn/blog/2009/10/16/open-core-shareware.html">problems
              of proprietary relicensing</a>.  However, neither reason applies to
              libVLC.</p>
            
            <p>VLC is the most popular media player for desktop computers.  I know
              many proprietary operating system users who love VLC and it's the first
              application they download to a new computer.  It is the standard for
              desktop video viewing, and does a wonderful job advocating the value of
              software freedom to people who live in a primarily proprietary software
              world.</p>
            
            <p>Meanwhile, the VideoLan Organization's press statements have
              been <a href="http://www.videolan.org/press/lgpl.html">quite vague on
              their reasons for changing, saying only that "this change was
              motivated to match the evolution of the video industry and to spread the
              VLC engine as a multi-platform open-source multimedia engine and
              library."</a>  The only argument that I've seen discussed heavily in
              public for relicensing is ostensibly to address the widely publicized
              incompatibility of copyleft licensing with various App Store agreements.
              Yet, those incompatibilities <strong>still exist</strong> with the LGPL
              or, indeed, any true copyleft license.  The incompatibilities of Apple's
              terms are so strict that they make it absolutely impossible to comply
              simultaneously with any copyleft and Apple's terms at the same time.
              Other similar terms aren't much better, even with Google's Play Store
              (&mdash; its terms are incompatible with any copyleft license if the
              project has many copyright holders).</p>
            
            <p>So, I'm left baffled: do the VLC community actually believes the LGPL
              would solve that problem? (To be clear, I haven't seen any official
              statement where the VideoLAN Organization claims that relicensing will
              solve that issue, but others speculate that it's the reason.)  Regardless,
              I don't think it's a problem worth solving.  The specters of
              &ldquo;Application Store&rdquo; terms and conditions are something to
              fight against wholly in an uncompromising way.  The copyleft licensing
              incompatibilities with such terms are actually a signaling mechanism to
              show us that these stores are working against software freedom
              actively.  I hope developers will reject deployment to these application
              stores entirely.</p>
            
            <p>Therefore, I'm left wondering what VLC seeks to do here.  Do they want
              proprietary application interfaces that use their core libraries?  If
              so, I'm left wondering why: VLC is already so popular that they could
              pull adopters toward software freedom by using the strong copyleft of
              GPL on libVLC.  It seems to me they're making a bad trade-off to get only
              marginally more popular by allowing some proprietary derivatives.  OTOH,
              I guess I should cut my losses on this point and be glad they stuck with
              any copyleft at all and didn't go all the way to a permissive
              license.</p>
            
            <p>Finally, I do think there's one valuable outcome shown
              by <a href="http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Relicensing-VLC-to-the-LGPL-the-hard-way-1750805.html">this
              relicensing effort</a> (<a href="http://lwn.net/Articles/526366/">which
              Gerv pointed out first</a>): it <strong>is</strong> possible to
              relicense a multi-copyright-held code based.  It's a lot of work, but it
              can be done.  It appears to me that VLC did
              a <a href="http://www.jbkempf.com/blog/post/2012/How-to-properly-relicense-a-large-open-source-project">responsible</a> <a href="http://www.jbkempf.com/blog/post/2012/How-to-properly-relicense-a-large-open-source-project-part-2">and</a> <a href="http://www.jbkempf.com/blog/post/2012/How-to-properly-relicense-a-large-open-source-project-part-3">reasonable</a>
              job on that part, even if I disagree strongly with the need for such a
              job here in the first place.</p>
            
            <p><strong>Update</strong> (2012-11-30): It's been pointed out to me that
              VLC has relegated certain code from VLC into a library called libVLC,
              and that's the code that's been relicensed.  I've made today changes to
              the post above to clarify that issue.</p>

<p>
          <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/" rel="license">
            <img alt="Creative Commons License" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/3.0/us/88x31.png" style="border-width:10" />
          </a></br>
          This article is licensed licensed under a
          <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/" rel="license">
            Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
          </a>
          .
        </p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-november-2012
title: GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry (November 2012)
uri: GNU-Spotlight-with-Karl-Berry-(November-2012)
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-november-2012
content:
 There were 22 new GNU releases this month! <p>New releases this month (as of November 27, 2012):</p>

<ul>
<li>autoconf-archive-2012.11.14</li>
<li>gengetopt-2.22.6</li>
<li>libzrtpcpp-2.3.2</li>
<li>automake-1.12.5</li>
<li>global-6.2.5</li>
<li>parallel-20121122</li>
<li>binutils-2.23.1</li>
<li>gnunet-0.9.4</li>
<li>pyconfigure-0.1</li>
<li>bison-2.6.5</li>
<li>gnunet-gtk-0.9.4</li>
<li>sipwitch-1.4.0</li>
<li>ccrtp-2.0.5</li>
<li>gnutls-3.1.5</li>
<li>solfege-3.20.7</li>
<li>complexity-1.0</li>
<li>libmicrohttpd-0.9.23</li>
<li>ucommon-6.0.1</li>
<li>ed-1.7</li>
<li>librejs-4.9.2</li>
<li>freeipmi-1.2.3</li>
<li>libtasn1-3.1</li>
</ul>

<p>To get announcements of most new GNU releases, subscribe to the info-gnu
mailing list: <a href="http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu">http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu</a>. Nearly
all GNU software is available from <a href="http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/">http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/</a>, or
preferably one of its mirrors (<a href="http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html">http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html</a>). You
can use the url <a href="http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/">http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/</a> to be automatically
redirected to a (hopefully) nearby and up-to-date mirror.</p>

<p>I'd like to specially mention the first release of GNU pyconfigure
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/pyconfigure/">http://www.gnu.org/software/pyconfigure/</a>, which provides developers
using Python's setup.py for their package with ways to support the
standard GNU configure &amp;&amp; make installation method.</p>

<p>Another special mention for Ludovic Courtes for his new GNU package
(system) Guix, <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/guix/">http://www.gnu.org/software/guix/</a>, going along with all
his work on Guile.</p>

<p>We also welcome Dimitry Bogatov as the new maintainer of GNU Thales,
Brian Lane and Phillip Susi as new co-maintainers of GNU parted,
Hellekin and Daniel Reusche as new co-maintainers of GNU social,
Fabio Gonzalez as the author and maintainer of the new GNU package fcrypt,
and Paulo Cesar Pereira de Andrade as the new maintainer of
GNU lightning.</p>

<p>A number of GNU packages, as well as the GNU operating system as a
whole, are looking for maintainers and other assistance. Please see
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint">http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint</a> if you'd like to
help. The general page on how to help GNU is at
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html</a>. To submit new packages to the GNU
operating system, see <a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html</a>.</p>

<p>As always, please feel free to write to me, <a href="mailto:karl@gnu.org">&#107;&#x61;&#x72;&#108;&#64;&#103;&#110;u&#46;&#x6F;&#x72;&#x67;</a>, with any
GNUish questions or suggestions for future installments.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/20121106-helsinki
title: Fall 2012: Photos from ICT Goes International, in Helsinki
uri: Fall-2012-Photos-from-ICT-Goes-International-in-Helsinki
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/20121106-helsinki
content:
<!-- Start of image + caption block -->
<div style="border-style:solid; border-width:2px;text-align:center; margin: 4px 50px 4px 50px; padding-top:4px;">

<p>RMS was in <a
href="http://www.fsf.org/events/20121106-helsinki">Helsinki,</a>
Finland, on November 6th, to deliver <a
href="http://audio-video.gnu.org/video/#2012">a couple of speeches,
</a> including a how-to for beginning contributing to a free software
project and doing a good job, at Haaga-Helia University of Applied
Sciences, to some 250 teachers and students.</p>

<!-- Image(s) start below -->
<!-- Adjust the width="150" part to change how wide the image appears on the page  -->

<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121106-helsinki-01-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="250" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121106-helsinki-02-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="250" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121106-helsinki-04-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="505" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121106-helsinki-03-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="250" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121107-helsinki-05-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="250" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 

<!-- Photo credits start below -->
<p style="padding: 0px 20px 0px 20px; margin-top:1px; text-align:center;">
<em>(Photos under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA 3.0</a> and courtesy of Tuomo Ryynänen.)</em>

<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Many thanks to Professor Tuomo
Ryynänen for helping make the visit possible!</strong></p>

<p style="text-align:center;">Please see <a
href="http://www.fsf.org/events">www.fsf.org/events</a> for a full
list of all of RMS's confirmed engagements, and contact <a
href="mailto:rms-assist@gnu.org">rms-assist@gnu.org</a> if you'd like
him to come speak.</p>

<p>Please fill out our contact form, so that we can inform you about
future events in and around <a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=123&reset=1">Tijuana,</a>
<a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=125&reset=1">Mexico
City,</a> <a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=138&reset=1">Tlaxcala,</a>
<a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=122&reset=1">Puebla,</a>
<a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=84&reset=1">Barcelona,</a>
<a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=143&reset=1">Genoa,</a>
and <a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=129&reset=1">Reykjavik,</a>
all of which RMS visited on his <a
href="http://www.fsf.org/events/aggregator/previous">last
trip.</a></p>

</p></div>

<!-- End of image+caption block -->


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/20120507-murcia
title: May 2012: Photos from the Murcia Lan Party Conference
uri: May-2012-Photos-from-the-Murcia-Lan-Party-Conference
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/20120507-murcia
content:
<p>RMS was at the Centro Social Universitario of the Universidad de
Murcia, on May 7th, to speak about the free software movement, to about 250
students, at the Murcia Lan Party's conference on free software and
freedom on the Web.</p>

<!-- Start of image + caption block -->
<div style="border-style:solid; border-width:2px;text-align:center; margin: 4px 50px 4px 50px; padding-top:4px;">

<!-- Image(s) start below -->
<!-- Adjust the width="150" part to change how wide the image appears on the page  -->

<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/thumb-20120507-murcia-01.jpg" alt="" width="245" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/thumb-20120507-murcia-02.jpg" alt="" width="245" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/thumb-20120507-murcia-03.jpg" alt="" width="245" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/thumb-20120507-murcia-04.jpg" alt="" width="245" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 

<!-- Photo credits start below -->
<p style="padding: 0px 20px 0px 20px; margin-top:1px; text-align:center;">
<em>(Photos under <a
href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA
3.0</a> and courtesy of the Asociación Murcia Lan Party.)</em>

<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Thank you to the Asociación
Murcia Lan Party for making this event possible!</strong></p>

<p>Please fill out our contact form, so that we can inform you about
future events in and around <a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=69&reset=1">Madrid</a> and
<a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=84&reset=1">Barcelona,</a>
which RMS visited also while he was in Spain then.</p>

<p style="text-align:center;">Please see <a
href="http://www.fsf.org/events">www.fsf.org/events</a> for a full
list of all of RMS's confirmed engagements, and contact <a
href="mailto:rms-assist@gnu.org">rms-assist@gnu.org</a> if you'd like
him to come speak.</p>

</p></div>

<!-- End of image+caption block -->
 


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/20120824-huacho
title: August 2012: El Dr. Stallman
uri: August-2012-El-Dr-Stallman
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/20120824-huacho
content:
<!-- Start of image + caption block -->
<div style="border-style:solid; border-width:2px;text-align:center; margin: 4px 50px 4px 50px; padding-top:4px;">

<p>RMS was in <a
href="http://www.fsf.org/events/20120824-huacho">Huacho,</a> Peru, on
August 24th, to deliver a speech on the free software movement, and to
receive an honorary doctorate from the Universidad Nacional José
Faustino Sánchez Carrión. The provincial mayor of Huaura then
declared him a Distinguished Guest of the city of Huacho.</p>

<p>During the award ceremony, the university rector, Dr. Luis Baldeos,
declared, "Following the criterion that free software is a question of
liberty and should be usable in all forms considered socially
valuable, Dr. Richard Stallman has revolutionized the modern world,
and we are certain that his inclusion in our alma mater will be
outstandingly productive, because here, we form humanist citizens,
scientists and professionals who cope in accordance with the needs of
human development." He later added, "Although our newest doctor
honoris causa developed software for text editing, the GCC compiler,
and the GDB debugger, I believe his main achievement to be the
establishment of a moral, political, and legal framework for the free
software movement, as an alternative to the development and
distribution of [proprietary] licensed software.  A movement that we
will incorporate into our university."</p>

<p>RMS was then given a tour of Huaura, which included a stop at
the balcony from which, according to tradition, Don José de San Martín
proclaimed the independence of Peru, in 1820.</p>

<!-- Image(s) start below -->
<!-- Adjust the width="150" part to change how wide the image appears on the page  -->

<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120824-huacho-04.jpg" alt="" width="165" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120824-huacho-02.jpg" alt="" width="165" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120824-huacho-05.jpg" alt="" width="165" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120824-huacho-03.jpg" alt="" width="500" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120824-huacho-espinoza-04-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="500" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 

<!-- Photo credits start below -->
<p style="padding: 0px 20px 0px 20px; margin-top:1px; text-align:center;">
<em>(Photos under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>---the first four, courtesy of the Oficina de Imagen Institucional of the UNJFSC, and the last, of Fernando Espinoza León.)</em>

<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Many thanks to the free software
group UNACINUX for helping make the visit possible!</strong></p>

<p>Please fill out our contact form, so that we can inform you about
future events in and around <a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=118&reset=1"> Chiclayo,</a>
<a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=108&reset=1"> Trujillo,</a>
<a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=117&reset=1"> Ayacucho,</a> and <a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=107&reset=1"> Lima,</a>
all of which RMS visited while he was in Peru, on his <a
href="http://www.fsf.org/events/aggregator/previous">last
visit there.</a></p>

</p></div>

<!-- End of image+caption block -->


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-bajo-el-reflector-con-karl-berry-noviembre
title: GNU bajo el reflector con Karl Berry (noviembre)
uri: GNU-bajo-el-reflector-con-Karl-Berry-(noviembre)
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-bajo-el-reflector-con-karl-berry-noviembre
content:
¡22 paquetes de GNU lanzan una nueva versión!
<ul>
<li>autoconf-archive-2012.11.14</li>
<li>gengetopt-2.22.6</li>
<li>libzrtpcpp-2.3.2</li>
<li>automake-1.12.5</li>
<li>global-6.2.5</li>
<li>parallel-20121122</li>
<li>binutils-2.23.1</li>
<li>gnunet-0.9.4</li>
<li>pyconfigure-0.1</li>
<li>bison-2.6.5</li>
<li>gnunet-gtk-0.9.4</li>
<li>sipwitch-1.4.0</li>
<li>ccrtp-2.0.5</li>
<li>gnutls-3.1.5</li>
<li>solfege-3.20.7</li>
<li>complexity-1.0</li>
<li>libmicrohttpd-0.9.23</li>
<li>ucommon-6.0.1</li>
<li>ed-1.7</li>
<li>librejs-4.9.2</li>
<li>freeipmi-1.2.3</li>
<li>libtasn1-3.1</li>
</ul>

<p>Para recibir los anuncios de los lanzamientos más recientes de los
paquetes de GNU, suscríbete a la lista de correos info-gnu:
<a href="http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu">http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu</a>. Casi todo el
software de GNU está disponible para la descarga en
<a href="http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/">http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/</a> o, preferentemente, se puede descargar de
alguno de sus mirrors (<a href="http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html">http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html</a>). Desde la
página <a href="http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/">http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/</a> se puede acceder automáticamente
por redireccionamiento al mirror más cercano y actualizado (al menos
así se espera).</p>

<p>Me gustaría mencionar especialmente la primer entrega de GNU
pyconfigure <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/pyconfigure/">http://www.gnu.org/software/pyconfigure/</a>. Los
desarrolladores que usan setup.py en Python para su paquete, ahora
pueden usar los métodos GNU estándares de instalación con configure &amp;&amp;
make.</p>

<p>Otra mención especial para Ludovic Courtes por su nuevo paquete GNU,
el sistema Guix <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/guix/">http://www.gnu.org/software/guix/</a>, que va de la mano
con su trabajo sobre Guile.</p>

<p>También le damos la bienvenida a Dimitry Bogatov como el nuevo
responsable de GNU Thales, Brian Lane y Phillip Susi en sus nuevos
roles de co-responsables de GNU parted, Hellekin y Daniel Reusche como
nuevos co-responsables de GNU social, Fabio Gonzalez como autor y
responsabledel nuevo paquete GNU fcrypt, y Paulo Cesar Pereira de
Andrade como responsable de GNU lightning.</p>

<p>Algunos paquetes de GNU, y también el sistema operativo GNU en su
conjunto, están buscando encargados del mantenimiento y otras formas
de colaboración. Si estás interesado en colaborar, puedes consultar la
página <a href="http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint">http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint</a>. Los
lineamientos generales acerca de cómo ayudar a GNU están en
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html</a>. Para enviar nuevos paquetes para
el sistema operativo GNU, consulta la página
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html</a>.</p>

<p>Como siempre, no dudes en escribirme a la dirección <a href="mailto:karl@gnu.org">&#107;a&#114;&#x6C;&#64;&#x67;&#x6E;&#117;&#46;&#x6F;&#x72;&#103;</a> por
cualquier consulta sobre GNU o sugerencias para instancias futuras.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/ubuntu-spyware-what-to-do
title: Ubuntu Spyware: What to do?
uri: Ubuntu-Spyware-What-to-Do
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/ubuntu-spyware-what-to-do
content:
One of the major advantages of free software is that the community protects users from malicious software. Now Ubuntu GNU/Linux has become a counterexample. What should we do?<p>Proprietary software is associated with malicious treatment of the user:
surveillance code, digital handcuffs (DRM or Digital Restrictions
Management) to restrict users, and back doors that can do nasty things
under remote control.  Programs that do any of these things are
malware and should be treated as such.  Widely used examples include
Windows, the iThings, and the Amazon "Kindle" product for virtual book
burning, which do all three; Macintosh and the Playstation III which
impose DRM; most portable phones, which do spying and have back doors;
Adobe Flash Player, which does spying and enforces DRM; and plenty of
apps for iThings and Android, which are guilty of one or more of these
nasty practices.</p>

<p>Free software gives users a chance to protect themselves from
malicious software behaviors.  Even better, usually the community
protects everyone, and most users don't have to move a muscle.  Here's
how.</p>

<p>Once in a while, users who know programming find that a free program
has malicious code.  Generally the next thing they do is release a
corrected version of the program; with the four freedoms that define
free software (see <a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html</a>), they
are free to do this.  This is called a "fork" of the program.  Soon
the community switches to the corrected fork, and the malicious
version is rejected.  The prospect of ignominious rejection is not
very tempting; thus, most of the time, even those who are not stopped
by their consciences and social pressure refrain from putting
malfeatures in free software.</p>

<p>But not always.  Ubuntu, a widely used and influential GNU/Linux
distribution, has installed surveillance code.  When the user searches
her own local files for a string using the Ubuntu desktop, Ubuntu
sends that string to one of Canonical's servers.  (Canonical is the
company that develops Ubuntu.)</p>

<p>This is just like the first surveillance practice I learned about in
Windows.  My late friend Fravia told me that when he searched for a
string in the files of his Windows system, it sent a packet to some
server, which was detected by his firewall.  Given that first example
I paid attention and learned about the propensity of "reputable"
proprietary software to be malware.  Perhaps it is no coincidence that
Ubuntu sends the same information.</p>

<p>Ubuntu uses the information about searches to show the user ads to buy
various things from Amazon.  Amazon commits many wrongs (see
<a href="http://stallman.org/amazon.html">http://stallman.org/amazon.html</a>); by promoting Amazon, Canonical
contributes to them.  However, the ads are not the core of the
problem.  The main issue is the spying.  Canonical says it does not
tell Amazon who searched for what.  However, it is just as bad for
Canonical to collect your personal information as it would have been
for Amazon to collect it.</p>

<p>People will certainly make a modified version of Ubuntu without this
surveillance.  In fact, several GNU/Linux distros are modified
versions of Ubuntu.  When those update to the latest Ubuntu as a base,
I expect they will remove this.  Canonical surely expects that too.</p>

<p>Most free software developers would abandon such a plan given the
prospect of a mass switch to someone else's corrected version.  But
Canonical has not abandoned the Ubuntu spyware.  Perhaps Canonical
figures that the name "Ubuntu" has so much momentum and influence that
it can avoid the usual consequences and get away with surveillance.</p>

<p>Canonical says this feature searches the Internet in other ways.
Depending on the details, that might or might not make the problem
bigger, but not smaller.</p>

<p>Ubuntu allows users to switch the surveillance off.  Clearly Canonical
thinks that many Ubuntu users will leave this setting in the default
state (on).  And many may do so, because it doesn't occur to them to
try to do anything about it.  Thus, the existence of that switch does
not make the surveillance feature ok.</p>

<p>Even if it were disabled by default, the feature would still be
dangerous: "opt in, once and for all" for a risky practice, where the
risk varies depending on details, invites carelessness.  To protect
users' privacy, systems should make prudence easy: when a local search
program has a network search feature, it should be up to the user to
choose network search explicitly <em>each time</em>.  This is easy:
all it takes is to have separate buttons for network searches and
local searches, as earlier versions of Ubuntu did.  A network search
feature should also inform the user clearly and concretely about who
will get what personal information of hers, if and when she uses the
feature.</p>

<p>If a sufficient part of our community's opinion leaders view this
issue in personal terms only, if they switch the surveillance off for
themselves and continue to promote Ubuntu, Canonical might get away
with it.  That would be a great loss to the free software community.</p>

<p>We who present free software as a defense against malware do not say
it is a perfect defense.  No perfect defense is known.  We don't say
the community will deter malware <em>without fail</em>.  Thus,
strictly speaking, the Ubuntu spyware example doesn't mean we have to
eat our words.</p>

<p>But there's more at stake here than whether some of us have to eat
some words.  What's at stake is whether our community can effectively
use the argument based on proprietary spyware.  If we can only say,
"free software won't spy on you, unless it's Ubuntu," that's much less
powerful than saying, "free software won't spy on you."</p>

<p>It behooves us to give Canonical whatever rebuff is needed to make it
stop this.  Any excuse Canonical offers is inadequate; even if it used
all the money it gets from Amazon to develop free software, that can
hardly overcome what free software will lose if it ceases to offer an
effective way to avoid abuse of the users.</p>

<p>If you ever recommend or redistribute GNU/Linux, please remove Ubuntu
from the distros you recommend or redistribute.  If its practice of
installing and recommending nonfree software didn't convince you to
stop, let this convince you.  In your install fests, in your Software
Freedom Day events, in your FLISOL events, don't install or recommend
Ubuntu.  Instead, tell people that Ubuntu is shunned for spying.</p>

<p>While you're at it, you can also tell them that Ubuntu contains
nonfree programs and suggests other nonfree programs.  (See
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/distros/common-distros.html">http://www.gnu.org/distros/common-distros.html</a>.)  That will counteract
the other form of negative influence that Ubuntu exerts in the free
software community: legitimizing nonfree software.</p>

<h3>Reference</h3>
<p><a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/10/privacy-ubuntu-1210-amazon-ads-and-data-leaks">Privacy in Ubuntu 12.10: Amazon Ads and Data Leaks</a> by Micah Lee at the <a href="https://www.eff.org/">Electronic Frontier Foundation</a>.</p>

<p>Copyright 2012 Richard Stallman <br />
Released under the Creative Commons Attribution Noderivatives 3.0 license  </p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/interview-with-kovid-goyal-of-calibre
title: Interview with Kovid Goyal of Calibre
uri: Interview-with-Kovid-Goyal-of-calibre
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/interview-with-kovid-goyal-of-calibre
content:
The latest installment of our Licensing and Compliance Lab's series on free software developers who choose GNU licenses for their works.<p><img src="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/blogs/calibre.png" alt="calibre logo" /></p>

<p>In this installment, I interviewed <a href="http://kovidgoyal.net/">Kovid Goyal</a>, the creator and lead developer of <a href="http://calibre-ebook.com/">calibre</a>, via email.</p>

<h3>What is calibre?</h3>

<p>Calibre is a free ebook library management application developed by users of ebooks for users of ebooks. Calibre is a vibrant community with half a dozen developers and many, many testers and bug reporters. It is used in over 200 countries and has been translated into a dozen different languages by volunteers. Calibre has become a comprehensive tool for the management of digital texts, allowing you to do whatever you could possibly imagine with your ebook library. Reading is very important to me and one of my goals has always been to prevent either the fragmentation or the monopolization of the ebook market by entities that care solely for short-term goals. As the calibre community continues to grow, driven by book lovers, for book lovers, hopefully it will always present an alternative for people that love to read ebooks and want to be in control of their own digital libraries.</p>

<h3>How are people using it?</h3>

<p>People use it to catalog their book collections, to manage their reading devices, to get access to periodicals in ebook form, to create ebooks in different formats, to share their ebook collections with their friends and family over the net, to read their books on their computers. Calibre has been downloaded by <a href="https://status.calibre-ebook.com/">over 12 million people</a>.</p>

<h3>Why did you decide to release it under the GNU GPLv3?</h3>

<p>Because I do not want people creating proprietary software based on my work. Calibre (all my work, really) has always been about the sharing and free propagation of ideas and information. The GNU GPL helps make that happen.</p>

<h3>What is the best way for volunteers to help with the development of calibre?</h3>

<p>Calibre has had contributions from dozens of people over the years (<a href="http://calibre-ebook.com/about#contributors">a limited list</a>), if there is some calibre itch you want to scratch, hop in at: <a href="http://calibre-ebook.com/get-involved">http://calibre-ebook.com/get-involved</a>.</p>

<h3>What is the best way for people without strong technical skills to help the project?</h3>

<p>Translations, documentation, <em>good</em> bug reports, helping new users in the calibre forums, financial contributions, artwork, all of these are most welcome. Calibre would not be where it is today without its vibrant user community. Participating in an free software community like calibre is a great way to help make the world a better place. </p>

<h3>What aspects of the project do you think could use the most help?</h3>

<p>Calibre is doing pretty well, there isn't any particular aspect that needs help. I am a great believer in the scratching of itches.  If you have ideas about how some part of calibre could be better, make it happen. Contributions are welcome. </p>

<p><em>Please see the calibre entry in the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Calibre">Free Software Directory</a> for more information.</em></p>

<p>Enjoyed this interview? Check out our previous entry in this series featuring <a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/jeremy-allison-on-why-samba-switched-to-gplv3">Jeremy Allison's talk about why Samba went with GPLv3</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/gnu-press/gnu-press-debuts-gnu-beanies
title: GNU Press debuts GNU beanies!
uri: GNU-Press-debuts-GNU-beanies
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/gnu-press/gnu-press-debuts-gnu-beanies
content:
GNU Press debuts navy blue and white embroidered GNU beanies.<p>Keep cozy this winter in our navy blue <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/gnu-beanie/">beanies</a> with GNU embroidered in white on the side. They are 100% cotton, and the embroidered GNU logo is 2.16"H x 2.6"W. Pair the beanie with our hoodies in either the <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/FSFS_Hoodie/"> Free Software Free Society</a> or <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/GPLv3_Hoodie/"> GPLv3</a> designs, and you'll stay warm this winter while representing free software!</p>

<p>As always, if you can't find something in the store but think we should offer it, please add your suggestion to our <a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki?title=GNU_Press_Shop_Items_Ideas#Store"> Ideas</a> page. And remember, associate members of the Free Software Foundation get a 20% discount on all purchases made through the GNU Press store, so if you are not a member already, <a href="https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom"> join today</a>!</p>

<p>To keep up with announcements about new products available in the GNU Press store, <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=88&reset=1"> subscribe to the mailing list.</a></p>


title: Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
uri: 2012-12-14-Join-the-FSF-and-friends-in-updating-the-Free-Software-Directory
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-11

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-11

content:
Spend a few minutes this Friday helping to add new entries and update existing ones on directory.fsf.org. <p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday December 14th, from 2:00pm to 5pm EDT
(19:00 to 22:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p> 

<p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p> 
 
<p>While the Free Software 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!</p> 
 
<p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to
make it onto IRC on Friday, our
<a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> 
will provide you with all the information you need to get started on
helping the Directory today!</p> 


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-strikes-again-fsf-surprises-boston-microsoft-store
title: GNU strikes again: FSF surprises Boston Microsoft store
uri: GNU-strikes-again-FSF-surprises-Boston-Microsoft-store
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-strikes-again-fsf-surprises-boston-microsoft-store
content:
FSF staff and volunteers just returned from Boston's Microsoft store, where we dressed as elves and handed out copies of free software and our 2012 Giving Guide to people out shopping for the holidays. The action is part of our campaign to promote free software as a replacement for Windows 8. The campaign aims to promote free software while educating members of the public about the restrictive nature of this proprietary operating system, as well as to inform them of Windows 8's dangerous privacy and security risks.  <p>While shoppers were interested in what we had to say (and entertained!), Microsoft was none too happy about our stunt. We handed out dozens of stickers, <a href="/givingguide">Giving Guides</a>, and copies of free software before Microsoft called security, who asked us to leave.</p>

<p>Check out our <a href="http://www.fsf.org/news/gnu-comes-bearing-gifts-draws-shoppers-from-windows-store">press release</a> for more details about the action or see the <a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnus-trick-or-treat-at-windows-8-launch">pictures from the gnu's last adventure.</a></p>

<p>And now, pictures!</p>

<p><img alt="Boston Windows 8 1" src="//static.fsf.org/fsforg/img/bostonw8/IMG_3180.png" /></p>
<p><img alt="Boston Windows 8 4" src="//static.fsf.org/fsforg/img/bostonw8/IMG_3136.png" /></p>
<p><img alt="Boston Windows 8 5" src="//static.fsf.org/fsforg/img/bostonw8/IMG_3145.png" /></p>
<p><img alt="Boston Windows 8 6" src="//static.fsf.org/fsforg/img/bostonw8/IMG_3149.png" /></p>
<p><img alt="Boston Windows 8 7" src="//static.fsf.org/fsforg/img/bostonw8/IMG_3154.png" /></p>
<p><img alt="Boston Windows 8 8 " src="//static.fsf.org/fsforg/img/bostonw8/IMG_3162.png" /></p>
<p><img alt="Boston Windows 8 9 " src="//static.fsf.org/fsforg/img/bostonw8/IMG_3164.png" /></p>
<p><img alt="Boston Windows 8 10" src="//static.fsf.org/fsforg/img/bostonw8/IMG_3170.png" /></p>
<p><img alt="Boston Windows 8 11" src="//static.fsf.org/fsforg/img/bostonw8/IMG_3171.png" /></p>
<p><img alt="Boston Windows 8 12" src="//static.fsf.org/fsforg/img/bostonw8/IMG_3176.png" /></p>
<p><img alt="Boston Windows 8 security" src="//static.fsf.org/fsforg/img/bostonw8/security.png" /></p>


title: Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
uri: 2012-12-21-Join-the-FSF-and-friends-in-updating-the-Free-Software-Directory
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-12

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-12

content:
Spend a few minutes this Friday helping to add new entries and update existing ones on directory.fsf.org. <p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday December 21st, from 2:00pm to 5pm EDT
(19:00 to 22:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p> 

<p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p> 
 
<p>While the Free Software 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!</p> 
 
<p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to
make it onto IRC on Friday, our
<a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> 
will provide you with all the information you need to get started on
helping the Directory today!</p> 


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/20121012-tijuana
title: October 2012: At Tijuana Innovadora
uri: October-2012-At-Tijuana-Innovadora
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/20121012-tijuana
content:
<!-- Start of image + caption block -->
<div style="border-style:solid; border-width:2px;text-align:center; margin: 4px 50px 4px 50px; padding-top:4px;">

<p>RMS was at the Centro Cultural Tijuana, in <a
href="http://www.fsf.org/events/20121012-tijuana">Tijuana,</a> Mexico,
on October 10th, to deliver his speech <a
href="http://audio-video.gnu.org/video/#2012">«El software libre y tu
libertad»</a> at Tijuana Innovadora's chapter on education, which was
devoted to analyzing Mexico's---and, in particular,
the Tijuana-San Diego region's---educational systems and assessing their capacity to access knowledge.</p>

<!-- Image(s) start below -->
<!-- Adjust the width="150" part to change how wide the image appears on the page  -->

<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121012-tijuana-01.jpg" alt="" width="500" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121012-tijuana-02.jpg" alt="" width="125" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121012-tijuana-03.jpg" alt="" width="125" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121012-tijuana-04.jpg" alt="" width="125" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121012-tijuana-05.jpg" alt="" width="125" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121012-tijuana-06.jpg" alt="" width="500" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121012-tijuana-07.jpg" alt="" width="500" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121012-tijuana-08.jpg" alt="" width="125" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121012-tijuana-09.jpg" alt="" width="125" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121012-tijuana-10.jpg" alt="" width="125" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121012-tijuana-11.jpg" alt="" width="125" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121012-tijuana-12.jpg" alt="" width="500" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 

<!-- Photo credits start below --> <p style="padding: 0px 20px 0px
20px; margin-top:1px; text-align:center;"> <em>(Photos under <a
href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>
and courtesy of Alfonso Caraveo Castro, Archivo Colef).)</em>

<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Many thanks to Márgara de León
for coordinating and helping make RMS's visit possible!</strong></p>

<p style="text-align:center;">Please see <a
href="http://www.fsf.org/events">www.fsf.org/events</a> for a full
list of all of RMS's confirmed engagements, and contact <a
href="mailto:rms-assist@gnu.org">rms-assist@gnu.org</a> if you'd like
him to come speak.</p>

<p>Please fill out our contact form, so that we can inform you about
future events in and around <a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=125&reset=1">Mexico City,</a>
<a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=138&reset=1">Tlaxcala,</a> and
<a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=122&reset=1">Puebla,</a>
all of which RMS visited while he was in Mexico, on his <a
href="http://www.fsf.org/events/aggregator/previous">last
trip.</a></p>

</p></div>

<!-- End of image+caption block -->


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/membership/share-freedom-this-holiday-season
title: Share freedom this holiday season!
uri: Share-freedom-this-holiday-season
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/membership/share-freedom-this-holiday-season
content:
<p>This holiday season, support computer-user freedom by <a
href="https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom/join_fsf?">giving
an FSF membership to your loved ones.</a></p>

<p>Are you already feeling tired and overwhelmed by the thought of having to figure out what to get the software user you love this holiday season? Concerned about spending money on yet another dust collector or future regift? Is "retail therapy" actually not that therapeutic for you? Are the myriads of consumer options generating a cloud of anxiety over your head? Free yourself from the consumer funk and this "paradox of choice" by opting to give your loved one a gift that will raise their social consciousness, create more lasting cheer, and defend computer-user rights: donate an FSF membership.</p>

<p>Membership support makes up the lion's share of the FSF's operating costs, and an FSF membership will help fund our work to defend and promote computer-users' freedom. Your gift recipient will receive a number of benefits: an ultra-slim USB membership card, the opportunity to take advantage of the FSF-member e-mail forwarding service, free attendance at the annual LibrePlanet conference, a 20 percent discount on FSF merchandise, the FSF's biannual bulletin, and discounts on training classes.</p>

<p><a
href="https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom/join_fsf?">Giving a membership as a gift</a> is easy: make a donation of $60 for a student membership, $120 for an associate membership, or any larger amount you wish, using the gift recipient's name. Please note: a thank-you e-mail will automatically be sent out to the e-mail address associated with the donation, and the welcome packet (including the USB member card and the bulletin), will be mailed to the mailing address you enter. If you wish to give the recipient the welcome packet yourself, and save the surprise for later, please enter your own e-mail address and your own mailing address. The addresses can always be updated later.</p>

<p>So, think about the conscientious techies on your gift list, and consider giving them a <a
href="https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom/join_fsf?">membership to the Free Software Foundation</a> this holiday. It comes with tangible benefits and good karma.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/who-ever-thought-apis-were-copyrightable-anyway
title: Who ever thought APIs were copyrightable, anyway?
uri: Who-Ever-Thought-APIs-Were-Copyrightable-Anyway
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/who-ever-thought-apis-were-copyrightable-anyway
content:
FSF board member and former executive director Bradley Kuhn discusses the landmark copyright case of Oracle v. Google and what it does -- and doesn't -- mean for free software.<p>Back in the summer, there was
  a <a href="http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/05/google-wins-crucial-api-ruling-oracles-case-decimated/">widely</a>
  <a href="http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/05/oracle-google-judge-dismiss/">covered</a>
  story
  about <a href="http://faif.us/cast-media/2012-05-31_Oracle-vs-Google_3-10-cv-03561-WHA_Document-1202.pdf">Judge
  Alsup's decision regarding copyrightablity</a> in
  the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_v._Google">Oracle
  v. Google</a> case. Oracle
  has <a href="http://faif.us/cast-media/2012-10-13_Oracle-vs-Google_3-10-cv-03561-WHA_Document-1243.pdf">appealed
  the verdict</a> so presumably this will enter the news again at some point.
  I'd been meaning to write a blog post about it since the original Alsup
  decision was released.  The upside in my delay has been that I can respond
  to some of the comments that I've seen in the wake of decision's
  publication. </p>

<p>The most common confusion about Alsup's decision, in my view, comes from
  the imprecision of programmers' use of the term &ldquo;API&rdquo;.  The API
  and the implementation of that API are different.  Frankly, in the free
  software community, everyone always assumed APIs themselves weren't
  copyrightable.  The whole idea of a clean-room implementation of something
  centers around the idea that the APIs aren't copyrighted.  GNU itself
  depends on the fact that Unix's APIs weren't copyrighted; just the code
  that AT&amp;T wrote to implement Unix was.</p>

<p>Those who oppose copyleft keep saying this decision eviscerates copyleft.
  I don't really see how it does.  For all this time, free software advocates
  have always reimplemented proprietary APIs from scratch.  Even copylefted
  projects like <a href="http://www.winehq.org/">Wine</a> depend on this,
  after all.</p>

<p>But, be careful here.  Many developers use the phrase API to mean
  different things.  Implementations of an API are still copyrightable,
  just like they always have been.  Distribution of other people's code
  that implement APIs still requires their permission.  What <strong>isn't</strong>
  copyrightable is  general concepts like &ldquo;to make things work, you need
  a function that returns an int and takes a string as an argument and
  that function must called Foo&rdquo;.</p>

<br>

 <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/deed.en_US"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/3.0/us/88x31.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/deed.en_US">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License</a>.


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/20121213-curitiba
title: December 2012: Photos from the Universidade Federal do Paraná, in Curitiba
uri: December-2012-Photos-from-the-Universidade-Federal-do-Paraná-in-Cur
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/20121213-curitiba
content:
<!-- Start of image + caption block -->
<div style="border-style:solid; border-width:2px;text-align:center; margin: 4px 50px 4px 50px; padding-top:4px;">

<p>RMS was in <a
href="http://www.fsf.org/events/20121213-curitiba">Curitiba,</a>
Brazil, on December 13th, to deliver a <a
href="http://audio-video.gnu.org/video/#2012">speech</a> on the free software movement to about 300
students at the Universidade Federal do Paraná, teachers, school
directors, and local authorities.</p>

<!-- Image(s) start below -->
<!-- Adjust the width="150" part to change how wide the image appears on the page  -->

<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121213-curitiba-03-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="175" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121213-curitiba-06-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="175" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121213-curitiba-08-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="175" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121213-curitiba-10-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="175" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121213-curitiba-13-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="175" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121213-curitiba-18-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="175" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121213-curitiba-19-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="175" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121213-curitiba-20-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="175" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121213-curitiba-31-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="175" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121213-curitiba-36-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="175" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121213-curitiba-39-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="175" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20121213-curitiba-40-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="175" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 

<!-- Photo credits start below -->
<p style="padding: 0px 20px 0px 20px; margin-top:1px; text-align:center;">
<em>(Photos under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA 3.0</a> and courtesy of Paulo Henrique Santana.)</em>

<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Many thanks to Paulo Henrique
Santana for helping make the event possible!</strong></p>

<p style="text-align:center;">Please see <a
href="http://www.fsf.org/events">www.fsf.org/events</a> for a full
list of all of RMS's confirmed engagements, and contact <a
href="mailto:rms-assist@gnu.org">rms-assist@gnu.org</a> if you'd like
him to come speak.</p>

<p>Please fill out our contact form, so that we can inform you about
future events in and around <a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=149&reset=1">Goiânia,</a>
<a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=106&reset=1">Brasília,</a>
<a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=151&reset=1">Belém do Para,</a> <a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=148&reset=1">São Carlos,</a> and <a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=150&reset=1">Sorocaba,</a>
all of which RMS visited while he was in Brazil, on his <a
href="http://www.fsf.org/events/aggregator/previous">last
trip.</a></p>

</p></div>

<!-- End of image+caption block -->


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/gnu-press/gnu-press-releases-new-edition-of-the-emacs-manual
title: GNU Press releases new edition of the Emacs manual!
uri: GNU-Press-releases-new-edition-of-the-Emacs-manual
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/gnu-press/gnu-press-releases-new-edition-of-the-emacs-manual
content:
Your purchase now will help us reach our Winter fundraising goal of $350k by January 31st.
<p><a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/Emacs_Manual_24/">GNU Emacs manuals</a> are back, now in the updated seventeenth edition for version 24.2, complete with a matching Emacs reference card.  Enjoy learning to program (or write poetry!) with Emacs while sipping a hot coffee in our <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/gnu-emacs-reference-mugs/">Emacs reference mugs</a>.</p>

<p>As always, if you can't find something in the store but think we should offer it, please add your suggestion to our <a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki?title=GNU_Press_Shop_Items_Ideas#Store">Ideas</a> page. And remember, associate members of the Free Software Foundation get a 20% discount on all purchases made through the GNU Press store, so if you are not a member already, <a href="https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom">join today</a>!</p>

<p>Your purchase now will help us reach <a href="http://fsf.org/appeal">our Winter fundraising goal of $350k by January 31st.</a></p>

<p>To keep up with announcements about new products available in the GNU Press store, <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=88&amp;reset=1">subscribe to the mailing list.</a></p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-bajo-el-reflector-con-karl-berry-diciembre
title: GNU bajo el reflector con Karl Berry (diciembre)
uri: GNU-bajo-el-reflector-con-Karl-Berry-(diciembre)
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-bajo-el-reflector-con-karl-berry-diciembre
content:
¡23 paquetes de GNU lanzan una nueva versión!
<ul>
<li>auctex-11.87</li>
<li>gprolog-1.4.2</li>
<li>libosip2-4.0.0</li>
<li>automake-1.12.6</li>
<li>gtypist-2.9.2</li>
<li>libtasn1-3.2</li>
<li>bison-2.7</li>
<li>guile-2.0.7</li>
<li>mediagoblin-0.3.2</li>
<li>freedink-1.08.20121209</li>
<li>help2man-1.40.13</li>
<li>parallel-20121222</li>
<li>gdb-7.5.1</li>
<li>icecat-17.0.1</li>
<li>sed-4.2.2</li>
<li>global-6.2.7</li>
<li>kawa-1.13</li>
<li>ucommon-6.0.3</li>
<li>gnunet-0.9.5</li>
<li>libidn-1.26</li>
<li>xnee-3.15</li>
<li>gnupg-1.4.13</li>
<li>libmatheval-1.1.10</li>
</ul>

<p>Para recibir los anuncios de los lanzamientos más recientes de los
paquetes de GNU, suscríbete a la lista de correos info-gnu:
<a href="http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu">http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu</a>. Casi todo el
software de GNU está disponible para la descarga en
<a href="http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/">http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/</a> o, preferentemente, se puede descargar de
alguno de sus mirrors (<a href="http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html">http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html</a>). Desde la
página <a href="http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/">http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/</a> se puede acceder automáticamente
por redireccionamiento al mirror más cercano y actualizado (al menos
así se espera).</p>

<p>Damos la bienvenida a Daiki Ueno, el nuevo responsable de GNU Gettext
y agadecemos a Bruno Haible por su desarrollo de largo plazo de
gettext y muchos otros paquetes, algunos den los cuales continúa
haciéndolo. También queremos darle la bienvenida a Aleksey Demakov
como nuevo responsable del paquete libjit, ahora como un paquete
separado de DotGNU</p>

<p>Algunos paquetes de GNU, y también el sistema operativo GNU en su
conjunto, están buscando encargados del mantenimiento y otras formas
de colaboración. Si estás interesado en colaborar, puedes consultar la
página <a href="http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint">http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint</a>. Los
lineamientos generales acerca de cómo ayudar a GNU están en
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html</a>. Para enviar nuevos paquetes para
el sistema operativo GNU, consulta la página
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html</a>.</p>

<p>Como siempre, no dudes en escribirme a la dirección <a href="mailto:karl@gnu.org">k&#97;&#114;&#108;&#64;&#x67;&#x6E;&#117;&#46;&#x6F;&#114;&#x67;</a> por
cualquier consulta sobre GNU o sugerencias para instancias futuras.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-december-2012
title: GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry (December 2012)
uri: GNU-Spotlight-with-Karl-Berry-(December-2012)
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-december-2012
content:
There were 23 new GNU releases this month!<p>New GNU releases this month as of December 24:</p>

<ul>
<li>auctex-11.87</li>
<li>gprolog-1.4.2</li>
<li>libosip2-4.0.0</li>
<li>automake-1.12.6</li>
<li>gtypist-2.9.2</li>
<li>libtasn1-3.2</li>
<li>bison-2.7</li>
<li>guile-2.0.7</li>
<li>mediagoblin-0.3.2</li>
<li>freedink-1.08.20121209</li>
<li>help2man-1.40.13</li>
<li>parallel-20121222</li>
<li>gdb-7.5.1</li>
<li>icecat-17.0.1</li>
<li>sed-4.2.2</li>
<li>global-6.2.7</li>
<li>kawa-1.13</li>
<li>ucommon-6.0.3</li>
<li>gnunet-0.9.5</li>
<li>libidn-1.26</li>
<li>xnee-3.15</li>
<li>gnupg-1.4.13</li>
<li>libmatheval-1.1.10</li>
</ul>

<p>To get announcements of most new GNU releases, subscribe to the info-gnu
mailing list: <a href="http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu">http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu</a>.  Nearly
all GNU software is available from <a href="http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/">http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/</a>, or
preferably one of its mirrors (<a href="http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html">http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html</a>).  You
can use the url <a href="http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/">http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/</a> to be automatically
redirected to a (hopefully) nearby and up-to-date mirror.</p>

<p>We welcome Daiki Ueno as the new maintainer of GNU Gettext (and thank
Bruno Haible for his long-time development of gettext and many other
packages, some still continuing).  We also welcome Aleksey Demakov as
the maintainer of the new package libjit, now split as a separate
package from DotGNU.</p>

<p>A number of GNU packages, as well as the GNU operating system as a
whole, are looking for maintainers and other assistance.  Please see
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint">http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint</a> if you'd like to
help.  The general page on how to help GNU is at
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html</a>.  To submit new packages to the GNU
operating system, see <a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html</a>.</p>

<p>As always, please feel free to write to me, <a href="mailto:karl@gnu.org">&#107;&#97;&#x72;&#x6C;&#64;&#x67;&#110;&#x75;&#x2E;&#x6F;&#114;&#103;</a>, with any
GNUish questions or suggestions for future installments.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/dont-miss-our-daily-highlights-on-fsf.org
title: Don't miss our daily highlights on fsf.org!
uri: Don-t-miss-our-daily-highlights-on-fsf-org
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/dont-miss-our-daily-highlights-on-fsf.org
content:
When you visit http://www.fsf.org now through the end of January, you'll notice something different about our home page. <p>It's our new "daily highlight," a little tidbit of free software history, wisdom, art, and even goodies like <a href="http://shop.fsf.org">shop.fsf.org</a> coupons for you to enjoy. It's a free software page-a-day calendar, if you will, and we hope you'll visit us daily to see what we've picked out for you.  </p>

<p>If you have a favorite free software quote, ascii art, video, photo, etc that you'd like to see featured as a daily highlight, send a note with your ideas to <a href="mailto:campaigns@fsf.org">campaigns@fsf.org</a>. Your idea could be our next daily highlight!  </p>

<p>When you <a href="http://www.fsf.org">visit our site</a>, you'll also get the latest update on how our annual fundraising drive is progressing. We are working to raise $350,000 by January 31st, 2013, so we can do more to amplify the voices of software freedom -- voices like the ones you'll see represented in our daily highlights. The Free Software Foundation gets the lion's share of its funding from the support of individuals like you. You can help us crank up the volume on our fundraising meter by <a href="https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom">making a contribution today</a>.  </p>


title: Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
uri: 2013-01-12-Join-the-FSF-and-friends-in-updating-the-Free-Software-Directory
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-13

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-13

content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends, today, Friday January 11th, from 2:00pm to 5pm EDT
(19:00 to 22:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p> 

<p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p> 
 
<p>While the Free Software 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!</p> 
 
<p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to
make it onto IRC on Friday, our
<a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> 
will provide you with all the information you need to get started on
helping the Directory today!</p> 


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/gnu-press/gnu-press-now-selling-gnu-linux-inside-stickers
title: GNU Press now selling GNU/Linux Inside stickers!
uri: GNU-Press-now-selling-GNU-Linux-Inside-stickers
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/gnu-press/gnu-press-now-selling-gnu-linux-inside-stickers
content:
Your purchase now will help us reach our Winter fundraising goal of $350k by January 31st.<p>By popular demand, we are now selling the <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/gnulinuxinside/">GNU/Linux Inside sticker pack</a>. For $15, you receive 10 GNU/Linux stickers. Because these stickers are high-quality and durable, they won't fade away or scratch off your computer, making it the ideal way to rep your use of free software!</p>

<p>They are perfect for replacing those <i>other</i> stickers that may come on your laptop when you buy it.</p>

<p>As always, if you can't find something in the store but think we should offer it, please add your suggestion to our <a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:Free_Software_Foundation/Ideas#Store_suggestions">Ideas</a> page. And remember, associate members of the Free Software Foundation get a 20% discount on all purchases made through the GNU Press store, so if you are not a member already, <a href="https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom">join today</a>!</p>

<p>Your purchase now will help us reach <a href="http://fsf.org/appeal">our Winter fundraising goal of $350k by January 31st.</a></p>

<p>To keep up with announcements about new products available in the GNU Press store, <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=88&amp;reset=1">subscribe to the mailing list.</a></p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/interview-with-matthieu-aubry-of-piwik
title: Interview with Matthieu Aubry of Piwik
uri: Interview-with-Matthieu-Aubry-of-Piwik
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/interview-with-matthieu-aubry-of-piwik
content:
The latest installment of our Licensing and Compliance Lab's series on free software developers who choose GNU licenses for their works.<p><img src="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/blogs/piwik.png" alt="Piwik logo" /></p>

<p>In this installment, I interviewed (via email) Matthieu Aubry, the creator of <a href="http://piwik.org/">Piwik</a>, a freely licensed web analytics package. <strong>The FSF encourages people to use Piwik as a replacement for Google Analytics, since Google Analytics requires nonfree JavaScript to run in visitors' browsers, and to be careful with Piwik's privacy settings to make sure that visitor IP addresses and other identifiable bits of information are not recorded.</strong></p>

<h2>What is Piwik?</h2>

<p>Piwik is a web analytics software that provides you with detailed reports on all of your web site's visitors. Piwik can display over 30+ relevant reports such as where your visitors come from (countries, regions, cities), which pages or keywords are the most popular, if visitors are engaged and returning (or buying) regularly from you, how many visits come to your page from social media, the performance of your marketing campaigns, and much more. All of these amazing reports are displayed in a simple-to-use interface which provides advanced data analysis tools and visualizations to help you understand your web site's visitors! In short, Piwik offers a solid web analytics software, with powerful data analysis tools, a free platform built on free APIs, backed by a talented engineering team pushing an active development schedule, and a large community of users and developers.</p>

<h2>How are people using it?</h2>

<p>Piwik is first and foremost a powerful web analytics software, most people use Piwik along with Google Analytics or as an alternative. Piwik counts more than 190k active users including individuals, entrepreneurs and small businesses, bloggers, marketers, CEOs, web hosting companies, web agencies, developers, advertising networks, and more...</p>

<p>There are many different ways to use Piwik, thanks to the modularity and reusability of the platform. In more recent times we are seeing the emergence of Piwik as an analytics platform with more original use cases. There are dozens of third-party plugins already built on the platform, and we will actively be working in 2013 to build up the developer community and we hope, release a free plugins marketplace.</p>

<h2>What feature(s) do you think really sets Piwik apart from similar packages?</h2>

<p>One of the principle advantages of Piwik is that you are in control. Unlike remote-hosted services (such as Google Analytics), you host Piwik on your own server and the data is tracked inside your MySQL database. Because Piwik is installed on your server, you enjoy full control over your data. You can access reports easily via the <a href="http://piwik.org/docs/analytics-api/">Piwik APIs</a>. Advanced users can use <a href="http://piwik.org/docs/custom-variables/">Custom Variables</a>, <a href="http://piwik.org/docs/analytics-api/segmentation/">Segmentation</a>, or even run manual queries on the database in order to build advanced reports.</p>

<p>Piwik also respects and protects your visitor privacy with advanced privacy features (see <a href="http://piwik.org/faq/new-to-piwik/#faq_130">the FAQ</a> for more details). When using Piwik for web analytics, you ensure that your visitors' behavior on your web sites is not shared with advertising companies.</p>

<h2>Why did you choose the GPLv3 as Piwik's license?</h2>

<p>A few months before I created Piwik, I was living in India at the time and FSF India organized the GPLv3 conference in Bangalore. The conference confirmed to me that the GPL was the ideal license to use if your goals are freedom, reusability, sharing knowledge and benefits to all users. It also ensured that the platform we are building will always stay free, while still allowing companies to re-sell Piwik to their customers and provide it as a service.</p>

<p>Contributing to free software is a pleasure for all of us. I studied computer science engineering but most of my programming skills were learned by reading books and studying and reusing free software... Our objective with Piwik is to build a free data platform that is easy to extend, modify, and reuse. We are grateful for the work of the FSF on this license!</p>

<h2>How can users (technical or otherwise) help contribute to Piwik?</h2>

<p>With the increasing popularity of Piwik, recruiting new developers to volunteer to work on Piwik has been quite a challenge for us as it seems there are not so many developers or engineers out there available to volunteer on a moderately complex free software project such as Piwik. We are however very lucky to have an amazing international core team whose members are passionate about the project, as well as over 150 active translators. We could not do it without them!</p>

<p>We need your help to make Piwik even better and achieve <a href="http://piwik.org/roadmap/">our vision</a>. There are many ways one can help or join the Piwik project:</p>

<ul>
<li><p><strong>Using Piwik</strong>: Using the software is the easiest and best way to contribute: users will share the word with their friends and colleagues and help make Piwik more popular. If your company uses Piwik successfully, we are grateful if you can submit a <a href="http://piwik.org/submit-testimonial">testimonial</a>.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Sponsor a feature</strong>: We have launched a crowd funding campaign and we are hoping the Piwik community will support us to build new exciting features. We are currently running a crowdfunding campaign to fund a new advanced analytical feature in Piwik: the ability to create <a href="http://crowdfunding.piwik.org/custom-segments-editor/">custom segments of visitors</a> in an easy to use interface. This feature (see link for screenshots) will be an essential building block of our analytics platform! Pledge now to make it happen.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Developers</strong>: Our development process is <a href="http://piwik.org/participate/development-process/">documented</a> and all work is done publicly. If you are a talented developer writing quality and secure code, if you are familiar with testing, we have many <a href="http://piwik.org/roadmap/">ideas and projects</a> you could participate in or create. </p></li>
<li><p><strong>Translators</strong>: If your native language is not English, you can help <a href="http://piwik.org/translations/">improve the translation</a> in your language.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Mobile Developers</strong>: We have built one of the best <a href="http://piwik.org/mobile/">Analytics Mobile Apps</a> on the market and we are working on a rewrite into full HTML5 using the Alloy framework. All of it is under the GPLv3, and you can help.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>UX, UI, datavis Developers</strong>: Piwik tracks and reports on a lot of interesting data. If you like to build free software HTML+JS datavis (we use jquery+ui+jqplot), or if you enjoy the challenge of surfacing insights from large amounts of web usage data, get in touch.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Marketing, Copywriters</strong>: if you like to write, or improve existing web material, contact us. We have many ideas to improve the Web site and do marketing actions to spread the word about Piwik.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Along with our amazing international core team members, we really hope that new volunteers will join the fun, and that more companies will <a href="http://piwik.org/about/sponsors/">sponsor us to work</a> on the Piwik 2.0 roadmap! If you would like to contribute, check out this page <a href="http://piwik.org/contribute/">http://piwik.org/contribute/</a> and get in touch with us!</p>

<h2>What's the next big thing for Piwik?</h2>

<p>We have prepared a clear vision of our future dreams for Piwik and have created a <a href="http://piwik.org/roadmap/">road-map for Piwik 2.0</a>, aiming for this major release in 2013... hopefully. As a free software project, one of the biggest challenges has been to raise funds to sustain our development and keep innovating. Throughout 2013 we will have to spend some time fundraising (via donations and crowdfunding <a href="http://piwik.org/donate/">http://piwik.org/donate/</a>) so we can meet our Piwik 2.0 objectives sooner.</p>

<p>Piwik Professional Services team offers support to companies and enterprise users. For those who do not have the skills or infrastructure to manage the server and database, the Piwik Pro Services team is working on a Premium Piwik Hosting service, contact us for more information at
<a href="http://piwik.org/consulting/#contact-consultant">http://piwik.org/consulting/#contact-consultant</a>.</p>

<p><em>Please see the Piwik entry in the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Piwik">Free Software Directory</a> for more information.</em></p>

<p>Enjoyed this interview? Check out our previous entry in this series featuring <a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/interview-with-kovid-goyal-of-calibre">Kovid Goyal of Calibre</a>.</p>


title: Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
uri: 2013-01-26-Join-the-FSF-and-friends-in-updating-the-Free-Software-Directory
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-14

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-14

content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends, today, Friday January 25th, from 2:00pm to 5pm EDT
(19:00 to 22:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p> 

<p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p> 
 
<p>While the Free Software 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!</p> 
 
<p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to
make it onto IRC on Friday, our
<a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> 
will provide you with all the information you need to get started on
helping the Directory today!</p> 


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/20120531-florianopolis-20120604-portoalegre
title: May/June 2012: In Florianopolis and at Porto Alegre's Palácio Piratini
uri: May-June-2012-In-Florianopolis-and-at-Porto-Alegre-s-Palácio-Piratin
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/20120531-florianopolis-20120604-portoalegre
content:
<!-- Start of image + caption block -->
<div style="border-style:solid; border-width:2px;text-align:center; margin: 4px 50px 4px 50px; padding-top:4px;">

<p>RMS was at the "II Fórum Mundial de Educação Profissional e
Tenológica: Democratização, Emancipaçao e Sustentabilidade" in
Florianopolis, to deliver his speech "Free Software and Your Freedom,"
on May 30th, and, on the 31st, to speak on the "The Free Software
Movement: Appropriation, Designing and Use" panel, in front of about
500 students, professors, researchers, government workers, and union
members.  His message was simple: "For ethical education, the software
used must be livre, and the teaching materials must be livre too."</p>

<!-- Image(s) start below -->
<!-- Adjust the width="150" part to change how wide the image appears on the page  -->

<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120531-florianopolis-01-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="500" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120531-florianopolis-02-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="500" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 

<!-- Photo credits start below --> <p style="padding: 0px 20px 0px
20px; margin-top:1px; text-align:center;"> <em>(Photos under <a
href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>
and courtesy of Marcela Lin.)</em>

<p>RMS was in <a
href="http://www.fsf.org/events/20120604-portoalegre">Porto
Alegre,</a> Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, on June 4th, for a celebration
to mark the first anniversary of the Digital Office of the State
Government, the 40th of the Companhia de Processamento de Dados do RS,
the 25th of the Science and Technology Department of Rio Grande do
Sul, and 70th of the Science and Technology Foundation.  He delivered
his speech <a href="http://audio-video.gnu.org/video/#2012">"A Free
Digital Society,"</a> at the Palácio Piratini, the gubernatorial
palace, to a room of about 200 students, bloggers,
journalists, government and civil-society representatives, and about
500 more people who tuned in over a live stream.</p>

<!-- Image(s) start below -->
<!-- Adjust the width="150" part to change how wide the image appears on the page  -->

<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120604-portoalegre-01.jpg" alt="" width="500" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120604-portoalegre-02.jpg" alt="" width="500" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 

<!-- Photo credits start below --> <p style="padding: 0px 20px 0px
20px; margin-top:1px; text-align:center;"> <em>(Photos under <a
href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>
and courtesy of the Gabinete Digital.)</em>

<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Many thanks to Prof. Golberi de
Salvador Ferreira, in Florianopolis, and to Fabricio Solagna and
Lincoln de Sousa, in Porto Alegre, for helping make this visit
possible!</strong></p>

<p style="text-align:center;">Please see <a
href="http://www.fsf.org/events">www.fsf.org/events</a> for a full
list of all of RMS's confirmed engagements, and contact <a
href="mailto:rms-assist@gnu.org">rms-assist@gnu.org</a> if you'd like
him to come speak.</p>

<p>Please fill out our contact form, so that we can inform you about
future events in and around <a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=92&reset=1">Campinas,</a>
<a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=79&reset=1">Vila
Velha,</a> and <a
href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=96&reset=1">Pirai
do Sul,</a> all of which RMS visited on his <a
href="http://www.fsf.org/events/aggregator/previous">last
trips.</a></p>

</p></div>

<!-- End of image+caption block -->


title: Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
uri: 2013-02-04-Join-the-FSF-and-friends-in-updating-the-Free-Software-Directory
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-15

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-15

content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, February 1st, from 2:00pm to 5pm EDT
(19:00 to 22:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p> 

<p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p> 
 
<p>While the Free Software 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!</p> 
 
<p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to
make it onto IRC on Friday, our
<a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> 
will provide you with all the information you need to get started on
helping the Directory today!</p> 


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/fsf-licensing-team-what-we-did-in-2012-why-it-matters-for-2013
title: FSF licensing team: What we did in 2012 & why it matters for 2013
uri: FSF-licensing-team-What-we-did-in-2012-why-it-matters-for-2013
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/fsf-licensing-team-what-we-did-in-2012-why-it-matters-for-2013
content:
Help us to continue to grow and expand the FSF licensing team.  <p>In June I wrote a
<a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/i-have-some-big-shoes-to-fill">blog post</a>
about taking over the licensing &amp; compliance manager role here at the
FSF. Our fundraiser last year allowed the FSF to increase our
licensing efforts, bringing us from one full time employee to two full
time employees. The past nine months have been an awesome and
gratifying experience of doing important, specialized work &mdash; work
that needs to be done and that few other organizations or individuals
are doing.</p>

<p>Today is the last day of this year's frundraiser, and it is with my
pleasure to share with you a bit of <strong>what we did</strong> in 2012 and <strong>why
it matters</strong> for 2013. I hope that if you believe that what we are
doing is important, you will find ways of supporting and furthering
the efforts of the FSF Licensing &amp; Compliance Lab so that we can
continue to grow and to do more.</p>

<p>Please help us reach our remaining fundraising goal of <a href="https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom/join_fsf?referrer=2442">signing up 120
new associate members</a> before the end of January. If you are already a
member, please consider <a href="https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom/join_fsf?referrer=2442">signing up a friend</a>.</p>

<h3>Compliance investigations and backlog reduction</h3>

<p><strong>What we did in 2012</strong> </p>

<p>We responded and resolved over 400 reports of suspected license
violations and over 600 general licensing and compliance questions.</p>

<p><strong>Why it matters for 2013</strong></p>

<p>The obvious benefit of a reducing our backlog of requests and emails
is that it gives us more time to focus on doing more of our other
work, such as being able to more ambitiously pursue our licensing
compliance cases, or to put more time and effort into working with
groups such as Creative Commons whom we have been providing advice and
feedback in their drafting of the CC 4.0 set of licenses.</p>

<p>But, another less obvious benefit is that in dealing with hundreds of
requests, Donald and I gained a ton of confidence, knowledge, and
experience in a relatively short period of time.</p>

<p>So, while Donald and I may not yet have the same degree of
<a href="http://www.fsf.org/appeal/2011/part-4-brett-smith-wants-to-do-more-for-you">Ninja skills as our predecessor</a>,
the fact is that the FSF now has <em>two</em> trained <strike>mercenary
warriors</strike> licensing and compliance experts to unleash upon the
world in 2013!</p>

<h3>Launched Respects Your Freedom hardware certification program</h3>

<p><strong>What we did in 2012</strong></p>

<p>In October, we
<a href="http://www.fsf.org/news/hardware-certification-aleph-objects-lulzbot-3d-printer">awarded</a>
our first Respects Your Freedom (RYF) certification to the LulzBot
AO-100 3D Printer sold by Aleph Objects, Inc.</p>

<p><strong>Why it matters for 2013</strong></p>

<p>In order to award our first RYF certification to a hardware product,
we had to accomplish a lot of other firsts, including:
creating a logo/certification mark, certification lab and (re)certification process and negotiating a contract.</p>

<p>Having solved many problems and cleared many a hurdle, we will now be
able to focus our efforts on improving our existing marketing and
educational materials on our RYF certification program, reaching out
to new and strengthening our existing relationships with hardware makers,
and, <em>hopefully</em> certifying more products.</p>

<h3>Organizing and improving our educational licensing materials</h3>

<p><strong>What we did in 2012</strong></p>

<p>The GNU Project and the FSF have produced a tremendous amount of
<a href="http://www.fsf.org/licensing/education">educational materials</a> on
free licensing over the past 27 years. For example, the
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html">GNU Licenses FAQ</a> page
alone is over 40 pages long. This material is of immense value
to the public. This year, we spent a fair amount of time sorting through our
materials, determining on how to improve and better organize them, and
figuring out what new materials should be created.</p>

<p><strong>Why it matters for 2013</strong></p>

<p>Year after year we have seen a steady increase in the number of people producing, sharing, using, and relying upon free
software. Governments, schools, developers, and hundreds of millions
of users around the world are using free software. This increased
interest, usage, and participation brings with it a lot of people wanting
to learn more, discovering new problems, and looking for
answers. Licensing is one area where we want to make sure that our
answers to those questions and the materials we provide are both
accurate and easy to find. We must curate and improve our educational resources, because they are an invaluable resource to the world.</p>

<h3>How you can help</h3>

<p>I have shared with you some of the important work that the Licensing &amp;
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.</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom">Donate</a> or <a href="https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom/join_fsf?referrer=2442">become an associate member</a></li>
<li>If you are already a member, consider <a href="https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom/join_fsf?referrer=2442">signing up a friend</a>!</li>
</ul>

<p>If you are interested in becoming a licensing volunteer for the FSF,
please <a href="email us">mailto:licensing@fsf.org</a> &mdash; we'd love your
help!</p>


title: Announcing the Empowermentors Collective: a group for women of color and queer people of color
uri: Announcing-the-Empowermentors-Collective-a-group-for-women-of-color-a
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/announcing-the-empowermentors-collective-a-group-for-women-of-color-and-queer-people-of-color

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/announcing-the-empowermentors-collective-a-group-for-women-of-color-and-queer-people-of-color

content:
The Empowermentors Collective is a new space by and for women of color and queer people of color within free software and free culture. <p><em>This has been cross-posted from the Students for Free Culture blog <a href="http://freeculture.org/blog/2013/01/31/announcing-the-empowermentors-collective-a-group-for-women-of-color-and-queer-people-of-color/">here</a>.</em></p>

<p>We recognize the need to address deep-seated cultural norms within the free software and free culture communities which, under the guise of openness, have excused and perpetuated alienating behavior. It is imperative that we acknowledge that there are systemic structures of control embedded in our society which permeate our movement. Refusing to do so in an effort to compartmentalize and focus on our own goals is detrimental to our success. We cannot afford to be an inward-facing movement. </p>

<p>To expose and undo this culture of exclusion, we would like to support the recently established <a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:Empowermentors">Empowermentors Collective</a>, a community for intersectionally marginalized identities. This type of intentional space also opens up the potential for much needed coalition building and advances our own understanding of how technology and media are inseparable from our experiences and ourselves, our bodies. </p>

<p>As <a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:Empowermentors#About_us">the description</a> reads:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>The Empowermentors Collective is a skillshare, activism, and discussion network by and for women of color and queer people of color. We are a group of community members with a strong commitment to furthering free software and free culture through an intersectionally marginalized lens and making a more welcoming space out of these communities. We therefore necessarily also work against and do not tolerate oppression in all its forms: ableism, racism, cissexism, heterosexism, sexism, classism, etc. </p>

<p>The Empowermentors Collective strives to be an affirming and safer space for people with disabilities, people of color, women, and people self-identified as queer or LGBT. </p>

<p>We are called Empowermentors because we focus on education and encourage participants to host workshops and skillshares geared towards intersectionally marginalized identities. </p>

<ul>
<li>We maintain a safer space for marginalized identity groups. </li>
<li>We address issues of oppression within the free software and free culture communities. </li>
<li>We equip each other with skills and knowledge of free software and free culture. </li>
<li>We file, catalog, and help solve bugs related to race, gender, and accessibility in free software projects. </li>
<li>We take on mentorship positions and run targeted workshops, classes, and skillshares.</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>

<p>The Free Software Foundation and Students for Free Culture are proud to support this effort to identify, expose, and confront crucial issues within our communities; to bridge our movement with our contemporaries in the critical intersectional analysis of oppression, hierarchy, and domination; and to develop our own philosophy at the cutting-edge of feminist, queer, critical race, and cyborg theory. </p>

<p>If you are a woman of color or queer person of color in the free software or free culture community and are interested in being a part of the Empowermentors Collective, please <a href="http://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/empowermentors">join the mailing list</a> and the #empowermentors IRC channel on freenode. If you are an ally to these issues, please help spread the word!</p>


title: Help us sign up 71 new members by January 31st, and use your new Jabber account
uri: Help-us-sign-up-71-new-members-by-January-31st-and-use-your-new-Jabbe
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/membership/help-us-sign-up-71-new-members-by-january-31st-and-use-your-new-jabber-account

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/membership/help-us-sign-up-71-new-members-by-january-31st-and-use-your-new-jabber-account

content:
We've launched an XMPP (Jabber) server for FSF members to use. If you're not already a member, join today and help us reach our "stretch" goal of 71 new members by January 31st.<p>At the beginning of December, we asked for your donations, and
promised to turn those <a href="http://fsf.org/appeal">dollars into decibels.</a></p>

<p>With your support, we quickly reached our winter fundraising goal of
$350k by January 31st. In fact, we've surpassed it by quite a bit.
<strong>As of today, we've raised over $389k. That's 111% of our goal.</strong> </p>

<p>This support has put us in a great place to face up to the challenges
the year will bring for free software. Most urgently, we need to push
hard against <a href="http://endsoftpatents.org">software patents</a>, <a href="http://defectivebydesign.org">Digital
Restrictions Management</a>, and
<a href="http://www.fsf.org/sb">Restricted Boot</a>, while pushing in favor of
<a href="http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/working-together">free software development and use
everywhere</a>.</p>

<p>
But in addition to dollars, we also need members. Every member
not only provides financial support but is also an advocate, a critical
part of the worldwide free software network. In order for the decibels
to matter, we need the voices to amplify.</p>

<p>To that end, we adopted a "stretch" goal of 121 new members for
the last half of January. We need 71 more members in these
last few days to reach that goal.</p>

<p>There are <a href="http://www.fsf.org/associate/">many reasons to join the FSF as a
member</a>, but today I wanted to
highlight a brand new (and much requested) service we are offering
members. We've launched an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensible_Messaging_and_Presence_Protocol">XMPP
(Jabber)</a>
server, for FSF members to use. This service is federated, meaning
that you will be able to communicate with any other XMPP user, on our
server or elsewhere.</p>

<p>To take advantage of this:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>If you are not yet a member, <a href="https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom/join_fsf">join
here</a>. If you
use PayPal, there will be a short (24-hour) delay.</p></li>
<li><p>Connect to member.fsf.org using your FSF username and password
(FSF_LOGIN@member.fsf.org). Make sure encryption is on.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>We've tested it (thank you to the members in #fsf on the Freenode IRC
network who helped out with that earlier today), but it is a new
service, so there might be hiccups. If you encounter problems, please
let our sysadmins know at <a href="mailto:sysadmin@gnu.org">s&#121;s&#97;&#x64;&#x6D;&#x69;n&#64;g&#110;&#117;&#46;&#x6F;&#114;&#x67;</a>.</p>

<p>If you are looking for a free software client to use with XMPP, check
the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki?title=Special%3ASearch&amp;search=jabber&amp;fulltext=Search">Free Software
Directory</a>.
Personally, I use <a href="http://bitlbee.org/main.php/news.r.html">Bitlbee</a>
with <a href="http://www.emacswiki.org/ERC">ERC</a>, but most people I know use
<a href="http://www.pidgin.im/">Pidgin</a>.</p>

<p>With Microsoft announcing that they will be moving all Windows
Messenger users over to Skype, this is a great time to bail and switch
to using free software for your instant messaging needs. And while
doing so, you will be displaying your FSF membership, providing an
easy way for others to find out about free software too.</p>

<p>Thank you again for your support!</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/announcing-status.fsf.org-our-new-home-for-microblogging
title: Announcing status.fsf.org: Our new home for microblogging
uri: Announcing-status-fsf-org-Our-new-home-for-microblogging
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/announcing-status.fsf.org-our-new-home-for-microblogging
content:
StatusNet is free software microblogging, similar to Twitter but without requiring nonfree JavaScript or trust in a single Web site. Unlike Twitter, we don't all have to be using the same server to read each other's messages, making it function more like email. <p>The Free Software Foundation has launched <a href="http://status.fsf.org">status.fsf.org</a>, our own <a href="http://status.net">StatusNet</a> instance. The new instance is part of our efforts to promote decentralized, federated communication using free software. And it has the added benefit of being licensed under the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl.html">GNU Affero General Public License</a>. </p>

<p>We are now posting exclusively from our accounts at <a href="http://status.fsf.org/fsf">status.fsf.org/fsf</a> for FSF updates and <a href="http://status.fsf.org/dbd">status.fsf.org/dbd</a> for the Defective by Design campaign. If you have been following us on <a href="http://identi.ca">identi.ca</a>, or want to start following us now, you can follow these simple instructions to subscribe to our new accounts. Once you subscribe, our posts will appear in your identi.ca (or StatusNet instance) feed as usual. </p>

<ol>
<li>Visit <a href="http://status.fsf.org/fsf">status.fsf.org/fsf</a>.</li>
<li>Hit subscribe.</li>
<li>Enter username@identi.ca into the box that appears, and hit subscribe.</li>
<li>It will ask you to confirm. Hit 'Confirm'.</li>
<li>Repeat with <a href="http://status.fsf.org/dbd">status.fsf.org/dbd</a>.</li>
</ol>

<p>Many FSF staff members are also using <a href="http://status.fsf.org">status.fsf.org</a> -- look for us individually there as well. </p>

<p>Thanks for subscribing! We'll do our best to keep you up-to-date on all the latest in the free software movement. </p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/will-you-be-at-libreplanet-register-today-for-march-23-24
title: Will you be at LibrePlanet? Register today for March 23-24
uri: Will-you-be-at-LibrePlanet-Register-today-for-March-23-24
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/will-you-be-at-libreplanet-register-today-for-march-23-24
content:
We're excited to announce that registration is now open for LibrePlanet 2013: "Commit Change."<a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/LibrePlanet:Conference/2013"><img src="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/LP2013.png" alt="Register now" style="float:right; margin:7px; border:1px solid black;"></a>
<p>LibrePlanet is a yearly conference where the global free software community comes together to learn from each other, face challenges and welcome newcomers. This year, the conference focuses on bringing together the diverse voices that have a stake in free software, from software developers to activists, academics to computer users. The theme is called "Commit Change," and it's about drawing ideas from everyone to create the software freedom we need.</p>

<p>If you're an FSF associate member, you can <a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/LibrePlanet:Conference/2013">sign up now</a> at no cost! Otherwise, we invite you to <a href="http://www.fsf.org/associate/benefits">become a member</a> for gratis admission and a host of other benefits, including an account on our brand new <a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/membership/help-us-sign-up-71-new-members-by-january-31st-and-use-your-new-jabber-account">Jabber chat server</a>. You can also <a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/LibrePlanet:Conference/2013">attend the conference at the non-member rate</a>.</p>

<p>We're excited to feature a keynote address by Karen Sandler, executive director of the GNOME Foundation and renowned software freedom advocate. The conference will also feature workshops in using free programs, talks and discussion panels with free software luminaries, plentiful networking opportunities and a pre-conference social gathering. In addition to Karen, the program includes sessions with Stefano Zacchiroli, Project Leader at Debian, Wendy Seltzer of the W3C, and our own Richard Stallman.</p>

<p>If you're interested in technology's role in struggles for justice, community, and freedom, then you will find a lot to be excited about at LibrePlanet. Join us at LibrePlanet 2013 and help Commit Change.</p>

<p><a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/LibrePlanet:Conference/2013">Register for the conference now</a> or <a href="https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom/join_fsf?referrer=2442">become a member</a> to attend at no cost.</p>

<p>Hope to see you at LibrePlanet!</p>

<p>Zak Rogoff, <br />
Campaigns Manager</p>

<p>PS: Today is the very last day of our recruitment drive, and we're very close to reaching our goal of 120 new members. If you <a href="https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom/join_fsf?referrer=2442">become a member</a> today, you'll help us shatter our goal and do more for software freedom in 2013.</p>


title: Keep the pressure on the White House and US Copyright Office to fix anti-circumvention provisions
uri: Keep-the-pressure-on-the-White-House-and-US-Copyright-Office-to-fix-an
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/keep-the-pressure-on-white-house-and-us-copyright-office-to-fix-anti-circumvention-provisions

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/keep-the-pressure-on-white-house-and-us-copyright-office-to-fix-anti-circumvention-provisions

content:
When the Copyright Office announced its updated DMCA exemptions list, we were saddened to find that the office had abdicated its duty on multiple fronts. While that sad result was announced back in October, the downgraded exemptions list has just now come into effect. We need your voice in this fight.<p>Back in October we had written about the <a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/copyright-office-fails-to-protect-users-from-dmca">Copyright Office's failure to protect users from the DMCA's unjust anti-circumvention provisions</a>. When the Copyright Office announced its updated DMCA exemptions list, we were saddened to find that the office had abdicated its duty on multiple fronts.  From letting protections on the unlocking of phones expire, to failing to expand exemptions to tablets or gaming devices, the office left a cork in this important safety valve.</p>

<p>While that sad result was announced back in October, the downgraded exemptions list has just now come into effect. As of January 26th, 2013, carrier-unlocking your own cell phone is no longer protected from the DMCA's harmful reach. Anyone caught trying to unlock a phone could face "up to $2,500 per unlocked phone in a civil suit, and $500,000 or five years in prison in a criminal case where the unlocking is done for 'commercial advantage.'"<a href="#foot-note-1">1</a></p>

<p>And while you can still "jailbreak" your phone to install free software like <a href="http://replicant.us/about/">Replicant</a>, the same cannot necessarily be said for your tablet or gaming device.  The Copyright Office declined to extend DMCA exemptions to tablets, stating that they were not sure what a tablet was. Hopefully users will be able to figure out what tablets are, because whether your installation of Replicant is protected or not may depend on whether you install it on a phone or a tablet. This is an absurd outcome, particularly considering <a href="http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/secure-boot-vs-restricted-boot/whitepaper-web">Microsoft's current attempts at locking down an entire generation of ARM tablet devices</a>.</p>

<p>On Thursday, February 14th, President Obama will be taking questions from the public. Our friends at <a href="http://publicknowledge.org/">Public Knowledge</a> are rallying to get a question to him requesting support for a change in the law to protect users' rights "to use the devices and digital media that they have already paid for, however they like, and for their own personal use." While we need even more than this, we join Public Knowledge in encouraging the President to address this question and begin the process of fixing the DMCA's draconian provisions.</p>

<p>We hope that President Obama will address this issue, but more needs to be done. We need your voice in this fight. Here is what you can do to help:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/make-unlocking-cell-phones-legal/1g9KhZG7">Sign the petition</a> to reinstate the right to unlock phones. Note that while <a href="https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/">petitions.whitehouse.gov</a> doesn't currently follow <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/javascript-labels.html">best practices for deploying freely licensed javascript</a>, the whole project is free software under GPLv2+, and source code is available at <a href="https://github.com/WhiteHouse/petitions/">https://github.com/WhiteHouse/petitions/</a>.</li>
<li>Join our <a href="http://www.defectivebydesign.org/">Defective By Design</a> campaign to end DRM.</li>
<li>Sign our statement to <a href="http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/secure-boot-vs-restricted-boot/statement">Stop Restricted Boot</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://my.fsf.org/">Donate</a> to the Free Software Foundation to support our efforts to fight bad laws like the DMCA.</li>
</ul>

<p><a name="foot-note-1">
1 Mitch Stoltz, Is It Illegal To Unlock a Phone? The Situation is Better - and Worse - Than You Think, <em>Deep Links</em>, January 28, 2013, <a href="https://www.eff.org/is-it-illegal-to-unlock-a-phone">https://www.eff.org/is-it-illegal-to-unlock-a-phone</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/gnu-press/gnu-press-discounts-bison-manual
title: GNU Press discounts Bison Manual!
uri: GNU-Press-discounts-Bison-Manual
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/gnu-press/gnu-press-discounts-bison-manual
content:
The price of the Bison Manual reduced to $13.<p>To make room for the updated version, GNU Press is slashing the price of the <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/bison-manual/"> Bison Manual, version 1.875</a> by nearly 50%! The manual is great for C programmers or students interested in learning about and implementing a wide variety of language parsers.</p>

<p>If you can't find something in the store but think we should offer it, please add your suggestion to our <a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki?title=GNU_Press_Shop_Items_Ideas#Store">Ideas</a> page. And remember, associate members of the Free Software Foundation get a 20% discount on all purchases made through the GNU Press store, so if you are not a member already, <a href="https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom">join today</a>!</p>

<p>To keep up with announcements about new products available in the GNU Press store, <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=88&reset=1">subscribe to the mailing list.</a></p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-27-new-gnu-releases
title: GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry: 27 new GNU releases!
uri: GNU-Spotlight-with-Karl-Berry-27-new-GNU-releases
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-27-new-gnu-releases
content:
27 new GNU releases this month (as of January 24, 2012):<p>autogen-5.17.1 <br> gnunet-0.9.5 <br> mtools-4.0.18 <br> automake-1.13.1 <br> groff-1.22.1 <br> nettle-2.6 <br> cgicc-3.2.10 <br> gsrc-2013.01.06 <br> parallel-20130122 <br> freeipmi-1.2.4 <br> help2man-1.41.1 <br> pycdio-0.18 <br> gawk-4.0.2 <br> libcdio-paranoia-10.2+0.90 <br> pyconfigure-0.1.1 <br> gettext-0.18.2 <br> libmicrohttpd-0.9.24 <br> remotecontrol-1.0 <br> glibc-2.17 <br> libopts-37.0.12 <br> sharutils-4.13.3 <br> gnu-ghostscript-9.06.0 <br> mifluz-0.25.0 <br> sipwitch-1.5.0 gnun-0.7 <br> motti-3.0.1 <br> solfege-3.20.8</p>
<p>To get announcements of most new GNU releases, subscribe to the info-gnu mailing list: <a href="http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu">http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu</a>. Nearly all GNU software is available from <a href="http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/">http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/</a>, or preferably one of its mirrors (<a href="http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html">http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html</a>). You can use the url <a href="http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/">http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/</a> to be automatically redirected to a (hopefully) nearby and up-to-date mirror.</p>
<p>We welcome Lucas Bonnet as a new co-maintainer of GNU EMMS, Stephen Dawson as the maintainer of the new package remotecontrol (first release already made), Holger Hans Peter Freyther as the new maintainer of GNU Smalltalk, Shaunak Shaha as the new maintainer of GNU DDD, and Jose Marchesi as the new maintainer of GNU sed (in addition to the many things he already does).</p>
<p>A number of GNU packages, as well as the GNU operating system as a whole, are looking for maintainers and other assistance. Please see <a href="http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint">http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint</a> if you'd like to help. The general page on how to help GNU is at <a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html</a>. To submit new packages to the GNU operating system, see <a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html</a>.</p>
<p>As always, please feel free to write to me, <a href="mailto:karl@gnu.org">karl@gnu.org</a>, with any GNUish questions or suggestions for future installments.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/excitement-building-for-libreplanet-sign-up-before-it-fills-up
title: Excitement building for LibrePlanet! Sign up before it fills up!
uri: Excitement-building-for-LibrePlanet-Sign-up-before-it-fills-up
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/excitement-building-for-libreplanet-sign-up-before-it-fills-up
content:
It's only a month before LibrePlanet 2013: "Commit Change" and the campaigns team is in a flurry of activity, putting the finishing touches on the conference plans. People are registering quickly and it's great to see how much everyone is looking forward to the conference.<p><a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/LibrePlanet:Conference/2013"><img src="media/ab618c82.CommitChange.png" data-original-source="https://static.fsf.org/nosvn/CommitChange.png" style="float: right; margin: 7px;" width="300px" alt="Register now!"></a></p>

<p>Want to be part of LibrePlanet 2013? It's March 23-24 at Harvard University. <a href="http://www.libreplanet.org/2013">Register now.</a> Remember, it's gratis for FSF members and discounted for students.</p>

<p>Since our last email, the program has grown a lot, now including:  </p>

<ul>
<li>Leslie Hawthorn, community manager at Red Hat  </li>
<li><a href="http://upstream-university.org/">Upstream University</a>, a seminar where developers will learn to contribute more successfully and efficiently to free software. (This requires <a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Upstream_University_training">separate registration</a>. Space is limited!).  </li>
<li>An exhibit hall of free software organizations and companies  </li>
<li>Rubén Rodriguez from Trisquel, one of the FSF-endorsed <a href="http://www.gnu.org/distros">fully free GNU/Linux distributions</a>  </li>
</ul>

<p>And of course Richard Stallman and Karen Sandler (executive director of GNOME) will still be there to anchor the conference.</p>

<p>One more thing: only people who register before March 6th will be able to order a LibrePlanet 2013: Commit Change t-shirt. These shirts are a great way to show off your love of free software during the conference and start conversations afterwards. So if you want to represent LibrePlanet with a spiffy t-shirt, <a href="http://www.libreplanet.org/2013">don't wait to sign up</a>.</p>

<p>Hope to see you at the conference! If you're going and would like to connect with other attendees, check out the #libreplanet IRC channel on irc.freenode.org.</p>


title: Winners announced for free software gaming's highest honor, the Liberated Pixel Cup
uri: Winners-announced-for-free-software-gaming-s-highest-honor-the-Libera
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/winners-announced-for-free-software-gamings-highest-honor-the-liberated-pixel-cup

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/winners-announced-for-free-software-gamings-highest-honor-the-liberated-pixel-cup

content:
We're proud to announce the completion of the first LPC, a design competition of free software video games using only freely licensed art and media. The winner is Lurking Patrol Comrades, which, according to judges, is an "impressive MMORPG with a vast world, plenty of characters to speak to [and] both a melee and a magic based battle system."<p>The LPC was sponsored by the <a href="http://www.fsf.org">FSF</a>, <a href="http://www.mozilla.org">Mozilla</a>, <a href="http://www.creativecommons.org">Creative Commons</a> and <a href="http://www.opengameart.org">OpenGameArt</a>. Thank you to the donors who gave to the FSF to support this effort! The competition attracted a lot of attention in the free software community, and in fact there were so many submissions that the announcement of winners had to be postponed because judging took so long.</p>

<p>The prize-winning games have just been announced <a href="http://lpc.opengameart.org/content/code-judging-is-in">here</a>. The winners of the earlier art-only phase of the competition are <a href="http://lpc.opengameart.org/content/liberated-pixel-cup-art-winners-announced">here</a>.</p>

<p>And that's the end of the first Liberated Pixel Cup! We'd like to say thank you to everyone who put their passion for free software gaming into art, development and judging. We look forward to seeing further development on these games and, hopefully, more LPCs ahead!</p>

<p>Also see <a href="http://www.fsf.org/news/winners-announced-for-free-software-gamings-highest-honor-the-liberated-pixel-cup">our press release</a> announcing the winners.
</p>


uri: Petition-to-protect-the-right-to-unlock-cellphones-garners-111-000-s
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/petition-to-protect-the-right-to-unlock-cellphones-garners-111-000-signors-white-house-must-now-respond

title:
Petition to protect the right to unlock cellphones garners  111,000+ signers; White House must now respond

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/petition-to-protect-the-right-to-unlock-cellphones-garners-111-000-signors-white-house-must-now-respond

content:
On February 13th, we asked you to join in with thousands of others to call on the White House to protect users where the Copyright Office had failed. Because of your actions, the White House now must respond to the call to fix the DMCA anti-circumvention exemptions list in order to protect the right to unlock cell phones. But there is more we should do.<p>On <a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/keep-the-pressure-on-white-house-and-us-copyright-office-to-fix-anti-circumvention-provisions">February
13th</a>,
we asked you to join in with thousands of others to call on the White
House to protect users where the Copyright Office had failed. As of
today, more than <a href="https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/make-unlocking-cell-phones-legal/1g9KhZG7">111,000 people have signed the petition to make
cellphone unlocking legal
again</a>.
Because of your actions, the White House must now respond to the call to
fix the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's (DMCA) anti-circumvention
exemptions list in order to protect the right to unlock cell phones.</p>

<p>While much of the DMCA is not bad, the anti-circumvention rules
unethically restrict users from being free to use and modify their own
devices. The list of exemptions from the anti-circumvention provisions
is a safety valve on this onerous aspect of the law. When the Copyright
Office (who is charged with maintaining the list of exemptions) chose to
end the exemption for unlocking cellphones, they failed to safeguard
your freedom.</p>

<p>We hope that the White House will realize the mistake that the Copyright
Office made in ending the DMCA exemption for unlocking phones. But the
issues with the DMCA exemptions list go beyond this. Under the current
list, "jailbreaking" a phone in order to install your own operating
system is exempt, but doing the same on a tablet is not. We had hoped
that President Obama would address the broader question of who should
have ultimate control over a device, the user who bought it or the
corporation who sold it, during his <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/02/14/watch-president-obama-answers-your-questions-google-hangout">'Fireside
Hangout'</a>.
Unfortunately, that question was never answered, but the White House
must respond to the petition on unlocking cell phones, thanks to your
efforts.</p>

<p>While we look forward to hearing the administration's forthcoming
response, there is still more that we can do. Here is what you can do to
help:</p>

<ul>
<li>Join our <a href="http://www.defectivebydesign.org/">Defective By Design</a>
campaign to end Digital Restrictions Management (DRM).</li>
<li>Sign our statement to <a href="http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/secure-boot-vs-restricted-boot/statement">Stop Restricted
Boot</a>
to make sure your laptop and desktop computer don't get locked down like
your phone.</li>
<li><a href="https://my.fsf.org/donate/">Donate</a> to the Free Software Foundation to support
our efforts to fight bad laws like the DMCA.</li>
</ul>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-con-karl-berry-19-nuevas-publicaciones-de-gnu
title: GNU Spotlight con Karl Berry: 19 nuevas publicaciones de GNU!
uri: GNU-Spotlight-con-Karl-Berry-19-nuevas-publicaciones-de-GNU
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-con-karl-berry-19-nuevas-publicaciones-de-gnu
content:
Este mes (25 de Febrero) 19 nuevas publicaciones de GNU:<ul>
<li>autoconf-archive-2013.02.02</li>
<li>gnunet-0.9.5a</li>
<li>pycdio-0.19</li>
<li>autogen-5.17.2</li>
<li>groff-1.22.2</li>
<li>serveez-0.2.0</li>
<li>coreutils-8.21</li>
<li>libmicrohttpd-0.9.25</li>
<li>texinfo-5.0</li>
<li>glpk-4.48</li>
<li>linux-libre-3.8</li>
<li>unrtf-0.21.3</li>
<li>gmp-5.1.1</li>
<li>mdk-1.2.7</li>
<li>xboard-4.7.0</li>
<li>gnubatch-1.7</li>
<li>octave-3.6.4</li>
<li>gnuhealth-1.8.0</li>
<li>parallel-20130222</li>
</ul>

<p>Para recibir avisos de las publicaciones más recientes de GNU,
suscríbete a la lista de correo info-gnu:
<a href="http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu">http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu</a>. Casi todo el software
GNU está disponible en <a href="http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/">http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/</a>, o preferiblemente en
una de las réplicas (<a href="http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html">http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html</a>). Puedes usar la URL
<a href="http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/">http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/</a> para ser automáticamente redirecionado (con
suerte) a la réplica más cercana y actualizada.</p>

<p>Este mes, damos la bienvenida a Mark Veltzer como nuevo co-mantenedor de GNU grep.</p>

<p>Me gustaría hacer una mención especial a Texinfo 5.0, la publicación más reciente de Textinfo desde hace muchos años. 
Esta es una completa reimplementación de makeinfo, integrando funcionalidades de text2html y más, mientras se mantiene 
la compatibilidad práctica, principlamente gracias a los esfuerzos de Patrice Dumas.
El sitio web de Textinfo es <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo">http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo</a>.</p>

<p>Una cantidad de paquetes GNU, así como el sistema operativo GNU en si,
están buscando mantendores u otro tipo de ayuda. Por favor visita
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint">http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint</a> si te gustaría
ayudar. La página general de cómo ayudar a GNU está en:
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html</a>. Para enviar un nuevos paquetes para
el sistema operativo GNU, visita: <a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html</a>.</p>

<p>Como siempre, por favor siéntete libre de escribirme, <a href="mailto:karl@gnu.org">&#107;a&#x72;&#108;&#64;&#103;&#110;&#x75;&#46;&#x6F;&#x72;&#x67;</a>,
con cualquier pregunta o sugerencia sobre asuntos de GNU para futuros fascículos. </p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-27-new-gnu-releases-1
title: GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry: 19 new GNU releases!
uri: 2013-03-04-GNU-Spotlight-with-Karl-Berry-27-new-GNU-releases
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-27-new-gnu-releases-1
content:
19 new GNU releases this month (as of February 25, 2013):<ul>
<li>autoconf-archive-2013.02.02</li>
<li>gnunet-0.9.5a</li>
<li>pycdio-0.19</li>
<li>autogen-5.17.2</li>
<li>groff-1.22.2</li>
<li>serveez-0.2.0</li>
<li>coreutils-8.21</li>
<li>libmicrohttpd-0.9.25</li>
<li>texinfo-5.0</li>
<li>glpk-4.48</li>
<li>linux-libre-3.8</li>
<li>unrtf-0.21.3</li>
<li>gmp-5.1.1</li>
<li>mdk-1.2.7</li>
<li>xboard-4.7.0</li>
<li>gnubatch-1.7</li>
<li>octave-3.6.4</li>
<li>gnuhealth-1.8.0</li>
<li>parallel-20130222</li>
</ul>

<p>To get announcements of most new GNU releases, subscribe to the info-gnu
mailing list: <a href="http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu">http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu</a>.  Nearly
all GNU software is available from <a href="http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/">http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/</a>, or
preferably one of its mirrors (<a href="http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html">http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html</a>).  You
can use the url <a href="http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/">http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/</a> to be automatically
redirected to a (hopefully) nearby and up-to-date mirror.</p>

<p>This month, we welcome Mark Veltzer as a new co-maintainer of GNU grep.</p>

<p>I'd like to specially mention Texinfo 5.0, the first release in Texinfo
in too many years.  It is a complete reimplementation of makeinfo,
merging in texi2html features and more, while retaining practical
compatibility, primarily thanks to the efforts of Patrice Dumas.
The Texinfo home page is <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo">http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo</a>.</p>

<p>A number of GNU packages, as well as the GNU operating system as a
whole, are looking for maintainers and other assistance.  Please see
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint">http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint</a> if you'd like to
help.  The general page on how to help GNU is at
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html</a>.  To submit new packages to the GNU
operating system, see <a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html</a>.</p>

<p>As always, please feel free to write to me, <a href="mailto:karl@gnu.org">&#107;a&#114;&#108;&#64;&#103;&#x6E;u&#x2E;&#x6F;&#114;&#x67;</a>, with any
GNUish questions or suggestions for future installments.</p>


title: LibrePlanet in three weeks (3/23-3/24)! Sign up by Thursday to get a shirt
uri: LibrePlanet-in-three-weeks-(3-23-3-24)-Sign-up-by-Thursday-to-get-a-s
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/libreplanet-in-three-weeks-3-23-3-24-sign-up-by-thursday-to-get-a-shirt

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/libreplanet-in-three-weeks-3-23-3-24-sign-up-by-thursday-to-get-a-shirt

content:
March 23 and 24 are coming up fast, and there are already 150 people signed up for LibrePlanet 2013. Attendees are coming to Cambridge, Massachusetts from around the US as well as far-flung countries. So many free software lovers coming together to swap stories and share ideas!<a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/LibrePlanet:Conference/2013"><img src="media/9fdebde3.lptee.png" data-original-source="https://static.fsf.org/nosvn/lptee.png" style="float: right; margin: 7px;" width="350px" alt="LibrePlanet 2013 t-shirt"></a>

<p>Our goal is to make this the most exciting and mind-expanding LibrePlanet conference so far, so we decided that the t-shirt would also be the best-looking. We think we were successful, but you can judge for yourself from the image on the right. We're putting in the printing order this week in order to have the shirts in time for the conference, so...</p>

<p><strong><a href="http://libreplanet.org/2013">Sign up by this Thursday if you want one of these shirts!</a></strong></p>

<p>But there's obviously more to LibrePlanet than looking amazing. Libby is finalizing the program now, and we have some new sessions to feature: </p>

<ul>
<li>The announcement and bestowing of the <a href="http://www.fsf.org/news/the-free-software-foundation-opens-nominations-for-the-15th-annual-free-software-awards">Award for the Advancement of Free Software</a> and the <a href="http://www.fsf.org/news/the-free-software-foundation-opens-nominations-for-the-15th-annual-free-software-awards">Award for Free Software Projects of Social Benefit</a>. Winners are kept secret until they accept their awards at the conference.</li>
<li><a href="http://upstream-university.org">Upstream University</a>, a seminar where developers will learn to contribute more successfully and efficiently to free software. This requires separate registration and space is limited, so <a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Upstream_University_training">sign up now</a>!.</li>
<li>A demonstration of <a href="http://www.lulzbot.com/">LulzBot</a>, the 3D printer that runs on 100% free software. LulzBot is the first piece of hardware to earn the FSF's <a href="http://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/endorsement/respects-your-freedom">Respects Your Freedom</a> certification.</li>
</ul>

<p>I'm sad that I won't be able to be at all of these things, but Libby and I will be busy keeping the conference running smoothly and making sure you all are having a great time. It's going to be a lot of work, but we're looking forward to it.</p>

<p><strong>By the way, the conference costs nothing for FSF members. So if you've been thinking about becoming one, now is the time. <a href="http://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom">Click here</a> to join our community of members.</strong> </p>

<p>Three more weeks! If you've got any questions before then, send an email to <a href="mailto:campaigns@fsf.org">campaigns@fsf.org</a> or visit the #libreplanet IRC channel on irc.freenode.org to chat with other attendees.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/20120529-vilavelha
title: May 2012: RMS at the Fórum da Revista Espírito Livre, in Vila Velha
uri: May-2012-RMS-at-the-Fórum-da-Revista-Espírito-Livre-in-Vila-Velha
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/20120529-vilavelha
content:
<!-- Start of image + caption block -->
<div style="border-style:solid; border-width:2px;text-align:center; margin: 4px 50px 4px 50px; padding-top:4px;">

<p>RMS was in <a
href="http://www.fsf.org/events/20120529-vilavelha">Vila Velha,</a>
Brazil, on 29 May, to speak on the free software movement, at the
second edition of the Fórum da Revista Espírito Livre, to a diverse
audience of about 500 students, teachers, and free software activists.  A <a
href="http://www.revista.espiritolivre.org/edicoes/revista-espirito-livre-edicao-038">special
edition of the magazine Espiríto Livre, with RMS on the cover,</a> was
later released.</p>

<!-- Image(s) start below -->
<!-- Adjust the width="150" part to change how wide the image appears on the page  -->

<img src="media/6add8468.20120529-vilavelha-01.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120529-vilavelha-01.jpg" alt="" width="280" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="media/1be6bed9.20120529-vilavelha-02.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120529-vilavelha-02.jpg" alt="" width="280" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="media/c0067ac6.20120529-vilavelha-03.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120529-vilavelha-03.jpg" alt="" width="280" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="media/c5b42d97.20120529-vilavelha-04.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120529-vilavelha-04.jpg" alt="" width="280" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="media/28571b8e.20120529-vilavelha-06.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120529-vilavelha-06.jpg" alt="" width="140" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="media/0f9ba297.20120529-vilavelha-07.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120529-vilavelha-07.jpg" alt="" width="140" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="media/f3d6bf52.20120529-vilavelha-08.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120529-vilavelha-08.jpg" alt="" width="140" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="media/2d74083e.20120529-vilavelha-09.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120529-vilavelha-09.jpg" alt="" width="140" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="media/f4efe753.20120529-vilavelha-05.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120529-vilavelha-05.jpg" alt="" width="140" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="media/037fb9d2.20120529-vilavelha-10.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120529-vilavelha-10.jpg" alt="" width="140" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="media/a5d12f88.20120529-vilavelha-11.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120529-vilavelha-11.jpg" alt="" width="140" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="media/0ee87851.20120529-vilavelha-15.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120529-vilavelha-15.jpg" alt="" width="140" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="media/49d28b10.20120529-vilavelha-12.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120529-vilavelha-12.jpg" alt="" width="183" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="media/550ba3a9.20120529-vilavelha-13.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120529-vilavelha-13.jpg" alt="" width="183" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="media/8b7baff8.20120529-vilavelha-14.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120529-vilavelha-14.jpg" alt="" width="183" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="media/40d4c457.20120529-vilavelha-16.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120529-vilavelha-16.jpg" alt="" width="140" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="media/fa585932.20120529-vilavelha-17.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120529-vilavelha-17.jpg" alt="" width="140" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="media/42acdacb.20120529-vilavelha-18.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120529-vilavelha-18.jpg" alt="" width="140" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="media/4ce25ea9.20120529-vilavelha-19.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120529-vilavelha-19.jpg" alt="" width="140" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="media/ff80a425.20120529-vilavelha-20.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120529-vilavelha-20.jpg" alt="" width="183" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="media/87851125.20120529-vilavelha-21.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120529-vilavelha-21.jpg" alt="" width="183" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 
<img src="media/1d8564d8.20120529-vilavelha-24.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20120529-vilavelha-24.jpg" alt="" width="183" style="margin-top:4px;"/> 

<!-- Photo credits start below -->
<p style="padding: 0px 20px 0px 20px; margin-top:1px; text-align:center;">

<em>(Photos under <a
href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>
and courtesy of João Fernando Costa Júnior.)</em>

<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Many thanks to João Fernando
Costa Júnior, who helped coordinate the visit!</strong></p>

<p style="text-align:center;">Please see <a
href="http://www.fsf.org/events">www.fsf.org/events</a> for a full
list of all of RMS's confirmed engagements, and contact <a
href="mailto:rms-assist@gnu.org">rms-assist@gnu.org</a> if you'd like
him to come speak.</p>

<p>Please fill out our contact form, so that we can inform you about
future events in and around
<a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=92&reset=1">Campinas,</a>
<a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=87&reset=1">Florianopolis,</a>
<a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=96&reset=1">Pirai do Sul,</a>
<a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=97&reset=1">Porto Alegre,</a>
<a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=149&reset=1">Goiânia,</a>
<a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=106&reset=1">Brasilia,</a>
<a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=151&reset=1">Belém,</a>
<a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=148&reset=1">São Carlos,</a>
<a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=150&reset=1">Sorocaba,</a> and
<a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=155&reset=1">Curitiba,</a>
all of which RMS spoke in during <a
href="http://www.fsf.org/events/aggregator/previous">previous visits to Brazil.</a></p>

</p></div>

<!-- End of image+caption block -->


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/google-backslides-on-federated-instant-messaging-on-purpose
title: Google backslides on federated instant messaging, on purpose?
uri: Google-backslides-on-federated-instant-messaging-on-purpose
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/google-backslides-on-federated-instant-messaging-on-purpose
content:
Google users can still send subscription requests to contacts whose
accounts are hosted elsewhere. But they cannot accept incoming
requests. This change is akin to Google no longer accepting incoming
e-mail for @gmail.com addresses from non-Google domains. That would be
unthinkable.<p><em>by John Sullivan, Executive Director, and Ward Vandewege, CTO</em></p>

<p><strong>Update:</strong> Google has now done the right thing and <a href="/blogs/sysadmin/google-reinstates-federated-instant-messaging">corrected this problem.</a></p>

<p>Earlier this year, <a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/membership/help-us-sign-up-71-new-members-by-january-31st-and-use-your-new-jabber-account">we announced an instant messaging service for our
members</a>
using Jabber (XMPP). This service is federated, so like email, you can
talk to people whose account is hosted somewhere else than the FSF.
Your account is, say, johns@member.fsf.org, but you could still
seamlessly talk to someone who is sergey@gmail.com.</p>

<p>Until now. Recently, some of our members started reporting that they
were no longer able to add contacts at GoogleTalk, which is the Jabber
service Google provides to Gmail users. Since Google has run a fully
federated Jabber service for a long time and ours is new, we
investigated under the assumption the problem was on our end.</p>

<p>Turns out, Google has started <em>blocking invites sent from non-Google
Jabber servers</em>. Subscription requests just disappear mysteriously,
confusing both users and server operators.</p>

<p>Google users can still send subscription requests to contacts whose
accounts are hosted elsewhere. But they cannot accept incoming
requests. This change is akin to Google no longer accepting incoming
e-mail for @gmail.com addresses from non-Google domains. That would be
unthinkable.</p>

<p><a href="http://mail.jabber.org/pipermail/operators/2013-February/001571.html">According to a public mailing list thread</a>,
Google is doing this on purpose, to handle a spam problem. We
sympathize; we spend a disappointing amount of energy combating
similar problems on the services we provide for the free software
community. But the solution can't be something that breaks legitimate
communication channels, and especially not in a way that enhances
Google's disproportionate control of the network. While Google is
offering to whitelist servers whose operators write to them, this just
accentuates the inequality and doesn't realistically solve the
problem.</p>

<p>We hope that Google will retract this change and find a solution that
does not undermine the distributed nature of the Internet. We have
already reached out to them toward this end.</p>

<p>Meanwhile, we will continue offering our Jabber server as part of our
commitment to the vision of the Internet as a place of free
federation. You can <a href="http://fsf.org/jfb">join the FSF as a member</a> and
start using yourname@member.fsf.org anytime.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/watch-libreplanet-live-this-weekend
title: Watch LibrePlanet live this weekend
uri: Watch-LibrePlanet-live-this-weekend
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/watch-libreplanet-live-this-weekend
content:
LibrePlanet 2013 is just days away. <a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/LibrePlanet:Conference/2013"><img src="media/ab618c82.CommitChange.png" data-original-source="https://static.fsf.org/nosvn/CommitChange.png" width="300px" alt="Register now!" style="float: right; margin: 7px;"></a>

If you can't be in Cambridge in person, you can <a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/LibrePlanet:Conference/2013/Live">tune in live</a> on March 23rd and 24th to catch all the action. </p>

<p>We'll be streaming every session in each of the three program tracks. You won't want to miss highlights like: </p>

<ul>
<li>Free Software Foundation president Richard Stallman presenting the 2012 Free Software Awards  </li>
<li>Keynote speakers Karen Sandler and Leslie Hawthorn  </li>
<li>Debian project leader Stefano Zacchiroli  </li>
</ul>

<p>While you're watching the livestream, you can participate in conference chatter on IRC #libreplanet on FreeNode, and on StatusNet (#libreplanet).  </p>

<p>And if you can't tune into the livestream, don't worry. We'll make video of the sessions available on <a href="http://libreplanet.org/2013">libreplanet.org</a> in the days after the conference.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/interview-with-adam-hyde-of-booktype
title: Interview with Adam Hyde of Booktype
uri: Interview-with-Adam-Hyde-of-Booktype
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/interview-with-adam-hyde-of-booktype
content:
The latest installment of our Licensing and Compliance Lab's series on free software developers who choose GNU licenses for their works.<p>In this edition, we interviewed Adam Hyde via email. Adam is a knowledge production consultant. He is the founder of
<a href="http://www.sourcefabric.org/en/booktype/">Booktype</a> -- a book production platform released under AGPLv3, as well as <a href="http://www.booksprints.net">Book Sprints</a>, and <a href="http://www.flossmanuals.net">FLOSS Manuals</a>. Adam lives between Whangarei Heads, New Zealand, Berlin, and the road.</p>

<h2>What is Booktype?</h2>

<p>It is an online book production platform. It is suited to single
author and collaborative production. It is designed with a low
threshold for entry and is a bona fide end-to-end solution, taking
care of book creation through export to book formats like
EPUB, book formatted PDF, etc.</p>

<h2>What inspired you to create Booktype?</h2>

<p>We needed it for FLOSS Manuals (FM). With FM we had a growing
community and we needed an online book production system to manage
collaborative production. So we built one first on top of TWiki and
then as a standalone application in Django.</p>

<h2>How far along with the project are you?</h2>

<p>It works and is available and quite sophisticated. It's at 1.5 but 2.0
isnt that far away. There will always be improvements but it's pretty
good as is.</p>

<h2>What features do you think really sets Booktype apart from similar software?</h2>

<p>It is easy to use and it uses 100% free software. We have, for
example, held out against pressure to use proprietary PDF renderers
(namely PrinceXML) which other "open source" softwares use. We instead
ended up building our own which is better than any alternatives whether free
or proprietary -- it's called BookJS and can run independent of Booktype.</p>

<h2>Why did you choose the GNU Affero GPL version 3 as Booktype's license?</h2>

<p>Because we wished the code to remain free. It's that simple.</p>

<h2>How can users (technical or otherwise) help contribute to Booktype?</h2>

<p>They can write to me directly and we can work out how to get them
started.</p>

<h2>What's the next big thing for Booktype?</h2>

<p>A move to content-editable editors instead of What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get. That really
changes the game.</p>

<p><em>Please see the Booktype entry in the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Booktype">Free Software Directory</a> for more information.</em></p>

<p>Enjoyed this interview? Check out our previous entry in this series featuring <a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/interview-with-matthieu-aubry-of-piwik">Matthieu Aubry of Piwik</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/libreplanet-2013-off-to-a-great-start-1
title: LibrePlanet 2013 off to a great start
uri: LibrePlanet-2013-off-to-a-great-start
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/libreplanet-2013-off-to-a-great-start-1
content:
Yesterday was the first day of LibrePlanet 2013. Here are some stats:
<ul>
<li>16 talks, workshops, plenaries, sprints and install parties</li>
<li>4 conference halls and classrooms</li>
<li>19 dedicated and effective volunteers</li>
<li>4 tables of tasty breakfast food and snacks</li>
<li>~200 happy people excited about free software!</li>
</ul>

<p>On to day two!</p>

<img width="650px" src="media/a4bbb275.talking.jpg" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/libreplanet/2013/talking.jpg";>

<br>
<br>
<br>

<img width="650px" src="media/11b73b74.IMG_5750.thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/libreplanet/2013/IMG_5750.thumb.jpg";>

<br>
<br>
<br>

<img width="650px" src="media/ced6055f.IMG_5756.thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/libreplanet/2013/IMG_5756.thumb.jpg";>

<br>
<br>
<br>

<img width="650px" src="media/84e36533.bethlynn.jpg" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/libreplanet/2013/bethlynn.jpg";>

<br><br>
<br>

<img width="650px" src="media/ff3bb709.deb.jpg" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/libreplanet/2013/deb.jpg";>

<br><br>
<br>

<img width="650px" src="media/307c408a.expandthetent.jpg" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/libreplanet/2013/expandthetent.jpg";>

<br><br>
<br>

<img width="650px" src="media/74fbe968.gavroche.jpg" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/libreplanet/2013/gavroche.jpg";>

<br><br>
<br>

<img width="650px" src="media/556d03ed.mako.jpg" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/libreplanet/2013/mako.jpg";>

<br><br><br>

<img width="650px" src="media/555a1ffc.marina.jpg" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/libreplanet/2013/marina.jpg";>

<br><br><br>

<img width="650px" src="media/726a48b1.rms.jpg" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/libreplanet/2013/rms.jpg";>

<br><br><br>

<img width="650px" src="media/287de0d4.room110.jpg" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/libreplanet/2013/room110.jpg";>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/gnu-press/celebrate-libreplanet-2013-with-this-commemorative-shirt
title: Celebrate LibrePlanet 2013 with this commemorative shirt!
uri: Celebrate-LibrePlanet-2013-with-this-commemorative-shirt
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/gnu-press/celebrate-libreplanet-2013-with-this-commemorative-shirt
content:
The shirts are pearl gray, featuring the blue-and-black LibrePlanet 2013: Commit Change logo. It comes in unisex and women's sizes.<p><a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/Libreplanet2013/"><img src="media/fe5f1538.productimage-picture-libreplanet2013-123_t280.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org//shop.fsf.org/static/images/productimage-picture-libreplanet2013-123_t280.jpg" alt="" /></a></p>

<p>This past weekend, many of you joined us for the annual <a href="http://libreplanet.org/2013">LibrePlanet 2013</a> conference. For those of you unable to get a conference shirt or wanting a second, GNU Press <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/Libreplanet2013/">now has the remaining inventory up for sale</a>! The shirts are pearl gray, featuring the blue-and-black LibrePlanet 2013: Commit Change logo. It comes in unisex and women's sizes.</p>

<p>If you can't find something in the store but think we should offer it, please add your suggestion to our <a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:Free_Software_Foundation/Ideas">Ideas</a> page. And remember, associate members of the Free Software Foundation get a 20% discount on all purchases made through the GNU Press store, so if you are not a member already, <a href="https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom">join today</a>!</p>

<p>To keep up with announcements about new products available in the GNU Press store, <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=88&amp;reset=1">subscribe to the mailing list.</a></p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/nu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-29-new-gnu-releases
title: GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry: 29 new GNU releases!
uri: GNU-Spotlight-with-Karl-Berry-29-new-GNU-releases
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/nu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-29-new-gnu-releases
content:
29 new GNU releases this month (as of March 24, 2013):<ul>
<li>acct-6.6.1</li>
<li>gnuchess-6.0.3</li>
<li>mpfr-3.1.2</li>
<li>cppi-1.18</li>
<li>gnuedma-0.18.6</li>
<li>nano-2.3.2</li>
<li>dejagnu-1.5.1</li>
<li>gnuhealth-1.8.1</li>
<li>texinfo-5.1</li>
<li>emacs-24.3</li>
<li>gv-3.7.4</li>
<li>thales-1.1.1</li>
<li>freeipmi-1.2.5</li>
<li>libgcrypt-1.5.1</li>
<li>tramp-2.2.7</li>
<li>gcc-4.8.0</li>
<li>librejs-4.9.3</li>
<li>trueprint-5.4</li>
<li>gecb-0.8.4</li>
<li>marst-2.7</li>
<li>vc-dwim-1.7</li>
<li>gettext-0.18.2.1</li>
<li>maverik-6.5</li>
<li>wdiff-1.2.1</li>
<li>gidfwizard-0.6.4</li>
<li>mcsim-5.5.0</li>
<li>xorriso-1.2.8</li>
<li>global-6.2.8</li>
<li>moe-1.5</li>
</ul>

<p>To get announcements of most new GNU releases, subscribe to the info-gnu
mailing list: <a href="http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu">http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu</a>. Nearly
all GNU software is available from <a href="http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/">http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/</a>, or
preferably one of its mirrors (<a href="http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html">http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html</a>). You
can use the url <a href="http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/">http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/</a> to be automatically
redirected to a (hopefully) nearby and up-to-date mirror.</p>

<p>This month, we welcome Cynthia Rempel as the new maintainer of the
pgccfd document and Jeffrin Jose as the new maintainer of GNU dap (in
addition to already maintaining GNU trueprint, with a new release this
month).</p>

<p>A number of GNU packages, as well as the GNU operating system as a
whole, are looking for maintainers and other assistance. Please see
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint">http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint</a> if you'd like to
help. The general page on how to help GNU is at
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html</a>. To submit new packages to the GNU
operating system, see <a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html</a>.</p>

<p>As always, please feel free to write to me, <a href="mailto:karl@gnu.org">&#107;&#x61;r&#x6C;&#64;&#x67;&#x6E;&#117;&#46;&#x6F;&#114;&#x67;</a>, with any
GNUish questions or suggestions for future installments.</p>


title: Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
uri: 2013-04-04-Join-the-FSF-and-friends-in-updating-the-Free-Software-Directory
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-16

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-16

content:
With recent improvements to the Free Software Directory server software, editing is now easier than ever!<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, April 5th, from 2:00pm to 5pm EDT
(19:00 to 22:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p> 

<p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p> 
 
<p>While the Free Software 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!</p> 
 
<p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to
make it onto IRC on Friday, our
<a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> 
will provide you with all the information you need to get started on
helping the Directory today!</p> 


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/photos-and-feedback-from-libreplanet
title: Photos and numbers from LibrePlanet
uri: Photos-and-numbers-from-LibrePlanet
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/photos-and-feedback-from-libreplanet
content:
The involvement and energy of the free software community make LibrePlanet what it is: brilliant and passionate people coming together around software freedom, drinking lots of coffee and forging the future of our movement. This year, we particularly appreciated your contributions to the theme of "Commit Change": a focus on making connections to other movements and building diversity within free software.<p><a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/LibrePlanet:Conference/2013"><img src="media/32f8d5f2.expandthetentcropped.png" data-original-source="https://static.fsf.org/nosvn/libreplanet/2013/expandthetentcropped.png" alt="LibrePlanet 2013" width="300px" style="float:right; margin:10px" /></a></p>

<p>We've posted our <a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/LibrePlanet:Conference/2013/Photos">photographs from the conference</a> on a wiki page. If you have photos from the conference, please link to them from the page! Soon we'll also have video of the sessions hosted on our site.</p>

<p>To celebrate the success of the conference, we'd like to share some numbers:</p>

<ul>
<li>More than 150 attendees</li>
<li>35 talks, workshops and events</li>
<li>40% of sessions with at least one woman presenter (a new record for LibrePlanet!)</li>
<li>30% of speakers were women</li>
<li>More than 29 hours of video </li>
<li>Pretty successful live streaming in all three rooms, using only free software</li>
<li>16 lightning talks delivered by passionate attendees</li>
<li>64 LibrePlanet 2013 t-shirts sold or given to volunteers (Missed your chance to get one? <a href="https://shop.fsf.org/product/Libreplanet2013/">Pick one up at our shop.</a>)</li>
</ul>

<p>If you can, please <a href="https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom">make a donation</a> to the FSF to help us recoup the cost of the conference. If you aren't currently a member, the best way to do this is to <a href="https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom/join_fsf?">join</a>, because then you'll get gratis admission to the next LibrePlanet!</p>

<p>Last but not least, we'd like to thank all of the dedicated volunteers that made this conference possible. Much appreciation to Robert Call, Tristan Chambers, George Chriss, Ian Denhardt, Andrew Engelbrecht, Patrick Engelman, Luke Faraone, Daniel Fitzmartin, Ian Gustafson, Michael Haendler, Brendan Kidwell, Jon Littlefield, Stan Livitski, Peter Loshin, Adelaida McIntire, Emily O'Leary, Martin Owens, Ash Saraga, Jason Self, Kyle Walters and Chris Williams. It was fun and rewarding to have your help with the conference.</p>

<p>That's all for now! We hope that you'll join us at LibrePlanet 2014 (spoiler alert: we're going to announce the theme soon).</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-con-karl-berry-29-nuevas-publicaciones-de-gnu
title: GNU Spotlight con Karl Berry: 29 nuevas publicaciones de GNU!
uri: GNU-Spotlight-con-Karl-Berry-29-nuevas-publicaciones-de-GNU
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-con-karl-berry-29-nuevas-publicaciones-de-gnu
content:
Este mes (al 24 de marzo) 29 nuevas publicaciones de GNU.
<ul>
<li>acct-6.6.1</li>
<li>gnuchess-6.0.3</li>
<li>mpfr-3.1.2</li>
<li>cppi-1.18</li>
<li>gnuedma-0.18.6</li>
<li>nano-2.3.2</li>
<li>dejagnu-1.5.1</li>
<li>gnuhealth-1.8.1</li>
<li>texinfo-5.1</li>
<li>emacs-24.3</li>
<li>gv-3.7.4</li>
<li>thales-1.1.1</li>
<li>freeipmi-1.2.5</li>
<li>libgcrypt-1.5.1</li>
<li>tramp-2.2.7</li>
<li>gcc-4.8.0</li>
<li>librejs-4.9.3</li>
<li>trueprint-5.4</li>
<li>gecb-0.8.4</li>
<li>marst-2.7</li>
<li>vc-dwim-1.7</li>
<li>gettext-0.18.2.1</li>
<li>maverik-6.5</li>
<li>wdiff-1.2.1</li>
<li>gidfwizard-0.6.4</li>
<li>mcsim-5.5.0</li>
<li>xorriso-1.2.8</li>
<li>global-6.2.8</li>
<li>moe-1.5</li>
</ul>

<p>Para recibir avisos de las publicaciones más recientes de GNU,
suscríbete a la lista de correo info-gnu:
<a href="http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu">http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu</a>. Casi todo el software
GNU está disponible en <a href="http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/">http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/</a>, o preferiblemente en
una de las réplicas (<a href="http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html">http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html</a>). Puedes usar la URL
<a href="http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/">http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/</a> para ser automáticamente redirecionado (con
suerte) a la réplica más cercana y actualizada.</p>

<p>Este mes, damos la bienvenida a  Cynthia Rempel  como nueva mantenedora del document pgccfd 
y a  Jeffrin Jose  como el nuevo mantenedor de GNU dap (ademas de ser mantenedor de GNU trueprint con una
nueva version este mes)</p>

<p>Una cantidad de paquetes GNU, así como el sistema operativo GNU en si,
están buscando mantendores u otro tipo de ayuda. Por favor visita
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint">http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint</a> si te gustaría
ayudar. La página general de cómo ayudar a GNU está en:
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html</a>. Para enviar un nuevos paquetes para
el sistema operativo GNU, visita: <a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html</a>.</p>

<p>Como siempre, por favor siéntete libre de escribirme, <a href="mailto:karl@gnu.org">&#107;ar&#108;&#64;&#x67;&#110;&#117;&#x2E;&#x6F;&#x72;&#103;</a>,
con cualquier pregunta o sugerencia sobre asuntos de GNU para futuros fascículos. </p>


title: Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
uri: 2013-04-11-Join-the-FSF-and-friends-in-updating-the-Free-Software-Directory
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-17

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-17

content:
With recent improvements to the Free Software Directory server software, editing is now easier than ever!<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, April 12th, from 3pm to 6pm EDT
(20:00 to 23:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p> 

<p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p> 
 
<p>While the Free Software 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!</p> 
 
<p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to
make it onto IRC on Friday, our
<a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> 
will provide you with all the information you need to get started on
helping the Directory today!</p> 


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/friends-dont-let-friends-use-windows-8
title: Friends don't let friends use Windows 8
uri: Friends-don-t-let-friends-use-Windows-8
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/friends-dont-let-friends-use-windows-8
content:
Sometimes, proprietary software actually helps us fight for freedom. Windows 8 is so bad it's almost funny--it's not only proprietary software full of spyware and security vulnerabilities, but it's also confusing for would-be users. Lucky for us, Microsoft's spectacular failure is the perfect time to help people switch to free software.<p>Today, we're launching a new infographic to encourage everyone to close Windows and open the door to software freedom. Windows 8 is so ripe for parody, we just couldn't resist. Check it out: </p>
 
<p><center><a href="http://www.upgradefromwindows8.com"><img src="media/f2eff9f0.win8_infographic_email.png" data-original-source="https://static.fsf.org/nosvn/windows8/win8_infographic_email.png" /></a></center></p>

<p>Upgrading to free software can be daunting for some people. That's why we need you, the free software experts, to lend a helping hand. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.fsf.org/windows8/pledge">Take our pledge to help a friend or family member upgrade from Windows</a></p>

<p>Then, <a href="http://www.fsf.org/share?u=http://fsf.org/windows8&amp;t=Why%20you%20should%20close%20Windows%20for%20good">share this infographic with every Windows user you know</a>. When your friends or family see the infographic and want to switch, set a date to help them do it. You'd be surprised what a difference a few hours of your time can make in someone else's life. </p>

<p>So, what are you waiting for? <a href="http://www.fsf.org/windows8/pledge">Take the pledge</a> and liberate someone from Microsoft's shackles today. </p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/boston-marathon-bombings
title: Boston Marathon bombings
uri: Boston-Marathon-bombings
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/boston-marathon-bombings
content:
Thank you to everyone for thinking of us at the Free Software
Foundation office in downtown Boston as yesterday's terrible news
unfolded. We appreciate all the concerned emails and queries.<p>Our office was officially closed during the attack, in observance of
the Patriots' Day holiday. The bombs went off about a mile away from
our location, so we were not at risk. Today, all of our staff and
interns are safe and accounted for.</p>

<p>Our hearts are with those who were injured and the loved ones of those
who died.</p>

<p>There has already been a tremendous outpouring of support from Boston
residents and businesses offering hospitality and help to visitors who
have been displaced. Let me add our small contribution -- as always,
anyone visiting Boston is welcome in <a href="/about/contact">our office</a>; we
can at least offer wifi, coffee, and good company.</p>


title: Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
uri: 2013-04-18-Join-the-FSF-and-friends-in-updating-the-Free-Software-Directory
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-18

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-18

content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, April 19th, from 2:00pm to 5pm EDT
(19:00 to 22:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p> 

<p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p> 
 
<p>While the Free Software 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!</p> 
 
<p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to
make it onto IRC on Friday, our
<a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> 
will provide you with all the information you need to get started on
helping the Directory today!</p> 


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/google-reinstates-federated-instant-messaging
title: Google reinstates federated instant messaging
uri: Google-reinstates-federated-instant-messaging
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/google-reinstates-federated-instant-messaging
content:
We want to commend Google for doing the right thing.<p>
<em>by John Sullivan, Executive Director, and Ward Vandewege, CTO</em>
</p>

<p>We reported a few weeks ago that <a href="/blogs/sysadmin/google-backslides-on-federated-instant-messaging-on-purpose">Google had started blocking invites
sent from non-Google Jabber servers.
</a></p>

<p>This was done as a crude anti-spam measure.</p>

<p>We are happy to report that Google has since rolled out proper
antispam filtering for its Jabber service, and has removed the invite
block. This was announced a few days ago in another <a href="http://mail.jabber.org/pipermail/operators/2013-April/001672.html">public mailing
list
post.</a></p>

<p>This means that users of Jabber servers like the one <a href="/blogs/membership/help-us-sign-up-71-new-members-by-january-31st-and-use-your-new-jabber-account">we provide for
our
members</a>
will once again be able to fully communicate with Google users.</p>

<p>We want to commend Google for doing the right thing and respecting the
importance of full federation.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/gnu-press/gnu-press-has-restocked-all-of-your-favorite-shirts
title: GNU Press has restocked all of your favorite shirts!
uri: GNU-Press-has-restocked-all-of-your-favorite-shirts
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/gnu-press/gnu-press-has-restocked-all-of-your-favorite-shirts
content:
<h2>GNU Press has restocked all of your favorite shirts!</h2>

<p>If the shop was missing your shirt size, come check it out again! We have restocked a number of our designs: <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/happy-hacking-shirt/">Happy Hacking</a>, <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/Gnu_Head_shirt/">GNU Head</a>, <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/Live_The_Dream/">Live the Dream</a>, <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/free-software-free-society-shirt-maroon/">Free Software Free Society</a>, <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/DRM_No_One_Admitted/">Anti-DRM</a>, <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/Thanx_Gnu/">ThankGNU</a>, and <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/gplv3-t-shirt-black/">GPLv3</a>. We also have added a shirt commemorating <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/Libreplanet2013/">LibrePlanet 2013</a>.</p>

<p>If you can't find something in the store but think we should offer it, please add your suggestion to our <a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:Free_Software_Foundation/Ideas">Ideas</a> page. And remember, associate members of the Free Software Foundation get a 20% discount on all purchases made through the GNU Press store, so if you are not a member already, <a href="https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom">join today</a>!</p>

<p>To keep up with announcements about new products available in the GNU Press store, <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=88&amp;reset=1">subscribe to the mailing list.</a></p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/introducing-saurabh-fsf-campaigns-intern
title: Introducing Saurabh, FSF campaigns intern
uri: Introducing-Saurabh-FSF-campaigns-intern
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/introducing-saurabh-fsf-campaigns-intern
content:
Hi, I'm Saurabh. I'm working as an intern with the campaigns team during the spring semester.<p>I worked with Mozilla when I was in college as a Campus Rep and as a Rep later. I'm also a member of Greenpeace and have done a little online activism with DemandProgress, SumOfUs, etc. Since college, I've been working as a professional web developer for the past two years, and I love my job. My areas of interest include accessible technical documentation, standardization, realtime communication technologies and freedom. I blog sometimes at <a href="http://rebugged.com">rebugged.com</a> and write pretty obsolete and useless code for my own entertainment by the name <a href="https://github.com/riverspirit">jsx</a>. You can also find me on Freenode by that name.</p>

<p>I'm a huge fan and follower of the free culture. I believe that freedom -- whether digital or otherwise -- is a fundamental right of everyone. This includes all kinds of freedoms: freedom to live, learn, express and share. Even when you 'buy' software from Microsoft (or the like), you don't own it in reality. And the overpriced shiny Apple gadget that you bought is no different, if not worse. What kind of freedom is it when the program you are supposed to "own" doesn't allow you to modify it or let you learn how it works, or even share it with your grandmother? How can we say that we are living in a free society when we are <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS_jailbreaking#Legal_status">not allowed</a> to install programs on our mobile phone that are not pre-approved by the device manufacturer? I, like many others, dream of a world where we control the devices we use and where information is a shared wealth that's accessible to all. I believe that free software and software freedom are the way to that goal.</p>

<p>When it comes to digital freedom, we often overlook how far away we are from being "free." We adjust with the way things are just because we don't think it's worth fighting it. Organizations like the <a href="http://www.fsf.org">FSF</a>, <a href="http://www.eff.org">EFF</a>, etc. are our last resistance against this corporate control. We take these guardians and their efforts for granted and don't realize or acknowledge how they are making the world a better place until one day they are gone -- until the day no one else is left fighting for us. I don't know what more to say. I'm so proud and excited that I got this chance to work with the FSF. Everyone I've met here so far is really nice and I look forward to working with them. I know I won't be changing the world overnight, but I do believe I can do something that amounts to something.</p>


title: Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
uri: 2013-04-25-Join-the-FSF-and-friends-in-updating-the-Free-Software-Directory
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-19

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-19

content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, April 26th, from 2:00pm to 5pm EDT
(19:00 to 22:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p> 

<p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p> 
 
<p>While the Free Software 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!</p> 
 
<p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to
make it onto IRC on Friday, our
<a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> 
will provide you with all the information you need to get started on
helping the Directory today!</p> 


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/w3c-soul-at-stake
title: The W3C's Soul at Stake
uri: The-W3C-s-Soul-at-Stake
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/w3c-soul-at-stake
content:
The World Wide Web consortium is considering a proposal to specify standards for HTML extensions to implement Digital Restrictions Management (DRM). The proposal is supported by Netflix, Microsoft, Google and the BBC.<p>HTML was initially designed to describe the semantics of text and give control to the browser over how to present it. Since it became common for companies to have web sites, they have steered the development of HTML towards precise control over what the user sees and the behavior of the page -- arguably going in the wrong direction, but not an injustice&nbsp;...&nbsp;until now.</p>

<p>Of course, the W3C cannot prevent companies from grafting DRM onto HTML. They do this through nonfree plug-ins such as Flash, and with nonfree Javascript code, thus showing that we need control over the Javascript code we run and over the C code we run.</p>

<p>However, where the W3C stands is tremendously important for the battle to eliminate DRM. On a practical level, standardizing DRM would make it more convenient, in a very shallow sense. This could influence people who think only of short-term convenience to think of DRM as acceptable, which could in turn encourage more sites to use DRM.</p>

<p>On the political level, making room for DRM in the specifications of the World Wide Web would constitute an endorsement in principle of DRM by the W3C. Standardization by the W3C could facilitate DRM that is harder for users to break than DRM implemented in Javascript code. If the DRM is implemented in the operating system, this could result in distribution of works that can't be played at all on a free operating system such as GNU/Linux.</p>

<p>The arguments for standardizing DRM aim to avoid hypothetical minor inconveniences. For instance, some say that not standardizing DRM would result in putting more data and works in formats that cannot be searched. I doubt that claim; video sites that use Flash have plenty of information in searchable HTML about the videos. Standardized DRM could just as easily harm searchability, if it leads to more use of DRM. However, the main point is that that's a side issue either way. It is insignificant compared with the importance of discouraging DRM.</p>

<p>Another argument is that the W3C needs to obey the wishes of these companies to remain "relevant" -- in other words, to be in a position to influence events. However, it makes no sense to preserve that influence for some later decision that will be less important than this one. And is it even real influence? "Influence" maintained by obeying a master is more self-delusion than reality. Now is when the W3C should use the influence it has built up, saying, "DRM: Not in our name!"</p>

<p>Proprietary software is an injustice since users can't control it, and it commonly carries other injustices with it. The proprietary plugins or kernels required to view media under this standard, like proprietary software in general, could never merit users' trust. Once they harbor one malicious functionality, the digital handcuffs of DRM, there is no reason to suppose they won't have back doors and spyware as well.</p>

<p>Existing HTML features are already employed in various ways to mistreat users — for example, sites use cookies and third-party images for surveillance, and employ Javascript to disable normal browser functionality. Indeed, we are modifying a browser to block these forms of mistreatment.</p>

<p>However, these Web page features were not added for the sake of abuse, and they do have legitimate uses. The W3C is now considering a proposal that would, for the first time, standardize a feature intended solely and explicitly for mistreatment of users.</p>

<p>We therefore call on the W3C to reject any and all proposals for catering to DRM in World Wide Web standards. Please sign the petition at <a href="http://www.defectivebydesign.org/no-drm-in-html5">http://www.defectivebydesign.org/no-drm-in-html5</a> to join us.</p>


title: Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
uri: 2013-05-03-Join-the-FSF-and-friends-in-updating-the-Free-Software-Directory
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-20

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-20

content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, May 3rd, from 2pm to 5pm EDT
(19:00 to 22:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p> 

<p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p> 
 
<p>While the Free Software 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!</p> 
 
<p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to
make it onto IRC on Friday, our
<a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> 
will provide you with all the information you need to get started on
helping the Directory today!</p> 


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry
title: GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry
uri: GNU-Spotlight-with-Karl-Berry
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry
content:
35 new GNU releases this month (as of April 30, 2013)<ul>
<li>archimedes-2.0.1                         </li>
<li>autoconf-archive-2013.04.06                </li>
<li>autogen-5.17.3                         </li>
<li>barcode-0.99              </li>
<li>binutils-2.23.2                   </li>
<li>bison-2.7.1                       </li>
<li>dbuskit-0.1.1                             </li>
<li>denemo-1.0.0                    </li>
<li>diffutils-3.3                         </li>
<li>ed-1.8                      </li>
<li>freeipmi-1.2.6                  </li>
<li>gcal-3.6.3                  </li>
<li>gcc-4.7.3  </li>
<li>gdb-7.6   </li>
<li>glpk-4.49    </li>
<li>gnu-linux-libre-3.9-gnu   </li>
<li>gprolog-1.4.4     </li>
<li>gsrc-2013.04.06    </li>
<li>guile-2.0.9  </li>
<li>guile-ncurses-1.4    </li>
<li>guile-sdl-0.4.3  </li>
<li>help2man-1.41.2        </li>
<li>hyperbole-5.0.4    </li>
<li>libcdio-paranoia-10.2+0.90+1  </li>
<li>libmicrohttpd-0.9.26   </li>
<li>libtasn1-3.3  </li>
<li>macchanger-1.6.0  </li>
<li>nettle-2.7  </li>
<li>parallel-20130422  </li>
<li>pyconfigure-0.2   </li>
<li>rcs-5.8.2  </li>
<li>serveez-0.2.1  </li>
<li>sharutils-4.13.5  </li>
<li>shishi-1.0.2  </li>
<li>smalltalk-3.2.5  </li>
</ul>

<p>To get announcements of most new GNU releases, subscribe to the info-gnu
mailing list: <a href="http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu">http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu</a>.  Nearly
all GNU software is available from <a href="http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/">http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/</a>, or
preferably one of its mirrors (<a href="http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html">http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html</a>).  You
can use the url <a href="http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/">http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/</a> to be automatically
redirected to a (hopefully) nearby and up-to-date mirror.</p>

<p>This month, we welcome Arjun E as the new co-maintainer of GNU Ferret,
H.S. Rai as the new maintainer of libredwg, and Jeffrin Jose as the
author and maintainer of the new package GNU guile-sdl (in addition to
already maintaining GNU rcs and GNU alive).</p>

<p>A number of GNU packages, as well as the GNU operating system as a
whole, are looking for maintainers and other assistance.  Please see
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint">http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint</a> if you'd like to
help.  The general page on how to help GNU is at
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html</a>.  To submit new packages to the GNU
operating system, see <a href="http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html">http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html</a>.</p>

<p>As always, please feel free to write to me, <a href="mailto:karl@gnu.org">karl@gnu.org</a>, with any
GNUish questions or suggestions for future installments.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/free-software-advocacy-internships-apply-by-may-15th
title: Free software advocacy internships: Apply by May 15th
uri: Free-software-advocacy-internships-Apply-by-May-15th
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/free-software-advocacy-internships-apply-by-may-15th
content:
Do you believe that control over our computers is important to a free society? Do you want to help people learn why proprietary software and Digital Restrictions Management are harmful? Do you want to fight for software freedom? <img style="width:200px; float:left; padding:10px;" src="media/51f94bee.windows8-02.JPG" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/fsforg/img/windows8-publish/windows8-02.JPG" alt="we want GNU to intern at the FSF" />
<p>The Free Software Foundation is <a href="http://www.fsf.org/volunteer/internships">looking for a summer intern</a> to work with the campaigns team to promote and defend free software. As an intern, you'll develop your own unique project that matches your skills and interests to complete during the internship. You will also have opportunities to participate in online outreach, grassroots organizing, communications, Web development, and event planning alongside the campaigns team. </p>

<p>Interns will end the summer knowing what it's like to run issue advocacy campaigns, from the planning stage through <a href="http://www.defectivebydesign.org/oscar-awarded-w3c-in-the-hollyweb">creative petition delivery</a>. </p>

<p>Summer internships begin on or about June 4th and run through August 31st. We prefer candidates who can work out of our offices in Boston, MA. The deadline to apply for a summer internship at the Free Software Foundation has been extended to <strong>May 15th</strong>. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.fsf.org/volunteer/internships">To apply</a>, send a letter of interest and resume with two references by email to <a href="mailto:hiring@fsf.org">hiring@fsf.org</a>. Make sure that your materials are in free software-friendly formats (PDF, ODT and plain text work well), and include "Internship" in your subject line. If you can, please include links to sites you've worked on (personal blogs are okay!) designs or code you've done, and--most of all--things you've written. Please include these as URLs, though email attachments in free formats are acceptable too. More information is available on <a href="http://www.fsf.org/volunteer/internships">fsf.org</a>.</p>

<p>Please direct any questions about the program to <a href="mailto:info@fsf.org">info@fsf.org</a>.</p>


title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: May 17th
uri: 2013-05-17-Join-the-FSF-and-friends-in-updating-the-Free-Software-Directory
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-1

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-1

content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, May 17th, from 2pm to 5pm EDT
(19:00 to 22:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p> 

<p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p> 
 
<p>While the Free Software 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!</p> 
 
<p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to
make it onto IRC on Friday, our
<a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> 
will provide you with all the information you need to get started on
helping the Directory today!</p> 


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/is-ever-good-use-nonfree-program
title: Is It Ever a Good Thing to Use a Nonfree Program?
uri: Is-It-Ever-a-Good-Thing-to-Use-a-Nonfree-Program
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/is-ever-good-use-nonfree-program
content:
It can be a good thing, "when the use of the nonfree software aims
directly at putting an end to the use of that very same nonfree
software."<p>In his latest article, Richard Stallman discusses <a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/is-ever-good-use-nonfree-program.html">the one instance in which using nonfree software is a good
thing</a>, and cautions us to "resist stretching [the exception]
further [than its limits], lest it turn into an all-purpose excuse for
any profitable activity with nonfree software."</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-hackers-meeting-2013-in-paris-france
title: GNU Hackers Meeting 2013: August 22-25 in Paris, France
uri: GNU-Hackers-Meeting-2013-August-22-25-in-Paris-France
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-hackers-meeting-2013-in-paris-france
content:
We are happy to announce the seventh GNU Hackers Meeting, which will take place from August 22 to August 25 2013 in Paris, France.<p>We are happy to announce the seventh GNU Hackers Meeting, which will
take place from August 22 to August 25 2013 in Paris, France.</p>

<p>The GNU Hackers Meetings are a friendly and informal venue to discuss
technical, social and organizational issues concerning GNU and free
software.</p>

<p>Following the success of the 2011 edition, we will be again generously
hosted by IRILL (<a href="http://www.irill.org">http://www.irill.org</a>), the Center for Research and
Innovation in Free Software. We have set up an official meeting page
containing practical information at <a href="http://www.gnu.org/ghm/2013/paris/">http://www.gnu.org/ghm/2013/paris/</a>.</p>

<p>As we are still in the process of defining the program, we welcome
your talk proposals. We are particularly interested in new GNU
programs and recent developments in existing packages, plus any
related topic. In our experience the audience tends to be technically
competent, so feel free to propose very technical topics as well; we
will try to schedule all such talks together in the same morning or
afternoon session, for the public’s sake.</p>

<p>Registration is free of charge, but in case you want to contribute to
the organization of future meetings, we are glad to accept a small
donation.</p>

<p>The FSF has kindly set up a small fund to help finance (documented)
travel expenses for GNU maintainers and contributors, past and
present. In case you qualify and you need financial assistance to
attend, please mention this fact in your registration e-mail, along
with all the relevant details including the minimum amount that would
permit you to attend the event, no later than June 24 2013.</p>

<p>You are welcome to join the public mailing list <a href="mailto:ghm-discuss@gnu.org">ghm-discuss@gnu.org</a>
(<a href="https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/ghm-discuss">https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/ghm-discuss</a>). Talk proposals
and registration e-mails should also be directed to the public list
<a href="mailto:ghm-discuss@gnu.org">ghm-discuss@gnu.org</a>, or directly to Luca Saiu's personal address
<a href="mailto:positron@gnu.org">positron@gnu.org</a>.</p>


title: GNU/Linux chosen as operating system of the International Space Station
uri: GNU-Linux-chosen-as-operating-system-of-the-International-Space-Statio
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-linux-chosen-as-operating-system-of-the-international-space-station

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-linux-chosen-as-operating-system-of-the-international-space-station


title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: May 31st
uri: 2013-05-30-Join-the-FSF-and-friends-in-updating-the-Free-Software-Directory
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-2

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-2


title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: June 21st
uri: 2013-06-21-Join-the-FSF-and-friends-in-updating-the-Free-Software-Directory
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-3

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/join-the-fsf-and-friends-in-updating-the-free-software-directory-3


title: This Fourth of July, we stand by the Fourth Amendment and against mass NSA surveillance
uri: This-Fourth-of-July-we-stand-by-the-Fourth-Amendment-and-against-mass
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/this-fourth-of-july-we-stand-by-the-fourth-amendment-and-against-mass-nsa-surveillance

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/this-fourth-of-july-we-stand-by-the-fourth-amendment-and-against-mass-nsa-surveillance


title: Watch the Obama surveillance press conference using free software
uri: Watch-the-Obama-surveillance-press-conference-using-free-software
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/watch-the-obama-surveillance-press-conference-using-free-software

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/watch-the-obama-surveillance-press-conference-using-free-software


title: Show your allegiance to GNU at the office with this GNU polo shirt!
uri: Show-your-allegiance-to-GNU-at-the-office-with-this-GNU-polo-shirt
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/gnu-press/show-your-allegiance-to-gnu-at-the-office-with-this-gnu-polo-shirt

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/gnu-press/show-your-allegiance-to-gnu-at-the-office-with-this-gnu-polo-shirt


title: Help plan next year's LibrePlanet conference by joining the LP2014 planning committee!
uri: Help-plan-next-year-s-LibrePlanet-conference-by-joining-the-LP14-plann
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/help-plan-next-years-libreplanet-conference-by-joining-the-lp14-planning-committee

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/help-plan-next-years-libreplanet-conference-by-joining-the-lp14-planning-committee


title: LibrePlanet 2014: Calling all presenters, volunteers, and exhibitors
uri: LibrePlanet-2014-Calling-all-presenters-volunteers-and-exhibitors
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/libreplanet-2014-calling-all-presenters-volunteers-and-exhibitors

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/libreplanet-2014-calling-all-presenters-volunteers-and-exhibitors


title: FSF campaigns manager speaks about free software at iD Programming Academy
uri: FSF-campaigns-manager-speaks-about-free-software-at-iD-Programming-Aca
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/fsf-campaigns-manager-speaks-about-free-software-at-id-programming-academy

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/fsf-campaigns-manager-speaks-about-free-software-at-id-programming-academy


title: LibrePlanet 2014 to take place on March 22 and 23, 2014 in Cambridge, MA
uri: LibrePlanet-2014-dates-announced-and-session-proposal-deadline-extende
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/libreplanet-2014-dates-announced-session-proposal-deadline-extended

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/libreplanet-2014-dates-announced-session-proposal-deadline-extended


title: Coreboot-supported Asus F2A85-M/CSM added to recommended hardware list
uri: Coreboot-supported-Asus-F2A85-M-CSM-added-to-recommended-hardware-list
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/coreboot-supported-asus-f2a85-m-csm-added-to-recommended-hardware-list

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/coreboot-supported-asus-f2a85-m-csm-added-to-recommended-hardware-list


title: Cambridge, MA City Council adopts resolution to commemorate thirty years of GNU
uri: Cambridge-MA-City-Council-adopts-resolution-to-commemorate-thirty-yea
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/cambridge-ma-city-council-adopts-resolution-to-commemorate-thirty-years-of-gnu

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/cambridge-ma-city-council-adopts-resolution-to-commemorate-thirty-years-of-gnu


title: Speakers and venue announced for FSF's LibrePlanet 2014 -- register today!
uri: Speakers-and-venue-announced-for-FSF-s-LibrePlanet-2014-register-to
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/speakers-and-venue-announced-for-fsfs-libreplanet-2014-register-today

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/speakers-and-venue-announced-for-fsfs-libreplanet-2014-register-today


title: ¡Construye con nosotros! El software libre es una piedra angular para una sociedad libre
uri: Construye-con-nosotros-El-software-libre-es-una-piedra-angular-para
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/construye-con-nosotros-el-software-libre-es-una-piedra-angular-para-una-sociedad-libre

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/construye-con-nosotros-el-software-libre-es-una-piedra-angular-para-una-sociedad-libre


title: Watch and share this LibrePlanet video, plus exhibitor deadline extended!
uri: Watch-and-share-this-LibrePlanet-video-plus-exhibitor-deadline-extend
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/watch-and-share-this-libreplanet-video-and-exhibitor-deadline-extended

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/watch-and-share-this-libreplanet-video-and-exhibitor-deadline-extended


title: Sign up for the FSF's next seminar on GPL Enforcement and Legal Ethics
uri: Sign-up-for-the-FSF-s-next-seminar-on-GPL-Enforcement-and-Legal-Ethics
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/sign-up-for-the-fsfs-next-seminar-on-gpl-enforcement-and-legal-ethics

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/sign-up-for-the-fsfs-next-seminar-on-gpl-enforcement-and-legal-ethics


title: One month until LibrePlanet! Schedule and t-shirt design announced!
uri: One-month-until-LibrePlanet-Schedule-and-t-shirt-design-announced
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/one-month-until-libreplanet-schedule-and-t-shirt-design-announced

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/one-month-until-libreplanet-schedule-and-t-shirt-design-announced


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/20140210-espoo-20140211-helsinki
uri: February-2014-Espoo-and-Helsinki-Finland-At-Altoo-University-and
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/20140210-espoo-20140211-helsinki
title:
February 2014 - Espoo and Helsinki, Finland - At Altoo University and at Haaga-Helia's Happy Hacking Day


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/20140220-newyork
uri: February-2014-New-York-NY-RMS-at-the-Cooper-Union-for-HuffPost-C
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/20140220-newyork
title:
February 2014 - New York, NY - RMS at the Cooper Union, for HuffPost Code and the New York Tech Meetup


title: The LibrePlanet 2014 Free Software Directory sprint and IRC meeting!
uri: The-LibrePlanet-2014-Free-Software-Directory-sprint-and-IRC-meeting
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/the-libreplanet-2014-free-software-directory-sprint-and-irc-meeting

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/the-libreplanet-2014-free-software-directory-sprint-and-irc-meeting


title: Nominate a free software initiative for the Chris Nicol FLOSS Prize!
uri: Nominate-a-free-software-initiative-for-the-Chris-Nicol-FLOSS-Prize
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/nominate-a-free-software-initiative-for-the-chris-nicol-floss-prize

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/nominate-a-free-software-initiative-for-the-chris-nicol-floss-prize


title: FSF joins more than twenty other organizations in plan to "Reset the Net"
uri: FSF-joins-more-than-twenty-other-organizations-in-plan-to-Reset-the
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/fsf-joins-more-than-twenty-other-organizations-in-plan-to-201creset-the-net201d

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/fsf-joins-more-than-twenty-other-organizations-in-plan-to-201creset-the-net201d


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-may-9
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: May 9
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-May-9
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-may-9
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, May 9, from 2pm to 5pm EDT (18:00 to 21:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="https://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p>
<br /><p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="https://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p>
<br /><p>While the Free Software 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!</p>
<br /><p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to make it onto IRC on Friday, our <a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> will provide you with all the information you need to get started on helping the Directory today!</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-may-16
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: May 16
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-May-16
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-may-16
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, May 16, from 2pm to 5pm EDT (18:00 to 21:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="https://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p>
<br /><p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="https://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p>
<br /><p>While the Free Software 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!</p>
<br /><p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to make it onto IRC on Friday, our <a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> will provide you with all the information you need to get started on helping the Directory today!</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/fall-2013-fsf-bulletin-now-available-online
title: Fall 2013 FSF Bulletin now available online
uri: Fall-2013-FSF-Bulletin-now-available-online
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/fall-2013-fsf-bulletin-now-available-online
content:
<img class="imgright" src="media/fd5c1852.fall-2013-cover.png" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org//static.fsf.org/nosvn/bulletin/fall-2013-cover.png" alt="cover" />

<p><a href="/bulletin/2013/fall/cover">This edition</a> of the <em>Bulletin</em> features a fantastic piece from FSF campaigns manager Zak Rogoff on combatting surveillance with software libre, <a href="/bulletin/2013/fall/how-can-free-software-protect-us-from-surveillance">"How can free software protect us from surveillance?"</a></p>
<p>It also features an article by Joshua Gay, on <a href="/bulletin/2013/fall/personal-fitness-and-free-software">wearable computing devices and free software</a>.</p>
<p>For those of you who are interested in FSF gear, there's <a href="/bulletin/2013/fall/gnu-30th-anniversary-items-now-available">an
update</a> from Chrissie Himes, our operations assistant, on GNU 30th anniversary items and our next round of internships in system administration, licensing, and campaigns.</p>
<p>You can support more work like this (and receive a nicely
printed copy of each bulletin by mail) by <a href="https://fsf.org/join">becoming an FSF
member</a>, which also has other great
<a href="https://www.fsf.org/associate/benefits">benefits</a> such as an
account on our Jabber service and a 20% discount on everything in
the <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/">FSF store</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-may-23
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: May 23
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-May-23
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-may-23
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, May 23, from 2pm to 5pm EDT (18:00 to 21:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="https://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p>
<br /><p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="https://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p>
<br /><p>While the Free Software 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!</p>
<br /><p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to make it onto IRC on Friday, our <a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> will provide you with all the information you need to get started on helping the Directory today!</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/fsf-statement-on-court-of-appeals-ruling-in-oracle-v-google
title: FSF statement on Court of Appeals ruling in Oracle v Google
uri: FSF-statement-on-Court-of-Appeals-ruling-in-Oracle-v-Google
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/fsf-statement-on-court-of-appeals-ruling-in-oracle-v-google
content:
<p>On May 9, 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
reversed Judge Alsup's 2012 ruling that Oracle wasn't entitled to
copyright control for a large portion of the Java API, copies of which
Oracle alleged appeared in Google's Android development libraries.
Judge Alsup's decision originally clarified Google's right to continue
unabated in its distribution and development of the Android
development libraries that were similar to Java's. The Federal Circuit
has now ruled in Oracle's favor, which has reintroduced confusion and
uncertainty on this issue. The case is now remanded back to the
district court to determine whether or not Google will succeed in
using a "fair use" defense regarding the alleged copyright
infringement.</p>
<p>In May 2012, the Jury of the District Court had issued a partial
verdict and we were left waiting for Alsup's verdict on the remainder
of the case. At the time, <a href="https://www.fsf.org/news/fsf-statement-on-jurys-partial-verdict-in-oracle-v-google">the FSF issued the following
statement</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Were it grounded in reality, Oracle's claim that copyright law gives
them proprietary control over any software that uses a particular
functional API would be terrible for free software and programmers
everywhere. It is an unethical and greedy interpretation created
with the express purpose of subjugating as many computer users as
possible, and is particularly bad in this context because it comes
at a time when the sun has barely set on the free software
community's celebration of Java as a language newly suitable for use
in the free world. Fortunately, the claim is not yet reality, and we
hope Judge Alsup will keep it that way.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The situation then is substantially similar to the situation today.
The key difference is that some of Google's affirmative defenses to
claim non-infringement have been eliminated by this new ruling. The
FSF now sincerely hopes for the next best thing to Alsup's original
ruling: that Google is successful in its fair use defense.</p>
<p>Notwithstanding our support of Google's fair use defense, the
FSF urges caution to all prospective Android users. Even though the
core of the Android system is free, every Android device sold comes
pre-loaded with a variety of proprietary applications and proprietary
hardware drivers. The FSF encourages users to <a href="https://www.fsf.org/news/fsf-launches-fundraising-program-for-replicant-the-fully-free-android-based-mobile-os">support the
development</a> of <a href="http://www.replicant.us">Replicant</a>, a distribution of Android that is
100% free software. The FSF also encourages users of any Android-based
system to install <a href="https://f-droid.org">F-Droid</a>, a free replacement for the Google Play
app that allows users to browse, install, and receive updates from a
repository of free software Android apps. Replicant uses F-Droid as
its default repository.</p>
<p><em>Disclosure: Google currently donates to the FSF and Oracle has donated to the FSF in the past.</em></p>
<h2>About the Free Software Foundation</h2>
<p>The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to
promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and
redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and
use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating
system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free
software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and
political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites,
located at fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information
about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at
<a href="https://donate.fsf.org">https://donate.fsf.org</a>. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/register-now-for-the-2014-gnu-hackers-meeting
title: Register now for the 2014 GNU Hackers Meeting
uri: Register-now-for-the-2014-GNU-Hackers-Meeting
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/register-now-for-the-2014-gnu-hackers-meeting
content:
<p>The meeting is open to developers, users, and all
people interested in GNU. It is an opportunity to share ideas and for
social interaction within the GNU community.</p>
<p>The meeting includes informal, but moderated, talks from developers and
other people at the forefront of the GNU System. Topics include not
only technical subjects, but social, ethical, and practical issues
affecting GNU. This year there will also be representatives from
Munich's local free software activist group present. All interested parties
are welcome.</p>
<p>Attendance is gratis, but prior registration is necessary.
Details here: <a href="https://gnu.org/ghm/upcoming.html">https://gnu.org/ghm/upcoming.html</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-june-6
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: June 6
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-June-6
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-june-6
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, June 6, from 2pm to 5pm EDT (18:00 to 21:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="https://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p>
<br /><p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="https://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p>
<br /><p>While the Free Software 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!</p>
<br /><p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to make it onto IRC on Friday, our <a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> will provide you with all the information you need to get started on helping the Directory today!</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/imperfection-isnt-oppression
title: "Imperfection is not the same as oppression"
uri: Imperfection-is-not-the-same-as-oppression
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/imperfection-isnt-oppression
content:
<p>In his <a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/imperfection-isnt-oppression.html">latest article</a>, Richard Stallman underscores this crucial distinction, and encourages all users whose particular needs are not being
met by a free program to address the unmet need in a proactive, respectful,
and constructive way.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-22-new-gnu-releases-1
title: GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry: 22 new GNU releases!
uri: 2014-06-02-GNU-Spotlight-with-Karl-Berry-22-new-GNU-releases
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-22-new-gnu-releases-1
content:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/anubis/">anubis-4.2</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/autogen/">autogen-5.18.3</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/ccaudio/">ccaudio2-2.1.3</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/ccscript/">ccscript-5.0.2</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/cim/">cim-5.1</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/easejs/">easejs-0.2.2</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/freeipmi/">freeipmi-1.4.3</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gcc/">gcc-4.8.3</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/">gdb-7.7.1</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gnun/">gnun-0.9</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/grep/">grep-2.19</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/guile-opengl/">guile-opengl-0.1.0</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/guile-rpc/">guile-rpc-0.4</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/libmicrohttpd/">libmicrohttpsd-0.9.36</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/libtasn1/">libtasn1-3.6</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/mcron/">mcron-1.0.8</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/mit-scheme/">mit-scheme-9.2</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/moe/">moe-1.6</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/parallel/">parallel-20140522</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/sipwitch/">sipwitch-1.9.1</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/commoncpp/">ucommon-6.1.5</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/xnee/">xnee-3.19</a></li>
</ul>
<p>To get announcements of most new GNU releases, subscribe to the info-gnu
mailing list: <a href="https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu">https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu</a>. Nearly
all GNU software is available from <a href="https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/">https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/</a>, or
preferably one of its mirrors (<a href="https://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html">https://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html</a>). You
can use the url <a href="http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/">http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/</a> to be automatically
redirected to a (hopefully) nearby and up-to-date mirror.</p>
<p>This month, we welcome:
<em> Mohammed Isam Mohammed, author and maintainer of the new package GnuDOS.
</em> Edscott Wilson, author and maintainer of the new GNU package libdb.
<em> Vaibhaw Pandey, new maintainer of GNU groff.
</em> Sebastien Diaz, new maintainer of gnukart, along with his work on many
other GNU packages.
* Amadeusz Slawinski, new co-maintainer of GNU screen.
Thanks to all.</p>
<p>A number of GNU packages, as well as the GNU operating system as
a whole, are looking for maintainers and other assistance: please
see <a href="https://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint">https://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint</a> if you'd
like to help. The general page on how to help GNU is at
<a href="https://www.gnu.org/help/help.html">https://www.gnu.org/help/help.html</a>. To submit new packages to
the GNU operating system, see <a href="https://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html">https://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html</a>.</p>
<p>As always, please feel free to write to me, <a href="mailto:karl@gnu.org">&#107;&#97;&#114;&#108;&#64;&#103;&#110;&#117;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;</a>, with any
GNUish questions or suggestions for future installments.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/reset-the-net
title: Reset the Net with our email self-defense guide
uri: Reset-the-Net-with-our-email-self-defense-guide
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/reset-the-net
content:
<a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org"><img src="media/7eea7007.reset-the-net-robot.png" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org//static.fsf.org/nosvn/images/reset-the-net-robot.png" style="float:right;margin-left:10px" /></a>

<p>Email encryption is a simple way to give yourself a shield that can
protect you and your community from the giant surveillance system we
all face. If you need any proof of the effectiveness of these tools,
remember that Snowden used them to leak his precious information
safely. Many effective shields, wielded well and held together in
solidarity, make a strong wall. The Email Self-Defense Guide will lead
you all the way through the process of sending and receiving your
first encrypted mail.</p>

<p><strong><a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org">Check out the guide, and get started encrypting your
  email!</a></p><p>It comes with a <a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/infographic.html">gorgeous infographic</a>, which you
  can share with the <a href="https://www.fsf.org/twitter">hashtags</a> #EmailSelfDefense and
  #ResetTheNet.</strong></p>

<p style="border-left: solid #00BCBB;border-left-width:3px;border-bottom-style:none;padding-left:7px;">
"Encryption matters, and it is not just for spies and philanderers. [Encryption] is a critically-necessary security measure for anyone who wishes to communicate with you." -- Edward Snowden</p>

<p>Encrypting your email can not only protect you and your loved ones
from the NSA, it also keeps big Internet corporations from collecting
your data as well. Gmail, for example, mines your email to serve you
ads. If that email is encrypted on your desktop, Google's servers will
never see the contents of your messages (even if you don't use Gmail
yourself, <a href="http://mako.cc/copyrighteous/google-has-most-of-my-email-because-it-has-all-of-yours">every email you send to someone who does</a> ends up on
their servers). And even if you think that you personally have nothing
to hide, remember: if the only people who encrypt their email DO have
something to hide, then the NSA can easily target those emails and use
their massive resources to break the encryption. The more people
encrypt all their email, even the trivial stuff, the harder it becomes
for the NSA to target whistleblowers, journalists, and others with
legitimate, legal reasons to keep information private.</p>

<p>If you already use email encryption, we encourage you to check out the
guide and give us feedback on it. You can also make a big difference
by sending it to your friends and offering to help them use it to get
started.</p>

<p>Self-protection is essential for your privacy, but the real solution is to <a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/surveillance-vs-democracy">make digital systems stop collecting data about everyone</a>. Today thousands of people -- and some of the most popular
websites -- are taking concrete steps to secure their part of the
Internet. With free software tools and principles, we can make
suspicionless, dragnet-style surveillance exponentially more difficult
and expensive for governments to conduct.</p>

<p><strong><a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org">Learn how to practice email self defense</a>, then head over the
  Free Software Directory to download our <a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Collection:Privacy_pack">free software privacy
  pack</a>.</strong></p>

<p>If you like Email Self-Defense, please consider <a href="https://u.fsf.org/yv">making a
donation</a>. We have big plans to get it in the hands of people under
bulk surveillance all over the world, and make more tools like it.</p>


title: Join the FSF and allies: strengthen the Tor anti-surveillance network
uri: Join-the-FSF-and-allies-strengthen-the-Tor-anti-surveillance-network
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/join-the-fsf-and-allies-strengthen-the-tor-anti-surveillance-network

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/join-the-fsf-and-allies-strengthen-the-tor-anti-surveillance-network

content:
<p><a href="https://www.torproject.org/">Tor</a> is a publicly accessible, free software-based system for anonymizing Internet traffic. Tor relies on thousands of computers around the world called relays, which route traffic in tricky ways to dodge spying. The more relays, the stronger and faster the network. That's where you come in:</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.eff.org/torchallenge/">Start a relay and register it with the Tor Challenge! It's easy and works on all operating systems, including the best one — GNU/Linux.</a></strong></p>
<p>Tor is used by journalists, political dissidents, and everyday folks around the world. In fact, it was used by Edward Snowden for his famous leaks. The FSF is proud to run our own Tor relay as well.</p>
<p>We've long been supporters of Tor, and we're pumped to join our allies in promoting it. As we write this, there have already been 128 new relays set up since yesterday. <a href="https://www.eff.org/torchallenge/">Let's help them double that!</a></p>
<p>To learn about more tools and actions you can take to secure privacy for yourself and your community, see the <a href="https://www.fsf.org/campaigns/surveillance/">FSF's bulk surveillance page</a>. For a discussion of pushing back bulk surveillance on a mass scale, read Richard Stallman's article <a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/surveillance-vs-democracy.html">"How Much Surveillance Can Democracy Withstand?"</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/were-glad-you-liked-email-self-defense-lets-take-it-even-farther
title: We're glad you liked Email Self-Defense. Let's take it even farther.
uri: We-re-glad-you-liked-Email-Self-Defense-Let-s-take-it-even-farther
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/were-glad-you-liked-email-self-defense-lets-take-it-even-farther
content:
<p><a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/infographic.html"><img src="media/30d0be3e.infographic-button.png" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org//static.fsf.org/nosvn/enc-dev0/img/en/infographic-button.png" alt="Email Self-Defense" style="float:right;padding:10px;" /></a></p>
<p>All in all, it was a whopping success, with major Web
sites commiting to improve their security and more than thirty
thousand people visiting the FSF's brand-new Email Self-Defense guide.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org">Email Self-Defense</a> guide, along with its <a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/infographic.html">infographic</a>,
made the rounds on reddit, Boing Boing, Slashdot, and Hacker News, and
we think it's likely to become one of the Web's most popular guides to
email encryption. It's also a powerful vector for the free software
message, emphasizing the importance of computer user freedom for
security more than other prominent guides.</p>
<p><strong>We want to get this guide linked to from every Web site people visit to
  learn about encryption, and we're itching to make more tools like
  it. Can you help us by <a href="https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom/join_fsf?referrer=2442&amp;pk_campaign=email_self_defense&amp;pk_kwd=followup_blogpost">joining the FSF as a member</a>
  (if you aren't already), or <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&amp;id=14&amp;pk_campaign=email_self_defense&amp;pk_kwd=followup_blogpost">donating $25</a>?</strong></p>
<p>If you're not able to donate, you can still get people learning about
free software encryption by sharing the <a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/infographic.html">infographic</a>. If you're a
fan of any encryption and privacy-related Web sites, email them and
ask them to link to the guide. <strong>Most of all, you can make a point of
using encryption yourself whenever possible -- even for messages that
aren't sensitive.</strong></p>
<p>We've gotten a lot of feedback on Email Self-Defense, and we see that
people are rightfully excited about this project. Here are some of our
favorite comments:</p>
<p style="border-left: solid #00BCBB;border-left-width:3px;border-bottom-style:none;padding-left:7px;">"I haven't found a guide that's anywhere near this approachable for
  people scared of technology, and the infographic is also ace."<br />
  - an anonymous supporter</p>

<p style="border-left: solid #9b59b6;border-left-width:3px;border-bottom-style:none;padding-left:7px;">"This is our opportunity to get my less-techy friends using
  encryption, while showing them why free software is important. Right
  on, FSF."<br />
  - a Slashdot commenter</p>

<p>Thanks to these commenters, and everyone in the free software
community who participated in Reset the Net. Your actions give us hope
for a future free of suspicionless bulk surveillance. And free
software is going to be a big part of that future. Please <a href="https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom/join_fsf?referrer=2442&amp;pk_campaign=email_self_defense&amp;pk_kwd=followup_blogpost">join us as
a member</a>, or <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&amp;id=14&amp;pk_campaign=email_self_defense&amp;pk_kwd=followup_blogpost">donate today</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/recap-of-friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-june-6
title: Recap of Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: June 6
uri: Recap-of-Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-June-6
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/recap-of-friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-june-6
content:
<p>Today's Friday <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> IRC
Meeting ended-up with a focus on free software games. We received
seven new submissions of games, including <a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Stunt_Rally">Stunt
Rally</a>, a free software
racing game with track editor licensed under GNU GPL version 3 (or at
your option, any later version). </p>
<p>In total there were 7 new packages during the meeting, and over 10 new
packages added in the week since our last meeting, as well as many
updates to pages. In addition, on Thursday we added a <a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Collection:Privacy_pack">Privacy pack
collection</a>,
to go alongside our launch of the <a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/">Email Self-Defense</a> infographic and
guide. Lastly, we thank SJ Klein of Wikimedia Foundation for leading
today's introduction to the meeting.</p>
<p>You can find out how to attend our Friday Free Software Directory IRC
Meetings by checking our <a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory">blog</a> or
subscribing to the <a href="http://static.fsf.org/fsforg/rss/directory.xml">RSS feed</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/20140509-hsinchucity
title: May 2014 - Hsinchu City, Taiwan - At NTHU
uri: May-2014-Hsinchu-City-Taiwan-At-NTHU
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/20140509-hsinchucity
content:
The <a href="http://audio-video.gnu.org/video/#2014">speech
recording</a> will soon be available in our video archive.

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<div style="border-style:solid; border-width:2px;text-align:center; margin: 4px 50px 4px 50px; padding-top:4px;">

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<img src="media/312f54f2.20140509-hsinchucity-01-02-03-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20140509-hsinchucity-01-02-03-thumb.jpg" alt="Richard Stallman in Hsinchu City" width="550" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/49f2eb6a.0140509-hsinchucity-04-library-directory-dr-lin-fu-ren-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20140509-hsinchucity-04-library-directory-dr-lin-fu-ren-thumb.jpg" alt="Richard Stallman in Hsinchu City" width="274" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/7a502cab.20140509-hsinchucity-05-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20140509-hsinchucity-05-thumb.jpg" alt="Richard Stallman in Hsinchu City" width="274" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/e7205bac.20140509-hsinchucity-06-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20140509-hsinchucity-06-thumb.jpg" alt="Richard Stallman in Hsinchu City" width="550" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/7354a437.20140509-hsinchucity-07-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20140509-hsinchucity-07-thumb.jpg" alt="Richard Stallman in Hsinchu City" width="274" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/08a6b095.20140509-hsinchucity-08-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20140509-hsinchucity-08-thumb.jpg" alt="Richard Stallman in Hsinchu City" width="274" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/74ae5aa8.20140509-hsinchucity-09-10-12-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20140509-hsinchucity-09-10-12-thumb.jpg" alt="Richard Stallman in Hsinchu City" width="550" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/bcf9c919.20140509-hsinchucity-11-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20140509-hsinchucity-11-thumb.jpg" alt="Richard Stallman in Hsinchu City" width="274" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/976ee891.20140509-hsinchucity-13-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20140509-hsinchucity-13-thumb.jpg" alt="Richard Stallman in Hsinchu City" width="274" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/29a7551f.20140509-hsinchucity-14-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20140509-hsinchucity-14-thumb.jpg" alt="Richard Stallman in Hsinchu City" width="274" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/4841c790.20140509-hsinchucity-15-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20140509-hsinchucity-15-thumb.jpg" alt="Richard Stallman in Hsinchu City" width="274" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/c1e521ac.20140509-hsinchucity-16-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20140509-hsinchucity-16-thumb.jpg" alt="Richard Stallman in Hsinchu City" width="274" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/27cf6678.20140509-hsinchucity-17-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20140509-hsinchucity-17-thumb.jpg" alt="Richard Stallman in Hsinchu City" width="274" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/f5d45b06.20140509-hsinchucity-18-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20140509-hsinchucity-18-thumb.jpg" alt="Richard Stallman in Hsinchu City" width="274" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 

<!-- Photo credits start below -->
<p style="padding: 0px 20px 0px 20px; margin-top:1px; text-align:center;">

<em>(Photos courtesy of National Tsing Hua University.)</em>

<p>Please fill out our contact form, so that we can inform you about
future events in and around <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=293&amp;reset=1">Hsinchu
City</a>, <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=294&amp;reset=1">Taipei</a>,
<a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=295&amp;reset=1">Puli
Township</a>, and <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=296&amp;reset=1">Kaohsiung</a>,
each of which RMS visited while he was in Taiwan on this last
trip.</p>

<p style="text-align:center;">Please see <a href="https://www.fsf.org/events">www.fsf.org/events</a> for a full list of all of RMS's confirmed engagements, and contact <a href="mailto:rms-assist@gnu.org">rms-assist@gnu.org</a> if you'd like him to come speak.</p>

</p></div>

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feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-june-13
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: June 13
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-June-13
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-june-13
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, June 13, from 2pm to 5pm EDT (18:00 to 21:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="https://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p>
<br /><p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="https://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p>
<br /><p>While the Free Software 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!</p>
<br /><p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to make it onto IRC on Friday, our <a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> will provide you with all the information you need to get started on helping the Directory today!</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-june-20
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: June 20
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-June-20
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-june-20
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, June 20, from 2pm to 5pm EDT (18:00 to 21:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="https://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p>
<br /><p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="https://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p>
<br /><p>While the Free Software 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!</p>
<br /><p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to make it onto IRC on Friday, our <a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> will provide you with all the information you need to get started on helping the Directory today!</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/active-management-technology
title: "Active Management Technology": The obscure remote control in some Intel hardware
uri: Active-Management-Technology-The-obscure-remote-control-in-some-Int
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/active-management-technology
content:
<p><em>by Ward Vandewege, Matthew Garrett, and Richard M. Stallman</em></p>
<p>AMT is an auxiliary processor built into the high-end Intel Q chipsets
with an i5 or i7 CPU. We don't know whether it is present in the
cheaper H, Z, and B chipsets. It runs software loaded from a binary
blob at an early stage in the process of booting the machine.</p>
<p>The AMT processor has total control over the machine. Here are some of
the things it has the ability to do, remotely over a network:</p>
<ul>
<li>power control</li>
<li>BIOS configuration and upgrade</li>
<li>disk wipe</li>
<li>system re-installation</li>
<li>console access (VNC)</li>
</ul>
<p>The AMT runs even when the computer is powered off, as long as the
machine is plugged into a power outlet.</p>
<p>Depending on the vendor and BIOS version of your computer, the AMT
functionality could be enabled, "soft" enabled, or disabled in the
BIOS of your machine.</p>
<p>In principle there is no problem with the concept of AMT, as long as
the owner of the machine controls the remote access to it.
Unfortunately, that is not the case with AMT, because it is entirely
proprietary and its specs are secret.</p>
<p>This also means that there is no way to know for sure if disabling it
in the BIOS actually disables the AMT features entirely. There could
be a deliberate backdoor built into the implementation. This is
problem number one.</p>
<p>The AMT software is also likely to have security holes, and since it
is not free software, users can't debug or fix them. What if there are
bugs that allow access to some of the AMT features, even when the AMT
is ostensibly disabled? There is no way to be reasonably certain that
this is not the case. This is problem number two.</p>
<p>In any case, a nonfree program that is meant to be changed (just not
by the user) is always unacceptable.</p>
<p>The average computer owner does not expect their laptop to have out-of-band
remote access and control functionality built in. And yet that is exactly what
AMT is. This is problem number three. If the user doesn't even know the AMT is
there, how can they be expected to be able to control remote access to it?</p>
<p>What can be done to improve this situation?</p>
<p>The best you can do with a machine that has AMT is to set the BIOS
settings to "disable AMT." That's not certain to do the job, but
you're more likely to be safe from it this way than if you set the
BIOS to "enable AMT."</p>
<p>For remote access, a cooperating network interface is required: Intel
ethernet adapters, Intel WiFi adapters, and certain 3G modems are
supported. If you can, replace Intel-made network interfaces with ones
made by a different manufacturer, that do not support AMT.</p>
<p>When you buy new hardware, don't buy Intel hardware that has AMT.  AMD
chipsets do not contain anything like AMT.  Note, however, that there are
other comparable problems in hardware from both Intel and AMD.</p>
<p>For the long term, lobby Intel to release the AMT software stack as
free software. <a href="https://www-ssl.intel.com/content/www/us/en/forms/corporate-questions-contact-us.html?iid=contactus+company_email&amp;">Send them an
email</a>
letting them know you object to AMT and will not purchase any hardware
that has it.</p>
<p>AMT is a serious obstacle to running a fully free system on modern
Intel hardware, and a threat to users' privacy and security. If you
would like to join with others to help figure out how to remove or
replace it, contact us at <a href="mailto:campaigns@fsf.org">&#99;&#97;&#109;&#112;&#97;&#105;&#103;&#110;&#115;&#64;&#102;&#115;&#102;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;</a>.</p>


title: Coming soon: Email Self-Defense in Spanish, German, Portuguese, and more
uri: Coming-soon-Email-Self-Defense-in-Spanish-German-Portuguese-and-mo
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/coming-soon-email-self-defense-in-spanish-german-portuguese-and-more

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/coming-soon-email-self-defense-in-spanish-german-portuguese-and-more

content:
<p>Two weeks ago, we released <a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org">Email Self-Defense</a>, the FSF's beginner guide to fighting surveillance with free software email encryption. We had an outpouring of support from people who were happy to have a welcoming, accessible guide that also promoted free software and <a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/surveillance-vs-democracy.html">a reduction in the amount of data collected about people in general</a>.</p>
<p>We're excited to announce that volunteers are currently working on translations of the guide and infographic into <em>ten languages</em>. Wow! In the meantime, we've also made some general improvements that will launch with the translations.</p>
<p>In the coming weeks, we'll be announcing translations here and on our primary mailing list, the <a href="https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/">Free Software Supporter</a>. If you're subscribed you can update the language <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=34&amp;reset=1">preferences in your user profile</a> to receive some of the messages in Spanish or French.</p>
<p>We try to give our translators an opportunity to work in teams and review each others' work, but there are some brave volunteers currently translating alone. Send an email as soon as possible to <a href="mailto:campaigns@fsf.org">&#99;&#97;&#109;&#112;&#97;&#105;&#103;&#110;&#115;&#64;&#102;&#115;&#102;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;</a> if you are fluent in Brazilian Portuguese, Romanian, Japanese, Malayalam, or Turkish and would like to help them.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-june-27
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: June 27
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-June-27
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-june-27
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, June 27, from 2pm to 5pm EDT (18:00 to 21:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="https://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p>
<br /><p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="https://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p>
<br /><p>While the Free Software 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!</p>
<br /><p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to make it onto IRC on Friday, our <a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> will provide you with all the information you need to get started on helping the Directory today!</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/launching-translations-of-our-email-self-defense-guide
title: Encryption, chiffrement, шифрование; launching translations of our Email Self-Defense guide
uri: Encryption-chiffrement-шифрование-launching-translations
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/launching-translations-of-our-email-self-defense-guide
content:
<img src="media/fe673703.gnupg_robot-ja.png" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org//static.fsf.org/nosvn/images/gnupg_robot-ja.png" style="float:right;padding-left:10px" />

<p>The goal of our <a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org">Email Self-Defense</a> guide is to show everyone that
email encryption is a necessary, easy, and accessible way to fight mass
surveillance with free software. We know that if we want to reach
people around the globe, it's going to take more than one
language. That's why today, we're proud to announce translations into 
<a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/de">German</a>, <a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/pt-br">Brazilian Portuguese</a>, <a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/fr">French</a>,
<a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/ru">Russian</a>, <a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/tr">Turkish</a>, and <a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/ja">Japanese</a>, as well as
an ongoing effort to make the guide and infographic available in as
many languages as possible.</p>
<p>Mass surveillance is a global issue, with many governments and
corporations colluding across borders to track us throughout our
digital lives. Inter-country communication is particularly subject to
government surveillance, as many states' privacy laws are much less
protective of outsiders. These scary truths are part of the reason
this translation project is important.</p>
<p>We'd like to highlight that, while the FSF coordinated the translation
process and maintains the Web site, all of the translation was done by
volunteers. We're grateful to this international community of active
free software supporters.</p>
<p>While coordinating the translations, we've made improvements to the
guide itself, incorporating <a href="https://libreplanet.org/wiki/GPG_guide/Public_Review">feedback left by users on our LibrePlanet
community wiki</a> and from encryption experts. With the help of a
volunteer, we even created Edward, a friendly email bot that helps
Email Self-Defense users test their new encryption systems. Edward is
free software under the <a href="https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html">GNU Affero Public License</a>, and you can
download his <a href="http://agpl.fsf.org/emailselfdefense.fsf.org/edward/CURRENT/edward.tar.gz">source code</a>.</p>
<p><strong>We want to keep improving Email Self-Defense so that it can have the
  biggest impact possible. We're particularly interested in adding
  instructions for encryption on mobile devices, as well as an FAQ to
  help troubleshoot common problems. <a href="https://u.fsf.org/10g">Can you donate to help us do
  this important work? If you don't have dollars, you're also welcome
  to donate in Bitcoin or Litecoin</a>.</strong></p>
<p>This launch is just the beginning of an initiative to get Email
Self-Defense translated into as many languages as possible. Spanish, 
Malayam, Korean, Romanian and Greek translations are currently underway.
If you'd like to create a version for a language that we haven't published yet
or help maintain one of the existing translations, please send an
email to <a href="mailto:campaigns@fsf.org">&#99;&#97;&#109;&#112;&#97;&#105;&#103;&#110;&#115;&#64;&#102;&#115;&#102;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org">Email Self-Defense</a> is only one important piece of the solution to
bulk surveillance. While we learn email encryption tools, we also need
to push politically to reign in surveillance, <a href="https://www.fsf.org/campaigns/surveillance">build a safer
Internet</a>, and force governments and companies to <a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/surveillance-vs-democracy">reduce the
amount of data</a> they collect about us in the first place. We hope
translated versions of Email Self-Defense can be the entry into this
multifaceted movement for people all around the world.</p>
<p><em>If you'd like to receive some of our emails in Spanish
 or French, as well as English, you can update your <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=34&amp;reset=1">language
 preferences</a>.</em></p>
<p><a href="https://fsf.org/fr/encryption-criptare-shifrovaniie-autodefense-courriel-sans-frontieres">Lisez en français</a><br />
<a href="https://fsf.org/tr/blogs/sifreleme-encryption-criptare-shifrovaniie-e-posta-oz-savunma-sinirlari-asiyor">Read in Turkish</a><br />
<a href="https://fsf.org/ru/root/blogs-1/community-1/encryption-criptare-shifrovaniie-zashchita-el-pochty-biez-ghranits">Read in Russian</a></p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/introducing-alex-patel-our-summer-campaigns-intern
title: Introducing Alex Patel, our summer Campaigns intern
uri: Introducing-Alex-Patel-our-summer-Campaigns-intern
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/introducing-alex-patel-our-summer-campaigns-intern
content:
<p><img src="media/1bfbfebc.alexpatel-small.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org//static.fsf.org/nosvn/images/staff-photos/interns/alexpatel-small.jpg" alt="Alex Patel" style="float:right;padding-left:10px" />
In my free time, I write and code for <a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/writer/1210633/Alexander_H._Patel/">The Crimson</a>, Harvard's student newspaper, and I like reading historical fiction and the news. I also enjoy spending time at the Computer Clubhouse in the Boston Museum of Science, at which I help teach programming. </p>
<p>As I loaded up on quantitative courses this past year, I began to
understand just how much I'm surrounded, every day, by free software:
LaTeX, GCC, Bash, MySQL, Git—the list goes on and on.</p>
<p>One thing that I've noticed is that, at least at Harvard, nobody tells you
that these tools are <em>free</em> (as in, the "speech" kind). It's an implicit
conclusion, at least within the Computer Science department,  that
conceptual and theoretical teaching is sufficient, but only because
students have, on their own, unrestricted access to a vast network of tools and
resources upon which they can build their skills and expertise. The
message is this: "If you get stuck, look at the documentation."</p>
<p>Nobody ever stops and acknowledges, though, that the free source code and
documentation so prominent within the academic setting—and so many other fields—weren't always
free, and that securing free software is still a battle
fought by many. What would be the state of a systems course if GDB and GCC
were nonfree?</p>
<p>That's why I applied to be an intern at the FSF this summer (in addition
to RMS' puns).</p>
<p>I'm excited to learn about the technical and legal concepts
that I expect to be prevalent within my education. I'm
excited to debate and learn from people whose principles may be different
from my own, and to assist in advocating for claims that I believe to have
important implications for not only me, but for a lot of people for whom technology plays a major role. This summer, I'll be working with the Campaigns team to refine some of the infrastructure for <a href="https://www.defectivebydesign.org">Defective by Design</a> and <a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/librejs/">LibreJS</a>, among others, and to look into analytics for FSF fundraising and campaigns. </p>
<p>Feel free to shoot me an email at <a href="mailto:apatel@fsf.org">&#97;&#112;&#97;&#116;&#101;&#108;&#64;&#102;&#115;&#102;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;</a>, or find me on IRC under ahp. </p>
<p><strong>More information about the FSF's internship program is at <a href="https://www.fsf.org/volunteer/internships">https://www.fsf.org/volunteer/internships</a>.</strong></p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/seagl-call-for-participation-now-open
title: Seattle free software event this fall: Call for Participation now open
uri: Seattle-free-software-event-this-fall-Call-for-Participation-now-open
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/seagl-call-for-participation-now-open
content:
<p><img src="media/42233d74.seagllogo.svg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org//static.fsf.org/nosvn/seagllogo.svg" alt="SeaGL logo" style="float:right;padding-left:10px" />
The Seattle GNU/Linux Conference (SeaGL) has just announced Karen
Sandler, executive director of Software Freedom Conservancy, as a
keynote speaker and opened its Call for Participation. SeaGL is
a free software conference in downtown Seattle, taking place on
October 24 and 25, 2014. The Seattle Central Community College is
hosting the event, so expect plenty of opportunities for students,
as well as professionals and free software enthusiasts.</p>
<p>The SeaGL Call for Participation is now open! Get involved by
submitting a proposal and sharing this call widely. Giving a talk at a
free software event is great way to meet new people and learn new
things. SeaGL is especially <a href="http://seagl.org/news/2014/06/20/CFP-Open.html">interested in hearing from new
speakers</a></p>
<p>You can find out more about SeaGL, October 24-25 2014, by
emailing <a href="mailto:participate@seagl.org">&#112;&#97;&#114;&#116;&#105;&#99;&#105;&#112;&#97;&#116;&#101;&#64;&#115;&#101;&#97;&#103;&#108;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;</a> or visiting them on IRC
on <a href="https://freenode.net/using_the_network.shtml">Freenode</a> in
<a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/seagl">#seagl</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-june-2014
title: GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry: 23 new GNU releases!
uri: GNU-Spotlight-with-Karl-Berry-23-new-GNU-releases
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-june-2014
content:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/cgicc/">cgicc-3.2.15</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/ddrescue/">ddrescue-1.18.1</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/electric/">electric-9.05</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/freedink/">freedink-108.2</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/freeipmi/">freeipmi-1.4.4</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gcc/">gcc-4.7.4</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/">gettext-0.19.1</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/global/">global-6.3</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gnupg/">gnupg-2.0.24</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/grep/">grep-2.20</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/libmicrohttpd/">libmicrohttpsd-0.9.37</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/libtasn1/">libtasn1-4.0</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/linux-libre/">linux-libre-3.15</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/mcron/">mcron-1.0.8</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/moe/">moe-1.6</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/nano/">nano-2.3.4</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/nettle/">nettle-3.0</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/parallel/">parallel-20140622</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/sipwitch/">sipwitch-1.9.2</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/sqltutor/">sqltutor-0.7</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/tramp/">tramp-2.2.10</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/commoncpp/">ucommon-6.1.8</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/unifont/">unifont-7.0.01</a></li>
</ul>
<p>To get announcements of most new GNU releases, subscribe to the info-gnu
mailing list: <a href="https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu">https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu</a>. Nearly
all GNU software is available from <a href="https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/">https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/</a>, or
preferably one of its mirrors (<a href="https://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html">https://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html</a>). You
can use the url <a href="http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/">http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/</a> to be automatically
redirected to a (hopefully) nearby and up-to-date mirror.</p>
<p>This month, we welcome Bernd Paysan as the new maintainer (though the
long-time author and developer) of gforth and vmgen, and Ruben Rodriguez
(long-time developer of Trisquel) as the new maintainer of IceCat.
Thanks to all.</p>
<p>Also, please consider attending the GNU Hackers' Meeting
<a href="https://www.gnu.org/ghm/">https://www.gnu.org/ghm/</a> in Munich this year, August 15-17; attendance
is free of charge, but pre-registration is essential.</p>
<p>A number of GNU packages, as well as the GNU operating system as
a whole, are looking for maintainers and other assistance: please
see <a href="https://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint">https://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint</a> if you'd
like to help. The general page on how to help GNU is at
<a href="https://www.gnu.org/help/help.html">https://www.gnu.org/help/help.html</a>. To submit new packages to
the GNU operating system, see <a href="https://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html">https://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html</a>.</p>
<p>As always, please feel free to write to me, <a href="mailto:karl@gnu.org">&#107;&#97;&#114;&#108;&#64;&#103;&#110;&#117;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;</a>, with any
GNUish questions or suggestions for future installments.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-july-11
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: July 11
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-July-11
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-july-11
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, July 11, from 2pm to 5pm EDT (18:00 to 21:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="https://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p>
<br /><p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="https://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p>
<br /><p>While the Free Software 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!</p>
<br /><p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to make it onto IRC on Friday, our <a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> will provide you with all the information you need to get started on helping the Directory today!</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/tell-the-fcc-net-neutrality-is-crucial-to-free-software
title: Tell the FCC: Net Neutrality is crucial to free software
uri: Tell-the-FCC-Net-Neutrality-is-crucial-to-free-software
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/tell-the-fcc-net-neutrality-is-crucial-to-free-software
content:
<p><span style="color:#c0392b"><strong>UPDATE: The FCC has extended the comment deadline for the first comment period to Friday, July 18, 2014 at midnight. Why the extension? The FCC's servers are crashing--they can't seem to handle the number of public comments coming in. Keep 'em coming!</strong></span></p>
<p>The agency has asked members of the public, along with industry leaders and entrepreneurs, to tell it why Internet Service Providers should be banned from traffic discrimination. This comment window is one of the best opportunities
we've had to make an impact. <strong>Comments for the first comment period are due July 18, 2014.</strong> <a href="https://dearfcc.org">Submit your statement in support of Net Neutrality right away</a> using the Electronic Frontier Foundation's free software commenting tool.</p>
<p>Net neutrality, the principle that all traffic on the Internet should
be treated equally, should be a basic right for Internet users. It's
also crucial for free software's continued growth and success. Here's
why:</p>
<p>Media distribution giants that use <a href="https://www.defectivebydesign.org/what_is_drm_digital_restrictions_management">Digital Restrictions
Management</a> and proprietary software to control what's on your
computer have also been fighting for years to control the
network. Without Net Neutrality, DRM-laden materials could be easier
to access, while DRM-free competitors could be stuck in the slow
lane. Web-based free software projects like GNU MediaGoblin could also
suffer the slow treatment while competitors like YouTube shell out big
bucks for speedier service. The bottom line--an Internet where the
most powerful interests can pay for huge speed advantages could push
smaller free software projects right off the map and make it harder
for decentralized projects to flourish. That's not good for free
software, and it's not good for other innovative voices for change in
the digital world.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://dearfcc.org">Tell the FCC: Net Neutrality will help free software flourish</a></strong></p>
<p>Activists have worked for years to get to this moment. Over the last
several months, things have really heated up--with Internet freedom
lovers camping out outside of the FCC, serenading FCC Chairman Tom
Wheeler with a special version "Which Side Are You On?" The comments
flooding in to the agency have jammed the phones and crashed the FCC's
email servers. And yet, Chairman Wheeler still thinks he can get away
with ignoring overwhelming public outrage and wrecking the free
Internet. We have to keep up our historic momentum in order to
convince a cable-industry sympathizer like Chairman Wheeler to listen
to the public and protect Net Neutrality.</p>
<p>The deadline for comments is July 18, 2014. <strong><a href="https://dearfcc.org">Don't
delay--comment now</a></strong>!</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-july-18
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: July 18
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-July-18
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-july-18
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, July 18, from 2pm to 5pm EDT (18:00 to 21:00 UTC) to help improve the <a href="https://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/fsf">#fsf channel on freenode</a>.</p>
<br /><p>Tens of thousands of people visit <a href="https://directory.fsf.org">directory.fsf.org</a> 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.</p>
<br /><p>While the Free Software 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!</p>
<br /><p>If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to make it onto IRC on Friday, our <a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate"><em>participation guide</em></a> will provide you with all the information you need to get started on helping the Directory today!</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/introducing-summer-licensing-intern-tyler-livingston
title: Introducing Tyler Livingston, a summer Licensing Team intern
uri: Introducing-Tyler-Livingston-a-summer-Licensing-Team-intern
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/introducing-summer-licensing-intern-tyler-livingston
content:
<img src="media/c304f6d0.tyler.jpg" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/licensing/interns/2014/tyler.jpg" alt="Tyler Livingston" style="float:right;padding-left:10px" />

<p>Hello. I am a rising Third Year law student at SMU Dedman School of Law in
Dallas, TX. I am working hard to master the technical aspects of law,
electronics, and software. My current interests involve protecting
individuals and investigating new technology, particularly in the
communications field by utilizing licenses for authorship, art,
and inventions. Prior to law school, I attained a bachelor's degree in
History at the University of Texas at Dallas.</p>
<p>Licensing is where I began to be involved with free software; the FSF
in particular utilizes a great strategy of working within the current
licensing jurisprudence by using copyleft to support freedom
and empowerment for users over their computers and software. My
computer science skills are lacking, but I have worked with UNIX
systems in the past and am now finally feeling comfortable enough to
make a permanent switch to enjoy software on my own terms. Other
interests include electronics and travel (with a trip planned to
Eastern Europe later this year).</p>
<p>Over the summer I will be working with the licensing department on
various projects, including the <a href="https://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a>,
publications, and hopefully a bit of the nitty-gritty licensing terms
and compliance issues. The number one priority for my time at the FSF is to
learn. Collaboration brings together society and carries with it
several other natural positive externalities. I hope to integrate into
the free software community because it is an integral cog of the free
software movement. I am extremely excited to reach out to others and
soak up as much as I can from this enthralling environment.</p>
<p>I encourage all to contact me at <a href="mailto:tlivingston@fsf.org">&#116;&#108;&#105;&#118;&#105;&#110;&#103;&#115;&#116;&#111;&#110;&#64;&#102;&#115;&#102;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;</a>.</p>
<p><em>More information about the FSF's internship program is available at <a href="https://www.fsf.org/volunteer/internships">https://www.fsf.org/volunteer/internships</a>.</em></p>


