# articles

feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-july-25
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: July 25
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-July-25
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-july-25
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, July 25, 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/interview-with-tox
title: Interview with Tox.im
uri: Interview-with-Tox-im
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/interview-with-tox
content:
<img src="media/c26aa58d.tox-logo.png" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org//static.fsf.org/nosvn/licensing/tox-logo.png" alt="Tox.im logo" style="float:right;padding-left:10px" />

<p>In this edition, we conducted an email-based interview with David Lohle
from the Tox project, an all-in-one communication platform and
protocol that ensures users full privacy and secure message
delivery. The <a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Tox">Tox core library</a>
is licensed under the terms of GNU GPL version 3, or (at your option)
any later version. The library implements the Tox protocol and
provides an API for clients, such as
<a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Venom">Venom</a> and
<a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Toxic">Toxic</a>.</p>
<h2>Tell us about yourself</h2>
<p>We're the Tox Foundation, creators of <a href="https://tox.im">Tox</a>, a secure
and distributed multimedia messenger. Our core developer team consists
of people from Canada, Germany, the US, and more. Though we speak
different languages and represent diverse cultures, we are dedicated
to working together on our common goal: to create a product we think
is necessary in a world where our privacy is often overlooked.</p>
<h2>What inspired you to create Tox?</h2>
<p>After the initial leaks from Edward Snowden, we decided to take a look
at what chat programs we could use that would respect our
privacy. Unfortunately, at the time, all other existing
implementations were either too convoluted to convince our friends to
use or were proprietary, so we decided that Tox was a necessary
project.</p>
<h2>How are people using it?</h2>
<p>Right now, people are using Tox to talk with their family in a more
secure way than what other big-name, proprietary competitors
offer. People from all over the world are joining group chats to talk
about their favorite hobbies, and friends are getting together to
discuss weekend plans. We even have plugins that allow for Tox-to-IRC
and vice versa conversations. Audio calling is available in a select
few clients right now, so people are even using Tox to perhaps speak
with one another while they play a video game. Tox itself is a
protocol, so it can be adapted to anything you can imagine. Some
people have even used Tox as a file sync, safely synchronizing between
their computers.</p>
<h2>What features do you think really sets Tox apart from similar software?</h2>
<p>Perhaps it's not so much a feature as an ideology, but Tox focuses on
simplicity and security without compromise. There are a lot of great
privacy-minded instant messengers out there; unfortunately, they
really fall short in the user experience department. If Tox's goal is
to get secure messaging in the hands of the masses, then we need to
develop a set of software with a minimal learning curve. Cryptography
and security are complex tasks that require special care, and Tox
takes it a step further by hiding most of the configuration and other
steps it usually takes to set up a competing messenger
program. However, this does not mean we prevent tinkering. We're
excited to see more advanced users toy around and customize Tox to
their own liking, but we're also excited to see that beginners can
pick up Tox and not have to sit through a video tutorial detailing how
to add a friend.</p>
<p>When we near a finalized product, we're not going to market Tox as a
secure messenger as much as we do on it's simplicity and ease. By
focusing on what people care about, such as group chats and a
streamlined experience, we can achieve our goal of a safe,
eavesdrop-free messaging platform for all.</p>
<h2>Why did you choose the GPLv3 as Tox's license?</h2>
<p>When we started Tox, we wanted a platform that was easily modified,
shared, and redistributed—a community is a project's strongest
asset. Since most of us already supported free software, our initial
discussions wavered between using a permissive license versus a strong
copyleft license, and we ultimately chose GPL Version 3 in the
end. Its simplicity, clarity, and strong patent protection affords our
community large freedoms in changing our software, while protecting us
from malicious intents.</p>
<h2>How can users (technical or otherwise) help contribute to Tox?</h2>
<p>We greatly appreciate all efforts, no matter how small (we're even
grateful for the grammar-related commits). If you know a programming
language, and wish to help develop a client, you can visit
<a href="https://wiki.tox.im/Clients">https://wiki.tox.im/Clients</a> and see what you can offer. If you
fluently speak a language other than English, and want to help
translate Tox clients into other locales, browse our wiki at
<a href="https://wiki.tox.im">https://wiki.tox.im</a> for projects you could contribute to.</p>
<p>We're also very interested in other's constructive criticism, as no
project is ever perfect. Feedback is what fuels Tox, so if you have
something to say, drop us a comment at <a href="mailto:comments@tox.im">&#99;&#111;&#109;&#109;&#101;&#110;&#116;&#115;&#64;&#116;&#111;&#120;&#46;&#105;&#109;</a> and we'll try
our best to incorporate suggestions and improve from
critique. Everyone can have a role in helping to push Tox forward,
even if that just means telling your friends about us.</p>
<h2>What's the next big thing for Tox?</h2>
<p>We're currently working on implementing audio and video in all of the
main Tox clients. It's a fairly momentous task, so it might take some
time, but we feel it's imperative to have proper video calling in
order to move forward. Due of the nature of Git and a large community,
we're able to work on multiple tasks at once—group chatting, for
example—but we're trying to focus most of our efforts on A/V.</p>
<p><em>Enjoyed this interview? Check out our previous entry in this series featuring <a href="https://fsf.org/blogs/licensing/interview-with-ciaran-gultnieks-of-f-droid">Ciaran Gultnieks of F-Droid</a>.</em></p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/fsf-congratulates-uk-government-on-choosing-open-document-format
title: FSF congratulates UK Government on choosing Open Document Format
uri: FSF-congratulates-UK-Government-on-choosing-Open-Document-Format
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/fsf-congratulates-uk-government-on-choosing-open-document-format
content:
<img src="media/a6fa876a.ODF-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org//static.fsf.org/nosvn/ODF-logo.jpg" alt="OpenDocument" style="float:right;padding-left:10px" />

<p>According to a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/open-document-formats-selected-to-meet-user-needs">press release</a> from the Cabinet Office, "The
standards set out the document file formats that are expected to be
used across all government bodies. Government will begin using open
formats that will ensure that citizens and people working in
government can use the applications that best meet their needs when
they are viewing or working on documents together."</p>
<p>The Free Software Foundation applauds the British government's
decision to make ODF its official file format. We are especially happy
that the decision excludes use of Microsoft's OOXML format, which is
not fully free and would prevent the goal of interoperability. Now
British citizens can use free software like <a href="https://www.libreoffice.org/discover/libreoffice/">LibreOffice</a> without
worrying that they'll have trouble applying for a passport, reading
court documents, or getting their pensions.</p>
<p>The British government's adoption of ODF will make it harder for
laggards to ignore the standard file format, and <a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/government-free-software">could inspire other
governments to make the switch</a>. After all, it's unethical to spend
public funds on proprietary software that hinders interoperability and
forces citizens to use the same software or miss out on access to
vital government documents.</p>
<h3>What's so great about ODF?</h3>
<p>Users can read and write OpenDocument files without agreeing to
proprietary software licenses and programmers are free to write
applications that support ODF without fear of patent claims or
licensing issues. Governments, businesses, and archivists can use ODF
to ensure critical documents can be read for years to come, without
being forced to pay for updates to proprietary software.</p>
<p>Using free formats is one of the easiest and most important things we
can do to defend software freedom. We also need to reject proprietary
formats from Microsoft Office and Apple's iWork (.doc[x], .ppt[x],
etc.). At the FSF, we use only free formats in our office and we're
proud to work with the LibreOffice project as a member of the
<a href="https://www.documentfoundation.org">Document Foundation's</a> Advisory Board.</p>
<p>So, all of you in the UK who've kept a copy of Microsoft Office around
for official business, now you can ditch the proprietary office suite
and upgrade to one that respects your freedom: <a href="https://www.libreoffice.org/discover/libreoffice/">LibreOffice</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-august-1
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: August 1
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-August-1
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-august-1
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, August 1, 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>


title: Volunteers translate Email Self-Defense guide into Spanish, Romanian, and more
uri: Volunteers-translate-Email-Self-Defense-guide-into-Spanish-Romanian
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/volunteers-translate-email-self-defense-guide-into-spanish-and-more

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/volunteers-translate-email-self-defense-guide-into-spanish-and-more

content:
<img style="float:right;padding-left:10px" src="media/576e1afd.web_of_trust.png" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org//static.fsf.org/nosvn/images/web_of_trust.png" alt="Email Self-Defense" />

<p>When the FSF launched our <a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org">guide to personal email encryption</a> last
month, it was enthusiastically received by English-speakers looking
for an easy way to get started fighting bulk surveillance. Our community then came together to translate it and bring it to speakers of
six more languages. Today we're launching the second round of
translations: <a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/es">Spanish</a>, <a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/ro">Romanian</a>, <a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/it">Italian</a>,
and <a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/el">Greek</a>.</p>
<p>This guide started as an effort of the FSF and some skilled graphic
and Web designers, but it's become a worldwide effort by free software
activists translating in more than ten countries. This kind of
teamwork is what our movement is all about, and the FSF is thrilled to
facilitate it.</p>
<p>The Free Software Foundation provides the infrastructure and
professional management for our community of translators, and
rigorously researches and refines the material in Email
Self-Defense. We also maintain Edward, the multilingual encryption
reply bot program. We've spent a lot of time and energy on this guide
so far, and we want to spend more, but we need resources.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://u.fsf.org/10t">Can you donate to help us recoup some of the cost we've put into
  creating this guide and fostering a community around it?</a></strong></p>
<p>Your donation will also enable us to make technical infrastructure
improvements to EmailSelfDefense.fsf.org to make it easy to translate
into more languages, and hopefully let us add a set of instructions
for using encryption on mobile devices.</p>
<p><strong>Our goal is to make email encryption approachable for people
  speaking any language and using any device, while also using the
  guide to deliver a clear message about the importance of free
  software.</strong></p>
<p>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> telling us about your
experiences with translating.</p>
<p>We're also looking for people to join the <a href="https://www.gnu.org/server/standards/README.translations">GNU.org translation
team</a> and create translated versions of Richard Stallman's article
<a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/surveillance-vs-democracy">"How Much Surveillance Can Democracy Withstand?"</a> The article
makes the point that, to fight bulk surveillance, we need to reduce
the amount of data that is collected about our lives in general (both
by government and private entities).</p>
<p>Thank you for being such a supportive community, and coming forward to
help us with this project. We're happy to be making it easier for you
to protect your privacy and put up a defense against surveillance.</p>
<p><em>Please email us at <a href="mailto:donate@fsf.org">&#100;&#111;&#110;&#97;&#116;&#101;&#64;&#102;&#115;&#102;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;</a> if you'd like to donate in Euros.</em></p>
<p><em>Languages: English, <a href="https://fsf.org/ro/blogs/voluntari-de-pretutindeni-traduc-in-spaniola-si-in-alte-limbi-ghidul-protejarea-corespondentei-electronice">română</a>, <a href="https://fsf.org/es/la-comunidad-del-software-libre-se-une-en-torno-a-la-fsf-para-traducir-la-defensa-personal-del-correo-electronico-a-mas-idiomas">español</a></em></p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/recap-of-friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-august-1
title: Recap of Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: August 1
uri: Recap-of-Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-August-1
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/recap-of-friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-august-1
content:
<p>Today's Friday <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> IRC
Meeting was energetic and productive -- as IRC newcomer noted: "what is this all about? I feel excited!". And, for good reason: this summer has been an exciting and productive one on the Directory.  One of the big reasons for this success is due to contributions of
Morten "Jobbe" Jakobsen, who has been helping to run our IRC meetings,
as well as to make sure that the many contributions and submissions
from other volunteers are handled in a timely manner.  Jobbe and the
other volunteers and contributors continue to increase as do the
number of <a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Special:NewPages">new entries</a> and
<a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki?title=Special:RecentChanges&amp;days=30&amp;from=">updates</a>.</p>
<p>Four of the entries we published today were: </p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Privacy_Badger">Privacy Badger</a>: Browser extension that detects and prevents third-party tracking (License: GPLv3+)</li>
<li><a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Silicon_Empire">Silicon Empire</a>: Program to Burn CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays (License: GPLv3)</li>
<li><a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Motif">Motif</a>: Distribution for the Motif user interface component toolkit (License: LGPLv2+)</li>
<li><a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Mu">mu</a>: Maildir indexer/searcher + GNU Emacs mail client + Guile bindings (License: GPLv3+)</li>
</ul>
<p>In addition to publishing and updating entries, we also made some
cosmetic improvements to our link icons and templates.</p>
<p>We hope you can join Jobbe and the rest of us, too, next week! 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/community/fsf-at-commonbound-conference-on-economic-equality
title: FSF at CommonBound conference on economic equality
uri: FSF-at-CommonBound-conference-on-economic-equality
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/fsf-at-commonbound-conference-on-economic-equality
content:
<table cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" width="310" border="0" style="float:right;margin-left:10px">
<tr>
    <td style="padding:10px;background-color:#eeeeee;" align="center">
        <img src="media/1e8a3c5a.commonbound_zak.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org//static.fsf.org/nosvn/images/commonbound_zak.jpg" alt="" />
        <div style="padding-top:10px;color:#444444">FSF campaigns manager Zak Rogoff (left) with René Pérez of the New Economy Coalition.</div>
    </td>
</tr>
</table>

<p>Last month, FSF campaigns manager Zak Rogoff attended
<a href="http://commonbound.org">CommonBound</a>, a Boston conference for those working towards a more
equitable and sustainable economy.</p>
<p>Zak joined René Pérez of the <a href="http://neweconomy.net/new-economy-coalition">New Economy
Coalition</a> on the panel
"Opening access to the digital means of production: free software for
a more equitable economy." The panel featured an exploration of
existing and proposed free software business models, as well as a
discussion with participants of varying free software experience, from
seasoned hackers to economic justice activists discovering the <a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">four
freedoms</a> for the first
time.</p>
<p>No matter where you are on the political spectrum, free software is
important to achieve political autonomy. The FSF is happy to be
building bridges to new communities, and exploring the role of free
software in social justice and economic change. We look forward to
sharing skills and ideas with diverse allies as we continue to foster
an inclusive free software community.</p>
<p>If you're interested in a conference experience focused on free
software, check out LibrePlanet, the FSF's weekend-long event next
spring, and <a href="https://libreplanet.org/2014/">sign up for updates on LibrePlanet
2015</a>.</p>
<p>We'd also be glad to speak at your event if we can make the trip. Send
us an email 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> to get the conversation started. We
also encourage supporters to give talks and host events in their
communities. Check out our <a href="https://www.fsf.org/resources">resources</a>
area if you'd like to get started with free software outreach.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-18-new-gnu-releases-1
title: GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry: 18 new GNU releases!
uri: 2014-08-02-GNU-Spotlight-with-Karl-Berry-18-new-GNU-releases
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-18-new-gnu-releases-1
content:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/">coreutils-8.23</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/cssc/">cssc-1.4.0</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/datamash/">datamash-1.0.5</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.denemo.org/">denemo-1.1.6</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/emms/">emms-4.0</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gcc/">gcc-4.9.1</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/">gettext-0.19.2</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gforth/">gforth-0.7.3</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gnudos/">gnudos-1.3</a></li>
<li><a href="http://health.gnu.org/">gnuhealth-2.6.1</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gnupg/">gnupg-1.4.18</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gnupg/">gnupg-2.0.25</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gsrc/">gsrc-2014.07.06</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/nano/">nano-2.3.6</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/parallel/">parallel-20140722</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/commoncpp/">ucommon-6.1.9</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/unifont/">unifont-7.0.03</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/xorriso/">xorriso-1.3.8</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 Mose Giordano as a new co-maintainer of
AUC-TeX, James Cloos as a new co-maintainer of a2ps (following his
work on GNU enscript and trueprint), and Assaf Gordon as the author
and maintainer of the new package datamash. 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 gratis, but pre-registration is essential (and needs to
be done immediately).</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/licensing/introducing-micah-summer-intern-for-the-licensing-team-1
title: Introducing Micah, summer intern for the Licensing Team
uri: Introducing-Micah-summer-intern-for-the-Licensing-Team
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/introducing-micah-summer-intern-for-the-licensing-team-1
content:
<img src="media/075e661e.micah.jpg" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/licensing/micah.jpg" alt="Micah-Shalom Kesselman" style="float:right;padding-left:10px" />

<p>Hello, my name is Micah. I am currently a second-year law student at Suffolk University Law School in Boston. My primary focus has been on the law surrounding copyrights, patents, and trademarks as well as software licensing. At the same time, I am also a returning undergraduate studying Computer Science at University of Massachusetts Boston.</p>
<p>In my life before law school, I was a graduate student at University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee, in my hometown, where I studied Political Science. Prior to that, I completed my BA in Political Science and Philosophy at Purdue University in Indiana. I have always been fascinated by the intersection of technology and society and in law school that interest naturally culminated in a focus on software law and the use of software in the practice of law.</p>
<p>I believe that law and software share the quality of being at their best when developed transparently and collaboratively. This belief drew my attention to software freedom. Exploring the many ways the two fields can support each other has been both rewarding and one I believe to be incredibly important to modern society. I am very interested in how a better understanding of the law and licenses that both developers and users are bound by can foster better software, not only technologically but also socially. On the flip side, I think it is clear that a better understanding of software and its workings has the potential to improve legal reasoning and policy consideration.</p>
<p>During my summer at the FSF, I hope to obtain a better understanding of free software licensing and also a more informed view of the free software movement. As an intern for the Licensing Team, I will have the opportunity to answer licensing questions and assist on FSF projects. My desire is to conclude this summer having not only helped the FSF in its mission of software freedom and helping developers with their questions, but also to have obtained a fuller understanding of the concerns, considerations, and perceptions of software developers and users.</p>
<p>This summer is sure to be a unique and rewarding experience. I am extremely excited to be working with the Licensing Team here at the Free Software Foundation.</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/licensing/replace-your-proprietary-bios-with-libreboot
title: Replace your proprietary BIOS with Libreboot
uri: Replace-your-proprietary-BIOS-with-Libreboot
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/replace-your-proprietary-bios-with-libreboot
content:
<p>With the launch of the <a href="http://libreboot.org">Libreboot</a> project, users now have an easy-to-install, 100% free software replacement for proprietary BIOS/boot programs. This project is important; currently, many computer-makers notoriously deny free software developers the information they need to develop free replacements for the proprietary software they ship with their products. In some cases, manufacturers do not even share enough information for it to be possible to install a free operating system.</p>
<img src="media/bfe6f9c3.RYF.png" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org//static.fsf.org/nosvn/ryf/RYF.png" alt="ryf-certification-mark" width="200" class="imgright" />

<p>In order to make it possible to run Libreboot on as many hardware platforms as possible, the project needs your help. Fortunately, there are a lot of simple and easy ways you can start supporting the project today, including buying a computer with Libreboot preinstalled, helping to test Libreboot by installing it on new systems, and directly contributing code and documentation to the project or to its upstream parent, Coreboot.</p>
<p>In December 2013, we awarded the <a href="https://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/endorsement/respects-your-freedom">Respects Your Freedom (RYF)</a> certification mark to <a href="http://gluglug.org.uk">Gluglug</a> for their refurbished and updated X60 laptops.  In order to meet the FSF's RYF certification requirements, Francis Rowe of Gluglug had to be sure that the boot program he was distributing was 100% free software. Fortunately, the Coreboot project solved most of this problem for him. Francis was able to compile a version of Coreboot that ran on the X60 laptop, without requiring any proprietary firmware blobs. However, because Coreboot provides proprietary firmware blobs for several different chip-sets in the source code, Francis was still left with the task of removing those blobs from the source tree that he was distributing. At first, Francis did this deblobbing by hand. This spring, he launched the Libreboot project to formalize the process of deblobbing the Coreboot source tree.
<img class="imgleft" src="media/77765c8a.ryf-x60-1.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org//static.fsf.org/nosvn/ryf/ryf-x60-1.jpg" width="200/" />
Coinciding with the release of Libreboot, Francis also decided to rebrand the laptop, changing the name from Gluglug X60 to <a href="http://shop.gluglug.org.uk/product/ibm-lenovo-thinkpad-x60-coreboot/"><em>Libreboot
X60</em></a> (the RYF certification applies to the Libreboot X60 as well). You can support the development of Libreboot by buying a <a href="http://shop.gluglug.org.uk/product/ibm-lenovo-thinkpad-x60-coreboot/">Libreboot X60 laptop</a> today. All laptops come preinstalled with Libreboot and Trisquel GNU/Linux, and have been upgraded with a free software-friendly 802.11n wireless card.</p>
<p>In addition to the X60 laptop, Libreboot now supports select models of the ThinkPad T60, the X60 Tablet (with digitizer) and certain models of the MacBook2,1 which use the same chip-sets as the X60.</p>
<p>While we applaud and endorse Francis' work on Libreboot, it is important to note that neither the FSF nor Francis considers Libreboot
a fork of Coreboot. The Libreboot project <a href="http://libreboot.org/docs/index.html#why">clarifies this fact</a> on its website with the following statement: "Libreboot is not a fork of Coreboot, despite misconceptions of this fact. Libreboot (downstream supplier) is a parallel effort which works closely with and rebases on the latest Coreboot (upstream supplier) every so often." The work done by both Libreboot and Coreboot are important and they need the support of the free software community if we hope to have more laptops bearing the RYF certification mark in the future.</p>
<p>The Libreboot project has begun attracting some much-needed attention and support.  "From small patches, bug fixes, feature additions, suggestions for improvement, help with GnuPG (at the time of writing, recent Libreboot releases are now GnuPG-signed) and more. To all those that have contributed to Libreboot, I thank you and appreciate it!" stated Francis Rowe.</p>
<p>If you have questions, or are interested in working on Libreboot, send an email to <a href="mailto:info@gluglug.org.uk">info@gluglug.org.uk</a> or drop by the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/libreboot">#libreboot</a> channel on the Freenode network.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-august-8
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: August 8
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-August-8
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-august-8
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, August 8, 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/free-software-in-space-gnu-radio-and-the-isee-3-spacecraft
title: Free Software on the final frontier: GNU Radio controls the ISEE-3 Spacecraft
uri: Free-Software-on-the-final-frontier-GNU-Radio-controls-the-ISEE-3-Spa
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/free-software-in-space-gnu-radio-and-the-isee-3-spacecraft
content:
<table cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" width="310" border="0" style="float:right;margin-left:10px">
<tr>
    <td style="padding:10px;background-color:#eeeeee;" align="center">
        <img src="media/947c3a4a.isee3.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org//static.fsf.org/nosvn/images/isee3.jpg" alt="The ISEE-3 spacecraft" />
        <div style="padding-top:10px;color:#444444">An original drawing of the ISEE-3 spacecraft from the 1970s.</div>
    </td>
</tr>
</table>

<p>The International Sun-Earth Explorer-3, or ISEE-3, was launched in 1978 by NASA to monitor activity on the sun. After three years of observation, NASA repurposed the satellite, which soon became the first spacecraft to visit a comet. The mission ended in 1999, when NASA abandoned ISEE-3 to orbit the Sun, despite the fact that twelve of the satellite's thirteen instruments were still working.</p>
<p>In 2008, when it was discovered that the satellite was still transmitting a signal and would fly close to Earth, NASA realized that they no longer had the funding or equipment to reinitiate contact. So a volunteer group of scientists, programmers, and engineers organized the <a href="http://spacecollege.org/isee3">ISEE-3 Reboot Project</a>, which was crowd-funded with over $150,000 in donations, and set out to contact the spacecraft, fire its engine, and bring it closer to Earth to resume its original mission.</p>
<p>To do this, the group turned to <a href="http://gnuradio.org/redmine/projects/gnuradio/wiki">GNU Radio</a>, a free software toolkit for implementing software-defined radios and signal processing systems. Modifying the software to communicate in the 1970s satellite protocol, members of the reboot project were able to gain access to the spacecraft and fire its thrusters in early July, and will soon attempt to move the satellite into an orbit close to Earth.</p>
<p>You can <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&amp;id=16&amp;pk_campaign=gnu_radio&amp;pk_kwd=space_donate">support GNU Radio</a> by making a donation through the FSF's Working Together for Free Software Fund. To get more involved, attend the annual <a href="http://www.trondeau.com/gnu-radio-conference-2014">GNU Radio Conference</a>, to be held this year between September 15th and 19th in Washington, D.C.</p>
<p>The successes of the ISEE-3 Reboot project demonstrate the importance of developing, maintaining, and promoting free software. With dozens of contributors and thousands of users, GNU Radio is written to be shared, learned, and improved by anyone, anywhere -- unlike the lost proprietary communications equipment used by NASA.</p>
<p>This is the second time we've lauded the use of free software for space exploration in the last two years. Read our <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-linux-chosen-as-operating-system-of-the-international-space-station">2013 blog post</a> about the choice of GNU/Linux as the operating of the International Space Station.</p>
<p>"This openness to inquiry, collaboration, and 'standing on the shoulders of giants' is at the heart of all science," wrote John Gilmore, a founding member of the GNU Radio project, in an email to the FSF. "The GNU Project has institutionalized those principles in a vast community of software authors and users. And GNU's legalized freedom and sharing [...] enable many people to use it and contribute to it -- such as these volunteers."</p>
<p><em>This blog post was written by FSF campaigns intern <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/introducing-alex-patel-our-summer-campaigns-intern">Alex Patel</a>. More information about the FSF's internship program is available on our <a href="https://www.fsf.org/volunteer/internships">Internships</a> page.</em></p>
<p><a href="https://fsf.org/es/noticias/software-libre-y-el-explorador-3-tierra-sol-internacional">This article is also available in Spanish</a></p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/20140407-geneva-tedx-talk-free-software-free-society
title: Richard Stallman's TEDx video: "Introduction to Free Software and the Liberation of Cyberspace"
uri: Richard-Stallman-s-TEDx-video-Introduction-to-Free-Software-and-the
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/20140407-geneva-tedx-talk-free-software-free-society
content:
<p>RMS was invited to give a TEDx talk at <a href="http://www.tedxgeneva.net/tedx-geneva-2014-freedom-digital-age/">"FREEDOM (@ digital age)"</a>
in April and took the opportunity to explain the fundamentals of the
free software movement to the general public. In this speech, RMS
specifies the issue and makes the stakes clear; he explains what a
computer is and who controls it, what the various implications of free
software and of proprietary software are for you, the user, what you
can do to stop being a victim, what the obstacles to computer-user
freedom are, and how you can make a difference.</p>
<p>The TEDx talks are "designed to help communities, organizations, and
individuals to spark conversation and connection through local
TED-like experiences."  At these events, screenings of videos, like this
one, "or a combination of live presenters and TED Talks videos —
sparks deep conversation and connections at the local level."</p>
<p>We hope you <a href="https://fsf.org/share?u=https://u.fsf.org/122&amp;t=Richard%20Stallman%27s%20TEDx%20video%3A%20Introduction%20to%20free%20software%20and%20the%20liberation%20of%20cyberspace%20via%20%40fsf">share</a> the recording, to help raise awareness and
inspire conversations and connections in your own circles, and introduce
a friend, loved one, or acquaintance, to this "first step in the
liberation of cyberspace."</p>
<div style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;text-align:center;">
<video controls="controls" poster="//static.fsf.org/nosvn/rms-photos/20140407-geneva-01.png" style="width:512px" src="media/4299a9f6.TEDxGE2014_Stallman05_LQ.webm" data-original-source="http://audio-video.gnu.org/video/TEDxGE2014_Stallman05_LQ.webm" type="video/webm">
</video>
</div>
<div>Download this video in a free format <a href="media/25837cb8.TEDxGE2014_Stallman05_HQ.ogg" data-original-source="http://audio-video.gnu.org/video/TEDxGE2014_Stallman05_HQ.ogg">(HD)</a> <a href="media/4299a9f6.TEDxGE2014_Stallman05_LQ.webm" data-original-source="http://audio-video.gnu.org/video/TEDxGE2014_Stallman05_LQ.webm">(SD)</a>.
</div>

<p>We've embedded this talk using the HTML5 video element, but of you watch any TEDx talks on YouTube, please remember to use a free
program like <a href="http://youtube-dl.org">youtube-dl</a> instead of your browser, because watching
YouTube in your browser requires <a href="https://fsf.org/campaigns/freejs">proprietary JavaScript</a>.</p>
<p>Many thanks to Théo Bondolfi, François Epars, Florence Dambricourt,
and the <a href="http://www.ted.com/tedx/events/11463">TEDxGeneva core-team</a> for making this speech possible.
Thank you to Ynternet.org and HEG-GE for hosting and supporting the
event, and to Sylvain &amp; Co., La Belle Bleue, and Jus de Fruits
Suisses, ProLibre, and the Fondation Emilie Gourd, Piguet Galland &amp;
Cie., Lifelong Learning Programme, Hes.so Genève, My Big Geneva, and
Smala for their support.</p>
<p>P.S. RMS does not draw a salary from the FSF, but your donations do support
the coordination of events and videos like this. We'd love to produce
more introductory videos. Can you <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&amp;id=14&amp;pk_campaign=RMSTEDx&amp;pk_kwd=blog">donate $25 today</a>?</p>
<p><em>This recording is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 license.</em></p>
<p><a href="https://fsf.org/es/blogs/richard-stallman-y-tedx/">Read this post in Spanish</a></p>


title: GNU hackers discover HACIENDA government surveillance and give us a way to fight back
uri: GNU-hackers-discover-HACIENDA-government-surveillance-and-give-us-a-wa
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-hackers-discover-hacienda-government-surveillance-and-give-us-a-way-to-fight-back

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-hackers-discover-hacienda-government-surveillance-and-give-us-a-way-to-fight-back

content:
<p>According to <a href="http://www.heise.de/ct/artikel/NSA-GCHQ-The-HACIENDA-Program-for-Internet-Colonization-2292681.html">Heise online</a>, the intelligence agencies of the
United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand,
have used HACIENDA to map every server in twenty-seven countries,
employing a technique known as port scanning. The agencies have shared
this map and use it to plan intrusions into the servers. Disturbingly,
the HACIENDA system actually hijacks civilian computers to do some of
its dirty work, allowing it to leach computing resources and cover its
tracks.</p>
<p>But this was not enough to stop the team of GNU hackers and their
collaborators. After making key discoveries about the details of
HACIENDA, Julian Kirsch, Christian Grothoff, Jacob Appelbaum, and
Holger Kenn designed the <a href="https://gnunet.org/kirsch2014knock">TCP Stealth</a> system to protect
unadvertised servers from port scanning. They revealed their work at
the recent annual <a href="https://www.gnu.org/ghm/">GNU Hackers' Meeting</a> in Germany.</p>
<div style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;text-align:center;">
<video width="500px" controls="controls">
<source src="media/8408a920.GHM14-en-Julian_Kirsch-Knocking_down_the_HACIENDA.webm" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org//audio-video.gnu.org/video/GHM14-en-Julian_Kirsch-Knocking_down_the_HACIENDA.webm" />
</source>
</video>
</div>

<p>Please be sure to share this with everyone you know who cares about bulk
surveillance.</p>
<p>We must fight the political battle for an end to mass surveillance and
<a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/surveillance-vs-democracy">reduce the amount of data collected about people in the first
place</a>. On an individual level we have to do everything we can to
thwart the surveillance programs that are already in place.</p>
<p><strong>No matter your skill level, you <a href="https://www.fsf.org/campaigns/surveillance/">can get involved at the FSF's
  surveillance page</a>.</strong></p>
<p>Ethical developers inside and outside GNU have been working for years
on free software that does not keep secrets from users, and programs
that anyone can review to remove potential vulnerabilities. These
capabilities give free software users a fighting chance against
surveillance. Now, our community is turning its attention to
uncovering and undermining insidious programs like HACIENDA. Free
software and its ideals are crucial to putting an end to government
bulk surveillance.</p>
<p><strong>Share this news with your friends, to help make people aware of the
  importance of free software in fighting bulk surveillance.</strong></p>
<p><em>Jacob Appelbaum of the TCP Stealth team gave a remote keynote address
 at the FSF's LibrePlanet conference this year. Watch the recording of
 <a href="http://media.libreplanet.org/u/zakkai/m/free-software-for-freedom-surveillance-and-you/">"Free Software for freedom: Surveillance and you."</a></em></p>
<hr />

<p><em>"Knocking down the HACIENDA" by Julian Kirsch, produced by GNU, the GNUnet team and edited on short notice by Carlo von Lynx from #youbroketheinternet is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NoDerivatives 3.0 Unported License.</em></p>
<p><a href="https://fsf.org/es/blogs/gnu-hackers-descubren-el-plan-de-vigilancia-gubernamental-llamado-hacienda-y-nos-ofrecen-una-manera-de-combatirlo">Spanish</a></p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-august-22
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: August 22
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-August-22
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-august-22
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, August 22, 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/watch-javascript-if-you-love-it-set-it-free
title: Watch: "JavaScript: If you love it, set it free"
uri: Watch-JavaScript-If-you-love-it-set-it-free
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/watch-javascript-if-you-love-it-set-it-free
content:
<p>In his speech, John emphasized how
proprietary JavaScript, which runs on the user's Web browser without
being released under a free license, hurts the user's freedom to view
and modify the software that they run. He also highlights some
specific examples of malicious behavior by proprietary JavaScript such
as blocking browser functions or recording the user's keystrokes.</p>
<p><a href="http://media.libreplanet.org/u/zakkai/m/javascript-if-you-love-it-set-it-free-7618/"><img src="media/c78e88e2.free-your-javascript-video-thumb.png" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org//static.fsf.org/nosvn/images/free-your-javascript-video-thumb.png" alt="Free your javascript video thumb" /></a></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.fsf.org/campaigns/freejs">Watch the video on our GNU MediaGoblin instance</a></strong></p>
<p>John discussed the progress of the FSF's <a href="https://www.fsf.org/campaigns/freejs">Free JavaScript
campaign</a>, as well as the development of <a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/librejs">GNU LibreJS</a>, a
browser plugin built to stop non-free JavaScript from being executed
on the user's computer. He also explained how <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/librejs/free-your-javascript">simple</a> it is to
release JavaScript under a free license through <a href="https://www.gnu.org/licenses/javascript-labels">Web Labels</a> --
simple pages that enumerate the licenses of all the JavaScript
distributed on a Web site -- or by adding a license tag to the code.</p>
<p>Through the Free JavaScript campaign, which grew out of Richard
Stallman's insights in <a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/javascript-trap">The Javascript Trap</a>, the FSF is working to
pursuade governments, NGOs, and other organizations to fix their Web
sites to work without forcing the user to execute any proprietary
software on their computer. The campaign is currently <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/freejs-reddit">focusing on
Reddit</a>.</p>
<p>To get involved in the Free JavaScript campaign, join the low-volume
Free JavaScript Action Team <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=205&amp;reset=1&amp;pk_campaign=fosdem&amp;pk_kwd=blog">email list</a>.</p>
<p>If you have expert-level knowledge of JavaScript or software
licensing, we invite you to submit a request to join the <a href="https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/js-devs-task-force">JavaScript
Developers Task Force</a>, a discussion list that works closely with
the FSF on the Free JavaScript campaign and provides technical
guidance to Web sites working to free their JavaScript.</p>
<p>If you'd like to view the slides from John's presentation, you can
view them on John's <a href="media/d1838113.Javascript-slides.pdf" data-original-source="https://libreplanet.org/w/images/6/63/Javascript-slides.pdf">user page</a> on LibrePlanet.</p>
<p><em>This blog post was written by FSF campaigns intern <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/introducing-alex-patel-our-summer-campaigns-intern">Alex
Patel</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>More information about the FSF's internship program is available on
our <a href="https://www.fsf.org/volunteer/internships">Internships</a> page.</em></p>
<p><a href="https://fsf.org/es/blogs/mira-el-video-javascript-si-lo-amas-dejalo-libre">Spanish</a></p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-august-29
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: August 29
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-August-29
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-august-29
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, August 29, 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/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-26-new-gnu-releases
title: GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry: 26 new GNU releases!
uri: GNU-Spotlight-with-Karl-Berry-26-new-GNU-releases
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-26-new-gnu-releases
content:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/apl/">apl-1.4</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/datamash/">datamash-1.0.6</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/denemo/">denemo-1.1.8</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/easejs/">easejs-0.2.4</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/freeipmi/">freeipmi-1.4.5</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/">gdb-7.8</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/global/">global-6.3.1</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/glpk/">glpk-4.55</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/chess/">gnuchess-6.1.2</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gnudos/">gnudos-1.7</a></li>
<li><a href="http://health.gnu.org/">gnuhealth-2.6.2</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gnupg/">gnupg-2.0.26</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gtypist/">gtypist-2.9.5</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/help2man/">help2man-1.46.1</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/libgcrypt/">libgcrypt-1.62</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/">libidn-1.29</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/librejs/">librejs-6.0.1</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/libtasn1/">libtasn1-4.1</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/lightning/">lightning-2.0.5</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/mdk/">mdk-1.2.8</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/octave/">octave-3.8.2</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/parallel/">parallel-20140822</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/parted/">parted-3.2</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/swbis/">swbis-1.12</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/tar/">tar-1.28</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/commoncpp/">ucommon-6.1.10</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 Raman Gopalan as a new co-maintainer of GNU
gengen (with its author Lorenzo Bettini), Marcel Schaible as the new
maintainer of GNU gperf, and Sergey Poznyakoff adds yet another new
package, direvent, to his long list. I'd also like to specially thank
Assaf Gordon (the author and maintainer of GNU datamash, new last month)
for a significant amount of effort with all aspects of Savannah; new
Savannah volunteers are always needed, and welcome. 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/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-september-5
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: September 5
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-September-5
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-september-5
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, September 5, 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/recap-of-friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-september-5
title: Recap of Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: September 5
uri: Recap-of-Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-September-5
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/recap-of-friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-september-5
content:
<p>Today's Friday <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> IRC
Meeting was both productive and comedic. While some of us were working
hard updating and adding new entries to the Directory, others were
keeping us fully entertained by debating software freedom in the context
of UFOs and other alien spacecraft.</p>
<p>Two highlights from today's meeting are packages from a new contributor, Tsyesika:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/PyPump">PyPump</a>: an interface to the pump.io API's. The aim of this
  project is to provide very natural <em>Pythonic</em> representations of
  Notes, Images, People, etc., so as to allow you to painlessly
  interact with them. It is licensed under the terms of the GNU GPL
  version 3 (or at your option, any later version).</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Inboxen">Inboxen</a>, an email program that provides protection, via virtual
  inboxes. It is licensed under GNU AGPL version 3 (or at your option,
  any later version).</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>In addition to maintenance work and adding some new semantic property values and categories, we also published updates to a number of existing packages, including: TappyTux, State Machine Compiler, Psi, PrimaGIS, Moodle, Liferea, GNU HaliFAX, Ggcov, GShow TV, Fwlogwatch, Empathy, BirdFont, Bibfilex, Bayonne, and AudioMove.</p>
<p>As far as we know all of the packages in the Free Software Directory
were created by humans on planet Earth.</p>
<p>You, too, can join in on the fun. 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/community/bring-the-fsf-to-your-campus
title: Bring the FSF to your campus!
uri: Bring-the-FSF-to-your-campus
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/bring-the-fsf-to-your-campus
content:
<p>Software freedom and learning go hand in hand. Textbooks should be
DRM-free, readily shareable, and easy to check out from the library
for as long as you need them. You should be able to use whatever free
operating system you choose, not forced into a contract with Microsoft
(as is the case at schools like <a href="http://www2.ita.vt.edu/software/student/bundles/undergraduate/index.html">Virginia Tech</a>). Everyone studying
computer science at the college level should be able to see and learn
from the code that makes their software tick. Learning is a
cooperative endeavor; the tools you use to learn should promote
cooperation, not proprietize human knowledge.</p>
<p>We're on a mission to help students and other members of campus
communities organize to make their schools free software
friendly. Would you like us to come to your campus to speak to your
class, meet with your student group, or give you tools to meet with
your administrators? Email <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>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/interview-with-gnu-remotecontrol
title: Interview with GNU remotecontrol
uri: Interview-with-GNU-remotecontrol
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/interview-with-gnu-remotecontrol
content:
<p><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/remotecontrol/"><img src="media/7eac9e7e.GNU_remotecontrol.png" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org//static.fsf.org/nosvn/logos/GNU_remotecontrol.png" alt="GNU remotecontrol logo" style="padding-left: 35px; padding-right: 35px;" /></a></p>
<p>In this edition, we conducted an email-based interview with Stephen H. Dawson and the rest of the <a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/remotecontrol/">GNU remotecontrol project</a>, a web application for managing building automation devices. Stephen is the maintainer of the GNU remotecontrol software project and is an Information Technology Management professional with over twenty-five years of industry experience in various areas of application development, database management, and networking.</p>
<h2>Tell us a bit about GNU remotecontrol</h2>
<p>GNU remotecontrol is a web application serving as a management tool for reading from and writing to multiple IP enabled heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) thermostats, and other building automation devices. While various IP thermostat manufacturers have offered web portals exclusively for their users to remotely access and adjust the settings of individual thermostats, they do not provide a unified management tool for multiple thermostats. The goal of GNU remotecontrol is to provide this management tool for individuals and companies alike.</p>
<p>The background on this project is focused around the HVAC Thermostat. Currently, there is an international effort to create a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_grid">smart grid</a>, which is a modernized electrical grid that uses data-driven, responsive technologies which are designed to improve the efficiency, reliability, economics, and sustainability of the production and distribution of electricity. The HVAC thermostat of today struggles to become part of the smart grid due to an inability to provide remotely controlled HVAC operation and an unfitness to predict HVAC demand. The tension to balance HVAC comfort against cost is a constant challenge. GNU remotecontrol provides the ability to simplify energy management and determine energy costs through a database driven, web application with a user interface that provides simple to operate check boxes and pull-down menus. GNU remotecontrol can be used to increase the deployment of the smart grid, while also providing additional end user benefits through data driven decision making. The results are lower costs from optimized HVAC management and the improved efficiency of existing HVAC implementations. The long-term target of the GNU remotecontrol project is to pave the way for demand response through unattended server side automation.</p>
<h2>What inspired you to create GNU remotecontrol?</h2>
<p>GNU remotecontrol is not a solo effort. GNU remotecontrol would not exist without the <a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/remotecontrol/manual/remotecontrol.html#Contributors">project team</a>. There are also several folks contributing on and off without being a part of the team.</p>
<p>The vision for GNU remotecontrol came in 1978. The United States was experiencing a substantial energy supply problem. GNU remotecontrol was envisioned to help solve the energy consumption problem, on a national basis. The technology necessary to interconnect the various pieces of GNU remotecontrol was not widely available in 1978. 2007 started the first tangible software development effort, after years of thinking, talking, and sketching plans. Several technology pieces brought together under GNU remotecontrol were already in place and could be leveraged by GNU remotecontrol, once the initial code development was complete. We considered selling the software. We found two firm barriers preventing widespread adoption in the commercial market.</p>
<ol>
<li>People wanted the software under their control, including possession of the source code.</li>
<li>People wanted help to use the software, but were often unsure of the help they needed.</li>
</ol>
<p>It became clear commercial usage of this software would not occur at any foreseeable future, if ever, due to the requirements of the people using this software. They want a complete list of information regarding the software (source code) and assistance available to them (collaboration) before they would commit to using it. This inseparable combination brought the realization to release the software through a license satisfying these exact two user requirements.</p>
<h2>How are people using it?</h2>
<p>This answer is three-fold, based on the network connected HVAC thermostats available today:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>The people who have directly spoken with us are researching the existing software capabilities and determining if the software is suitable for their facilities.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The people who have emailed us are looking for a suitable substitute for the proprietary software they use now. They are looking for more information on how to reduce their operating costs and leverage collaborative effort on their next energy management installation. Some of these people are looking to retrofit existing energy management installations.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The people who desire to remain nameless and faceless are often competitors concerned that their proprietary software will not be as desired in the future as it is now, due to the benefit of a collaborative software project using a license such as AGPL.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>We are not surprised there are those who feel GNU remotecontrol is their competitor, although we state GNU remotecontrol does not have competitors. We are a collaborative effort. True collaboration is the polar opposite of competition.</p>
<p>Now, let's talk a bit about who is involved using GNU remotecontrol and the flow of steps to get things working.</p>
<ol>
<li>Getting GNU remotecontrol setup with the source code, the web server, and the database server is an information technology effort.</li>
<li>Getting GNU remotecontrol setup with an energy efficiency plan is a mechanical engineering effort, after the GNU remotecontrol information technology parts are setup.</li>
<li>Getting a network connected HVAC thermostat setup is a combined effort, between mechanical engineering and information technology.</li>
<li>Selecting GNU remotecontrol is often the financial officer's or business owner's decision. The financial officer receives the hardware and software requirements of the business facilities, from information technology and mechanical engineering groups, undertaking an evaluation of cost versus benefit regarding any proposed energy management solution.</li>
<li>The business then chooses the option best meeting their needs. Guidance on structuring the <a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/remotecontrol/manual/remotecontrol.html#Implementation-Cost">implementation cost</a> is covered in the GNU remotecontrol user manual.</li>
</ol>
<h2>What features do you think really sets GNU remotecontrol apart from similar software?</h2>
<p>The "ease of use" phrase is the most prevalent comment we hear from first time users. The ability to perform concurrent operations on multiple network connected HVAC thermostats is another key feature of GNU remotecontrol, bringing significant time savings to installations with large numbers of thermostats. Automatically adjusting multiple time zones allows the management of geographically dispersed systems from a single location. Usage logs with timestamps can be used to generate detailed management reports and further off line data analysis. GNU remotecontrol also provides detailed access controls for different user groups, role based authentication, encryption, and other features that are not often found in similar software.</p>
<p>It is our considered opinion the coming together for these three groups (information technology, mechanical engineering, and financial officer) is what GNU remotecontrol can best deliver to the public. We are helping to build these groups into a team. Each of these groups have their education and certifications in their respective area of expertise. They all need each other, to successfully run their facilities and accomplish the goals of their organization. One group cannot try to accomplish the role of another group, nor can they risk a guess in areas outside their expertise. They need to work with each other, as a unified group, as a team, to determine what their organization should implement. The group members who can communicate effectively with others will succeed using GNU remotecontrol to optimize the operation of their HVAC systems.</p>
<h2>What barriers do you think exist before wider adoption of GNU remotecontrol will occur?</h2>
<p>The marketplace has many different network connected HVAC thermostats, each combining bits of different technologies. There is little standardization. There are plenty of technology standards, technology organizations, and industry associations speaking to the network connected HVAC thermostat concept. A standards based network connected HVAC thermostat is still quite expensive today, because the market cannot settle on a single technology standard and begin large scale manufacturing. The same principle occurred in data networking, once the combination of ethernet and IP addressing was selected. We make the following controversial statement. Once the market chooses a single set of end-to-end technology standards to build the network connected HVAC thermostat, there will be many manufacturers making and selling network connected HVAC thermostats. This statement we make is controversial, due to the widespread argument about price versus technology features being the driver for maturing the network connected HVAC thermostat aspect of the smart grid. The circles of this argument are mostly either an industry push or a market demand mindset. The desire for this technology has yet to present a clear pattern, because technology standardization is not present, which is preventing the start of widespread manufacturing.</p>
<p>The features available in each product will go up and cost of each product will go down, as in any other product offering where there is direct competition. Essentially, the same turn of events which radically occurred with data network routers and switches approximately fifteen years ago is about to occur with the network connected HVAC thermostat. Select a standard, 'commoditization' of design and manufacturing kick in, and the market demand increases due to lower prices. This turn of events will most likely play out in North America, Japan, possibly South Korea, while now occurring in India. India is now retooling their entire national electric grid, to be complete within the next fifteen years. It is not a matter of if the network connected HVAC thermostat will be a viable member of a smart grid. It is a matter of when this membership will occur. We expect several developed nations to have made these decisions within the next ten years from now, along with big milestones occurring in all financial markets, social communities, and developed nations within the next two years. These milestones will collectivity accelerate adoption of the network connected HVAC thermostat in residential, commercial, and industrial facilities.</p>
<p>The leading HVAC topic of today is the numbers game. Numbers, in the form of who is paying for the energy bill, who is paying for the hardware to run the HVAC system, and who is paying for the paychecks of the people operating the organizations many HVAC systems. Adding the network connected aspect to the HVAC thermostat requires the mechanical engineering group to work hand-in-hand with information technology group. The network connected aspect also means information technology is now inseparable from the effort to operate HVAC systems. The mechanical engineering and the information technology groups each must become comfortable with this work arrangement, to successfully operate network connected HVAC thermostats. The good news for any organization is the rising cost of energy will cause anyone considering the costs of HVAC systems to only purchase from suppliers and employ staff who can collaborate effectively to achieve operating cost savings.</p>
<h2>Why did you choose the AGPL as GNU remotecontrol's license?</h2>
<p>We spent nine months researching which license to select for this software project, along with years of looking beforehand. We spoke with GNU about <a href="https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl">AGPL</a>. They talked us through some of the scenarios which could ultimately occur with this software project, in the long-term, along with what has occurred with other software projects, in the past. The option for anyone to take this software, alter it within the parameters of the AGPL license, all while providing a complete understanding of those alterations, is quite attractive to us. Richard Stallman states, "Any software without a license is not free." We agree with this statement. </p>
<h2>How can users (technical or otherwise) help contribute to GNU remotecontrol?</h2>
<p>We foresee the project will grow to include additional software development languages, along with further language translation of both the user interface display language and the project <a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/remotecontrol/manual/">documentation</a>. We have a pretty good development test environment now, but would like to setup a more robust test environment. We would like to include an innovation aspect to our test environment, where contributors can work through what-if scenarios and improve the software. We are looking for a <a href="https://savannah.gnu.org/people/viewjob.php?group_id=11113&amp;job_id=630">Development Server Administrator</a>. We welcome contributions from both <a href="https://savannah.gnu.org/people/viewjob.php?group_id=11113&amp;job_id=608">PHP Developer</a> and <a href="https://savannah.gnu.org/people/viewjob.php?group_id=11113&amp;job_id=608">MySQL Developer</a> folks.</p>
<h2>What's the next big thing for GNU remotecontrol?</h2>
<p>Short answer, data privacy within the smart grid. A credible, dependable, and trustworthy software project must responsibly address the associated data privacy involved with such a large scale transformation to any culture. Would you ever want anything less? The success of the smart grid is resting upon effectively predicting demand for energy consumption and executing dynamic demand response. Successfully predicting demand for energy consumption involves recording historical energy consumption, for identifying trends of probable future energy demand. This historical usage is where the data privacy matter is centered. The reality is historical user data will be stored by the public utility. It is only a matter of how the residential customer wants their specific user data handled.</p>
<p>Long answer, helping people understand the data privacy need within the smart grid and understanding how to achieve it. People ask, “why are we doing this?” Our answer is it needs to be done, as a matter of social responsibility. Need can be a controversial term, depending on how the term is used. The word “need” is never controversial when referring to a customer or business defining what they require. The phrase <em>caveat emptor</em> (let the buyer beware) is a concern when considering altering a national electric grid. Successfully selecting and implementing technologies to work together is no small task. The best way we can see helping is providing both <a href="https://svn.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/?root=remotecontrol">source code</a> and collaboration. The phrase <em>caveat lector</em> (let the reader beware) is suitable to any culture desiring to alter their national electric grid. Enabling the world to read about both best practices and source code for energy management software helps to successfully purchase either hardware or professional services.</p>
<p>The simplicity of installing the HVAC thermostat has been well proven for many years. The local home supply store has many different options available for purchase. The network connected aspect is where rubber meets the road today. GNU remotecontrol began and continues with the understanding the three roles of financial, mechanical, and informational must successfully work together as a group within any organization. We do not claim to have all of the answers, because we know we do not have all of the answers, nor will we ever have all of the answers. Companies come and go. The most wonderful technology of today, from a company which ceases to exist tomorrow, does not help anyone the day afterwards. We are working on the software, while gathering the best practices, hoping the hardware will standardize. The hardware will one day standardize, as the marketplace wants the network connected HVAC thermostat. GNU remotecontrol is attempting to help smooth the road between today and the realization of the next generation electric grid.</p>
<p><em>Enjoyed this interview? Check out our previous entry in this series featuring <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/interview-with-tox">the developers of Tox.im</a>.</em></p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/tell-the-fcc-net-neutrality-is-still-crucial-to-free-software
title: Tell the FCC: Net Neutrality is (still) crucial to free software
uri: Tell-the-FCC-Net-Neutrality-is-(still)-crucial-to-free-software
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/tell-the-fcc-net-neutrality-is-still-crucial-to-free-software
content:
<p><em>This post was originally published in July, before the end of the first FCC comment period. Now we're highlighting it again before the end of the <strong>second</strong> comment period, in support of today's <a href="https://www.battleforthenet.com/sept10th">Internet Slowdown</a> day of action. Tons of major Web sites (including ours) are coming together today to give a tongue-in-cheek demonstration of what would happen if the FCC caves to Big Cable and guts Net Neutrality.</em></p>
<p><em>If you're in the US, please <a href="https://u.fsf.org/130">tell decisionmakers</a> how important Net Neutrality is to the free software community (even if you commented in earlier, it will be counted again). If you're not in the US, you'll still find this post interesting -- there is precedent for other countries basing their rules on what happens here.</em></p>
<p><em>We are not linking to the official Internet Slowdown action page because it requires running proprietary JavaScript and heavily encourages Facebook. But we agree with their goals, so we are acting in solidarity by displaying their clever banner (which is free JavaScript) and linking to the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Dear FCC tool, where you can take action in freedom.</em></p>
<p>The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) needs to be convinced that
Net Neutrality is worth saving. 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.</p>
<p><strong>Comments are due Monday, September 15,
2014.</strong> <a href="https://u.fsf.org/130">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://u.fsf.org/130">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 less than a week from now on Monday. <strong><a href="https://u.fsf.org/130">Don't
delay--comment now</a></strong>!</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/recap-of-friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-september-12
title: Recap of Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: September 12
uri: Recap-of-Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-September-12
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/recap-of-friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-september-12
content:
<p>Today's Friday <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> (FSD) IRC Meeting was focused on <a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/GNU">GNU packages</a>. In particular, user mtmj updated dozens of GNU packages to make sure that the <a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Property:GNU_package_identifier">package identifier</a> used on gnu.org matches the one we use on directory.fsf.org. This is exciting because it brings us one step closer to having a seamless integration between the Free Software Directory and the GNU project  (at least in terms of formatting URLs!). The next (super secret project) I want to begin working on is an importer that pulls info from <a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Guix">GNU Guix</a> directly into the FSD.</p>
<p>In addition to updating GNU packages and brainstorming some new
functionality for the FSD, I want to highlight a new contribution from
our newest contributor, c107:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Canvas">Canvas</a>: a feature-rich learning management system. It is
  licensed under GNU AGPL version 3 (or at your option, any later
  version).</li>
</ul>
<p>I believe we have averaged at least one new contributor per week this entire summer! Let's keep this streak going. You, too, can join in on the fun. 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/licensing/ipa-font-license-added-to-license-list
title: IPA Font license added to license list
uri: IPA-Font-license-added-to-license-list
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/ipa-font-license-added-to-license-list
content:
<p>We recently updated our list of <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html">various licenses and comments about them</a> to include the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#IPAFONT">IPA Font license</a>.  It is a copyleft free software license for fonts, incompatible with the GPL. The IPA Font is one of the few freely licensed high quality TrueType fonts available for Japanese characters, so verifying that the license is actually free is an important step for Japanese hackers. That success does come with one caveat: the IPA Font license has a somewhat burdensome requirement regarding the use of the name of the font. The license requires that derivative works not use or include the name of the original work as a program name, font name or file name. Since fonts can be easily aliased with free software tools, this isn't too big of an issue, more of an annoyance. Despite this flaw, fonts distributed under the terms of the IPA font license carry freedom to users, and so it deserves a spot on our license list.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/libreplanet-is-coming-march-21-22-215-propose-a-session
title: LibrePlanet is coming March 21-22, 2015: Propose a session!
uri: LibrePlanet-is-coming-March-21-22-2015-Propose-a-session
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/libreplanet-is-coming-march-21-22-215-propose-a-session
content:
<a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015"><img src="media/82e1bdbb.logo-email.png" data-original-source="https://static.fsf.org/nosvn/libreplanet/2015/graphical_assets/logo-email.png" width="50%" align="right" /></a>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.libreplanet.org/2015/call_for_sessions/">Call for Sessions</a> is open now, and you can also apply to <a href="https://www.libreplanet.org/2015/volunteer/">volunteer</a> or <a href="https://www.libreplanet.org/2015/exhibit/">exhibit</a> at LibrePlanet 2015. General registration will open in October.</p>

<p>You've got until  Sunday, November 2nd, 2014 at 19:59 EST (23:59 UTC) to <a href="https://www.libreplanet.org/2015/exhibit/">submit your proposals</a>. We can't wait to see what you come up with!</p>

<p>This year, the theme of <a href="https://www.libreplanet.org/2015">LibrePlanet</a> is "Free Software Everywhere." We're looking for talks that touch on the many places and ways that free software is used around the world, as well as ways to make free software ubiquitous. Think "everywhere" in the broadest sense of the word--it's not just geography-based talks we're after. What are some contexts where free software is thriving, and some others where it needs a push? How have you worked to advance free software in your company or community? And what about free software on all of the myriad pieces of hardware we use, including laptops, phones, tablets, and even coffee makers? At LibrePlanet 2015, we're taking software freedom around the world, to outer space, and considering its role in industry, government, academia, community organizing, and personal computing.</p>

<h2>Should I submit a session proposal for LibrePlanet?</h2>

<p>Yes! We encourage speakers of all experience levels to submit a proposal. LibrePlanet is a great place for new and seasoned speakers alike. While LibrePlanet always includes technical talks, our program also emphasizes non-technical topics and topics that are appropriate for newcomers. We are especially interested to see proposals from people who use free software or apply its values for social benefit, from academic research to community organizing, education to medicine and the arts. LibrePlanet is committed to increasing the participation of speakers belonging to groups traditionally underrepresented at free software conferences, including women and people of color.</p>

<h2>Some ideas for sessions</h2>

<ul>
<li>Sharing a story of how free software has been applied for social benefit</li>
<li>Tackling a threat or organizing challenge facing the free software movement</li>
<li>Demonstrating a new and exciting piece of software or development within an existing software project</li>
<li>Engaging youth, the future of the free software movement. We're looking for proposals for all age groups, from young children, to high school age, to college students</li>
<li>Thinking critically about challenges and opportunities facing the movement, and charting a path to victory</li>
<li>Bringing a key part of free software history to life</li>
<li>Giving newcomers a way to learn about free software principles and philosophy, and/or giving newcomers a way to start using free software in their daily lives</li>
</ul>

<p>At LibrePlanet, we are looking for sessions that embrace the free software movement's ideals and also its language. For example, using "free software" is better than using "open source." </p>

<h3>Volunteer for LibrePlanet</h3>

<p>LibrePlanet depends on volunteer support during the planning process all the way through the event. We're looking for volunteers who want to help us with the planning and preparation work for LibrePlanet. Learn more about volunteering and <a href="https://www.libreplanet.org/2015/volunteer/">sign up at LibrePlanet.org</a>.</p>

<h3>Promotional opportunities at LibrePlanet</h3>

<p>LibrePlanet is the perfect place to spread the word about your
organization to an inspired and engaged audience. We have two
kinds of promotional opportunities for LibrePlanet 2015: exhibit
tables and sponsorships. Exhibit tables will be located in a
highly visible primary thoroughfare. Your table and program acknowledgement
will reach hundreds of software developers, free software
activists, academics, students, and computer users. You can <a href="https://www.libreplanet.org/2015/exhibit/">apply for an exhibit table at LibrePlanet.org</a>. 
Exhibitors will be accepted on a rolling basis until the hall fills, so apply early!  </p>

<p>What makes <a href="https://www.libreplanet.org/2015">LibrePlanet</a> so special is the amazing contributions
from our speakers, exhibitors, and volunteers. We can't wait to
hear your ideas!</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/happy-software-freedom-day
title: Happy Software Freedom Day!
uri: Happy-Software-Freedom-Day
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/happy-software-freedom-day
content:
<p><img style="float:right; padding-left:15px; padding-bottom:5px;" src="media/f1e1e5b2.software_freedom_day.png" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org//static.fsf.org/nosvn/images/software_freedom_day.png" />
This Saturday, September 20th, people everywhere are getting together to celebrate free software. Install parties, encryption workshops, hackathons, you name it. Here in Massachusetts, FSF Web developer David Thompson is running a <a href="https://www.fsf.org/events/event-20140920-sfd-dave-thompson-f-droid">getting-started workshop</a> for <a href="https://f-droid.org/">F-Droid</a>, the free software app repository for devices running Android-based operating systems like <a href="http://www.replicant.us/">Replicant</a>.</p>
<p>Wondering what to do for Software Freedom Day? Take a page out of Dave's book and <strong>share your favorite free software application with a friend</strong>. What better way to celebrate than exercising freedom 2 of <a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">free software's four freedoms</a> with your community? If you're on GNU Social or Pump.io or even Twitter, tell us (@FSF) which application you're sharing with the hashtag #SFD (<a href="https://www.fsf.org/twitter">see our thoughts about Twitter</a>).</p>
<p>This is the eleventh year of Software Freedom Day, and people are holding events in almost 100 countries. Thanks, everyone involved for reminding us how active, creative and inspiring the free software movement is. However you choose to celebrate, have a great Software Freedom Day!</p>
<p><em>Image <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0">CC BY 3.0 Unported</a> Software Freedom Day.</em></p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/tor-challenge-hits-it-out-of-the-park
title: Tor Challenge hits it out of the park
uri: Tor-Challenge-hits-it-out-of-the-park
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/tor-challenge-hits-it-out-of-the-park
content:
<p><a href="https://www.torproject.org/">Tor</a> is a publicly accessible, free software-based system for
anonymizing Internet traffic. It 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.</p>
<p><strong>We'd like to warmly thank our allies at the <a href="https://www.eff.org">Electronic Frontier
  Foundation</a> for organizing the Tor Challenge and inviting us to
  join them in promoting it. And most of all, thanks to the 1,635 of
  you who started a relay!</strong> (The FSF would have started one too, but
  we've already been running ours for a while.)</p>
<p>The Tor Challenge has already been successful, but that doesn't mean
it's too late to start a Tor relay! You can get started from the
Challenge's <a href="https://www.eff.org/torchallenge/setting-up.html">beautifully-designed Web site</a>.</p>
<p>To see stats and graphs about the Tor Challenge, read the <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/09/tor-challenge-inspires-1635-tor-relays">EFF's post</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">"How Much Surveillance Can
Democracy Withstand?"</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-september-26
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: September 26
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-September-26
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-september-26
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, September 26, 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/recap-of-friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-september-26
title: Recap of Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: September 26
uri: Recap-of-Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-September-26
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/recap-of-friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-september-26
content:
<p>Today's Friday <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a>
(FSD) IRC Meeting was focused on bug fixes. In particular, we fixed
some HTTPS errors we were having with images, we found and deleted the
rare spam entry or two that gets submitted, and we did some other
minor house cleaning tasks. There were also some important
conversations on what constitutes "corresponding source" of a work as
well as further discussions of our art licensing policy. Free software
licensing is an important and recurring topic in our weekly IRC
meetings, but this week's discussion were especially interesting and
thought provoking.</p>
<p>You, too, can join in on the fun. 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/licensing/interview-with-bitcoin-armory
title: Interview with Bitcoin Armory
uri: Interview-with-Bitcoin-Armory
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/interview-with-bitcoin-armory
content:
<p><a href="https://bitcoinarmory.com"><img src="media/546b7e1c.bitcoin-armory.png" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org//static.fsf.org/nosvn/logos/bitcoin-armory.png" alt="Bitcoin Armory" style="float: right;" /></a></p>
<p>In this edition, we conducted an email-based interview with Alan
Reiner, core developer of <a href="https://bitcoinarmory.com">Bitcoin Armory</a>, a bitcoin wallet
focused on security. Bitcoin Armory is licensed under the terms of GNU
Affero General Public License version 3, or (at your option) any later
version.</p>
<h2>Tell us about yourself and Bitcoin Armory</h2>
<p>I am the CEO of Armory Technologies, Inc and core developer of Armory
Bitcoin Wallet which is a popular, free software wallet application
focused on security for enterprise business and advanced users. It was
the first and only Bitcoin wallet to make "cold storage" (offline
wallets) accessible through an intuitive user interface, and is one of
the most trusted tools for securing and managing large bitcoin
investments. I have degrees in applied mathematics and engineering
mechanics, and additional background in statistics, data mining, and
cryptography. I spent seven years developing image &amp; video processing
algorithms at a physics lab in Maryland before switching to Armory
full-time and founding Armory Technologies, Inc in mid-2013. I became
one of the top Bitcoin experts in the community, and a trusted source
for security best practices and innovation. My goal is to pioneer the
world of Bitcoin wallets, and make high-security easy to practice even
for "regular" users.</p>
<h2>What inspired you to create Bitcoin Armory?</h2>
<p>There were no other Bitcoin wallets that provided the security features
I wanted. I knew how to implement them, so I did it! It turns out
other people wanted it, too.</p>
<h2>How are people using it?</h2>
<p>Of all the DIY Bitcoin wallets out there, Armory is the one focused most
squarely on security. The software is trusted by some of the biggest
Bitcoin holders to keep their coins secure, featuring backup, offline,
and multi-sig features not available elsewhere.</p>
<h2>What features do you think really sets Bitcoin Armory apart from similar software?</h2>
<p>The ability to manage wallets/crypto keys that are kept on computers
that are not internet-connected, yet be able to gather signatures from
offline devices in a secure manner. And recently, the ability to do
"multi-signature" transactions without a third-party service (all
locally-run instances of our software). You can even combine the two
and do anonymous cold-multisig. These are critical features for major
investors and enterprise users and no other software has it.</p>
<h2>Why did you choose the AGPL as Bitcoin Armory's license?</h2>
<p>We wanted to make the project free software, as we don't believe that a
piece of software as security-sensitive as ours could survive as a
proprietary application. The ability for code auditing is critical
when people perceive a risk that the developers could inject code to
steal their money. However, we didn't want to limit our monetization
options by picking a permissive license. AGPL gives us the ability to
assert some control (and incentivises dual-licensing) while allowing us
to keep all the source code free. </p>
<h2>How can users (technical or otherwise) help contribute to Bitcoin Armory?</h2>
<p>Bitcoin Armory software is now maintained by Armory Technologies, Inc.
which is a for-profit startup that will focus on the needs of advanced
and enterprise users. We have accepted code contributions before, but I
doubt few would contribute anymore without being on our payroll. At
this time we have 5 full-time developers, and we haven't had a non-paid
contribution to the codebase in months. </p>
<p>If someone is interested in contributing, we'd encourage them to contact
us and send us their resume. Due to the nature and sensitivity of our
software, there's actually a pretty high learning curve to get over to
be able to make meaningful contributions to the code (that are both
effective and secure).</p>
<h2>What's the next big thing for Bitcoin Armory?</h2>
<p>We are working on some technical advancements, as well as promoting
our enterprise services. On the technical side, we are focusing on
multi-user encryption features that would allow enterprise clients to
appoint a set of employees to manage each signing device, without any
one employee having exclusive access. Hardware Security Modules
(HSMs) are typically used for this purpose, but are extremely
expensive ($20k+), and we wanted to be able to provide a pure-software
solution that provides most of the same benefits on consumer hardware,
especially for small businesses.</p>
<p>Further, we are ironing out our enterprise services, which will involve
custom adaptations and plugins to the base free software project, as well
as security consulting and training. There's a lot brewing and not
enough time to do it all!</p>
<p><em>Enjoyed this interview? Check out our previous entry in this series featuring <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/interview-with-gnu-remotecontrol">Stephen H. Dawson and the rest of the GNU Remotecontrol team</a>.</em></p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-14-new-gnu-releases
title: GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry: 14 new GNU releases!
uri: GNU-Spotlight-with-Karl-Berry-14-new-GNU-releases
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-14-new-gnu-releases
content:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/autogen/">autogen-5.18.4</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/">bash-4.3.25</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/direvent/">direvent-5.0</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/freedink/">freedink-data-1.08.20140901</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gcl/">gcl-2.6.11</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/glibc/">glibc-2.20</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/global/">global-6.3.2</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gnuhealth/">gnuhealth-2.6.3</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/help2man/">help2man-1.46.3</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/libtasn1/">libtasn1-4.2</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/libunistring/">libunistring-0.9.4</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/parallel/">parallel-20140922</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/rcs/">rcs-5.9.3</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/commoncpp/">ucommon-6.1.11</a></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 Nik Nyby as a new co-maintainer of GNU librejs.</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;&#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-october-3
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: October 3
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-October-3
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-october-3
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, October 3, 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/recap-of-friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-october-3
title: Recap of Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: October 3
uri: Recap-of-Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-October-3
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/recap-of-friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-october-3
content:
<p>Today's Friday <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a>
(FSD) IRC Meeting comes after a very active week of users updating and
adding new entries to the Directory. User Mviinama made over 80 edits
alone! And, I was happy to see that such productivity continued during
our meeting today, as well. </p>
<p>Two new packages added today worth highlighting are:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Traccar">Traccar</a>, a Java server that displays map and other data from
  various GPS tracking devices. It is under the Apache 2.0 license. </li>
<li><a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Seafile">Seafile</a>, a server based filestore with clients for multiple
  different platforms. It serves as a replacement for SaaSS such as
  dropbox. The server is licensed under the Apache 2.0 license  and clients<br />
  are licensed GNU GPL version 3 (only). </li>
</ul>
<p>In addition to adding new packages and updating many more, we also had
a lively discussion about <a href="http://www.gnu.org/distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html#license-rules">font licensing</a> and about the MPL, and
we brainstormed some ideas for new icons and other art to brighten up
the pages on the Directory.</p>
<p>You too can join in our discussions and help improve the Directory:
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 by subscribing to the <a href="http://static.fsf.org/fsforg/rss/directory.xml">RSS feed</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-october-10
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: October 10
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-October-10
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-october-10
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, October 10, 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/recap-of-friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-october-10
title: Recap of Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: October 10
uri: Recap-of-Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-October-10
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/recap-of-friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-october-10
content:
<p>Today's Friday <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> 
IRC Meeting once again comes after a very active week of users
updating and adding new entries to the Directory. We were delighted to
be joined by Ruben Rodriguez, the <a href="https://trisquel.info/">Trisquel GNU/Linux</a> project leader and
recently became the <a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/IceCat">GNU IceCat</a> maintainer. With Ruben's help, we
came-up with a strategy adding all of the GNU IceCat extensions to the
Directory that are listed on the IceCat homepage as well as from the
Trisquel project's web site. We then had a short strategy meeting to
figure out how to deal with the 101 separate utilities that are all
packaged as part of the <a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Coreutils">GNU coreutils package</a>. We decided that
each program should not get its own page, but instead we will list
them on a Collection. So while this didn't leave us much time to add
too many new entries to the Directory today, we did a great job of
coming-up with a coordinated strategy for adding hundreds of new
programs to the directory in coming weeks!</p>
<p>Find out how you can be part of the conversation and fun at our Friday
Free Software Directory IRC Meetings by checking our <a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory">blog</a> or by
subscribing to the <a href="http://static.fsf.org/fsforg/rss/directory.xml">RSS feed</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/for-ada-lovelace-day-highlighting-fsf-sysadmin-lisa-maginnis
title: For Ada Lovelace Day, highlighting FSF sysadmin Lisa Maginnis
uri: For-Ada-Lovelace-Day-highlighting-FSF-sysadmin-Lisa-Maginnis
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/for-ada-lovelace-day-highlighting-fsf-sysadmin-lisa-maginnis
content:
<p>The holiday is named after a 19th-century English mathematician who is
considered by many to be the first programmer. Though generations
passed before her contribution was fully acknowledged, she was a
pioneer both as a scientist and as a challenger of rigid gender
roles. For this Ada Lovelace Day, we're profiling Lisa Maginnis, who
is the FSF's senior systems administrator.</p>
<p>As the leader of the technical team, Lisa is responsible for choosing,
configuring, and maintaining the FSF's office computers and
servers. She uses extensive knowledge of hardware, networking, and
electrical engineering to maintain a complex array of all-free
software. An alert system sends text messages to her <a href="http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Main_Page">OpenMoko</a> if
servers have problems, and she's no stranger to urgent after-hours
trips to the office to get something back online.</p>
<p>Since the FSF is the organizational sponsor of the GNU Project, Lisa
also administers <a href="https://gnu.org">https://gnu.org</a> and various GNU development repositories. GNU
is a central piece in the free software world, and Lisa plays a larger
role in keeping it running than many people know.</p>
<div style="border: none;  
  padding: 25px;
  display: block;
  background-color:#eeeeee;
  text-align: center; float: right;">

<img src="media/c9f355c2.lisam.jpg" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/images/staff-photos/lisam.jpg" alt="" />

<div style="padding-top:10px; font-weight: bold;">Lisa Maginnis</div>
</div>

<p>Lisa's life as a hacker started when she was thirteen, when her mother
tried to teach her C programming from a book. Frustrated by her
inability to compile the first exercise on Windows 95, she started
exploring the Internet and discovered GCC and Slackware
GNU/Linux. What followed was multiple weeks of Lisa downloading
Slackware over her 56k Internet connection and teaching herself how to
install it. By the end, she had not only successfully compiled and run
the book's first exercise, but discovered free software and left
Windows for good.</p>
<p>Self-directed and ambitious, Lisa dropped out of college when her
professors refused to let her use free software tools for her
projects. She put to rest any doubts about her decision when she
helped found two companies, and then settled at the FSF.</p>
<p>Lisa is not just an enthusiast, but a deep believer in the value and
importance of free software. Along with the need for freedom, she also
believes that free software is important to avoid duplication of
proprietary work, and to help developers "stand on the shoulders of
giants."</p>
<p>When she's not working at the FSF, Lisa finds the time to maintain
OpenCashier, a free software point of sale system. She's also
contributed to a medical records system called <a href="http://open-emr.org/">OpenEMR</a>, and now
writes patches for software used by the FSF, like <a href="https://civicrm.org">CiviCRM</a>.</p>
<div style="border: none;  
  padding: 10px 10px 25px 10px;
  display: block;
  background-color:#eeeeee;
  text-align: center;">
<img src="media/e6d84dad.IMG_9243.JPG" data-original-source="https://static.fsf.org/nosvn/images/givingguideaction2013/IMG_9243.JPG" alt="" />

<div style="padding-top:10px; font-weight: bold;">Lisa and a gnu handing out printouts of the <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/our-holiday-visit-to-the-apple-store-with-photos">FSF's 2013 Holiday Giving Guide</a> in front of an Apple store.</div></div>

<p>As an expert in free software and in computer hardware, Lisa also
advises the FSF's campaigns and licensing teams on technical issues --
it's common for her to review technically complex writings before they
are sent out. She even participates actively in campaigns and attends
conferences to promote the FSF.</p>
<p>Lisa combines technical talent and skill with a love of computer user
freedom. As a self-taught system administrator with a commitment to
freedom, her career has not been free of challenges, but she's turned
each struggle into an opportunity and climbed to an influential
position. She's a cornerstone of the FSF and an important resource for
the GNU Project. Thank you, Lisa for your contribution to free
software.</p>
<p>You can find Lisa on Freenode IRC as <em>nully</em> in the #fsf or #gnu
channels. The FSF is currently
<a href="https://www.fsf.org/resources/jobs/fsf-seeks-full-time-senior-gnu-linux-systems-administrator-2">looking for another system administrator</a>, so if you've got the
chops, you can join her team!</p>
<p>To read more about more women in free software, check out our previous
Ada Lovelace Day posts:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/recognizing-an-inspiring-woman-for-ada-lovelace-day-audrey-tang">2013</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/happy-ada-lovelace-day">2012</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/ada-lovelace-day-karen-sandler">2011</a></li>
</ul>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/registration-opens-for-libreplanet-2015
uri: Registration-is-now-open-for-LibrePlanet-2015-Free-Software-Everywhe
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/registration-opens-for-libreplanet-2015
title:
Registration is now open for LibrePlanet 2015: "Free Software Everywhere," March 21-22, 2015 in Cambridge, MA.

content:
<div style="float:right">
<div><a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/event/register?reset=1&amp;id=20&amp;pk_campaign=libreplanet2015&amp;pk_kwd=registration_launch"><img src="media/b8187971.large_horizontal-blog.png" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/libreplanet/2015/graphical_assets/large_horizontal-blog.png" alt="LibrePlanet 2015" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><br />
            <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/event/register?reset=1&amp;id=20&amp;pk_campaign=libreplanet2015&amp;pk_kwd=registration_launch" target="_blank" style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: #ffffff; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; border-radius: 3px; -webkit-border-radius: 3px; -moz-border-radius: 3px; background-color: #2c3e50; border-top: 12px solid #2c3e50; border-bottom: 12px solid #2c3e50; border-right: 18px solid #2c3e50; border-left: 18px solid #2c3e50; display: inline-block;">Register now ▶</a>
        </div></div>

<p>FSF members attend LibrePlanet gratis. Not a member? <a href="https://fsf.org/join">Join today</a>
to register gratis, or <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/event/register?reset=1&amp;id=20&amp;pk_campaign=libreplanet2015&amp;pk_kwd=registration_launch">register</a> at our non-member rate.</p>
<p>This year, the theme of LibrePlanet is "Free Software Everywhere."
Talks at this year's conference will touch on the many places and ways
that free software is used around the world, as well as ways to make
free software ubiquitous. At LibrePlanet 2015, we're once again
teaming up with the Student Information Processing Board at MIT
(SIPB), and together we're taking software freedom around the world,
to outer space, and through all kinds of industries, governments,
organizations, fields of study, and communities.</p>
<h3>Want to speak at LibrePlanet?</h3>
<p>Our <a href="http://libreplanet.org/2015/call_for_sessions/">Call for Sessions</a> is still open. You can propose an
individual session, panel, or workshop now through Sunday, November 2,
2014 at 23:59 UTC.</p>
<p>Have questions about what makes a good proposal? We're hosting an
information session to answer any questions you have about submitting
a proposal for LibrePlanet on Wednesday, October 22, 2014 from 16:00 -
18:00 UTC (12:00 - 14:00 EDT). Join us in the <a href="irc://irc.gnu.org/libreplanet">#libreplanet</a> IRC
channel on freenode. Don't use IRC? Email your questions 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>
<h3>Need help getting to LibrePlanet?</h3>
<p><a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015/scholarships">Apply for a travel scholarship</a>! We have a limited amount of
funding to bring conference participants to LibrePlanet from all
around the world. You can apply for a scholarship starting now -- the
application deadline is November 30 at 23:59 UTC. Scholarship
recipients will be notified in mid-December.</p>
<p>If you don't need a scholarship, you can help us ensure that
LibrePlanet 2015 welcomes all people by <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&amp;id=33&amp;pk_campaign=libreplanet2015&amp;pk_kwd=registration_launch">making a contribution</a> to
the conference's scholarship fund now, or when you register for
LibrePlanet. A donation of $50 covers one night in a shared
Boston-area hotel room, but any amount helps.</p>
<p><a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/event/register?reset=1&amp;id=20&amp;pk_campaign=libreplanet2015&amp;pk_kwd=registration_launch">Register for the conference now</a> or <a href="https://fsf.org/join">become a member</a> and then
register at no cost, and don't forget to pick up a limited-edition,
100% certified organic cotton, union-made t-shirt while you're at it.</p>
<p>The energy and inspiration is palpable at LibrePlanet. Whether it's
rubbing elbows with a maintainer you admire, learning about a new tool
that can help you with your work, or rolling up your sleeves for the
struggle against proprietary software, I'm telling you, you want to be
in Cambridge, MA on March 21-22, 2015 for this year's
<a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015/">LibrePlanet</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-october-17
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: October 17
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-October-17
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-october-17
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, October 17, 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/sysadmin/ssl-poodle-and-you
title: SSL, POODLE, and you
uri: SSL-POODLE-and-you
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/ssl-poodle-and-you
content:
<p>The flaw, which only affects the SSL 3.0 protocol, makes traffic
vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks. We have dropped support for
SSL 3.0 on fsf.org and gnu.org until a fix is released.</p>
<p>SSL 3.0 is nearly two decades old so most users will not be impacted
by this change as we will continue to support modern encryption
protocols. Older Web browsers without support for TLS 1.0 or later may
have trouble connecting to our websites using a secure http connection
(https).</p>
<p>A summary of CVE-2014-3566 can be found on the
<a href="http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/detail?vulnId=CVE-2014-3566">National Vulnerability Database</a>.</p>
<p>The OpenSSL project has also produced a
<a href="media/eb846173.ssl-poodle.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.openssl.org/~bodo/ssl-poodle.pdf">technical report</a> (PDF)
on the vulnerability.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/recap-of-friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-october-17
title: Recap of Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: October 17
uri: Recap-of-Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-October-17
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/recap-of-friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-october-17
content:
<p>In today's Friday <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> (FSD) IRC Meeting we approved updates to several entries; we added a new category, <a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Category/System-administration/virtualization">System-administration/virtualization</a>; and we also sent emails to the maintainers of two different programs asking them if, in addition to publishing their source code, they would consider <a href="https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-recommendations.html">making it free software</a>. We also added a new entry that I am looking forward to trying out this weekend: </p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Tocc">tocc</a>, a tag-based file management system that allows you to tag/classify any file in your file system. It is licensed under the terms of the GNU GPL version 3 or (at your option) any later version.</li>
</ul>
<p>In addition to all this good work, we also also had some discussions related to <a href="http://www.fsf.org/ryf">Respects Your Freedom computer hardware certification</a>, which makes me think that we should make RYF a theme for an upcoming meeting! </p>
<p>You can join in our discussions and help improve the Free Software
Directory every Friday!  Find out how to attend the Friday Free
Software Directory IRC Meetings by checking our <a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory">blog</a> or by
subscribing to the <a href="http://static.fsf.org/fsforg/rss/directory.xml">RSS feed</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-october-24
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: October 24
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-October-24
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-october-24
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, October 24, 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/i-spoke-at-libreplanet-and-you-can-too
title: I spoke at LibrePlanet and you can too
uri: I-spoke-at-LibrePlanet-and-you-can-too
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/i-spoke-at-libreplanet-and-you-can-too
content:
<p><em>LibrePlanet 2015's <a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015/call_for_sessions/">call for sessions</a> is open for ten more days, until Sunday, November 2nd. Submit your proposal now! Email <a href="mailto:campaigns@fsf.org">&#99;&#97;&#109;&#112;&#97;&#105;&#103;&#110;&#115;&#64;&#102;&#115;&#102;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;</a> with questions about the call for sessions.</em></p>
<div style="border: none;  
  padding: 10px;
  display: block;
  background-color:#eeeeee;
  text-align: center;
  float: right;">

<img src="media/83ca9129.shauna_gordon-mkeon_lp14.jpg" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/images/shauna_gordon-mkeon_lp14.jpg" alt="" />

<div style="padding-top:10px; font-weight: bold;"><a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY SA</a> Bryan Smith</div>
</div>

<p>When the call for session proposals for LibrePlanet rolled around last
year, I wasn't sure whether to submit. I hadn't spoken at many
conferences before, and I wasn't sure whether the topic I wanted to
speak on -- open science -- would be a good fit. But when I looked
through the conference <a href="https://libreplanet.org/wiki/LibrePlanet:Conference">Web sites from previous years</a>, I saw a lot
of diverse topics and enthusiasm for welcoming new speakers.</p>
<p>So I applied, and a few months later the panel I organized
<a href="http://www.shaunagm.net/blog/2014/04/free-software-%E2%88%A9-open-science/">spoke to a full room</a>. I encourage you to
<a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015/call_for_sessions">submit a session proposal</a> for LibrePlanet 2015!</p>
<p>LibrePlanet is a small, casual conference with a friendly
atmosphere. That makes it a great place to speak for the first time,
or to propose a new topic. If you have questions or would like advice
about submitting a proposal, you can ask the FSF Campaigns Team 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>. Hope to see you at LibrePlanet 2015!</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/a-victory-for-free-software-over-the-microsoft-tax
title: A victory for free software over the "Microsoft tax"
uri: A-victory-for-free-software-over-the-Microsoft-tax
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/a-victory-for-free-software-over-the-microsoft-tax
content:
<p>The Italian Supreme Court (Corte di Cassazione) issued a
judgment<sup>1</sup> that bans the "Microsoft tax," a commercial
practice that discourages users from converting their PCs to GNU/Linux
or other free operating systems by forcing them to pay for a Windows
license with their PCs. PC producers in Italy now cannot refuse to
refund the price of the license to purchasers that will not run
Windows.</p>
<p>The ruling definitively concludes the case filed in 2005 against a hardware
producer by Marco Pieraccioli,<sup>2</sup> with the support of the Consumer Association
ADUC,<sup>3</sup> and affirms Marco Pieraccioli's right to a refund for the price of the
Microsoft Windows license for the computer he purchased.</p>
<p>The primary reason to insist on using free software<sup>4</sup> is because nonfree
software deprives the user of freedom, including the freedom to participate in
its development. The "Microsoft tax" has no effect on that issue. </p>
<p>The "free" in "free software" refers to freedom. It does not mean "gratis,"
and copies of free software do not have to be distributed without charge.
Selling a copy of one free program or many of them is legitimate.<sup>5</sup></p>
<p>However, most GNU/Linux distributions are offered to the public
gratis, while Windows is not. Therefore, switching to GNU/Linux offers
an opportunity for the secondary benefit of saving money -- a benefit
that many Italians would value. The "Microsoft tax" has the effect of
abolishing that secondary benefit. Now the secondary benefit must be
available.</p>
<p>The ruling applies to more than just Windows. The Court states a
general principle that applies to any device with software
preinstalled: "...who buys a computer on which a given operational
software (operating system) was preinstalled by the manufacturer has
the right, if he does not agree to the conditions of the license of
the software made available to him at first start of the computer, to
retain the computer returning only the software covered by the license
he did not accept, with refund of the part of the price that
specifically relates to it."<sup>6</sup></p>
<p>According to the Supreme Court, any commercial practice that prevents the user
from getting a refund "..would clash in different ways with the rules that
protect the freedom of choice of the consumer, and the freedom of competition
among firms..."<sup>7</sup></p>
<p>On the one hand, therefore, the judgment follows the path of the French
Courts' case law, that on several occasions stated that the joint sale of
hardware and software, without providing for the buyer the possibility to
obtain refund of preinstalled software, violates the right of the consumer.<sup>8</sup></p>
<p>On the other hand, the Italian Supreme Court states that the act of
hindering the refund violates the freedom of competition among firms.
This statement of principle is interesting considering that, to date,
the antitrust authorities have done little against business practices
that "force" the joint sale of hardware and proprietary software. Now
they may consider taking stronger action.</p>
<p>The focus of the Court's reasoning is that the sale of a PC with software
preinstalled is not like the sale of a car with its components (the 4 wheels,
the engine, etc.) that therefore are sold jointly. Buying a computer with
preinstalled software, the user is required to conclude two different
contracts: the first, when he buys the computer; the second, when he turns on
the computer for the first time and he is required to accept or not the license
terms of the preinstalled software.<sup>9</sup> Therefore, if the user does not accept
the software license, he has the right to keep the computer and install free
software without having to pay the "Microsoft tax."</p>
<p>Notes:<br />
</p>
<p><sup>1</sup> Judgment n. 19161/2014 published 11/9/2014<br />
<a href="media/8e85e8a2.hc.dll" data-original-source="http://www.italgiure.giustizia.it/xway/application/nif/clean/hc.dll">http://www.italgiure.giustizia.it/xway/application/nif/clean/hc.dll?verbo=attach&amp;db=snciv&amp;id=./20140912/snciv@s30@a2014@n19161@tS.clean.pdf</a>.<br />
<sup>2</sup> I had the honor to assist before the Supreme Court Marco Pieraccioli who
already had favorable decisions both at first instance (judgment no. 5384/2007
of the Giudice di Pace di Firenze) and in second degree (judgment no.
2526/2010 of the Tribunale di Firenze).<br />
<sup>3</sup> See <a href="http://aduc.it/">http://aduc.it/</a>.<br />
<sup>4</sup> See <a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw">https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw</a>.<br />
<sup>5</sup> See <a href="https://gnu.org/philosophy/selling">https://gnu.org/philosophy/selling</a>.<br />
<sup>6</sup> See p. 22 of the judgment.<br />
<sup>7</sup> See p. 21 of the judgment.<br />
<sup>8</sup> See <a href="http://non.aux.racketiciels.info/">http://non.aux.racketiciels.info/</a>.<br />
<sup>9</sup> The judgment at p. 21 states: "Having been assessed that there are not
technological obstacles, the 'packaging' at the source of hardware and
operating system Microsoft Windows (as it would for any other operating system
for a fee) would actually respond, in substance, to a trade policy aimed at
the forceful spread of the latter in the hardware retail (at least in that, a
large majority, headed by the most established OEM brands); among other
things, with cascade effects in order to the imposition on the market of
additional software applications whose dissemination among final customers finds
strong stimulus and influence - if not genuine compulsion - in more or less
intense constraints of compatibility and interoperability (that this time we
could define 'technological with commercial effect') with that operating system,
that has at least tendency to be monopolistic".<br />
</p>
<p>© Marco Ciurcina, 2014 – Some rights reserved.<br />
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
License or any later version.
The text of the license is available here
<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-october-31
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: October 31
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-October-31
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-october-31
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, October 31, 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/interview-with-jessica-tallon-of-pypump
title: The Licensing and Compliance Lab interviews Jessica Tallon of PyPump
uri: Interview-with-Jessica-Tallon-of-PyPump
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/interview-with-jessica-tallon-of-pypump
content:
<p>In this edition, we conducted an email-based interview with Jessica
Tallon, the lead developer <a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/PyPump">PyPump</a>, a simple but powerful and
pythonic way of interfacing with the <a href="http://pump.io/">pump.io</a> API, which is
licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 3
or, at your option, any later version.</p>
<h2>What inspired you to create PyPump?</h2>
<p>I began working on PyPump when Evan Prodromou launched the first
pump.io servers. Although Status.net had existed before pump.io, I
wasn't a user and the only social networks I used were centralized,
proprietary ones which really clashed with my views on software
freedom and the federated web. I wanted to be able to interact with
pump without having to use a browser. The API was easy to understand,
so I tried to see if I could put together a basic library.</p>
<h2>How are people using it?</h2>
<p>There are several interesting projects out there which use
PyPump. With my day job as a <a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Mediagoblin">GNU MediaGoblin</a> developer,
we're going to be using it as a way of communicating between servers
as a part of our federation effort. A great use I've seen is
<a href="https://gitorious.org/pumpmigrate">PumpMigrate</a>, which will migrate one pump.io account to
another. Another little utility that I wrote over the course of a
weekend is <a href="https://github.com/xray7224/p">p</a>, which was made to be an easy way of making a quick
post, bulk uploading photos, or anything you can script with the
shell.</p>
<h2>What features do you think really sets PyPump apart from similar software?</h2>
<p>One thing PyPump does particularly well is being pythonic. We've
written PyPump to be as natural for the python developer to work with
as possible. Hopefully, that will lower the bar of entry for
developers, as they won't have to read through the pump.io API
documentation or be intimately familiar with Activity Streams in order
to write great applications that can interact with pump.io.</p>
<h2>Why did you choose the GNU GPLv3 as PyPump's license?</h2>
<p>This is actually something I get asked a lot and something which I
have spent a lot of time thinking about. PyPump is a library and most
people expected me to release it under the GNU LGPLv3. The reason I
went with the GNU GPLv3 is that I believe that all software,
regardless of size, should be free - so that we can all learn, build,
fix, and use the software in whatever way we see fit. GPLv3 gives
everyone the protection against someone coming along and using all
that great work and writing proprietary code against it.</p>
<h2>How can users (technical or otherwise) help contribute to PyPump?</h2>
<p>There is so much people can do to help. We would love to get help both
on the library, as we're currently working towards our 0.6 release, as
well as on documentation. With PyPump being a library, we want to make
sure that we have accessible, good quality documentation so that the
people who want to use PyPump can. Writing software that uses it is
also a great way of contributing!</p>
<h2>What's the next big thing for PyPump?</h2>
<p>The next big thing is our 0.6 release, in which we're aiming to
provide much better documentation, better storage interaction, and a
much more stable API to write against. I think some of the most
exciting things won't be what we add to PyPump, but, rather, what
other developers will create with it. I'm really looking forward to it
being used in more ways.</p>
<p><em>Enjoyed this interview? Check out our previous entry in this series featuring <a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/interview-with-bitcoin-armory">Alan Reiner of Bitcoin Armory</a>.</em></p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/recap-of-friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-october-31
title: Recap of Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: October 31
uri: Recap-of-Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-October-31
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/recap-of-friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-october-31
content:
<p>In today's Friday <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> (FSD) IRC Meeting -- which was the both the Halloween Edition as well as the 10th Anniversary of the Software Freedom Law Center Celebration Edition --  we approved updates to several entries; we added a new category, <a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Category/Uitoolkit/gtk">UI Toolkit</a>; and we added a few new entries, including: </p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Notepadqq">Notepadqq</a>,  a source code editor, licensed under the terms of GNU GPLv3. </li>
</ul>
<p>There was also a lot of very interesting and exciting things I could
share with you about this meeting, but it is getting late and I need
to get started on my Trick-or-Treating!</p>
<p>However, if you join us next week, you can join in our discussions
directly while helping to improve the Free Software Directory every
Friday!  Find out how to attend the Friday Free Software Directory IRC
Meetings by checking our <a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory">blog</a> or by subscribing to the <a href="http://static.fsf.org/fsforg/rss/directory.xml">RSS
feed</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-25-new-gnu-releases
title: GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry: 25 new GNU releases!
uri: GNU-Spotlight-with-Karl-Berry-25-new-GNU-releases
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-25-new-gnu-releases
content:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf-archive/">autoconf-archive-2014.10.15</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/ccaudio/">ccaudio2-2.1.4</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/ccscript/">ccscript-5.0.3</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/ddrescue/">ddrescue-1.19</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/dfarc/">dfarc-3.12</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/">emacs-24.4</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/freedink/">freedink-108.4</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/">gettext-0.19.3</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gnuhealth.org/">gnuhealth-2.6.4</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gss/">gss-1.0.3</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/guile-ncurses/">guile-ncurses-1.5</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/help2man/">help2man-1.46.4</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/icecat/">icecat-31.2.0</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/libcdio/">libcdio-0.93</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/libcdio/">libcdio-paranoia-10.2+0.93+1</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/libmicrohttpd/">libmicrohttpd-0.9.38</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/librejs/">librejs-6.0.3</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/make/">make-4.1</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/ocrad/">ocrad-0.24</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/parallel/">parallel-20141022</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/pspp/">pspp-0.8.4</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/sipwitch/">sipwitch-1.9.3</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/commoncpp/">ucommon-6.2.0</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/unifont/">unifont-7.0.06</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/vera/">vera-1.22</a></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 Cole Johnson as the new maintainer of
GNU Solfege, and Eric Blake as a new co-maintainer of GNU gperf (in
addition to his many other GNU contributions).</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;&#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/gnu-tools-cauldron-2014-videos-posted-online
title: GNU Tools Cauldron 2014 videos posted online
uri: GNU-Tools-Cauldron-2014-videos-posted-online
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-tools-cauldron-2014-videos-posted-online
content:
<img src="media/bf8eb464.cauldron2014.png" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/images/cauldron2014.png" alt="GNU Tools discussion" style="float: right; padding-left: 10px;" />

<p>Presentation videos from <a href="https://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/cauldron2014">GNU Tools Cauldron 2014</a> have now been posted online. The conference, which this year was held from July 18 - 20, 2014 in Cambridge, England at the University of Cambridge, featured nearly thirty presentations on tools in the GNU toolchain including GCC, the GNU Compiler Collection, and GDB, the GNU Project Debugger. Developers shared tutorials and insights in addition to discussing development plans for various projects within the GNU toolchain. </p>
<p>In addition to the presentation videos, which you can download and view with free software tools <a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/whats-wrong-with-youtube">instead of using YouTube</a>, you can find presentation abstracts and notes from the conference <a href="https://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/cauldron2014">on the GCC Wiki</a>.</p>
<p>Happy hacking!</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/nominate-your-heroes-for-the-free-software-awards
title: Nominate your heroes for the Free Software Awards
uri: Nominate-your-heroes-for-the-Free-Software-Awards
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/nominate-your-heroes-for-the-free-software-awards
content:
<p>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">&#97;&#119;&#97;&#114;&#100;&#45;&#110;&#111;&#109;&#105;&#110;&#97;&#116;&#105;&#111;&#110;&#115;&#64;&#103;&#110;&#117;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;</a>.</p>
<p>What are you waiting for? Take a few minutes to give a little
something to people and projects that have inspired you. Your
nominations will be reviewed by our awards committee and the winners
will be announced at <a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015?pk_campaign=free_software_awards&amp;pk_kwd=blog">LibrePlanet 2015</a>.</p>
<h3>Award for the Advancement of Free Software</h3>
<p>The Free Software Foundation Award for the Advancement of Free
Software is presented 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>
<p>Individuals who describe their projects as
<a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point">"open" instead of "free"</a> are eligible nonetheless, provided the
software is in fact <a href="https://gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw">free/libre</a>.</p>
<h3>Award for Projects of Social Benefit</h3>
<p>The Award for Projects of Social Benefit 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 people to
cooperate in freedom 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 individuals working on 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
<a href="https://gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw">Free Software Definition</a>. Projects that promote or depend on the
use of non-free software are not eligible for this award. Commercial
projects are not excluded, but commercial success is not our scale for
judging projects.</p>
<h3>Eligibility</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 (not projects), and only projects can be nominated
for the Social Benefit Award (not individuals). For a list of previous
winners, please visit <a href="https://www.fsf.org/awards">https://www.fsf.org/awards</a>.</p>
<p>Current <a href="https://fsf.org/about/staff-and-board">FSF staff and board members</a>, as well as award committee
members, are not eligible.</p>
<p>The tentative award committee members are: Marina Zhurakhinskaya,
Matthew Garrett, Rob Savoye, Wietse Venema, Richard Stallman, Suresh
Ramasubramanian, Vernor Vinge, Hong Feng, Fernanda G. Weiden, Harald
Welte, Vernor Vinge, Jonas Oberg, and Yukihiro Matsumoto.</p>
<h3>Instructions</h3>
<p>After reviewing the eligibility rules above, please send your
nominations to <a href="mailto:award-nominations@gnu.org">&#97;&#119;&#97;&#114;&#100;&#45;&#110;&#111;&#109;&#105;&#110;&#97;&#116;&#105;&#111;&#110;&#115;&#64;&#103;&#110;&#117;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;</a>, on or before Sunday,
November 16th, 2014 at 23:59 UTC. Please submit nominations in the
following format:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<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>
</li>
<li>
<p>Please include, in the body of your message, an explanation (forty
    lines or less) of the work done and why you think it is especially
    important to the advancement of software freedom or how it
    benefits society, respectively.</p>
</li>
<li>
<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>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Attend the Free Software Awards at LibrePlanet 2015</h3>
<p>Want to be in the room when the winners are announced? Register today
for the <a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015?pk_campaign=free_software_awards&amp;pk_kwd=blog">LibrePlanet conference</a>, March 21-22 2015, in Cambridge,
MA. In addition to rubbing elbows with the award winners, you'll have
a blast at the rest of the conference, with a program chock full of
sessions free software enthusiasts will love. Remember:
<a href="https://fsf.org/join">Free Software Foundation members</a> attend LibrePlanet gratis!</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-november-7-1
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: November 7
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-November-7
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-november-7-1
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, November 7, from 2pm to 5pm EST (19:00 to 22:00 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/gnu-press/gnu-press-has-restocked
title: GNU Press has restocked!
uri: GNU-Press-has-restocked
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/gnu-press/gnu-press-has-restocked
content:
<img src="media/f6e7642a.productimage-picture-gnu-emblem-classic-pin-38_t200.jpg" data-original-source="http://shop.fsf.org/static/images/productimage-picture-gnu-emblem-classic-pin-38_t200.jpg" style="float: right; padding-left: 10px;" alt="GNU pin" />

<p>GNU Press has restocked popular <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/category/gnu-gear/">gear</a> including <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/run-gcc-shirt/">shirts</a>,
<a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/FSFS_Hoodie/">hoodies</a>, <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/gnu-beanie/">beanies</a>, and <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/gnu-emblem-classic-pin/">GNU emblem brass pins</a>. We are
also reintroducing the GPLv3 shirt in <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/gplv3-t-shirt-gray/">gray</a>, and lowering the
price of the <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/gnu-30-travel-mug/">GNU30 commemorative travel mug</a>. We have also added
3XL sizes for some of our most popular designs!</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="https://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://fsf.org/join">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/directory/recap-of-friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-november-7
title: Recap of Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: November 7
uri: Recap-of-Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-November-7
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/recap-of-friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-november-7
content:
<p>In today's Friday <a href="http://directory.fsf.org">Free Software Directory</a> (FSD) IRC Meeting and
we celebrated the launch of <a href="http://copyleft.org">copyleft.org</a>,
worked on some new art work and icons, and added a few new entries,
including:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Mailpile">Mailpile</a> is an email
  server with a modern web-based client. It is dual-licensed under GNU
  AGPLv3 and Apache 2.0.</li>
<li><a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Libertree">Libertree</a> is a social network implemented over XMPP and a web app. It is licensed under the terms of the GNU AGPLv3 or (at your option) any later version.</li>
</ul>
<p>Join us each week to help improve the Free Software Directory every
Friday!  Find out how to attend the Friday Free Software Directory IRC
Meetings by checking our <a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory">blog</a> or by subscribing to the <a href="http://static.fsf.org/fsforg/rss/directory.xml">RSS feed</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-november-14
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: November 14
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-November-14
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-november-14
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, November 14, from 2pm to 5pm EST (19:00 to 22:00 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-november-21
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: November 21
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-November-21
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-november-21
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, November 21, from 2pm to 5pm EST (19:00 to 22:00 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/back-in-stock-a-thinkpenguin-router-that-respects-your-freedom
title: Back in stock: a ThinkPenguin router that respects your freedom
uri: Back-in-stock-a-ThinkPenguin-router-that-respects-your-freedom
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/back-in-stock-a-thinkpenguin-router-that-respects-your-freedom
content:
<img src="media/23ded0a9.librecmc-router.jpg" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/ryf/librecmc-router.jpg" alt="TPE-NWIFIROUTER" style="float: right;" />

<p>In September, <a href="http://www.fsf.org/news/thinkpenguin-wireless-router-now-fsf-certified-to-respect-your-freedom">we awarded</a> use of the Respects Your Freedom (RYF)
certification mark to the ThinkPenguin <a href="https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/free-software-wireless-n-broadband-router-gnu-linux-tpe-nwifirouter2">Wireless N-Broadband
Router</a> (TPE-NWIFIROUTER). But, within days of our press release,
ThinkPenguin sold out of their inventory! However, today we are happy
to announce that they have replenished their stocks (this time with a
new case, but the same chipset and software).</p>
<p>This is the first home wifi router on the planet that you can go out and
purchase that ships only with software that respects your freedom:
<a href="http://librecmc.org">libreCMC</a>, a distribution of GNU/Linux recently <a href="http://www.fsf.org/news/fsf-adds-librecmc-to-endorsed-distros-list">endorsed</a> by
the FSF. This is <em>awesome</em> and you should replace your proprietary
software-based wireless router at home with one of these!  I've
personally been using one at home for a few weeks now and I love it. I even made an unboxing video for you so you can see how simple it is to set-up: </p>
<p><img src="media/2ed5416e.unboxing-medium.gif" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/ryf/videos/unboxing-medium.gif" alt="TPE-NWIFIROUTER unboxing gif" /></a></p>
<p>(GIF not working? See my <a href="media/3e5d57c8.thinkpenguin-unboxing.webm" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/ryf/videos/thinkpenguin-unboxing.webm">unboxing video</a>.)</p>
<p>Or to <a href="https://identi.ca/cwebber/comment/ZachOZPVQlefeXMTCJ1WKQ">quote</a>
artist, hacker, and GNU MediaGoblin maintainer, Chris Webber:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Prior to the ThinkPenguin router, I had no idea about any options
for getting a 100% free software router. Seems exciting that someone
has done all that work for me. Extra cost on top of that
hardware... looks pretty cheap! Considering all the headaches I've
gone through to find a phone that reasonably even comes close to
respecting my freedom and then doesn't even really do so, hell, for
someone doing the same for a router, thank goodness! I will be
buying this as soon as we replace our router (probably soon!)</p>
<p>Excited that ThinkPenguin is doing this work! I hope more companies
follow in said footsteps.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, this isn't just an opportunity for individuals to be able to
easily buy a 100% free software based router. It is also a big step
forward for the free software community, because it gives us a platform
that we can use to begin building a free software based network for
communication, file sharing, social networking, and more.</p>
<p>This is the third product by ThinkPenguin to be awarded the use of the
RYF certification mark. The first two were the TPE-N150USB Wireless N
USB Adapter and the long-range TPE-N150USBL model. This combined with
other products such as the LibreBoot X60 and the LulzBot 3D printer
brings us one step closer to being able to recommend to users the
ability to have control over all of the devices they rely upon in
their day-to-day computing.</p>
<p>Learn more about the Respects Your Freedom hardware certification,
including details on the certification of the TPE-NWIFIROUTER router
as well as other RYF certified products at <a href="http://www.fsf.org/ryf">fsf.org/ryf</a>. Hardware
sellers interested in applying for certification can consult our
<a href="http://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/endorsement/criteria">certification criteria</a> and should contact
<a href="mailto:licensing@fsf.org"><a href="mailto:licensing@fsf.org">&#108;&#105;&#99;&#101;&#110;&#115;&#105;&#110;&#103;&#64;&#102;&#115;&#102;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;</a></a> with any further
questions.</p>
<p>Subscribe to the <a href="http://www.fsf.org/fs"><em>Free Software Supporter</em></a> newsletter to receive
announcements about future RYF products.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/the-sharks-move-in-lobbyists-pushing-forward-on-tpp-agreements
title: The sharks move in; lobbyists pushing forward on TPP agreements
uri: The-sharks-move-in-lobbyists-pushing-forward-on-TPP-agreements
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/the-sharks-move-in-lobbyists-pushing-forward-on-tpp-agreements
content:
<p>On October 16th, <a href="https://www.wikileaks.org/tpp-ip2/">WikiLeaks</a> released an updated draft of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Strategic Partnership Agreement chapter on copyright, patent and other proprietary interests. A previous draft had been released last year. If you aren't familiar with TPP, it is a multinational trade-agreement that is being developed through a series of secret negotiations that when enacted will have a vast effect on civil liberties, including the ability of users all around the world to enjoy software freedom. </p>
<p>We have been <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/2012-melbourne-tpp-report">following</a> and <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/fsf-speaks-against-tpp">opposing</a> these negotiations both in person and online for many years now. We <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/as-free-software-users-we-need-to-speak-out-against-the-tpp">wrote earlier this year</a> about the dangers posed by these secret negotiations. This latest leak reveals that the countries involved in the TPP negotiations are coming closer to acceptance of a whole host of problematic agreements:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Penalizing the circumvention of digital restriction management, even for non-infringing uses</strong>. Previous leaked versions of the negotiations were poised to repeat the <a href="http://www.defectivebydesign.org/2014-cellphone-unlocking-bill">miserable failure of the United State's DMCA anti-circumvention exemption regime</a>. While the current draft has moved away from implementing this broken system elsewhere, it still leaves in place a system where users can face penalties for circumventing digital restrictions management. Worse still, these penalties can apply even when the circumvention is done for non-infringing uses.</li>
<li><strong>Perpetuating indefinite terms of copyright</strong>. The current draft shows the parties solidifying agreement around extending the term of copyright restriction, potentially up to life of the author plus 100 years. The U.S. has extended the term of copyright several times over the past decades, and accepting the maximum proposed change would once again <a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/misinterpreting-copyright.html">break the basic bargain of the copyright system</a>. This term would push perpetual copyright into other countries as well.</li>
<li><strong>Failing to block the patenting of software</strong>. The current draft once again leaves open the possibility of software coming under the heading of patentable subject matter. The disaster of software patents in countries where they already exist is one of the <a href="http://endsoftpatents.org/">greatest threats to user freedom</a>, and a regime that does not block the patenting of software will only expand this problem elsewhere. Most troubling is the proposal by Mexico specifically stating that signing parties should be able to exclude software from patentable subject matter. This would be great news, if not for the fact that they are the only country signed onto the proposal.</li>
</ul>
<p>These are just a few of the problems with the subject matter of the negotiations, not to mention the over-arching problem of the process being hidden from the public. We have asked for your help in the past in opposing TPP, but the fight is still not over. Here's what you can do to help:</p>
<ul>
<li>Write to your representatives telling them you oppose TPP.</li>
<li>Support our work representing you in this area by <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/join">joining as a member</a> or <a href="https://donate.fsf.org">making a donation</a>.</li>
</ul>


title: The FSF is hiring: Seeking a full-time outreach and communication coordinator
uri: The-FSF-is-hiring-Seeking-a-full-time-outreach-and-communication-coor
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/the-fsf-is-hiring-seeking-a-full-time-outreach-and-communication-coordinator

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/the-fsf-is-hiring-seeking-a-full-time-outreach-and-communication-coordinator

content:
<p>This position, reporting to the executive director, works closely with
our <a href="https://fsf.org/campaigns">campaigns</a>,
<a href="https://fsf.org/licensing">licensing</a>, and
<a href="https://fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin">technical</a> staff, as well as our
board of directors, to edit, publish, and promote high-quality,
effective materials both digital and printed.</p>

<p>These materials are a critical part of advancing the FSF's work to
support the GNU Project, free software adoption, free media formats,
and freedom on the Internet; and to oppose DRM, software patents, and
proprietary software.</p>

<p>Some of the position's more important responsibilities include:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>stewarding the online publication and editing process for all
outreach staff; including copyediting, formatting, posting, and
maintaining material on our Web sites; and sending out e-mail
messages to our lists;</p></li>
<li><p>producing and improving our monthly e-mail newsletter the <a href="https://fsf.org/fss">Free
Software Supporter</a>;</p></li>
<li><p>improving the effectiveness of our audio and video materials use;</p></li>
<li><p>editing and building our biannual printed
<a href="https://fsf.org/bulletin">Bulletin</a>;</p></li>
<li><p>promoting our work and the work of others in the area of computing
freedom on social networking sites;</p></li>
<li><p>helping to produce fundraising materials and assisting with our
fundraising drives;</p></li>
<li><p>cultivating the community around the
<a href="https://libreplanet.org">LibrePlanet</a> wiki and network, including
the annual conference;</p></li>
<li><p>working with and encouraging volunteers; and</p></li>
<li><p>being an approachable, humble, and friendly representative of the
FSF to our worldwide community of existing supporters and the
broader public, both in person and online.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>A successful candidate will have strong editing skills, especially in
the area of copyediting, and will take pride in working with a team to
create consistently polished and effective materials.</p>

<p>While this is a job for a person who is passionate about technology
and its social impact, it is not primarily a technical position. The
main technical requirement is a willingness to learn to use many new
and possibly unfamiliar pieces of software, with a positive attitude.
That being said, experience with CiviCRM and GNU/Linux will be
considered a big plus, and experience with any of the following
technologies should be mentioned: Plone, Drupal, Ikiwiki, Subversion,
Git, CVS, Ssh, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, Emacs, LaTeX, Inkscape, GIMP,
Markdown, or MediaWiki.</p>

<p>Because the FSF works globally and seeks to have our materials
distributed in as many languages as possible, multilingual candidates
will be noticed. English, German, French, Spanish, Mandarin, Malagasy,
and a smattering of Japanese are represented among current FSF staff.</p>

<p>With our small staff of thirteen, each person makes a clear
contribution. We work hard, but offer a humane and fun work
environment.</p>

<h2>Benefits and salary</h2>

<p>The job must be worked on-site at the FSF's office in downtown Boston.</p>

<p>This is a union position. The salary is fixed at $50k and is
non-negotiable. Other benefits include:</p>

<ul>
<li>full family health coverage through Blue Cross/Blue Shield's HMO
Blue program,</li>
<li>subsidized dental plan,</li>
<li>four weeks of paid vacation annually,</li>
<li>seventeen paid holidays annually,</li>
<li>public transit commuting cost reimbursement,</li>
<li>403(b) program through TIAA-CREF,</li>
<li>yearly cost-of-living pay increases, and</li>
<li>potential for an annual performance bonus.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Application instructions</h2>

<p>Applications must be submitted via email to <a href="mailto:hiring@fsf.org">hiring@fsf.org</a>. The
email must contain the subject line, "Outreach and Communications
Coordinator". A complete application should include:</p>

<ul>
<li>resume,</li>
<li>cover letter, </li>
<li>writing sample (1000 words or less),</li>
<li>links to published work online, and</li>
<li>three or more edits you would suggest to this job posting.</li>
</ul>

<p>All materials must be in a free format (such as plain text, PDF, or
OpenDocument, and not Microsoft Word). Email submissions that do not
follow these instructions will probably be overlooked. No phone calls,
please.</p>

<p><strong>Applications will be considered on a rolling basis until the
position is filled.</strong></p>

<p>The FSF is an equal opportunity employer and will not discriminate
against any employee or application for employment on the basis of
race, color, marital status, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation,
national origin, handicap, or any other legally protected status
recognized by federal, state or local law. We value diversity in our
workplace.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/the-2014-giving-guide-is-here
title: The 2014 Giving Guide is here!
uri: The-2014-Giving-Guide-is-here
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/the-2014-giving-guide-is-here
content:
<img style="float:right; padding:15px" src="media/bd2b7e0b.giving_guide_badge.png" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/images/givingguide/images/giving_guide_badge.png" />

<p>Electronics are popular gifts for the holidays, but people often overlook the restrictions that manufacturers slip under the wrapping paper. From remote deletion of files to harsh rules about copying and sharing, some gifts take more than they give. The good news is that there are ethical companies making better devices that your loved ones can enjoy with freedom and privacy. </p>
<p>Today, we're launching the <a href="https://www.fsf.org/givingguide">2014 Giving Guide</a>, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) guide to smarter gifts, compared with their restrictive counterparts. </p>
<p>The 2014 Giving Guide has recommendations for laptops, 3D printers, and software that everyone on your list will love, and that they can use with complete freedom. We also include gifts to avoid--hardware and software that is not an ethical gift choice. Oh, and did we mention the savings? The <a href="https://www.fsf.org/givingguide">Giving Guide</a> contains special discounts on purchases from ThinkPenguin and Aleph Objects. </p>
<p>This holiday season, you can give with confidence. Make sure your friends and family can too--share this Giving Guide with them with the hashtag #givefreely. Then, help spread the word even further--organize a <a href="https://www.fsf.org/givingguide/giving-guide-giveaway-primer">Giving Guide Giveaway</a> to raise awareness that buying conscientious gifts applies to computers and software too. We will be releasing translations of the Giving Guide soon, so no matter where you are in the world, you'll be able to share it.</p>
<p>What are you waiting for, unwrap our <a href="https://www.fsf.org/givingguide">2014 Giving Guide</a> to see our picks for gifts this year!</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-21-new-gnu-releases
title: GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry: 21 new GNU releases!
uri: GNU-Spotlight-with-Karl-Berry-21-new-GNU-releases
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-21-new-gnu-releases
content:
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/acct/">acct-6.6.2</a>  </li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/auctex/">auctex-11.88</a>  </li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/">bash-4.3.30</a>  </li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/ccrtp/">ccrtp-2.1.1</a>  </li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/freeipmi/">freeipmi-1.4.6</a>  </li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/gcc/">gcc-4.9.2</a>  </li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/gcl/">gcl-2.6.12</a>  </li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/gnupg-2.1.0gdb/">gnupg-2.1.0gdb-7.8.1</a>  </li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/grep/">grep-2.21</a>  </li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/groff/">groff-1.22.3</a>  </li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/guile-ncurses/">guile-ncurses-1.6</a>  </li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/hello/">hello-2.10</a>  </li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/kawa/">kawa-1.90</a>  </li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnupg.org/(fr">libksba-1.3.2</a>/related_software/libksba/))  </li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/librejs/">librejs-6.0.6</a>  </li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/">libtool-2.4.3</a>  </li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/parallel/">parallel-20141122</a>  </li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/teximpatient/">teximpatient-2.4</a>  </li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/ucommon/">ucommon-6.2.2</a>  </li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/wget/">wget-1.16</a>  </li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/">xboard-4.8.0</a>  </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 Roel Jansen as the author of the new GNU package
InklingReader.</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/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-december-5
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: December 5
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-December-5
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-december-5
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, December 5, from 2pm to 5pm EST (19:00 to 22:00 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/reclaiming-the-pdf-from-adobe-reader
title: Reclaiming the PDF from Adobe Reader
uri: Reclaiming-the-PDF-from-Adobe-Reader
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/reclaiming-the-pdf-from-adobe-reader
content:
<p>While it is still possible to install Adobe Reader on GNU/Linux, Adobe's attempts to hide access to the product for certain users is only one example of its systematic neglect of its GNU/Linux user base, and falls in line with many others as a demonstration of the importance of free software--software that no company or developer can neglect or hide. As the Windows and OSX versions of the software were developed through version 11, the GNU/Linux version was long stuck at version nine. For several years the software has lacked important features, security improvements, and support against malware attacks and other intrusions. Yet, by "locking in" Adobe Reader users and making it difficult for them to migrate to a free software PDF viewer, Adobe has, in effect, degraded the power of the PDF as a free document format, a standard the purpose of which is to be implemented by any potential piece of software and to be compatible with all. The company has abandoned the principle of program-agnostic documents, bringing about a lose-lose situation for all. </p>

<p>By being led to rely on the proprietary software for tasks like sharing documents and filling out forms without the option to use a free software reader in its place, entreprises, the public sector, and institutions of higher learning have also fallen victim to this neglect, all as Adobe insidiously seeks to maintain a hold on its market share. Within institutions such as government--institutions that ought not to rely on any proprietary software, to begin with--it is concerning that Adobe Reader has often been taken to be the only option for interacting with PDF files and for communicating with the electorate. </p>

<p>Thankfully, there are several free software PDF readers available for both GNU/Linux users and users of other operating systems, such as <a href="https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Evince">Evince</a> for Gnome and <a href="https://okular.kde.org/">Okular</a> for KDE. These programs are often lauded for being more reliable, user-friendly, and secure than Adobe Reader, and are on the frontier of the many examples of free software programs which outperform their proprietary competitors. If you'd like to view a comparison of these free software PDF readers, alongside a range of other programs that serve the same purpose, <a href="http://www.pdfreaders.org">pdfreaders.org</a>, a campaign by The Free Software Foundation Europe, is a great place to start. </p>

<p>Also, if you're a programmer, writer, designer, or planner, pitch in to the efforts to improve free software PDF readers, whether by fixing bugs and adding new features, writing documentation, or creating interfaces and graphics. Happy hacking!</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/how-many-libreplanet-scholarships-will-we-give
title: How many LibrePlanet scholarships will we give?
uri: How-many-LibrePlanet-scholarships-will-we-give
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/how-many-libreplanet-scholarships-will-we-give
content:
<div style="float: right; margin: 10px 0px 10px 10px; padding: 4px; background-color: #EEEEEE; text-align: center;">
<img alt="Karen Sandler speaking at LibrePlanet 2014" src="media/dc62e188.sandler_lp_2014.jpg" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/images/sandler_lp_2014.jpg" />
<p style="margin: 10px 0px;">Sandler at LibrePlanet 2014</p>
</div>

<p>We're excited to announce our first keynote speaker for LibrePlanet 2015: Karen Sandler, executive director of the <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/">Software Freedom Conservancy</a> and co-host of the “<a href="http://faif.us/">Free as in Freedom</a>” podcast. Ms. Sandler's closing keynotes have been a highlight at LibrePlanet, and we're so excited to have her back. In other words, LibrePlanet 2015 is shaping up to be a really great event. </p>
<p>We hope you'll <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/event/register?reset=1&amp;id=20&amp;pk_campaign=scholarship-appeal&amp;pk_kwd=register">join us</a>, and that you'll <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&amp;id=33&amp;pk_campaign=scholarship-appeal&amp;pk_kwd=donate">give a little extra</a> so that a fellow free software enthusiast will be able to attend with a travel scholarship. </p>
<p>Each year, free software enthusiasts from around the world get together for the <a href="https://www.libreplanet.org/2015">LibrePlanet</a> conference, co-produced by the FSF and Student Information Processing Board at MIT (SIPB). At LibrePlanet, the movement has key conversations about how to keep free software strong and growing, and how to make sure that it is accessible to everyone, no matter what their needs or skills. In order to make the conference as rich and dynamic as possible, the Free Software Foundation works hard to offer travel scholarships to people who might be otherwise unable to attend. This year, we will also be offering funding for childcare.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&amp;id=33&amp;pk_campaign=scholarship-appeal&amp;pk_kwd=donate">Will you help us bring important voices to LibrePlanet 2015 by making a contribution to our scholarship fund?</a></strong></p>
<p>A donation of $50 will provide a night in a shared hotel room. A donation of $300 will fund a domestic flight. A donation of $1,000 will fund an international flight. </p>
<p>In 2014, the Free Software Foundation spent $6,000 to bring fourteen people to LibrePlanet. This year, we've received a record number of scholarship applications: sixty three people from thirty countries who would like to attend LibrePlanet but need financial assistance. How many of them will we be able to offer scholarships? It depends, in part, on the donation you make between now and December 15th. Will you help us?</p>
<p>You can make a donation <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&amp;id=33&amp;pk_campaign=scholarship-appeal&amp;pk_kwd=donate">here</a>, or donate when you <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/event/register?reset=1&amp;id=20&amp;pk_campaign=scholarship-appeal&amp;pk_kwd=register">register</a> for the conference yourself. Remember, every donation you make also helps us meet our goal of raising <a href="https://www.fsf.org/appeal">$525,000 by January 31st</a>. </p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/print-this-guide
title: Print this guide
uri: Print-this-guide
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/print-this-guide
content:
<div style="float: right; width: 250px; margin: 10px 0px 10px 10px; padding: 4px; background-color: #EEEEEE; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://static.fsf.org/nosvn/2014-giving-guide-printable/english.zip"><img alt="Print Giving Guide" src="media/0baca0c5.giving_guide_flyer_thumbnail.png" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/images/givingguide/giving_guide_flyer_thumbnail.png" /></a>
<p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><a href="https://www.fsf.org/givingguide/giving-guide-giveaway-primer#printable">Print the double-sided flyer in color or black and white, in your language of choice.</a></p>
</div>

<p>We've just released a printable version of our online <a href="https://www.fsf.org/givingguide">Giving Guide</a>, which helps gift-givers choose tech gifts that respect recipients' rights as computer users and avoid those that don't. The <a href="https://static.fsf.org/nosvn/2014-giving-guide-printable/english.zip">printable version</a> (available in color as well as black and white) makes sharing and translating easy so the Giving Guide can spread far and wide.</p>
<p><strong>The guide is an easy-to-use resource that can make a difference in what people buy. We just need to get it in front of them. <a href="https://www.fsf.org/givingguide/giving-guide-giveaway-primer">Can you help us spread the word by organizing a Giving Guide Giveaway this winter?</a></strong> Giveaways are public meet-ups where free software users gather to hand out the print Giving Guide to shoppers considering electronics gifts. By having face-to-face interactions with people in your area, you'll be getting your message across way more effectively than we can by talking about it online.</p>
<p>To make planning Giveaways easy, we've created a primer with tips and a planning timeline. Get a few friends together for a small Giveaway, or make a splash with a big one -- it's about spreading the message in whatever way is best for you. <a href="https://www.fsf.org/givingguide/giving-guide-giveaway-primer"><strong>Check out the primer now, and organize your Giveaway!</strong></a> If you need to do your Giveaway in January or February, don't worry; shopping doesn't stop with the holidays!</p>
<p>This paper version is in English for letter sized paper, but we don't want to be limited to it! If you have the skills, please translate the printable version of this guide into any language you can and adapt it to other paper sizes, like A4. Send translated and resized versions as attachments 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>, with matching directory structure and file types to the original archive. Feel free to credit yourself on the translation.</p>
<p>If you're in the Boston-area, you are invited to the Giveaway the Free Software Foundation is organizing on Thursday, December 18th, meeting at 6:30 PM in the Harvard Square Station. Please RSVP 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're coming.</p>
<p>Happy holidays!</p>
<p><strong>Thanks to your support, 2015 marks 30 years of the FSF! In the next 30 years, we want to do even more to defend computer user rights. To kick off in that direction, we're setting our highest-ever fundraising goal of $525,000 by January 31st. <a href="https://donate.fsf.org/?pk_campaign=gg-print-2014-12-11&amp;pk_kwd=donate">Donate</a>, <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/join?pk_campaign=gg-print-2014-12-11=join">join as a member</a>, or <a href="https://www.fsf.org/appeal">read more about our work</a>.</strong></p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-december-19
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: December 19
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-December-19
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-december-19
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, December 19, from 2pm to 5pm EST (19:00 to 22:00 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/new-article-by-rms-what-does-it-mean-for-a-computer-to-be-loyal
title: New article by RMS, "What does it mean for a computer to be loyal?"
uri: New-article-by-RMS-What-does-it-mean-for-a-computer-to-be-loyal
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/new-article-by-rms-what-does-it-mean-for-a-computer-to-be-loyal
content:
<blockquote><p>We say that running free software on your computer means that its operation is under your control. Implicitly this presupposes that your computer will do what your programs tell it to do, and no more. In other words, that your computer will be loyal to you.</p><p>In 1990 we took that for granted; nowadays, many computers are designed to be disloyal to their users. It has become necessary to spell out what it means for your computer to be a loyal platform that obeys your decisions, which you express by telling it to run certain programs.</p></blockquote>

Richard Stallman's latest article offers a "tentative definition" of
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/loyal-computers.html">a
computer that is "loyal to you," the user</a>. 


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-december-26
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: December 26
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-December-26
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-december-26
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, December 26, from 2pm to 5pm EST (19:00 to 22:00 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/user-liberation-watch-and-share-our-new-video
title: User Liberation: Watch and share our new video
uri: User-Liberation-Watch-and-share-our-new-video
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/user-liberation-watch-and-share-our-new-video
content:
 <video alt="FSF 30 video" style="width: 100%;" controls="controls" poster="//static.fsf.org/nosvn/FSF30-video/fsf30-poster.png" crossorigin="anonymous">
    <source src="media/35fcdc9f.FSF_30_720p.webm" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/FSF30-video/FSF_30_720p.webm" type="video/webm" />
        <track label="English" srclang="en" src="//static.fsf.org/nosvn/FSF30-video/captions/FSF_30_720p.en.vtt" default="default" />
<track label="Spanish" srclang="es" src="//static.fsf.org/nosvn/FSF30-video/captions/FSF_30_es.vtt" />
        <track label="French" srclang="fr" src="//static.fsf.org/nosvn/FSF30-video/captions/FSF_30_720p.fr.vtt" />
<track label="русский" srclang="ru" src="//static.fsf.org/nosvn/FSF30-video/captions/FSF_30_720p.ru.vtt" />
        <track label="italiano" srclang="it" src="//static.fsf.org/nosvn/FSF30-video/captions/FSF_30_720p.it.vtt" default="default" />
  </video>

<p><strong>Please help us spread free software awareness by watching this video and <a href="https://www.fsf.org/share?u=https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/user-liberation-watch-and-share-our-new-video&amp;t=User%20Liberation:%20Watch%20and%20share%20our%20new%20video">sharing it<a></a> with friends via email and social media.</strong> </p>

<p>We partnered with <a href="http://urchn.org/about">Urchin</a> to make this animated introduction to free software. Urchin made the video using free software. People have been looking to the FSF for thirty years for explanations about the importance of free software. We want to make more videos like this, and other materials, but they cost money. If we meet our annual fundraising goal of $525,000 by January 31st, you can be sure there will be more great projects to come in 2015.</p>

<p>This is the biggest fundraising week of the year, and we still have a ways to go if we are to meet our goal by January 31st. Please show your love for this video by making a <a href="https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&amp;id=14&amp;pk_campaign=2014-video-appeal&amp;pk_kwd=donate">donation</a> or becoming a <a href="https://my.fsf.org/join?pk_campaign=2014-video-appeal&amp;pk_kwd=join">member</a> today.</p>
<br />
<hr />
<span style="color: #555555;">
<a name="info"></a>
<p>Download the video: <a href="//static.fsf.org/nosvn/FSF30-video/FSF_30_video.ogv">Full resolution</a> | <a href="media/6667f3ff.FSF_30_1080p.webm" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/FSF30-video/FSF_30_1080p.webm">1080p</a> | <a href="media/18d12cfe.FSF_30_360p.webm" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/FSF30-video/FSF_30_360p.webm">360p</a> | <a href="media/3e5773f9.FSF_30_240p.webm" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/FSF30-video/FSF_30_240p.webm">240p</a> | <a href="//static.fsf.org/nosvn/FSF30-video/user_liberation.tar.bz2">Production Files</a></p>
<p>Download subtitles: <a href="//static.fsf.org/nosvn/FSF30-video/captions/FSF_30_720p.en.vtt">English</a> | <a href="//static.fsf.org/nosvn/FSF30-video/captions/FSF_30_es.vtt">español</a> | <a href="//static.fsf.org/nosvn/FSF30-video/captions/FSF_30_720p.fr.vtt">français</a> | <a href="//static.fsf.org/nosvn/FSF30-video/captions/FSF_30_720p.ru.vtt">русский</a> | <a href="//static.fsf.org/nosvn/FSF30-video/captions/FSF_30_720p.it.vtt">italiano</a></p>
<p>Embed: &lt;iframe width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;390&quot;
src=&quot;http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/FSF30-video/FSF_30_720p.webm&quot;
frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;</p>
</span>
<br />
<hr />
<span style="color: #555555;">
<h2 style="color: #555555;">Video credits</h2>

<h3 style="color: #555555;">Urchin</h3>
Fateh Slavitskaya (<em>Script, Voice, Production</em>), 
Bassam Kurdali (<em>Animation, Production</em>)

<h3 style="color: #555555;">Free Software Foundation</h3>
Libby Reinish, John Sullivan, Zak Rogoff

<h3 style="color: #555555;">Sound</h3>
<p>To the extent possible under law, the authors (listed by
<a href="https://freesound.org">freesound.org</a> username) of the SFX below have
dedicated all copyright and related and neighboring rights to these
works to the public domain worldwide via the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">Creative Commons
Zero</a> (CC0)
declaration and license.</p>

<ul>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/airtaxi/sounds/76886/">gong</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/airtaxi/">airtaxi</a>  </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/CaCtUs2003/sounds/147584/">far off boom</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/CaCtUs2003/">CaCtUs2003</a>  </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/dave.des/sounds/127196/">digital bells up down</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/crashoverride61088">crashoverride61088</a>  </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/dave.des/sounds/127196/">fast simple chop 1</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/dave.des">dave des</a>  </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/davidbain/sounds/136780/">digital camera on</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/davidbain">davidbain</a>  </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/ecfike/sounds/128245/">big-room-ambience-1</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/ecfike">ecfike</a></li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/elliotlp/sounds/235755/">crumple dry leaf 1</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/elliotlp">elliotlp</a>  </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/elliotlp/sounds/235754/">crumple dry leaf 2</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/elliotlp">elliotlp</a>  </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/flint10/sounds/197545/">ambience with modulation</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/flint10">flint10</a>  </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/gchase/sounds/144042/">room tone ambience large theatre low hum</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/gchase">gchase</a>  </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/HunteR4708/sounds/256458/">typing</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/hunter4708">hunter4708</a>  </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/IrishCinema/sounds/195223/">determined typing on a keyboard</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/irishcinema">irishcinema</a>  </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/jamesabdulrahman/sounds/256852/">alaskan air traffic control</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/jamesabdulrahman">jamesabdulrahman</a>  </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/jasonLON/sounds/125400/">digital data beeps</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/jasonlon">jasonlon</a>  </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/lavik89/sounds/168984/">digital hit</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/lavik89">lavik89</a>  </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/LloydEvans09/sounds/185829/">digital switch</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/lloydevans09">lloydevans09</a>  </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/ludvique/sounds/71852/">digital whoosh soft</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/ludvique">ludvique</a>  </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/martypinso/sounds/22598/">dmp car passby 2</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/martypinso">martypinso</a>  </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/martypinso/sounds/22599/">dmp int car passby 1</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/martypinso">martypinso</a>  </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/MissCellany/sounds/240640/">metallic whoosh</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/misscellany">misscellany</a>  </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/monotraum/sounds/208502/">highway, atmo, distant</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/monotraum">monotraum</a>  </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/muses212/sounds/77255/">couch quick rise up 4 bip</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/muses212">muses212</a>  </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/Northern_Monkey/sounds/177242/">cinematic impact</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/northern_monkey">northern monkey</a>  </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/Pandotrix_emark_/sounds/127561/">apox</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/Pandotrix_emark_">pandotrix<em>emark</em></a>   </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/simosco/sounds/235535/">balloon rub</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/simosco">simosco</a>  </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/Snapper4298/sounds/183501/">boom</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/snapper4298">snapper4298</a>  </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/SoundsExciting/sounds/204515/">rain cracking rumbling</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/SoundsExciting/">soundsexciting</a>  </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/swiftoid/sounds/119782/">cinematic deep tremor</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/swiftoid">swiftoid</a>  </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/wjoojoo/sounds/197751/">underwater ambience lake lbj 08232013 1</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/wjoojoo">wjoojoo</a>  </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/Woodingp/sounds/116642/">heartbeatnew </a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/Woodingp/">woodingp</a></li>
</ul>

<p>The following SFX were released under the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license</a> on <a href="https://freesound.org">freesound.org</a>:</p>

<ul>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/Benboncan/sounds/103628/">large-anvil-steel-hammer</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/benboncan">benboncan</a> </li>
<li><em><a href="http://freesound.org/people/primeval_polypod/sounds/160596/">jets-low-pass</a></em> by <a href="http://freesound.org/people/primeval-polypod">primeval-polypod</a></li>
</ul>

<p>Original music and SFX by James P. McQuoid is licensed under the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license</a>.</p>


<h3 style="color: #555555;">Software</h3>
<em>Script:</em> gedit, Piratepad, TextPlay (command line fountain renderer), Trelby (dedicated screenwriting application)<br />
<em>Sound recording:</em> Audacity (voice), Ardour (music)<br />
<em>Story boards:</em> Krita<br />
<em>Vector Mockups:</em> Inkscape<br />
<em>Visuals, animation, rendering, editing, sound editing:</em> Blender<br />
<em>webm encoding:</em> Transmageddon (first batch), Pitivi (second batch)</span>


title: The Licensing and Compliance Lab interviews Aaron Wolf of Snowdrift.coop
uri: The-Licensing-and-Compliance-Lab-interviews-Aaron-Wolf-of-Snowdrift-co
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/the-licensing-and-compliance-lab-interviews-aaron-wolf-of-snowdrift.coop

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/the-licensing-and-compliance-lab-interviews-aaron-wolf-of-snowdrift.coop

content:
<p>In this edition, we conducted an email-based interview with Aaron Wolf,  co-founder of Snowdrift.coop, a web platform coordinating patronage specifically for freely-licensed works. Aaron Wolf is a music teacher by trade who got involved in the free software movement in 2012 building on his earlier interest in free culture and cooperative economics.</p>

<h2>What inspired you to create Snowdrift.coop?</h2>

<p>We need the general public to embrace and support free software and free culture. </p>

<p>We face many challenges, but one thing is clear: most people don't <em>like</em> proprietary terms, advertising and tracking on everything, or other anti-features. We would all prefer to have the same technology and creative works be free-as-in-freedom. Still, we don't all care enough to give up the features that proprietary works offer.</p>

<p>Our problem involves collective action. Each individual who uses proprietary software recognizes that they have negligible influence over the overall market. We need a critical mass of people together to move our support from proprietary to free projects if we want freedom without sacrificing the features and high-quality that many proprietary products offer.</p>

<p>Back in 2012, I was complaining to a friend about this situation. I described how I wished I could make an agreement with all sorts of other people who, like me, were hesitating to do all they could to help free projects. I'd like to make a pledge with others that I'd contribute a little more for each additional person who would join me.</p>

<p>That friend, David Thomas, happened to be a programmer and had some free time at that point. He convinced me that my idea was worth pursuing, and he offered to help make it happen. I hesitated but eventually decided to do it even though it meant giving up my plans to pursue a musicology PhD.</p>

<p>We brainstormed about names related to collective action, tragedy of the commons, prisoner's dilemma, and so on. And we settled on the metaphor of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_dilemma#Iterated_snowdrift">snowdrift dilemma</a> (we further adapted the metaphor to our context, see <a href="https://snowdrift.coop/p/snowdrift/w/en/snowdrift">here</a>).</p>

<p>We agreed that every detail of our new platform needed to be consistent with serving the public interest. Thus, we're structuring as a non-profit cooperative, building the platform with 100% free software, making it exclusively for free-as-in-freedom projects, and implementing the most ethical and honorable policies we can devise. Two years and huge amounts of work and research later, we're getting close to operating.</p>

<h2>What's the project status today?</h2>

<p>We have a live site but are still in alpha state. We have the matching pledge details figured out for at least the initial launch version (we can adapt things as necessary after we begin operations). It wasn't easy to choose what tools to use, and we ended up deciding that it would be most valuable to have an integrated platform that encourages engagement, feedback, and volunteering alongside funding. So, the site has accessory tools (wiki, discussion, ticketing) which we're using for our own development and which all projects may use if they choose.</p>

<p>We're currently running a fundraising-drive at <a href="https://snowdrift.tilt.com">https://snowdrift.tilt.com</a> to cover our legal costs and extra development. At this point, we've reached our first couple goals for funding but hope we continue to get additional support as we have a lot more still to do.</p>

<p>Despite only testing with fake money on the live Snowdrift.coop site, we have registered over 600 users already. We see a lot of interest, and we're feeling optimistic. We hope to start getting projects listed soon.</p>

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

<p>We did a lot of background research about the history of funding for free software and culture and reviewed over 700 other web platforms; see <a href="https://snowdrift.coop/p/snowdrift/w/en/status-quo-floss">our software history article</a> and <a href="https://snowdrift.coop/p/snowdrift/w/en/othercrowdfunding">our review of other platforms</a>.</p>

<p>A few other web platforms offer some features worth comparing, but we're really quite distinct. Our funding mechanism is new. Our technical design emphasizes progressive enhancement — that means everything is functional without relying on client-side JavaScript at all (and, of course, wherever we use some JavaScript enhancements, that's still all free software). Many bits and pieces can be compared to other software, but we're a unique package with a number of novel elements. For example, even our approach to ticketing is unique because we integrated it with our discussion boards in order to lessen the divide and the unnecessary duplication we often see between separated forums and ticketing systems.</p>

<h2>Why did you choose the AGPLv3 as Snowdrift's license?</h2>

<p>We aren't building the software with the main goal of others running it themselves (although we hope to split out some of the accessory tools so they can work independently), but we see it as important and ethically consistent with our mission that people have the <em>freedom</em> to run the software on their own or fork the project. If we ran the site with proprietary software, it would give us particularly strong lock-in, and that amplifies power imbalances and conflict-of-interest concerns.</p>

<p>AGPLv3+ allows us to not only share our software freely but to ensure that it <em>stays</em> free. I think it would be great for all software to be under AGPL. The Affero clause doesn't hurt anything; basically, it either does nothing (in the case of a program that would never be run over a server) or it protects our freedoms — so, might as well include it for <em>any</em> software.</p>

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

<p>See <a href="https://snowdrift.coop/p/snowdrift/w/en/how-to-help">https://snowdrift.coop/p/snowdrift/w/en/how-to-help</a>. But, in summary, coders can jump in and help with patches. The main code is written in Haskell, but we have lots of work that mostly involves simple HTML, CSS, or JavaScript coding.</p>

<p>We also have legal, design, organizing, illustration, and other work to do. It would even help to have more people actively welcoming visitors to our #snowdrift IRC channel at freenode.net. It also helps to have more people simply testing the site and participating in the discussion boards at Snowdrift.coop. We welcome all sorts of questions and constructive feedback.</p>

<p>We also want to determine the optimal projects to sign up for our launch. Ideally, those will be downstream, user-facing, reasonably broad audience sorts of things that have decent history but clear need for more funding.</p>

<p><em>Enjoyed this interview? Check out our previous entry in this series featuring <a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/interview-with-jessica-tallon-of-pypump">Jessica Tallon of PyPump</a>.</em></p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/executive-director/a-small-update-to-our-user-liberation-video
title: A small update to our "User Liberation" video
uri: A-small-update-to-our-User-Liberation-video
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/executive-director/a-small-update-to-our-user-liberation-video
content:
<p><em>You can <a href="/blogs/executive-director/RSS">subscribe by RSS</a>, and posts will also be included in
our monthly <a href="/fss">Free Software Supporter</a> email newsletter.</em></p>
<p>There are a few small "easter eggs," both intentional and
unintentional, in the <a href="/blogs/community/user-liberation-watch-and-share-our-new-video">"User Liberation" video we just
released.</a>
One that drew some comments is the desktop screenshot flashing by near
the video's end.</p>
<p>Is that...a Skype icon? Is that...Flash? Is that...nVidia? IN AN FSF
VIDEO?</p>
<p>After this was brought to my attention, I first thought 
it was fine to include the icons, because of the overall framing. The
narrator in that section of the video says, "We've still got work to
do." None of the context promotes or recommends use of those programs,
and since the icons flashed by in a second, I didn't think we were
increasing their recognizability or notoriety. Everything about the
video problematizes proprietary software and advocates user freedom.
The only application the character is directly using is free software.
The other icons seemed merely part of a realistic scenery, and as we
all know, the scenery of our digital lives contains much ugliness.</p>
<p>I can imagine many other circumstances in which we would show
proprietary software in a video. For example, we might have a video
tutorial showing how to install and use GNU Emacs on Windows, or how
to <a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org">encrypt your email</a> on OS X.
It'd be hard to have such videos without showing those proprietary
operating systems, and they would in fact be much more prominent than
what we are talking about here.</p>
<p>We would show them because doing so would help us help others to
regain some of their freedom as computer users. We would make sure to
emphasize that such steps wouldn't get them all the way -- for that,
they'd need to install a <a href="http://gnu.org/distros">fully free GNU/Linux
system</a> -- but they would be steps in the
right direction, and steps that wouldn't require any counterproductive
compromise.</p>
<p>We do, as "User Liberation" says, have a lot more work to do, to
enable everyone to install fully free operating systems and do
everything they want to do with any computer they own using only free
software, without compromise. Free software replacements for exactly
the three displayed icons: Skype, Flash, and 3D-accelerated graphics
drivers, are on our <a href="/campaigns/priority-projects">High Priority Projects
List</a>, which is currently looking for
<a href="/news/fsf-commences-review-of-high-priority-free-software-projects-list-your-input-is-needed">your
feedback.</a></p>
<p>All that being said, the advantage of digital media (and
<a href="http://blender.org">Blender</a>, the free software used to make the
video) is that we could go back and change things like this pretty
easily. Should we?</p>
<p>Our goal here was to make a video that can be shown to people who had
never heard of free software before, to spark their interest and
hopefully inspire further involvement. After listening to some
feedback and thinking on it, we decided that leaving the icons could
potentially cause some confusion with people who don't yet know, for
example, that Skype is only "free as in beer" and not "free as in
freedom." I don't think the risk here was very high -- you couldn't
even see the individual icons during normal watching of the video --
but that also meant they didn't have any affirmative reason to be
there.</p>
<p>So we've now chucked this particular easter egg, and written this post
to document the decision. Doing this reminded me of the relative
impermanence of all digital media. <a href="http://defectivebydesign.org">DRM-pushing companies</a> like Amazon
and Apple who distribute videos and ebooks have the same capability,
to go back and edit works after they are published. In many cases,
they can even do it remotely, replacing works that you think of as
living on a device in your home. Will they tell you about it when they
do?</p>
<p>Thank you to <a href="http://urchn.org/about">Urchin</a> for making the
edits and for their amazing work on the project! It really
demonstrates the power of free software and free formats, and debunks
the myth that professional designers and animators must use
proprietary software to be top notch.</p>
<p>I'm excited about the partnership with them, and about the potential
to make more such educational and advocacy materials in the future. I
hope you can make a <a href="https://donate.fsf.org">donation</a>, or even
better, <a href="https://my.fsf.org/join">join as a member</a>, to both cast a
vote for us doing more of this work and to provide the resources we
need to do it.</p>
<p><em>The old video can still be found (for now) at <a href="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/FSF30-video/old/">http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/FSF30-video/old/</a>.</em></p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/happy-gnu-year-2015
title: Happy GNU year 2015!
uri: Happy-GNU-year-2015
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/happy-gnu-year-2015
content:
<pre>
           ,------------------------------------,
           |               GNUTOP               |
           | .--------------------------------. |
           | |     , /                   \    | |
           | |     |\|                    |   | |
           | | [/usr/lib]$ make the_future ;  | |
           | |      \  //-,        ,-\\  ,/   | |
           | |       '.( o )'----'( o )./ /   | |
           | |        ; '-'        '-' ;      | |
           | |        \                /      | |
           | |         \  '-.___,     /       | |
           | |          \            /        | |
           | |           ',        ,'         | |
           | |          ,.-'-.__.-'-.,        | |
           | |         /\            /\       | |
           | '--------------------------------' |
           ;'----------------------------------';
          /  ,-,-,-,-,-,-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.--.  \
         /   -'-'-'-'-'-'-''-'-'-''-'-'-'-'-'--'  \

                      HAPPY HACKING 2015
                    /s/HACKING/GNU YEARS/
</pre>

<p>
<em>Art by FSF member <a href="http://dustycloud.org">Chris Webber</em>
</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/recap-of-friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-january-2
title: Recap of Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: January 2
uri: Recap-of-Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-January-2
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/recap-of-friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-january-2
content:
<p>We rang in the new year in today's Friday <a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/">Free Software Directory</a> (FSD) IRC Meeting by publishing the following new entries:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/JDynamiTe">JDynamiTe</a>, a tool which allows you to dynamically
  create documents in any format from "template" documents. It is
  licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License
  version 3, or (at your option) any later version.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Final_Term">Final Term</a>, a terminal emulator that makes command line
  work easier. It does this by inspecting the underlying shell
  application, and providing useful keyboard and GUI shortcuts to
  common tasks. It is licensed under the terms of the GNU General
  Public License version 3, or (at your option) any later version.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>This comes after a productive week in which over a dozen entries were
updated and several new entries were added, including
<a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Encryptr">Encryptr</a> (GPLv3+), a password storage program, and the
encrypted remote storage framework, <a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Crypton">Crypton</a> (AGPLv3+).</p>
<p>Join us each week to help improve the Free Software Directory every
Friday!  Find out how to attend the Friday Free Software Directory IRC
Meetings by checking our <a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory">blog</a> or by subscribing to the <a href="http://static.fsf.org/fsforg/rss/directory.xml">RSS feed</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-nineteen-new-gnu-releases-1
title: GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry: nineteen new GNU releases!
uri: GNU-Spotlight-with-Karl-Berry-nineteen-new-GNU-releases
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-nineteen-new-gnu-releases-1
content:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/ccaudio/">ccaudio2-2.1.5</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/ccscript/">ccscript-5.0.4</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/cgicc/">cgicc-3.2.16</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/complexity/">complexity-1.2</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.denemo.org/">denemo-1.2.0</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/freeipmi/">freeipmi-1.4.7</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gcc/">gcc-4.8.4</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/global/">global-6.3.3</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/ghostscript/">gnu-ghostscript-9.14.0</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gnudos/">gnudos-1.8</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gnupg/">gnupg-2.1.1</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/kawa/">kawa-2.0</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/librejs/">librejs-6.0.7</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/">libtool-2.4.4</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/sharutils/">sharutils-4.14.2</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/sipwitch/">sipwitch-1.9.6</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/commoncpp/">ucommon-6.3.0</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/unrtf/">unrtf-0.21.8</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/wget/">wget-1.16.1</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="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 Jean-Michel Sellier as the author of the new GNU
package dionysys, joining his other packages archimedes and
nano-archimedes; Alex Sassmannshausen as the author and maintainer of
the new GNU package glean; and Gavin Smith as co-maintainer of Texinfo.</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/help-the-user-lib-video-go-global
title: Help the User Lib video go global
uri: Help-the-User-Lib-video-go-global
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/help-the-user-lib-video-go-global
content:
<p><a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/user-liberation-watch-and-share-our-new-video"><img alt="User Lib video with subtitles" src="media/89b8bc81.subtitle-screenshot.png" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/FSF30-video/subtitle-screenshot.png" style="float: right; width: 250px; margin: 10px 0px 10px 10px;" /></a></p>
<p>Today, we're releasing an English transcript and a French translation of <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/user-liberation-watch-and-share-our-new-video">User Lib</a>, submitted by our friends at <a href="http://www.laquadrature.net/">La Quadrature</a>. You can <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/user-liberation-watch-and-share-our-new-video#info">view these translations</a> as text files, or download and view them as subtitles using a video player like VLC or mplayer. Some browsers will also allow you to view them as subtitles when you stream the video.</p>
<p>Want to see User Lib subtitles in your language? We are accepting additional translations in SRT format, and will release subtitles as they become available. We are coordinating translation efforts on <a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:FSF/User_Liberation_Video_Translation">LibrePlanet</a>. For additional information, email <a href="mailto:campaigns@fsf.org">&#99;&#97;&#109;&#112;&#97;&#105;&#103;&#110;&#115;&#64;&#102;&#115;&#102;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;</a>. 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 preferences in your user profile to receive our monthly newsletter in Spanish or French.</p>
<p>We have also released the <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/user-liberation-watch-and-share-our-new-video#info">production files for the video</a>. With these files, you can take the User Lib video and use it for your own projects.</p>
<p>Educational materials like User Lib can do so much to advance free software around the world. We want to make more videos, infographics, and guides in 2015, but we need the resources to make it happen. If you'd like to see more work like this from the Free Software Foundation, please <a href="https://my.fsf.org/donate?pk_campaign=subtitles-appeal&amp;pk_kwd=donate">donate</a> or <a href="https://my.fsf.org/join?pk_campaign=subtitles-appeal&amp;pk_kwd=join">join as a member</a> today. Your contribution will help us meet our goal to raise $525,000 by January 31st.<br />
</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/recap-of-friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-january-9
title: Recap of Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: January 9
uri: Recap-of-Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-January-9
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/recap-of-friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-january-9
content:
<p>In today's Friday <a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/">Free Software Directory</a> (FSD) IRC Meeting we
spent a bit of time looking through the <a href="https://libregamewiki.org">Libre Game Wiki</a>, which is apparently a great resource with many games for GNU/Linux listed on it and that has a licensing policy that is in-line with the Directory.</p>
<p>In addition to updating several entries we also added two new ones:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Me_and_My_Shadow">Me and My Shadow</a> is a puzzle game and platform in which
  you try to reach the exit by solving puzzles. Spikes, moving blocks,
  fragile blocks and much more stand between you and the exit. It is
  licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License
  version 3, or (at your option) any later version.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Twister">Twister</a> a fully decentralized P2P microblogging platform
  leveraging from the free software implementations of Bitcoin and
  BitTorrent protocols. It is under an Expat license.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>This comes after a productive week in which over a dozen entries were
updated and several new entries were added. You can join us each week
to help improve the Free Software Directory every Friday!  Find out
how to attend the Friday Free Software Directory IRC Meetings by
checking our <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory">blog</a> or by subscribing to the <a href="https://static.fsf.org/fsforg/rss/directory.xml">RSS feed</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/these-pictures-are-worth-1-024-words
title: These pictures are worth 1,024 words
uri: These-pictures-are-worth-1-024-words
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/these-pictures-are-worth-1-024-words
content:
<div style="float: right; width: 300px; margin: 10px 0px 10px 10px; padding: 4px; background-color: #EEEEEE; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.fsf.org/resources/badges"><img alt="Previews of the badges." src="media/32be0abc.badges_preview.png" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/images/badges/badges_preview.png" />
<p style="margin: 10px 0px;">Explore all the badges, including alternate colors and embed codes for your blog or Web site.</p></a>
</div>

<p>These beautiful badges come in four different styles, each with three color schemes to pick from. They're perfect for sharing on social media or embedding on your Web site or blog, and we've provided embed code that links back to pages that will help new people get acquainted with free software.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.fsf.org/resources/badges">Choose your favorite badge and start sharing</a>. You may want to explore our thoughts on different <a href="https://www.fsf.org/share">social media platforms</a>.</p>

<p>Best of all, the badges are licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY 4.0</a>, made by our friends at <a href="http://www.manufacturaindependente.com">Manufactura Independente</a> using all free software, and their source files are available, so you can translate and remix them to your heart's content.</p>

<p><strong>We love giving you beautiful things to represent free software, and we want to make more. Can you <a href="https://donate.fsf.org/?pk_campaign=badges&amp;pk_kwd=donate">donate $40</a> to help us do more of this in 2015?</strong></p>

<p>In addition to being nice-looking and fun, we think that works like these badges are an important part of winning free software the recognition and respect it deserves in the broader world beyond computing. A picture is worth 1,024 words, and the easier it is for our friends, family members and policy-makers to understand our message, the more influential our movement will be.</p>

<p>Enjoy the badges, and please <a href="https://donate.fsf.org/?pk_campaign=badges&amp;pk_kwd=donate">donate</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/free-software-everywhere-in-the-libreplanet-2015-program
title: Free Software Everywhere in the LibrePlanet 2015 program
uri: Free-Software-Everywhere-in-the-LibrePlanet-2015-program
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/free-software-everywhere-in-the-libreplanet-2015-program
content:
<p>You get <a href="http://libreplanet.org/2015/">LibrePlanet 2015: Free Software Everywhere</a>, March 21-22, 2015 at MIT in Cambridge, MA.</p>
<p>This year's program showcases how free software is used around the world, from "Engaging Nepali kids with free software" to "Implementing electronic medical record systems in rural Haiti​." We're also taking a close look at how international treaties will affect free software users, with sessions from April -- a French free software activist organization -- and Electronic Frontier Foundation. </p>
<p>The conference will explore the importance of free software in different contexts, such as "When open is not enough: educators and academia grapple with the need for libre," and "Librarians fight back: free software solutions for digital privacy." </p>
<p>And if you're looking to pick up some serious free software skills, LibrePlanet 2015 has some great workshops planned, like "Will it blend?", a Blender tutorial with Bassam Kurdali, the animator of our <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/user-liberation-watch-and-share-our-new-video">User Lib</a> video. And of course, we'll have a workshop for all of you who want to learn to "Rock your Emacs."</p>
<p>In addition to all these great sessions, LibrePlanet 2015 will feature keynotes from two of free software's biggest thinkers: Benjamin Mako Hill and Karen Sandler. </p>
<p><a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015/program/">The full draft program is now online</a>. Go check it out -- we're pretty sure you'll want to <a href="https://my.fsf.org/civicrm/event/register?reset=1&amp;id=20&amp;pk_campaign=libreplanet-program&amp;pk_kwd=register">register</a> after taking a look at all the conference has to offer. Remember, FSF <a href="https://my.fsf.org/join?pk_campaign=libreplanet-program&amp;pk_kwd=join">members</a> and students attend gratis, so the best way to attend is to become a member (if you aren't one already).</p>
<p>At LibrePlanet, we bring together software developers, policy experts, activists, and computer users to learn skills, share accomplishments, and address challenges to software freedom. Newcomers are always welcome, and LibrePlanet 2015 will feature programming for all ages and experience levels. <a href="http://libreplanet.org/2015/">LibrePlanet 2015</a> is produced in partnership by the <a href="https://www.fsf.org">Free Software Foundation</a> with the <a href="http://sipb.mit.edu/">Student Information Processing Board (SIPB)</a> at MIT. </p>
<p>So, what are you waiting for? <a href="https://my.fsf.org/civicrm/event/register?reset=1&amp;id=20&amp;pk_campaign=libreplanet-program&amp;pk_kwd=register">Register for LibrePlanet 2015 today!</a></p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-january-30
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: January 30
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-January-30
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-january-30
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, January 30, from 2pm to 5pm EST (19:00 to 22:00 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/youve-brought-us-this-far-one-last-push
title: You've brought us this far. One last push before Sunday.
uri: You-ve-brought-us-this-far-One-last-push-before-Sunday
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/youve-brought-us-this-far-one-last-push
content:
<p>In the past twelve months alone, the free software community has:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Written 268 new releases to GNU packages, keeping world-class
    software in the hands of everyone</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Helped the FSF write, test, and translate <a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org">Email
    Self-Defense</a>, so that computer
    users of all levels can enhance everyone's email privacy using
    free software</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Used the <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/user-liberation-watch-and-share-our-new-video">User Liberation
    video</a>
    and <a href="https://www.fsf.org/resources/badges">free software badges</a>
    to get newcomers thinking about free software for the first time</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Made LibrePlanet 2014 our biggest (322 participants!) conference
    ever and helped us fund fourteen travel scholarships, enabling
    important face-to-face meetings between free software activists,
    developers, and newcomers from all over the world</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Pounded the pavement in multiple cities on the <a href="https://www.defectivebydesign.org/thanks-for-a-great-international-day-against-drm">International Day
    Against
    DRM</a>,
    building public opposition to unethical technological restrictions</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Meanwhile, the FSF's experts and activists have</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Provided vital technical infrastructure to the GNU Project,
    connected developers to projects, and helped get them funded for
    their work</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Helped twenty companies and organizations properly respect the
    <a href="https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html">GNU General Public
    License</a> and other free
    software licenses, so that free software remains truly free</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Certified five new devices to <a href="https://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/endorsement/respects-your-freedom">Respect Your
    Freedom</a>,
    getting us closer to a world where you can walk into a store and
    buy from a selection of hardware that works 100% with free
    software</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Worked with hardware companies to bring you awesome deals through
    the <a href="https://www.fsf.org/givingguide/2014">2014 Giving Guide</a>,
    while also encouraging more ethical gifting</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Called a gathering of free software experts to <a href="https://www.fsf.org/news/fsf-commences-review-of-high-priority-free-software-projects-list-your-input-is-needed">breathe new life
    into the High Priority Projects
    initiative</a>,
    which will bring attention and resources to the key stumbling
    blocks for users trying to win back their freedom</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Our part of this work relies on your financial support, and this is
the time of year that we need it most. Our annual fundraiser is coming
to a close on Saturday, and we're still short of our goal of $525,000.
Many of you have already chipped in, and we
are thankful to every one who has.</p>
<p>The FSF can't rest now, though -- we need to meet our goal so that we
can keep doing amazing things for computer user freedom and providing
every tool and resource we can think of to help the free software
community thrive.</p>
<p><strong>More than 10,000 people visit this site every day. <a href="https://www.fsf.org/donate?pk_campaign=final-appeal&amp;pk_kwd=donate">If each
of you give
$14</a>,
it will be enough to push us over our goal and ensure we can win new
victories for free software in 2015. If only a small portion of you <a href="https://my.fsf.org/join?pk_campaign=final-appeal&amp;pk_kwd=join">become members</a>, it will be enough.</strong></p>
<p>Because we receive 80% of our support from individuals like you, this
yearly winter fundraiser is incredibly important us -- all of our
decisions about how much we can do the following year depend on how
well the fundraiser goes. And since it's our thirtieth anniversary
year, we want to do a lot! This coming year, the money that we raise
now will help us</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Fund more hardware, bandwidth, and infrastructure used by GNU
    software developers and free software activists worldwide</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Supply modest salaries for staff to work full-time defending your
    freedom</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Build an emergency reserve to defend free software against legal
    threats from proprietary software companies</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Get FSF representatives to events around the world to spread the
    word and strengthen regional free software movements</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Create high-quality communications campaigns to show the injustice
    of proprietary software and point to a better way</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>We have the highest possible rating of four stars from Charity
Navigator, an organization that evaluates how effectively and
responsibly nonprofits use donations. Part of the reason for this is
that we use 79% of all money raised for our program work promoting and
defending free software, rather than administrative costs or
fundraising.</p>
<p>No matter how carefully and strategically we use the resources we
have, we don't even come close to the arsenal at the disposal of
proprietary software giants like Microsoft and Apple. But that doesn't
mean we can't take them on. Thirty years ago, we were just a handful
of hackers with a dream. Now we're a powerful global movement. For the
next thirty years, we'll keep pushing towards a future where
proprietary software is a thing of the past, and the rights of all
users are respected.</p>
<p>If this vision of the future inspires you as much as it inspires
us, we hope you join us by
<a href="https://www.fsf.org/donate?pk_campaign=final-appeal&amp;pk_kwd=donate">donating</a>
or <a href="https://my.fsf.org/join?pk_campaign=final-appeal&amp;pk_kwd=join">becoming a
member.</a></p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-seventeen-new-gnu-releases
title: GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry: seventeen new GNU releases!
uri: GNU-Spotlight-with-Karl-Berry-seventeen-new-GNU-releases
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-karl-berry-seventeen-new-gnu-releases
content:
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/automake/">automake-1.15</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/binutils/">binutils-2.25</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/bison/">bison-3.0.3</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/freeipmi/">freeipmi-1.4.8</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/">gdb-7.8.2</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/">gettext-0.19.4</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/gnuchess/">gnuchess-6.2.1</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/gnustep/">gworkspace-0.9.3</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/libmicrohttpd/">libmicrohttpd-0.9.39</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/librejs/">librejs-6.0.8</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/">libtool-2.4.5</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/nano-archimedes/">nano-2.3.99pre1</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/parallel/">parallel-20150122</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/patch/">patch-2.7.3</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/rcs/">rcs-5.9.4</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/tramp/">tramp-2.2.11</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/unrtf/">unrtf-0.21.9</a></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 Nic Ferrier as the maintainer of the new
package html-info, and Nala Ginrut as the maintainer of the new
package artanis, joining his other package xmlat.</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;&#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-february-6
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: February 6
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-February-6
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-february-6
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, February 6, from 2pm to 5pm EST (19:00 to 22:00 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>.<br />
</p>
<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.<br />
</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!<br />
</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="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate">participation guide</a> will provide you with all the information you need to get started on helping the Directory today!<br />
</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/fsf-javascript-guidelines-picked-up-by-posteo-webmail
title: FSF JavaScript guidelines picked up by Posteo Webmail
uri: FSF-JavaScript-guidelines-picked-up-by-Posteo-Webmail
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/fsf-javascript-guidelines-picked-up-by-posteo-webmail
content:
<p><a href="https://posteo.de">Posteo's</a> work on this project started when
Richard Stallman introduced the German company to the <a href="https://www.fsf.org/campaigns/freejs">Free JavaScript
campaign</a> in 2014. The campaign
promotes free JavaScript through the adoption of the FSF's human- and
computer-readable JavaScript licensing standard, while offering
implementation help from FSF staff and the skilled volunteers of its
<a href="https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/js-devs-task-force">JavaScript Developers Task
Force</a>.</p>
<div style="float: right; width: 250px; margin: 10px 0px 10px 10px; padding: 4px; text-align: center;">
<img alt="Free JS logo" src="media/05940e60.freejs.png" data-original-source="https://static.fsf.org/nosvn/logos/freejs.png" width="250" />
</div>

<p>The collaborative process with Posteo actually uncovered some bugs in
LibreJS, which are now being fixed. Once they are fixed and the site
is re-tested, we will be able to announce Posteo's full compatibility
with LibreJS. We just didn't want to wait to publicly thank them for
what they have already achieved!</p>
<p><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/librejs/">LibreJS's</a> sole maintainer Nik
Nyby is looking for help maintaining the growing project. To hack on
LibreJS, start with the <a href="http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/librejs.git">git
repository</a> and <a href="https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-librejs">mailing
list</a> or contact
Nik directly at <a href="mailto:nikolas@gnu.org">&#110;&#105;&#107;&#111;&#108;&#97;&#115;&#64;&#103;&#110;&#117;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;</a>. If you have knowledge of free
software licensing or JavaScript and want to help but are not
interested in working on LibreJS at the moment, you can lend your
expertise to the campaign by applying to the <a href="https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/js-devs-task-force">JavaScript Developers
Task Force discussion
list</a>.</p>
<p>Stay tuned for more exciting announcements about Posteo and other
sites soon! And if you'd like to send a social media "Danke schön" to
@Posteo_de, we think they'd appreciate it. (Just make sure <a href="https://fsf.org/twitter">not to use
proprietary software</a> while doing it.)</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-february-13
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: February 13
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-February-13
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-february-13
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, February 13, from 2pm to 5pm EST (19:00 to 22:00 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>.<br />
</p>
<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.<br />
</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!<br />
</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="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate">participation guide</a> will provide you with all the information you need to get started on helping the Directory today!<br />
</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/will-you-be-my-cryptovalentine
title: Will you be my cryptovalentine?
uri: Will-you-be-my-cryptovalentine
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/will-you-be-my-cryptovalentine
content:
<img src="media/9063b573.ilovefs-heart.png" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/images/ilovefs-heart.png" alt="#ilovefs" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px" />

<p>Valentine's day is this Saturday and, if you're like us, you're either trying to pick the right gift or wishing you had someone to exchange gifts with. We wish you luck with that. But there's something important that you can do regardless of your relationship status:</p>
<p><strong>Ask someone you like -- romantically or otherwise -- to be your cryptovalentine. If they say yes (yikes, nervous!) use the free program GnuPG to set up private and encrypted communication with them.</strong> If one or both of you is new to GnuPG, we recommend our beginner-friendly <a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org">Email Self-Defense guide</a>.  Setting up encrypted communication is a quick activity you can do together whether you are across the room or across the world. And what better way to show love than help them defend their security, privacy and freedom?</p>
<img alt="Microblog about your cryptovalentine." src="media/2e63a534.ilovefs-microblog.png" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/images/ilovefs-microblog.png" style="margin: 10px auto 10px auto;" />

<p><strong>Once you're done, share your love with the world by posting about it on microblogging with the hashtag #ilovefs.</strong> Just make sure not to use <a href="https://www.fsf.org/twitter">proprietary software</a> to post.</p>
<p>This is a fun activity, but it also can make a difference. Forming personal connections is the best way to teach encryption technology and move us closer to a society where everyone has the tools and knowledge for surveillance-resistant communication.</p>
<p>And as we've discussed at length, free software is necessary for privacy online. Because nonfree software's code can't be audited publicly, we can never trust it to be free of back doors inserted by accident or by design. We're thankful to all the hardworking free software developers who give us a fighting chance at privacy. It goes without saying, but we do love FS.</p>
<p>For more free software Valentine's day fun, like postcards and an #ilovefs photo gallery, visit the <a href="https://fsfe.org/campaigns/ilovefs/">Free Software Foundation Europe Web site</a>.</p>
<p>&lt;3</p>


title: The Licensing and Compliance Lab interviews Rainey Reitman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
uri: The-Licensing-and-Compliance-Lab-interviews-Rainey-Reitman-of-the-Elec
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/the-licensing-and-compliance-lab-interviews-rainey-reitman-of-the-electronic-frontier-foundation

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/the-licensing-and-compliance-lab-interviews-rainey-reitman-of-the-electronic-frontier-foundation

content:
<p>In this edition, we conducted an email-based interview with Rainey Reitman, Activism Director for the <a href="https://www.eff.org/">Electronic Frontier Foundation</a>, about their new <a href="https://github.com/EFForg/actioncenter-mobile">EFF Alerts</a> mobile app.<br />
</p>
<h2>What inspired EFF to create EFF Alerts?</h2>
<p>Part of our advocacy efforts includes helping people who care passionately about civil liberties to influence decision makers. We might target a company like Apple, or President Obama, or the U.S. Congress when it's considering proposals that would undermine liberty. We promote these campaigns through social media and our blog, as well as through our mailing list.<br />
</p>
<p>One problem we're facing is that people are becoming less receptive to email communications. Part of that is simply email overload (the number one reason people give us for choosing to unsubscribe), as well as email providers trying to block or hide "mass" mailings.<br />
</p>
<p>But when Congress is about to act on a bad bill, we may have only days -- or in some cases only hours -- to rally a response. So we need a reliable non-email way for people to connect with us.<br />
</p>
<p>That's why we came up with EFF Alerts -- a fast, simple way to get notified on your mobile device whenever digital rights need your help. The EFF Alerts community is basically a fast-response emergency service for speaking out against imminent threats to our freedom.<br />
</p>
<h2>Do you have to be in the United States to use the app?</h2>
<p>Not all all; people all over the world should download the app. Many of our actions are international. However, sometimes we'll be organizing an action specifically targeting the United States Congress (because it is taking up a bill, for example). In those cases, it might not be possible for people outside the United States to complete the action, but there will be future actions they can take.<br />
</p>
<h2>How can people use it?</h2>
<p>Currently, people who want to install the app will get notified about breaking issues and actions through a push notification. People can click on the notification to load a mobile version of the EFF action center. Then they can take action -- often emailing Congress, signing a petition, sending a tweet, etc. To make this easy, you can set up a login and password on the EFF action center. That will retain your information and make it easier to speak out in the future.<br />
</p>
<h2>Where can people get EFF Alerts?</h2>
<p>People can download EFF Alerts from the Play Store. We're working on getting EFF Alerts onto F-Droid, but there are a few technical hurdles we have to jump through. We also have a version we put on our <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/12/download-eff-mobile-app">blog</a> that you can download if you don't want to use the store, but the Play Store ensures you get automatic updates with new versions, bug fixes, and new features.<br />
</p>
<h2>Why isn't EFF Alerts in the Apple App Store?</h2>
<p>We thought a long time about putting the app in the Apple store. We'd really like everybody to be able to download our app, regardless of what operating system they choose for their mobile device. But after carefully reviewing Apple's Developer Terms (which we've been criticizing for years), we decided we couldn't sign them. The Apple terms prohibit developers from making any "public statements" about the agreement they sign. It also has a ban on reverse engineering, and gives Apple the right to remotely disable your app at any time, or delay important security updates. Not to mention all Apple apps come wrapped in freedom-hampering digital restrictions management.<br />
</p>
<p>Given all of this, we decided we couldn't sign the agreement, even if it meant fewer people getting our app.<br />
</p>
<h2>Why did you choose the GNU Affero General Public License, version 3 (AGPLv3) as EFF Alert's license?</h2>
<p>We used AGPLv3 for both the <a href="https://github.com/EFForg/actioncenter-mobile">mobile app</a> and the <a href="https://github.com/EFForg/pushserver">push server</a> (which pushes notifications to the phones) so that if anyone makes improvements to the software and makes those improvements accessible over the network, the users get to benefit from their improvements and contributions. This helps ensure a robust free software community of developers working together to build the best app, rather than balkanizing their code in ways that lack community input.<br />
</p>
<h2>How can users (technical or otherwise) help contribute to EFF Alerts?</h2>
<p>One easy way to contribute is to download the app and tell your friends about it, either through social media or through other mechanisms.<br />
</p>
<p>Coders who want to get involved can check out <a href="https://github.com/efforg">EFF's GitHub projects</a>. We also have ways to <a href="https://www.eff.org/about/opportunities/volunteer/coding-with-eff">volunteer on our website</a>.<br />
</p>
<p>Also, EFF is currently hiring folks to help us out, with both policy positions and technical positions. If you care about these issues, <a href="https://www.eff.org/about/opportunities/jobs">please consider making a career of defending digital rights</a>.<br />
</p>
<h2>What's the next big thing for EFF Alerts?</h2>
<p>We've gotten a bunch of user feedback, so look for a new version in the coming months with a much-improved user interface.<br />
</p>
<p><em>Enjoyed this interview? Check out our previous entry in this series, featuring <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/the-licensing-and-compliance-lab-interviews-aaron-wolf-of-snowdrift.coop">Aaron Wolf of Snowdrift.coop</a>.</em><br />
</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/cc-by-4-0-and-cc-by-sa-4-0-added-to-our-list-of-free-licenses
title: CC BY 4.0 and CC BY-SA 4.0 added to our list of free licenses
uri: CC-BY-4-0-and-CC-BY-SA-4-0-added-to-our-list-of-free-licenses
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/cc-by-4-0-and-cc-by-sa-4-0-added-to-our-list-of-free-licenses
content:
<p>We have updated our list of <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html">Various Licenses and Comments about
Them</a> to include the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International</a> license (CC BY 4.0) and the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode">Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International</a> license (CC BY-SA
4.0). Both of these licenses are free licenses for works of practical
use besides software and documentation.</p>
<p>CC BY 4.0 is a noncopyleft license that is compatible with the GNU
General Public License version 3.0 (GPLv3), meaning you can combine a
CC BY 4.0 licensed work with a GPLv3 licensed work a larger work that
is then released under the terms of GPLv3.</p>
<p>Creative Commons has begun a <a href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/ShareAlike_compatibility_process_and_criteria#Process_for_Compatibility_Evaluation">public discussion process for license
compatibility evaluation</a> in order to determine whether or not
GPLv3 should be added to the list of CC BY-SA 4.0 <a href="https://creativecommons.org/compatiblelicenses">Compatible
Licenses</a>. If GPLv3 is added to this list, then CC BY-SA 4.0 will
be deemed one-way compatible with GPLv3, which means that a person can
adapt a CC BY-SA 4.0 licensed work and release the adapted version under
the terms of GPLv3.</p>
<p>Throughout the drafting process of both of these licenses, the FSF,
with the help of the Software Freedom Law Center, provided feedback
and suggestions to Creative Commons. We thank Creative Commons for
giving us the opportunity to provide feedback and for incorporating
many of our suggestions.</p>
<p>The FSF will continue to provide feedback throughout the current
compatibility evaluation discussion process. We will also make updates
to our <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html">list</a> when have new information regarding compatibility
between these CC licenses and other GNU licenses, such as GNU GPLv2
and the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL).</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-february-20
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: February 20
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-February-20
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-february-20
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, February 20, from 2pm to 5pm EST (19:00 to 22:00 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>.<br />
</p>
<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.<br />
</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!<br />
</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="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate">participation guide</a> will provide you with all the information you need to get started on helping the Directory today!<br />
</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/how-to-make-hardware-designs-free
title: New article by RMS, "How to Make Hardware Designs Free"
uri: New-article-by-RMS-How-to-Make-Hardware-Designs-Free
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/how-to-make-hardware-designs-free
content:
<p>In his first of three articles on hardward designs, Richard
Stallman explained <a href="http://www.wired.com/2015/03/need-free-digital-hardware-designs/">"Why We Need Free Digital Hardware Designs."</a> In this, his second article, he shows us <a href="http://www.wired.com/2015/03/richard-stallman-how-to-make-hardware-designs-free">"How to Make Hardware Designs
Free"</a>: he spells out the practical differences between software
and hardware as far as user freedom is concerned, explains how to make
hardware free, touches on the intricacies of licensing in this field,
and elaborates on the most effective way to promote free hardware designs.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/watch-your-freedom-because-apples-not
title: Watch Your Freedom (Because Apple's Not)
uri: Watch-Your-Freedom-(Because-Apple-s-Not)
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/watch-your-freedom-because-apples-not
content:
<p>Apple's failure to release the source code for these products and software violates users' freedoms to study, modify, and distribute software, regardless of the type of device on which that software is run. Its integration of Digital Restrictions Management technologies into its products like Apple TV and iTunes place unethical restrictions on users' interactions with movies, music, and other media. And even though Apple has said it will release the source code of ResearchKit, an upcoming platform to collect data on volunteer medical research, it cannot guarantee users' privacy or protection for their data because of the proprietary iOS software on which it runs. Without access to the full source code of the operating systems collecting their personal and health information, it is impossible for users to ensure the safety and security of their data.</p>
<p>With these products, Apple only invests more in its battle against computer user freedom and, by extension, "free speech, free commerce, free association, privacy, and technological innovation," said FSF executive director John Sullivan in a <a href="https://www.fsf.org/news/free-software-foundation-statement-on-the-new-iphone-apple-pay-and-apple-watch">statement</a> in September.</p>
<p>The Free Software Foundation urges users to decline to purchase all Apple products, including the Apple Watch, iPhone, TV, and MacBook, and instead choose to use free software for all their devices. For mobile and wearable devices, choose software such as <a href="http://www.replicant.us/">Replicant</a>, a free software version of Android, and <a href="https://f-droid.org/">F-Droid</a>, a mobile app repository of free software. For desktop and notebook computers, install a <a href="https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-distros.html">free GNU/Linux distribution</a> and have a look around the FSF's <a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Main_Page">Free Software Directory</a>.</p>
<p>Also, people should join the many activists and free software users who have emailed Tim Cook (<a href="mailto:tcook@apple.com">&#116;&#99;&#111;&#111;&#107;&#64;&#97;&#112;&#112;&#108;&#101;&#46;&#99;&#111;&#109;</a>), pledging to boycott Apple products due to the company's use of DRM and proprietary software. Please CC us on your email 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>. You are welcome to use this <a href="https://www.defectivebydesign.org/apple">example email</a> from our anti-DRM campaign, Defective by Design.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/wherever-you-are-we-want-you-to-be-part-of-libreplanet
title: Wherever you are, we want you to be part of LibrePlanet
uri: Wherever-you-are-we-want-you-to-be-part-of-LibrePlanet
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/wherever-you-are-we-want-you-to-be-part-of-libreplanet
content:
<ul>
<li><strong><a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015/live">Bookmark the remote participation center
now</a>, and go there on Saturday,
March 21st and Sunday, March 22nd to watch the livestream.</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>This year's <a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015/program">program</a> is bursting
with something for everyone in the free software movement, from
inquisitive newcomers to hardcore developers.</p>
<p>Keynotes talks will be given by Karen Sandler, executive director of
Software Freedom Conservancy and GNOME Foundation board member;
Benjamin Mako Hill, peer production scholar and activist; and the
FSF's founder, Richard Stallman.</p>
<p>Another way to participate remotely is to join the conversation around
the conference on the libreplanet-discuss mailing list. <a href="https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss">Subscribe now
and dive
in</a>.</p>
<p>If you can make it to Massachusetts, it's not too late to
<a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015/registration">register</a>. Students and
FSF members enjoy gratis admission. That means that, if you aren't
already a member, this a great time to <a href="https://my.fsf.org/join">become one</a>. Members enjoy a variety of
<a href="https://www.fsf.org/associate/benefits">benefits</a> and support free
software year-round.</p>
<p>So we can run the conference as smoothly as possible for
everyone, we ask that you
<a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015/registration">register</a> by the end of
the day on Tuesday, March 17th. However, late registrations and
walk-ups will still be accepted.</p>
<p>Finally, we'd like to express our excitement about working with the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology's <a href="https://sipb.mit.edu">Student Information
Processing Board</a>, our organizing partner for 
LibrePlanet 2015.</p>
<p>See you soon, whether it's in person or online.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/is-free-hardware-necessary-to-freedom-in-computing
title: New article by RMS, "Why We Need Free Digital Hardware Designs"
uri: New-article-by-RMS-Why-We-Need-Free-Digital-Hardware-Designs
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/is-free-hardware-necessary-to-freedom-in-computing
content:
<p>Richard Stallman's latest article <a href="http://www.wired.com/2015/03/need-free-digital-hardware-designs/">"Why We Need Free Digital Hardware Designs"</a>,
published today in <em>Wired</em> magazine, addresses these questions.
His clear and nuanced answers, which take into account both the world
of today and the future we are building, show us how to ensure our
freedom in both.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/membership/the-new-and-improved-my-fsf.org
title: The new and improved my.fsf.org
uri: The-new-and-improved-my-fsf-org
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/membership/the-new-and-improved-my-fsf.org
content:
<p>The new look of <a href="https://my.fsf.org">the site</a> marks the completion of
migration from a legacy system to <a href="https://civicrm.org">CiviCRM</a>, an
actively maintained constituent relationship management system, which
we run on top of <a href="https://drupal.org">Drupal</a>. This launch was a team
project. The improved look and feel of the membership system was aided
by the effort of former outreach and communications coordinator
William Theaker, whose knowledge of CiviCRM proved invaluable during
development. System administrators Lisa Maginnis and Stephen Mahood
have done lots of hard work to update and improve our hardware and
system architecture to handle the traffic we've been receiving.</p>
<p>CiviCRM is the project that satisfied the requirements for a free
software fundraising system on the <a href="http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/priority-projects/">High Priority
Projects</a> list, and
was officially <a href="https://www.fsf.org/news/nonprofit-fundraising-civicrm">endorsed by the
FSF</a> in 2010.
We love CiviCRM because it is more efficient and featureful than our
in-house solution was, it uses the Affero General Public License, our
contributions can benefit all of the organizations that use it, and
likewise, we can benefit from the contributions of others. We use
CiviCRM for managing memberships and for all of our nonmember
donations, as well.</p>
<p>Our migration to CiviCRM changes how our membership system works. For
instance, we have retired the old referral system.  In the future, we
will implement a new referral system, but for now, when creating a new
membership, you will be able to fill out an "in honor of" section with
referral information. We have also retired the member number
system. Member badges now display the date you became an FSF member,
rather than a unique ID number. If the old member button is embedded
on your Web site, please update your site with the new HTML snippet
displayed on your <a href="https://my.fsf.org/civicrm/member-dashboard/benefits">member benefits
page</a>. Potential
new members will be interested to know that, because it is 2015, there
is no longer an eight character limit on usernames! And of course,
member benefits remain the same, including access to our XMPP (Jabber) server,
email forwarding addresses, a 20% discount at the
<a href="https://shop.fsf.org">shop</a>, and gratis registration for our annual
<a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015">LibrePlanet</a> conference. If your membership
is expired, you can renew via the same URL as before:
<a href="https://my.fsf.org/renew">https://my.fsf.org/renew</a>.</p>
<p>The new <a href="https://my.fsf.org/civicrm/member-dashboard">member
dashboard</a> presents some
information that wasn't previously available, such as your FSF event
registrations and attendance, and your <a href="https://www.fsf.org/campaigns/personal-fundraising">personal campaign
pages</a>. It's also
possible to tweak more of your account information, such as your email
format preference (plain text or HTML). Now that our basic migration
to CiviCRM is complete, we will be adding new features to the site
based upon CiviCRM's capabilities.</p>
<p>We know that this migration hasn't been entirely smooth sailing. We thank you
for your continued patience as we deal with migration-related
issues. Now that some of the dust has settled, we hope that you enjoy
the new <a href="https://my.fsf.org">https://my.fsf.org</a>! If you haven't yet, please log in and
try it out. If you have any questions about your membership, please
contact <a href="mailto:membership@fsf.org">&#109;&#101;&#109;&#98;&#101;&#114;&#115;&#104;&#105;&#112;&#64;&#102;&#115;&#102;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/executive-director/thank-you-to-reddit-and-the-reddit-community
title: Thank you, to reddit and the reddit community!
uri: Thank-you-to-reddit-and-the-reddit-community
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/executive-director/thank-you-to-reddit-and-the-reddit-community
content:
<p><a href="http://www.redditblog.com/2015/02/announcing-winners-of-reddit-donate.html">The FSF was selected</a> as one of the 10! We were 8th on the list,
just behind National Public Radio.</p>
<p>We received the news while I was meeting with our awesome technical
team, hammering out our priorities for the next week and discussing
the details of how we'll stream the upcoming <a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015">LibrePlanet
conference</a> using exclusively free software. Our collective jaws dropped.</p>
<p><strong>Thank you!</strong></p>
<p>It is an honor to receive such a strong endorsement—and such trust—from the reddit community. It's also a responsibility, and we will
use the money wisely.</p>
<p>As one of the smallest charities on the list, our staff of 13 works
incredibly hard to win back your freedom as computer users; getting us
closer to a world where all of what we need to do on all of our
computers can be done, and done safely, using only free "as in
freedom" software.</p>
<p>Since we are driven primarily by <a href="https://donate.fsf.org">contributions from individuals</a>
(they were about 80% of the $1.02 million in support we received last
fiscal year), this amount will make reddit one of our <a href="http://patron.fsf.org">largest
donors</a> this year, right up there with TowardEX and the Markley
Group, who generously donate just about all of our bandwidth and
colocation space.</p>
<p>As this year is the FSF's 30th anniversary, we had set <a href="https://fsf.org/appeal">an ambitious
goal</a> of $525,000 for our winter fundraiser, which ended January
31st. We came up a bit shy then—but with this donation, we have
actually exceeded that goal.</p>
<p>Thank you all for making this year extra-special for us! Now it's time
to see how much more we can do for you.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/one-month-until-libreplanet
title: One month until LibrePlanet! Pre-order t-shirts through March 9th.
uri: One-month-until-LibrePlanet-Pre-order-t-shirts-through-March-9th
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/one-month-until-libreplanet
content:
<p><strong><a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015/registration">Register now to join the free software community at LibrePlanet 2015.</a></strong></p>
<p>If you register by Monday, March 9th, you'll be able to pick up a spiffy LibrePlanet 2015 t-shirt. And don't forget that <a href="https://my.fsf.org/join">FSF members</a> get gratis admission—and help support free software year-round!</p>
<p>Read on if you'd like more information about volunteering, child care reimbursements, the program, the LibrePlanet email discussion list, or participating remotely.</p>
<h3>Volunteering (get gratis admission!)</h3>
<p>Volunteers are crucial to LibrePlanet, and we need more to make this year awesome. Give two hours or more of your
time and you'll get gratis admission, a LibrePlanet t-shirt, and lunch. You'll
choose from a wide variety of tasks including A/V and
livestreaming management, visitor services, and speaker
support. Get started by telling us your skills and interests through the quick <a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015/volunteer/">volunteer application</a>.</p>
<h3>Child care reimbursements</h3>
<p>We're happy to offer childcare reimbursements, so that you can come to LibrePlanet even if you've got young hackers at home. To apply or find out more, contact <a href="mailto:campaigns@fsf.org">&#99;&#97;&#109;&#112;&#97;&#105;&#103;&#110;&#115;&#64;&#102;&#115;&#102;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;</a> no later than Friday, March 6th.</p>
<h3>Program</h3>
<p><a href="https://www.libreplanet.org/2015/program">The program is up</a>, so you can start thinking about which sessions you'd like to attend. This year's conference will be jam packed with great talks like "Fighting surveillance with a free, distributed, and federated net," "Style or substance? Free software is totally the 80's," and "Free software at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences." Make sure you check out the social events, including the Friday night 30th Anniversary Open House—check the website for more details.</p>
<h3>LibrePlanet starts on the list</h3>
<p>Looking to coordinate travel with other LibrePlanet attendees? Brainstorm ideas for lightning talks? Organize a get-together after the conference? Join the <a href="http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss">libreplanet-discuss</a> email list to connect with other LibrePlanet attendees. The list is active year-round as part of the <a href="https://libreplanet.org">libreplanet.org</a> community.</p>
<h3>Participating remotely</h3>
<p>Even if you can't make it to Cambridge, you can still participate in LibrePlanet! We'll be livestreaming the conference and hosting an online discussion in real time, then posting all the session recordings online after the conference. Bookmark the remote participation page now: <a href="http://libreplanet.org/2015/live/index.html">libreplanet.org/2015/live</a>.</p>
<p>That's all for now! Hope to see you at LibrePlanet.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/tell-lenovo-respect-user-freedom-and-prevent-future-superfishes
title: Tell Lenovo: respect user freedom and prevent future Superfishes
uri: Tell-Lenovo-respect-user-freedom-and-prevent-future-Superfishes
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/tell-lenovo-respect-user-freedom-and-prevent-future-superfishes
content:
<p>The basis of the problem is a program by Superfish that is designed to
interject advertisements into users' Web browsing. That's irritating,
but it gets worse. Superfish also installs a certificate that
intercepts Web traffic and cripples the host computer's ability to use
HTTPS to validate the authenticity of Web sites. This leaves an open
door for attackers to use fake versions of sites that should be secure -- like bank Web sites -- to steal personal information. You can read more about the vulnerability at <a href="https://arstechnica.com/security/2015/02/lenovo-pcs-ship-with-man-in-the-middle-adware-that-breaks-https-connections/">Ars
Technica</a>.</p>
<p>Whenever you use proprietary software like Windows or Superfish, true,
trustable, verifiable security is always out of reach. Because
proprietary code can't be publicly inspected, there's no way to
validate its security. Users have to trust that the code is safe and works as advertised. Since
proprietary code can only be modified by the developers who claim to
own it, users are powerless to choose the manner in which security bugs are fixed. With proprietary software, user
security is secondary to developer control.</p>
<p>Recent high-profile security vulnerabilities in free software, like
<a href="https://www.fsf.org/news/free-software-foundation-statement-on-heartbleed-vulnerability">Heartbleed</a>
and <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/ssl-poodle-and-you">POODLE</a>, were
created when well-intentioned developers made mistakes that were
difficult to detect. But this is different -- Lenovo and Superfish
caused a massive security breach for the sake of expedience in
generating ad revenue.</p>
<p>These companies have shown such blatant disregard for the public trust
that they will have to work hard to restore it. Lenovo should work
with a third party committed to the public interest -- like the Free
Software Foundation -- to create and sell laptops that are certified
to respect user freedom and come with a preinstalled <a href="https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-distros.html">free operating
system</a>. Join us in calling for this change on social media (see our
<a href="https://www.fsf.org/share">recommendations for social media
platforms</a>).</p>
<img alt="Microblog about Lenovo's Superfish vulnerability." src="media/d6bd691f.lenovo_dent.png" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/images/lenovo_dent.png" style="margin: 10px auto 10px auto;" />

<p>Regardless of what Lenovo does, you can minimize your risk of
exposure to Superfish and similar threats by uninstalling proprietary
operating systems and using a <a href="https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-distros.html">free GNU/Linux distribution</a> signed by a
source you trust. If you are interested in a new computer, the FSF
currently certifies <a href="https://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/endorsement/respects-your-freedom">two retail laptops that come with no proprietary
software</a>
through our Respects Your Freedom program, and you can build your own
free software-friendly computer with guidance from the
community-maintained <a href="https://www.h-node.org/">hardware database
h-node</a>.</p>
<p>If you have used a Lenovo computer running Superfish, make sure to
reset any passwords you use on the Web, as they may have been
intercepted.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/obama-and-congress-go-off-the-rails-trying-to-fast-track-tpp
title: Obama and Congress go off the rails trying to fast track TPP
uri: Obama-and-Congress-go-off-the-rails-trying-to-fast-track-TPP
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/obama-and-congress-go-off-the-rails-trying-to-fast-track-tpp
content:
<p>While we are in the midst of the current <a href="https://www.defectivebydesign.org/end-DMCA-anti-circumvention-provisions">battle to end the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions here in the US</a>, we can't lose sight of the broader global fight being waged via the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Strategic Partnership Agreement. If you aren't familiar with TPP, it is a multinational trade agreement being developed through a series of secret negotiations that are pushing a host of restrictions. From making the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions global, to spreading the threat of software patents around the world, to extending copyright indefinitely, these secret negotiations present a plethora of threats to user freedom. </p>
<p>Since our last <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/the-sharks-move-in-lobbyists-pushing-forward-on-tpp-agreements">update on TPP</a>, the Obama administration and the Republican-led Congress have been maneuvering to put the TPP nightmare on a fast track. In essence, they want to ensure that whatever the outcome of the TPP negotiations, the TPP will be immediately etched into U.S. law without real debate. It is bad enough that while the negotiations are ongoing, we are forced to guess at their effects based only on leaked information. That Congress won't even be debating the outcome before implementing these terrible restrictions in US law moves this issue into the realm of the surreal. If TPP is fast-tracked, there will be no debate, no amendments, no chance to limit or remove the terrible things currently being debated in secret. </p>
<p>We need to stop the Obama administration and his allies in the Republican-led Congress before they railroad us into a future run by secret lobbyists. A future where circumventing Digital Restrictions Management is a crime everywhere. A future where copyright extends beyond all right and reason in perpetuity. A future where software patents threaten the development of free software everywhere. We have to send a clear message to Congress and the administration, telling them that they must not fast track TPP. This is our stop: it's time to get off.</p>
<p>This is what you can do to help derail TPP before it becomes a reality.</p>
<ul>
<li>If you are in the US, join EFF's action and <a href="https://act.eff.org/action/don-t-let-congress-fast-track-tpp">write to your representatives telling them not to fast track TPP</a>. EFF's action uses the free software tool <a href="https://github.com/EFForg/phantom-of-the-capitol">Phantom of the Capitol</a>.</li>
<li>If you are outside the US, please contact your local representatives and let them know you oppose TPP.</li>
<li>Support our work representing you in this area by <a href="https://my.fsf.org/join">becoming an FSF member</a> or making a <a href="https://donate.fsf.org">donation</a>.</li>
</ul>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/welcome-to-libreplanet-2015
title: Welcome to LibrePlanet 2015!
uri: Welcome-to-LibrePlanet-2015
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/welcome-to-libreplanet-2015
content:
<p>After an opening keynote by FSF president Richard Stallman - and the announcement of our newest board member, <a href="https://www.fsf.org/news/kat-walsh-joins-fsf-board-of-directors">Kat Walsh</a> - more than 300 attendees split up for talks on a wide variety of free software topics. These included <a href="http://mediagoblin.org/">MediaGoblin</a> developer Christopher Webber on the role of free software in federation of the web, Seth Schoen of EFF on a new robotic certificate authority called <a href="https://letsencrypt.org/">Let's Encrypt</a>, Deb Nicholson's lively comparison of the 1980's and the varied aspects of the free software movement, and Francis Rowe's discussion of the <a href="http://www.libreboot.org/">Libreboot free boot firmware</a>. Talks continue into the early evening, concluding with the annual Free Software Awards at 17:45 EDT. </p>
<img alt="FSF staff setting up LibrePlanet 2015" src="media/e25e90f6.staffphoto_sm.png" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/libreplanet/2015/staffphoto_sm.png" style="float: right; width: 250px; margin: 10px 0px 10px 10px;" />

<p>If you are here at <a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015/">LibrePlanet</a>, say hello to the FSF staff, pictured here in a photo taken while setting up in the Stata Center early this morning. And don't forget to visit our partner, the MIT Student Information Processing Board <a href="https://sipb.mit.edu/">SIPB</a> in the exhibit hall, along with our other exhibitors and the GNU Press shop, where you can buy a LibrePlanet t-shirt, <a href="https://www.fsf.org/gnu-press">GNU Press</a> books, and stickers and other free software swag.</p>
<p>If you aren't attending LibrePlanet in person, in Cambridge, MA, check out the sessions on our <a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015/live/">livestream</a>, today and tomorrow. If you microblog about LibrePlanet happenings, use the hashtag #lp2015. </p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/libreplanet-2015-day-one-roundup
title: LibrePlanet 2015: Day one roundup
uri: LibrePlanet-2015-Day-one-roundup
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/libreplanet-2015-day-one-roundup
content:
<div style="float: right; width: 250px; margin: 10px 0px 10px 10px; padding: 4px; background-color: #EEEEEE; text-align: center;">
<img alt="Kat Walsh" src="media/475d8deb.katwalsh1.png" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/libreplanet/2015/katwalsh1.png" width="250" />
<p style="margin: 10px 0px;">FSF's newest board member, Kat Walsh</p>
</div>

<p>On Saturday morning, the new green and white <a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015/">LibrePlanet</a> logo was all over MIT's Stata Center, from our new banners to the t-shirts worn by dozens of hard-working staff, volunteers, and attendees. In the morning, FSF executive director John Sullivan kicked off the day with a few cool announcements: first, that Aleph Objects donated a <a href="https://www.lulzbot.com/">Lulzbot Mini 3-D printer</a>, which we are auctioning off as a fundraiser for the FSF, and second, that <a href="https://www.fsf.org/news/kat-walsh-joins-fsf-board-of-directors">Kat Walsh had been elected the newest member of the FSF board of directors</a>. We are all thrilled to welcome Kat to our board, and excited that she will be lending her knowledge, experience, and enthusiasm to our efforts.</p>
<p>The opening keynote by FSF president Richard M. Stallman covered a range of topics, but focused on the necessity of free hardware designs, which is also the subject of an ongoing series Stallman is publishing in WIRED. 
Read the <a href="http://www.wired.com/2015/03/need-free-digital-hardware-designs/">first</a> and <a href="http://www.wired.com/2015/03/richard-stallman-how-to-make-hardware-designs-free">second</a> parts now.<div style="float: left; width: 250px; margin: 10px 10px 10px 0px; padding: 4px; background-color: #EEEEEE; text-align: center;">
<img alt="Richard Stallman at LibrePlanet" src="media/5bd1b464.rms1.png" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/libreplanet/2015/rms1.png" width="250" />
<p style="margin: 10px 0px;">Richard Stallman at LibrePlanet</p>
</div></p>
<p>Of course, Saturday was stuffed with exciting sessions, fueled by our collective enthusiasm and lots of coffee and snacks (thanks to Jasimin, FSF's business manager, for making sure we don't run out of caffeine this year). Talks included a conversation with the FSF's High Priority Projects Committee about revising FSF's <a href="https://www.fsf.org/campaigns/priority-projects/high-priority-free-software-projects">High Priority Projects List</a>, Bassam Kurdali's discussion of <a href="https://www.blender.org">Blender</a>, which he used to create the FSF's <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/user-liberation-watch-and-share-our-new-video">User Lib video</a>, Sucheta Ghoshal's examination of the GNOME OPW program (since succeeded by <a href="https://www.gnome.org/outreachy/">Outreachy</a>) as a former student and mentor, and Francis Rowe's overview of Libreboot (by the way, we had some <a href="https://www.fsf.org/news/libreboot-x200-laptop-now-fsf-certified-to-respect-your-freedom">RYF-certified</a> <a href="http://shop.gluglug.org.uk/product/libreboot-x200/">Libreboot X200s</a> for sale at the GNU Press store - they were gone an hour after they went on sale). </p>
<p>Saturday ended with the <a href="https://www.fsf.org/news/free-software-award-winners">presentation of the Free Software Awards</a>. The Award for Projects of Social Benefit was awarded to Austin, Texas-based nonprofit <a href="http://www.reglue.org/">Reglue</a>, and accepted by founder Ken Starks, who also gave a session on Sunday. The Award for the Advancement of Free Software was presented to Sébastien Jodogne for his work on free software medical imaging with his project <a href="http://www.orthanc-server.com/">Orthanc</a>. </p>
<p>Following the day's formal sessions, many attendees gathered at <a href="http://www.flattopjohnnys.com/">Flat Top Johnny's</a> for pool, good food, and more conversation. We are looking forward to more great sessions today, closing with a keynote by Karen Sandler, executive director of the <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/">Software Freedom Conservancy</a>. Tune in to the <a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015/live/">livestream</a> if you aren't here in Cambridge!</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/libreplanet-2015-highlights-and-what-comes-next
title: LibrePlanet 2015: Highlights and what comes next
uri: LibrePlanet-2015-Highlights-and-what-comes-next
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/libreplanet-2015-highlights-and-what-comes-next
content:
<p>With approximately 350 people in attendance, we kept pace with last year—with a few improvements. In particular, our tech team did a fantastic job improving our video feeds, with peak usage at around 300 simultaneous views. We also worked hard to streamline the registration process, reducing time spent waiting in the registration line before Richard Stallman's Saturday morning keynote, with few hiccups. </p>
<div style="float: right; width: 250px; margin: 10px 0px 10px 10px; padding: 4px; background-color: #EEEEEE; text-align: center;">
<img alt="Attendees wait for Saturday registration" src="media/754dd4e2.reg1.png" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/libreplanet/2015/reg1.png" width="250" />
<p style="margin: 10px 0px;">Morning registration at LibrePlanet</p>
</div>

<p>Let's take a look at some more highlights. </p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/libreplanet-2015-day-one-roundup">Read our post</a> about day one of the conference and the election of our newest board member, Kat Walsh.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>FSF board member Benjamin Mako Hill kicked off Sunday morning with an examination of how the free software community has progressed with two major goals: access and empowerment. He argued that empowerment has a long way to go, and offered some suggestions for next steps.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>This year, we had over 40 speakers, and like last year, about 40% were women.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Karen Sandler, in her new role as executive director of the Software Freedom Conservancy, gave her third LibrePlanet keynote to close the conference, expanding on the recent suit brought by Christoph Hellwig, contributor to the kernel Linux, against VMWare for violating the GPL by not releasing the source code for the version of the operating system kernel they distribute with their ESXi software. <a href="https://www.fsf.org/news/conservancy-and-christoph-hellwig-gpl-enforcement-lawsuit">Read our statement of support here</a>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Sunday's talks explored the possibilities for free software: Jennie Rose Halperin of Safari looked at free software's potential role in cultural heritage organizations, Brett Smith discussed Arvados, a free software platform for big data science, Free Software Award-winner Sébastien Jodogne gave one of several talks on free software's role in medicine, and other talks looked at free software possibilities for universities and journalism, as well as examining threats to free software, gathering the community for strategy sessions, and offering practical training. </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Our sustained partnership with MIT's <a href="https://sipb.mit.edu/">Student Information Processing Board</a> once again helped make LibrePlanet great, thanks to the energy and enthusiasm of SIPB's membership.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>We on the FSF staff owe many thanks to our tireless volunteers, without whom LibrePlanet couldn't possibly be as large or well-run as it is. Thank GNU to Francis Rowe of Gluglug and Libreboot, rsiddharth, Janith Perera, Sharon Ramage, Anke Nowottne, Mo Moulton, Diane Williams, Elyes Ighilaza, Brendan Kidwell, Rimma Shakhbatyan, Andy Zimolzak, Herm Pena, Taylor Gunnoe, Tanya Balyan, Devin Ulibarri, Ryan Desfosses, Geoffrey Jenkins, Martin Yim, Daniel Felix, Evan Mulvaney, Veronika Alexander, Patrick Engelman, Dan Fitzmartin, Ian Denhardt, John Saylor, Ben Cook, Sunil Kumar, Tim Jordan, Alice Alisme, Sunil Kumar, Julian Daich, Lizz van Allen, Kendra Moyer, Loren Chen, Helen Jiang, Max Dunitz, Mariah Villareal, Shayna Cummings, Matthew Coleman, Weston Cooke, and George Chriss. If you're interested in volunteering next year (you'll receive gratis admission and a t-shirt), please contact <a href="mailto:resources@fsf.org">&#114;&#101;&#115;&#111;&#117;&#114;&#99;&#101;&#115;&#64;&#102;&#115;&#102;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;</a>.</p>
<div style="float: left; width: 250px; margin: 10px 10px 10px 0px; padding: 4px; background-color: #EEEEEE; text-align: center;">
<img alt="" src="media/006e58ce.libreboot2.JPG" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/libreplanet/2015/libreboot2.JPG" width="250" />
<p style="margin: 10px 0px;">Libreboot installation</p>
</div>

<p>If you attended LibrePlanet and haven't filled out our feedback survey yet, please <a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015/feedback">take a few minutes to do so</a>. LibrePlanet is for you, and your ideas, compliments, and criticisms will help us make the next LibrePlanet even more productive, welcoming, and fun. If you missed a session, or want to share them with friends, keep an eye on <a href="http://media.libreplanet.org/">the LibrePlanet video archive</a> (powered by GNU MediaGoblin). We're working hard to get videos posted within a week or two, and we'll inform you when they're available.</p>
<p>We had a <a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015/sponsors/">great group of sponsors</a> this year and we are looking to build on that for next year. If your company would like to support LibrePlanet, please contact us any time at <a href="mailto:donate@fsf.org">&#100;&#111;&#110;&#97;&#116;&#101;&#64;&#102;&#115;&#102;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;</a>.</p>
<p>With the renewed energy that comes from spending a great weekend with the free software community, we're excited about the year ahead. Mark your calendars for October 3, when we'll celebrate our 30th anniversary, with events here in the Boston area and around the world. If you'd like us to let you know when registration opens for LibrePlanet 2016, <a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015">join the announcements list</a> (anchored at the top of the 2015 conference page) today. Remember that becoming an FSF member gets you gratis admission to the conference, and bragging rights for supporting the FSF's work year-round.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-april-3
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: April 3
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-April-3
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-april-3
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, April 3, 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>.<br />
</p>
<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.<br />
</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!<br />
</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="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate">participation guide</a> will provide you with all the information you need to get started on helping the Directory today!<br />
</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/thousands-of-spaniards-leave-twitter-for-gnu-social
title: Thousands of Spaniards leave Twitter for GNU social
uri: Thousands-of-Spaniards-leave-Twitter-for-GNU-social
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/thousands-of-spaniards-leave-twitter-for-gnu-social
content:
<p><em>This guest post was submitted by Daniel Dianes, a Spanish free software activist.</em> <a href="http://www.fsf.org/es/blogs/miles-de-espanoles-cambian-twitter-por-gnu-social">Leer esto en español.</a></p>
<p>Unlike Twitter, which is controlled by a centralized authority,
<a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/social">GNU social</a> is a network of
independent servers called nodes. Federation technology allows
users to communicate between nodes, preserving the unified
experience of traditional social media systems, and the free GNU
social software allows anybody with an Internet connection to
start their own public or private node and join the
network. These administrators can even customize their nodes to
suit the unique needs of their users.</p>
<p>Since GNU social is decentralized, it's harder for a company or
government to censor content or shut down the network when they
feel threatened by it. This is more than a hypothetical threat—it has 
been attempted multiple times by oppressive governments. 
Spreading out user data also makes bulk surveillance considerably 
more difficult, as there is no single database to crack into and copy.</p>
<p>Twitter user @Barbijaputa is popular in Spain, with more than
167,000 followers. She's known for criticizing the government or
any other political parties or groups of power.</p>
<p>On January 14th, Twitter suspended @Barbijaputa's account after
she participated in a conversation about sexually transmitted
diseases. The next day, she created a profile on GNU social node
<a href="https://quitter.se/">Quitter.se</a> and started posting. Her
Twitter followers proved willing to follow her all the way to GNU
social, and began joining existing nodes en masse and starting
their own.</p>
<p>The growth was so explosive that the some of the existing GNU
social nodes were unable to handle the traffic. On January 15th, 
a Quitter administrator posted this note:</p>
<blockquote>"Due to high traffic, I need to stop the
registrations for some time to get back in control. Has been a
crazy day (15.01.15) on quitter.no and .is - -regards
@knuthollund"</blockquote>

<p>The node <a href="https://quitter.es/">Quitter.es</a> (Quitter Spain) was
created to handle some of the extra people that overloaded
existing GNU social instances like
<a href="https://quitter.no/">Quitter.no</a> and
<a href="https://quitter.is/">Quitter.is</a>. Quitter Spain now has 6,667
users and counting and Quitter.se reports 4,982 users, due in
part to the incoming Spanish users.</p>
<p>GNU social is not the only federated social network challenging
the centralized status quo. <a href="http://mediagoblin.org/">GNU
MediaGoblin</a> lets users publish images,
videos, 3D models, and other files,
<a href="https://diasporafoundation.org/">Diaspora*</a> provides a
Facebook-like experience and <a href="http://pump.io/">pump.io</a> is
another option for microblogging. The Free Software Foundation
runs a GNU social node at <a href="https://status.fsf.org">https://status.fsf.org</a>.</p>
<p>Get started with GNU social today by picking from this <a href="https://gnu.io/social/try">list of
nodes</a>, and follow the Free Software
Foundation at <a href="https://status.fsf.org/fsf">@fsf</a>. Or try
<a href="http://pump.io/tryit.html">pump.io</a>, and follow the FSF account
<a href="https://microca.st/fsf">@fsf</a> there.  Even if you don't have as many
followers as @Barbijaputa, encourage them to follow you!</p>
<p>Daniel Dianes, FSF member #9171</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-april-10
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: April 10
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-April-10
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-april-10
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends today, Friday, April 10, 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>.<br />
</p>
<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.<br />
</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!<br />
</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="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate">participation guide</a> will provide you with all the information you need to get started on helping the Directory today!<br />
</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-april-17
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: April 17
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-April-17
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-april-17
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends today, Friday, April 17, 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>.<br />
</p>
<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.<br />
</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!<br />
</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="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate">participation guide</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/latest-tpp-leak-shows-systemic-threat-to-software-freedom
title: Latest TPP leak shows systemic threat to software freedom
uri: Latest-TPP-leak-shows-systemic-threat-to-software-freedom
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/latest-tpp-leak-shows-systemic-threat-to-software-freedom
content:
<p>On March 25th, 2015, Wikileaks released a leaked chapter of the
ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, the
multinational trade agreement that is being developed through a
series of secret negotiations and aims to create a host of new
restrictions. We here at the FSF have been fighting against TPP
for years, as it represents the threat of a world dominated by
DRM, software patents, and perpetual copyright.</p>
<p>The latest leaked chapter on investments lays out changes to a
system of supra-national courts known extrajudicial
investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) tribunals. For years,
these courts have enabled large companies to sue
democratically-elected governments over policies that these
corporations oppose. For example, <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150216/17390930032/john-oliver-highlights-ridiculousness-corporate-sovereignty-provisions.shtml">Big
Tobacco</a>
has used the system to block or obstruct health laws intended to
reduce smoking in countries around the world.</p>
<p>While all of this is bad news in general, one provision in the
leaked document presents a particular threat to software
freedom. Holders of copyright, patent, and other proprietary
interests are now included in the definition of "investor." Given
the destructive nature of these provisions, the fact that
proprietary developers could use them to interfere with local
government protections of users' rights is cause for alarm.</p>
<p>But the damage doesn't stop there. The leaked provisions further
clarify that these supranational courts would have jurisdiction
over compliance with many of the worst provisions of TPP. That
means that a proprietary developer could get a second shot at a
case where they didn't like the initial outcome, potentially
overturning a ruling on fair use, for example. Any country that
tries to implement sane copyright and patent policy via their
legislature or courts could be dragged into this sham tribunal to
have that policy overturned.</p>
<p>The threat represented by TPP has loomed large on the horizon for
many years. This latest leak demonstrates that the dangers we
face increase as time goes by. Worse still, time may be running
out in the U.S. to stop the madness as <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/obama-and-congress-go-off-the-rails-trying-to-fast-track-tpp">Obama and his friends in
Congress seek to fast-track TPP
approval</a>. Key
congressional leaders have now agreed on a deal to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/17/business/obama-trade-legislation-fast-track-authority-trans-pacific-partnership.html">fast track
the fast-tracking of
TPP</a>. Now
is the time to fight back. Here is what you can do to help:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>If you are in the US, join EFF's action and <a href="https://act.eff.org/action/don-t-let-congress-fast-track-tpp">write to your
  representatives</a>
  telling them not to fast track TPP. EFF's action uses the free
  software tool <a href="https://github.com/EFForg/phantom-of-the-capitol">Phantom of the
  Capitol</a>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>If you are outside the US, please contact your local
  representatives and let them know you oppose TPP.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Support our work representing you in this area by <a href="https://my.fsf.org/join">becoming an
  FSF member</a> or making a
  <a href="https://donate.fsf.org">donation</a>.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p><em>Read this post in Spanish here: <a href="http://www.fsf.org/es/blogs/licensing/el-ultimo-borrador-filtrado-del-acuerdo-tpp-demuestra-amenazas-sistematicas-a-las-libertades-en-el-software">http://www.fsf.org/es/blogs/licensing/el-ultimo-borrador-filtrado-del-acuerdo-tpp-demuestra-amenazas-sistematicas-a-las-libertades-en-el-software</a></em></p>


title: The Licensing and Compliance Lab interviews Matt Lee from The List powered by Creative Commons
uri: The-Licensing-and-Compliance-Lab-interviews-Matt-Lee-from-The-List-pow
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/the-licensing-and-compliance-lab-interviews-matt-lee-from-the-list-powered-by-creative-commons

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/the-licensing-and-compliance-lab-interviews-matt-lee-from-the-list-powered-by-creative-commons

content:
<p>In this edition, we conducted an email-based interview with Matt
Lee, a lead developer of The List, which is licensed under the
<a href="https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl.html">GNU Affero General Public License version
3</a> (AGPLv3), or at your
option, any later version. Matt is the technical lead at Creative
Commons. Matt has been working in free software for over a decade
and is a notable contributor to the GNU project and a former
Campaigns Manager at the Free Software Foundation, as well as
co-founder of Libre.fm and GNU social. Currently Matt is <a href="http://indiegogo.com/at/orangu">raising
funds</a> to produce a film this
summer, <em>Orang-U: An Ape Goes to College</em>, which he plans to edit
using entirely free software and release under a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC
BY-SA</a> license.</p>
<h2>Can you tell us a bit about The List?</h2>
<p>No one can be everywhere at once. But everyone can.</p>
<p>NGOs, journalists, government agencies, and cultural institutions
all need photographs to tell their story and educate others. But
there’s no way for those organizations to be in the right place
at the right time, every time. That’s where we come in.</p>
<p>Through The List, organizations will provide lists of locations,
people, and events that they need photographs of. And when users
are in the right place at the right time, they can claim an item
from the list and publish a photograph of it.</p>
<h2>What inspired the creation of The List?</h2>
<p>The List powered by Creative Commons is an experiment to see if
we can make it easier for people to contribute to the public
commons.  There are millions of places for images that exist in
the public commons in our daily lives, from newspaper articles to
photos and illustrations on Wikipedia. The List hopes to bring
the people who have a need for such images and the people who may
take them, together.</p>
<h2>How are people using it?</h2>
<p>Right now we're still prototyping things and we're working on
getting some real world items into The List, but the way it works
is pretty simple: you fire up the app, choose some categories of
things you're interested in such as pets, beverages, etc. Then we
show you an item that matches the category, and the requesting
organization (Wikipedia, FSF, etc.) can choose to add it to your
list or not. After you go through this process a couple of times,
you wind up with a personal to-do list of images. Taking an image
is easy, too: just tap it, tap the camera and take your photo. Or
you can upload a photo you've already taken. The photo is then
sent to some servers at Creative Commons, where we add metadata
and produce a variety of thumbnails of the image, before sending
it over to the Internet Archive for permanent storage. And
moments later, the image is in the gallery in the app on your
phone.</p>
<h2>What features do you think really sets The List apart from similar software?</h2>
<p>I don't think there's anything else like this out there. For the
first time, there's an application that makes it quick and easy
to contribute to the public commons, and we do that by hiding a
lot of the detail away from the user. For example, instead of
presenting a choice of the six Creative Commons licenses, we
choose one and all images are licensed in the same manner. It's
also a license that's compatible with Wikipedia and other similar
projects—Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.</p>
<h2>Why did you choose the AGPLv3 as The List's license?</h2>
<p>In addition to The List mobile app, there's a web app in
development too. We based the web app and the processing code on
<a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gnufm/">GNU FM</a>, a project I
started back in 2009 that powers music communities such as
<a href="https://libre.fm/">Libre.fm</a>.  That code is under the AGPL as
well, and it's a code base I am intimately familiar with. So much
so that we're using it for another project too: a new federated
search project at Creative Commons.</p>
<h2>How can users (technical or otherwise) help contribute to The List?</h2>
<p>The first thing you can do is if you have an Android phone, come
try one of the public beta releases on the website,
<a href="https://thelist.creativecommons.org">https://thelist.creativecommons.org</a>.</p>
<p>If you're good at Android programming, you'll find our Android
app in our source code under <code>app/</code>.</p>
<p>If you're look at PHP, look under <code>webapp/</code>.</p>
<p>And if you'd like to make some improvements to our website,
they're up there too under <code>www/</code>.</p>
<p>We have a really simple contributor agreement up there too. And
we licensed that under CC0, if you'd like to use it for your own
project.</p>
<p>All of this and more can be found at
<a href="https://github.com/creativecommons/list">https://github.com/creativecommons/list</a>.</p>
<h2>What's the next big thing for The List?</h2>
<p>The next big thing will be a proper public release. We're already
talking to the F-Droid folks, and we'll be in all the places you
normally find apps for your phone. And F-Droid will have the
pure, free software experience.</p>
<p>*Enjoyed this interview? Check out our previous entry in this
series, featuring <a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/the-licensing-and-compliance-lab-interviews-rainey-reitman-of-the-electronic-frontier-foundation">Rainey Reitman, Activism Director for the
Electronic Frontier Foundation, about their new EFF Alerts mobile
app</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-may-1
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: May 1
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-May-1
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-may-1
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends today, Friday, May 1, 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>.<br />
</p>
<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.<br />
</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!<br />
</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="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate">participation guide</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/neug-trng
title: Now available from GNU Press, the NeuG True Random Number Generator
uri: Now-available-from-GNU-Press-the-NeuG-True-Random-Number-Generator
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/gnu-press/neug-trng
content:
<p>This week I had a chance to add a NeuG, a True Random Number
Generator, to the Free Software Foundation network. The NeuG
exclusively uses free software and was developed in Japan by
NIIBE Yutaka. A random number generator (RNG) is a device used to
generate random numbers for computers. Without getting into a
philosophical argument, we humans tend to take the concept of
entropy (randomness) for granted. If we wish to produce random
data, we simply do so. Computers, on the other hand, do as we
tell them to do. They follow a set of instructions provided by a
programmer and follow each instruction precisely. So there is no
way to ask a computer to give us a random number because we would
have to tell the computer in advance what the number is. There
are some ways around this. For example, we could use a system's
current timestamp as a seed, or starting point, for producing
random-seeming numbers by using an algorithm. This approach will
create the illusion of entropy, but if someone else knows both
the timestamp used for the seed and the algorithm used to
generate the random numbers, the sequence of the random number
generator can be calculated and predicted.</p>
<img src="media/584fd34d.productimage-picture-usb-138_t200.JPG" data-original-source="http://shop.fsf.org/static/images/productimage-picture-usb-138_t200.JPG" style="float:right;width:200px;" margin:="margin:" />

<p>To solve this problem, a True Random Number Generator (TRNG) is
needed. A TRNG takes samples from various sensor data. Then it
either uses the collected samples as a raw source of entropy or
passes the collected sensor data to a final step for
conditioning. The process of conditioning is used to remove
bias (trends in the samples taken from sensor readings) from the
random numbers produced by the TRNG. In general, conditioning is
the process of passing samples collected by the entropy source to
a cryptographic hashing algorithm (a one-way mathematical
function). Thus, the bias is stripped out of the output and true
random numbers can be collected.</p>
<p>At this point, you might ask, "But why are random numbers so
important in the first place?" The most common uses of a TRNG
include generating cryptographic keys, input for a simulation,
and games (including video games and slot machines). If you have
a program that requires non-deterministic data, a TRNG can be
used to provide it. Our use case at the FSF is to generate strong
cryptographic keys. In the age of mass surveillance, the ability
to generate strong keys is increasingly important.</p>
<p>Most RNGs function by taking samples from various sources of
input from analog sensors. A NeuG uses four sensors for
input, and reads them with a STM32F103 microcontroller. These
sensors take input from the voltage reference pin on
the STM32F103 (VRef), a temperature sensor (Temp), and two analog
input pins on the STM32F103 (A0 and A1). These inputs are then
combined into the following pairs: VRef and A0, Temp and A1, VRef
and A1, and Temp and A0. Next, the sensor data is converted into
a digital signal and passed four times through a cyclic
redundancy check (CRC) module. Finally, the data is sent to a
SHA-256 function to condition the output before it is ready for
use via USB.</p>
<p>Overall, the NeuG is easy to set up and install on a network. The
device appears as /dev/ttyACM0 and requires no extra software for
use on GNU/Linux operating systems. In the coming weeks, I will
use a NeuG and am very curious to see how it performs for our use
cases at the FSF. <a href="http://www.gniibe.org/memo/development/gnuk/rng/neug.html">Here's more information about the
NeuG</a>,
including the full source code. To try one out yourself, <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/usb/">pick up
a NeuG TRNG from the FSF Shop</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/why-doesnt-the-fsf-release-gpg-signed-copies-of-its-licenses
title: Why doesn't the FSF release GPG-signed copies of its licenses?
uri: Why-doesn-t-the-FSF-release-GPG-signed-copies-of-its-licenses
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/why-doesnt-the-fsf-release-gpg-signed-copies-of-its-licenses
content:
<p>One relatively frequent request we receive is for the FSF to
provide GPG-signed copies of our
licenses. <a href="https://www.gnupg.org/">GPG</a> is a tool that lets users
cryptographically sign or encrypt documents and emails. A
GPG-signed document lets anyone who receives it know that they
have received the exact same document as the one that was
signed. By providing signed documents, users will be able to
easily ensure that they have received an unmodified copy of the
license along with their software. It's also possible that some
system of signing the documents could help projects tracking the
use and adoption of various free software licenses. Providing
these signed documents is a simple task: run a command and
publish the documents. A trivial investment of resources, or at
least that is how it appears at first.</p>
<p>The reality is that projects can comply with their duty to
provide a copy of a license while also modifying the format of
the license documents to meet their own needs. To our knowledge,
there's no simple way to correctly identify when a document is
the proper license, given that the formatting or structure of the
document can vary between distributions. Many distributors even
put the license at the end of a longer document or manual. If a
valid copy of the license were to fail our check, resolving this
issue could waste resources and lead to further problems. We
don't want to cause undue grief for projects that are properly
licensed under a free license, simply because they want to shift
around some white space on the license, wrap the lines at
different points, or store the document in a different encoding
system.</p>
<p>We turned to our licensing team for ideas about how to reap the
same benefits with fewer false failures. Possibilities included
flattening the document and removing white space before
generating a hash of the document. But testing showed that some
valid copies of licenses in the wild would fail this check. There
doesn't seem to be a simple method that will accurately verify
that the text of the document is unchanged, without constricting
the ability of free software developers in how they format the
document.</p>
<p>The fact remains that even if users could check that a document
they receive is a legitimate, unmodified copy of a GNU license,
that doesn't mean that the accompanying software is free of
impermissible restrictions. Additional restrictions on the
software do not need to be written into the license. In fact,
proprietary developers have mastered the art of using many
different documents to place restrictions on their software, and
the same can happen when a user receives a piece of software that
purports to be under a free license. Additional restrictions
could be hidden in a README file, a manual, or even a separate
licensing or TOS document.</p>
<p>In the end, while it would be convenient and useful to verify via
command line that a document is a genuine copy of a GNU license,
the problems this can cause are unfortunately more trouble than
they are worth. The license, like the documentation, is among the
few things distributed with software that are meant exclusively
for humans to understand, not for computers to process. After
all, it's always great for users to take the time to read the
license themselves.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/libreplanet-forever-watch-five-sessions-from-2015-online
title: LibrePlanet forever! Watch five sessions from 2015 online
uri: LibrePlanet-forever-Watch-five-sessions-from-2015-online
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/libreplanet-forever-watch-five-sessions-from-2015-online
content:
<img alt="Chris Webber's LibrePlanet 2015 talk" src="media/9987c5ec.webber-thumbnail.png" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/images/webber-thumbnail.png" style="float: right; width: 250px; margin: 10px 0px 10px 10px;" />

<ul>
<li><strong><em><a href="https://media.libreplanet.org/u/libreplanet/m/karen-sandler-stand-up-for-gnu-gpl/">Stand up for the GNU GPL!</a></em></strong> (slides available for download) by <a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015/program/speakers.html#sandler">Karen Sandler</a>, executive director of Software Freedom Conservancy. Karen shares an account of Conservancy's support for Christoph Hellwig's recent suit against VMWare to defend the GNU General Public License.</li>
<li><strong><em><a href="https://media.libreplanet.org/u/libreplanet/m/richard-stallman-free-software-free-hardware/">Free software, free hardware, and other things</a></em></strong> by <a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015/program/speakers.html#stallman">Richard Stallman</a>, founder of the Free Software Foundation. Richard gives his take on some major issues facing the world of free software and explains how the free software philosophy extends to hardware.</li>
<li><strong><em><a href="https://media.libreplanet.org/u/libreplanet/m/seth-schoen-lets-encrypt/">Let's encrypt</a></em></strong> by <a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015/program/speakers.html#schoen">Seth Schoen</a>, senior staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Let's Encrypt is a robotic certificate authority that will soon issue publicly-trusted certificates, at no charge, by the millions.</li>
<li><strong><em><a href="https://media.libreplanet.org/u/libreplanet/m/deb-nicholson-style-or-substance-free-software-is-totally-the-80s/">Style or substance? Free software is totally the 80's</a></em></strong> by <a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015/program/speakers.html#nicholson">Deb Nicholson</a> of the Open Invention Network, OpenHatch, and GNU MediaGoblin. Deb discusses the need to look at free software development from a long-term perspective, focusing on robust designs.</li>
<li><strong><em><a href="https://media.libreplanet.org/u/libreplanet/m/christopher-webber-federation-and-gnu-2b47/">Federation and GNU</a></em></strong> by <a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015/program/speakers.html#webber">Chris Webber</a>, lead developer of GNU MediaGoblin. Federation refers to the loose networking relationship that allows the creation of decentralized Web systems like GNU MediaGoblin, pump.io, and GNU social.</li>
</ul>
<p>Want more info about a session? Full descriptions are up on the <a href="https://libreplanet.org/2015/program/">LibrePlanet 2015 Web site</a>.</p>
<p>There are many more videos on their way from the 2015 conference; we wish we could have them all up today, but some are still being prepared. All published videos are hosted on <media.libreplanet.org>, our instance of the publishing platform <a href="http://mediagoblin.org/">GNU MediaGoblin</a>, which also includes <a href="https://media.libreplanet.org/videos">videos from LibrePlanet 2014 and 2013</a>.</p>
<p>Finally, we want to say thanks again to all the volunteers who worked hard designing and running our <a href="https://libreplanet.org/wiki/LibrePlanet:Conference/2015/Streaming">free software streaming and recording system</a> and transcoding and editing the videos. You keep LibrePlanet spinning!</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-may-15
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: May 15
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-May-15
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-may-15
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends Friday, May 15, 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>.<br />
</p>
<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.<br />
</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!<br />
</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="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate">participation guide</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/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-may-22
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: May 22
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-May-22
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-may-22
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends Friday, May 22, 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>.<br />
</p>
<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.<br />
</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!<br />
</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="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate">participation guide</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/asking-obama-to-protect-encryption-and-why-thats-not-enough
title: Asking Obama to protect encryption, and why that's not enough
uri: Asking-Obama-to-protect-encryption-and-why-that-s-not-enough
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/asking-obama-to-protect-encryption-and-why-thats-not-enough
content:
<p>In addition to civil society organizations like the FSF, the
<a href="media/581ee679.Encryption_Letter_to_Obama_final_051915.pdf" data-original-source="https://static.fsf.org/nosvn/misc/Encryption_Letter_to_Obama_final_051915.pdf">letter</a>*
was signed by some of the most important cryptologists in the world,
including the inventors of many of the key technologies behind modern
encryption.</p>
<!-- Begin letter box--><div style="float: right; width: 274px;">
<div style="margin: 10px 0px 10px 10px; width: 250px; padding: 4px; background-color: #EEEEEE; text-align: center;">
    <img alt="Encryption letter to Obama" src="media/85f1cccf.encryption-letter-to-obama-thumbnail.png" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/images/encryption-letter-to-obama-thumbnail.png" /></a>
<p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><a href="media/581ee679.Encryption_Letter_to_Obama_final_051915.pdf" data-original-source="https://static.fsf.org/nosvn/misc/Encryption_Letter_to_Obama_final_051915.pdf">Read the coalition letter calling on Barack Obama to protect encryption</a></p>
</div>
</div>
<!-- End flyer box-->

<p>The letter is a response to recent requests from the US Federal Bureau
of Investigation (FBI) and other agencies for laws requiring that
backdoors and attack vectors be built into any encrypted system made
by US companies. These backdoors would be specially created to allow
law enforcement to snoop on the personal information of the company's
customers. Even if you trust the government not to misuse your
personal information, this is very risky; any backdoor created for the
government will significantly weaken software against other attacks as
well.</p>
<p>While free software advocates may not all agree on the details of how
narrow government surveillance must be to keep civil liberties intact,
we must draw a line at surveillance that prevents effective
whistleblowing on corporate and government misbehavior. Mandatory
backdoors would definitely do that. Whistleblowers exist outside the
NSA—people must be able to expose (as hypothetical examples)
inappropriate influence by Apple on US congresspeople, or secret
patent intimidation by Microsoft against free software distributors.
Without strong encryption, such sources will know that their identity
can be easily discovered, providing a serious deterrent against doing
the right thing.</p>
<p>Another unacceptable result of government-mandated backdoors is that
they would effectively make it impossible for US companies to use free
software encryption in systems that handle customers' information. The
laws requiring specific unmodifiable anti-features would prevent both
companies and users from exercising freedom 1 of the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html">Free Software
Definition</a>, the
freedom to study how a program works and change it so it does your
computing as you wish.</p>
<p>We are strongly opposed to government-mandated backdoors and are
supportive of this letter's intent, but we signed it with some
trepidation. This is because the only real victory in control over our
software lies not in petitioning the government, but in moving away
from proprietary software. Free software can be much more difficult
for centralized entities—either government or corporate—to
control, because any backdoors or other vulnerabilities added to a
given version can be reversed in another version and spread to
everyone using the program (I wrote more about this resilience in a
2013 article, <em><a href="https://www.fsf.org/bulletin/2013/fall/how-can-free-software-protect-us-from-surveillance">How can free software protect us from
surveillance?</a></em>).
Conversely, proprietary software is never guaranteed to serve our
interests—even if we are assured by the developers of the software
that they have not built in a backdoor, we can't verify this because
we can't see the source code.</p>
<p>Let's keep pressuring our government to resist any requirement to
deliberately install backdoors in our software, but not put all our
eggs in that basket: to really have freedom and security, we need to
use our own solutions that we control, from the source code up. A
variety of such free software, encrypted communication tools already
exist. Systems like GnuPG (<a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org">learn how to use it
here</a>), OpenSSL, and the rest in the
Free Software Directory's <a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Collection:PRISM">encryption
category</a> are easily
available and new ones are being created every day to meet changing
needs. There are even new, free software-based, decentralized,
surveillance-resistant systems that we hope will someday replace the
massive restrictive corporate systems that government agencies so
desperately want complete access to. If we're successful, we'll
eventually reach a point where we won't need to petition leaders to
protect our privacy in this area, because we'll be able to protect it
ourselves.</p>
<p>*<em>The letter uses the term "free and open source," but the term "open
 source" misses the point of free software. Read more about the two
 terms on
 <a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.en.html">gnu.org</a>.</em></p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-brandon-invergo-twenty-four-new-gnu-releases
title: GNU Spotlight with Brandon Invergo: Twenty-four new GNU releases!
uri: GNU-Spotlight-with-Brandon-Invergo-Twenty-four-new-GNU-releases
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-brandon-invergo-twenty-four-new-gnu-releases
content:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/apl/">apl-1.5</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/ccrtp/">ccrtp-2.1.2</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/ccscript/">ccscript-5.0.5</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/dejagnu/">dejagnu-1.5.3</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/ed/">ed-1.11</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/">emacs-24.5</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gcc/">gcc-5.1.0</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/global/">global-6.4</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gnucash/">gnucash-2.6.6</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gnumach/">gnumach-1.5</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/">gnutls-3.4.0</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/">hurd-0.6</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/icecat/">icecat-31.6.0-gnu1</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/libmicrohttpd/">libmicrohttpd-0.9.40</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/libtasn1/">libtasn1-4.4</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/linux-libre/">linux-libre-4.0-gnu</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/mig/">mig-1.5</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/nano/">nano-2.4.1</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/nettle/">nettle-3.1</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/ocrad/">ocrad-0.25</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/parallel/">parallel-20150422</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/sipwitch/">sipwitch-1.9.7</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/src-highlite/">source-highlight-3.1.8</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/commoncpp/">ucommon-6.3.1</a></li>
</ul>
<p>For 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>.</p>
<p>To download: 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 from
<a href="https://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html">https://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html</a>. You can use the url
<a href="https://ftpmirror.gnu.org/">https://ftpmirror.gnu.org/</a> to be automatically redirected to a
(hopefully) nearby and up-to-date mirror.</p>
<p>This month, we welcome Ruben Rodriguez as a new co-maintainer of GNU
LibreJS.</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>.</p>
<p>If you have a working or partly working program that you'd like
to offer to the GNU Project as a GNU package, 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 us, <a href="mailto:maintainers@gnu.org">&#109;&#97;&#105;&#110;&#116;&#97;&#105;&#110;&#101;&#114;&#115;&#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/gnu-spotlight-with-brandon-invergo-sixteen-new-gnu-releases
title: GNU Spotlight with Brandon Invergo: Sixteen new GNU releases!
uri: GNU-Spotlight-with-Brandon-Invergo-Sixteen-new-GNU-releases
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-spotlight-with-brandon-invergo-sixteen-new-gnu-releases
content:
<p><em>(Starting this month, Brandon is taking over for Karl Berry. Welcome, Brandon!)</em> </p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf-archive/">autoconf-archive-2015.02.24</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/ccd2cue/">ccd2cue-0.5</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/denemo/">denemo-1.2.2</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/gnats/">gnats-4.2.0</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/gnupg/">gnupg-1.4.19</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/guile-sdl/">guile-sdl-0.5.2</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/icecat/">icecat-31.5.0</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/libdbh/">libdbh-5.0.17</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/libgcrypt/">libgcrypt-1.6.3</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/">libidn-1.30</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/libtasn1/">libtasn1-4.3</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/nano/">nano-2.4.0</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/parallel/">parallel-20150322</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/patch/">patch-2.7.5</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/wget/">wget-1.16.3</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/which/">which-2.21</a></li>
</ul>
<p>For 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>.</p>
<p>To download: 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 from
<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 Alex Manoussakis as a new co-maintainer of
GNU GNATS.</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>.</p>
<p>If you have a working or partly working program that you'd like
to offer to the GNU project as a GNU package, 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 us,
<a href="mailto:maintainers@gnu.org">&#109;&#97;&#105;&#110;&#116;&#97;&#105;&#110;&#101;&#114;&#115;&#64;&#103;&#110;&#117;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;</a>, with any GNUish questions or suggestions
for future installments.</p>


title: The Licensing and Compliance Lab interviews François Marier of Libravatar
uri: The-Licensing-and-Compliance-Lab-interviews-François-Marier-creator
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/the-licensing-and-compliance-lab-interviews-francois-marier-creator-of-libravatar

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/the-licensing-and-compliance-lab-interviews-francois-marier-creator-of-libravatar

content:
<p>In this edition, we conducted an email-based interview with
<a href="https://fmarier.org">François Marier</a>, a free software developer from New
Zealand. He is the lead developer of
<a href="https://www.libravatar.org">Libravatar</a>. In addition to his passion for decentralization,
he contributes to the Debian project and volunteers on the FSF
licensing team.</p>
<p>Libravatar is a free network service providing profile photos for
a number of Web sites, including <a href="https://bugs.debian.org">bugs.debian.org</a> and
<a href="https://git.kernel.org">git.kernel.org</a>. Its flexible <a href="https://wiki.libravatar.org/description/">architecture</a> allows end
users to host their own images and allows Web sites to use
Gravatar as a fallback when necessary. It is licensed under the
GNU Affero General Public License version 3, or end user can opt
for any later version (<a href="https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html">GNU AGPLv3+</a>).</p>
<h2>What inspired you to create Libravatar?</h2>
<p>As I explained in a <a href="http://mirror.linux.org.au/linux.conf.au/2011/2011-01-26-Wednesday/N515/Freeing_the_Cloud_one_service_at_a_time.ogv">talk</a> I gave at linux.conf.au in 2011, my
main sources of inspiration were the <a href="http://autonomo.us/2008/07/14/franklin-street-statement/">Franklin Street
Statement</a>, as well as a <a href="http://autonomo.us/2009/03/31/evan-prodromous-libreplanet-engineering-fn/">talk</a> that Evan Prodromou gave at
LibrePlanet in 2009.</p>
<p>I figured that we have a lot of work to do to replace all of the
nonfree Web services we rely on, and so I decided that I would
participate and get started with replacing the simplest Web
service I could think of: the Gravatar.com avatar hosting
service.</p>
<h2>How are people using it?</h2>
<p>The main audience for Libravatar are the developers of free Web
applications. By using Libravatar over Gravatar, they are giving
their users the option of either self-hosting their own avatars
or using a free software service.</p>
<p>There are a few <a href="https://wiki.libravatar.org/libraries/">projects</a> that use Libravatar, and in terms
of traffic, our biggest users are the Debian, Fedora, Mozilla and
the kernel Linux projects.</p>
<h2>What features do you think really set Libravatar apart from similar software?</h2>
<p>While Libravatar and Gravatar are quite similar in terms of
<a href="https://wiki.libravatar.org/features/">features</a>, Libravatar distinguishes itself in the areas of
federation and <a href="https://wiki.libravatar.org/running_your_own/">self-hosting</a>, as well as support for
independent authentication systems. We also made it easy to
delete and export your account because we believe that users
should be in control of their own data.</p>
<h2>Why did you choose the GNU AGPLv3+ as Libravatar's license?</h2>
<p>Since my original goal was to produce a free software replacement
for Gravatar, using a copyleft license was a no-brainer since it
guarantees that the software will always stay free.</p>
<p>While developers are free to rely on the Libravatar service in
their nonfree Web applications, I wanted any self-hoster using
the main codebase to be part of our community. The GNU AGPL
seemed like a good way to encourage a sharing culture.</p>
<h2>How can people help contribute to Libravatar?</h2>
<p>Our most pressing need is growing our mirror network. If you have
a small amount of disk space (&lt; 400 MB) and bandwidth (around 1GB
/ month) on your server, please get in
touch at <a href="mailto:mirrors@libravatar.org">&#109;&#105;&#114;&#114;&#111;&#114;&#115;&#64;&#108;&#105;&#98;&#114;&#97;&#118;&#97;&#116;&#97;&#114;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;</a>! We are slowly becoming more
and more popular and are already pretty close to
capacity. Scaling a free service to keep up with increasing
popularity is one of the big unsolved problems in the free
software world, it seems.</p>
<p>Another easy place where people can help is with
<a href="https://wiki.libravatar.org/translator/">translations</a>. We currently support fourteen different
languages but we are always hoping to reach more people in their
native language.</p>
<h2>What's the next big thing for Libravatar?</h2>
<p>It's hard to point to a single big thing because the service is
fairly mature now, having been around since 2010.</p>
<p>Some of the things we are thinking about at the moment are:
support for <a href="http://donottrack.us/">Do Not Track</a>, SVG avatars (to help with
high-DPI displays), and a graphical refresh with support for
mobile. <a href="https://wiki.libravatar.org/talk_to_us/">Get in touch</a> if you are good with pixels and
interested in getting involved.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/sysadmin-adventures-when-weather-threatens-our-work
title: Sysadmin adventures: When weather threatens our work
uri: Sysadmin-adventures-When-weather-threatens-our-work
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/sysadmin-adventures-when-weather-threatens-our-work
content:
<p>You might be wondering, why in the world would an air conditioner be
important during a blizzard? It's all about the servers. Most of our
servers are not on site in our office, but those that are vital to the
day-to-day work of the FSF are.</p>
<p>For me, snow is a welcome given of living in the Boston area, one that
I missed in more than three years living in Guatemala and
Mexico. Despite meeting some awesome free software comrades during
that time, winter was always calling me back north. Home to me has
always been Boston (I skip my youth because, well, New Jersey is worth
skipping). I moved here in the fall of 1996 and experienced my first
major snowstorm the following April Fools' Day, the biggest joke of
the year. The temperature was in the 60s (Fahrenheit, the mid-teens in
Celsius) for weeks prior, when suddenly we were slammed with 25 inches
(63.5 cm) of snow in a twelve hour period—the biggest storm since
the infamous Blizzard of 1978. I have always welcomed the snow in my
life. After all, I was born in the blizzard that happened just a few
weeks before the record-breaker in 1978, which nearly led to my mother
being taken to the hospital by snowmobile. I like the snow and the
challenges it brings to life, but I never thought it would affect my
work as a sysadmin.</p>
<div style="float: right; width: 250px; margin: 10px 0px 10px 10px; padding: 4px; background-color: #EEEEEE; text-align: center;">
<img alt="View from the roof door, with the FSF air conditioning unit on the other end of the roof" src="media/2607e008.fsfsnow.jpg" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/images/fsfsnow.jpg" width="250" />
<p style="margin: 10px 0px;">A view from the roof door, with the FSF air conditioning unit on the far end.</p>
</div>

<p>The weather throughout February brought high temperatures below
freezing and weekly snow storms, amounting to piles of snow taller
than me (sixty-six inches, or 1.676 meters). We received more than
ninety-five inches (2.43 meters) of snow, cumulatively, and none of it
melted in February. The last week of the month brought a new
challenge, one I had never considered. Another snowstorm with high
winds led to giant drifts of snow.</p>
<p>And then came the temperature warnings in our server closet. It
incrementally went from 70F (21C) to 90F (32C). The weather was bad
enough to severely delay—or shut down entirely—the public
transit system, so travel to the office wasn't feasible for any of us
in the Boston office. Over IRC, me and Lisa, our senior sysadmin,
began identifying which servers we could turn off during the weekend
to help lower the temperature in the closet. At this point, we had no
idea why the air conditioning, crucial to temperature regulation in
the server closet, was not working. It was not until Tuesday that we
were able to make it back to the office.</p>
<p>Arriving by bike on Tuesday morning, I was ready to investigate the
air conditioning issue. Thinking through the possibilities, I decided
to turn the unit back on and see if it would stay on. That lasted
about ten minutes before it automatically shut down. This left me with
few options: either call the repair folks and hope they could come to
the office that day or we could further investigate the issue myself
by going to the roof, where ventilation part of the unit resides. Off
I went.</p>
<p>This was not my first visit to the roof for an air conditioner issue,
so I knew where to find the unit. I put on a sweatshirt and a keffiyeh
and headed to the roof. The roof door locks from the inside, so I
grabbed a piece of metal to wedge in the door to keep me from being
locked out. I pushed the door to the roof and...it did not budge even
an inch. Snow was piled up blocking the door. I leaned in, hard, and
the door ever so slowly opened, leaving me just enough room to squeeze
through.</p>
<p>But as I got out on the roof, the next challenge presented itself:
four feet of snow, covering a veritable farm of air conditioning units—and ours was on the far side of the roof, forty snow-covered yards
away.</p>
<p>To get there, I had to climb over other air conditioning units, duck
below beams, and push through the snow. I finally arrived at our AC
unit, and after some digging, I discovered that the snow had blown
into the unit's cooling fan, preventing from spinning. I spent most of
the morning digging and cleaning out the fan. I trekked back to the
office, and the system started up again. Just one of the many quirks
of a sysadmin's role here at the FSF.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/march-through-may-2015
title: March through May 2015 - Quezón City, Iligan, Yangon, Mandalay, Lyon
uri: March-through-May-2015-Quezón-City-Iligan-Yangon-Mandalay-Lyon
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/march-through-may-2015
content:
<p>Here are some photographic excerpts of a few of the trips RMS has taken in the past few months.</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  -->

<p>He was in Quezón City, Philippines, on March 25th, 2015, to give his speech, "A Brave GNU World," to a packed room as part of RightsCon Southeast Asia:</p>

<img src="media/73b3e93d.20150325-quezoncity-rms-02-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20150325-quezoncity-rms-02-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="550" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 

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

<em>(Photo under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/">CC BY-ND</a> and courtesy of EngageMedia.)</em>

<p>...in Iligan, Philippines, on March 30th, to give a speech on computing, freedom, and privacy at Mindanao State University:</p>

<img src="media/47a8881e.20150330-iligan-rms-03-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20150330-iligan-rms-03-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="375" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/ff7f206e.20150330-iligan-rms-04-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20150330-iligan-rms-04-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="170" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/672d5658.20150330-iligan-rms-01-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20150330-iligan-rms-01-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="180" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/97f5ebde.20150330-iligan-rms-02-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20150330-iligan-rms-02-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="180" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/ae5c895d.20150330-iligan-rms-05-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20150330-iligan-rms-05-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="180" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/47bef023.20150330-iligan-rms-06-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20150330-iligan-rms-06-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="270" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/5116a29e.20150330-iligan-rms-07-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20150330-iligan-rms-07-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="270" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/927495f4.20150330-iligan-rms-09-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20150330-iligan-rms-09-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="550" 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="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/">CC BY-ND</a> and courtesy of Bobby Timonera.)</em>

<p>...in Myanmar &#151; his first visit to the country &#151; to speak in Yangon on April 2nd and in Mandalay on April 7th.  The visit was a great success, with <i>The Myanmar Times'</i> Stuart Alan Becker saying</p>

<blockquote>
Richard Stallman's speeches in Yangon and at Mandalay University caused a lot of young people in Myanmar to take a second look at the trends taking place in the online world.  In a country where the migration to mobile technology is happening at great speed, Stallman's message was something most of them had never heard: an activism in favor of user's control.  The people who listened to Richard were exposed &#151; some for the first time &#151; to the notion that profit motivated companies impose restrictions and limit choices.  With FSF's resources, I think some of them were opened to a new world of possibility.</blockquote>

<img src="media/b4b73fc9.20150402-yangon-rms-01-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20150402-yangon-rms-01-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="182" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/15dd9876.20150402-yangon-rms-03-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20150402-yangon-rms-03-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="180" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/e9ffe949.20150402-yangon-rms-05-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20150402-yangon-rms-05-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="182" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/d6fab340.20150407-mandalay-rms-01-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20150407-mandalay-rms-01-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="275" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/aabae653.20150407-mandalay-rms-02-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20150407-mandalay-rms-02-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="275" 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="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/">CC BY-ND</a> and courtesy of Stuart Alan Becker.)</em>

<p>...and in Lyon, France, on May 14th, to speak at the European Lab's fifth forum for an audience of hundreds:</p>

<img src="media/4e83a713.20150514-lyon-rms-01-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20150514-lyon-rms-01-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="550" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/62e44e2a.20150514-lyon-rms-02-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20150514-lyon-rms-02-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="170" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/56b764c0.20150514-lyon-rms-03-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20150514-lyon-rms-03-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="375" 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="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/">CC BY-ND</a> and courtesy of Marion Bornaz.)</em>

<p>Please fill out our contact form so that we can inform you about future events in and around <a href="https://my.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=371&amp;reset=1">Quezón City</a>, <a href="https://my.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=380&amp;reset=1">Iligan</a>, <a href="https://my.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=384&amp;reset=1">Yangon and Mandalay</a>, and <a href="https://my.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=379&amp;reset=1">Lyon</a>.</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 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 everyone who helped make these visits possible!</strong></>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/introducing-stephen-mahood-system-administrator
title: Introducing Stephen Mahood, system administrator
uri: Introducing-Stephen-Mahood-system-administrator
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/introducing-stephen-mahood-system-administrator
content:
<p>This introduction has taken me time because we have
been busy—despite the record snowfall in Boston this winter, there
have been a few 'fires' to put out. Once the fires were extinguished
we had more snow than I could ever imagine, followed quickly by
LibrePlanet, so perhaps this should be taken as my six-month
introduction.</p>
<p>Why would people in the Latin American free software community know
me? Well, before moving back to Boston, I spent nearly three years
south of the U.S., living in San Marcos, Guatemala and Distrito
Federal (aka Mexico City), Mexico. In that time, I traveled to Brazil
for the World Social Forum Free Palestine as a free software tech
activist working to maintain the conference site <a href="https://www.drupal.org/">(Drupal
7)</a> and registration
<a href="https://civicrm.org/">(CiviCRM)</a>, and to participate in a collective
session on tech security for activists. However, tech has not always
been my path. I became an activist before deeply
delving into the free software movement. </p>
<p>My work began with political organizing for the Howard Dean campaign
in the U.S. in 2003. During that time, I learned and organized using
the labor union organizing model of César Chávez of the United Farm
Workers. Why might that be of interest to the free software movement?
The database system we used to track, update, and engage voters is
mirrored in CiviCRM. The methods and models of our organizing focused
on sharing stories and getting to know our supporters more closely. We
kept detailed notes from our one-on-one meetings with supporters and
input that information into our database with ease, but more
importantly, we were able to track friends, family, and neighbors who
expressed support. We could pinpoint the meetings they attended; all
of this was easily put into the database in a form that, if another
organizer picked up our work, they could catch up pretty quickly and
continue without missing a beat. Impressed? I know I was, to the point
that I felt the desire and need to learn more about this organizing
model, with the hopes the tech would not be too far behind.</p>
<p>Soon after the election was over and George W. Bush was reelected, I
found my way into a graduate program at the University of
Massachusetts Amherst. The graduate program in Labor Relations and
Research (we just called it Labor Studies) altered my life and
understanding of the world, including free software. Though I had used
GNU/Linux before, it was in graduate school that I began to see the
connection between free software movements and labor/social
movements. I saw that we cannot just sit on the sidelines waiting for
people to individually choose to use and build free software, we need
to organize and engage people to understand why free software creates
a better future for us all. The first step came with my fellow union
members (graduate students in the UMass system are organized in the
United Auto Workers union) where we began to replace the Windows
systems in our office with Ubuntu (which was only a step away from
proprietary, as I later learned how Ubuntu is not so free as in
freedom, despite being free as in beer). Though it was a good step
with our local, in other labor union interactions the idea of
GNU/Linux was foreign, as the tide of MacBooks swept in (I was guilty
of it too, but that did not last long).</p>
<p>In labor circles discussing technology is a challenge. The labor
movement itself never adapted well to technology, usually fighting it
off instead of learning how it could improve their bargaining position
and offer their own technology ideas before the 'boss' enforced
them. Discussions about office computers were equally challenging, as
computers are seen as just a tool. Seeing this, I began actively
conversing with free software folks on identi.ca (later StatusNet and
now <a href="https://gnu.io/social/">GNU social</a>), where I met a comrade named
Walton (aka <a href="https://m.twitter.com/lesicha">@leischa</a>), who wrote his <a href="media/6b1dc1ec.ma-iltus-dissertation.pdf" data-original-source="https://cyberunions.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/ma-iltus-dissertation.pdf">masters
dissertation</a>
on adapting the free software development method (making code
available for others to look at and contribute to) to labor movements,
which historically has been rather closed and don't share experiences
with other unions and groups. So, we both share the viewpoint that
labor unions need to work together not just in solidarity, but in
reality. There are strengths in some unions and weaknesses in others,
and we both advocate for unions to accept those differences and move
forward, adapting to the system we reside in -- that is when we
decided to create a podcast to discuss this issue.</p>
<p>With our shared vision, me and Walton created the <a href="https://www.cyberunions.org">Cyberunions
podcast</a>. We began before—but in the
same year as—the Occupy movement. We discussed in great detail
software that we knew would be beneficial to the labor movement, as
well as elements in the labor movement that free software communities
could adopt. Walton and I had and continue to have visions of labor
unions funding free software, but we also felt it was a struggle to
convince a union to use free software, let alone support its
development. The podcast has been around for a while now, though we
have been bad about keeping it up to date as of late—but there are
plans to bring it back.</p>
<p>In the four years that the Cyberunions podcast has been around, I have
had the chance to meet and learn from many amazing folks, mostly from
the <a href="https://mayfirst.org/">May First People Link community</a>, but also
with folks from StatusNet/GNU social—and that continues to this
day. If it were not for chance meetings and connections, I would never
be where I am now, working for an organization at the foundation and
forefront of free software. It was activism and organizing that got me
where I am, and I see no reason to stop now. I will continue to
organize and work with unions to adopt free software even our own (FSF
staff are also in the UAW -- more like United Aferro Workers). If you
see me around in IRC (marxistvegan on freenode or mv on oftc and
indymedia) or on GNU social, I look forward to engaging with the
community and plan to keep organizing while maintaining our servers
through rain, sleet, hail, and snow. I only draw the line when the
temperature are in the 90s (30s in C). I hate the heat.</p>
<p>in solidarity &amp;&amp; happy hacking</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/one-year-of-encryption-with-the-email-self-defense-guide
title: One year of encryption with the Email Self-Defense guide
uri: One-year-of-encryption-with-the-Email-Self-Defense-guide
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/one-year-of-encryption-with-the-email-self-defense-guide
content:
<p>Since then, Email Self-Defense has been translated into ten languages, and our metrics show that tens of thousands of people have used it.</p>
<p><strong>If you've been putting off setting up encryption, or know someone
  who might like your help setting it up, this anniversary is a great
  occasion to do it! It only takes about half an hour with the <a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org">Email
  Self-Defense guide</a>.</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org"><div style="float: right; width: 250px; margin: 10px 0px 10px 10px; padding: 4px; background-color: #EEEEEE; text-align: center;">
<img alt="Resist bnulk surveillance" src="media/5f491940.surveillance.png" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/logos/surveillance.png" width="250" />
</div></a></p>
<p>Even if you have nothing to hide, using encryption helps protect the
privacy of people you communicate with and makes it harder for
surveillance systems to isolate messages sent by those that do need
protection, like whistleblowers and activists. By encrypting more of
the traffic on the net, we give the surveillance systems more opaque
information to sift through.</p>
<p>But the goal of Email Self-Defense is more than just helping people
protect their information. It's also about highlighting the crucial
role of free software in privacy and security, which has not received
the attention it deserves in the media coverage of surveillance
reform. No matter what laws governments are eventually able to pass to
regulate surveillance programs, access to the source code of the
computer systems we are using is <em>crucial</em> if we are to have a
fighting chance of understanding and controlling what happens to our
data.</p>
<p>Encryption is a critical first step, but to effectively resist bulk
surveillance, we also need to build new, decentralized Web systems and
work for political change. The FSF most recently joined a coalition to
<a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/asking-obama-to-protect-encryption-and-why-thats-not-enough">resist efforts to require mandatory backdoors in encryption
software</a>
and we maintain a <a href="https://www.fsf.org/campaigns/surveillance/">surveillance
action</a> area on
fsf.org. Our founder, Richard Stallman, also describes <a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/surveillance-vs-democracy.en.html">guidelines for
reining in
surveillance</a>
in some detail on gnu.org.</p>
<p>We're excited to have an intern, Adam Leibson, joining us for the
summer to work on encryption- and surveillance-related campaigns. Stay
tuned for publications about his work. In the meantime, have fun
setting up encryption with <a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org">Email
Self-Defense</a> and share the
<a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/en/infographic.html">infographic</a>
with your friends. If you want to try out your encryption, you can
always send me a message at zak@fsf.org with the public key <a href="https://pgp.mit.edu/pks/lookup?op=get&amp;search=0x82DE8D64B5090AC8">6EB2 B137
347E 6F7C DEDC AFF6 82DE 8D64 B509
0AC8</a>.</p>


title: Historical Permission Notice and Disclaimer added to license list
uri: Historical-Permission-Notice-and-Disclaimer-added-to-license-list
feed_id:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/historical-permission-notice-and-disclaimer-added-to-license-list

url:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/historical-permission-notice-and-disclaimer-added-to-license-list

content:
<p>We recently updated our list of <a href="https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html">various licenses and comments about them</a> to include the <a href="https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.en.html#HPND">Historical Permission Notice and Disclaimer</a>(HPND). The HPND is a simple permissive license, compatible with all versions of the GPL. The HPND is actually more of a template, allowing developers to select a few options, such as whether to include a disclaimer. Variations on this license had actually been approved previously (such as the <a href="https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.en.html#Python1.6a2">old license of Python</a>), but it never had its own entry in the list. While at this point HPND is largely deprecated in favor of more modern lax licenses, you can still find it on some current projects, and kicking around inside some long-running projects that include code created back when it was more prevalent. As such, we wanted to include it on the list explicitly, to help clear up any confusion regarding whether this simple license was free software. </p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-june-19th
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: June 19th
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-June-19th
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-june-19th
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends on Friday, June 19th, 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/introducing-adam-leibson-summer-campaigns-intern
title: Introducing Adam Leibson: summer Campaigns intern
uri: Introducing-Adam-Leibson-summer-Campaigns-intern
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/introducing-adam-leibson-summer-campaigns-intern
content:
<p><img alt="Adam Leibson" src="media/f4c72893.adam-leibson.jpg" data-original-source="http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/images/adam-leibson.jpg" style="float: right; width: 250px; margin: 10px 0px 10px 10px;" /> </p>
<p>Last summer, I worked for <a href="https://www.thinkpenguin.com/">ThinkPenguin</a>, where I gained a much greater appreciation for the history of free software. I'm currently studying Free and Secure Computing at Hampshire College, where I also lead LibreHamp (the free software student group) and write for a free speech publication called The Omen. </p>
<p>Every day it seems, I find a new place where digital technology exists that it didn't before. As this influx of the digital realm into our physical world continues, I find it increasingly worrisome that many people don't know – or even care to know – who actually controls the technology they regularly interact with. The FSF informs users about the importance of free software better than any other organization I am aware of, and for that reason, I feel very honored to have been chosen as a summer intern.  I'm particularly excited to working on the <a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/en/">Email Self-Defense project</a>, which will give me the opportunity to promote free software and computer security awareness together.</p>
<p>If you would like to contact me, you can find me on <a href="http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=fsf">freenode</a> IRC as jupelluri. Of course, my preferred method of communication is encrypted email. The aforementioned <a href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/en/">guide</a> is a great place to start if you're new to GnuPG. If you would like to send me some encrypted love mail, my email is <a href="mailto:adaml@fsf.org">&#97;&#100;&#97;&#109;&#108;&#64;&#102;&#115;&#102;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;</a>, and my fingerprint is <a href="http://pool.sks-keyservers.net/pks/lookup?op=get&amp;search=0x198C9A1E9309EF0C">9D7E D11A F670 9719 F854  A307 198C 9A1E 9309 EF0C</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/the-many-headed-monster-of-international-trade-agreements
title: The many-headed monster of international trade agreements: TPP, TTIP, TISA, and CETA
uri: The-many-headed-monster-of-international-trade-agreements-TPP-TTIP
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/the-many-headed-monster-of-international-trade-agreements
content:
<p>We've been warning against the threat presented by the Trans-Pacific
Partnership (TPP) negotiations, particularly over the past few months,
given that <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/latest-tpp-leak-shows-systemic-threat-to-software-freedom">time is running out to stop it</a>. For the uninitiated,
TPP is a secret treaty that would trap participating countries into
laws that lock users down with DRM, software patents, and perpetual
copyright restrictions. TPP will also give corporations the power to
interfere with local policy decisions by suing governments if they try
to pass any laws or regulations that protect users. The danger is
particularly imminent in the U.S., where Congress is readying to grant
the Obama administration Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), meaning that
they would be giving up their right and duty to review and amend the
worst parts of the eventual treaty before the terms of the deal have
even been publicly released. The final vote in the Senate is set for
tomorrow, June 24th, so today may be the last chance to stop TPA. That
is why we've been pushing users here in the States so hard to fight
back now. But the harm caused by granting TPA unfortunately isn't
limited to what is hidden within the pages of TPP. Once granted, TPA
lasts for years and would enable the same abrogation of duty when it
comes to two other secret, international negotiations: the
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and Trade In
Services Agreement (TISA).</p>
<p>TTIP is in many respects similar to TPP, and covers much of the same
ground. But, whereas TPP covers agreements between the U.S. and many
Asian countries, TTIP address similar issues between the U.S. and the
European Union. Some documents have <a href="http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1230">been made public for these
negotiations</a>, though the actual negotiation texts for the
copyright and patents chapter is notably still secret. Despite that,
we can still draw some disturbing conclusions. Like TPP, TTIP would
grant proprietary developers supra-national power to interfere with
local laws and policies in the form of investor-state dispute
settlement (ISDS). TTIP also has provisions about software patents
that could lock the U.S. and EU into their current terrible
situation. Trying to end software patents locally is difficult enough
already, but if TTIP passes, for signatory countries there may not be
any way out. Ever fond of secrecy, the negotiators for TTIP are
pushing a possible expansion of penalties relating to trade secrets.</p>
<p>TISA has the potential for the most widespread impact, with Europe,
the U.S., and many more countries negotiating in secret. A recent leak
included a particularly nefarious term: a prohibition on governmental
mandates for free software. Article 6 states that "No Party may
require the transfer of, or access to, source code of software owned
by a person of another Party, as a condition of providing services
related to such software in its territory." Governments around the
world have come to understand the importance of free software to
ensuring a free society. Many governments have chosen to mandate the
use of free software in their offices and in their software service
contracts. Ensuring that government-used and -purchased software is
free for anyone to review, share, and modify promotes the safety and
security of the people. TISA would stop governments all around the
world from putting into action their dedication to the principles of
free software.</p>
<p>Even if Article 6 were modified or interpreted more narrowly to allow
free software mandates, it would still be extremely problematic. Even
if the section is simply meant to prevent governments from demanding
source from proprietary developers as part of their contracts, it
would still leave the same holes in security that only access to
source can provide. Even if a government isn't able to use free
software in a particular instance, it should still be able to demand
that source code be given to the government to ensure that the code
has no back doors or vulnerabilities. Furthermore, the government
should still be able to review source to handle bug fixes or make the
software compatible with other systems; governments shouldn't be
beholden to a single company for support and customization of the
software they pay for with tax dollars.</p>
<p>TPP, TTIP, and TISA all include the U.S. as a bargaining nation,
meaning that the deal on Trade Promotion Authority being negotiated in
the Senate right now could fast track all of them this week. But there
are other agreements that are as nefarious and must be stopped with
the same urgency. Case in point: the Comprehensive Economic and Trade
Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the EU. Like the other agreements,
CETA has terrible provisions, including a copyright extension and
anti-circumvention provisions for Canada. While the text is now
public, that publication came only after negotiations were complete.</p>
<p>While each of these agreements varies the trouble they would implement
slightly, they are all being negotiated in secret, and for good
reason: if people knew what was in them, they would fight back. And
that's exactly what we must do. These agreements are being put
together with tons of input from corporations and trade groups who
seek to benefit from the restrictions these treaties will
implement. The people they will control are not welcome at the table,
but we still have a voice. Now is the time to speak up and let the
leaders in every country subject to these negotiations know that these
bargains made in the shadows must be brought into the light to die.</p>
<p>The time to fight back is now. Here is how you can help:</p>
<ul>
<li>If you only have a moment to help, please spread the word by sharing
  this article with your friends, or microblogging the following:</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>I oppose secret international trade agreements in all forms. Protect
  free software by stopping #TTP #TTIP and #TISA (shortened link to
  article)</strong></p>
<p>Note that if you use <a href="https://www.fsf.org/twitter">Twitter</a> for microblogging, you can do so in
a way that avoids using proprietary software.</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>If you are in the US, join EFF's action and <a href="https://act.eff.org/action/don-t-let-congress-fast-track-tpp">write to your
  representatives</a> telling them not to grant Trade Promotion
  Authority, and that you oppose these secret negotiations. EFF's
  action uses the free software tool <a href="https://github.com/EFForg/phantom-of-the-capitol">Phantom of the
  Capitol</a>. Today may be your last chance to stop TPA.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>If you live in Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia,
  Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, or Vietnam, contact your local
  representative and let them know you oppose TPP.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>If you live in the European Union, contact your local representative
  and let them know you oppose TTIP, TISA, and CETA.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>If you live in Australia, Canada, Chile, Hong Kong, Iceland, Israel,
  Japan, South Korea, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland,
  Taiwan, Uruguay, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Turkey,
  Pakistan, or Paraguay contact your local representative and let them
  know you oppose TISA.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Canadian users should likewise contact their representatives to
  demand an out from CETA.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Support our work representing you in this area by <a href="https://my.fsf.org/join">becoming an FSF
  member</a> or making a <a href="https://donate.fsf.org">donation</a>.</p>
</li>
</ul>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/201505-brest-athens-heraklion-chania
title: May 2015 - Brest, Athens, Heraklion, and Chania
uri: May-2015-Brest-Athens-Heraklion-and-Chania
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/201505-brest-athens-heraklion-chania
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 gave his speech <a href="http://tracker.drakonix.net:8082&gt;">"Logiciels Libres & Éducation"</a> at the Université de Bretagne Occidentale's Guilcher amphitheatre in Brest, France, on May 12th, 2015, twenty years after his first visit to the city, to an audience of over five hundred people.</p>

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

<img src="media/3d4ff771.poster-20150512-brest.svg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/poster-20150512-brest.svg" alt="" width="70" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/3d4ff771.poster-20150512-brest.svg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/poster-20150512-brest.svg" alt="" width="70" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/3d4ff771.poster-20150512-brest.svg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/poster-20150512-brest.svg" alt="" width="70" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/3d4ff771.poster-20150512-brest.svg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/poster-20150512-brest.svg" alt="" width="70" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/3d4ff771.poster-20150512-brest.svg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/poster-20150512-brest.svg" alt="" width="70" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/3d4ff771.poster-20150512-brest.svg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/poster-20150512-brest.svg" alt="" width="70" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/3d4ff771.poster-20150512-brest.svg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/poster-20150512-brest.svg" alt="" width="70" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/3d4ff771.poster-20150512-brest.svg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/poster-20150512-brest.svg" alt="" width="70" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/6db9e70f.20150512-brest-rms-cc-by-sa-romain-heller-3-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20150512-brest-rms-cc-by-sa-romain-heller-3-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="570" 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="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA 3.0</a> and courtesy of Romain Heller.)</em>

<p>He was also in Greece later in May, to speak:</p>

<p>&#8230;at <a href="http://commonsfest.info/en/festival-ton-kinon-2015/topothesia-festival">CommonsFest</a> in Athens on May 16th,</p>

<!-- Image(s) start below -->
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<img src="media/37c8a173.20150516-athens-rms-cc-by-sa-dkoukoul-1-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20150516-athens-rms-cc-by-sa-dkoukoul-1-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="265" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/1a5cc36c.20150516-athens-rms-cc-by-sa-dkoukoul-2-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20150516-athens-rms-cc-by-sa-dkoukoul-2-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="265" 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="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA 3.0</a> and courtesy of dkoukoul.)</em>

<p>&#8230;at the Lecture Hall of Natural History Museum of Crete, in Heraklion, on May 22nd,</p>

<!-- Image(s) start below -->
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<img src="media/3bc3d0d0.20150522-heraklion-rms-cc-by-sa-dkoukoul-1-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20150522-heraklion-rms-cc-by-sa-dkoukoul-1-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="265" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/5d71cdaa.20150522-heraklion-rms-cc-by-sa-dkoukoul-2-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20150522-heraklion-rms-cc-by-sa-dkoukoul-2-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="265" 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="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA 3.0</a> and courtesy of dkoukoul.)</em>

<p>&#8230;and at the Technical University of Crete (speech available in <a href="https://www.tuc.gr/fileadmin/various/stallman/2015-05-26-TUCECE-Stallman.ogg&gt;Ogg Vorbis&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=">Ogg Vorbis</a> and <a href="http://www.tuc.gr/fileadmin/various/stallman/2015-05-26-TUCECE-Stallman.webm&gt;WebM&lt;/a&gt; formats), in Chania, on May 27th.&lt;/p&gt; 

&lt;!-- Image(s) start below --&gt;
&lt;!-- Adjust the width=">WebM</a> formats), in Chania, on May 27th.</p> 

<!-- Image(s) start below -->
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<img src="media/8041bfd3.20150527-chania-rms-04-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20150527-chania-rms-04-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="265" style="margin-top:4px;" /> 
<img src="media/08a716eb.20150527-chania-rms-07-thumb.jpg" data-original-source="http://www.fsf.org/static/nosvn/rms-photos/20150527-chania-rms-07-thumb.jpg" alt="" width="265" 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="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA 3.0</a> and courtesy of the Technical University of Crete.)</em> 
</p></div>

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

<p>Please fill out our contact form, so that we can inform you about future events in and around <a href="https://my.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=387&amp;reset=1">Brest</a>, <a href="https://my.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=390&amp;reset=1">Athens</a>, and <a href="https://my.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=392&amp;reset=1">Heraklion and Chania</a>. 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 style="text-align:center;"><strong>Thank you to everyone who helped make this tour a success!</strong></p>


feed_id: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-july-3
title: Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup: July 3
uri: Friday-Free-Software-Directory-IRC-meetup-July-3
url: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-july-3
content:
<p>Join the FSF and friends Friday, July 3, 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>.<br />
</p>
<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.<br />
</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!<br />
</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="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/FSD:Participate">participation guide</a> will provide you with all the information you need to get started on helping the Directory today!</p>


