From info at sfconservancy.org Tue Feb 23 23:11:32 2016 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Karen Sandler) Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2016 18:11:32 -0500 Subject: Conservancy Welcomes Homebrew as a Member Project Message-ID: URL: http://sfconservancy.org/news/2016/feb/22/homebrew-joins/ ###################################################################### Software Freedom Conservancy proudly announces the addition of Homebrew, software package manager for Apple's OS X operating system as its newest member project. Homebrew is now one of the dozens of free and open source software projects who call Conservancy their non-profit corporate home. “Homebrew is excited to join Conservancy together with so many great other open source projects that we rely on," said Mike McQuaid, Homebrew maintainer since 2009. "Conservancy will help our project 'grow up' and give us the stability around critical services and raised funds that we need.” McQuaid also recorded the video here to share his thoughts on why Homebrew is joining Conservancy, and to support Conservancy's fundraising campaign. The video is available at http://sfconservancy.org/videos/homebrew.ogv “We are excited to have Homebrew join Conservancy,” said Karen M. Sandler, Conservancy's Executive Director. "Homebrew provides a much-needed free software package management solution for OS X users. We're happy that they're becoming a part of the Conservancy family, and we look forward to providing them with the infrastructure and support they need to continue their development." From info at sfconservancy.org Thu Feb 25 03:21:05 2016 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Karen Sandler) Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2016 22:21:05 -0500 Subject: Conservancy's Executive Director Testified Yesterday in Favor of NYC Free and Open Source Software Acts Message-ID: <4e09c724c6df3cc2f0f82949be91761c@motives.com> URL: http://sfconservancy.org/news/2016/feb/23/FOSSA-testimony/ ###################################################################### Conservancy's Executive Director Testifies in Favor of NYC Free and Open Source Software Acts Software Freedom Conservancy's Executive Director, Karen Sandler was invited to offer testimony earlier today to the New York City Council Committee on Contracts. Sandler testified in favor of the Free and Open Source Software Act and the Civic Commons Act, both proposed by Council Member Ben Kallos, which would increase the use of free and open source software by New York City departments and agencies. Sandler made the case for the superiority of free software, pointing out the advantages it would provide the city and society in general. “Companies effectively hold governments hostage with proprietary software,” Sandler explained. A full copy of the testimony is available at http://sfconservancy.org/docs/2016-02-23_Contracts_Committee_testimony.pdf. In the audience during Sandler's testimony were dozens of schoolchildren on a class trip, to whom she recommended SugarLabs, one of Conservancy's projects focused on kids. Sandler also took a moment to share her personal perspective on free software, explaining how she relies on proprietary software in her implanted medical device, which generated multiple questions from the Council Members. Sandler ended her participation in the Committee's hearing by providing an informal demonstration of GNU/Linux and in particular the GNOME desktop to the Council Members at their request. Karen concluded her testimony with “as a lifelong New Yorker, I love this city and know that shifting to free and open source software will better keep the city safe.” Free Software Foundation's Executive Director, John Sullivan, Open Source Initiative.'s board member, Paul Tagliamonte and Participatory Politics Foundation Executive Director, David Moore also provided testimony in support of the acts. Conservancy is proud to support municipalities adopting free and open source software! From info at sfconservancy.org Tue May 10 20:53:32 2016 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Karen Sandler) Date: Tue, 10 May 2016 16:53:32 -0400 Subject: Yorba Entrusts Shotwell and Geary =?UTF-8?Q?=C2=A9=20to=20Conserv?= =?UTF-8?Q?ancy?= Message-ID: URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2016/may/10/yorba-assigns-copyrights/ ###################################################################### Yorba Assigns Shotwell and Geary Copyrights to Software Freedom Conservancy Software Freedom Conservancy announces that it has received an assignment of copyrights from the Yorba Foundation in order to safeguard those copyrights for the future. Yorba ceased operations in 2015 and is now completing the process of formally dissolving. Yorba's assignment included copyrights in Shotwell, a free and open source image management tool, and Geary, a free and open source mail client. The assignment comes as part of Yorba's winding down process, which Yorba's leadership has used to ensure that the appropriate infrastructure exists for its former projects to continue in Yorba's absence. Yorba's founder, Adam Dingle, and former executive director, Jim Nelson, commented, "We're a little sad to see Yorba end, but we're still proud of what we accomplished in the six years that Yorba was active. We're pleased to see that development of both Geary and Shotwell is continuing, even in Yorba's absence. We hope that both these programs will have long and healthy lives ahead of them in the GNOME world." Both Shotwell and Geary have lead maintainers dedicated to continuing the work where Yorba has left off. "The Geary community very much appreciates the excellent work done by Yorba for so many years," said Michael Gratton, maintainer of Geary. "With Yorba's copyrights safely in Conservancy, we can focus on continuing to make Geary a great Free Software email experience going forward." "My mission is to ensure that Shotwell stays the great photo manager for the Linux desktop that it is, " added Jens Georg maintainer of Shotwell. "I will do that by aiming to improve on its user experience in terms of stability, speed and looks while carefully selecting interesting new features such as an improved geolocation and tagging experience." Conservancy has expertise in copyright stewardship which it has employed on behalf of the Debian project and for members of the GPL Compliance Project for Linux Developers. "Conservancy is happy to help Yorba and its former projects with this transition," said Karen Sandler, Conservancy's Executive Director. "We look forward to watching these communities grow and develop." Yorba's assignment also included copyrights in Valencia, a freely-licensed plug-in for the gedit text editor, and gexiv2, a freely-licensed wrapper for the Exiv2 photo metadata library. From info at sfconservancy.org Tue Jul 19 17:29:47 2016 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Bradley M. Kuhn and Karen M. Sandler) Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2016 10:29:47 -0700 Subject: The Importance of Following Community-Oriented Principles in GPL Enforcement Work Message-ID: <87twfl359w.fsf@ebb.org> URL: https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2016/jul/19/patrick-mchardy-gpl-enforcement/ (Web version includes various links) The GNU General Public License (GPL) was designed to grant clear permissions for sharing software and to defend that freedom for users. GPL'd code now appears in so many devices that it is fundamental to modern technology. While we believe that following the GPL's requirements is neither burdensome nor unreasonable, many fail to do so. GPL enforcement — the process to encourage those who fail to correct problems and join our open software development community — is difficult diplomacy. Our community learned together over the last 20 years how to do this work well. Last year, Conservancy published the concise but comprehensive Principles of Communited-Oriented GPL Enforcement. The Principles were immediately endorsed by Conservancy, FSF and gpl-violations.org — the three historic community-oriented GPL enforcement organizations, as well as other non-enforcing organizations such as OSI. Recently, these principles were also by the Netfilter team, a core and essential group of Linux developers. However, despite our best efforts, we have been unable to convince all enforcers to endorse these Principles. Here, we express our concern and desire to ameliorate that situation as best we can. Furthermore, we also bring some transparency and context where enforcers seem unlikely to ever endorse the Principles. One impetus in drafting the Principles was our discovery of ongoing enforcement efforts that did not fit with the GPL enforcement community traditions and norms established for the last two decades. Publishing the previously unwritten guidelines has quickly separated the wheat from the chaff. Specifically, we remain aware of multiple non-community-oriented GPL enforcement efforts, where none of those engaged in these efforts have endorsed our principles nor pledged to abide by them. These “GPL monitizers”, who trace their roots to nefarious business models that seek to catch users in minor violations in order to sell an alternative proprietary license, stand in stark contrast to the work that Conservancy, FSF and gpl-violations.org have done for years. Most notably, a Linux developer named Patrick McHardy continues ongoing GPL enforcement actions but has not endorsed the community Principles. When Patrick began his efforts, Conservancy immediately reached out to him. After a promising initial discussion (even contemplating partnership and Patrick joining our coalition) in mid-2014, Patrick ceased answering our emails and text messages, and never cooperated with us. Conservancy has had no contact with Patrick nor his attorney since, other than a somewhat cryptic and off-topic response we received over a year ago. In the last two years, we've heard repeated rumors about Patrick's enforcement activity, as well as some reliable claims by GPL violators that Patrick failed to follow the Principles. In one of the many attempts we made to contact Patrick, we urged him to join us in co-drafting the Principles, and then invited him to endorse them after their publication. Neither communication received a response. We informed him that we felt the need to make this public statement, and gave him almost three months to respond. He still has not responded. Patrick's enforcement occurs primarily in Germany. We know well the difficulties of working transparently in that particular legal system, but both gpl-violations.org and Conservancy have done transparent enforcement in that jurisdiction and others. Yet, Patrick's actions are not transparent. In private and semi-private communications, many have criticized Patrick for his enforcement actions. Patrick McHardy has also been suspended from work on the Netfilter core team. While the Netfilter team itself publicly endorsed Conservancy's principles of enforcement, Patrick has not. Conservancy agrees that Patrick's apparent refusal to endorse the Principles leaves suspicion and concern, since the Principles have been endorsed by so many other Linux copyright holders, including Conservancy. Conservancy built a coalition of many copyright holders for Linux enforcement so that we as copyright holders in Linux could share with each other our analysis, strategy, plans and diplomacy. Much like Linux development itself, enforcement functions best when copyright holders collaborate as equals to achieve the desired result. In coding, Linux copyright holders seek to create together the best operating system kernel in history, and in an enforcement coalition like ours, we seek to achieve proper compliance in the best possible way for the community. (More collaboration is always better for various reasons, and we always urge copyright holders in Linux, Debian, Samba, and BusyBox to join our coalitions.) Nevertheless, Conservancy does not object to individual copyright holders who wish to enforce alone; this is their legal prerogative, and with such limited resources for (and political opposition against) GPL enforcement on Linux, everyone who wants to help is welcome. However, Conservancy must denounce anyone who refuses to either endorse the Principles, or (at least) publicly explain why the Principles are not consistent with their efforts to advance software freedom. There are few public facts on Patrick's enforcement actions, though there are many rumors. That his enforcement work exists is indisputable, but its true nature, intent, and practice remains somewhat veiled. The most common criticism that we hear from those who have been approached by Patrick is an accusation that he violates one specific Principle: prioritizing financial gain over compliance. Meanwhile, some who criticize Conservancy's enforcement efforts ironically believe we are “too nice” — because we don't seek to maximize financial gain, and therefore we ultimately fund some license compliance work with donations from the general public. Despite that criticism, and the simple fact that Conservancy's settlement funds from GPL enforcement usually fail to cover even the staffing costs associated with our enforcement efforts, we continue to abide by the Principle that compliance is paramount over monetary damages. While we sympathize with those who wish GPL enforcement would fund itself, we also see clear problems if an enforcer prioritizes financial gain over compliance — even if the overarching goal is more comprehensive enforcement in other areas. Conservancy does all our enforcement specifically through a USA 501(c)(3) charity, precisely because that makes us transparently financially accountable. The IRS requires that our work benefit the general public and never bestow private inurement to anyone. Success in enforcement should never personally benefit one individual financially, and a charity structure for GPL enforcement ensures that never happens. Furthermore, the annual Form 990 filings of charities allows for public scrutiny of both enforcement revenue and expenditure [1]. Conservancy, as a charity in the center of GPL enforcement, seeks to make enforcement transparent. We devised the Principles in part to clarify long-standing, community-accepted enforcement procedures in a formalized way, so that violators and GPL-compliant adopters alike can discern whether enforcement behavior is acceptable under community norms. We welcome public debate about any enforcement action's compliance with the Principles (i.e., its meta-compliance with the Principles). We encourage all those who enforce GPL to come forward to either endorse the Principles, or publicly propose updates or modifications to the Principles. (We've created the mailing list, principles-discuss, as a public place for that discussion.) We urge developers to state that they support enforcement undertaken in a principled manner, including litigating only as a necessary last resort and to never prioritize financial gain. We chose the phrase “meta-compliance with the Principles” carefully. Applying the Principles themselves to compliance with those Principles seems apt to us. For example, we publicized the concerns about Patrick's enforcement only after two years of good-faith attempts to discuss the problems with him, and we waited for more than a year before publicizing the problem, and only after both ample warning to Patrick, and discussion and coordination with the Netfilter team. Just as we would with a GPL violator, we exhausted every path we could find before making this statement publicly. Thus, we now call on Patrick to endorse the Principles or publicly engage in good faith with the community to discuss proper methods of enforcement. We further welcome anyone who does not currently abide by these Principles to join us anew in our coordinated community-oriented GPL enforcement work. In conclusion, to contrast GPL enforcement with the much more common proprietary software litigation, violators should always have a simple and solid method to quickly resolve the rare legal action around the GPL: compliance. GPL enforcers should always seek compliance as the primary and paramount resolution to any enforcement matter. In this manner, where community-oriented enforcement exists and thrives, the risk for danger from lawsuits diminishes. Today's violators can then become tomorrow's contributors. Footnotes: [1] Looking at Conservancy's Form 990s, you can see by examining Page 2 (Part III) (in FY 2011, see Page 25, Schedule O, for continuation) each year how much revenue Conservancy received from enforcement settlements, and how much Conservancy spends on license compliance activity. Most notably, Conservancy has not received a single dollar in GPL enforcement revenue since FY 2012. URLs referenced: 1. https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/ 2. https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/principles.html 3. https://opensource.org/node/772 4. https://www.netfilter.org/files/statement.pdf 5. https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/about.html 6. https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/principles.html 7. https://marc.info/?l=netfilter-devel&m=146887464512702 8. https://lwn.net/Articles/693633/ 9. https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/about.html 10. https://lwn.net/Articles/666642/ 11. http://lists.sfconservancy.org/mailman/listinfo/principles-discuss 12. https://sfconservancy.org/about/filings/ -- Posted by Bradley M. Kuhn and Karen M. Sandler on July 19, 2016. Please email any comments on this entry to info at sfconservancy.org. From info at sfconservancy.org Mon Aug 8 19:31:41 2016 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy) Date: Mon, 08 Aug 2016 12:31:41 -0700 Subject: Bradley M. Kuhn To Keynote GUADEC & OpenSym 2016 Message-ID: <87shufjbvm.fsf@ebb.org> URLs: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2016/aug/08/guadec-opensym/ https://twitter.com/conservancy/status/762731127240990721 Bradley M. Kuhn To Keynote GUADEC & OpenSym 2016 ================================================ In the next ten days, Bradley M. Kuhn, Distinguished Technologist at Software Freedom Conservancy, will keynote two conferences in Germany — GUADEC 2016 and OpenSym 2016. On Friday 12 August 2016 in Karlsruhe, Germany, Kuhn will deliver a keynote at the GNOME Users and Developers European Conference (GUADEC) 2016 entitled "Confessions of a Command-Line Geek: Why I Don’t Use GNOME But Everyone Else Should". Kuhn will discuss the incredible importance of the GNOME desktop project to the future of software freedom, despite that so much of “Open Source” now focuses on infrastructure projects rather than applications and GUIs. On Wednesday 17 August 2016 at 15:30 in Berlin, Germany, Kuhn will deliver a keynote entitled "Politics of Cooption in Free and Open Communities" at The International Symposium on Open Collaboration (OpenSym) 2016. Kuhn's keynote there will discuss how the advent of cooption of software freedom by for-profit companies and their trade associations has created a complex political system, and how other communities inspired by software freedom may soon face similar challenges. Kuhn thanks the organizers of both conferences from graciously inviting him to join other excellent keynoters at both events, and for the opportunity to share an essential message of software freedom with both of this important communities. Conservancy enthusiasts and supporters are encouraged to attend these events; registration details are available on the respective conference's websites. Relevant Additional Links: https://2016.guadec.org/ https://2016.guadec.org/keynotes/ http://www.opensym.org/ http://www.opensym.org/os2016/keynotes2016/ -- Become a Conservancy Supporter Now: https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/ (And then ask a friend to become a Supporter, too! :) From info at sfconservancy.org Tue Aug 9 13:21:26 2016 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy) Date: Tue, 09 Aug 2016 06:21:26 -0700 Subject: Hellwig Announces He Will Appeal VMware Ruling After Evidentiary Set Back in Lower Court Message-ID: <87h9auf57t.fsf@ebb.org> URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2016/aug/09/vmware-appeal/ Hellwig Announces He Will Appeal VMware Ruling After Evidentiary Set Back in Lower Court In a statement on his website, Christoph Hellwig announced today that he will appeal the ruling of the Hamburg District Court, which recently dismissed his case against VMware. As Christoph underscores in his statement, the ruling concerned German evidence law and the Court did not rule on the merits of the case. The ruling centered around German evidentary rules related to documenting Christoph's contributions that appear in VMware's product. Christoph also published (in German and English) the Court's ruling which explains why the materials submitted did not satisfy German evidence rules — despite publicly available information in Linux's Git repositories. In addition, the Court chose not to seek expert testimony. Christoph stated on his website, "I'm disappointed that the court didn't even consider the actual case of reusing the Linux code written by me, and I hope the Court of Appeal will investigate this central aspect of the lawsuit." Conservancy publishes today its comparison analysis between Christoph's code and VMware's code. This particular analysis uses a two step process: (a) use Linux's public Git logs to find Christoph's contributions from Christoph, and (b) use a widely accepted and heavily academically cited tool, CCFinderX, to show that VMware copied Christoph's code into their product. While these evidentiary points may be new to the German courts, they have been explored in US Federal Court. Conservancy previously successfully litigated as co-plaintiff with Erik Andersen over BusyBox. Many companies who settled, and the US Federal Court in their judgment against Westinghouse, ultimately accepted and agreed that Erik Andersen held copyrights in BusyBox. The German civil legal system is not precedent-based. As such, this initial ruling creates no legally binding precedent. Our community continues our long journey to build definitive industry precedent regarding derivative and combined works under the GPL. "Reading the ruling, it's clear that VMware brought considerable resources to make every possible argument for dismissal," commented Karen Sandler, Conservancy's Executive Director. "Christoph and Conservancy have a fraction of the resources for our enforcement efforts than VMware has at its disposal." We ask everyone to become a Conservancy Supporter today to aid in our fight for software freedom through this appeal and other enforcement efforts worldwide. Relevant links: http://bombadil.infradead.org/~hch/vmware/2016-08-09.html http://bombadil.infradead.org/~hch/vmware/Judgment_2016-07-08.pdf https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/vmware-code-similarity.html https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-faq.html http://www.archive.org/download/gov.uscourts.nysd.355978/gov.uscourts.nysd.355978.131.0.pdf -- Become a Conservancy Supporter Now: https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/ (And then ask a friend to become a Supporter, too! :) From info at sfconservancy.org Mon Aug 22 17:47:09 2016 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy) Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2016 10:47:09 -0700 Subject: Brett Smith Joins Conservancy as Director of Strategic Initiatives Message-ID: <87zio43dcy.fsf@ebb.org> URLs: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2016/aug/22/brett-joins/ https://twitter.com/conservancy/status/767779398208466944 https://identi.ca/conservancy/note/Sk46cv_GQ1-AvAWmvmwT0w Brett Smith Joins Conservancy as Director of Strategic Initiatives Free software advocate brings longtime community focus with expertise in licensing and software development Software Freedom Conservancy is pleased to announce the addition of Brett Smith as its Director of Strategic Initiatives. Brett will be Conservancy's fourth full-time staffer, and will contribute to the organization's charitable mission on several wide-ranging fronts — from software development, to systems administration, to organizational operations, to logistics. Brett will contribute to FLOSS projects that support Conservancy's infrastructure, including leading Conservancy's NPO Accounting Project. Brett will also provide Conservancy's member projects with additional support and mentorship, and will strengthen the public voice of the organization. "We had an overwhelming response to our job posting, with a lot of exceptional applicants" said Karen Sandler, Conservancy's Executive Director."After a careful hiring process, we're thrilled to hire Brett. He's demonstrated an impressive commitment to software freedom and has the talent to fill so many of the roles that Conservancy needs." "I'm excited to join Conservancy," commented Brett. "The organization's work has already brought tremendous benefits to the entire FLOSS community. I'm eager to work full time on initiatives like the NPO Accounting project to address needs that free software hasn't met yet." Brett brings to Conservancy fourteen years of experience as a free software advocate and software developer. Prior to joining Conservancy, Brett worked as a software engineer and FLOSS project maintainer for Curoverse, and as a systems engineer for the World Wide Web Consortium. Brett also further adds to Conservancy's expertise with free software license compliance: as the Free Software Foundation's License Compliance Engineer, he gained experience in managing copyleft license compliance matters, and has written and given talks on the subject. Brett's full bio is available at https://sfconservancy.org/about/staff/#brett -- Become a Conservancy Supporter Now: https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/ (And then ask a friend to become a Supporter, too! :) From info at sfconservancy.org Wed Sep 14 14:57:26 2016 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy) Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2016 10:57:26 -0400 Subject: Conservancy's Executive Director Delivered Keynote Address at BroCon Message-ID: <20160914145726.GA4665@shelley> URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2016/sep/14/brocon-keynote/ Karen Sandler, Software Freedom Conservancy's Executive Director, delivered the keynote address at BroCon yesterday in Austin, Texas. BroCon is the annual conference of the Bro Network Security Monitor Project. Bro is one of Conservancy's member projects, having joined Conservancy in 2015. BroCon is where the Bro user and developer community meet to discuss the Bro project and strategize on methods to better secure computer networks. While the Bro Project is 20 years old, the conference has grown by over 50% in recent years. In her talk, Karen discussed her own passion for software freedom through the lens of her experience as a patient and medical device researcher. She discussed the Bro Project's process for choosing and joining Conservancy, and talked about how the relationship is focused on bringing trust and transparency to the community. Karen discussed the ways that the Bro Community can invest in Bro and ensure its long term success. Also during the conference, Gregory Bell announced the rebranding of Broala to Corelight and that the company will be donating $100,000 in the Bro Future Fund. Karen will also deliver a main stage talk at Stanford MedicineX later this week. From info at sfconservancy.org Fri Sep 16 16:13:41 2016 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy) Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2016 09:13:41 -0700 Subject: Watch Karen Sandler keynote Stanford Medicine X conference today at 18:02 UTC! Message-ID: <87wpibkekq.fsf@ebb.org> Conservancy's Executive Director, Karen Sandler, will deliver a keynote today at Stanford's Medicine X conference about software freedom in medical devices: http://medicinex.stanford.edu/conf/conference/event/563 You can watch a livestream of her talk via the livestream URL: http://conferencewebcasting.com/webcast/medx/2016/index.php at 11:02 AM US/Pacific (18:02 UTC, 2:02PM US/Eastern) today, 16 September 2016. (Note that the livestream may require proprietary Javascript, but we've confirmed the stream is working with Free Software browsers on Debian GNU/Linux.) -- Become a Conservancy Supporter Now: https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/ From info at sfconservancy.org Wed Oct 26 22:12:56 2016 From: info at sfconservancy.org (info at sfconservancy.org) Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2016 18:12:56 -0400 Subject: Karen Sandler Delivered Keynote at OSCON EU, Taught Kids in London about Free Software Message-ID: <20161026221256.GA713@shelley> URL: http://sfconservancy.org/news/2016/oct/26/karen-sandler-oscon-eu-2016/ Conservancy's Executive Director Karen Sandler delivered a keynote last week in London, England at OSCON EU. Karen discussed software freedom ideology and its place relative to social justice issues. Drawing from her experiences looking at medical devices, Karen illustrated software freedom as a threshold issue, at the service of those bigger challenges. Karen stated the case for why software must be free and open in order to solve our biggest social problems effectively in the long term. While in London, Karen also participated in a hack day with CORE CIC, a UK-based organization focused on osteopathy and helping people live pain free lives. Held at the Hackney New School in London, the hack day helped 14-year-old kids design health-related apps using Micro Bits donated by the BBC. Karen spoke to the kids about the role of technology in peoples' lives and introduced them to ideas around free and open source software. Pictures from the hack day are available at . From info at sfconservancy.org Thu Nov 3 18:31:01 2016 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy) Date: Thu, 03 Nov 2016 11:31:01 -0700 Subject: Conservancy Promotes Transparency by Publishing Template Agreements for Linux Compliance Program Message-ID: <87zilgs9ei.fsf@ebb.org> URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2016/nov/03/linux-compliance-agreements/ Google+: https://plus.google.com/b/104268783278405704634/104268783278405704634/posts/LZBh2pfxxAb Twitter: https://twitter.com/conservancy/status/794239039553486848 Pump.io: https://identi.ca/conservancy/ Conservancy Promotes Transparency by Publishing Template Agreements for Linux Compliance Program Discussion Invited at Second Feedback Session on GPL Enforcement Today at the Linux Plumbers Conference, Software Freedom Conservancy hosts its second feedback session on the GPL Compliance Program for Linux Developers. These sessions, which Conservancy is hosting at relevant events over the next year and summarizing for public review, will seek input and ideas from the Linux community about GPL enforcement, answer questions, and plan strategies to deal with GPL enforcement actions that do not follow Conservancy and FSF's Principles of Community-Oriented GPL Enforcement. The publication of the template agreements (links below) demonstrates Conservancy's commitment to transparency. The documents have a similar structure as Conservancy's agreements with its member projects, designed to work at the service of the coalition. They include an easy termination provision, requiring just thirty days' notice at any time. Because the aim of Conservancy's compliance work is to avoid litigation, no lawsuits may be initiated without further explicit agreement. Two versions of the template agreement are provided. The anonymous agreement includes a clause binding Conservancy to not disclose the identity of the participant. This clause was directly requested by Linux contributors who fear repercussions from their employers or other community members who oppose GPL enforcement. Conservancy designed this version to respect the wishes of those who want to help ensure the future of copyleft, but are not prepared to face public attacks from those who oppose copyleft. Karen Sandler, who will co-host today's session at the Plumbers Conference, noted the importance of designing agreements that adhere to the Principles of Community-Oriented GPL Enforcement. "The agreements empower developers to direct and control Conservancy's enforcement actions. While the Principles allow for recovery of costs, the terms ensure that developers direct how such funds are spent." Karen noted, however, "While the agreement sets out how money received through any compliance actions is divided, to date no amounts have been received under this initiative." Conservancy is publishing these agreements today as background for the enforcement feedback session at 6:00 PM Mountain Time at the Linux Plumbers Conference 2016. Conservancy's Executive Director, Karen Sandler, and Director of Strategic Initiatives, Brett Smith, will host the session, and all conference attendees are welcome to join the discussion. Conservancy will also take feedback on the agreements over its mailing list for discussion of the GPL enforcement principles and at feedback sessions at other conferences over the coming months. Conservancy, as always, recommends that anyone who is contemplating signing an agreement consult legal counsel about their own specific situation prior to doing so. URL links from this announcement: https://sfconservancy.org/docs/blank_linux-enforcement-agreement.pdf https://sfconservancy.org/docs/blank_anonymous-linux-enforcement-agreement.pdf https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/principles.html https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2016/oct/27/feedback-gpl/ https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2016/jul/19/patrick-mchardy-gpl-enforcement/ https://sfconservancy.org/docs/sponsorship-agreement-template.pdf https://lists.sfconservancy.org/mailman/listinfo/principles-discuss -- Become a Conservancy Supporter Now: https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/ (And then ask a friend to become a Supporter, too! :) From info at sfconservancy.org Thu Nov 10 19:30:55 2016 From: info at sfconservancy.org (info at sfconservancy.org) Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2016 14:30:55 -0500 Subject: OpenMRS & OpenEMR Community Members Announce LibreHealth: New Software Freedom Conservancy community to champion innovation in Health IT Message-ID: <20161110193055.GA5799@shelley> URL: PORTLAND, OREGON and BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, November 10, 2016 -- Senior contributors and leaders from OpenMRS & OpenEMR, the two leading open source Health IT platforms, have announced the formation of LibreHealth, a new initiative to expand on many years of work by those communities’ volunteers through increased focused on needs of its users in critical areas. After many years of growth under the sponsorship of organizations OEMR & OpenMRS Inc., key members of the two communities have joined forces to launch a successor free & open source software community to fulfill their vision of improved health outcomes around the world. OpenMRS has been one of the most successful open source projects in global health, deployed in numerous countries since 2004 with hundreds of installations, and maintained by an international community of contributors and experts. OpenEMR, created in 1998, has been the most widely adopted open source commercial electronic medical record (EMR) worldwide, with about 800 downloads per week and recent adoption by large government organizations such as the Peace Corps, Armed Forces Retirement Centers and Israel Health Services. LibreHealth software will build on the best of both projects’ software and collaborative aspects, while extending the new community’s scope beyond the EMR to software in several key areas of health care. LibreHealth will be the foundation of a worldwide ecosystem of open source Health IT innovation, and will be a place where people can come together to build tools that enhance the quality of healthcare around the world. The LibreHealth EHRTM (electronic health record) software product, made available under the Mozilla Public License, will build upon the successes of the OpenMRS medical record platform and the expertise of senior OpenEMR contributors. The new larger community will be a home for both downstream customizations of this software and complementary products to flourish under the maintainership of a wide variety of individuals. The project has been initially launched by the LibreHealth Steering Committee, a group of senior contributors to the OpenMRS & OpenEMR projects. The purpose of this founding group is to build a best-of-breed open source community that will not only involve customers through active engagement, but also introduce radical transparency that allows individual contributors to build the world’s best health IT software in efficient and innovative ways. The steering committee consists of key past OpenMRS & OpenEMR contributors Judy Gichoya MD, Saptarshi Purkayastha PhD, Michael Downey, Jordan Freitas, Robert O'Connor, Tony McCormick, and Ada Yeung. Additional members from the OpenEMR and OpenMRS communities include Sam Bowen MD, Ken Chapple, Hannah Downey, Art Eaton, Terry Hill, Sam Mbugua, Namrata Nehete, Nyoman Ribeka, Dawn Seymour, Rowan Seymour, Simon Savai, Martin Were MD, and Kevin Yeh. Together, the founding group represents over 250 years of experience with the OpenMRS & OpenEMR projects. The community has entered into an agreement to join Software Freedom Conservancy, a leader as a nonprofit home to free and open source software projects with global impact. Conservancy, along with its member projects, is a nonprofit organization organized as a United States 501(c)(3) designation, and may receive tax-deductible contributions to the extent permitted by law. “LibreHealth represents a bold commitment by members of the OpenMRS community to support the next phase of growth for open source Health IT,” said Michael Downey, the former director of community for OpenMRS since 2009 and a member of the steering committee. “The formation of this new initiative is the best way for the community to be ready for the future, in terms of exceptional customer service, rapid technological innovation, and supporting the next order of magnitude of community engagement. We are particularly pleased to partner with Software Freedom Conservancy to introduce a level of professional leadership and fiscal transparency previously unavailable to users of open source Health IT.” “Conservancy is proud to host this important initiative,” said Karen Sandler, executive director of the organization. “The LibreHealth team is poised to make a big difference in health IT and we're looking forward to supporting its growth into a high-impact community.” Tony McCormick, former president and chairman from OEMR the 501(c)(3) governance body of OpenEMR, said, “The combination of the strengths of these two communities will allow for the creation of an open source health ecosystem for the world that is beyond the limits of the term EHR.” “LibreHealth is an evolutionary step to create the next-generation of community-driven health IT,” said Dr. Saptarshi Purkayastha, who previously led education & training for OpenMRS and has been involved since 2007. “Based on UN and WHO guidelines, countries are building their eHealth Strategy 2020, where we see a dire need for a workforce that is competent to manage Health IT. Using LibreHealth tools, we will release skill development initiatives that will enable an open ecosystem of Health IT training.” Purkayastha is also a member of the LibreHealth Steering Committee. Another steering committee member Judy Gichoya MD, says, “I am excited about the vision of LibreHealth that allows physicians like me that work in global health settings to have the freedom to concentrate on delivering patient care, while contributing to a greater purpose of providing the right health IT tools to other people. Our new community will be home to the radiology work we have worked so hard on for the last year. LibreHealth Radiology will provide the first comprehensive open source radiology information system and reporting framework for use in limited resource settings.” Gichoya was a major contributor to OpenMRS from 2008 to 2016, and has been an avid evangelist of free & open source software in health care. Free and open source software creates durable partnerships ========================================================== LibreHealth will build upon the experience gained in the OpenMRS and OpenEMR communities to create an active, vibrant free and open source software organization that leverages radically open transparency and global collaboration. As a collaborative community for free & open source software projects in the Health IT world, LibreHealth offers a home for a variety of solutions. In addition to its Toolkit™, EHR, and Radiology products, the organization is also pleased to announce its partnership with mUzima, an exciting new Android-based mHealth platform. Members of this vibrant project will be joining the LibreHealth community to increase their project’s footprint and grow their community of contributors. Additional projects can be created or join the community through the LibreHealth Incubation Program. “Our team is truly excited to collaborate as part of the LibreHealth family,” said Ada Yeung, an OpenMRS contributor since 2006 and project leader for mUzima. “We all share the same vision of improved healthcare outcomes using open source technology, and look forward to the benefits of such an open, welcoming community.” LibreHealth is also actively forging partnerships with international free and open source software organizations to help extend its reach and value to stakeholders. “From government to the private sector, countries throughout Asia are beginning to embrace FOSS initiatives like LibreHealth that enable them to collaborate globally to improve their societies & quality of life. We have long supported the work of the individuals in this community, and we are proud to support LibreHealth in this endeavor,” said Hong Phuc Dang, lead organizer of FOSSASIA, the continent's leading open source organization. LibreHealth is partnering with FOSSASIA to participate in Google Code-In, a contest through January 2017 that introduces secondary school students to open source. More information about participating in Google Code-In is available at the LibreHealth Forums. Education and training a core community mission =============================================== Through the LibreHealth Education Partners Program™ (EPP) the community will work collaboratively with universities and training institutions around the world to increase the number of skilled informaticians who can integrate Health IT systems to improve healthcare outcomes. “We are committed to using LibreHealth software to help train our students on cutting edge Health IT systems”, said Martin Were, MD, director of the Moi University Institute of Biomedical Informatics in Kenya. “For over a decade, our institution has been a supporter of open source software for healthcare, and we’re extremely excited to work with LibreHealth to increase capacity development for our students and for all of those we serve here in Kenya.” Josette Jones, PhD, director of health informatics at Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing, stated: “Health IT enhances human health and well-being and delivers more efficient and safer patient care. We are pleased to be named a LibreHealth Education Partner and look forward to using the community’s software to train our students using cutting-edge technology.” More information about participating in LibreHealth EPP™ will be made available in the coming weeks. LibreHealth software development already underway ================================================= The community is pleased to announce the upcoming availability of LibreHealth Toolkit™ 1.12 LTS, which is fully-compatible with previous installations of OpenMRS Platform 1.12. The “LTS” endorsement indicates long term support -- the LibreHealth community has committed to supporting this version of the software with bug fixes & security patches for an additional 3 years. Customer support for Toolkit™ 1.12 LTS will be available from the volunteer community at through the end of 2019. Later this quarter, a preview release of LibreHealth EHR™ will be made available for download, providing health care facilities access to tools to improve the quality of care without requiring extensive customizations & programming. Existing OpenMRS & OpenEMR developers -- as well as new contributors wishing to contribute to the project -- are encouraged to join the LibreHealth Forums to participate. Beyond programming needs, the community is looking for people to assist with documentation, testing, translation, support, and marketing. People of all background & skills are welcome! More information about LibreHealth, including details about software releases as well as all community communication, will be available on the project’s web site at and community forums at . About LibreHealth ================= LibreHealth is an independent self-governing free & open source software community founded by leading members of the OpenMRS & OpenEMR projects. It builds on a decade of dedication and hard work by contributors to those earlier projects, and was created to expand the communities’ impact to all types of Health IT, leveraging its values of active user engagement & radically open transparency. Participation in the LibreHealth community is open to all individuals who support our core values and contribute to our activities. LibreHealth welcomes corporate and nonprofit participation through financial donations & sponsorship of individuals to work as equals alongside other contributors in the community. For more information, visit . # # # From info at sfconservancy.org Wed Nov 23 20:16:04 2016 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Karen Sandler) Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2016 15:16:04 -0500 Subject: =?UTF-8?Q?=E2=80=9CPrinciples=20of=20Community-Oriented=20GPL=20C?= =?UTF-8?Q?ompliance=E2=80=9D=20Now=20in=20Chinese!?= Message-ID: <6457af5adc47811f8b291c3b98213abe@motives.com> URL: http://sfconservancy.org/news/2016/nov/23/compliance-principles-chinese-translation/ ###################################################################### “Principles of Community-Oriented GPL Compliance” Now in Chinese Software Freedom Conservancy is pleased to announce that the Kaiyuanshe Legal Committee has translated the Principles of Community-Oriented GPL Compliance in Chinese. Kaiyuanshe, roughly translated as open source alliance, is a group of enterprises, communities, and individuals in China supporting and promoting free and open source software. The document is available for download on Kaiyuanshe's web site and on Conservancy's site in HTML and as a PDF. The Principles were published by Conservancy and the Free Software Foundation last year, and set forth norms around community-oriented enforcement, removing uncertainty for companies who face compliance actions and providing criteria for evaluating whether license compliance is in the community's interest. The translation was primarily worked on by Richard Lin and Maggie Wang, members of the Kaiyuanshe Legal Committee. "More and more Chinese companies are embracing Free and Open Source Software, but not enough participants truly understand our communities' expectations around compliance," said Lin, Community Director for Huawei Developer Zone. "We in Kaiyuanshe want to help more people to truly understand Free and Open Source Software, and call for more people, organizations and companies to contribute together." "The principles are good education and very clear to put into practice," added Wang, Representative in China for Ladas & Parry LLP. "I believe the publication of the Principles will ease the tension for a lot of companies who are willing to adopt GPL'd software." Karen Sandler, Executive Director of Conservancy commented, "This is part of the impressive work undertaken by the Kaiyuanshe Legal Committee. The coordination by Kaiyuanshe shows the strength of all of the organizations and companies that have come together in China." From info at sfconservancy.org Wed Nov 30 03:18:53 2016 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy) Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2016 19:18:53 -0800 Subject: Private Internet Access launches $50, 000 match for Software Freedom Conservancy Message-ID: <87vav5odsy.fsf@ebb.org> Private Internet Access launches $50,000 match for Software Freedom Conservancy Today on Giving Tuesday, Software Freedom Conservancy announces a generous match by Private Internet Access of $50,000 towards our current fundraiser. Until January 15, Supporters count twice toward our fundraising goals! If you join or renew as a Supporter now, Private Internet Access will contribute matching support. The next 416 Supporters (both new or renewing, monthly or annually) will have the impact of 832 Supporters. Giving now will quickly advance the progress in our fundraiser and help sustain much of Conservancy's work for free and open source software. With the funds provided by previous match donors in 2016, Conservancy is over 60% towards our goal of 2,500 Supporters which we need to continue our full programmatic activities through 2017. Become a Supporter today! The match includes renewing annual supporters, and new supporters who join monthly or annually. Become a Conservancy Supporter Now: https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/ From info at sfconservancy.org Tue Dec 6 15:41:56 2016 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy) Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2016 10:41:56 -0500 Subject: Kate Chapman Joins Conservancy's Board of Directors Message-ID: <20161206154156.GA26263@shelley> URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2016/dec/06/chapman-joins-board/ Kate Chapman Joins Conservancy's Board of Directors Software Freedom Conservancy is pleased to announce the addition of Kate Chapman to its Board of Directors. Chapman is Chief Technology Officer at Cadasta[1], a 501c3 organization focused on land and resource rights, and has been very active in the free and open source software world. Chapman has championed open imagery as a public good. Chapman was the first Executive Director of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team[2], where she applied the principles of free software and open data to improve the welfare of the communities where HOT works, especially those at risk of natural disaster or other crisis. Chapman has used her expertise to teach in many countries. Chapman commented, "I'm delighted to join the Board of Directors. It is a great opportunity to further support FLOSS and especially the introduction of unrepresented groups to FLOSS contributions through Outreachy." "With experience running a free and open source software nonprofit, deep familiarity with free software and copyleft licensing as well as her experiences as an Outreachy mentor and coordinator, Kate is a particularly good fit for Conservancy's board," said Conservancy's Executive Director Karen Sandler. "I look forward to working with her and the rest of the board on some of the most important issues in software freedom today. I'm honored to have her on our board." Chapman's appointment comes as Conservancy shifts to a primarily individual donor-funded organization. Chapman offers perspective on fundraising and nonprofits operations, as well as a deep familiarity with the issues that Conservancy faces in its programmatic activities. [1]: http://cadasta.org/ [2]: https://hotosm.org/ -- Become a Conservancy Supporter Now: https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/ (And then ask a friend to become a Supporter, too! :) From info at sfconservancy.org Thu Dec 15 16:21:00 2016 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Karen Sandler) Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2016 11:21:00 -0500 Subject: Bdale Garbee joins Software Freedom Conservancy's Evaluations Committee Message-ID: <760332a1ecc347072e5c98da56831a3d@motives.com> URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2017/may/16/garbee-eval-committee/ ###################################################################### Bdale Garbee joins Software Freedom Conservancy's Evaluations Committee Software Freedom Conservancy announces today that it has appointed Bdale Garbee to its Evaluations Committee. The committee evaluates projects applying to Conservancy and selects which ones get offered membership. Meeting monthy, the committee serves as a gatekeeper, monitoring Conservancy's mission to support, promote and defend software freedom. The evaluations conducted by the comittee are often complex and require a very broad collective skill set to be successful. Ensuring that there are a strong group of independent commttee members who are experts in the field is fundamental. The Evaluations Committee is appointed by Conservancy's Board of Directors. Garbee is a technologist and community builder. He has deep connections to free and open source software communities, having been an early participant in the Debian community and board member of Software in the Public Interest for a decade. He also has substantial coporate experience in the field, and has recently retired (for the second time) from an impressive career at HP/HPE. Garbee also serves on the boards of the Freedombox Foundation and Aleph Objects. He is a co-founder of Altus Metrum, LLC, is a small business that designs, builds, and sells completely open hardware and open source avionics solutions for use in high power model rockets. Garbee is a frequent speaker and presence at free and open source software events. "The Software Freedom Conservancy plays an important role in the world of Free Software," said Garbee, "and I am happy to further support the organization by adding my experience and perspective to the Evaluation Committee." "Bdale brings a unique background which will help us make sure that we're partnering with the right member projects," commented Karen Sandler, Executive Director of Conservancy. "I can think of few free software contributors with the breadth of experience that Bdale brings to the table. We're excited to have him on the committee!" From info at sfconservancy.org Mon Dec 19 17:52:40 2016 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy) Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2016 12:52:40 -0500 Subject: Linux Australia Sponsors Conservancy with A$10,000 Donation Message-ID: <20161219175240.GA31541@shelley> URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2016/dec/19/linux-australia-sponsor/ Linux Australia Sponsors Conservancy with A$10,000 Donation Linux Australia just donated A$10,000 to Software Freedom Conservancy. At the closing session of this year's linux.conf.au, President Hugh Blemings remarked, "On behalf of the Council I'd like to announce… that we're actually in the process of making a significant donation from Linux Australia to Software Freedom Conservancy as well. I urge all of you to consider contributing individual as well, and there is much left for us to be done as a community on that front." This donation fulfills that promise to sponsor Conservancy's work supporting the free and open source software community. Conservancy's Executive Director Karen Sandler commented, "This donation is very meaningful to us both for the monetary amount and the fact that it represents such strong support from so many individuals who are passionate about software freedom and Conservancy." Our thanks to Linux Australia for their support of Conservancy and the free and open source software community. Conservancy is currently seeking to raise money from individuals in order to continue to fulfill its charitable mission. Donations that we receive now are matched by Private Internet Access and count twice. Please donate today at ! Relevant links: https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2016/aug/04/lca-2016/ https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2016/dec/05/2017-lca-preview/ -- Become a Conservancy Supporter Now: https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/ (And then ask a friend to become a Supporter, too! :)