From info at sfconservancy.org Sun Jan 22 22:32:00 2017 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy) Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2017 14:32:00 -0800 Subject: Last 13 Hours To Have 28 Supporter Renewals & New Signups for Conservancy Matched! In-Reply-To: <87vav5odsy.fsf@ebb.org> (Software Freedom Conservancy's message of "Tue, 29 Nov 2016 19:18:53 -0800") References: <87vav5odsy.fsf@ebb.org> Message-ID: <87fukaafq7.fsf@ebb.org> Private Internet Access match extended, but only until January 22 On Giving Tuesday, Private Internet Access kicked off a match for the dues of every Supporter who joined or renewed. Over 340 people have been matched this way, making it the fastest fundraiser we've had so far. We can't thank you all enough for sustaining our work! With so much momentum, Private Internet Access has agreed to extend the match just one week to see if we can get all the way to its full value. We're just about 28 more Supporters away from that goal. If you haven't already, please join or renew to help us get the full match! Conservancy still has so much room to grow. Member projects would love for us to provide more services, or do more in our existing programs like GPL compliance. More and more new projects apply to join Conservancy. There's lots of demand for our help. We would love to meet that demand, but we need more resources to make it happen. Signing up as a Supporter during the match is the best way to help us get there. Don't delay: join or renew as a Supporter in the next 13 hours to take advantage of the match! 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 Sat Feb 4 15:29:37 2017 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy) Date: Sat, 4 Feb 2017 10:29:37 -0500 Subject: Announcing a new match sprint for 150 Supporters Message-ID: <20170204152937.GA19624@shelley> URL: Announcing a new match sprint for 150 Supporters Conservancy is excited to announce that an anonymous donor has agreed to match 150 new or renewing Supporters. They've challenged us to meet the goal quickly: the match starts now along with FOSDEM in Brussels, and runs about a week to the end of Monday, February 13 (noon on Tuesday, February 14 UTC). This is Conservancy's most aggressive match program to date. After an impressive rally from the community to meet the end of the Private Internet Access match last month, we're eager to see whether we can build off that momentum and the buzz of FOSDEM to sign up 150 Supporters in a week. So don't hesitate: join or renew as a Conservancy Supporter today, at ! We're especially looking to use this opportunity to encourage new Supporters to join. If you're already a Supporter, please spread the word about this match to your friends and colleagues and encourage them to sign up. The bigger our Supporter base, the more projects we can help with fiscal sponsorship, outreach, and compliance work. The more we can do, the more the community benefits, so make sure your friends know about this limited-time chance! -- Become a Conservancy Supporter Now: https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/ (And then ask a friend to become a Supporter, too! :) From info at sfconservancy.org Fri Feb 10 15:42:23 2017 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy) Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2017 10:42:23 -0500 Subject: Executive Director Karen Sandler Took the Main Stage at Campus Party Brasil Message-ID: <20170210154223.GA13527@shelley> URL: Executive Director Karen Sandler Took the Main Stage at Campus Party Brasil Talked to Students about Software Freedom Last week Software Freedom Conservancy's Executive Director, Karen Sandler, took the stage at Campus Party Brasil to talk about software freedom in her talk "Cyborgs Unite!" Campus Party Brasil 2017 was held in São Paulo, Brazil. This year 8,000 people attended the conference. Targeted at students, many of the attendees camp out in tents at the venue. There are hackathons, workshops, talks and games. The event is extremely festive, and talks are on stages throughout the enormous expo floor. Karen told her personal story about being an "advogada ciborgue" and needing a defibrillator. She talked about how medical implants are becoming much more common. She explained how critical software freedom is already and how it will become moreso in the future as more people become cyborgs. "Being present at events such as Campus Party Brasil, where young people are getting excited about technology, is one of the most critical things the free software community can do," said Karen Sandler. "We must bring the ideals of software freedom to a new generation and make sure that future technology is ethical technology." Karen was interviewed by many members of the press, and several articles have appeared in Brazilian news outlets: * TecMundo: * InfoMoney: * IDG: * Estadão: * IT Forum 365: -- 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 Feb 13 17:26:23 2017 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy) Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2017 12:26:23 -0500 Subject: Bradley Kuhn Delivered Copyleft Keynote at FOSDEM Message-ID: <20170213172623.GA12962@shelley> URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2017/feb/13/bkuhn-fosdem-keynote/ Bradley Kuhn Delivered Copyleft Keynote at FOSDEM Emphasized how compliance empowers developers At FOSDEM last week, Conservancy's Distinguished Technologist Bradley Kuhn delivered a keynote "Understanding The Complexity of Copyleft Defense." The speech reviews the history of GPL enforcement efforts, pointing out development projects such as OpenWRT and SamyGo that began thanks to GPL compliance work. Kuhn focused in particular on how copyleft compliance can further empower users and developers as more kinds of devices run GPL'd software, and he concluded his remarks urging developers to take control of their own work by demanding to hold their own copyrights, using mechanisms such as Conservancy's ContractPatch initiative. FOSDEM is attended by thousands of people and is one of the FOSS community's premier conferences. FOSDEM is a community-oriented, not-for-profit conference organized by volunteers. You can watch Kuhn's full keynote on the FOSDEM site at or on our YouTube channel at . Relevant links: https://wiki.openwrt.org/about/history https://www.samygo.tv/ https://sfconservancy.org/contractpatch/ -- 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 Feb 14 15:09:31 2017 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy) Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2017 10:09:31 -0500 Subject: Conservancy Supporter Match Now Extended Through February Message-ID: <20170214150931.GA2941@shelley> URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2017/feb/13/02-17-extend/ Conservancy Supporter Match Now Extended Through February 15 Days Left to Double Your Support for Your Favorite Free & Open Source Software Projects The next 89 Supporters to join Conservancy by the end of February will have their donation doubled! Join or renew today, at ! After Conservancy signed up over 60 Supporters in just one week, an anonymous donor has decided to extend their match through the end of Conservancy's fiscal year (ending on February 28). Our anonymous donor says, “It's important to expand Conservancy's base of support so that it has stable and predictable finances. It's a bit of a challenge to get people to pay attention to FOSS with a new horror here in the US every day, but free software is as important as ever--if not more so.” We agree with this sentiment. We work hard to define our goals and focus on our most important issues. The donations you inspire convert directly to the work that you want to see. The more Supporters we have, the more projects we can help with fiscal sponsorship, outreach, and compliance work. There are dozens of projects waiting to join Conservancy, but we don't invite them them to join until we know that we have the resources to help them. Our current projects have been coming forward too to urge Supporters to join. You can see statements of support by many of Conservancy's member projects, including: * Git: * Bro Network Security Monitor: * Twisted: * Squeak: * Outreachy: * Godot Game Engine: * Homebrew: * Selenium: If you're already a Supporter, please spread the word about this match to your friends and colleagues and encourage them to sign up (or renew early to be counted in this match). Please post to any appropriate mailing lists, blog and microblogging services. Thank you for supporting software freedom! From info at sfconservancy.org Thu Feb 23 20:29:00 2017 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy) Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2017 15:29:00 -0500 Subject: Clojars is Conservancy's Newest Member Project Message-ID: <20170223202900.GA3540@shelley> URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2017/feb/23/clojars-announcement/ Clojars is Conservancy's Newest Member Project Software Freedom Conservancy is pleased to announce the addition of Clojars as its newest member project. Clojars is a community-maintained repository for free and open source libraries written in the Clojure programming language. Clojars emphasizes ease of use, publishing library packages that are simple to use with build automation tools. Conservancy is a non-profit public charity focused on ethical technology. It provides a home to its member projects that develop free and open source software. Conservancy helps its projects run as charitable initiatives without having to independently undertake the effort to do it on their own. Joining Conservancy allows projects to collect donations, hold assets, and provide some liability protection for their lead developers' project-related activities. "Clojars is proud to join Software Freedom Conservancy," said Toby Crawley, co-maintainer of the Clojars project. "This will help us continue to develop Clojars, to engage with corporations using Clojars, and to create new programs and funding initiatives to support the growing Clojure community." Conservancy Evaluation Committee member Tom Marble commented, "As a Clojure developer I am pleased to welcome Clojars to Conservancy because both value community, collaboration and diversity. Clojars provides a popular network repository for Clojure and ClojureScript packages. It is an essential part of the Clojure development ecosystem. I expect that as a member project, with Conservancy's guidance, Clojars will grow and thrive." Relevant links: https://clojars.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 Jul 20 19:52:38 2017 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Karen Sandler) Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2017 15:52:38 -0400 Subject: Conservancy Welcomes Etherpad as a Member Project, Launches Etherpad Instance Message-ID: <53e1533467dff88791cac81972048483@motives.com> URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2017/jul/20/etherpad/ ###################################################################### Conservancy Welcomes Etherpad as a Member Project, Launches Etherpad Instance Software Freedom Conservancy proudly welcomes Etherpad as Conservancy's newest member project. Etherpad is is a highly customizable web-based editor providing collaborative real-time editing. Conservancy, a public charity focused on ethical technology, is the home of over forty member projects dedicated to developing free and open source software. Conservancy acts as a corporate umbrella, allowing member projects to operate as charitable initiatives without having to independently manage their own corporate structure and administrative services. "We're excited to be joining Conservancy," said John McLear, Etherpad's chief maintainer. "Conservancy is well-known for its expertise in free and open source software project administration and mentorship. Now that Etherpad is a member, we look forward to working with Conservancy to advance our project." "Our staff are avid Etherpad users," commented Karen M. Sandler, Conservancy's Executive Director, "and we strongly believe that free collaboration tools like Etherpad can facilitate the growth and development of new projects in free software and free culture. Etherpad is a great fit for Conservancy." To celebrate Etherpad's joining Conservancy, Conservancy is today launching its own Etherpad instance, which is available at pad.sfconservancy.org. Now anyone can use it to make, edit and collaborate documents. From info at sfconservancy.org Wed Aug 16 14:09:01 2017 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Karen Sandler) Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2017 10:09:01 -0400 Subject: Software Freedom Conservancy Announces North Bay Python Conference Message-ID: <150de1fbfe4453412c517230c59bccfc@motives.com> URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2017/aug/16/north-bay-python/ ###################################################################### Software Freedom Conservancy Announces North Bay Python Conference Newest member project is dedicated to organizing conference in Petaluma, CA Software Freedom Conservancy announced today that North Bay Python, a regional conference in Petaluma, California designed to be inclusive and affordable, has become Conservancy’s first member project dedicated to organizing community events. Conservancy, a public charity focused on ethical technology, is home to over forty member projects dedicated to developing and promoting free and open source software. Conservancy acts as a corporate umbrella, allowing member projects to operate as charitable initiatives without having to manage their own corporate structure and administrative services. “Joining Conservancy is a big step for us,” said Christopher Neugebauer, chair of the North Bay Python team. “It’s good news logistically, though we’re most excited by our philosophical alignment. Like Conservancy, our goal is to promote the use and development of free and open source software. We will do that by running an event that is accessible to people from all walks of life, especially those who are underrepresented and underserved by existing events.” “We’re glad to have North Bay Python onboard as our first community conference member project,” explained Karen M. Sandler, Conservancy’s Executive Director. “Many of our member projects run events, but this is new for us. We strongly believe that community-run events, especially those that make diversity and inclusion a first-order priority, are critical to expanding access to software freedom. We can’t wait to realize that vision together with North Bay Python.” To mark the occasion, North Bay Python is donating five free tickets to Outreachy participants. Interested Outreachy alums (past or present) should contact outreach at northbaypython.org. North Bay Python will also have special offers for Supporters of Software Freedom Conservancy, which will be announced when tickets go on sale. Organizations that want to support efforts to make the free and open source software community more inclusive can find information on sponsorship opportunities for North Bay Python in the prospectus for this year’s event. About North Bay Python North Bay Python is a 2-day community conference that brings together professionals, enthusiasts, and students interested in the Python programming language. North Bay Python 2017 will be held on December 2 & 3 at the Mystic Theatre in Historic Downtown Petaluma, California. For more information visit northbaypython.org. From info at sfconservancy.org Mon Oct 16 13:48:21 2017 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy) Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2017 09:48:21 -0400 Subject: Conservancy Applauds Linux Community's Promotion of Principled Copyleft Enforcement Message-ID: <87efq3w6e2.fsf@ebb.org> URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2017/oct/16/linux-kernel-enforcement-statement/ Social Media Links: https://identi.ca/conservancy/note/qCCbn3ubRUyo9XFfXl05OQ https://twitter.com/conservancy/status/919920459638083584 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15483027 Conservancy Applauds Linux Community's Promotion of Principled Copyleft Enforcement Software Freedom Conservancy congratulates the Linux community for taking steps today to promote principled, community-minded copyleft enforcement by publishing the Linux Kernel Enforcement Statement. The Statement includes an additional permission under Linux's license, the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2 (GPLv2). The additional permission, to which copyright holders may voluntarily opt-in, changes the license of their copyrights to allow reliance on the copyright license termination provisions from the GNU General Public License version 3 (GPLv3) for some cases [1]. Conservancy also commends the Linux community's Statement for reaffirming that legal action should be last resort for resolving a GPL violation, and for inviting noncompliant companies who work their way back into compliance to become active participants in the community. By bringing clarity to GPLv2 enforcement efforts, companies can adopt software with the assurance that these parties will work in a reasonable, community-centric way to resolve compliance issues. Conservancy believes that free and open source software communities can use copyleft licenses to establish a healthy framework for collaboration and cooperation. We also believe that, when seeking compliance with such licenses, it is in the community and in the public's interest to bring people and companies into the community rather than to alienate them or seek monetary gain. That's the fundamental premise of our Principles of Community-Oriented GPL Enforcement: yesterday's violator can be tomorrow's valued contributor. We co-authored and published the Principles with the FSF in 2015 to engage the broader free and open source software community in a dialogue about how to best achieve community-minded copyleft compliance. We believe that GPLv3's termination provisions better reflect the collaborative and friendly process of GPL enforcement that Conservancy, FSF, and gpl-violations.org have historically employed. Accordingly, we've encouraged copyright holders in GPLv2-licensed projects to forgive violators who cure violations in a timely manner in accordance with GPLv3§8, despite the stricter terms found in GPLv2§4. We are glad to see the Linux community express their formal alignment with this position. Some Linux sub-projects — such as Netfilter — have wholly endorsed and adopted the Principles, and we continue to encourage the entire Linux community to adopt all of the Principles fully. We want to continue the conversation about how to best promote, encourage, and enforce compliance, and we invite members from the Linux community to join our ongoing forum for public discussion on the principles-discuss mailing list. Conservancy has suggested to all Linux copyright holders participating in our GPL Compliance Project for Linux Developers) that they sign this new Linux Kernel Enforcement Statement to grant the additional permission. In addition to coordinating a coalition of copyright holders, Conservancy itself is a copyright holder in Linux, as developers have also assigned Linux copyrights to our organization. As a copyright holder in Linux, Software Freedom Conservancy signs onto the Linux Kernel Enforcement Statement. We plan to continue our work enforcing GPLv2 for our own copyrights (and those of our coalition), and will always afford violators — as we have since our inception — the 60- and 30-day periods for violation cure in GPLv3, even though Linux's default GPLv2 termination is much stricter and always permanent. We will continue to do this, even in defensive actions. [1] The additional permission in the Statement does not apply when a company is defending itself from any legal claim, even one unrelated to GPL. -- 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 Oct 23 14:44:52 2017 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy) Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2017 10:44:52 -0400 Subject: Conservancy Announces Partnership with the Digital Impact Alliance Message-ID: <20171023144452.zf3eb6ia2epjfmb7@shelley> URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2017/oct/23/osc-conservancy-partnership/ Conservancy Announces Partnership with the Digital Impact Alliance Software Freedom Conservancy is honored to partner with the Digital Impact Alliance (DIAL) to provide services in support of its new Open Source Center. DIAL, an initiative of the United Nations Foundation, is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The Center will provide resources to free and open source software projects serving international development and humanitarian response. Conservancy is positioned to help participating projects deal with a variety of challenges including basic asset stewardship services and trademark management. Software projects participating in the DIAL Open Source Center will have priority access to Conservancy’s comprehensive fiscal sponsorship services, enabling them to offload the complex management issues that a standalone foundation would involve. “The DIAL Open Source Center is founded upon the belief that the techniques evolved by the free & open source software movement are the best ways to create inclusive, collaboratively-designed software,” said Michael Downey, the Center’s Director of Community. “That movement is built around the idea of leveraging excellent work by others, so we’re pleased to be partnering with Software Freedom Conservancy to connect their industry-leading services to our participating projects.” “Conservancy is committed to supporting software development communities who create ethical technology for the public’s benefit,” said Karen Sandler, Conservancy’s Executive Director. “Our team is strongly aligned with DIAL’s mission to build more mature technology products and communities to support international development. We are eager to increase the impact of those projects by connecting them with our expertise and services.” The Center will also provide participating projects with ongoing funding opportunities. Over the next few weeks, it is currently offering a first round of catalytic grants to projects serving international development and humanitarian response that foster a healthy, sustainable free and open source software community. The program website is now active in beta mode at and is soliciting potential members to join and help shape the program. Relevant links: DIAL: Open Source Center: UN Foundation: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: USAID: -- 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 Oct 30 19:51:56 2017 From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy) Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2017 15:51:56 -0400 Subject: Copyright Office Agrees to Continue DMCA Exemptions for Smart TVs, Medical Devices Message-ID: URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2017/oct/30/dmca-exemptions-renewed/     Copyright Office Agrees to Continue DMCA Exemptions for Smart TVs, Medical Devices On Friday the US Copyright Office published a proposed rulemaking to renew all existing exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).  Activities covered by exemptions cannot be prosecuted as criminal acts under the law.  Two exemptions slated for renewal are one proposed by Conservancy to allow people to install new firmware on smart TVs they own; and one advocated by Conservancy executive director Karen Sandler to allow security researchers to evaluate medical devices. Under the DMCA, the Copyright Office is tasked with soliciting and approving proposed exemptions to the law every three years.  Conservancy previously proposed and won the smart TVs exemption to allow people to install free software TV firmware like SamyGO.  Sandler was part of a coalition with Harvard University's Cyberlaw Clinic to win an exemption that allows people to passively investigate medical devices that aren't implanted in people for potential security issues.  Conservancy and the coalition petitioned for the renewal of both as part of this year's rulemaking process. Sandler commented, "The anticircumvention provisions of the DMCA are overbearing and continue to hamper the development of ethical technology.  The exemptions process at least gives us one opportunity to protect some of the most important work being done by developers and technology users today.  Three years is not much time for new development to mature.  We're glad that the Copyright Office recognizes that and continues to exempt this important work on smart TVs and medical devices from criminalization." Fred Jennings, attorney at Tor Ekeland, P.C. and pro bono counsel to Conservancy on the matter commented, "We're happy to see the Office saw through the opponents' baseless assertions about infringing use, and made good on its statement that renewals would be granted unless new reasons for opposition were shown." You can read Conservancy's petition to renew the smart TV exception at . Relevant links:   Proposed rulemaking:   SamyGO: -- Become a Conservancy Supporter Now: https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/   (And then ask a friend to become a Supporter, too! :)