From info at sfconservancy.org  Fri Jan  3 17:06:47 2020
From: info at sfconservancy.org (Deb Nicholson)
Date: Fri, 03 Jan 2020 12:06:47 -0500
Subject: Allison Randal Joins Conservancy Board
Message-ID: <1578071207.2386.5.camel@sfconservancy.org>

URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2020/jan/03/arandal/

We're very excited to welcome Allison Randal to Conservancy's Board of
Directors. When it comes to free and open source software, there are
few people who have had so much [experience in so many different
ways.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allison_Randal) Over the last 30
years, she has taken on projects that became instrumental in welcoming
more people to the software freedom cause. She's made numerous critical
technical contributions in addition to her impressive leadership
contributions. She's also worked hard to get folks from very different
organizations to collaborate on languages, licensing and events. We're
very lucky that Randal has chosen to bring [her uniquely broad and
historical perspective](https://allisonrandal.com/) to her work as a
Conservancy Director.

Randal is a board member at the Perl Foundation, a board member at the
OpenStack Foundation, and co-founder of the FLOSS Foundations group for
free software community leaders. At various points in the past she has
served as president of the Open Source Initiative, president of the
Perl Foundation, board member of the Python Software Foundation,
chairman of the Parrot Foundation, chief architect of the Parrot
virtual machine, Open Source Evangelist at O’Reilly Media, conference
chair of OSCON, Technical Architect of Ubuntu, Open Source Advisor at
Canonical, Distinguished Technologist and Open Source Strategist at HP,
and Distinguished Engineer at SUSE. She collaborates in the Debian
project, and is currently taking a mid-career research sabbatical at
the University of Cambridge. While on sabbatical, [she has been
teaching computer science.](https://cam.lohutok.net/)

When asked for a quote, Randal's first response was,"The problem with
writing a quote [about Conservancy] is that I have so much to say that
it doesn't fit in a quote!" Randal went on to describe her longtime
appreciation of Conservancy's work. She highlighted our mulifaceted
approach, "Conservancy's work is important to the free software
ecosystem in so many ways that I have a hard time condensing it down to
a few words, but the big three for me are diversity outreach, providing
a healthy home for free software projects, and steadfast advocacy and
defense of user freedoms."

"We are so glad we can welcome someone who is as accomplished as
Allison onto our board," said Conservancy's Executive Director, Karen
Sandler. "There are few people who have Allison's commitment to
software freedom let alone who have such impressive technical expertise
and governance experience. Conservancy is at critical point in 2020. We
have exciting plans and significant challenges ahead. We are glad that
our board represents such a breadth of thoughtful and experienced
leadership to help set the course."

About Conservancy

Conservancy is a resourceful, non-profit organization dedicated to
helping people take control of their computing experience by growing
the software freedom movement, supporting community-driven alternatives
to proprietary software and defending free software builders with
practical initiatives. Conservancy believes that the future of software
should be for everyone.

-- 
Deb Nicholson <deb at sfconservancy.org>
Software Freedom Conservancy



From info at sfconservancy.org  Wed Jan 15 19:15:38 2020
From: info at sfconservancy.org (Deb Nicholson)
Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2020 14:15:38 -0500
Subject: Conservancy Joins Mozilla's Amicus Brief in Google v. Oracle
Message-ID: <1579115738.2336.7.camel@sfconservancy.org>

URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2020/jan/15/googlevoracle/

We are pleased to announce our participation in an amicus brief filed
by Mozilla with the United States Supreme Court. The [amicus brief](htt
ps://blog.mozilla.org/netpolicy/files/2020/01/20200113120624750_18-956-
Amici-Curiae.pdf) calls on the court to reverse the Federal Circuit's
earlier decision. The earlier decision came down in Oracle's favor and
held Oracle's Java API copyrightable. We Amici (Latin for "friends of
the court") are asking the Supreme Court to find in favor of Google and
take the stand that copyright law should not be expanded to include
API's. Developers rely on the ability to use API's without fear of
retaliation to provide users with interoperability, additional choices,
and modifiable software. Forcing payment agreements in this new area
disproportionately harms smaller projects and projects in the public
interest.

In addition to Conservancy, Mozilla was joined by other charities
including Creative Commons, Open Source Initiative, and Wikimedia
Foundation, as well as a number of small to medium tech companies that
rely on FOSS and the freedom to innovate.

About Conservancy

Conservancy is a resourceful, non-profit organization dedicated to
helping people take control of their computing experience by growing
the software freedom movement, supporting community-driven alternatives
to proprietary software and defending free software with practical
initiatives. Conservancy believes that the future of software should be
for everyone.




-- 
Deb Nicholson <deb at sfconservancy.org>
Software Freedom Conservancy



From info at sfconservancy.org  Wed Apr 29 19:31:18 2020
From: info at sfconservancy.org (Deb Nicholson)
Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2020 15:31:18 -0400
Subject: Second Annual Copyleft Conf: Videos Are Up!
Message-ID: <1616abadacd28d9a48c44c31f2e227998e370b91.camel@sfconservancy.org>

URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2020/apr/29/cc2video/

In February, we ran our second annual [Copyleft Conf](
https://2020.copyleftconf.org/). Thanks to our program committee; Molly
de Blanc, Beth Flanagan, Bradley Kuhn, Deb Nicholson, Nithya Ruff, Josh
Simmons and Haralde Welte, the [schedule](
https://2020.copyleftconf.org/schedule/) was both bold and timely. We
are happy to announce that all the videos of this year's sessions are
now [available for you to watch.](https://2020.copyleftconf.org/video) 

This year's [keynote](
https://archive.org/details/copyleftconf2020-sebro) was delivered by
[Tony Sebro](https://wikimediafoundation.org/profile/tony-sebro/), who
is Vice President of Counsel for the Wikimedia Foundation, former
General Counsel of Conservancy, and serves on the Outreachy organizer's
committee. In his talk, Tony wonders whether the community around
copyleft, like those around eschatology and Afro-centric hip-hop, has
lost it's center and how we might entice new stakeholders to reinvest
in our shared values. His keynote is a great place to start with this
year's videos.

We also want to especially thank Coraline Ada Ehmke for participating
in Copyleft Conf. She describes our responsibility as technologists and
shared her plan for building a movement to keep technology from being
used by bad actors. Both [her talk](
https://archive.org/details/copyleftconf2020-ehmke) and the [community
discussion](
https://archive.org/details/copyleftconf2020-ethical-licensing) that
followed are available to watch now. The passionate conversation around
ethical licensing was cited by many as a highlight of the conference
and we're glad we were able to host it at Copyleft Conf. 

In case you missed it, our first year's keynote was Molly de Blanc.
She's the Manager of Strategic Initiatives at GNOME Foundation. There
was [a Faifcast episode](http://faif.us/cast/2019/may/31/0x68/) where
Bradley and Karen discuss her talk, "The Margins of Software Freedom"
coupled with an onsite interview. Many of the 2019 Copyleft Conf videos
are also [available to watch.](https://2020.copyleftconf.org/video)

We have no way of knowing what 2021 will mean for in-person events, but
we will continue to advocate for and discuss copyleft as a tool for
software freedom -- stay in touch by following us on [Mastodon](
https://mastodon.technology/@conservancy) or [Twitter](
https://twitter.com/conservancy) or swing by #conservancy on
freenode.net to talk with folks in real time, any time, but [especially
on Thursdays at 6pm UTC.](
https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2020/mar/12/virtualchat/)


About Conservancy

Conservancy is a resourceful, non-profit organization dedicated to
helping people take control of their computing experience by growing
the software freedom movement, supporting community-driven alternatives
to proprietary software and defending free software builders with
practical initiatives. Conservancy believes that the future of software
should be for everyone. 

-- 
Deb Nicholson <deb at sfconservancy.org>
Software Freedom Conservancy



From info at sfconservancy.org  Mon May 18 21:31:15 2020
From: info at sfconservancy.org (Deb Nicholson)
Date: Mon, 18 May 2020 17:31:15 -0400
Subject: Clojurists Together Foundation Launches!
Message-ID: <e0d0ff4c421ff6eedff59f0056e9ce01822a9a10.camel@sfconservancy.org>

Conservancy Sunsets Charitable Donations for Clojurists Together Grants
URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2020/may/18/ClojuristsSunset/

Clojurists Together, in conjunction with Software Freedom Conservancy,
announces today the formation of the [Clojurists Together Foundation](
https://www.clojuriststogether.org), a new trade organization,
dedicated to funding and supporting open source software,
infrastructure, and documentation that is important to the Clojure and
ClojureScript community. For the past four years, Conservancy, a
charitable 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, managed Clojars'
development grant program, known as "Clojurists Together" has been
managed by Conservancy, a charitable 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
The Clojurists Together  program, under Conservancy's auspices, funded
creation of free and open source software, infrastructure, and
documentation that the Clojure/ClojureScript community relies on,
licensed freely for use, modification, and redistribution by the
general public.

Clojars [joined Conservancy](
https://sfconservancy.org/news/2017/feb/23/clojars-announcement) in
February 2017.  Conservancy helped Clojars create and 
manage the Clojurists Together grant program. Since late 2017, the
program has funded critical Clojars and Clojure development including
code, infrastructure files and documentation. Conservancy funded
critical projects such as Bruce Hauman's Figwheel tool, an updated API
and other features for clj-http, a widely used base HTTP client. All 
told, Conservancy managed over $200,00 for this program, and gave
grants and contractor payments of over $150,000 for code development on
Clojars and Clojure. Conservancy and Clojars transparently published
[contemporaneous (
https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2018/jun/26/highlightsJune2018/)
[highlights](
https://www.clojuriststogether.org/news/february-2019-monthly-update/)
of that [work](
https://www.clojuriststogether.org/news/august-2019-monthly-update/).

We have all been excited and proud of this excellent work for the last
four years. After much collaborative discussion between Conservancy and
Clojars, we have agreed that the newer initiatives and upcoming plans
for Clojars belong in a new independent trade association which
provides ways for for-profit companies to join together to fund and
influence important open source work and also have direct control over
their assets and operations to accomplish this work with their own
timescale and procedures. We have thus encouraged and advised the
Clojars community as they created the [Clojurists Together Foundation](
https://www.clojuriststogether.org/).

Conservancy will spend remaining charitably donated funds eamarked for
Clojars in ways that benefit the charitable mission of
Conservancy within the Clojure and ClojureScript community. However,
Conservancy will no longer accept donations earmarked for Clojars
starting on Monday June 1, 2020. Conservancy will automatically
terminate automated donation accounts and refund any Clojars donations
that arrive after that date.

Finally, we would like to specifically thank Daniel Compton for his
tireless work and dedication to FOSS that he has shown throughout this
process. Daniel worked as a volunteer to build the Clojurists Together
program with Conservancy to help advance software freedom in his
community and his commitment to that truly embodies the mission
of advancing software freedom for the public that Conservancy pursues.



-- 
Deb Nicholson <deb at sfconservancy.org>
Software Freedom Conservancy



From info at sfconservancy.org  Tue Jul 21 15:50:07 2020
From: info at sfconservancy.org (Deb Nicholson)
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 2020 11:50:07 -0400
Subject: The Institute for Computing in Research Joins Conservancy!
Message-ID: <47e985d3dc153c40f432105f623f779b9ca1627a.camel@sfconservancy.org>

URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2020/jul/21/ICRjoins/

Program Uses Software Freedom and Mentorship to Bridge Inequities in
Scientific Research

Conservancy is proud to welcome in a new member project that both fills
in a critical opportunity gap for young scientists and introduces the
next generation of researchers to essential free software tools. The
[Institute for Computing in Research](https://computinginresearch.org/)
 runs a mentoring program that trains students finishing 10th, 11th and
12th grade to do rigorous scientific research using free software. This
year's round of internships began last week with ten students and,
while based in New Mexico, is fully remote for 2020.

The Institute's mentorship program address a significant problem:
almost all the prestigious research opportunities for youth go to
students from privileged families who have connections to laboratories
and universities. The Institute recruits a diverse group of northern
New Mexico students, offers them a stipend, and pairs them with world-
class volunteer mentors. The Institute's mission fits in well with our
existing commitments to creating paid opportunities to learn free
software via Outreachy as well as our strategic support of great free
software tools for researchers and academics, including Xapian, Racket,
MicroBlocks and Common Workflow Language. Students who leave the
Institute's annual mentoring program will leave with critical
experience, an expanded professional network, as well as a whole suite
of free software tooling that they can continue to use as they launch
their research careers.

Institute director Rhonda Crespo commented, "We are excited to provide
this opportunity and exposure to career paths in scientific research
for our students. Partnering with Conservancy allows us to not only to
focus on making sure that the program and the kids' experiences with
scientific research and free software tools are positive and inspiring,
but it also allows us to explore expanding the program beyond New
Mexico in the coming years."

Co-founder Mark Galassi, an astrophysicist at Los Alamos National
Laboratory and member of Software Freedom Conservancy's Board of
Directors, emphasizes two areas in which the connection to Conservancy
is a great fit, "Scientific research was the soil in which software
freedom grew, and the Institute's mission is deeply rooted in software
freedom." Speaking about his inspiration for the project, he added
"While we select students for merit, we have spent years developing a
pipeline by teaching math and computer programming, recruiting from
northern New Mexico's fantastically diverse pool of motivated
youngsters. The results have gone beyond our hopes, and Conservancy's
expertise in running Outreachy had already inspired our model."

Karen Sandler, Conservancy's Executive Director added, "Providing
opportunities for young scientists while teaching them how important
software freedom is for research and data analysis is incredibly
important. We're so proud Conservancy can have a role in leveling the
playing field for these students and can't wait to help the program
grow."


About The Institute for Computing in Research
The Institute for Computing in Research runs a mentoring program that
trains students finishing 10th, 11th and 12th grade to do rigorous
scientific research using free software. The Institute recruits
students who might not otherwise have access to scientific
apprenticeships, offers them a stipend and pairs them with volunteer
mentors who train them to use free software operating systems and
research tools.

About Conservancy
Conservancy is a resourceful, non-profit organization dedicated to
helping people take control of their computing experience by growing
the software freedom movement, supporting community-driven alternatives
to proprietary software and defending free software builders with
practical initiatives. Conservancy believes that the future of software
should be for everyone. 




-- 
Deb Nicholson <deb at sfconservancy.org>
Software Freedom Conservancy



From info at sfconservancy.org  Thu Jul 30 19:31:24 2020
From: info at sfconservancy.org (Deb Nicholson)
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2020 15:31:24 -0400
Subject: Conservancy Applies to Renew Key DMCA Exemption
Message-ID: <57a161c9d9e9f546838e57514cc162c53799fd60.camel@sfconservancy.org>

URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2020/jul/30/refile2020/

Conservancy has once again pushed for a renewal of the exemption to
smart TV's, effectively allowing people to install and use free
software on their own televisions. As part of a coalition with a group
of researchers, our Executive Director, Karen Sandler also participated
in filing the renewal application to continue the exemption for medical
devices filed by the USC's Gould School of Law. Both of these
exemptions must refiled in the triennial review process to ensure that
interacting with the software in these devices does not become
unlawful.

In 2015 the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) was amended to
expand the exemption process within the original sweeping 1998
legislation that criminalized many types of digital tinkering and
improvements. The Copyright Office is tasked with soliciting and
approving proposed exemptions to the law every three years to allow
people to undertake non-infringing work on various devices. Many of the
activities that are proscribed by the DMCA would hamper security
research, interfere with commonplace after-market modifications to
users' devices or preclude trivial repairs by laypeople without clearly
described exemptions. Once renewals are filed, there is a period of
time for oppositions to those renewals to be filed. As in the past,
Conservancy has succeeded in explaining why the exemption for smart TVs
is so important and we are ready to respond to any opposition now.

Sandler says, "These filings are critical to make sure that we have
access and control of the software and data we need for our basic
safety. It's absurd that manufacturers use technological protection
measures to prevent consumers from having control of their own devices
and in particular to lockdown devices that rely on copylefted software
like is the case with smart TVs."

Conservancy first filed petitions to protect researchers and users from
the DMCA's overbearing anti-circumvention provisions in [2015](
https://sfconservancy.org/news/2017/oct/30/dmca-exemptions-renewed/).
The smart TV and medical device exemptions were renewed again in
[2017](https://sfconservancy.org/news/2015/feb/09/smartTV-DMCA/).

-- 
Deb Nicholson <deb at sfconservancy.org>
Software Freedom Conservancy



From info at sfconservancy.org  Wed Aug 12 20:22:07 2020
From: info at sfconservancy.org (Deb Nicholson)
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 2020 16:22:07 -0400
Subject: A new chapter for PyPy: Transitioning away from a Charitable Model
Message-ID: <05797007f8bbdcc1f00a290687662f3a08b06f3f.camel@sfconservancy.org>

Conservancy Winds Down Its Involvement in PyPy

URL:https://sfconservancy.org/news/2020/aug/12/pypy-transition/

PyPy has been a member project of Software Freedom Conservancy since
2010 and although it's been a mutually successful partnership, nothing
lasts forever — especially in software. Today, Conservancy and PyPy
announce that they are winding down their ten year relationship. PyPy
will remain free software, but the community's structure and
organizational underpinnings will change. Conservancy provides a fiscal
and organizational home for projects that find the freedoms and
assurances that come along with a charitable home advantageous for
their community goals. While this framework was a great fit for the
early PyPy community, that community has changed such that this is no
longer the case. PyPy's leadership are exploring non-charitable options
for its next phase of growth.

PyPy joined Conservancy shortly after the release of PyPy 1.2, the
first version to contain a fully functional JIT. In 2013, PyPy started
supporting ARM, bringing its just-in-time speediness to many more
devices and also began working toward supporting NumPy to help
scientists crunch their numbers faster. Together, PyPy and Conservancy
ran successful fundraising drives and facilitated payment and oversight
for contractors and code sprints. Conservancy has supported PyPy's
impressive growth as they expanded support for different hardware and
inclusion of new modules and added support for Python 3 as the
underlying language itself evolved. Over the years, with Conservancy's
help, PyPy paid nine contractors over $220,000 to work on many
important issues.

On behalf of the PyPy community, Simon Cross and Carl Friedrich Bolz-
Tereick commented "PyPy would like to thank Conservancy for their
decade long support in building the community and wishes Conservancy
continued success in their journey promoting, improving, developing and
defending free and open source software."

"We are happy that Conservancy was able to help PyPy bring important
software for the public good during a critical time in its history,"
said Karen Sandler, Conservancy's Executive Director. "We wish the
community well and look forward to seeing it develop and succeed in new
ways."

In order to make good use of the generous donations made by stalwart
PyPy enthusiasts over the years, Conservancy and PyPy together made a
plan to fund critical improvements to PyPy over the last year. By
working with independent experts, Conservancy and PyPy prioritized work
that made PyPy better for everyone. We thank Simon Cross Elana Hashman
and Jean-Paul Calderone for volunteering to help steer that work.
Conservancy has helped PyPy with the transition and assisting with its
remaining charitable obligations.

About PyPy and Conservancy

PyPy is a multi-layer python interpreter with a built-in JIT compiler
that runs Python quickly across different computing environments.

Conservancy is a resourceful, non-profit organization dedicated to
helping people take control of their computing experience by growing
the software freedom movement, supporting community-driven alternatives
to proprietary software and defending free software builders with
practical initiatives. Conservancy believes that the future of software
should be for everyone. 


-- 
Deb Nicholson <deb at sfconservancy.org>
Software Freedom Conservancy



From info at sfconservancy.org  Thu Aug 20 19:30:54 2020
From: info at sfconservancy.org (Deb Nicholson)
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2020 15:30:54 -0400
Subject: Deb Nicholson to Join Open Source Initiative as Interim General
 Manager
Message-ID: <a9e06475441a23356f2a8f8c00874ce3e512cdb1.camel@sfconservancy.org>

URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2020/aug/20/debleaving/


Deb Nicholson has been serving as our Director of Community Operations
for just over two years and is now leaving to Conservancy to take on
the role of Interim General Manager at the [Open Source Initiative](
https://opensource.org/)(OSI). Although Deb will no longer be on our
staff, she'll remain part of the Conservancy community, most formally
as a volunteer on our Evaluation Committee that reviews applications
from potential new member projects.

In the two years since she became the [Director of Community
Operations](
https://sfconservancy.org/news/2018/may/01/deb-nicholson-director-community-operations/
), Deb has helped Conservancy welcome six new member projects, put on
two Copyleft Confs, run two fundraising seasons and contributed over 50
posts to our blog.

"Deb has been an important part of Conservancy's growth and successes
over the last two years. While it's hard to imagine Conservancy without
Deb, we look forward to many more collaborations with OSI and are
thrilled to see her step into this important role. I'm happy knowing
that we will continue collaborating towards the betterment of the
software freedom movement across organizations." said Karen Sandler,
Conservancy's Executive Director.

Deb added, "It's been fantastic being part of Conservancy's day-to-day
work and part of the conversation around its plans for the future. As
our relationship to technology becomes ever more deeply entwined, I'm
proud to have been part of the work to empower users here at
Conservancy and look forward to following the organization's progress
as both a Conservancy volunteer and FOSS colleague."

OSI and Conservancy are organizational allies in the promotion of
software freedom. Last year, Conservancy [became an affiliate member of
OSI](https://sfconservancy.org/news/2019/mar/14/joiningOSI/), and in
matters that affect the global free and open source software
communities that both orgs care deeply about, the two non-profits will
continue to work together. Conservancy wants to congratulate both OSI
and Deb on their decision to join forces.

Josh Simmons, Open Source Initiative's President says,"We're thrilled
to welcome Deb as an Interim General Manager at OSI. Her credentials
are top notch, and she's well respected within the free and open source
software communities... I couldn't ask for a better partner as OSI
works through its second major transformation! Deb's roots in the
software freedom community and at Conservancy bode well for our
movements as we strive to present a more unified front to advance our
shared goals."

-- 
Deb Nicholson <deb at sfconservancy.org>
Software Freedom Conservancy



From info at sfconservancy.org  Thu Sep 10 17:54:23 2020
From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy)
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2020 10:54:23 -0700
Subject: OpenWrt Joins Conservancy!
Message-ID: <87sgbp4iwg.fsf@ebb.org>

URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2020/sep/10/openwrt-joins/

                         OpenWrt Joins Conservancy

OpenWrt — building on their sixteen years of success as the most popular
Free and Open Source (FOSS) wireless router project — today joins
Conservancy as a member project. FOSS wireless routers assure software
freedom for all Internet users. Conservancy will help OpenWrt continue to
thrive and grow as its new fiscal sponsor.

OpenWrt occupies a special place in the history of software
freedom. OpenWrt's creation and launch shows that GPL enforcement works and
advances software freedom. In 2004, when Linksys released the firmware code
for the WRT54G router series, coders and tinkerers regained control over
their own routers, and launched OpenWrt based on the sources liberated from
GPL enforcement. Today, OpenWrt leverges software freedom protected by the
GPL to share that freedom and control with everyone who uses wireless
routers to connect to the Internet.

Bradley M. Kuhn, our Policy Fellow and Hacker-in-residence has a long
history with OpenWrt. “A few times in my career, I've had the opportunity to
collaborate with like-minded developers and techologists who took a stand
that became a catalyst for major change. The proudest, though, was when I
led the coalition who enforced the GPL on Linksys' non-compliant WRT54G”,
said Bradley. “It brings me great joy these many years later to have the
opportunity to support, defend, and improve the OpenWrt project through our
work at Conservancy. OpenWrt structures itself primarily as a user-focused,
grassroots project to provide liberated after-market firmwares for as many
wireless router models as possible. I cannot even imagine a project that
fits better with the mission and focus of Conservancy to bring FOSS to the
general public.”

Inside Conservancy, as with our other member projects, a small
representation committee will represent the OpenWrt community and leadership
to streamline interactions and work with staff. This initial representation
committee will be John Crispin, Hauke Mehrtens, and Jo-Philipp Wich. Excited
to join Conservancy today, on behalf of the committee, Jo-Philipp stated:
“The OpenWrt team is proud to continue our work towards internet software
freedom as a Conservancy member project. Conservancy's commitment to
software freedom and its nonprofit expertise make it a natural fit for
OpenWrt. We look forward to improving our project's organization and
securing the future development and availability of FOSS embedded router
firmware together”.


Even before OpenWrt's joining today, Conservancy collaborated in other ways
with the OpenWrt project, including many regular contributors to OpenWrt
joining Conservancy's GPL Compliance Project for Linux
Developers. Conservancy also often uses OpenWrt's porting status on various
models as a reference to assess GPL compliance status in the wireless router
market. Formalizing our various connections in this new way is an exciting
step for OpenWrt and Conservancy, and we all look forward to doing more to
advance the state of software freedom for wireless device users.

About OpenWrt:

The OpenWrt Project is a Linux-based operating system targeting embedded
devices. Instead of trying to create a single, static firmware, OpenWrt
provides a fully writable filesystem with package management. This frees you
from the application selection and configuration provided by the vendor and
allows you to customize the device through the use of packages to suit any
application. For developers, OpenWrt is the framework to build an
application without having to build a complete firmware around it; for users
this means the ability for full customization, to use the device in ways
never envisioned.

About Software Freedom Conservancy:

Conservancy is a resourceful, non-profit organization dedicated to helping
people take control of their computing experience by growing the software
freedom movement, supporting community-driven alternatives to proprietary
software and defending free software builders with practical
initiatives. Conservancy believes that the future of software should be for
everyone, and in particular, home users of small electronic devices such as
wireless routers.

Social Media posts:
 https://twitter.com/conservancy/status/1304115454189826048
 https://mastodon.technology/@conservancy/104841893326002148

-- 
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 16 20:00:33 2020
From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy)
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2020 13:00:33 -0700
Subject: Conservancy Requests Three DMCA Exemptions to Let People Control
 Their Devices
Message-ID: <874knxze3i.fsf@ebb.org>

URL: https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2020/sep/16/dmca-exemptions-2020/

   Conservancy Requests Three DMCA Exemptions to Let People Control Their Devices

Every three years, the US Copyright Office conducts a rulemaking process to
consider exemptions to the anticircumvention provisions of the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). These are the provisions of the law that
make it a criminal offense to circumvent digital rights management
technology (DRM). These provisions give technology companies far too much
control over the technology people use, prohibiting all kinds of
modification and tinkering in the name of “copyright protection.” We would
love to see the anticircumvention provisions of the DMCA repealed in their
entirety.

Until that happens, the rulemaking process gives us an opportunity to
request exemptions that are strategically important for software freedom and
essential for us to be able to control our own devices. This year we
requested three new exemptions:

  * To allow people to investigate whether software on a device violates
    free and open source software (FOSS) licenses, and to exercise rights
    that would ordinarily be granted by those licenses were it not for the
    technological restrictions
    
  * To allow people to conduct good-faith testing, investigation, and
    correction of privacy issues—for example, think Internet of Things
    devices that phone home with more information than they disclose
    
  * To allow people to install alternative firmware on routers and other
    network hardware they buy, to add or remove functionality as they see
    fit

All of these exemptions recognize the growing prevalence of small, dedicated
devices in many people’s lives. We’re always horrified to learn when gadgets
that should be innocuous like doorbells, thermostats, and baby monitors are
spying on us, whether by design or careless programming. It should not be a
crime for people to investigate these issues and take steps to defend
themselves with devices they’ve bought and own—especially when the device is
running FOSS that promises the user those very rights. Our requests call on
the US Copyright Office to codify that common sense into law.

We also requested renewal of the exemption that allows people to install
alternative software on smart TVs that we previously won in 2015.

These requests kick off the beginning of the process, where all new
exemptions are requested. We can expect the Copyright Office to announce
what exemptions are granted around this time next year. We’ll be sure to
keep you updated on the process.

Social Media Links:
  https://mastodon.technology/@conservancy/104875335403685971
  https://twitter.com/conservancy/status/1306255775497674754

-- 
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 Oct  1 18:12:05 2020
From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy)
Date: Thu,  1 Oct 2020 18:12:05 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: Conservancy Announces New Strategy for GPL Enforcement and Related
 Work, Receives Grant from ARDC
Message-ID: <20201001181205.89EEDE34C@pine.sfconservancy.org>

URL: <https://sfconservancy.org/news/2020/oct/01/new-copyleft-strategy-launched-with-ARDC-grant/>

Software Freedom Conservancy, the only organization actively engaged
in General Public License (GPL) enforcement and compliance work for
Linux, announces today a new strategy toward improving compliance and
the freedom of users of devices that contain Linux-based systems. The
new work has received an initial grant from Amateur Radio Digital
Communications (ARDC).

Copyleft enforcement ensures software freedom for all. Copyleft
licenses require distributors to provide complete source code —
including installation instructions. Without this, we do not control
the software that surrounds us. Whether we want to fix simple bugs,
remove functionality to protect our privacy, or completely replace
device firmware, we need the ability to modify and reinstall the
software on our devices. Today, Conservancy announces it is
undertaking a new, multi-pronged approach to our copyleft compliance
work.

Our new initiative features:

* [Litigation to enforce against license violators][1] that do not
  voluntarily comply in a timely manner
* [Coordinating the development of alternative firmware for
  devices][2] where none currently exists
* Collaborating with other organizations to promote copyleft
  compliance as a feature for consumers to protect their privacy and
  get more out of their devices

We take this holistic approach because compliance is not an end in
itself, but rather a lever to help people advance technology for
themselves and the world. Bradley Kuhn, Conservancy's Policy Fellow
and Hacker-in-Residence remarked: "GPL enforcement began as merely an
education process more than twenty years ago. We all had hoped that
industry-wide awareness of copyleft's essential role in spreading
software freedom would yield widespread, spontaneous compliance. We
were simply wrong about that. Today, we observe almost universal
failure in compliance throughout the (so-called) Internet of Things
(IoT) market. *Only* unrelenting enforcement that holds companies
accountable can change this abysmal reality. ARDC, a visionary
grant-maker, recognizes the value of systemic enforcement that
utilizes the legal system to regain software freedom. That process
also catalyzes community-led projects to build liberated firmware for
many devices."

ARDC has long served the amateur radio community who were early
adopters of Internet communication. These roots have grown from the
deeper soils of wireless and digital communication and open access to
technical information. Amateur radio operators have long practiced the
tradition of individual technical experimentation that benefited the
general public. These traditions also form the basis of software
freedom. Hobbyists and volunteers built, modified and improved Free
and Open Source Software (FOSS) first. Conservancy defends the rights
of software developers to examine the code in their devices and
assists their work to improve the platforms they rely on and to
understand our communication technologies. Copyleft compliance enables
this work to continue and expand to new kinds of devices.

Rosy Wolfe, ARDC's Executive Director commented: "GPL enforcement is
notoriously difficult, and yet it is necessary to deter self-serving
actors who want the benefits of community software but won't follow
the rules. Thus Conservancy's efforts in this arena are critical, and
we are honored to support them in this work."

When companies prevent us from actually modifying the software on our
devices, software freedom remains only theoretical. In this new
chapter of compliance work, Conservancy will leverage its technical
and legal resources to help the public take control of the software on
which they rely. This generous grant from ARDC is a first step. Please
help in the next step through support of Conservancy's work [with a
donation][3]. You can also email <compliance at sfconservancy.org> to let
us know about GPL violations or to discuss volunteering on these
projects.

[1]: https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/enforcement-strategy.html
[2]: https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/firmware-liberation.html
[3]: https://sfconservancy.org/donate

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sfconservancy.org/pipermail/announce/attachments/20201001/d4e80b48/attachment.html>

From info at sfconservancy.org  Tue Nov  3 14:35:34 2020
From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy)
Date: Tue, 03 Nov 2020 09:35:34 -0500
Subject: Conservancy is hiring!
Message-ID: <544f112b4083a20d065d45f23484c1aa@sfconservancy.org>

URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2020/nov/02/2020-11-hiring/

     Conservancy is hiring!

Software Freedom Conservancy is looking for a new employee with the 
special skills of working on a daily basis with FOSS projects and their 
leaders.

Conservancy is a resourceful, non-profit organization dedicated to 
helping people take control of their computing experience by growing the 
software freedom movement, supporting community-driven alternatives to 
proprietary software and defending free software builders with practical 
initiatives. Conservancy believes that the future of software should be 
for everyone. Our organization is involved in every area of the software 
freedom community: from handling bookkeeping and accounting; to license 
analysis, compliance, education, and enforcement; to project and 
community mentorship; to administration and devops work for and with our 
member projects; to software development in strategic areas.

We are seeking a full-time employee who can help us with several 
important areas in our organization. Accordingly, we are able to tailor 
the position for the right candidate and expect that person to grow and 
develop along with the organization.

This is a full time salaried position with benefits (including health 
insurance and paid time off), working remotely. Ideally, this employee 
would be in a timezone congruent with the continental United States. 
Excellent fluency in English, both oral and written, is required. You 
must also be extremely detail-oriented. This position will pay 
commensurate with experience, but will be a typical salary for charities 
in smaller US cities. A laptop running free software will be provided. 
Conservancy employees are never required to use or write non-FOSS as 
part of their job.

Job description

While the items below encompass many different roles, we welcome 
applications that focus on whatever areas match the applicant's skills 
and past experience best, including some of the following critical 
areas:

*   Communication: writing blogposts and other public materials, 
managing correspondence internally and externally with FOSS projects and 
the community. Willingness and ability to communicate clearly the 
organization's agenda, plans, and successes on many different platforms. 
Recognize from staff and contractor reports items for promotion and 
capitalize quickly on those opportunities.
*   Fundraising: helping us run our donation campaigns (from conception 
through execution), supporting relationships with donors (including 
running our Supporter program), pursuing opportunities for grant funding 
ambitiously.
*   Event organization (when events can be safely held): organizing up 
to multi-day, multi-track events with thousands of attendees, managing 
contractors who help handle such events. Until COVID-19 situation 
improves, figuring out how we can best do such events online and help 
our projects do them.
*   Administration: engaging in administrative duties and tasks 
including tracking obligations to third parties, data entry, mail, HR 
tasks, ordering supplies, and organizing various activities in support 
of Conservancy's mission. This stuff is no fun, but we all share this 
work here at our small organization, and we seek someone who fits well 
with our team to pitch in when the need arises.
*   Briefing staff daily: following all the news, events, details and, 
well, drama in FOSS communities, figuring out what parts of Conservancy 
staff needs to know, and plan and propose ideas for what we can do to 
help or improve any given situation.

For interested candidates, there is also the opportunity to work on 
copyleft compliance, public speaking, supporting Conservancy's member 
projects and participating in advocacy, education and policy work.

This is a unique opportunity for a highly-skilled tech non-profit 
employee to create a position that most fits their background while 
assisting a dynamic tech charity.

Applications can be submitted via email to jobs at sfconservancy.org. 
Please include a resume or CV, cover letter, short writing sample and/or 
links to published work online, such as articles, free software 
contributions, or conference presentation videos. All materials must be 
in a file format that can be easily viewed with free software, such as a 
PDF viewable by Evince, Text, or LibreOffice format.

We are open to candidates of a variety of backgrounds and experience 
levels. We are uncompromising in our mission and values, and happy to 
train a high- potential but less experienced candidate.

-- 

Become a Supporter today! http://sfconservancy.org/supporter/


From info at sfconservancy.org  Tue Nov 24 18:23:22 2020
From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy)
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 2020 13:23:22 -0500
Subject: Generous Match Challenge from Individual Conservancy Supporters for
 Annual Fundraiser
Message-ID: <6c201bfa9dfdef3a4b736c8f9e322a65@sfconservancy.org>



URL:

https://sfconservancy.org/news/2020/nov/24/annual-match-2020/

######################################################################


Generous Match Challenge from Individual Conservancy Supporters for 
Annual Fundraiser

We are pleased to launch our annual fundraiser today with a match 
challenge of $111,029. This match is extremely exciting (not only 
because it is a prime number for the second year but also) because the 
pledges comes entirely from individuals (not companies!) who care deeply 
about software freedom. The bulk of this match challenge was provided by 
one very generous donor who prefers to remain anonymous. Their amount 
was augmented by six Conservancy Supporters (listed alphabetically) who 
came together to increase the match even more: Jeremy Allison, Kevin P. 
Fleming, Roan Kattouw, Jim McDonough, Allison Randal and Daniel Vetter. 
You'll be hearing more about why they joined this year's match donation 
in interviews on our blog in the coming weeks.

Sign up as a Supporter now or renew your Support by January 15th and 
have your donation count twice!
https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/

This year's been difficult for everyone, but Conservancy has worked hard 
to contribute as much as possible during this time. Did you know that 
Conservancy spent about $1.5 million dollars to fund software freedom 
projects and initiatives? And, that Outreachy provided the most 
internships this past year than ever before? And, that we've launched 
new strategic efforts to defend copyleft for software in our community? 
Read more about Conservancy's work and accomplishments over the past 
year on our Supporter page (https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/
).


From info at sfconservancy.org  Wed Dec  2 20:05:02 2020
From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy)
Date: Wed, 2 Dec 2020 15:05:02 -0500
Subject: Sage Sharp joins Conservancy as Senior Director of Diversity &
 Inclusion focusing on Outreachy
Message-ID: <c3e4961d-e094-5cbf-b59d-15dae694ec70@sfconservancy.org>

URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2020/dec/02/sharp-newest-employee/

Today Software Freedom Conservancy announces its newest employee, Sage 
Sharp. Sharp has been critical to the success of Outreachy, 
Conservancy’s diversity initiative that provides paid, remote 
internships to people who are subject to systemic bias or impacted by 
underrepresentation in tech. Sharp joins as Senior Director of Diversity 
& Inclusion, focusing on Outreachy.

Sharp is a long-standing free software contributor, and known for their 
work as a Linux kernel maintainer for seven years. They also founded 
their own company, Otter Tech, with which they trained over 400 people 
on how to enforce a Code of Conduct. Sharp also advised free software 
communities on their Code of Conduct enforcement procedures. Also 
notably, Sharp created or consulted on custom Codes of Conduct and 
enforcement procedures for the PyCon U.S. conference, the Python 
Software Foundation, Elastic, GNOME Foundation, and The Carpentries.

Sharp has given numerous talks at free software conferences. Recently, 
Sharp gave the 2019 keynote at SeaGL entitled “Countering Impostor 
Syndrome Culture”. Sharp has also won awards for their free software 
contributions, including the 2016 O’Reilly Open Source Award and the 
2015 Women in Open Source Award sponsored by Red Hat. Sharp came out as 
non-binary and transgender in 2017. Sharp now uses they/them pronouns.

For the last seven years, Sage Sharp has worked with Outreachy. Sharp 
was the coordinator for Outreachy Linux kernel mentors 2013 to 2015. In 
2015, Sharp stepped up to become an Outreachy organizer, working with 
Outreachy participants from many free software communities. Sharp worked 
alongside Outreachy organizers and fellow Outreachy Project Leadership 
Committee members Marina Zhurakhinskaya, Karen Sandler, and Tony Sebro.

“We are so fortunate that Sage has dedicated their talents to growing 
and improving Outreachy, first as a Linux kernel coordinator and mentor, 
then as a contractor, and now as a full-time employee,” said Marina 
Zhurakhinskaya, who relaunched the internship program in 2010. “As we 
celebrate 10 years of Outreachy internships and over 700 interns whom we 
supported in becoming established free software contributors, we are 
poised for continued success and growth thanks to Sage’s leadership.”

Sharp will be working full-time as an Outreachy internship organizer, 
seeking grants and funding for Outreachy, promoting the program, and 
ensuring that the Outreachy mentors, coordinators, applicants, interns, 
and alums are supported.

“Having Sage, with their impressive skills and experience, as a 
full-time employee is momentous for both Conservancy and Outreachy,” 
commented Karen Sandler, who has been part of Outreachy’s leadership 
since 2011 and is Conservancy’s Executive Director. “This is the first 
time Conservancy has hired a full-time employee to work on one of its 
member projects. With Sage in this role, Outreachy will be a more stable 
program and poised to grow.”

“To me, the challenge of getting people to use and contribute to free 
software is closely aligned with the struggle to make our free software 
communities more inclusive,” said Sage Sharp. “Free software communities 
need a diverse set of contributors to understand people’s needs, 
especially the needs of marginalized groups. That is how we ensure all 
people use free software. But in order for free software to attract and 
retain a diverse set of contributors, our communities need to change 
their culture to become more inclusive. Outreachy provides the link 
between people from marginalized groups and supportive free software 
communities. Working closely with Conservancy is essential for the 
success of Outreachy and the future of free software.”

Sharp will also host weekly office hours for Conservancy member 
projects. Conservancy is proud to support free software member projects 
who seek advice on diversity, inclusion, and creating safe and welcoming 
communities.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sfconservancy.org/pipermail/announce/attachments/20201202/c8fc9934/attachment.html>

From info at sfconservancy.org  Tue Dec 15 22:59:11 2020
From: info at sfconservancy.org (Software Freedom Conservancy)
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 2020 14:59:11 -0800
Subject: Conservancy Files =?utf-8?Q?=E2=80=9CLong_Comments=E2=80=9D?= for
 Its Three DMCA Exemptions
Message-ID: <87r1nq4qww.fsf@ebb.org>

News Item: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2020/dec/15/dmca-exemptions-long-form/
Mastodon:  https://mastodon.technology/@conservancy/105386652790385153
Twitter:   https://twitter.com/conservancy/status/1338979742175748096

      Conservancy Files “Long Comments” for Its Three DMCA Exemptions
               Conservancy Fights for User Rights and Control

Software Freedom Conservancy filed its long-form comments yesterday in
support of three DMCA exemption requests in the Library of Congress'
Copyright Office Triennial Rulemaking process. The Digital Millenium
Copyright Act (DMCA) provides this process to grant temporary exemptions to
allow circumvention of technological protection measures (i.e., DRM) that
restrict access to copyrighted material.

The three exemptions, which Conservancy has shepherded through the 2021
process since September 2020, seek essential rights for those who wish to
exercise their software freedom. There were many great exemption requests
filed this round by many different organizations. The three that Conservancy
led were as follows:

  • Our first exemption request allows Conservancy and others to continue
    enforcement of copyleft licenses in the face of violators' efforts to
    thwart us with technological restrictions and the power of this law that,
    ironically, can make such work illegal. This exemption would permit
    circumvention of technological measures for purposes of investigating and
    confirming violations of FOSS license. Read more:
      Original Filing:
        https://downloads.regulations.gov/COLC-2020-0010-0049/attachment_1.pdf
      Newly Filed Long Comment:
        https://sfconservancy.org/docs/2020-12-14_Comment-Class-16_copyright-license-invesigation.pdf        

  • The second exemption is the first-ever attempt to gain a comprehensive
    exemption for network router FOSS projects such as our OpenWrt project.
    This exemption, if approved, would permit users, after-market, to
    install FOSS firmwares (such as OpenWrt) on wireless router hardware
    that has DRM'd firmwares from the manufacturer. Read more:

      Original Filing:
        https://downloads.regulations.gov/COLC-2020-0010-0052/attachment_1.pdf
      Newly Filed Long Comment:
        https://sfconservancy.org/docs/2020-12-14_Comment-Class-11_networking-devices.pdf

  • Our third exemption requests expansion of §1201(i) and the existing
    security research exemptions to also permit good-faith testing,
    investigation, and correction of privacy issues that are not otherwise
    covered by existing stautory or temporary exemptions. Read more:
      Original Filing:
        https://downloads.regulations.gov/COLC-2020-0010-0050/attachment_1.pdf
      Newly Filed Long Comment:
        https://sfconservancy.org/docs/2020-12-14_Comment-Class-13_privacy-research.pdf

Conservancy plans various blog posts this month that explain the DMCA
exemption process, where we are currently in that process this year, and
gives detailed non-legal explanations of our Long Comments.

Conservancy's annual fundraiser is currently underway with a generous match
donations from individuals who care deeply about software freedom and
Conservancy's work. You can support our efforts on these DMCA exemptions and
our other work by becoming a Supporter now.

Please note: while the Long Comment templates were indeed provided by the
Copyright Office in Microsoft Word format and say so at the top of each
document, we and our attorneys imported them into LibreOffice for
preparation and filing.
-- 
Become a Conservancy Supporter Now: https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/
  (And then ask a friend to become a Supporter, too! :)