Nabble - Gnu - Members

LibrePlanet Conference scheduled for March 19th-21st!

2009-12-15T14:57:50Z

Dear Member,

Mark your calendar! This year's LibrePlanet Conference will be held
March 19th-21st in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at Harvard University.

We're expanding to three days! Some things are already set, including: a
GNU Hackers Meeting for GNU maintainers and developers, a track
featuring presentations from women in free software, and an address from
our founder and Board president Richard M. Stallman. Activities include:

* Learn about the latest developments with the GNU operating system.
* Participate in group hacking projects -- bring your laptop.
* Represent your free software project with a mini-presentation.
* Learn about practical steps in free software advocacy.

We have space for only 250 attendees, so please register soon to secure
your place! FSF members attend for free with non-members paying $60 --
so why not become a member? Everyone who attends receives a LibrePlanet
2010 t-shirt.

Here's the current rough schedule and registration details:

Thursday, March 18th (Evening) -- Informal dinner and drinks among the
people in town so far, and an initial introduction for GNU maintainers
and developers attending the GNU Hackers Meeting.

Friday, March 19th -- Hands-on hacking, bug-squashing, and documentation
work on projects which will be announced in advance (please bring a
laptop), simultaneous with a full day of GNU Hackers Meeting events

Saturday, March 20th -- Address by RMS, and keynotes from other free
software and GNU speakers

Sunday, March 21st -- Lightning talks and presentations by attendees
covering free software projects, practical steps in advocacy and
diversity, and a GNU track with maintainers presenting on both their own
projects and ideas for improving GNU overall

Please RSVP for Saturday and Sunday by placing your name here:
http://groups.fsf.org/wiki/LibrePlanet2010

Here's some background and links to previous years:
http://www.fsf.org/associate/meetings/index_html You can read more about
the GNU Hackers Meetings at http://www.gnu.org/ghm/

Are you one of our members who lives far away and would come but only if
you could have your travel paid for? We'll be subsidizing travel for the
member who completes the most referrals between now and March 1, 2010.
Use our widget (http://www.fsf.org/associate/widget) on your Web site or
forward along the join link (http://www.fsf.org/jf) with a note.

(The fine print: we'll cover up to $800 for travel to LibrePlanet for
the person who brings in the most new members.)

We look forward to having you join us this year!

Cheers,
Deborah

Helping the FSF year end appeal

2009-12-08T12:49:57Z

Last week I recorded a short video "We must make freedom our goal" as
part of our year-end membership drive. Please view the video at:

http://www.fsf.org/appeal/2009/freedom-is-the-goal

In the video I explain the 3 strategic ways in which the Free Software
Foundation works and campaigns (http://www.fsf.org/campaigns) to advance
the cause of free software -- all made possible because of the support
of members like you.

Please take a moment to look over this list of other ways you can help
the FSF reach its membership fundraising goals for 2010:

* Renew your membership early this year or increase your membership
donation level http://www.fsf.org/associate/account/am_account_renew

* Help us recruit new members by asking your friends to sign-up
referencing your member number. Top recruiters get recognition and
our thanks: www.fsf.org/associate/referrers/referrerlist

* Purchase a gift membership for a friend or family member this
holiday season: http://fsf.org/associate/gift

Thanks for helping!

Happy Hacking, Peter and the Free Software Foundation team

--
Peter Brown
Executive Director
Free Software Foundation
www.fsf.org www.gnu.org

Spread the free software philosophy by joining the new FSF Community Team

2009-12-07T13:31:16Z

Hi everyone,

The FSF is putting together a group of volunteer supporters to spread
the free software philosophy in blogs, online press, and through
social networking sites.

Find out more:

* <http://groups.fsf.org/wiki/Community_Team>

If you spend some time each day reading popular blogs or mainstream
press and you have a good handle on the debate around software
freedom, this could be a great opportunity. As part of the FSF
Community team, you'll be doing things like:

* Responding to questions and correcting misconceptions about free
software in online media.

* Working with the FSF campaigns team to respond to big news stories
that impact software freedom, or stories that are chances for people
to understand why free software matters.

* Making sure that important stories, about topics like fully free
GNU/Linux distributions, DRM, or the dangers of "cloud computing," get
as much attention as possible in the media and the widest possible
reach through social networking sites.

Just to be clear, the goal here is not to get into long, drawn out
flame-wars :). Rather, this will be an organized and respectful
approach to raising awareness of free software's importance. As an FSF
member, you're already very familiar with the principles of free
software. This is a great chance to put that knowledge to use.

If this is something that interests you, take the first step by
joining the discussion list:

* <http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/fsf-community-team>

Thanks, and we appreciate your support!

Holmes Wilson
Campaigns Manager
Free Software Foundation

Boston (Massachusetts, USA) office volunteers needed Nov. 20th, 23rd and 24th

2009-11-17T13:55:00Z

Hi all,
We're going to be stuffing envelopes in the FSF office from 11am until
6pm on Friday Nov. 20th, Monday Nov. 23rd and (probably) Tuesday Nov.
24th. If you're here in the middle of the day, you will receive pizza
in gratitude for your services.

Please let us know which day(s) you can join us and feel free to bring a
friend, partner, daughter or son!

The office is located at 51 Franklin Street in downtown Boston, near the
Red, Orange, Green and Blue lines.

Cheers,
Deborah
---

Deborah Nicholson
Membership Coordinator
Free Software Foundation
617-542-5942 x12

Members: Thank you for your help yesterday

2009-11-05T14:26:12Z

Thank you for your help yesterday testing out our new video player and
widget. The feedback from all our members has been great. The best bug
report was, "The widget makes Google Chromium explode on Ubuntu 9.10."

Tomorrow, there will be a press release announcing the new video
campaign and our year-end appeal. But today you can help by trying out
our new sharing feature on fsf.org. By using http://fsf.org/share you
can share Jeremy Allison's video through various social networks and
tell your friends why you're a member of FSF.

I also wanted to give you a reminder of other ways to help FSF during
our year-end campaign:

* Please subscribe your employer to our Newsletter and Bulletin
($240 annually): http://fsf.org/donate/subscription

* Purchase a gift membership for a friend or family member this
holiday season: http://fsf.org/associate/gift/.

* Check out the FSF shop for books and T-shirts http://shop.fsf.org/

I know that sharing these videos with your friends and colleagues will
get them talking about free software and GNU/Linux, and that's the most
important thing.

If you would like to record an advocacy video to be featured in our
campaign, check out http://www.fsf.org/appeal/2009/video-guidelines

Happy Hacking, Peter and the Free Software Foundation team

--
Peter Brown
Executive Director
Free Software Foundation
www.fsf.org www.gnu.org

Members: Please test FSF video player and widget

2009-11-04T14:12:59Z

Please visit http://www.fsf.org/ now to help us test the new FSF video
player and our ability to balance our traffic load before we do a full
launch of our year-end membership drive.

You should see a video from FSF member and Samba developer Jeremy
Allison. Jeremy does a great job introducing people to the advantages of
GNU/Linux and free software, and we hope it will inspire more people to
give using it a try.

This is the first in a weekly series of videos we will be releasing
during our year-end membership drive. The videos will highlight the work
of our members and supporters, FSF staff and board members.

Please also test our new video widgets at
https://my.fsf.org/associate/widget. You can put these widgets on any
website you control to help us promote the campaign. They will update
automatically from fsf.org as we rotate in new videos.

The widget uses Michael Leigeber's Tinybox, with a combination of jQuery
and mvembed for the displaying of the video. mvembed, developed by
Metavid, is free software written in JavaScript which allows users of
browsers who don't have support for the latest HTML5 video and audio
tags to enjoy these multimedia aspects, without relying on proprietary
software. Our campaigns manager Matt Lee did a great job getting our web
pages ready for this.

Please send notice of any errors you see to webmaster@.... Some lag
is expected, so don't worry about that unless it's severe.

You can also help today by making an early renewal of your 2010
membership https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom.

Thanks for your support!

Happy Hacking, Peter and the Free Software Foundation team

--
Peter Brown
Executive Director
Free Software Foundation
www.fsf.org www.gnu.org

Volunteers needed in Baltimore, Maryland, Nov. 4th and 5th

2009-10-26T09:15:55Z

Hi,
The Free Software Foundation is going to have a table at an event in
downtown Baltimore on November 4th and 5th. I'm writing because we need
volunteers to help run the table.

Talking to folks at technology conferences is a great way to help spread
the word about free software and a great way to help us increase our
membership base. And as it turns out, it's also fun!

If you'd like to volunteer with a friend, partner, daughter or son, just
let me know. I'll also be at the table, so no one will be on their own.

Wednesday, November 4th
noon - 3:30pm
3:30pm - 7pm

Thursday, November 5th
10 am - 2pm

Let me know if you've got any questions.
See you in Baltimore!
Deborah

Deborah Nicholson
Membership Coordinator
Free Software Foundation
617-542-5942 x12

Use free software? Support free software!
http://www.fsf.org/jf

Support software freedom with the new FSF credit card

2009-10-23T13:17:24Z

We're happy to announce a new way credit card users can give
financial support to the FSF and our fight for software freedom:
by using a credit card with the Free Software Foundation logo.

* http://www.cardpartner.com/app/fsf

(Please don't let the thought of supporting us encourage you
to start using a credit card if you don't already, or discourage you
from buying anonymously with big-brother-resistant cash.)

Funds from our new Visa program will help support the mission of the
FSF to preserve, protect and promote the freedom to use, study, copy,
modify, and redistribute computer software, and to defend the rights
of Free Software users.

If you use a credit card, sign up for the Free Software Foundation
Visa Platinum Rewards Card and support FSF with every purchase.
There's a $50 donation to the FSF by the bank when you first use the
card, plus ongoing contributions of 30 basis points or .3% of retail
transactions. US residents only.

THERE'S A CONTEST, TOO

The current FSF credit card has the "floating gnu" on it.
We're looking to offer other card designs, designs that reflect, in
some visual way, the activist spirit of the FSF and its supporters.

Specifically, we need photos and artwork. They can be original, or
links to public domain images on the net. By sending the image, you
also agree to make it available as CC-BY. If we choose your image for
the cards, we'll send you the t-shirt of your choice from the FSF
store.

Send them as GIF, JPG, or PNG, in the best quality you can manage, to
holmes@....

If the image is from the web, send a link, with a link to the license
info. Note: If you send artwork, don't include any text. We know
that's annoying, but it complicates things for a few reasons. Also,
I won't be able to get back to all of you individually, so thanks in
advance for your help, and good luck!

Why is free software important to you? Submit your response to our new video campaign!

2009-10-21T12:50:25Z

The FSF is launching a new advocacy campaign, and we'd love to have
you involved.

One of the most important tasks for us at FSF is to help foster the
understanding that free software is crucial to a free society, and
that citizens should switch to free software at home and in their own
work, for freedom's sake. But in many ways, most of this work has
always been done by the millions of free software users around the
world, telling others why they care about free software and what they
use it for.

So, why not make all that energy, specificity, and persuasion part of
our message to the world on FSF.org? And what better way to do it
than with videos from free software supporters, published using free
formats and an exciting new free standard for online video?

In 2-5 minutes, using a camcorder, digital camera, or webcam, you can
create a video about why you or a friend love free software. Then
submit your video and invite friends to do the same!

Submission guidelines:

* <http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/video_testimonial_guidelines/>

At the Women in Free Software Summit and the Boston celebration of
Software Freedom Day 2009, FSF volunteer Dana Moser roved the event
asking participants the following questions, and making videos of the
responses:

* "What do you do with free software?"
* "Why do you like free software?"
* "Why is software freedom important to you?"

Blog post with Dana's videos:

* <http://www.fsf.org/news/video_testimonials_campaign/>

Direct links to the video files:

* <http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/what_like_sm.ogv>
* <http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/important_sm.ogv>

More about Dana:

* <http://curiousart.org/resume.html>

We look forward to watching your contributions!

Thanks,

Holmes Wilson

Free Software Foundation

P.S. We've been collecting written testimonials for a while -- check
out the link below. If you'd like to submit a written testimonial,
email testimonials@....

* <http://www.fsf.org/resources/testimonials>

If you'd also like to put up a short video to be part of our end of
year fundraising campaign, instructions are here:

* <http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/year-end-fundraising-videos/>

Volunteers needed in Ontario on Sat. October 24th!

2009-10-13T13:45:39Z

Hi all,
The Free Software Foundation is going to have a table at an event in
Ontario on Saturday, October 24th. I'm writing because we need
volunteers to help run the table.

Talking to folks at technology conferences is a great way to help spread
the word about free software and a great way to help us increase our
membership base. And as it turns out, it's also fun!

If you want to volunteer with a friend (or partner, daughter, son, etc.)
let me know so I can sign you both up for the time slot.

Saturday, October 24th
9 am - 1pm
1pm - 5 pm

Let me know if you've got any questions.
Thanks!
Deborah

Volunteers needed in Sandy, Utah next weekend, 10/8-10/10

2009-10-01T08:21:13Z

Hi,
The Free Software Foundation is going to have a table at an event in
downtown Sandy , Utah, just south of Salt Lake City on October 8th, 9th
and 10th. I'm writing because we need volunteers to help run the table.

Talking to folks at technology conferences is a great way to help spread
the word about free software and a great way to help us increase our
membership base. And as it turns out, it's also fun!

The tabling hours are 9am - 5pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I'd
like to have one person take on each day, but let me know if you can
only commit for part of the day. I highly recommend volunteering with a
friend, partner, daughter or son -- it makes the tabling experience tons
more fun!

Thursday, October 8th
9am - 5pm

Friday, October 9th
9am - 5pm

Saturday, October 10th
9am - 5pm

Let me know if you've got any questions.
Thanks,
Deborah

25 years of GNU - support software freedom!

2009-09-29T16:36:12Z

Dear Free Software Supporter,

Tomorrow we mark the end of our year-long celebration of the 25th
anniversary of the GNU Project---a celebration that we kicked off in
September 2008 with a wonderful video from author and comedian Stephen
Fry (http://www.gnu.org/fry/).

Today, we celebrate the fact that we have passed 25,000 subscribers to
our monthly newsletter, the Free Software Supporter
(http://www.fsf.org/fss), and we thank the 3,200 individuals who have
joined the Free Software Foundation as associate members to fund our
work. You can join their ranks now and become a proud card carrying member:

* Becoming an FSF Associate Member
<http://fsf.org/jf>

* Give a gift of FSF Membership
<http://www.fsf.org/associate/gift/>

* As a member use our widget to refer your friends
<https://my.fsf.org/associate/widget/>

* Donate without membership
<https://my.fsf.org/donate/>

I am proud that the FSF has so many dedicated activists and members, who
every day voice their support for our mission and advocate for a free
society.

The free software movement has had an excellent year, and awareness of
the ethical importance of free software is growing. Together, we are
fighting the scourge of proprietary software, software patents, Digital
Restrictions Management, and Treacherous Computing, in an effort to
build a world of free software where we the users are free.

"I could have made money [by joining the proprietary software world],
and perhaps amused myself writing code. But I knew that at the end of my
career, I would look back on years of building walls to divide people,
and feel I had spent my life making the world a worse place." Richard
Stallman, GNU Project (http://www.gnu.org/gnu/thegnuproject.html).

Join as a member now at <http://fsf.org/jf> or donate
<https://my.fsf.org/donate/>

Please spread the word by forwarding this e-mail or linking to this
message at <http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/25-years-of-gnu>.

Sincerely,

Peter and the Free Software Foundation team.

--
Peter Brown
Executive Director
Free Software Foundation
www.fsf.org www.gnu.org

Volunteers needed in Columbus, Ohio next weekend, Sat. 9/26

2009-09-17T12:31:02Z

Hi,
The Free Software Foundation is going to have a table at an event in
Columbus, Ohio on September 26th. I'm writing because we need some
volunteers to help run that table.

Talking to folks at technology conferences is a great way to help spread
the word about free software and a great way to help us increase our
membership base. And as it turns out, it's also fun!

The tabling hours are 8:30 am - 6 pm on Saturday, September 26th.

If you want to volunteer with a friend, I can sign you both up for the
same time slot. I'll also be at the table with you, so you can hand the
weird questions off to me :)

Saturday, September 26th
8:30 am - 1 pm
1 pm - 6 pm

Let me know if you've got any questions.
See you in Ohio!
Deborah

Software Freedom Day on 9/19, general info. plus details for Boston!

2009-09-10T13:31:36Z

Hi everyone,

I'm writing to remind you that Software Freedom Day (SFD) is fast
approaching, and you should invite yourself to create a SFD for your
friends, colleagues and local community. Software Freedom
Day http://softwarefreedomday.org/) is Saturday, September 19th, 2009!

I'm particularly writing to invite Boston locals to our SFD event
(http://groups.fsf.org/wiki/Boston_Software_Freedom_Day) Boston SFD will
be a day-long public event focused on celebrating software freedom. Last
year we had an awesome event in Boston at Encuentro 5 in Chinatown
(http://www.encuentro5.org/home/) and we'll be returning there this
year.

The festivities start at 10am and we'll finish at about 5:00p. I hope
you can join us because Walter Bender, the founder and executive
director of Sugar Labs, is our featured speaker. He'll be talking about
"Turtle Art," the free software platform that's part of the Sugar
operating system. It started shipping on the OLPC in 2007 and is
intended as stepping stone to LOGO for kids.

Our campaigns team will be on hand to share the latest news about the
Windows 7 Sins campaign (http://windows7sins.org/), our anti-DRM
campaign Defective By Design (http://defectivebydesign.org/), the
struggle for free video formats (http://playogg) and our work to stop
software patents (http://endsoftpatents.org/). Plus, if Richard
Stallman's flight back to the US isn't delayed, he hopes to make an
appearance and have a chat.

We'll be asking folks to participate in video documentary of this year's
festivities. We're hosting workshops on freeing your smartphone and free
website building, so you may want to bring your phone or your laptop or
both! Lunch is provided by us and lightning talks are provided by you.

Software Freedom Day
September 19th, 10am-5pm
at Encuentro 5
33 Harrison Ave, floor 5, Boston, MA 02111

Feel free to contact membership@... with questions or to RSVP to the
Boston event, thanks!
Cheers,
Deborah

Free Software Foundation launches public awareness campaign against Microsoft and proprietary software

2009-08-26T00:08:54Z

Windows 7 Sins: Free Software Foundation launches public awareness
campaign against Microsoft and proprietary software

BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Wednesday, August 26th, 2009 -- The Free
Software Foundation (FSF) today launched its "Windows 7 Sins" campaign
at http://windows7sins.org, making the case against Microsoft and
proprietary software. Preceding the upcoming release of Microsoft
Windows 7, the campaign's first public action will also be today -- a
freedom rally at 12:00pm on the historic Boston Common.

The campaign outlines seven major areas where proprietary software in
general and Microsoft Windows in particular hurt all computer users:
invading privacy, poisoning education, locking users in, abusing
standards, leveraging monopolistic behavior, enforcing Digital
Restrictions Management (DRM), and threatening user security.

These points are outlined in the text of a letter the campaign mailed to
the leaders of the Fortune 500 companies, now published on its Web site.
The letter warns "Windows 7 decision makers" about the "lack of privacy,
freedom, and security" they will suffer should they adopt Windows 7, and
makes the case that they should instead adopt free software such as the
GNU/Linux operating system and the office productivity suite
OpenOffice.org.

FSF executive director Peter Brown said, "Free software is about
freedom, not price. Our growing dependence on computers and software
requires our society to reevaluate its obsession with proprietary
software that spies on citizens' activities and limits their freedom to
be in control of their computing. There is free software available right
now for any activity you or your business needs, and it is better in the
most important aspect -- it respects your freedom."

The FSF is asking concerned citizens to help get this message out by
nominating other organizational leaders who are also "Windows 7 decision
makers" to receive a version of the letter. Brown continued, "Many
people are frustrated by the organizations they interact with and their
support for a software industry that works against the freedom of
citizens. Our national and local governments, NGOs, and our universities
and schools that use proprietary software are undertaking bad public
policy, often through ignorance or misplaced values. We hope to alert
these decision makers to the positive contribution they can make to
society by switching their organizations to free software."

FSF campaigns manager Matt Lee added, "With |windows7sins.org|, we hope
to make businesses and computer users aware of the growing dangers of
proprietary software from both Microsoft and other companies such as
Apple and Adobe. With the release of Microsoft's updated operating
system, business leaders have the opportunity to escape to freedom and
join a growing list of leaders who understand that sinking money and
time into proprietary software is a dead-end inconsistent with their
best interests."

More information about the campaign, including the text of the Fortune
500 letter and a mailing list that will provide subscribers with
information updates and action alerts, is online at
http://windows7sins.org.

About the Free Software Foundation

The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting
computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute
computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as
in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its
GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF
also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of
freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located at fsf.org
and gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux.
Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at
http://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.

About Free Software and Open Source

The free software movement's goal is freedom for computer users. Some,
especially corporations, advocate a different viewpoint, known as "open
source," which cites only practical goals such as making software
powerful and reliable, focuses on development models, and avoids
discussion of ethics and freedom. These two viewpoints are different at
the deepest level. For more explanation, see
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html.

Media Contacts

Matt Lee
Campaigns Manager
Free Software Foundation
+1 (617) 542 5942 x24
campaigns@... <mailto:campaigns@...>

Peter Brown
Executive Director
Free Software Foundation
+1 (617) 542 5942
campaigns@... <mailto:campaigns@...>

Launching the Windows7sins Campaign - Join us Wednesday in Boston

2009-08-23T07:28:42Z

Hi everyone,

This Wednesday, August 26 at 11am, the Free Software Foundation will be
launching its Windows7sins.org public awareness campaign, drawing
attention to the threats posed by the adoption of Microsoft's
proprietary operating system. We have a launch event here in Boston on
the Boston Commons from noon until 3pm, and we need everyone in the area
to come along and help out and join in the ceremony as we conduct a
ceremonial trashing of proprietary software.

**We'll be launching our Windows 7 campaign with pomp and fanfare, with
a giant 12 foot trashcan being filled with boxes of proprietary software.**

The event promises to be lots of fun, and with thousands of people
passing through the Boston Commons every day we hope you will help us
connect with the public by handing out information and explaining the
benefits of free software. There will be camera crews and photographers
capturing the event and we will be getting these images up online as
soon as possible on the day.

Let us know you're coming and bring along your friends and work
colleagues - mail campaigns@... if you have time to help us set up,
or just turn up at the Boston Commons near the entrance to the Public
Gardens from noon.

If you're not in the Boston area, there will be plenty for you to do to
help us launch the campaign and get the message out. Stay tuned for
upcoming instructions...

Thanks for your support!

--
Peter T. Brown
Executive Director
Free Software Foundation
www.fsf.org www.gnu.org

Coalition launches petition demanding that Amazon drop DRM from the Kindle

2009-08-03T14:18:37Z

# Coalition of readers, authors, journalists, and public interest groups
launches petition demanding that Amazon drop DRM from the Kindle

BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Monday, August 3rd, 2009 -- The Free
Software Foundation's DefectiveByDesign.org campaign, supported by
prominent authors, journalists, and librarians, has launched a petition
against the Amazon Kindle's use of digital restrictions management
(DRM).

"The freedom to read without supervision or interference is central to a
free society," said FSF executive director Peter Brown. "When ebook
products like the Kindle use DRM to restrict what users can do with
their books, that is a clear threat to the free exchange of ideas."

Signatories to the petition include prominent academic and industry
names like Creative Commons and Change Congress co-founder Lawrence
Lessig; author, poet and MacArthur Fellow Lewis Hyde; Harvard Law
Professor and Vice Dean for Library and Information Resources John
Palfrey; and Christopher Hayes, Washington, DC editor for *The Nation*.
The petition, published at <http://defectivebydesign.org/amazon1984>, is
now open for others to add their signatures as well.

"The level of control Amazon has over their ebooks conflicts with basic
freedoms that we take for granted," said Palfrey. "In a future where
books are sold with digital restrictions, it will be impossible for
libraries to guarantee free access to human knowledge."

On the heels of disabling the text-to-speech feature on many ebooks,
Amazon drew even further wide-ranging criticism for the remote deletion
of Ayn Rand novels and two George Orwell books (*Animal Farm* and
*1984*) from the devices of hundreds of users.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos apologized for the deletions, saying that Amazon
would handle such situations differently in the future. But so far no
substantive changes have been made.

"Amazon should never have had this power to begin with, and imposing it
broke promises they had previously made. The only dependable way to
preserve people's rights to free thinking and free expression is for
Amazon to remove their DRM," said FSF operations manager John Sullivan.

### Additional comments from signers

"This incident shows that the law gives radically more control to the
company than it ought to." --Lawrence Lessig, author and Harvard Law
professor

"Any time someone puts a lock on something you own without your
permission, they're not acting in your interests." --Cory Doctorow,
author and blogger

"Our future needs Orwell's books, but it does not need Orwell's
predictions." --Evan Katsamakas, assistant professor in the School of
Business at Fordham University

"You shouldn't need a license to read." --Lewis Hyde, author, poet and
MacArthur Fellow

### About the Free Software Foundation

The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting
computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute
computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as
in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its
GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF
also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of
freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located at fsf.org
and gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux.
Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at
<http://donate.fsf.org>. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.

### Media Contacts

Holmes Wilson
Campaigns Manager
Free Software Foundation
+1 (617) 542 5942 x19
Mobile: +1 (508) 410-0980
<campaigns@...>

John Sullivan
Operations Manager
Free Software Foundation
+1 (617) 542 5942 x23
Mobile: +1 (617) 388 8344
<campaigns@...>

Amazon, 1984, and what we're doing about it.

2009-07-21T08:37:21Z

Dear FSF member,

Have you seen this story? Last week, Amazon deleted purchased copies of
George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm from the ebook readers of hundreds
of users. Yesterday, FSF's Defective by Design campaign responded by
giving the Kindle hundreds of 1-star reviews, but now we need your help.

Can you share our campaign on Identi.ca and Reddit?

http://www.defectivebydesign.org/blog/1248
http://www.reddit.com/r/gnu/comments/93608/amazon_can_delete_your_books/

This occasion marks the relaunch of our Defective by Design Amazon
tagging campaign, and we couldn't have picked a better target. New York
Times tech writer David Pogue summarizes it best:

"This morning, hundreds of Amazon Kindle owners awoke to discover that
books by a certain famous author had mysteriously disappeared from their
e-book readers. These were books that they had bought and paid
for—thought they owned .... You want to know the best part? The juicy,
plump, dripping irony? The author who was the victim of this Big
Brotherish plot was none other than George Orwell. And the books were
'1984' and 'Animal Farm.'"

Read more: http://www.defectivebydesign.org/blog/1248
http://www.reddit.com/r/gnu/comments/93608/amazon_can_delete_your_books/

Amazon's use of DRM and proprietary software gives them total control
over the books on every user's Kindle. And the fact that we're talking
something as personal as a book on your virtual bookshelf reminds us
that basic freedoms we've taken for granted are threatened as soon as we
depend on DRM-laden devices and proprietary software.

You can join in the action too, helping us save potential Kindle buyers
from being Swindled, on Amazon's own site. We'll be tagging the Kindle
as "defective by design" and "1984", and we'll be writing persuasive,
honest, 1-star reviews. Instructions on how to participate here:

http://www.defectivebydesign.org/blog/1248

Help us reach our goal of 1,984 reviews!

Over the coming weeks, we'll be selecting more DRM-infected products for
the tags and the 1-star reviews they deserve. We're looking for hot new
products, or products that make particularly appalling use of DRM. If
you'd like to suggest one, email us at info@....

We'd also like to invite you to participate in the campaign. We won't
usually be sending these messages to the info-member list, so if you'd
like to be part of this ongoing campaign to inform the public and tip
the scales against DRM, join the Defective by Design list, here:

http://www.defectivebydesign.org/user/register

Thanks for your support!

Sincerely,
John, Matt, Holmes, Sarah, and Peter
DRM Elimination Team

Volunteers needed in Silicon Valley and Las Vegas (7/22-23 and 7/31-8/2 respectively)

2009-07-14T14:02:18Z

Hi,
The Free Software Foundation will have tables at two events this month.
I'm writing because we need volunteers to help run both tables.

Talking to folks at tech conferences is a great way to help spread the
word about free software and a great way to help us increase our
membership base. And as it turns out, it's also fun!

Silcon Valley -- 7/22 and 7/23

Wednesday, July 22
10 am - 2pm
2pm - 4:30 pm
6 pm - 7 pm (reception)

Thursday, July 23
10 am - 1:30 pm
1:30 pm - 5:00 pm

DEFCON in Las Vegas -- 7/31, 8/1 and 8/2

** We only have two badges, so we need some FSF members who are already
planning to attend DEFCON to help with this table.

Friday, July 31st
10 am - 1:30pm
1:30 - 6 pm

Saturday, August 1st
10 am - 1:30pm
1:30 - 6 pm

Sunday, August 2nd
10 am - 12:30
12:30 - 4 pm

Volunteering is even more fun with a friend! Be sure to let me know if
you'll be bringing someone with you. I'll also be at the table with you,
so we can all take snack breaks, etc.

Make sure you tell me which event and what time slot(s) you can cover.
Thanks!

Let me know if you've got any questions.
See you soon,
Deborah

PS If you know of other free software activists who might like to help,
please go ahead and forward this note :)

Request your bootable FSF membership card today!

2009-06-19T10:03:31Z

Dear Member,

Bootable membership cards are available now! We want to let you know
how much we appreciate your ongoing support and this ultra slim USB
credit card sized member card will be a great way for you to show your
support for free software.

These 1GB cards come with gNewSense Live, a fully free GNU/Linux
distribution. The card sports an incredibly sturdy and durable double
sided USB connector and fits in a wallet so you can take it anywhere -
sharing gNewSense on the go!

Your card will be personalized with your FSF User Name and member
number printed on it - take a look:
http://www.fsf.org/associate/benefits.html

To receive yours in the next mailing please request your membership
card before June 28th! Simply go to your account here
http://my.fsf.org and follow the prompts to get yours. Cards will ship
in mid-July!

Thanks for supporting our work to promote and protect free software!

Deborah Nicholson
Membership Coordinator

Voluntários/Volunteers needed for FISL, June 24th-27th in Porto Alegre

2009-06-16T14:54:43Z

Hi,
The Free Software Foundation is going to have a stand at FISL
(http://fisl.softwarelivre.org/10/www/) on June 24th, 25th, 26th and
27th. I'm writing because we need volunteers to help with the stand.

Talking to folks at technology conferences is a great way to promote
free software and support the Free Software Foundation. And as it turns
out, it's also fun! And we especially need folks for Saturday the 27th.

If you want to volunteer with a friend, I can sign you both up for the
same half day. Feel free to pass this along!

June 24th
9 am - 1:30 pm
1:30 - 6 pm

June 25th
9 am - 1:30 pm
1:30 - 6 pm

June 26th
9 am - 1:30 pm
1:30 - 6 pm

June 27th
9 am - 1 pm
1pm - 5pm
5 pm - 9 pm

Obrigada por apoiar o software livre!
Thanks for supporting free software!
Deborah

Volunteers needed June 13th in South Carolina, sort of near Atlanta

2009-06-05T08:04:40Z

Hi,
The Free Software Foundation is going to have a table at an event at
Clemson in South Carolina on June 13th. I'm writing because we need
volunteers to help run the table.

Talking to folks at technology conferences is a great way to help spread
the word about free software and a great way to help us increase our
membership base. And as it turns out, it's also fun!

The tabling hours are 10 am - 5 pm on Satruday .

If you want to volunteer with a friend, I can sign you both up for the
same time slot. I'll also be at the table with you, so everyone can take
snack breaks, etc.

Saturday, June 13th
10 am - 1:30pm
1:30 - 5 pm

Let me know if you've got any questions.
See you in South Carolina!
Deborah

Job opening on the FSF campaign team

2009-05-28T14:27:54Z

FSF Campaigns Manager

The FSF is hiring a campaigns manager to be part of the team that runs
DefectiveByDesign and PlayOgg, helps coordinate the GNU Project, and
generates new campaign ideas. This is an opportunity to take a
leadership role in the organization that sponsors the GNU project,
publishes the GPL, and fights for software freedom.

Job Description

The campaigns manager implements the FSF communications strategy and
works as part of a team to develop and implement issue campaigns and
community resources, acting as a spokesperson on matters of software
freedom. The campaigns manager handles writing, editing, speaking, and
research related to these activist and program efforts; coordinates the
GNU chief webmaster and the other webmaster volunteers to develop FSF
and GNU web sites; plans and implements proposals to increase
fundraising; and serves as a main point of contact between the
Foundation and the free software community.

Requirements

* You must be a free software activist with a commitment to computer
user freedom familiar with the work of the FSF,
* have excellent written communication skills,
* demonstrate that you can work in a precise way while handling
multiple tasks,
* be a good public speaker with experience in handling press relations,
* have experience organizing events and handling community relations
in a diplomatic way, and
* be a capable webmaster.

Other Details

The job must be worked on-site at FSF's downtown Boston offices. An
on-site interview will be required with both the executive director and
FSF president.

Because of US visa restrictions only candidates that are US residents
will be considered.

This job is a union position. The salary is fixed at $53,849/year and is
non-negotiable. Other benefits include the following:

* Full family health coverage through Blue Cross/Blue Shield's HMO
Blue program, and subsidized dental plan
* Four weeks of paid vacation annually
* Seventeen paid holidays annually
* Public transit commuting cost reimbursement
* Somewhat flexible work hours

Resumes and cover letters must be submitted via email to <hiring at
fsf.org>. The email must contain the subject line, "Campaigns Manager".
Resumes and cover letters should be attached in plain text or PDF.
Resumes not sent via email or email submissions that do not follow these
instructions will be ignored.

--
Peter T. Brown
Executive Director
Free Software Foundation
www.fsf.org www.gnu.org

Volunteers needed in Danbury, CT on June 4, 5 and 6

2009-05-27T12:40:08Z

Hi there,

The Free Software Foundation is going to have a table at the Connecticut
Film Festival in Danbury. I'm writing because we need your help on the
June 4th, 5th or 6th to run the table. According to their site,
http://www.ctfilmfest.com/ the event is very accessible on Metro North.

This particular event includes workshops about free software tools for
film-makers. This will be a great opportunity to help spread the word
about free software and a great way to help us increase our membership
base. And, as it turns out, tabling is also fun!

We'll need 1-2 people for each of the following "shifts" so if you want
to, you can table with a friend. Let me know when you'd most like to
help out, if you and a friend would be able to do a whole day and
whether or not you have any flexibility:

Thursday, June 4
11am -3pm
3pm - 7pm

Friday, June 5
11am -3pm
3pm - 7pm

Saturday, June 6
11am- 3:30pm
3:30pm - 8pm

Let me know if you've got any questions.
Thanks for your help!
Deborah

Your chance to get involved on the new campaign against Windows 7

2009-04-16T13:24:38Z

# Windows 7 Sins!

Many of you have written to us asking what we are going to do about
the impending nightmare that will be Windows 7.

We wanted to let you know that we are starting work on our campaign
against Windows 7 adoption -- but we need your help to develop the
narrative to the campaign.

Windows 7 represents something we're calling "Windows' 7 sins", which
plays on the Seven Deadly Sins.

1. Lust
2. Gluttony
3. Greed
4. Sloth
5. Wrath
6. Envy
7. Pride

We are looking for something different from our BadVista campaign. We
are unlikely to be blessed with as many mistakes as Microsoft
committed with Vista. Already, the narrative in the media for Windows
7 is, "It's better than Vista" -- so we need to focus on the bigger
picture of why society should avoid Microsoft and switch to free
software.

The campaign needs to explain, with clear historical examples, the
harm Microsoft has inflicted through the use of its proprietary
operating system, in seven distinct ways. Almost all of Microsoft's
past bad behavior links back to the fact that they use proprietary
software to keep people subjugated. We want to remind everyone why
avoiding Microsoft is in their self-interest, but also to explain
why they should switch to freedom. Each narrative should also make
clear the benefit that can be directly attributed to using free
software, and why continuing to use Windows XP or moving to Mac OS X
isn't sufficient.

You can help by sending us a written submission that describes one
harm that Microsoft has inflicted. Think of each submission as being a
page on the windows7sins.org website. Each submission we end up using
will win its author a plush GNU as thanks!

Here are some examples you might like to write about:

1. Microsoft corrupted the computer standards organization ISO to push
through encumbered standards like Office OpenXML.

2. Microsoft is using software patents to try and tax the use of
GNU/Linux, first by corrupting Novell and more recently by suing
TomTom over its implementation of the FAT file system.

3. Microsoft attacked the OLPC and lobbied and bribed governments to
ask for Windows machines, to the detriment of the freedom of
children.

And many more...

## Get involved!

Send your submission to <campaigns@...> by April 30. Subsequently,
we will post each winning submission to the LibrePlanet.org wiki and
ask the wider community to work on improving each one.

If you'd like to discuss the campaign and other ideas about how to
oppose Windows 7, you can use the fsf.org associate member forum, or
join the new FSF associate members discussion mailing list we've created.

* <http://www.fsf.org/associate/forum/>
* <http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/fsf-members>

If you're on IRC, you can drop by the FSF members channel,
#fsf-members on irc.gnu.org (Freenode).

April Volunteers! 4/21 + 22 in Santa Clara, CA and 4/25 + 26 in Bellingham, WA

2009-04-01T12:42:51Z

Hi,
The Free Software Foundation is going to have tables at two events in
late April. One on 4/21 and 22 in Santa Clara (aka Silicon Valley) and
in Bellingham on 4/25 and 26.

I'm writing to you because we need volunteers to help run both tables.

Talking to folks at technology conferences is a great way to help spread
the word about free software and a great way to help us increase our
membership base. And as it turns out, it's also fun!

If you want to volunteer with a friend, I can sign you both up for the
same time slot or slots. I'll also be at the table with you, so everyone
can take snack breaks, etc.

--Santa Clara, CA--
Tuesday, April 21
10:00am - 3:00pm
3:00pm - 7:30pm (with dinner break)

Wednesday, April 22
10:00am - 1:30pm
1:30pm - 5:00pm

--Bellingham, WA--
Saturday, April 25th
9:00am - 1:00pm
1:00pm - 5:00pm

Sunday, April 26th
9:00am - 3:00pm

Let me know if you've got any questions.
See you on the left coast!
Deborah

FSF releases audio recording of LibrePlanet conference

2009-03-30T11:11:04Z

### FSF releases audio recording of LibrePlanet conference

BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Monday, March 30, 2009 -- The Free
Software Foundation (FSF) today released the complete audio recordings
from the first day of the LibrePlanet GNU/Linux conference, held on
March 21, 2009, in Cambridge, MA.

The recordings include a talk given by Samba's Jeremy Allison on
Microsoft and its relationship with the free software community, and
Gnash developer Rob Savoye announcing the Cygnal project -- a rich
media server with features roughly compatible with the Flash Media
Server. Two members of the autonomo.us group, Evan Prodromou and FSF
director Mako Hill, spoke about efforts to engineer for free network
services and the successful launch of the micro-blogging service
identi.ca.

The event, which was attended by free software activists from all over
the world, also included a panel discussion on regional software
activism efforts from Brian Gough of the GNU Project, Ryan Bagueros of
North-by-South and Bradley M. Kuhn of the Software Freedom
Conservancy. FSF president Richard Stallman announced a new article
and campaign targeting the dangers of nonfree JavaScript, then
presented the FSF Award for the Advancement of Free Software to Wietse
Venema, developer of the Postfix mail server, and the FSF Award for
Projects of Social Benefit to Creative Commons.

"These recordings provide the free software community an opportunity
to hear about some of the important work underway, and to get
connected with the priorities that the Free Software Foundation is
staking out for the coming year" said Peter Brown, FSF executive
director.

The recordings, presented in the Ogg Vorbis and Ogg Speex codecs, as
well as photographs of the event, courtesy of local photographer Matt
Hins can be found at http://fsf.org/conference/

### About the Free Software Foundation

The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to
promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and
redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and
use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating
system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free
software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and
political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites,
located at fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information
about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at
<http://donate.fsf.org>. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.

### Media Contacts

Matt Lee
Campaigns manager
Free Software Foundation
+1 (617) 542 5942 x24
<campaigns@...>

###

Wietse Venema and Creative Commons winners of the annual free software awards

2009-03-24T14:38:00Z

Wietse Venema and Creative Commons announced as winners of the annual
free software awards

http://www.fsf.org/news/2008_free_software_awards

BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- March 24, 2009 -- The Free Software
Foundation (FSF) announced the winners of the annual free software
awards during the GNU/Linux conference LibrePlanet, held on March 21-22
at Harvard Science Center in Cambridge, MA.

Creative Commons was honored with the Award for Projects of Social
Benefit, and Wietse Venema was honored with the Award for the
Advancement of Free Software. Presenting the awards was FSF founder and
president Richard Stallman.

The FSF Award for Projects of Social Benefit is presented annually to a
project that intentionally and significantly benefits society by
applying free software, or the ideas of the free software movement, in a
project that intentionally and significantly benefits society in other
aspects of life.

Since its launch in 2001, Creative Commons has worked to foster a
growing body of creative, educational and scientific works that can be
shared and built upon by others. Creative Commons has also worked to
raise awareness of the harm inflicted by increasingly restrictive
copyright regimes.

Creative Commons vice president Mike Linksvayer accepted the award
saying, "It's an incredible honor. Creative Commons should be giving an
award to the Free Software Foundation and Richard Stallman, because what
Creative Commons is doing would not be possible without them."

In receiving this award, Creative Commons joins previous winners Groklaw
(2007), Sahana (2006), and Wikipedia (2005).

The Award for the Advancement of Free Software went to Wietse Venema.
The awards committee honored both Venema's significant and wide-ranging
technical contributions to network security, and his creation of the
Postfix email server. Venema said, "In my experience, free software
presents a tremendous opportunity for individuals and organizations to
make contributions to society. I'm grateful for the opportunities that I
have had over the past twenty years, and I'm proud that so many people
have adopted my software."

Venema joins a distinguished list of previous free software award winners:

* 2007 Harald Welte
* 2006 Ted Ts'o
* 2005 Andrew Tridgell
* 2004 Theo de Raadt
* 2003 Alan Cox
* 2002 Lawrence Lessig
* 2001 Guido van Rossum
* 2000 Brian Paul
* 1999 Miguel de Icaza
* 1998 Larry Wall

This year's award committee was composed of Suresh Ramasubramanian
(Chair), Peter H. Salus, Raj Mathur, Hong Feng, Andrew Tridgell, Jonas
Oberg, Verner Vinge, Richard Stallman, and Fernanda G. Weiden.

About the FSF

The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting
computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute
computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as
in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its
GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF
also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of
freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located at fsf.org
and gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux.
Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at http://donate.fsf.org
<http://donate.fsf.org/>. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.

Media Contacts

John Sullivan
Operations Manager
Free Software Foundation
+1 (617) 542 5942 x23
campaigns@... <mailto:campaigns@...>

###

March 25 is Document Freedom Day

2009-03-23T15:03:47Z

Remember that this Wednesday, March 25, is Document Freedom Day.

Please visit <http://documentfreedom.org> and see what you can do to
help raise awareness about the importance of document formats that can
be used by everyone and safely implemented in free software.

Also see <http://fsf.org/campaigns/opendocument> for information about
the FSF's ongoing work as part of this effort.

Thanks!

--
John Sullivan
Free Software Foundation
Manager of Operations

We've added more speakers to Libre Planet (3/21-22)

2009-03-05T12:24:56Z

Dear Associate Member,
If you haven't already gotten a chance to RSVP for Libre Planet, then
consider this your friendly reminder. If you've already signed up, then
I imagine you're looking forward to the weekend of the 21st and 22nd.
I've included the press release so you can check out the highlights.
Feel free to pass this along to friends and colleagues, since this
year's event is open (for a fee) to non-members.

Got questions? Come see us in #libreplanet on Freenode.

Need more details? Check out the wiki,
http://groups.fsf.org/index.php/LibrePlanet2009.

Thanks!
Deborah Nicholson
Membership Coordinator

FSF adds speakers for LibrePlanet conference on GNU/Linux: March
21st-22nd

BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Wednesday, March 4, 2009 -- The Free
Software Foundation (FSF) today announced additions to the speaker
lineup for its March 21st-22nd LibrePlanet 2009 conference.

The conference, to be attended by GNU/Linux users, free software
activists, and programmers from around the world, stresses three themes:
strengthening global free software activism, addressing the threats
posed to free software users by moves toward "cloud computing" and
"software as a service," and advancing the projects on the FSF's High
Priority Projects list.

The current list of speakers is available at
http://groups.fsf.org/index.php/LibrePlanet2009/aboutspeakers.

Jeremy Allison, lead developer of Samba, will be giving a talk entitled,
"The Elephant in the Room. Free Software and Microsoft." Allison said,
"Free software is going mainstream, but there are still many threats to
the ideals that are changing the face of the software industry. I'm
delighted to be able to speak at LibrePlanet, and encourage anyone
interested in the future of free software to attend."

Microsoft's recent patent aggression toward TomTom's use of the kernel
Linux also sets the stage for Ciaran O'Riordan, executive director of
the End Software Patents campaign, to update free software activists on
the aftermath of the landmark in re Bilski decision in the United
States, as well as other related international political activity.

Evan Prodromou, member of the autonomo.us working group and founder of
the identi.ca free software microblogging service, will be sharing
lessons learned from his experience bringing free software concepts to
web services. Concerned about user autonomy, he warns, "If you decide
that Google Docs doesn't work the way you want, you can't tinker with
the software and fix it. If you want to share a map on your Web site,
you need Yahoo!'s permission. If you want to use a new social networking
site, you have to re-enter all your personal data and re-invite all your
friends. The data and code belong to someone else, and they're hidden
behind servers that you, the user, aren't allowed to touch."

John Sullivan, FSF operations manager, said, "We're excited to feature
FSF president Richard Stallman and other well-known speakers in these
three major areas -- but this isn't going to be a lecture series. The
second day will be scheduled in collaborative style with rooms and
resources provided for activists, users and programmers to work
together, with breakout sessions happening on the first day as well."

LibrePlanet 2009 attendance is free to FSF associate members, with
nonmembers paying a $60 fee to cover conference costs. Space is limited,
so the FSF is requesting RSVPs to membership@... by March 14th.
Further details and the conference wiki can be found at
http://www.fsf.org/associate/meetings/2009. The list of High Priority
Projects is at http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/priority.html. Organizers
and participants are also congregating in the #libreplanet IRC channel
on irc.freenode.org.

About the Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting
computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute
computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as
in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its
GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF
also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of
freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located at fsf.org
and gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux.
Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at
http://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.

Media Contacts
Matt Lee
Campaigns Manager
Free Software Foundation
+1 (617) 542 5942
campaigns@...

###

Bootable USB membership cards, be sure to sign up to receive yours!

2009-03-03T15:10:13Z

Dear Member,

We're ordering another batch of bootable membership cards! We want to
let you know how much we appreciate your ongoing support, and this
ultra-slim USB credit-card-sized member card will be a great way for you
to show your support for free software.

These 1GB cards come with gNewSense Live, a fully free GNU/Linux
distribution. The card sports an incredibly sturdy double-sided USB
connector and fits in a wallet so you can take it anywhere -- sharing
gNewSense on the go!

Your card will be personalized with your FSF username and member number
printed on it -- take a look:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/membership/bootablemembership.

To receive yours in the next mailing, please request a card by March
10th! Simply go to your account here
http://www.fsf.org/associate/account/ and follow the prompts.

Thanks for supporting our work to promote and protect free software!

Deborah Nicholson
Membership Coordinator

EndSoftwarePatents.org Phase II: developing a global resource and campaign

2009-02-23T13:55:39Z

EndSoftwarePatents.org Phase II: developing a global resource and campaign

"By organizing this information and delivering it into the hands of
activists and law makers, we can form an immense tool to help existing
and future campaigns around the world" Ciaran O'Riordan, Director End
Software Patents.

https://www.fsf.org/news/endsoftwarepatents-phase-II

BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Monday, February 23rd, 2009 -- The Free
Software Foundation today announced funding for the End Software Patents
project to document the case for ending software patents worldwide. This
catalog of studies, economic arguments, and legal analyses will build on
the recent success of the "in re Bilski" court ruling, in which End
Software Patents (ESP) helped play a key role in narrowing the scope for
patenting software ideas in the USA.

For this new phase of End Software Patents work, the FSF has engaged
veteran anti-software-patent lobbyist Ciaran O'Riordan, taking over from
Ben Klemens as director of ESP. O'Riordan brings years of experience
campaigning against software patents in the EU. This knowledge, combined
with what was learned during the Bilski work, will form the starting
point for a global information resource and campaign. The goal is make
it easy for activists around the world to benefit from existing
knowledge, often scattered and sometimes disappearing with time.

O'Riordan explained, "Each campaign raises new evidence and arguments
for the case against software patents. The work on the Bilski case
uncovered new economic studies and developed legal proposals for how to
pin down the slippery goal of excluding software ideas from
patentability. To make the most of that work, Phase II of ESP will work
on documenting and organizing that information and making it easily
reusable. We'll add to that what was learned during the years-long
campaign against the EU software patents directive, and then we'll
research and document what's happening in South Africa, India, New
Zealand, Brazil, and so forth."

In recent years, some of the largest technology companies have led a
charge to register tens of thousands of software patents in an apparent
attempt to stifle competition and threaten software users. To counter
those efforts O'Riordan explained the work the campaign will undertake,
"We have the arguments and the studies to show how software patents harm
competition, choice, innovation, SMEs, standards, and entrepreneurs. We
can show that by blocking individuals and communities from participating
in software development, software patents impede a very important
activity. We've seen how inefficient, slow, and costly the patent system
is -- how incompatible it is with software development timelines.

"There's a mountain of information, but a bottleneck is that much of it
is contained in electronic archives -- sometimes public, sometimes
private -- and in news stories, and unmaintained websites. By organizing
this information and delivering it into the hands of activists and law
makers, we can form an immense tool to help existing and future
campaigns around the world."

"While other online resources focus on exposing and fighting individual
bad software patents, we will be continuing our broader approach of
working to see the entire system reformed so that patent offices no
longer grant patents for software ideas. Until that happens, there will
always be new mosquitoes to swat, and software developers and users will
continue to be intimidated by the possibility of legal actions."

The project website is located at http://endsoftpatents.org. To be
informed about the details of this project in the coming days and weeks
and to learn how you can participate, please sign up to the ESP mailing
list at http://campaigns.fsf.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/esp-action-alert

About End Software Patents
End Software Patents is a project formed to eliminate patents for
software and other designs with no physically innovative step. End
Software Patents is funded by donations to the Free Software Foundation.
For more information on participating in the project, or to access its
knowledge base, please visit its website at http://endsoftpatents.org.

About the Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting
computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute
computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as
in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its
GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF
also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of
freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located at fsf.org
and gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux.
Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at
http://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.

Media Contacts
Ciaran O'Riordan
Director End Software Patents
Tel: +32 487 64 17 54
email: ciaran [at] fsf.org

Send comments to the IETF opposing TLS-authz standard by February 11, 2009

2009-02-08T07:05:27Z

From: http://www.fsf.org/news/reoppose-tls-authz-standard

Last January, the Free Software Foundation issued an alert to efforts at
the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) to sneak a patent-encumbered
standard for "TLS authorization" through a back-door approval process
that was referenced as "experimental" or "informational". The many
comments sent to IETF at that time alerted committee members to this
attempt and successfully prevented the standard gaining approval.

Unfortunately, attempts to push through this standard have been renewed
and become more of a threat. The proposal now at the IETF has a changed
status from "experimental" to "proposed standard". The FSF is again
issuing an alert and request for comments to be sent urgently and prior
to the February 11 deadline to: ietf@...

Please include us in your message by a CC to campaigns@...

That patent in question is claimed by RedPhone Security. RedPhone has
given a license to anyone who implements the protocol, but they still
threaten to sue anyone that uses it.

If our voice is strong enough, the IETF will not approve this standard
on any level unless the patent threat is removed entirely with a
royalty-free license for all users.

Further background for your comment:

Much of the communication on the Internet happens between computers
according to standards that define common languages. If we are going to
live in a free world using free software, our software must be allowed
to speak these languages.

Unfortunately, discussions about possible new standards are tempting
opportunities for people who would prefer to profit by extending
proprietary control over our communities. If someone holds a software
patent on a technique that a programmer or user has to use in order to
make use of a standard, then no one is free without getting permission
from and paying the patent holder. If we are not careful, standards can
become major barriers to computer users having and exercising their freedom.

We depend on organizations like the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF) and the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) to evaluate
new proposals for standards and make sure that they are not encumbered
by patents or any other sort of restriction that would prevent free
software users and programmers from participating in the world they define.

In February 2006, a standard for "TLS authorization" was introduced in
the IETF for consideration. Very late in the discussion, a company
called RedPhone Security disclosed (this disclosure has subsequently
been unpublished from the IETF website) that they applied for a patent
which would need to be licensed to anyone wanting to practice the
standard. After this disclosure, the proposal was rejected.

Despite claims that RedPhone have offered a license for implementation
of this protocol, users of this protocol would still be threatened by
the patent. The IETF should continue to oppose this standard until
RedPhone provide a royalty-free license for all users.

Media Contacts

Peter T. Brown
Executive Director
Free Software Foundation
(617)542-5942

Volunteers needed Feb 21 and Feb 22 near LAX (Southern California)

2009-02-03T13:11:44Z

Hi,
The Free Software Foundation is going to have a conference table in the
LAX area on Saturday, February 21st and Sunday, February 22nd. I'm
writing because we need volunteers on both days to help run the tables.

Talking to folks at tech conferences is a great way to help spread the
word about free software and help us increase our membership base.
And as it turns out, it's also fun!

Let me know what part(s) of which day you'd be able to help out:

Saturday, Feb. 21st
10am - 2pm
2pm -6pm

Sunday, Feb. 22nd
10am - 1:30pm
1:30 - 5:30pm

We have plenty of space, so if you'd like to volunteer with a friend
that's even better. Let me know if you've got any questions.

We'll also be holding a Birds of a Feather session for free software
activists on Saturday evening from 7pm-8pm, so plan to stick around!

Thanks for your help!
Cheers,
Deborah

PS Feel free to forward this email to other friendly free software
activists!

2009 Associate Members Meeting -- 3/21 and 3/22 -- aka Libre Planet

2009-01-30T13:35:04Z

Dear Associate Member,

The annual meeting date is set! March 21st and 22nd -- that's right, two
whole days! This year's meet-up will be in the Harvard Science Center,
right in Harvard Square on the MBTA's red line. In addition to our usual
meeting with updates from the board and news from the staff, we'll be
using the second day for writing some code and doing in-depth hands-on
work related to our campaigns and furthering the conversation on Freedom
for Network Services.

This year's two-day annual meeting, that we are calling Libre Planet, is
free for members but will also be open (paying a conference fee) for
non-members interested in joining the conversation. Of course once
they've spent the whole weekend with our members, we're pretty sure you
will have convinced them to join up too.

Here's the basic schedule for Libre Planet so you can start making
travel arrangements:

Saturday, March 21st
* 9:30-5:00 -- Keynotes and details coming soon
* 6:00-9:00 -- FSF Social Event
Sunday, March 22nd
* 9:30-5:00 -- Keynotes and Open Spaces style conference

This will be a working conference, so please bring a laptop.
Participation is not limited to coders; we'll also need folks who can do
visual design, write and edit text, and are willing to test-drive stuff
or percolate ideas. Basically, everyone!

Background and details
Alongside our 2008 member meeting, the FSF helped launch the autonomo.us
working group, convened as an independent advisory group of hackers and
activists concerned about the effects of network services on user
freedom.

As part of this year's meeting, together we will be coordinating an Open
Spaces style conference focused on making tangible progress in the area
of network services. Several autonomo.us members will be in attendance
to help lead talks and participate in working groups, including Evan
Prodromou, Benjamin Mako Hill, Henri Poole, Bradley Kuhn, and Mike
Linksvayer.

Please join us as we take the next big step in answering the key
questions: How do we engineer for free network services? What components
do we need to build first? What should the free software community do to
promote a culture of free network services?

With all of these hackers and activists together, we hope not only to
hammer out some answers, but to also progress the software needed to
turn that language into usable reality.

RSVP for Libre Planet and next steps
1. By March 2, please let us know at membership@... if you're
coming so we can save you a spot and make sure you get a bagel
each morning.
2. Forward this to friends and colleagues that you think would
really enjoy a weekend hacking with the FSF.
Recordings from previous years
We've finally made the recordings from the 2007 and 2008 member meetings
available -- check them out at:

* http://www.fsf.org/associate/meetings/2007/schedule.html
* http://www.fsf.org/associate/meetings/2008/schedule.html

Cheers,
Deborah Nicholson
Membership Coordinator