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Dear Free Software Supporter,

This first message ringing in our year-end fundraiser comes to you
from a newly remote organization! Just a few months ago, we closed the
doors of 51 Franklin St. for good. The move was an immense endeavor,
not without its moments of sadness, but also a major step forward for
the Free Software Foundation (FSF). Being remote limits regular
expenses, allows staff to live where rent rates are more affordable,
and above all, it forces us to organize ourselves beyond Boston and
expand our horizons.

[Remote working][1] is just one of the major efforts to make the FSF a
more contemporary and resilient organization. It has been a busy year
in that respect, because we also welcomed [three new board members][2]
in June, and we are currently in the process of [reviewing the sitting
board members][3] with the FSF's associate members. All this work is
helping to strengthen the FSF for years to come.

[1]: [link removed]
[2]: [link removed]
[3]: [link removed]

Despite hardship and losses for the organization, our extremely
talented and dedicated group of now eleven people (this was fourteen
just a few years ago!) is continuing their tireless work to help the
FSF progress, both internally and externally, and advance our mission.
Some highlights from this year include:

* Our two-person sysadmin team moved our entire setup without any
downtime. We now run all of our infrastructure between two server
locations and one storage space. They did this all while administering
a fully free LibrePlanet, maintaining fully free infrastructure for
the GNU Project and other community projects, and managing vital
security upgrades. They have also been extremely busy fighting credit
card fraud and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks for which
tens of thousands of addresses were blocked -- all while keeping
downtime to a minimum for [all services we manage][4];

[4]: [link removed]

* Our licensing and compliance team is diligently and successfully
completing stewardship cases of confusing licensing, as well as
outright violations. We also continue to protect the original
intentions of the GNU General Public License by lending our voice to
two definitive [court cases][5].

[5]: [link removed]

* On top of our ongoing [work for the generative AI task force of the
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)'s AI Safety
Institute Consortium][6], we established a working group that is
currently drafting a statement of criteria for free machine learning
(ML) applications.<br><br>
The work is vital: machine learning developments, much like software,
need a firm definition for user freedom in order to protect us from
abuses which tend to be cloaked by the word "progress." After the
recent release of the Open Source Initiative's (OSI) problematic Open
Source AI Definition (OSAID), now, more than ever, it is up to the FSF
to guard the definition in this space. These criteria cannot be driven
by outside interests, nor may they be watered down to promote
political or commercial adoption.<br><br>
We have issued a [preliminary statement][7] on our position that given
our current understanding of machine learning applications, we believe
that we cannot say a machine learning application is free unless all
its training data and the related scripts for processing it respect
all users, following the four freedoms.

[6]: [link removed]
[7]: [link removed]

As our shift to a remote organization proves, we reduce expenses where
we can, and handle your contribution with care. We do whatever is
necessary to forge a path to user freedom. But advocating for user
freedom in a fully free organization comes with financial restraints:
legal fees in the US are prohibitive, and on top of our compliance
work, depositions or handling a subpoena also come with substantial
invoices. For example, even when we successfully fend off abuses aimed
at our infrastructure, being under attack not only means spending
valuable time, but also has serious financial consequences in the form
of credit card fees for failed transactions!


We know not everyone is in a position to, *but if you can*, can you
support our efforts by making a [donation][9]? Or, an associate
membership is a great show of support we can rely on, and an [annual
FSF associate membership][8] translates to a mere $2.69 per week, or
$0.38 per day! We need more resources to retain our current staff and
continue our work, but my request is even bigger, because *we have to
do more.* By supporting us today, you help secure our future.
Associate members will also be able to enjoy all the [associate member
benefits][12]. Will you help us reach our year-end [fundraising
goal][10] of USD$ 400,000 this year-end? If you join as a member this
period, we'll send you a set of five unique postcards to help you
promote computer user freedom.
[8]: [link removed]
[9]: [link removed]
[10]: [link removed]
[12]: [link removed]


In addition to the challenge of continuously rising expenses in this
difficult economy, we are also confronted with the threat of
ever-growing power of corporations eager to benefit from our position
and mission being undermined. For forty years, any position on what
constitutes a just digital landscape has been measured against the
FSF’s firm stance on user freedom. We have put everything we have into
steadfastly preserving this point from which user freedom can be
measured, and we will not falter.

We stand firm in our commitment to our [mission][13] and values,
refusing to be beholden to outside interests. Instead, we thrive
relying on the thousands of individual free software supporters around
the world like you. Together, we stand strong against these challenges
and continue to make meaningful impact. With your help, we rise up
against proprietary injustices, hold the line, and continue to make
great strides towards user freedom for all.

[13]: [link removed]

Yours in freedom,

Zoë Kooyman
Executive Director

--
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Sent from the Free Software Foundation,

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