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Read and share online: https://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/celebrating-the-fsf2019s-35th-anniversary-stories-from-the-licensing-and-compliance-lab

Dear Free Software Supporter,

Since 2001, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) Licensing and Compliance Lab has provided the legal muscle to defend free software, and has supported software users, programmers, legal professionals, and activists who want their software to remain free. FSF representatives had done copyleft enforcement before this, but the founding of the Lab was a big step toward formalizing and organizing this work. You may have already read licensing and compliance manager Donald Robertson’s comprehensive accounting of the current functions of the team, but today, following our thirty-fifth anniversary celebration, we’re taking a look back at the role this team has played over the course of the FSF’s thirty-five year-long history, and some milestones along the way.

Like the other accounts written for this series, which focused on the campaigns team and the tech team histories, this is far from a complete account of the FSF’s licensing work: there are important milestones that we were barely able to touch upon, and important people involved whose stories and voices aren’t represented here. It’s also possible that some details may have been missed or lost to time.

However, a few facts are very clear throughout: defending the GNU Public License (GPL) has long been a massive task, and it was with the establishment of the Licensing and Compliance team that this effort was systematized. As with the rest of our work, licensing depends on the financial support and volunteer power of our supporters, and FSF associate members are the most passionate supporters of all. This is why our current fundraiser period is focused on a membership goal -- and we're so close! As of this writing, it's down to fewer than fifty new members to reach the total of five hundred, and we hope you'll help us get all the way there.

Please continue spreading the word about why all software must be free, and I urge you to join the FSF as an associate member today in order to help us continue our work. Joining as a member will grant you access to our benefits for associate members, including a free "as in freedom" videoconferencing server. Renewing also makes you eligible to receive one of our exclusive gifts during this fundraiser period.

With that said: I hope today's blog provides an interesting and entertaining account of the last thirty-five years of licensing, and affirms our commitment to providing and strengthening a legal framework to defend free software. As Craig Topham, our current copyright and licensing associate, is quoted as saying in this blog: "The free software movement is invaluable because humanity is faced with a critical binary choice that will determine the quality of our collective future: when it comes to computers, we either control these machines or we don't." Strong free software licenses backed up with a robust defense from the FSF provide priceless protection for that control, and your support makes that protection possible.

Read the rest at fsf.org.

In solidarity,

Dana Morgenstein
Outreach and Communications Coordinator

Illustration Copyright © 2020, Free Software Foundation, Inc., by Raghavendra Kamath, Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.