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Read and share online:
https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2021/august
Welcome to the Free Software Supporter, the Free Software
Foundation's (FSF) monthly news digest and action update -- being read
by you and 225,774 other activists.
FSF-funded call for white papers on philosophical and legal questions around Copilot
From July 28th
Microsoft's GitHub recently announced a new service known as
Copilot. This service uses machine learning to help suggest code
snippets to developers as they write software. While the FSF
discourages use of GitHub, this new service still raises many, many
questions that are relevant to the free software community. To get the
answers we urgently need, and to identify the best opportunities for
defending user freedom in this space, the FSF is announcing a funded
call for white papers to address Copilot, copyright, machine learning,
and free software.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- The journey begins with a single step: Climb the freedom ladder
- Step by step encryption with the updated Email Self-Defense guide
- New! Contributor's Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) guide
- Freedom moving forward: An overview of the FSF's history
- FSF job opportunity: Operations assistant
- Philippe Aigrain, co-founder of La Quadrature du Net
- Hot new summer items from GNU Press!
- Apply to be the FSF's next executive director
- The US FTC votes unanimously to enforce Right to Repair
- FSFE: 20 years of empowering people to control technology
- GNU Binutils 2.37 has been released
- The cracked version of Resident Evil Village runs better, testing
confirms
- What will happen to my music library when Spotify dies?
- July GNU Emacs news
- Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
- LibrePlanet featured resource: Hardware/Laptops Comparison/Libreboot
Laptops comparison
- GNU Spotlight with Mike Gerwitz: 15 new GNU releases!
- FSF and other free software events
- Thank GNUs!
- GNU copyright contributions
- Translations of the Free Software Supporter
- Take action with the FSF!
View this issue online here:
https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2021/august
Encourage your friends to subscribe and help us build an audience by
adding our subscriber widget to your Web site.
Miss an issue? You can catch up on back issues at
https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter.
Want to read this newsletter translated into another language? Scroll
to the end to read the Supporter in French, Spanish, or Portuguese.
The journey begins with a single step: Climb the freedom ladder
From July 8th
Our goal for the new freedom ladder campaign is to provide a clear set
of steps to help support individuals in making the step-by-step
improvements that they can. By supporting them in taking a step at a
time, we're confident that we can help bring more people to a fully
free setup than ever before. We need your support to help others begin
climbing!
Step by step encryption with the updated Email Self-Defense guide
From July 13th
In this world of constant bulk surveillance, free software and the
four
freedoms
are a prerequisite for privacy. Because bulk surveillance is so
pervasive, free software alone is not enough to ensure safe
communications and secure data. The FSF wants to give you the tools to
increase your level of personal privacy. In order to do that, we use a
free (as in freedom) program called GnuPG to encrypt our email
communication, and we have created the Email Self-Defense
guide to help you learn how to
do it, too.
The guide used to lay out the steps to encryption using a program
called Enigmail, an add-on to many popular desktop mail clients that
is now no longer supported upstream. In this updated version, we went
through the steps of creating a PGP (which stands for Pretty Good
Privacy) key with the GnuPG (more commonly known as GPG) program in
the command line on GNU/Linux, and the nonfree operating systems macOS
and Microsoft Windows. It then takes you through integrating your key
into your email client, and through testing it with our friendly
encryption robot Edward.
New! Contributor's Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) guide
From July 9th
We're happy to announce the publication of our Contributor's
Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQ) guide. The guide
is meant to help contributors to FSF copyrighted packages better
understand our copyright assignment program.
Freedom moving forward: An overview of the FSF's history
From July 20th
Our thirty-fifth birthday as an organization gave us the opportunity
to think about the FSF's development over the years. More than
thirty-five years of history is hard to bring together in a few
sentences, so much so that even staff at the FSF sometimes have to do
serious research into the exact dates that milestones occurred. This
being the case, we realized it was high time to create an overview
listing key points in the history of the FSF and GNU.
That's why we launched the FSF history timeline
page, which shows a clear overview of
milestones for the organization, like when the GPLv3 was published, or
when the first LibrePlanet conference took place.
FSF job opportunity: Operations assistant
From July 28th
The FSF seeks a motivated and organized Boston-based individual to be
our full-time operations assistant. Reporting to the executive
director, this position works on the operations team to ensure that all
administrative, office, and retail functions of the FSF run smoothly
and efficiently, preserving our 4-star Charity Navigator rating and
boosting all areas of our work.
The operations assistant is responsible for handling phone calls,
managing office operations, leading the GNU Press shop, and being a
friendly face for visitors to our office at the center of Boston's
Downtown Crossing. Please read the full listing to learn more about
full job responsibilities and how to apply.
Philippe Aigrain, co-founder of La Quadrature du Net
From July 21st
The FSF learned with sadness about the death of Philippe Aigrain,
co-founder of La Quadrature du Net. We express our condolences to his
family, and to his friends and colleagues.
Hot new summer items from GNU Press!
From July 6th
The FSF's summer fundraiser happened this month, and that means there
are new items in the GNU Press Shop! Check out the new coral gnu head
T-shirt, the software freedom advice orb, and more. We've also just
released the new nineteenth
edition
of the GNU Emacs Manual, for Emacs version 27.2. Don't forget: FSF
associate members get 20% off FSF
merchandise, among many other splendid
benefits!
Apply to be the FSF's next executive director
From May 25th
The FSF seeks a principled, compassionate, and capable leader to be
its new executive director. This position can be remote or based in
our Boston office.
The FSF is committed to the notion that users are entitled to control
their computing, individually and collectively, and therefore to
control the software that does that computing. The executive director
will work closely with the president, board of directors, and all
Foundation staff to achieve this goal. Please read the full job
listing for qualifications and instructions for applying for this
position.
The US FTC votes unanimously to enforce Right to Repair
From July 21st by Lauren Goode
During an open commission meeting in July, the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) voted unanimously to enforce laws around the Right to
Repair. The FTC’s endorsement of the rules is not a surprise outcome;
the issue of Right to Repair has been a remarkably bipartisan one, and
the FTC itself issued a lengthy report in May that blasted
manufacturers for restricting repairs. But the 5 to 0 vote signals the
commission’s commitment to enforce both federal antitrust laws and a
key law around consumer warranties -- the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act
-- when it comes to personal device repairs.
Fight to Repair is our campaign to support Right to Repair initiatives
around the world. Learn more about how you can participate at our
Fight to Repair campaigns
page!
FSFE: 20 years of empowering people to control technology
From July 21st by Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE)
Long before the first smartphone was introduced, it was evident to the
FSFE's founders that users should be in control of our technology,
rather than vice versa. In 2001, free software experts around Europe
therefore created the Free Software Foundation Europe. Twenty years
later, they successfully concentrate their daily work on three main
pillars to help software freedom thrive in Europe: public awareness,
policy advocacy, and legal support. Congratulations to FSFE on this
milestone!
GNU Binutils 2.37 has been released
From July 18th by Nick Clifton
We are pleased to announce that version 2.37 of the GNU Binutils
project sources have been released and are now available for download.
This release contains numerous bug fixes, and also a ton of new
features.
The cracked version of Resident Evil Village runs better, testing confirms
From July 14th by Tyler Wilde
Tech reporters at Digital Foundry confirmed a claim that a cracked
version of Resident Evil Village, which bypasses Capcom's Digital
Restrictions Management (DRM), runs better than the Steam version. The
cracked version does not deliver an overall frame rate increase, but
certain moments, the time it takes to render a frame suddenly spikes
in the retail version, causing a noticeable pause, or a
stutter. Digital Foundry shows that this stuttering does not happen at
all in the cracked version, suggesting that DRM processes are
occasionally interfering with Resident Evil Village's ability to
render new frames.
This is only one of many reasons why we call products with DRM
Defective By Design, and the
issue isn't just about performance: DRM is an injustice to
users. Don't let its evil take up residence in your computer!
What will happen to my music library when Spotify dies?
From July 19th by Joe Pinsker
If your entire collection is on a streaming service, good luck
accessing it in ten or twenty years: “You’re screwed,” said Brewster
Kahle,
the founder of the Internet Archive, after I asked him if I could
count on having my music library decades from now.
If you care about building a music library you can listen to for years
to come, don't use Spotify, and buck against the trend of exploitative
and DRM-laden streaming services.
July GNU Emacs news
From July 26th by Sacha Chua
In these issues: upcoming events; Let's Write Some Emacs Lisp; load a
random Emacs theme on startup; beginning Emacs; and more!
Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
Tens of thousands of people visit directory.fsf.org each month to
discover free software. Each entry in the Directory contains a wealth
of useful information, from basic category and descriptions to version
control, IRC channels, documentation, and licensing. The Free Software
Directory has been a great resource to software users over the past
decade, but it needs your help staying up-to-date with new and
exciting free software projects.
To help, join our weekly IRC meetings on Fridays. Meetings take place
in the #fsf channel on libera.chat, and usually include a handful of
regulars as well as newcomers. Libera.Chat is accessible from any IRC
client -- Everyone's welcome!
The next meeting is Friday, August 6th, from 12pm to 3pm EDT (16:00 to
19:00 UTC). Details here:
LibrePlanet featured resource: Hardware/Laptops Comparison/Libreboot Laptops comparison
Every month on the LibrePlanet
wiki, we highlight one
resource that is interesting and useful -- often one that could use
your help.
For this month, we are highlighting Hardware/Laptops
Comparison/Libreboot Laptops comparison, which documents the
differences relevant to someone planning to purchase a computer that
is compatible with Libreboot. You are invited to adopt, spread and
improve this important resource.
Do you have a suggestion for next month's featured resource? Let us
know at [email protected].
GNU Spotlight with Mike Gerwitz: 15 new GNU releases!
15 new GNU releases in the last month (as of July 26, 2021):
For announcements of most new GNU releases, subscribe to the info-gnu
mailing list: https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu.
To download: nearly all GNU software is available from
https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/, or preferably one of its mirrors from
https://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html. You can use the URL
https://ftpmirror.gnu.org/ to be automatically redirected to a
(hopefully) nearby and up-to-date mirror.
A number of GNU packages, as well as the GNU operating system as a
whole, are looking for maintainers and other assistance: please see
https://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint if you'd like to
help. The general page on how to help GNU is at
https://www.gnu.org/help/help.html.
If you have a working or partly working program that you'd like to
offer to the GNU project as a GNU package, see
https://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html.
FSF and other free software events
- August 22-29, 2021, online,
DebConf21
- September 20-24, Charlotte, North Carolina, GNU Radio Conference
2021
- October 17-19, Raleigh, North Carolina, ATO
2021
- November 5-6, Seattle, Washington, SeaGL 2021
Thank GNUs!
We appreciate everyone who donates to the Free Software Foundation,
and we'd like to give special recognition to the folks who have
donated $500 or more in the last month.
This month, a big Thank GNU to:
- Antoine
- Blue Systems
- Brett Sears
- Charles Shapiro
- David Harding
- David and Heather Willson
- Dean Ujihara
- Hideki IGARASHI
- Michael Kaelbling
- Minoru Sekine
- Raphael Celis
- René Genz
- Stanley Zisk
You can add your name to this list by donating at
https://donate.fsf.org/.
GNU copyright contributions
Assigning your copyright to the Free Software Foundation helps us
defend the GNU GPL and keep software free. The following individuals
have assigned their copyright to the FSF (and allowed public
appreciation) in the past month:
- Enze Li (GDB, Binutils)
- Frederic Cambus (GDB, Binutils)
- Jacob Bachmeyer (config)
Want to see your name on this list? Contribute to GNU and assign your
copyright to the FSF.
Translations of the Free Software Supporter
El Free Software Supporter está disponible en español. Para ver la
versión en español haz click aqui:
https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2021/agosto-s
Para cambiar las preferencias de usuario y recibir los próximos
números del Supporter en español, haz click aquí:
https://my.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?reset=1&gid=34&id=3095323&cs=31d882b9dfb28ad596bf11ec1cc1ea9b_1627951765_168
Le Free Software Supporter est disponible en français. Pour voir la
version française cliquez ici:
https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2021/aout
Pour modifier vos préférences et recevoir les prochaines
publications du Supporter en français, cliquez ici:
https://my.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?reset=1&gid=34&id=3095323&cs=31d882b9dfb28ad596bf11ec1cc1ea9b_1627951765_168
O Free Software Supporter está disponível em português. Para ver a
versão em português, clique aqui:
https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2021/agosto-p
Para alterar as preferências do usuário e receber as próximas
edições do Supporter em português, clique aqui:
https://my.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?reset=1&gid=34&id=3095323&cs=31d882b9dfb28ad596bf11ec1cc1ea9b_1627951765_168
Take action with the FSF!
Contributions from thousands of individual associate members enable
the FSF's work. You can contribute by joining at
https://my.fsf.org/join. If you're already a member, you can help
refer new members (and earn some rewards) by adding a line with your
member number to your email signature like:
I'm an FSF member -- Help us support software freedom!
https://my.fsf.org/join
The FSF is always looking for volunteers
(https://www.fsf.org/volunteer). From rabble-rousing to hacking,
from issue coordination to envelope stuffing -- there's something here
for everybody to do. Also, head over to our campaigns section
(https://www.fsf.org/campaigns) and take action on software patents,
Digital Restrictions Management (DRM), free software adoption,
OpenDocument, and more.
#
Copyright © 2021 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
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