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Welcome to the Free Software Supporter, the Free Software
Foundation's (FSF) monthly news digest and action update -- being read
by you and 215,457 other activists. That's 2,603 more than last month!
We need your Free Software Award nominations and LibrePlanet session proposals today!
From October 31st
Don't miss your chance to be a part of the upcoming Free Software
Awards and LibrePlanet 2020 conference!
Time is running out to submit your nominations for the three
categories of Free Software Awards: the Award for the Advancement of
Free Software, the Award for
Projects of Social Benefit, and
the brand new Award for Outstanding New Free Software
Contributor. Make sure you
submit your nominations by Wednesday, November 6th, 2019.
It's also time to submit your session
proposals for the
LibrePlanet 2020 conference, coming up this March in the Boston area:
make sure you have yours in by Wednesday, November 20, 2019. Need
help crafting your proposal? Check in with us on the #LibrePlanet IRC
channel on Freenode for office hours
on November 7th or November 14th, 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern Standard time
(18:00 UTC).
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- FSF and GNU
- International Day Against DRM (IDAD) 2019: Thank you for defending the right to read!
- IDAD 2019: Use this special dust jacket to uphold the right to read
- Digital superstition and the Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) mindset
- Software Freedom Podcast #1 on Day Against DRM with Cory Doctorow
- November 2: Save the date! Attend EmacsConf online -- or at our office in Boston!
- Without encryption, we will lose all privacy. This is our new battleground
- The second annual International Copyleft Conference: Submit proposals by November 3
- GNOME files defense against patent troll
- GNOME opens recruitment to support Coding Education Challenge
- GNU Health: Ten years of freedom and equity in healthcare
- Meet the Villupuram group of engineers educating students about free software
- October GNU Emacs news
- Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
- LibrePlanet featured resource: LibrePlanet's new theme
- GNU Spotlight with Mike Gerwitz: Eleven 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/2019/november
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Miss an issue? You can catch up on back issues at
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Want to read this newsletter translated into another language? Scroll
to the end to read the Supporter in French, Spanish, or Portuguese.
FSF and GNU
From October 6th
The FSF and the GNU Project were both started by Richard M. Stallman
(RMS), and he served until recently as the head of both. Because of
that, the relationship between the FSF and GNU has been fluid. As part
of our commitment to supporting the development and distribution of
fully free operating systems, the FSF provides GNU with services like
fiscal sponsorship, technical infrastructure, promotion, copyright
assignment, and volunteer management.
GNU decision-making has largely been in the hands of GNU
leadership. Since RMS resigned as president of the FSF, but not as
head of GNU ("Chief GNUisance"), the FSF is now working with GNU
leadership on a shared understanding of the relationship for the
future. As part of that, we invite comments from free software
community members at [email protected].
GNU leadership has also published a
statement. The
contact address for sending comments to GNU is
[email protected]. Messages sent to [email protected] and
[email protected] will be privately shared between the FSF and GNU
leadership as part of this process.
International Day Against DRM (IDAD) 2019: Thank you for defending the right to read!
From October 29th
Now that the dust has settled and we have made our voices heard, we
would like to give a sincere thanks to everyone who helped to make the
International Day Against DRM (IDAD) 2019 possible. This is the
thirteenth year that we have come together to voice our dissent
against the unjust power of Digital Restrictions Management (DRM), and
we could not have done it without the help of digital rights activists
from all over the world.
To fight DRM, we need vigilant
activists
who will stand firm in defending the digital freedoms of those in
their communities. We encourage any and all anti-DRM activists to join
us as part of the Defective by Design email announce
list, or to communicate with
us in real-time in the #dbd channel of
the Freenode Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network. Given the vast amount
of resources corporations like Pearson, Disney, Netflix, Amazon, and
Google have at their disposal, we are reliant on the community for
donations
to Defective by Design's mission to end DRM once and for all.
IDAD 2019: Use this special dust jacket to uphold the right to read
From October 10th
For this year's IDAD on October 12th, we focused in particular on the
increasing and disturbing amount of DRM present in ebooks and other
online educational materials. Having so thoroughly invaded our leisure
time, the digital infection known as DRM should not be allowed to
spread into the classroom.
We have developed a dust
jacket
you can slip over any "dead tree" book that you are reading to warn
others about the looming threat of DRM. Whether in school, in a coffee
shop, or on the subway, it is an easy conversation starter about the
insidious nature of DRM. We encourage all readers to use them, whether
on the latest hardcover bestseller or the textbook you use in class
(while you still have one).
Want an anti-DRM dust jacket in a language other than English? We have
multiple translations available
here,
and we'd love it if you wanted to create a translation in your own
language!
Digital superstition and the Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) mindset
From October 10th by Len Epp
To fight DRM, we need to understand the mindset that drives people to
propose, promote, build, and maintain systems that they would reject
in any other form of technology. A good name for the mindset that
leads people to promote DRM, a mindset so common that we mostly don’t
notice it, might be “digital superstition”: an instinctive sense of
unease and suspicion regarding computing devices and displays, and
often, even regarding the people that know how to build and use them.
Software Freedom Podcast #1 on Day Against DRM with Cory Doctorow
From October 12 by FSFE
Starting with this episode on IDAD, the Free Software Foundation
Europe (FSFE) will talk once a month with people who have inspiring
ideas about software freedom. The first episode features prominent
writer, activist, and LibrePlanet keynote
speaker
Cory Doctorow.
November 2: Save the date! Attend EmacsConf online -- or at our office in Boston!
From October 17th
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is happy to announce our office in
Boston as the next official EmacsConf
satellite! Join us on Saturday, November 2 for an all-day event on
everyone's favorite self-documenting, customizable, and extensible
editor: GNU Emacs! The FSF will join Zürich, Switzerland, as the
second physical satellite to EmacsConf, which will be held online this
year.
Without encryption, we will lose all privacy. This is our new battleground
From October 15th by Edward Snowden
The US, UK, and Australia are taking on Facebook in a bid to undermine
the only method that protects our personal information. Real privacy
is dependent on real encryption, and real encryption is dependent upon
free software.
The second annual International Copyleft Conference: Submit proposals by November 3
From October 10th by CopyleftConf
This will be the second annual International Copyleft
Conference. Participants from throughout the copyleft world --
developers, strategists, enforcement organizations, scholars and
critics -- will be welcomed for an in-depth, high bandwidth, and
expert-level discussion about the day-to-day details of using copyleft
licensing, obstacles facing copyleft and the future of copyleft as a
strategy to advance and defend software freedom for users and
developers around the world. If you want to present a talk, see
instructions at
https://2020.copyleftconf.org/program/call-for-proposals.
GNOME files defense against patent troll
From October 21st by GNOME Foundation
Last month, GNOME was hit by a patent troll for developing the
Shotwell image management application. They were offered a high five
figure settlement, but agreeing to this would have left this patent
live, and allowed it to be used as a weapon against others. Thus,
GNOME has chosen to fight back, in order to send a message to all
software patent trolls: they will fight your suit, they will win, and
they will have your patent invalidated. The FSF joins Debian, April,
and the Software Freedom Conservancy as organizations that stand with
GNOME against this unethical attack on free software!
GNOME opens recruitment to support Coding Education Challenge
From October 18th by GNOME Foundation
The Foundation is currently recruiting for two posts: a new Graphic
Designer and a new part-time Program Coordinator, both to support the
Coding Education
Challenge. See
the link below for information about the positions and how to apply.
GNU Health: Ten years of freedom and equity in healthcare
From October 16th by Luis Falcon
For over ten years, GNU Health has brought
all of the benefits of free software to the world of public health. In
this article, Luis Falcon talks about the "collective freedom" enabled
by ethical software.
Meet the Villupuram group of engineers educating students about free software
From October 15th by Anjana Shekar
Started in 2013, the Villupuram GNU/Linux Users Group was formed as
part of a global social movement aimed at educating people about free
software. “Students can always get trained in software training
centres, but those centres may not be best equipped to teach them all
the latest software developments. We also choose a handful of
deserving students based out of Villupuram for whom travelling to
Chennai or to other centres in town may not be financially
viable. Here, we do it for free,” says Vijisulochana (Viji), the
group’s current representative. Their weekly sessions are attended by
hundreds of students.
It's inspiring initiatives like this that keep us motivated and that
propel the free software movement forward globally. We wish them the
best!
October GNU Emacs news
From October 28th by Sacha Chua
In these issues: EmacsConf 2019 schedule, meta-programming in Emacs
using Defadvice, increasing startup performance, 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
irc.freenode.org, and usually include
a handful of regulars as well as newcomers. Freenode is accessible
from any IRC client -- Everyone's welcome!
The next meeting is Friday, November 1, from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. EDT
(16:00 to 19:00 UTC). Details here:
LibrePlanet featured resource: LibrePlanet's new theme
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 LibrePlanet's new theme, which
provides information about this wiki's brand new look. We want you to
let us know what you think, and help us revise, translate, and
restructure this wiki to make it more vibrant and useful than
ever. 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: Eleven new GNU releases!
11 new GNU releases in the last month (as of October 26, 2019):
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.
This month, we welcome Amin Bandali and Mike Gerwitz as new
co-maintainers of GNUzilla.
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.
As always, please feel free to write to us at [email protected]
with any GNUish questions or suggestions for future installments.
FSF and other free software events
- November 2, 2019, online, in Boston, MA, and in Zürich, Switzerland, EmacsConf 2019
- November 15-16, 2019, in Seattle, WA, SeaGL 2019
- November 19, 2019, Boston, MA, monthly CiviCRM Boston meetup
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:
- Christopher Samuel
- joost herweijer
- Kevin Horner
- Lincoln Clarete
- Sreeram Ramachandran
- Tom Gedra
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:
- Andrii Kolomoiets (Emacs)
- Artyom Loenko (Emacs)
- Yuan Fu (Emacs)
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/2019/noviembre
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=dbb99bde8b8adb218856631df8e1f1ce_1572666382_168
Le Free Software Supporter est disponible en français. Pour voir la
version française cliquez ici:
https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2019/novembre
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=dbb99bde8b8adb218856631df8e1f1ce_1572666382_168
O Free Software Supporter está disponível em português. Para ver a
versão em português, clique aqui:
https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2019/novembro
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=dbb99bde8b8adb218856631df8e1f1ce_1572666382_168
Take action with the FSF!
Contributions from thousands of individual 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 © 2019 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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