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Read and share online: https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2022/june
Welcome to the Free Software Supporter, the Free Software
Foundation's (FSF) monthly news digest and action update -- being read
by you and 229,215 other activists. That's 409 more than last month!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- FSF board shares next steps in board nomination process
- Software Freedom Conservancy right-to-repair lawsuit against California TV manufacturer Vizio, Inc. remanded to California State Court
- Judge rules Cydia's antitrust case against Apple can move forward
- Happy birthday, Libera Chat!
- US Department of Justice says security researchers won't face hacking charges
- Your iPhone is vulnerable to a malware attack even when it’s off
- Nvidia takes first step toward free software Linux GPU drivers
- The movement to ban government use of face recognition
- May GNU Emacs news
- Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
- LibrePlanet featured resource: LibrePlanet 2022 video transcripts
- May GNU Spotlight with Amin Bandali: 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/2022/june
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 or Spanish.
FSF board shares next steps in board nomination process
From May 10
The Free Software Foundation published a board matrix and a preview of
the board nomination form. The board matrix is comprised of
fundamental requisites and valuable attributes that will be used to
evaluate nominees for the FSF board of directors. The board nomination
form is for associate members to submit their nominations of
candidates for the board. Read the announcement, the board matrix
(https://u.fsf.org/matrix), and review the form
(https://u.fsf.org/board-form).
Software Freedom Conservancy right-to-repair lawsuit against California TV manufacturer Vizio, Inc. remanded to California State Court
From May 16 by Software Freedom Conservancy
The Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) has brought a lawsuit against
the TV maker Vizio, Inc. for what it calls repeated failures to
fulfill even the basic requirements of the General Public License
(GPL), which allows a recipient to study, share, modify, and
redistribute and install modified copies of the software. They state
that its customers have the right to the source code under the terms
of the GPL, filing the lawsuit as the purchaser of a product which has
copylefted code. This approach makes it the first legal case that
focuses on the rights of individual consumers as third-party
beneficiaries of the GPL. Conservancy has succeeded in federal court
to argue that GPL agreements function both as copyright licenses as
well as contractual agreements.
Judge rules Cydia's antitrust case against Apple can move forward
From May 28 by Igor Bonifacic
Apple Inc. lost a bid to dismiss a lawsuit in California federal court
from competing app store Cydia, alleging the company had an "illegal
monopoly over iOS app distribution." Cydia is seeking damages from
Apple Inc. and hopes to force the tech giant to open iOS to
third-party payments and app distributors. Success for Cydia could be
a promising advance in software freedom for iOS users because it would
pave the way for free software to be installed on their otherwise
proprietary operating system. For an illustrative example of what
cases such as this can mean to users, read Pumpkins, markets, and one
bad Apple: https://u.fsf.org/3gf.
Happy birthday, Libera Chat!
From May 19 by Libera staff
One year ago, Libera Chat was introduced as a new service offering
Instant Relay Chat (IRC). Within just a few months, it became the
largest IRC network, offering services to many groups and
organizations, including the FSF. To read about the FSF's rationale
for moving its IRC channels to Libera Chat last year, you are
encouraged to read https://u.fsf.org/3em. Happy birthday and happy
hacking, Libera Chat!
US Department of Justice says security researchers won't face hacking charges
From May 19 by Jon Fingas
Some good news for researchers, ethical security hackers, and others
came recently in the form of news from the US Department of Justice
(DOJ). The news says that if you are investigating, testing, or fixing
vulnerabilities in "good faith," you will not be charged. The article
tells of a reporter who was threatened by Missouri Governor Mike
Parson for pointing out a trivial Web site security flaw. Threats such
as these are expected to be inconsequential after implementation of
the DOJ's new policy. (Editorial note: Unfortunately, this article
uses the word "hacker" to exclusively denote one who conducts security
breaking. For more on the word hacker and its history, please read
https://u.fsf.org/3lx.)
Your iPhone is vulnerable to a malware attack even when it’s off
From May 17 by Dan Goodin
iPhones abuse their users by way of proprietary software. One may
think that such abuses may end when the phone is shut off. However,
the phone never stops running some software, even when the user has
powered the device down. One such software program that runs when the
phone is seemingly off has been found to have a major security
vulnerability which can allow an attacker to use car keys and credit
cards stored on the device. Moreover, because iPhone users are denied
the essential freedoms of free software, they are helpless to modify
or remove such unwanted behavior (and are probably not even aware that
this could be an option). The FSF has written extensively on Apple's
seemingly endless number of wrongs, which you are invited to read and
share: https://u.fsf.org/3ly.
Nvidia takes first step toward free software Linux GPU drivers
From May 12 by Andrew Cunningham
Nvidia announced this month that it would be freeing some of its
GNU/Linux GPU driver. While the decision marks a small move in the
right direction, Nvidia has a long way to go before its graphics cards
can be used in freedom. Even with free drivers, they require nonfree
firmware. Nouveau still remains
the only choice of GPU driver for Nvidia cards that is fully free.
The movement to ban government use of face recognition
From May 5 by Nathan Sheard and Adam Schwartz
Society is now at a precipice when it comes to surveillance and
technological innovations. The collection of some types of data, such
as which feeds facial recognition algorithms, has already begun in
many parts of the world. However, there is still time to make one's
opinion heard and fight back against unjust collection of biometric
data. Some government entities, thankfully, are listening to those who
voice their concern about privacy violations and misuses of such
data. This is an important issue, and now is a critical time. Since
government-collected data is public data, and biometric data is what
often trains artificial intelligence and neural networks, this issue
is impossible for advocates of user freedom to ignore.
May GNU Emacs news
From May 31 by Sacha Chua
In these issues: advanced batch file renaming, new GNU ELPA (Emacs
Lisp Package Archive) package, copyediting with Abbrev 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, June 3 from 12pm to 3pm EDT (16:00 to
19:00 UTC). Details here:
LibrePlanet featured resource: LibrePlanet 2022 video transcripts
For this month, we are highlighting the LibrePlanet 2022 video
transcripts page. This page is for transcripts of videos from this
year's LibrePlanet. As of this writing, there are a couple
transcriptions being worked on. We invite the public to contribute new
transcriptions and edits to existing transcriptions. They help with
and accessibility and future translation work.
Do you have a suggestion for next month's featured resource? Let us
know at [email protected].
May GNU Spotlight with Amin Bandali: eleven new GNU releases!
11 new GNU releases in the last month (as of May 29, 2022):
For more information and explanation of the packages, follow the link
to the Web version of these update.
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.
As always, please feel free to write to me, [email protected],
with any GNUish questions or suggestions for future installments.
FSF and other free software events
- June 4, 2022, Espace Vinci, Paris and streamed online, Les libertés du logiciel et du matériel, talk by Richard Stallman, Libre en Conférences (in French)
- June 21-24, Austin, Texas and online, OSSNA
- July 17-24, 2022, Prizren, Kosovo, DebConf
- July 20-25, 2022, Guadalajara, Mexico, GUADEC
- July 22-24, 2022, St. John's University in Queens, New York, HOPE 2022
- July 25-31, 2022, Hilton Los Angeles Airport, California, SCALE
- September 26-30, 2022, Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C., GRCon 2022
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:
- Adarsh Melethil
- Andrew Gaul
- Arthur Gleckler
- Brad Flaugher
- David Klann
- Dean Ujihara
- Ken Senoo
- René Genz
- Ron Hume
- The Swords of Sophia Nate Fund
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:
- Andrea Greselin (GNU Emacs)
- Bob Vergauwen (GNU Emacs)
- Christian Tietze (GNU Emacs)
- Fritz Grabo (GNU Emacs)
- Henkjan Gersen (GNU Emacs)
- Ireneusz Gabrys (GNU Emacs)
- Jin Suhn Choi (GNU Emacs)
- Mariano Montone (GNU Emacs)
- Pieter van Prooijen (GNU Emacs)
- Rudolf Adamkovic (GNU Emacs)
- Sameer Singh (GNU Emacs)
- Scarlett McAllister (GNU 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/2022/junio
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=f4cff470d57837fa8ba8b71411f72df0_1654138058_168
Le Free Software Supporter est disponible en français. Pour voir la
version française cliquez ici:
https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2022/juin
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=f4cff470d57837fa8ba8b71411f72df0_1654138058_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, free
software adoption,
OpenDocument,
and more.
Do you read and write Portuguese and English? The FSF is looking
for translators for Free Software Supporter. Please send an email to
[email protected] with your interest and a list of your experience
and qualifications.
Copyright © 2022 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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