The Software Freedom Conservancy provides a non-profit home and services to Free, Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) projects.| sfconservancy.org
A blog post from Software Freedom Conservancy. Blog post by Denver Gingerich. Please email any comments on this entry to <denver@sfconservancy.org>. You may have heard that Google will be limiting sideloading in the next few months, which is likely to be enforced through Google Play Services, something that runs on virtually all Android phones. Google plans include blocking sideloading of apps where the developer has not shown their ID to Google. Many people have been asking us how they can s...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
Software Freedom Conservancy has today submitted its reply to the FTC's request for comments on how repair information should be displayed on EnergyGuide labels. In particular, SFC has recommended that the FTC mandate a| Software Freedom Conservancy
The Software Freedom Conservancy provides a non-profit home and services to Free, Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) projects.| sfconservancy.org
The Software Freedom Conservancy provides a non-profit home and services to Free, Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) projects.| sfconservancy.org
Two schools of thought about the purpose of copyleft have been at odds for some time. Simply put, the question is: are copyleft licenses designed primarily to protect the rights of large companies that produce electronics and software products, or is copyleft designed primarily to protect individual users' rights to improve, modify, repair, and reinstall their software?| Software Freedom Conservancy
As we write this, everyone is wondering what will happen with TikTok in the next 48 hours. Social media as a phenomenon was designed to manufacture drama to sell advertising, and in this moment, the meta-drama is bigger than the in-App drama.The danger of pervasive software is clear: powerful entities — be they governments or for-profit corporations — should not control the online narrative and remain unregulated in their use of personal data generated by these systems. However, the appro...| Software Freedom Conservancy
A blog post from Software Freedom Conservancy. Blog post by Daniel Takamori. Please email any comments on this entry to <pono@sfconservancy.org>. We thank both donors who offered this historic $204,877 match & those who gave to help to exceed the challenge In late November, SFC, with the help of a group of generous individuals who pledged match gifts large and small, posted a huge challenge to our donors. We were so thankful for the donors who came together to offer others a match challenge o...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A blog post from Software Freedom Conservancy. Blog post by Daniel Takamori. Please email any comments on this entry to <pono@sfconservancy.org>. Our Executive Director Karen Sandler recently sat down with Cory Doctorow to talk about software right to repair, the utility and history of DMCA exemptions, and some of the differences between the way laws take effect in different places around the world. Doctorow is widely known for his speculative fiction touching on issues of technology, activis...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
I spent most of 2024 recovering from a spine injury after a car accident. I’d love to share my new insight into free software accessibility, and how both free software and embroidery helped me build resiliency. I’ve been working on a special embroidery that I’ll send to a donor who gives to Software Freedom Conservancy on January 8. We hope if you are able to give you’ll consider donating!| Software Freedom Conservancy
A blog post from Software Freedom Conservancy. Blog post by Daniel Takamori. Please email any comments on this entry to <pono@sfconservancy.org>. Pono and Meredith in Hawai'i - CC-BY-NA 4.0 Pono Takamori During the holiday season I really want to share with you some thoughts on why software freedom is so important to me. Please donate during our fundraiser (and have you donation doubled from our matchers!). Also please see the note at the bottom about 2 Q&A sessions we’ll be having on Decem...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A blog post from Software Freedom Conservancy. Blog post by Daniel Takamori. Please email any comments on this entry to <pono@sfconservancy.org>. CC-BY-NA 4.0 Emily Dunham Next up in our matcher interview series is Emily Dunham (edunham). Having been involved in free software for almost 20 years, her work has spanned all kinds of places from working at Mozilla with the Rust community to being a developer advocate and now being at Okta. Thanks to Emily for the incredible interview! SFC: Tell u...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A blog post from Software Freedom Conservancy. Blog post by Rick Sanders. Please email any comments on this entry to <rick@sfconservancy.org>. Since the Linux project removed a number of entries from the MAINTAINERS file, all of whom were putatively Russian, in October, we've been receiving questions about U.S. sanctions against Russia and what, if anything, we should do about them. As I explain below, our position is that such drastic action, though defensible, is unnecessary. What would co...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A blog post from Software Freedom Conservancy. Blog post by Daniel Takamori. Please email any comments on this entry to <pono@sfconservancy.org>. CC-BY-NA 4.0 Patrick Masson We're so happy to feature our incredible matchers this year! Thanks to all of them for contributing to our largest match goal yet. Today we're talking with Patrick Masson, Executive Director of the Apereo Foundation. SFC: Tell us a bit about yourself! Where are you from, what are some of your hobbies? Social media? Patric...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A blog post from Software Freedom Conservancy. Blog post by Denver Gingerich. Please email any comments on this entry to <denver@sfconservancy.org>. Software cannot run without hardware. To have software freedom, we need hardware to run our software. Sadly, the vast majority of hardware is not built with software freedom in mind. Too often, we are beholden to the big hardware companies that sell us our laptops, phones, routers, TVs and other devices. Few manufacturers today build devices with...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A blog post from Software Freedom Conservancy. Blog post by Karen Sandler. Please email any comments on this entry to <karen@sfconservancy.org>. Today is Thanksgiving in the United States, and I am so grateful for all of the amazing people worldwide who are working together towards software freedom. I am excited to share with you this video where I recently sat down with Anna e só, one of our intrepid Outreachy organizers. Anna is one of the voices I'm most excited to hear from, especially a...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A blog post from Software Freedom Conservancy. Blog post by Bradley M. Kuhn. Please email any comments on this entry to <bkuhn@sfconservancy.org>. This week, the Open Source Initiative (OSI) made their new Open Source Artificial Intelligence Definition (OSAID) official with its 1.0 release. With this announcement, we have reached the moment that software freedom advocates have feared for decades: the definition of “open source” — with which OSI was entrusted — now differs in significa...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A blog post from Software Freedom Conservancy. Blog post by Denver Gingerich. Please email any comments on this entry to <denver@sfconservancy.org>. We were excited and very happy to participate in Linux Plumbers Conference this year, which happened last month (Sep 18-20) in Vienna. As one of the premiere programs using a software right to repair license (GPLv2), Linux is crucial for the future of software freedom in our devices, from those we use to develop and write new code, to the phones ...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A blog post from Software Freedom Conservancy. Blog post by Daniel Takamori. Please email any comments on this entry to <pono@sfconservancy.org>. CC-BY-NA 4.0 Lucy Voigt Thanks so much to one of our matching supporters, The Voigt Family! We're so happy to highlight a young family involved in free software and hear from about what they think about our work and the future. Read on to hear from Eli from a quick interview we did! SFC:Tell us a bit about yourself! Where are you from, what are some...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A blog post from Software Freedom Conservancy. Blog post by Denver Gingerich. Please email any comments on this entry to <denver@sfconservancy.org>. There appears to be some debate over whether a certain billionaire said on November 22 that "Tesla Roadster is now fully open source", or maybe that "All design & engineering of the original @Tesla Roadster is now fully open source". In any case, as the people who work every day on whether or not what companies say is FOSS really is FOSS, we revi...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A blog post from Software Freedom Conservancy. Blog post by Karen Sandler. Please email any comments on this entry to <karen@sfconservancy.org>. Just when I think that I've really grokked the implications of the technology I have woven into my life, I find that life throws completely new challenges my way that make me realize the extent of the work that we have ahead of us for software freedom. Front of hospital in Brussels CC-BY-SA 4.0 Karen Sandler Early this year, in February, as I readied...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A blog post from Software Freedom Conservancy. Blog post by Sourceware PLC. Please email any comments on this entry to <Sourceware PLC@sfconservancy.org>. Sourceware is maintained by volunteers, but hardware, bandwidth and servers are provided by sponsors. It is our goal to offer a worry-free, friendly home for Free Software projects. Because Free Software needs Free Infrastructure. We have only been a Conservancy member project for 6 months, but we started the search for a fiscal sponsor abo...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A blog post from Software Freedom Conservancy. Blog post by Denver Gingerich. Please email any comments on this entry to <denver@sfconservancy.org>. In SFC's ongoing lawsuit against Vizio asking to receive the source code for the copylefted components on their TVs, last week we had a hearing with the judge to discuss the Motion for Summary Judgment that Vizio filed (requesting that the court reject our case before it even went to trial). A couple of our staff attended in-person (in an Orange ...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A blog post from Software Freedom Conservancy. Blog post by Denver Gingerich. Please email any comments on this entry to <denver@sfconservancy.org>. When it comes to the law, people working on software freedom are often most concerned about copyright and contract law (and the licenses we use under both), since these appear to most directly affect software freedom. How people can use, study, modify, and redistribute the software is naturally of paramount importance and these laws heavily affec...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A blog post from Software Freedom Conservancy. Blog post by Bradley M. Kuhn. Please email any comments on this entry to <bkuhn@sfconservancy.org>. This past weekend, July 13-16th, 2023, Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) hosted and ran a new conference, FOSSY (Free and Open Source Software Yearly) in Portland, Oregon, USA. I was glad to host the keynote panel discussion on the recent change made by Red Hat (now a subsidiary of IBM) regarding the public source code releases for Red Hat Enterpr...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
A blog post from Software Freedom Conservancy. Blog post by Denver Gingerich. Please email any comments on this entry to <denver@sfconservancy.org>. I grew up on a farm. My parents worked hard to grow crops and manage the farm business. My parents also found additional jobs to make ends meet. As farmers have done for millennia, my family used tools to farm. Some of those tools were tractors. Farmers now, as they have for thousands of years, rely on their ability and right to fix their tools. ...| The Software Freedom Conservancy
Today Software Freedom Conservancy is officially opening our call for track proposals for our first annual FOSSY conference! We will be holding the conference in Portland, Oregon July 13-16, 2023 at the Oregon Convention Center. We are looking for community driven tracks that can balance important and in depth technical and non-technical issues, while uplifting contributors of all experiences. Tracks will be modeled after the DevRooms at FOSDEM and the miniconfs at linux.conf.au. They may be ...| Software Freedom Conservancy
Across organizations who develop and deploy software, there are a wide range of time-sensitive concerns that arise. Perhaps the most diligent team that responds to such time-sensitive concerns is the cybersecurity team. It is crucial for them to quickly understand the security concern, patch it without introducing any regressions, and deploy it. In extreme cases this is all done within a few hours — a monumental task crammed into less time than a dinner party (and often replacing such a soc...| Software Freedom Conservancy
Software freedom is our goal. Copyleft is a strategy to reach that goal. That tenet is oft forgotten by activists. Copyleft is even abused to advance proprietary goals. We too often see concern about the future of copyleft overshadow the necessary fundamental question: does a particular behavior or trend — and the inevitable outcomes of those behaviors and trends — increase or decrease users’ rights to copy, share, modify, and reinstall modified versions of their software? That question...| Software Freedom Conservancy
Microsoft Will Even Prohibit Charitable FOSS Fundraising Through the “Microsoft Store”A few weeks ago, Microsoft quietly updated its Microsoft [app] Store Policies, adding new policies (which go into effect next week), that include this text: all pricing … must … [n]ot attempt to profit from open-source or other software that is otherwise generally available for free [meaning, in price, not freedom].| Software Freedom Conservancy
Update (2023-11-14): Unfortunately, the Court has made further bad decisions in this matter, and was not swayed by our expert report. If the SFC were the copyright holder of the text of the AGPLv3, or the trademark holder of the license's name, we would have intervened in this case to clarify these matters for the Court. Since the SFC did not create the AGPLv3 (our employees have been involved in GPLv3-related drafting, but not on behalf of SFC), filing the expert report was the only action t...| Software Freedom Conservancy
This article was originally published primarily as a response to IBM's Red Hat's change to no longer publish complete, corresponding source (CCS) for RHEL and the prior discontinuation of CentOS Linux (which are related events, as described below). We hope that this will serve as a comprehensive document that discusses the history of Red Hat's RHEL business model, the related source code provisioning, and the GPL compliance issues with RHEL.| Software Freedom Conservancy