Free Software Foundation

Free software developers guarantee everyone equal rights to their programs; any user can study the source code of a free program, modify it, and share it. By contrast, most software carries licenses, patents and agreements that deny us these basic rights.

Because it is transparent, free software is hard to use for surveillance. This makes it a crucial defence against invasions of privacy by the NSA and the world's big Internet and telecommunications companies. The FSF is building a movement to develop and expand the existing library of free software tools that everyone can use to make the NSA's job harder. In addition, we are continuing to grow the work that we have done for almost thirty years to promote and defend all free software:

• We provide critical infrastructure and funding for the GNU project, the foundation of the GNU/Linux family of free operating systems. GNU/Linux has a massive global user-base and runs more of the Internet than any other operating system.
• Our Campaigns Team promotes the use of free software, convenes the yearly LibrePlanet conference and goes toe to toe against powerful interests that threaten computer user rights.
• Our Licensing & Compliance Lab defends freely licensed software from becoming proprietary, advises free software developers on licensing issues, and certifies hardware that works with 100% free software.

We are only able to do these things because of your continued support; please become a member today.