Fifty FSF members and free software activists gathered at a haunted pizza palace in downtown Portland last week. After we got a chance to catch up with each other or meet IRL for the first time, we settled down to hear what's happening at the FSF.

(Check out our upcoming event in San Francisco!)

Joshua Gay, one of the FSF's campaigns managers, talked about some of the campaign actions we've been working on lately. He highlighted the successful campaign to convince WBUR (Boston's public radio station) to stream in Ogg Vorbis and how we plan to use that as a stepping stone for the PlayOgg campaign.  Gay also spoke about the exciting campaigns that are on the horizon, including the critical work we're doing on software patents.

Next up was board member Mako Hill. As a developer and long-time free software activist, Hill has been thinking about technology and freedom for many years and recently participated in the launch of autonomo.us. He gave us an overview of some of the bleeding edge ideas and technologies that will be bearing the brunt of protecting our freedom in the "cloud." As more of our computing is done through net services, we're looking at freedom and transparency in new ways.

The work we do just can't be done without our members, volunteers and activists. Join us in Portland again next year!

Want to help set up a Membership event in your town? Email me, membership@fsf.org

Thanks!
Deborah Nicholson
Membership Coordinator

Check out our upcoming event in San Francisco!

Special thanks to Stefano Maffulli for the pictures!

These are pictures from a table and a recent informal meeting in Los Angeles of FSF members and activists. Our gathering was a directed brainstorm about free software action and how local groups and the FSF can work together. First we talked about actions we'd already done – lots of installfests, hackfests and web-based peer support. Then we looked at what could be improved. Two things came up again and again: that groups should have more communication with each other and that with some support the free software movement could be more organized and goal-oriented at the local level. There was also some discussion about the lack of marketing and PR -- during which someone suggested a halftime superbowl ad!

Later on, we got into the future of free software. We came up with general ideas to make free software more accessible like eliminating acronyms and dropping jargon, and specific grassroots tactics like handing out live CDs at high schools, libraries and community centers. We considered reaching out to PC user groups and talking to them about alternatives to proprietary software. There was also time spent looking inward as we thought about big virtual meetings, putting free software news on an RSS feed, podcasting technical presentations and sharing a calendar site. I think everyone left this meeting inspired; knowing that there are actually many of us working in lots of different ways toward user freedom. While the Southern California groups are strengthening their local community, the FSF will be having more conversations with members and activists in other areas about local free software action.

Were you part of this conversation? Do you have something to add about local free software action? We'd like to hear about it! Email us at info@fsf.org.

by Peter Brown, Executive Director

At last year's Associate Members meeting we were all inspired by the outreach work undertaken by the free software group in Ithaca, NY. (http://ithacafreesoftware.org/)

At this year's meeting, held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Saturday April 1, we launched a Members Forum, enjoying a session at the end of the day entitled "moving free software into the mainstream" led by FSF board member Henri Poole.

The aim of the Members Forum was to draw upon the inspiration provided by the Ithaca group and identify all the ways in which the Foundation and its members can effectively campaign for free software and build a stronger community. During the meeting we broke into geographical groups, and were pleased to help introduce members to one another. The results of that session were recorded in a new wiki, and that wiki is now open to the community and we encourage you to add new pages for your state, country, region and get connected to other members, and free software activists. You can form your free software group now (http://groups.fsf.org/) and listen to this session as well as the other recordings made at the members meeting.

The day started with presentations from FSF staff. Dave Turner, FSF Compliance Engineer and GPLv3 coordinator, delivered a spirited attack on DRM, questioning Larry Lessig's recent backing for SUN's OpenDRM, and detailing the progress of FSF's work on GPLv3.

The FSF Sysadmin team ran through the technical resources provided to the community, and Justin Baugh gave us some interesting statistics. For instance, the GNU and FSF mailing lists have over 50,000 unique subscribers participating in more than 2,100 mailing lists. More than 1/2 million tarballs and 22,000 ISO images are downloaded every month from ftp.gnu.org and the Free Software Directory receives 2.25 million page views per month http://directory.fsf.org/. Ward Vandewege gave a progress report on our Free BIOS campaign and upgrading FSF servers to run coreboot.

FSF Program Administrator John Sullivan updated the members on FSF campaigns and reflected on the Open Document battle in Massachusetts. He also ran through the new resources provided at http://www.fsf.org/resources

FSF Assignment Administrator Jonas Jacobson and FSF Directory Maintainer Ted Teah demonstrated the new copyright assignment web form and other resources.

I gave a short outline of some of the ongoing efforts being made to get more mainstream press coverage, looking at ways to frame Free Software as an issue for civil society.

After a short coffee break, FSF Board member Geoffrey Knauth delivered a speech entitled "The economic impact of increasing use of free software in society", explaining the trends we are seeing in free software use.

After lunch FSF Board member and MIT professor Gerry Sussman delivered a speech entitled "software is never finished", based upon his current lectures series at MIT. I personally found the examples he gave, of his students work on replicating mathematical models found in nature, to be particularly fascinating.

FSF Board member and legal counsel Eben Moglen's speech "The Hardware Wars and the future of free software", was a classic in every way. What can I say? You must listen to this. This speech touched on so many important issues that face the free software movement, that you will feel deeply enlightened having listened.

I think Richard set a speed record in his delivery of a comprehensive speech on the threats posed by Digital Restrictions Management DRM), and followed by taking a number of questions from members.

Members were now well primed to discuss their ideas in the Members Forum. And one major theme was apparent from this years meeting, and from discussions at the FSF board meeting held the following day -  It's time to launch a broad based campaign against DRM.


A Campaign against DRM

The anti-DRM provisions in the draft release of GPLv3 represent the line in the sand that the free software movement has drawn and said will not be crossed with respect to its covered work. But DRM threatens the freedom of all computer users, and allowing it to gain a stranglehold in our homes is unacceptable.

Work covered by GPLv2 only is a target for Tivoization, and that puts all free software developers' freedoms at risk. Freedom 1*, the freedom to tinker, will quickly be eroded in world where devices will not run modified code. We can hope that people will not buy such devices, and that there will be a market left to cater to our needs. But what if there isn't?

DRM is also an apparatus for surveillance in our homes. Media interests don't just want to prevent copying of their works, they want to extend their reach into all our activities. They want to turn ever interaction you might have with a copyrighted work into a transaction, and to do that, they need the keys to your home so that they can monitor you. DRM is their first entry point, and the framework upon which surveillance is being legitimized.

Device manufacturers are in a dilemma. They are threatened by Hollywood, which says that you must incorporate DRM if you want to be able to play Hollywood movies. If one manufacturer doesn't take the bait, then another might, and they will be locked out.  When you combine Hollywood and the other large media interests, their business is but a fraction of the size of that of device manufacturers, and yet manufacturers kowtow to these threats. Why? The MPAA and the RIAA are well connected to US legislatures, and are of course, in the business of creative works and illusion. They punch above their weight.

GPLv3 is the line in the sand against DRM. We could just defend our position, but what we really need to do, is cross this line and challenge DRM:

 - Protect Freedom 1* .

 - Don't give Big Media the keys to our homes.

 - Help the device manufacturers understand that their real interests lie with their customers not Hollywood.


Organize with other free software activists, or start a free software group in your area.  Please visit the new wiki at http://groups.fsf.org/


Peter Brown
FSF Executive Director

*
Freedom 0    The freedom to run the program, for any purpose.
Freedom 1    The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs.
Freedom 2    The freedom to redistribute copies.
Freedom 3    The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public.