FSF News
Free Software Foundation releases FY2015 Annual Report
BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Thursday, August 11th, 2016 -- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today published its FY2015 Annual Report.
Web DRM standard moves to next phase of development, FSF's Defective by Design campaign to continue opposition
BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA — Wednesday, July 6, 2016 — Despite dedicated resistance by tens of thousands of Web users and civil society groups, Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee allowed Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) to move to the next phase of development within the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) yesterday.
LulzBot TAZ 6 3D printer now FSF-certified to respect your freedom
BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Friday, June 10, 2016 -- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today awarded Respects Your Freedom (RYF) certification to the TAZ 6, the sixth model in the LulzBot TAZ line of 3D printers by Aleph Objects, Inc., and their 10th product to be awarded RYF certification. The RYF certification mark means that the product meets the FSF's standards in regard to users' freedom, control over the product, and privacy.
LibrePlanet conference videos and slides online: Edward Snowden, Richard Stallman, Karen Sandler, and more
Boston, Massachusetts, USA – Tuesday, May 31, 2016 – The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today announces that recordings and slides from its LibrePlanet 2016 free software conference are now available online.
Allies join Defective by Design for the tenth anniversary of the International Day Against DRM
Hundreds explore ways to Fork the System with free software at LibrePlanet 2016
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, USA -- Wednesday, March 23, 2016 -- The 2016 LibrePlanet free software conference drew nearly 350 activists from around the world to discuss issues of freedom, privacy, and security in computing. NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and ACLU technologist Daniel Kahn Gillmor discussed "The last lighthouse: free software in dark times" in an opening keynote before a brimming audience at MIT's Stata Center, with hundreds of remote participants tuning in online.
GNU releases ethical evaluations of code-hosting services
BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Monday, April 25th, 2016 -- Today the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and the GNU Project announced evaluations of several major repository-hosting services according to the standards of the GNU Ethical Criteria for Code Repositories. Released in 2015, these criteria grade code-hosting services for their commitment to user privacy and freedom. At the time of publication, Savannah and GitLab have met or surpassed the baseline standards of the criteria.
FSF Job Opportunity: Operations Assistant
DEADLINE PASSED. No longer accepting applications. The Free Software Foundation (FSF), a Massachusetts 501(c)(3) charity with a worldwide mission to protect freedoms critical to the computer-using public, seeks a motivated and organized Boston-based individual to be its full-time Operations Assistant.
Interpreting, enforcing and changing the GNU GPL, as applied to combining Linux and ZFS
BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Monday, April 11, 2016 -- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today announced the publication of "Interpreting, enforcing and changing the GNU GPL, as applied to combining Linux and ZFS," by its founder and president, Richard M. Stallman.
Anti-DRM activists go to W3C meeting to protest Digital Restrictions Management in Web standards
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA -- Tuesday, March 22, 2016 -- On Sunday the Free Software Foundation (FSF) led a protest at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) against an attempt by Netflix, Hollywood and other technology and media companies to weave Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) into the HTML standard that undergirds the Web. With about 75 protesting outside an ongoing W3C event, it was the largest protest ever at the standards body.
Library Freedom Project and Werner Koch are 2015 Free Software Awards winners
BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Saturday, March 19, 2016 -- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today announced the winners of the 2015 Free Software Awards at a ceremony held during the LibrePlanet 2016 conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). FSF president Richard M. Stallman presented the two awards: the Award for the Advancement of Free Software and the Award for Projects of Social Benefit.
LibrePlanet free software conference coming to MIT in one week, March 19-20
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, USA -- Friday, March 11th, 2016 -- In just one week, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and MIT's Student Information Processing Board (SIPB) are once again teaming up to bring the LibrePlanet free software conference to Cambridge, March 19-20, 2016, at the Stata Center at MIT. LibrePlanet is an annual conference for people who care about their digital freedoms, bringing together software developers, policy experts, activists, and computer users to learn skills, share accomplishments, and tackle challenges facing the free software movement.
ThinkPenguin VPN mini-router now FSF-certified to respect your freedom
BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Thursday, March 10, 2016 -- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today announces that it has awarded Respects Your Freedom (RYF) certification to the Free Software Wireless-N Mini Router (TPE-R1100) as sold by ThinkPenguin, Inc. The RYF certification mark means that the product meets the FSF's standards in regard to users' freedom, control over the product, and privacy.
Free Software Foundation submits comment to Copyright Office with over 1200 co-signers calling for end to DMCA anti-circumvention provisions
BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Tuesday, March 8th, 2016 -- On March 3rd, 2016, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) submitted a comment along with over 1200 co-signers to the U.S. Copyright Office in response to its *Section 1201 Study: Notice and Request for Public Comment* in regards to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's (DMCA) anti-circumvention provisions. These comments were submitted in person by FSF campaigns manager Zak Rogoff, as the Copyright Office refused to offer a means of electronic submission that did not require the use of proprietary JavaScript.
Edward Snowden will kick off LibrePlanet 2016 in Cambridge, Massachusetts
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, USA -- Tuesday, January 26th, 2016 -- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today announced that the opening keynote for LibrePlanet 2016: Fork the System, will be a conversation with National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden and American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Technologist Daniel Kahn Gillmor.
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2015 was the Free Software Foundation's (FSF) thirtieth year defending and advancing computer users' rights. The free software community has sustained the Foundation throughout these decades and been deeply involved in our work.
Free Software Foundation submits comments to U.S. Department of Education encouraging free licensing for all grant-funded materials
BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Friday, December, 18, 2015 -- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today submitted a comment to the U.S. Department of Education in response to the Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM), Open Licensing Requirement for Direct Grant Programs. In addition, the FSF collected and sent comments from the free software community. These comments were filed via postal mail, as currently it is impossible to submit comments in digital form for NPRMs without downloading and running proprietary JavaScript.
Libreboot T400 laptop now FSF-certified to respect your freedom
BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Friday, December 11, 2015 -- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today awarded Respects Your Freedom (RYF) certification to the Libreboot T400 laptop as sold by Minifree. The RYF certification mark means that the product meets the FSF's standards in regard to users' freedom, control over the product, and privacy.
Library of Congress issues limited exemptions to DMCA anti-circumvention provisions but leaves users without full control over their own computing
On October 27th, 2015, the Library of Congress published its list of exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), denying many of the proposed exemptions and modifying or limiting others. Because of this, users of a wide variety of software and devices, such as ebook readers and video game consoles, still do not have the right to control their own computing. Even for the areas where the exemptions permit users some additional control, they do not permit sharing of methods for obtaining it, and last only three years.
GNU ethical criteria for code repositories emphasize privacy, freedom, and copyleft
BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Friday, October 16th, 2015 -- Today the Free Software Foundation and the GNU Project announced the first version of criteria for evaluating services that host free software source code repositories for distribution and collaborative development. Developed with the leadership of Richard Stallman and GNU volunteers, the criteria provide a framework for code repositories to ensure that they respect their users in a manner consonant with the values of the free software movement, and for users to hold these crucial institutions accountable.