Karen Sandler Featured on Explained

Ethics in Software is Critical

October 24, 2019

Our Executive Director, Karen Sandler was featured in today's episode of "Explained" (presented by Vox) on the topic of Coding. The episode covers the history of coding, how computing became ubiquitous and what that means for the average non-coding computer user. It's a great piece for the lay person, which is very handy for that friend or family member who doesn't really understand what software actually is.

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Announcing the Second Annual CopyleftConf!

February 3rd in Brussels

October 10, 2019

Photo by Leslie Hawthorn, CC BY

Last year's event was the first ever CopyleftConf. It was great! We have some videos up and more are coming. Also, our call for proposals is open now, through the end of the month -- we'd love to hear from you.

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Conservancy Asks Trademark Office to Protect Applicant's Personal Privacy

September 19, 2019

Software Freedom Conservancy today submitted a petition to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) asking that Office to reconsider recent rulemaking that exposes trademark owners' personal addresses.  This rulemaking has a direct impact on Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) projects and charities (like Conservancy) that work to advance software freedom.  FOSS is developed virtually, with limited budgets, and rarely does a FOSS project have office space.  FOSS projects that register trademarks should not be required to disclose the personal, residential, home address of the project leaders.  Furthermore, software freedom organizations are more likely to be full-telecommute organizations, in which case, the new USPTO rule requires disclosure of officers and/or directors home addresses.

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Richard Stallman Does Not and Cannot Speak for the Free Software Movement

September 16, 2019

We are passionate about software freedom because we know it is a necessary precondition to safe and effective software that we can rely on in the long term. We fight for copyleft because it is a powerful tool to help us actually control the technology that is being increasingly embedded in our lives. The fight for diversity, equality and inclusion is the fight for software freedom; our movement will only be successful if it includes everyone. With these as our values and goals, we are appalled at recent statements made by the President and founder of the Free Software Foundation, Richard Stallman, in his recent email to the MIT CSAIL mailing list.

When considered with other reprehensible comments he has published over the years, these incidents form a pattern of behavior that is incompatible with the goals of the free software movement. We call for Stallman to step down from positions of leadership in our movement.

We reject any association with an individual whose words and actions subvert these goals. We look forward to seeing the FSF's action in this matter and want to underscore that allowing Stallman to continue to hold a leadership position would be an unacceptable compromise. Most importantly, we cannot support anyone, directly or indirectly, who condones the endangerment of vulnerable people by rationalizing any part of predator behavior.

Edited to add: Late this past Monday night, Richard Stallman resigned as president and from the board of directors of the FSF.