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Conservancy BlogDisplaying posts
by Daniel Takamori
by on January 26, 2026
My name is Tracy and I'm the Operations Manager here at Software Freedom Conservancy. Basically that means I support many different parts of the organization, from writing up contracts for project developers to banking reconciliation. I also manage our annual conference, FOSSY.
Below is a conversation I had with our Executive Director Karen Sandler about my story with free software. Part of which centers my work with Knox Makers, the Makerspace I'm a board member of. Software freedom is an issue that affects us all, and I hope to bring some light to both my own story and a wider view of how non-FOSS developers and users interact with free software in an everyday way.
Karen Sandler: How did you first encounter the idea of software freedom?
Tracy Homer: It was a slow discovery process. When I first started using Linux, it's primary draw was that it was free (as in beer). I didn't really know it had anything to do with free as in speech and copyleft licensing. Over time I've learned how important it is to be able to modify your own devices and see what goes on behind the screens in the services that hold our most personal information.
Karen: What was the first FOSS software you used?
Tracy: Inkscape, one of SFC's member projects! I use it for all kinds of design work -both for SFC and personally. If you've been to FOSSY or visited our booth at other conferences, chances are the print material was designed in Inkscape.
Karen: We know you are very involved with the makerspace, Knox Makers. How does Knox Makers use FOSS?
Tracy: Knox Makers is committed to open source software and hardware wherever possible. We feel it is an aspect of accessibility for our members, and allows them the ability to try out and learn deeply all kinds of different tools, without having to pay expensive licensing fees, or worry about their art being sucked up by AI, or needing to buy a certain OS to run it. We've modified some software to make it more community user friendly, and written our own plugins and tools for our member's use as well. Knox Makers is actually how I learned of SFC in the first place, as a few of my good friends there are sustainers.
Karen: What are some projects you've recently done personally?
Tracy: I just finished a year's long project, embroidering a globe. It doesn't sound like it fits with free sofware but it does! I created my own pattern in QGIS (open source geographic software) using depth of the ocean translated into different shades of blue. Then I exported each of the 20 spherical triangular pieces into Inkscape to add some registration lines and print out. It took so long that I feel kind of lost what to work on next.
Karen: How does software freedom enrich your daily life?
Tracy: The few proprietary systems I still have to use are intensely frustrating. I feel like it's a game of cat and mouse trying to figure out how to use a "new and better!" interface with no documentation and no way to revert changes feels very disheartening. Any searching for error messages just brings up a long thread of other users with the same issue and maybe a rote answer from the company, typically unhelpful. That maybe doesn't answer the question, because I went the other way with it. But so most of my life is using open software and hardware that it's really become a non issue. I have a problem with something; I fix it. I can switch to something different if I really don't like it - I can even change up my whole computer system if I find it doesn't suit my needs. I don't get ads and other popups thrown in my face every where I turn, and I know my data and art belongs to only me.
Karen: You've been at SFC for over 3 years! And, as Operations Manager, you take care of some of the least glamous work that we have. What do you enjoy about your job? (hopefully it's something!)
Tracy: Working here has been great - everyone at SFC is lovely and I think we make a great team. I really enjoy meeting other people in the FOSS world, so I like tabling at conferences. And seeing everyone at FOSSY too. Weirdly, I enjoy the accounting aspects, because it feels like a puzzle to put together. All the numbers have to fit somewhere and they all have to sum up perfectly in the end so tracking down the missing pieces is a fun challenge.
Karen: What do you hope to accomplish in software freedom, either personally or professionally in the coming months or years?
Tracy: I've only done the most minor contributions to projects, and someday I'd like to develop the skills to do more. I'd also like to focus on adding more to my city in OpenStreetMap - it's pretty sparse in places. I think with SFC I'd like to help focus on on advocacy and how software freedom benefits many different aspects of life, especially in the creative space.
by on January 16, 2025
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 of $204,877 — which was substantially larger than any of our match challenges in history.
Donors heard our ask, and we were even more thankful of all the donors who responded. Toward the end, we were so overwhelmed by last minute response that we were tabulating updates by hand. We saw so many donors who had already given coming in for another $10, $50 or $100 to get us there. We made the match primarily because of the hundreds of small donors who came in with Sustainer amounts, and we thank those small donors so much for often doing a bit extra: so many of you hit the $512 and even the $1024 button instead of the minimum of $128. It means so much to us when we see a donor who gave $128 in 2023 double their donation for 2024 — you all made this match challenge succeed. We also so appreciate the donors who, despite experiencing financial challenges, gave smaller amounts when it was a stretch for them to give at all.
Most surprising of all, an anonymous donor who in the past has made a very large donation around the time of FOSDEM came in early this year. That donation bursts us right through our status bar and puts us well over. We've raised over $475,000 this season, which is now reflected on our fundraiser status bar. (We're still tabulating and entering the paper checks and ACH/wire transactions that came during the final days of the fundraiser, so the number may soon increase even more!)
We are truly humbled. Every year, our staff is working tirelessly through the holiday season to make sure we balance our work and fundraising. Every dollar you all give us is noticed and appreciated, and gets us there, step by step.
SFC does receive some grants and corporate sponsorship for which we are also grateful, but the bulk of our funding comes from individual donors, like you. Fundraising is (sometimes annoyingly) mandatory work that as a small staff we must do in addition to our normal work. Nevertheless, it's a simple fact that the more you donate, the more program activity we can do. In essence, you make our important work for software freedom and rights.
by on January 15, 2025
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, activism, and post-scarcity economics. We were so excited for this conversation, many on SFC staff are fans and had a great time preparing for the conversation.
Covering a range of topics, it was great to hear from Cory about how proprietary platforms can actually lead to conversations with loved ones about interoperability. Of particular note was a discussion about the similarities to the accessibility rights movement. Interoperability and accessibility are fundamental rights that technology should empower us to have, but often times we need to advocate and fight for those rights.
If you run out of things you can do with code, there's nothing wrong with mounting a big normative campaign. If the norms aren't doing it for you...
With a good appreciation of history combined with a forward looking eye Doctorow's unique perspective sheds light on how the free software movement can be more open to availing itself to the wider public. We look forward to a future where more people are brought into the conversations and issues that today's technology forces us to reckon with.
Karen talked about the potential of software freedom and in particular the opportunities inherent in all copyleft licenses to completely change the way ordinary people experience technology that impacts them. She talked about the concrete and incremental work Software Freedom Conservancy does to move the needle towards ethical technology.
Thanks to Cory for sitting down with Karen and having a great conversation that we hope inspires you as much as us to look to the future with eagerness and energy for change!
PS: Today is the last day of our fundraiser, so if you like content like this, please donate now to support us in making things like this happen!
by on December 23, 2024
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 December 27th and 30th!
My name is Pono, a name my native Hawaiian grandmother gave me. In Hawaiian we have a word: kuleana. A duty to take care of the land and the people around you given your own gifts and abilities. It’s been an important concept to me to guide me and share my passions and desires for a better world with the community around me. I came to Software Freedom Conservancy first as a Sustainer and activist, and then years later an employee. Software Freedom is an interesting area to think about place, because the digital world sometimes feels like an astral plane, so distant from our everyday lives. But the reality is that we can inhabit the physical world and digital world at the same time. Whether it’s liberating farming equipment so that we can repair the software on tools vital for food production or making sure that the internet connected devices in our homes are not spying on us, our stewardship for the Earth and for the digital spaces we occupy are not distinct but intertwined.
My wife and I are expecting our first child soon. We’re so excited for the future and how the three of us will grow and experience the world together. And while software freedom certainly wasn’t the first thing on our minds in this situation, we’ve already encountered baby gear that is internet connected and has moved to subscription model for existing features (this article from The Register talks about it as well as the letter we signed to the FTC advocating against such technology). It’s frustrating the many ways that our technology is dictated to us, when it is from our own labor that all this technology is created in the first place [footnote]. What does software freedom look like to someone growing up in a world filled with proprietary cloud based software, an increasing surveillance state, and corporations seeking to lock you in the their walled gardens?
Working for Software Freedom Conservancy has been amazing to work with community to build our collective future. We focus on protecting technological rights that corporations continually belittle and seek to undermine. Working with such an incredibly passionate and small team is something that makes advocating for software freedom feel good. Our activism, while sometimes driven to fight back against unchecked power, has it’s roots in the joy and liberation of programming and cooperation of our digital activities. It’s a long road ahead, but we must remember that there is joy to be had along the way.
I’m sure by wishing my daughter has an interest in computers, she will wind up finding her joy somewhere else. But isn’t that what we want? Regardless of technical proficiency or interest, we want to guarantee rights for all people. My kuleana is knowing that I’ve been given abilities and an interest in computing; I have a responsibility to others to make sure they are afforded the same rights and privileges I’ve attained.
I’m so thankful for the opportunity to share my story and why I think software freedom is a necessary (if not sufficient) condition for human liberation. It's my humble ask to support our organization you spread the word and tell a friend or family member about what we do. But if you are able to give this season, your contribution will be doubled during our fundraiser :)
While the annual sustainership level is $128/year, you can make monthly donations and get all the benefits of sustaining SFC for lightly less (at just $10/month)!
We’d also like to invite you to a Q&A with our Executive Director Karen Sandler and Policy Fellow Bradley M. Kuhn on the evening of December 27th and morning of December 30th. Use the commands below to find your local time.
$ date -d "2024-12-27 14:00 UTC"
$ date -d "2024-12-31 02:00 UTC"
Join us in #conservancy on libera.chat or our XMPP channel at those times for the BigBlueButton link. Can’t wait to see you!
Maholo nui loa,
— Daniel Sean Pono Takamori
footnote: The Luddites get a bad rap, but they were the skilled laborers who fought against technology replacing them in a way that's very reminiscent to our own movement. I highly recommend Brian Merchant's book "Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech"