Software Freedom Conservancy @conservancy@mastodon.technology

Supporting Conservancy is an investment in the future of #FOSS. Help us help more member projects, offer more services, and keep advocating for the issues that affect us all. Become a Supporter today! https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/

Given @McCoySmith declined to debate @bkuhn_ebb_org on this matter at #ossummit, we're curious how McCoy responds to our points: (a) GPLv2 installation requirements haven't changed since 2003 & (b) don't work the way he says. See: https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2021/mar/25/install-gplv2/ https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2021/jul/23/tivoization-and-the-gpl-right-to-install/

As our own executive director @o0karen0o says in the press release, congrats to @OpenSourceOrg and Stefano Maffulli, and also to @baconandcoconut for her work shepherding the process!

https://opensource.org/news/osi-executive-director

Conservancy is looking for a website designer to help us with a new project! We're looking for someone with design experience and familiarity with FOSS tooling. Pay is between 20-60$/hr depending on experience
https://sfconservancy.org/news/2021/sep/07/website-designer-short-opportunity/

So touched by the shout out by Kavita Kapoor and the SustainOSS folks at the end of this interview about Kavita and her work at the Federation of Humanitarian Technologists

https://podcast.sustainoss.org/86

The Institute for Computing in Research https://computinginresearch.org/ has expanded their internships with 6 new interns in Portland, OR! Offering mentoring in scientific computing, they will work with local Oregon academics on projects ranging from computational biology to AI and pure math.
https://sfconservancy.org/news/2021/aug/03/icr-portland/

Projects such as #GCC, #glibc, & gnulib are considering ending #copyright assignment to #FSF. We urge everyone to think carefully what this means for the future of #copyleft, #GPL enforcement, and the software freedom of downstream users. https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2021/jun/30/who-should-own-foss-copyrights/

If you want to know more about our choice to use XMPP, here's the blog post explaining:
https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2021/jun/21/xmpp-chat/

You can also join via Matrix as well!
https://matrix.to/#/#xmpp_general_chat.sfconservancy.org:matrix.org

Do not worry if you preferred IRC, we will continue bridging our channel #conservancy on http://irc.libera.chat

We're excited to announce the launch of our new XMPP chat server! Come join us for our weekly chat at:
general@chat.sfconservancy.org

Get to know our new Community Organizer @pono : https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2021/may/18/pono-introduction/

We're so happy to introduce our newest staff member @pono ! Pono is joining us to as a Community Organizer and Nonprofit Problem Solver.

https://sfconservancy.org/news/2021/may/13/welcoming-pono-as-new-staff/

Join today https://copyright.gov/1201/2021/public-hearings/ as one of our attorneys, @copiesofcopies , testifies before Copyright Office regarding our #DMCA exemption request related to #OpenWrt: seeking right to circumvent lock-down on wireless routers. https://sfconservancy.org/news/2020/dec/15/dmca-exemptions-long-form/ has links to written part.

BTW, we're annoyed that USA government refused to provide option to view/hear this w/out proprietary software. We raised this issue, but decided overarching moral imperative is participate for the rights of users despite that.

Software freedom contributors are human. We all make mistakes, often very publicly. It's tricky to write a public apology for those mistakes.

This blog post by @sagesharp will help you avoid common pitfalls and craft an effective apology: https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2021/apr/20/how-to-apologize/

Tomorrow's 1201 (DMCA) Hearings continue w/Aaron Williamson representing us in our request to permit testing, investigation, & correction of privacy issues. Tune in at 10:30 ET (you can watch via the browser, but there's still registration + captcha).
https://www.copyright.gov/1201/2021/public-hearings/

We're excited to cheer Pam Chestek on as she represents us in the Section 1201 (DMCA) Public Hearings on the Copyright License Investigation exemption request. You can tune in now (via the browser, but it requires registration and a captcha): https://www.copyright.gov/1201/2021/public-hearings/

Installing modified software on devices is an essential software freedom guaranteed by #copyleft & gives the #RightToRepair. Denver Gingerich explains how GPLv2 protects this right. You 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲 “the scripts used to control…installation of the executable”! https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2021/mar/25/install-gplv2/

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) gave its Award for Advancement of Free Software to Conservancy's Policy Fellow & Hacker-in-Residence, Bradley M. Kuhn. Bradley Kuhn's acceptance speech urged software freedom activists to “speak truth to power” & refuse to write proprietary software. https://sfconservancy.org/news/2021/mar/22/fsf-award-bkuhn/

If you weren't among the 33,600 people 😮 at online #FOSDEM this weekend, be advised: 100% #FOSS for online conferences is production ready *today*. Say NO to any Zoom (or other proprietary software) online events from now on. Demand software freedom! https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2021/feb/08/just-say-no-to-zoom/