Free Software SupporterIssue 74, May 2014 Welcome to the Free Software Supporter, the Free Software Foundation's monthly news digest and action update -- being read by you and 79,554 other activists. View this issue online here: https://fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2014/may Encourage your friends to subscribe and help us build an audience by adding our subscriber widget to your web site.
Miss an issue? You can catch up on back issues at https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter. #El Free Software Supporter está disponible en español. Para ver la versión en español haz click aqui: https://fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2014/mayo Para cambiar las preferencias de usuario y recibir los próximos números del Supporter en castellano, haz click aquí: https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=34&reset=1 Le Free Software Supporter est disponible en français. Pour voir la version française cliquez ici: https://fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2014/mai Pour modifier vos préférences et recevoir les prochaines publications du Supporter en français, cliquez ici: https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=34&reset=1 TABLE OF CONTENTS
FSF condemns partnership between Mozilla and Adobe to support Digital Restrictions ManagementFrom May 14th On May 14, Mozilla announced that it is reluctantly adopting DRM in its Firefox Web browser. In response, Free Software Foundation executive director John Sullivan made a statement condemning the move. Thanks for a great International Day Against DRMFrom May 7th On May 6, people all over the world spoke out against Digital Restrictions Management with flyering, rallies, teach-ins, and sales on DRM-free media. This post highlights some of the day's actions.
Press release: Tehnoetic wireless USB adapter now FSF-certified to respect your freedomFrom May 21st The FSF has awarded Respects Your Freedom (RYF) certification to the Tehnoetic TET-N150 wireless USB adapter. The RYF certification mark is awarded to products that meet the FSF's standards in regard to users' freedom, control over the product, and privacy. Interview with Ciaran Gultnieks of F-DroidFrom May 8th In this edition of our Licensing and Compliance Lab's series on free software developers who choose GNU licenses for their works, we conducted an email-based interview with Ciaran Gultnieks, the founder of the F-Droid project and the lead developer of fdroidserver, which is licensed under the GNU AGPL version 3 (or any later version). FSF seeks full-time senior GNU/Linux systems administratorFrom May 2nd The Free Software Foundation (FSF), a Boston-based 501(c)(3) charity with a worldwide mission to protect freedoms critical to the computer-using public, seeks a full-time senior systems administrator. Fall 2013 FSF Bulletin now available onlineFrom May 16th The fall 2013 Free Software Foundation Bulletin, which was mailed to our supporters in November, is now online. Check it out for interesting articles on free software and free software activism. "Imperfection is not the same as oppression"From May 30th In his latest article, Richard Stallman underscores this crucial distinction, and encourages all users whose particular needs are not being met by a free program to address the unmet need in a proactive, respectful, and constructive way. FSF statement on Court of Appeals ruling in Oracle v GoogleFrom May 27th The Federal Circuit has ruled in Oracle's favor, which has reintroduced confusion and uncertainty on a user's freedom to use APIs. Richard Stallman answers questions on Slashdot.orgFrom May 6th Richard M. Stallman (RMS) answers questions from Slashdot.org readers and discusses free hardware, deblobbing the kernel, legal reforms, and much more. FSF joins more than twenty other organizations in plan to "Reset the Net"From May 5th We are joining this day of action to protect Internet users from mass surveillance. Stay tuned to learn more about what we'll be doing to Reset the Net on June 5, 2014. Register now for the 2014 GNU Hackers MeetingFrom May 30th On the weekend of August 15 to 17, 2014 the people responsible for the GNU operating system will gather in Munich, Germany at the eighth GNU Hackers Meeting. The meeting is open to developers, users, and all people interested in GNU. It is an opportunity to share ideas and for social interaction within the GNU community. Open letter to European Commission: Stop DRM in HTML5By FSF Europe, from May 6th On this year's International Day against DRM, FSF Europe sent an open letter to the European Commission, asking the EC to prevent Digital Restrictions Management technology from being closely integrated with the HTML5 standard. Thirty-three Free Software Pact supporters elected to the European ParliamentBy April and FSF Europe, from May 28th The European elections have brought thirty-three free software supporters into the new European Parliament. Candidates across the political spectrum signed the Free Software Pact, promising to support free software and free standards during their time in Parliament. Google has most of my email because it has all of yoursBy Benjamin Mako Hill, from May 11th FSF board member Benjamin Mako Hill writes on the privacy implications of Gmail, even if you don't personally use it. Savannah VCS storage maintenance completedBy Bob Proulx, from May 14th Storage migration on Savannah has been completed. As a result, the vcs has returned to normal service and users can now enjoy a faster storage system. Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software DirectoryFrom May 30th Tens of thousands of people visit directory.fsf.org each month to discover free software. Each entry in the Directory contains a wealth of useful information, from basic category and descriptions to version control, IRC channels, documentation, and licensing. The Free Software Directory has been a great resource to software users over the past decade, but it needs your help staying up-to-date with new and exciting free software projects. To help, join our weekly IRC meetings on Fridays. Meetings take place in the #fsf channel on irc.gnu.org, and usually include a handful of regulars as well as newcomers. Everyone's welcome. The next meeting is Friday, June 6 from 2pm to 5pm EDT (18:00 to 21:00 UTC). Details here: After this meeting, you can check https://www.fsf.org/events to see the rest of June's weekly meetings as they are scheduled. LibrePlanet featured resource: GPG guide reviewEvery month on LibrePlanet, we highlight one resource that is interesting and useful -- often one that could use your help. For this month, we are highlighting the review page for our GPG guide, which helps people go through the process of installing email encryption software. You are invited to try out and provide feedback for our guide. Do you have a suggestion for next month's featured resource? Let us know at campaigns@fsf.org. GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry: 22 new GNU releases!22 new GNU releases in the last month (as of May 26, 2014):
To get announcements of most new GNU releases, subscribe to the info-gnu mailing list: https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu. Nearly all GNU software is available from https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/, or preferably one of its mirrors (https://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html). You can use the url http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/ to be automatically redirected to a (hopefully) nearby and up-to-date mirror. This month, we welcome: * Mohammed Isam Mohammed, author and maintainer of the new package GnuDOS. * Edscott Wilson, author and maintainer of the new GNU package libdb. * Vaibhaw Pandey, new maintainer of GNU groff. * Sebastien Diaz, new maintainer of gnukart, along with his work on many other GNU packages. * Amadeusz Slawinski, new co-maintainer of GNU screen. Thanks to all. A number of GNU packages, as well as the GNU operating system as a whole, are looking for maintainers and other assistance: please see https://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint if you'd like to help. The general page on how to help GNU is at https://www.gnu.org/help/help.html. To submit new packages to the GNU operating system, see https://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html. As always, please feel free to write to me, karl@gnu.org, with any GNUish questions or suggestions for future installments. GNU Toolchain updateFrom May 18th The GNU toolchain refers to the part of the GNU system which is used for building programs. These components of GNU are together often on other systems and for compiling programs for other platforms. This month features improvements to GDB, GCC, and GNU binutils. Richard Stallman's speaking scheduleFor event details, as well as to sign-up to be notified for future events in your area, please visit https://www.fsf.org/events. So far, Richard Stallman has the following events in June:
Other FSF and free software events
Thank GNUs!We appreciate everyone who donates to the Free Software Foundation, but we'd like to give special recognition to the folks who have donated $500 or more in the last month. This month, a big Thank GNU to:
You can add your name to this list by donating at https://donate.fsf.org. GNU copyright contributionsAssigning your copyright to the Free Software Foundation helps us defend the GPL and keep software free. The following individuals have assigned their copyright to the FSF in the past month:
Want to see your name on this list? Contribute to GNU and assign your copyright to the FSF. https://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#dev Take action with the FSFContributions from thousands of individual members enable the FSF's work. You can contribute by joining at https://www.fsf.org/join. If you're already a member, you can help refer new members (and earn some rewards) by adding a line with your member number to your email signature like: I'm an FSF member -- Help us support software freedom! https://www.fsf.org/jf?referrer=2442 The FSF is also always looking for volunteers (https://www.fsf.org/volunteer). From rabble-rousing to hacking, from issue coordination to envelope stuffing -- there's something here for everybody to do. Also, head over to our campaign section (https://www.fsf.org/campaigns) and take action on software patents, DRM, free software adoption, OpenDocument, RIAA and more. #Copyright © 2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/. --Follow us on GNU social | Subscribe to our blogs via RSS | Join us as an associate member Sent from the Free Software Foundation, 51 Franklin Street Fifth Floor Boston, Massachusetts 02110-1335 United States Unsubscribe from this mailing list. Stop all email from the Free Software Foundation, including Defective by Design, and the Free Software Supporter newsletter. |
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Free Software Supporter - Issue 74, May 2014
Friday, May 30, 2014
FSF seeks full-time senior GNU/Linux systems administrator
| The FSF is hiring! We're fortunate to have a base of supporters that are both skilled and passionate, and I'm sure many of you would be an excellent fit for our Senior Systems Administration position. I hope you will pass around this email if you know of anyone who might be interested. Please share the job description on your favorite blogs, mailing lists, and social media sites. Best, William Theaker FSF seeks full-time senior GNU/Linux systems administratorThe Free Software Foundation (FSF), a Boston-based 501(c)(3) charity with a worldwide mission to protect freedoms critical to the computer-using public, seeks a full-time senior systems administrator. The ideal candidate will be a well-rounded GNU/Linux systems administrator who thrives on constant broad-based learning and problem-solving. (S)he will be familiar with the free software community and how it works, and will be more interested in making a substantial contribution to software freedom and having employment consistent with ethical ideals than obtaining the highest salary. This is an opportunity to work for the organization that started the GNU Project, launched the free software movement, and safeguards the GNU General Public License. The position includes frequent contact and collaboration with many of the core GNU developers, and currently reports to the executive director. Together, the senior systems administrators have a great deal of influence over technology decisions within the FSF, and do crucial work empowering thousands of others to develop free software. With our small staff of twelve, each person makes a clear contribution. We work hard, but offer a humane and fun work environment. The FSF is a mature and growing organization that provides great potential for advancement; existing staff are prioritized for any new job openings. Example systems administration tasks include:
Programming is occasionally required, such as:
Useful specific experience includes:
Expected technical skills are:
We will prefer candidates with additional skills, such as:
We also require:
Benefits and salaryThe job must be worked on-site at FSF's downtown Boston offices, because it involves caring for equipment that is physically located there. It is a union position. The salary is fixed at $61,651 and is non-negotiable. Other benefits include:
Application instructionsThe position is available immediately, and we will be accepting applications until it is filled. To ensure consideration, please submit your application by 10am EDT (15:00 UTC), Monday, June 16th, 2014. Applications must be submitted via email to hiring@fsf.org. The email must contain the subject line, "Senior Systems Administrator." A complete application should include:
All materials must be in a free format (such as plain text, PDF, or OpenDocument, and not Microsoft Word). Email submissions that do not follow these instructions will be overlooked. No phone calls, please. An on-site interview will be required with the executive director and the technology team. We are an equal opportunity employer, committed to promoting a diverse workplace, and do not discriminate based on gender, sex, race, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, marital status, or sexual orientation. |
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
FSF statement on Court of Appeals ruling in Oracle v Google
| On May 9, 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed Judge Alsup's 2012 ruling that Oracle wasn't entitled to copyright control for a large portion of the Java API, copies of which Oracle alleged appeared in Google's Android development libraries. Judge Alsup's decision originally clarified Google's right to continue unabated in its distribution and development of the Android development libraries that were similar to Java's. The Federal Circuit has now ruled in Oracle's favor, which has reintroduced confusion and uncertainty on this issue. The case is now remanded back to the district court to determine whether or not Google will succeed in using a "fair use" defense regarding the alleged copyright infringement. In May 2012, the Jury of the District Court had issued a partial verdict and we were left waiting for Alsup's verdict on the remainder of the case. At the time, the FSF issued the following statement: Were it grounded in reality, Oracle's claim that copyright law gives them proprietary control over any software that uses a particular functional API would be terrible for free software and programmers everywhere. It is an unethical and greedy interpretation created with the express purpose of subjugating as many computer users as possible, and is particularly bad in this context because it comes at a time when the sun has barely set on the free software community's celebration of Java as a language newly suitable for use in the free world. Fortunately, the claim is not yet reality, and we hope Judge Alsup will keep it that way.The situation then is substantially similar to the situation today. The key difference is that some of Google's affirmative defenses to claim non-infringement have been eliminated by this new ruling. The FSF now sincerely hopes for the next best thing to Alsup's original ruling: that Google is successful in its fair use defense. Notwithstanding our support of Google's fair use defense, the FSF urges caution to all prospective Android users. Even though the core of the Android system is free, every Android device sold comes pre-loaded with a variety of proprietary applications and proprietary hardware drivers. The FSF, encourages users to support the development of Replicant, a distribution of Android that is 100% free software. The FSF also encourages users of any Android-based system to install F-Droid, a free replacement for the Google Play app that allows users to browse, install, and receive updates from a repository of free software Android apps. Replicant uses F-Droid as its default repository. Disclosure: Google currently donates to the FSF and Oracle has donated to the FSF in the past. |
Monday, May 26, 2014
Employers Want Java Skills More Than Anything Else
InfoWorld (05/21/14)
Java/J2EE was the most in-demand software development skill for employers searching Dice.com in the first quarter of 2014, according to the company. By a wide margin, Java skills topped .Net, C++, C#, senior development skills, SQL, HTML, C, Web, and Linux. "Experience is clearly of value, with many hiring managers seeking senior developers," says Dice president Shravan Goli. Still, computer science ranked 33rd on the site, which should equate to demand for those with recent diplomas. Among technologies specifically geared to Web development, JavaScript was 12th on the list, followed by ASP.Net at 17th, HTML5 at 19th, PHP at 20th, and CSS at 32nd. Mobile skills were mostly ranked lower than Web skills, with Android ranking 31st and iOS coming in at 35th. Dice foresees rising demand for developers and designers with skills pertaining to wearable electronics, the Internet of Things, and drones and robots.
Java/J2EE was the most in-demand software development skill for employers searching Dice.com in the first quarter of 2014, according to the company. By a wide margin, Java skills topped .Net, C++, C#, senior development skills, SQL, HTML, C, Web, and Linux. "Experience is clearly of value, with many hiring managers seeking senior developers," says Dice president Shravan Goli. Still, computer science ranked 33rd on the site, which should equate to demand for those with recent diplomas. Among technologies specifically geared to Web development, JavaScript was 12th on the list, followed by ASP.Net at 17th, HTML5 at 19th, PHP at 20th, and CSS at 32nd. Mobile skills were mostly ranked lower than Web skills, with Android ranking 31st and iOS coming in at 35th. Dice foresees rising demand for developers and designers with skills pertaining to wearable electronics, the Internet of Things, and drones and robots.
Despite Data Thefts, the Password Endures
The Wall Street Journal (05/22/14) Danny Yadron; Katherine Rosman
Although passwords are derided by some security experts as being an insufficient security measure, efforts to replace passwords with better protections face an uphill climb. "It's become kind of a nightmare," says 1990 ACM A.M. Turing Award recipient Fernando Corbato, who helped develop the first computer password while at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the early 1960s. "I don't think anybody can possibly remember all the passwords." However, researchers say replacing passwords with security measures such as biometrics and USB keys would require competing technology companies to work together to develop standards. In addition, Internet users may be hesitant to give up using passwords in favor of more secure options. Passwords also are inexpensive to use and are already deeply engrained in the design of many websites. Nevertheless, efforts are underway at some companies to move away from using passwords. For example, PayPal, Bank of America, and Google are among the companies that have formed the Fido Alliance, which has released a set of standards for security measures that could replace passwords with other types of online identification measures. Meanwhile, the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, a task force created by President Barack Obama in 2011 to bolster online security, also is working to develop alternatives to passwords.
Although passwords are derided by some security experts as being an insufficient security measure, efforts to replace passwords with better protections face an uphill climb. "It's become kind of a nightmare," says 1990 ACM A.M. Turing Award recipient Fernando Corbato, who helped develop the first computer password while at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the early 1960s. "I don't think anybody can possibly remember all the passwords." However, researchers say replacing passwords with security measures such as biometrics and USB keys would require competing technology companies to work together to develop standards. In addition, Internet users may be hesitant to give up using passwords in favor of more secure options. Passwords also are inexpensive to use and are already deeply engrained in the design of many websites. Nevertheless, efforts are underway at some companies to move away from using passwords. For example, PayPal, Bank of America, and Google are among the companies that have formed the Fido Alliance, which has released a set of standards for security measures that could replace passwords with other types of online identification measures. Meanwhile, the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, a task force created by President Barack Obama in 2011 to bolster online security, also is working to develop alternatives to passwords.
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Tehnoetic wireless USB adapter now FSF-certified to respect your freedom
Tehnoetic wireless USB adapter now FSF-certified to respect your freedomBOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Wednesday, May 21st, 2014 -- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today awarded Respects Your Freedom (RYF) certification to the Tehnoetic TET-N150 wireless USB adapter. The RYF certification mark is awarded to products that meet the FSF's standards in regard to users' freedom, control over the product, and privacy. The TET-N150 can be purchased from Tehnoetic's online store. "I founded Tehnoetic in order to give users the means to run fully free systems and to promote ethical businesses that support the work of the free software community. I hope that Tehnoetic will complement and support my work at Fundația Ceata, a Romanian foundation dedicated to defending and promoting digital freedoms and aligned with the philosophy of the GNU Project," stated Tehnoetic's founder, Tiberiu C. Turbureanu. Software certification of the device focused primarily on the firmware for the Atheros AR9271 chip used on the adapter. This firmware is packaged in Linux-libre, the kernel used by several free GNU/Linux distributions. This is the same chipset used by the ThinkPenguin TPE-N150USB USB wireless adapter which was also awarded RYF certification in April 2013. While others may sell wireless USB adapters with this same chipset, if they do not bear the RYF certification mark, the device may be packaged with or recommend the use of nonfree software. This is why FSF endorsement of a hardware product is on a per seller basis rather than a blanket endorsement of a particular hardware model or chipset. "The availability of freedom-respecting wireless networking devices is important because at present, the WiFi devices that ship with nearly all laptops and PCs require proprietary software. This is a major obstacle for users seeking to install a 100% free software GNU/Linux distro, because for most people, WiFi is an essential feature. So, it is exciting that we can now direct any such user from around the globe to two different sellers on two different continents that offer a small and convenient USB WiFi adapter," stated Joshua Gay, FSF Licensing & Compliance Manager. To learn more about the Respects Your Freedom hardware certification, including details on the certification of the TET-N150 wireless USB adapter, as well as information on the driver and firmware for the device, visit https://www.fsf.org/ryf. Hardware sellers interested in applying for certification can consult https://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/endorsement/criteria. Subscribers to the FSF's Free Software Supporter newsletter will receive announcements about future Respects Your Freedom products. About the Free Software FoundationThe Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located at fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at http://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA. About TehnoeticTehnoetic is a Romanian technologically ethical online shop targeting the EU market, http://www.tehnoetic.com, and is owned and operated by Turbureanu Tiberiu-Constantin PFA. |
Tackling the challenges of open source adoption in education
Posted 8 May 2014 by Scott Wilson (on opensource.com)
On a recent survey on free and open source software in the UK education sectors, we asked colleges and universities for their main reasons for not selecting an open source solution according to 12 criteria. Below you can see how important each of the criteria were rated for software running on servers:
Interoperability and migration problems | 80 |
|---|---|
| Lack of support | 71 |
| Poor quality software | 60 |
| Not what users want | 51 |
| Lack of staff expertise, training needs | 49 |
| There is no open source solution for our needs | 43 |
| Legal issues including licensing | 30 |
| Time costs of identifying relevant software | 29 |
| Migration costs | 25 |
| Existing contractual obligations | 18 |
| Poor documentation | 15 |
| Solution does not scale | 14 |
The question I'd like to pose today is if we were to consider these as representing the barriers to greater adoption of free and open source software in education, are the barriers to be found within institutions, or are there issues with the available supply of software and services to the sectors?
To answer this I've split the criteria into two groups—supply-side and demand-side. Let's look at the supply-side first of all.
Supply side factors
Three of the top four criteria are supply-side considerations: lack of support, poor quality software, and not offering what users want.
We could also consider "There is no open source solution for our needs" as being largely the same thing as not offering what users want, which would place it as the top concern.
This would imply that, from the perspective of colleges and universities, the open source software community just isn't offering the kind of software products the sectors need.
From our experience in compiling the Open Source Options for Education list, this would seem a bit curious. Perhaps the issue is one of awareness and marketing? Or are there significant niches in education where there really are no open source options? We also know that the procurement processes in many institutions would likely exclude open source from consideration—is this also a factor in this lack of awareness?
The second major issue on the supply side would then be the provision of services and support. As we've seen in the public sector, having commercial partners is a crucial factor in getting solutions adopted. (There is a chicken-and-egg issue here is that there has to be adoption to support a services market, but lack of services hampers adoption.)
Finally there is the quality issue—are open source solutions aimed at education really poor quality? Or is it that the kinds of solutions being considered are not mature?
Now lets look at the demand side.
Demand side factors
The top issue is interoperability and migration problems—if we also add in the respondents who considered migration costs, then it is by far the most cited reason why open source isn't selected.
We've noted before that there is no simple relationship between open source, open standards, and interoperability; while in principle open source affords the adoption of open standards and greater interoperability, the practice is a lot less clear cut.
However, what we haven't untangled here is whether the issue is with open source options lacking interoperability features or standards compliance, or whether the issue lies with the incumbent systems they would replace.
The next ranked issue is lack of staff expertise; again we haven't untangled whether this is a lack of expertise amongst the potential users of the software, the IT operations staff, or the staff involved in the procurement so its hard to interpret precisely. Given the question relates to server software it could be any of these groups.
It may also be the case that this issue goes hand-in-glove with that of lack of support from the supply side; often for server-side software the complexity of configuration and operations can be overcome by contracting a supplier to deal with it on your behalf. For open source options, if there are no suppliers of services available then its up to the institution's staff to figure it out.
Finally, the rest of the issues here fall under the category of contractual, legal and procedural issues with procurement itself. While each individual item is not ranked highly, taken together they suggest there are significant barriers still in place in procurement. This is something we've been looking into recently in more depth, for example in our Decision Factors for Procurementbriefing.
Conclusions?
Taken altogether, the demand side and supply side issues of open source adoption in education carry pretty much equal weight from the viewpoint of the institutions themselves. But what are we to make of it?
I think we can distill it into five challenges:
- We need to tackle the interoperability question. Is lock-in a problem? Is lack of standards a problem? This is something our friends at CETIS could take a lead on.
- We need to improve awareness of existing open source solutions available within the sector; lists like our Open Source Options for Education are useful here, but projects also need to be more proactive in raising awareness, and may need a higher profile at events such as the UCISA and ALT conferences.
- Institutions need to improve software procurement processes so that they can consider open source solutions effectively and equally with closed source.
- We need to build up the open source services market for education. ULCC have been very effective with their Moodle hosting, but companies supporting other major open source software solutions don't seem to have much of a presence in the education sector. (As I mentioned earlier though, this is a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem)
- Bootstrap projects in areas where there are no existing open source solutions. Of course there are well known problems with funded projects, but there are alternative approaches, for example the Jisc Co-Design programme could play a role here.
Originally posted on OSS Watch Team Blog. Reposted under Creative Commons.
Monday, May 19, 2014
OSSCOM on twitter
http://twitter.com/OSSCOM1
Increasing Diversity Devitalize Monopolies
Public Collaboration. One of the major benefits of open source software is the public collaboration behind each project. Most open source projects are created by tens of thousands of programmers all collaborating to create, and improve upon, a flawless website framework.
OSSCOM Facebook page
Open Source Software Communities
OSSCOM aims at supporting IT institutions to strongly link with enterprises, with a goal to build large-scale OSS resources, knowledge, and expertise through a network of OSS communities.
Thursday, May 15, 2014
FSF condemns partnership between Mozilla and Adobe to support Digital Restrictions Management
FSF condemns partnership between Mozilla and Adobe to support Digital Restrictions ManagementBOSTON, Massachusetts, USA — Wednesday, May 14th, 2014 — In response to Mozilla's announcement that it is reluctantly adopting DRM in its Firefox Web browser, Free Software Foundation executive director John Sullivan made the following statement:"Only a week after the International Day Against DRM, Mozilla has announced that it will partner with proprietary software company Adobe to implement support for Web-based Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) in its Firefox browser, using Encrypted Media Extensions (EME). The Free Software Foundation is deeply disappointed in Mozilla's announcement. The decision compromises important principles in order to alleviate misguided fears about loss of browser marketshare. It allies Mozilla with a company hostile to the free software movement and to Mozilla's own fundamental ideals. Although Mozilla will not directly ship Adobe's proprietary DRM plugin, it will, as an official feature, encourage Firefox users to install the plugin from Adobe when presented with media that requests DRM. We agree with Cory Doctorow that there is no meaningful distinction between 'installing DRM' and 'installing code that installs DRM.' We recognize that Mozilla is doing this reluctantly, and we trust these words coming from Mozilla much more than we do when they come from Microsoft or Amazon. At the same time, nearly everyone who implements DRM says they are forced to do it, and this lack of accountability is how the practice sustains itself. Mozilla's announcement today unfortunately puts it -- in this regard -- in the same category as its proprietary competitors. Unlike those proprietary competitors, Mozilla is going to great lengths to reduce some of the specific harms of DRM by attempting to 'sandbox' the plugin. But this approach cannot solve the fundamental ethical problems with proprietary software, or the issues that inevitably arise when proprietary software is installed on a user's computer. In the announcement, Mitchell Baker asserts that Mozilla's hands were tied. But she then goes on to actively praise Adobe's "value" and suggests that there is some kind of necessary balance between DRM and user freedom. There is nothing necessary about DRM, and to hear Mozilla praising Adobe -- the company who has been and continues to be a vicious opponent of the free software movement and the free Web -- is shocking. With this partnership in place, we worry about Mozilla's ability and willingness to criticize Adobe's practices going forward. We understand that Mozilla is afraid of losing users. Cory Doctorow points out that they have produced no evidence to substantiate this fear or made any effort to study the situation. More importantly, popularity is not an end in itself. This is especially true for the Mozilla Foundation, a nonprofit with an ethical mission. In the past, Mozilla has distinguished itself and achieved success by protecting the freedom of its users and explaining the importance of that freedom: including publishing Firefox's source code, allowing others to make modifications to it, and sticking to Web standards in the face of attempts to impose proprietary extensions. Today's decision turns that calculus on its head, devoting Mozilla resources to delivering users to Adobe and hostile media distributors. In the process, Firefox is losing the identity which set it apart from its proprietary competitors -- Internet Explorer and Chrome -- both of which are implementing EME in an even worse fashion. Undoubtedly, some number of users just want restricted media like Netflix to work in Firefox, and they will be upset if it doesn't. This is unsurprising, since the majority of the world is not yet familiar with the ethical issues surrounding proprietary software. This debate was, and is, a high-profile opportunity to introduce these concepts to users and ask them to stand together in some tough decisions. To see Mozilla compromise without making any public effort to rally users against this supposed "forced choice" is doubly disappointing. They should reverse this decision. But whether they do or do not, we call on them to join us by devoting as many of their extensive resources to permanently eliminating DRM as they are now devoting to supporting it. The FSF will have more to say and do on this in the coming days. For now, users who are concerned about this issue should:
References
Media ContactJohn SullivanExecutive Director Free Software Foundation +1 (617) 542 5942 campaigns@fsf.org |
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
International Day Against DRM is here!
| This is a message from our Defective by Design campaign which focuses specifically on they key free software issue of Digital Restrictions Management (DRM). We only cross-post from the Defective by Design campaign for special occassions like this, so join the campaign's email list if you'd like to be part of year-round activism against DRM. Though it isn't often discussed in the news, who controls digital media is an important question of our time. Powerful entertainment and technology companies use Digital Restrictions Management to restrict our use of it. We organize and build tools to protect our access to it. Our opponents are strong enough to have the government on their side in most countries, but when we come together, we are strong too.
In addition to individuals taking action through DayAgainstDRM.org, nine organizations have let Defective by Design know they are participating. See a full list, including community groups, activist organizations and media stores, on the Web site. We expect more to join throughout the day. If you have a microblog account, make sure to let your followers know today that you care about ending DRM. Post with the hashtag #DayAgainstDRM and link to DayAgainstDRM.org. Happy International Day Against DRM, and good luck with whatever action you take. I hope to see you at one of the actions today, on the DRM-elimination crew discussion list or the #dbd IRC channel on Freenode. Zak Rogoff Campaigns Manager PS: If you don't have time to do anything, you can donate to Defective by Design, to keep us organizing the Day and make it even better next year. You can read this post online at https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/international-day-against-drm-is-here. |
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
FSF joins more than twenty other organizations in plan to "Reset the Net"
| BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Tuesday, May 6th, 2014 -- Yesterday, a coalition of thousands of Internet users, companies and organizations launched a campaign for a day of action to "Reset The Net" on June 5th, 2014, the anniversary of the first NSA surveillance story revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden. Tens of thousands of internet activists, companies, and organizations committed to preserving free speech and basic rights on the Internet by taking steps to shutting off the government's mass surveillance capabilities. More than twenty organizations and companies support the launch of the campaign including Fight For The Future (who initiated the campaign) along with reddit, CREDO Mobile, Namecheap, Imgur, Greenpeace, Libertarian Party, FireDogLake, Thunderclap, DuckDuckGo, Disconnect.Me, Demand Progress, Access, Free Press, Restore the Fourth, AIDS Policy Project, PolitiHacks, OpenMedia, Free Software Foundation, Bill of Rights Defense Committee, Code Pink, Popular Resistance, Participatory Politics Foundation, BoingBoing, Public Knowledge, Amicus, New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute, Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Student Net Alliance, and the Center for Democracy and Technology. Organizations and companies across the technology industry and political spectrum oppose the bulk collection of data on all internet users. Reset The Net is a day of action to secure and encrypt the web to shut out the government's mass surveillance capabilities. The Reset The Net website details the coalition of companies and organizations which are participating, either by improving their own security for users or promoting privacy tools to their members. Internet users are invited to join in on the day of Reset The Net to install free privacy and encryption tools and secure their personal digital footprint against intrusive surveillance. Learn more and see a full list of participants here: https://ResetTheNet.org |
Global community rallies for International Day Against DRM
Global community rallies for International Day Against DRM
BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Tuesday, May 6th, 2014 -- Today a wide variety of community groups, activist organizations and businesses are taking part in the 8th International Day Against DRM. The groups are united in envisioning a world without Digital Restrictions Management, technology that places arbitrary restrictions on what people can do with digital media, often by spying on them. As the largest anti-DRM event in the world, the International Day Against DRM is an important counterpoint to the pro-DRM message broadcast by powerful media and software companies. The Day is coordinated by Defective by Design, the anti-DRM campaign of the Free Software Foundation.
In addition to individuals taking action through DayAgainstDRM.org, nine organizations have let Defective by Design know they are participating, including three businesses offering sales on DRM-free media. Activists in Bangladesh, France and Turkey translated the International Day Against DRM HAZMAT suit graphics into their native languages. More groups are expected to join on the day itself.
"In 2013 we joined the global community and supported International Day Against DRM. We think that IT giants' use of DRM is very wrong. To expose such wrong actions we stood out on the road at the key point of University of Dhaka and were noticed by the next generation leaders of Bangladesh, the pupils of University of Dhaka... In 2014 we are doing an open session at Daffodil University with writers, poets, novelists, artists, musicians, university students and teachers, where we hope to educate people about DRM."
O'Reilly media, a major ebook publisher, is offering a steep discount on ebooks in celebration of the International Day Against DRM. They told Defective by Design:
"Having the ability to download files at your convenience, store them on all your devices, or share them with a friend or colleague as you would a print book or DVD is liberating, and is how it should be. At O'Reilly Media, we've always published our ebooks DRM free, following the advice of Lao Tzu, who said, 2500 years ago, 'Fail to honor people, they fail to honor you.'"
John Sullivan, executive director of the Free Software Foundation, said of the International Day Against DRM: "It's exciting to see people around the world taking a stand on an issue that is so often glossed over in the public discourse. Every coordinated event that happens makes it that much harder for the press to accept DRM as business-as-usual, and gets us closer to a future without it."
Individuals can participate with a variety of online and in-person actions on DayAgainstDRM.org, from media downloads to gatherings. To be part of Defective by Design's year-round anti-DRM campaigns, supporters can join the low-volume Action Alerts email list. Media stores, activist organizations and other groups interested in participating in the International Day Against DRM today or in 2015 should contact info@defectivebydesign.org.
Participating organizations
A number of groups are holding in-person events. For times and meeting places, see the LibrePlanet wiki.In addition to Defective by Design, three activist organizations are publicly joining the Day Against DRM:
- The Electronic Frontier Foundation is hosting an online teach-in, writing blog posts and circulating infographics
- Free Software Foundation Europe is releasing an open letter to the executive body of the European Union, demanding that they take a stand against the groups advocating for the addition of DRM hooks to HTML
- April, a French free software organization, is blogging and raising a storm on social media
- O'Reilly is giving customers 50-60% off on ebooks
- The Humble Bundle has pay-what-you-want graphic novels
- No Starch Press is offering 50% off on ebooks
About Defective By Design
Defective by Design is the Free Software Foundation's campaign against Digital Restrictions Management (DRM). DRM is the practice of imposing technological restrictions that control what users can do with digital media, creating a good that is defective by design. DRM requires the use of proprietary software and is a major threat to computer user freedom. The campaign, based at defectivebydesign.org, organizes anti-DRM activists for in-person and online actions, and challenges powerful media and technology interests promoting DRM. Supporters can donate to the campaign at https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=40.About the Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located at fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at https://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.Media Contact
Zak RogoffCampaigns Manager
Free Software Foundation
(202) 489-6887
campaigns@fsf.org
Nominate a free software initiative for the Chris Nicol FLOSS Prize!
| The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) has established the Chris Nicol FLOSS Prize, which recognizes initiatives that are making it easy for people to start using free software. The prize will be awarded to a person or group doing extraordinary work to make free software accessible to ordinary computer users. Nominations will be collected until May 5, 2014. From APC: The APC FLOSS Prize has been established to honour Chris Nicol, a longtime free software advocate and activist who for many years worked with APC. Extraordinary initiatives that promote free software are those that:
The prize is open to any person or group anywhere in the world who supports or promotes user-oriented free software. The application form must be completed in either English or Spanish; however, there are no language restrictions regarding the language of the project. Small-scale activities are encouraged to apply. Nominations for the prize will be collected until May 5, 2014 at midnight UTC. About Chris Nicol Chris Nicol, an Australian educator and activist who made Barcelona his home in the early 1980s, was a member of the APC community from the mid-1990s until his untimely death on August 29, 2005. Chris believed that computers and the internet should be used for making the world a better place and that free software was a way in which the communications for social change movement could integrate sustainable and alternative choices in its use and development of tools and technology. About the Association For Progressive Communications (APC) The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) is an international network and non-profit organisation founded in 1990 that wants everyone to have access to a free and open internet to improve lives and create a more just world. |
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Free Software Supporter - Issue 73, April 2014
Free Software Supporter
Issue 73, April 2014Welcome to the Free Software Supporter, the Free Software Foundation's monthly news digest and action update -- being read by you and 79,566 other activists. That's 1,470 more than last month!
View this issue online here: https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2014/april
Encourage your friends to subscribe and help us build an audience by adding our subscriber widget to your web site.
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El Free Software Supporter está disponible en español. Para ver la versión en español haz click aqui: https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2014/abrilPara cambiar las preferencias de usuario y recibir los próximos números del Supporter en castellano, haz click aquí: https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=34&reset=1
Le Free Software Supporter est disponible en français. Pour voir la version française cliquez ici: https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2014/avril
Pour modifier vos préférences et recevoir les prochaines publications du Supporter en français, cliquez ici: https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=34&reset=1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Get your friends together for the International Day Against DRM (May 6, 2014)
- Please protest the "Windows 8 Campus Tour"
- GNU Press releases the classic GNU head shirt in gray!
- Free Software Foundation statement on Heartbleed vulnerability
- Document Freedom Day 2014 report published
- GCC 4.9 released
- GNU MediaGoblin campaign a massive succcess! What's next?
- Is Soverain Software a patent troll? Yes
- Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
- LibrePlanet featured resource: Day Against DRM 2014
- GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry: 30 new GNU releases!
- GNU Toolchain Update
- Richard Stallman's speaking schedule and other FSF events
- Thank GNUs!
- Take action with the FSF!
Get your friends together for the International Day Against DRM (May 6, 2014)
From April 23rdOn May 6, 2014, our global community will come together for the eighth International Day Against DRM. We'll be gathering, protesting, making and sharing, showing the world and the media that we insist on a future without DRM.
Please protest the "Windows 8 Campus Tour"
From April 17thMicrosoft is running "Windows 8 Campus Tour" events at many US universities. We're inviting free software supporters, associated with the universities in question, to mount simple nondisruptive protests at these events.
GNU Press releases the classic GNU head shirt in gray!
From April 17thReplace your old GNU head t-shirt with an updated version of the classic, now in gray with maroon ink.
Free Software Foundation statement on Heartbleed vulnerability
In response to the news of the "Heartbleed" OpenSSL vulnerability, Free Software Foundation executive director John Sullivan issued a statement on free software as a necessary precondition for security.April launches Free Software Pact for upcoming European elections
By April, from April 8thApril has launched a campaign during the upcoming European Parliament elections to inform candidates about free software.
Document Freedom Day 2014 report published
By FSF Europe, from April 24thFree document formats were celebrated to the ends of the earth for Document Freedom Day 2014, with fifty-one events in twenty-two countries. The campaign for interoperability was enacted from Tokyo to Rio, and Birmingham to Taipei.
GCC 4.9 released
By GCC, from April 22ndThe 4.9.0 version of the GNU Compiler Collection is a major release, containing new features (as well as many other improvements) relative to GCC 4.8.x.
GNU MediaGoblin campaign a massive succcess! What's next?
By Christopher Allan Webber, From April 24thGNU MediaGoblin has completed their fundraising campaign, raising over $62,000 for federated media sharing. In this post, Christopher Allan Webber reflects on the project's success and goals for the future.
Is Soverain Software a patent troll? Yes
By End Software Patents, from April 4thThe US Supreme Court recently declined to hear Soverain v. Newegg, prompting some to ask if Soverain should be classified as a "patent troll."
Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
From April 30thTens of thousands of people visit directory.fsf.org each month to discover free software. Each entry in the Directory contains a wealth of useful information, from basic category and descriptions to version control, IRC channels, documentation, and licensing. The Free Software Directory has been a great resource to software users over the past decade, but it needs your help staying up-to-date with new and exciting free software projects.
To help, join our weekly IRC meetings on Fridays. Meetings take place in the #fsf channel on irc.gnu.org, and usually include a handful of regulars as well as newcomers. Everyone's welcome.
The next meeting is Friday, May 2nd from 2pm to 5pm EDT (18:00 to 21:00 UTC). Details here:
After this meeting, you can check https://www.fsf.org/events to see the rest of May's weekly meetings as they are scheduled.
LibrePlanet featured resource: Day Against DRM 2014
Every month on LibrePlanet, we highlight one resource that is interesting and useful -- often one that could use your help.For this month, we are highlighting Day Against DRM 2014, which provides information about organized efforts against Digital Restrictions Management. You are invited to adopt, spread, and improve this important resource, as well as host an event in your local area.
Do you have a suggestion for next month's featured resource? Let us know at campaigns@fsf.org.
GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry: 30 new GNU releases!
30 new GNU releases in the last month (as of April 29, 2014):- apl-1.3
- ccrtp-2.0.9
- cgicc-3.2.14
- cursynth-1.5
- dap-3.10
- denemo-1.1.4
- easejs-0.2.1
- gama-1.15
- gawk-4.1.1
- gcc-4.9.0
- global-6.2.12
- glpk-4.54
- gmp-6.0.0a
- gnubatch-1.11
- gnudos-1.0
- gnunet-0.10.1
- gsrc-2014.04.06
- help2man-1.45.1
- lightning-2.0.4
- liquidwar6-0.4.3681
- mcron-1.0.7
- mifluz-0.26.0
- motti-3.1.0
- parallel-20140422
- pspp-0.8.3
- pyconfigure-0.2.2
- screen-4.2.1
- ucommon-6.1.1
- units-2.11
- wdiff-1.2.2
This month, we welcome:
- James Cloos as the new maintainer of enscript and trueprint (with an eye toward merging them),
- Ramana Radhakrishnan as a new co-maintainer of gcc,
- Nick Ralabate as the new maintainer of solfege,
- Andrew Shadura and Daniel Valentine as the new maintainers of indent,
- Andy Wingo and Daniel Hartwig as the authors and maintainers of the new package guile-opengl. Thanks to all.
As always, please feel free to write to me, karl@gnu.org, with any GNUish questions or suggestions for future installments.
GNU Toolchain update
From April 28thThe GNU toolchain refers to the part of the GNU system which is used for building programs. These components of GNU are together often on other systems and for compiling programs for other platforms.
This month features a new major release of GCC and improvements to the GNU binutils.
Richard Stallman's speaking schedule
For event details, as well as to sign-up to be notified for future events in your area, please visit https://www.fsf.org/events.So far, Richard Stallman has the following events in May:
- May 02, 2014, 06:00 PM to 09:00 PM, San Francisco, California, "Copyright vs. community"
- May 09, 2014, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM, Hsinchu City, Taiwan, "A free digital society"
- May 10, 2014, 02:00 PM to 04:00 PM, Taipei, Taiwan, "A free digital society"
- May 11, 2014, 02:00 PM to 04:30 PM, Puli Township, Taiwan, "A free digital society"
- May 13, 2014, 02:00 PM to 04:30 PM, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, "Your freedom and privacy: free/ziyou software and beyond"
Thank GNUs!
We appreciate everyone who donates to the Free Software Foundation, but we'd like to give special recognition to the folks who have donated $500 or more in the last month.This month, a big Thank GNU to:
- Lowell Anderson
- Zak Knapper
- David Kleuker
- Christopher Grubert
- David Ayers
Take action with the FSF
Contributions from thousands of individual members enable the FSF's work. You can contribute by joining at https://www.fsf.org/join. If you're already a member, you can help refer new members (and earn some rewards) by adding a line with your member number to your email signature like:I'm an FSF member -- Help us support software freedom! https://www.fsf.org/jf?referrer=2442
The FSF is also always looking for volunteers (https://www.fsf.org/volunteer). From rabble-rousing to hacking, from issue coordination to envelope stuffing -- there's something here for everybody to do. Also, head over to our campaign section (https://www.fsf.org/campaigns) and take action on software patents, DRM, free software adoption, OpenDocument, RIAA and more.
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