LibrePlanet starts now! Join us online.

LibrePlanet 2014: Free Software, Free Society kicks off this morning in Cambridge, MA. No matter where you are in the world, you can take advantage of the amazing speakers and sessions we've got planned. Every one of our three main program tracks will be live streamed, and you can participate in online conference discussion for each room on IRC.
You can find all of the streams and online participation info at: http://libreplanet.org/2014/live. You can join the conversation on microblogging services with the hashtag #lp2014.^‡
For the convenience of our in-person attendees, all of the session times listed on the conference site are in EDT (UTC -4), so remember to pull up your world clock if you are tuning in from afar.
Here are some of the highlights for day one of LibrePlanet 2014 (all in Room 32-123):

• 9:45 EDT (13:45 UTC) - Opening keynote from Sue Gardner, outgoing executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation.
• 13:50 EDT (17:45 UTC) - Your Web apps should talk not just in English, but in español, Kiswahili, 廣州話, and অসমীয়া too with Sucheta Ghoshal.
• 14:45 EDT (18:45 UTC) - "The creeping techno-surveillance state: how can we fight back?" with Kade Crockford of the MA ACLU and Josh Levy of Free Press.
• 17:45 EDT (21:45 UTC) - "Current issues in freedom: patents, surveillance, etc." with Eben Moglen, followed by Richard Stallman and the Free Software Awards.

One month until LibrePlanet! Schedule and t-shirt design announced!

Women's and men's styles available.

It's only weeks until LibrePlanet, hosted by the Free Software Foundation and MIT's Student Information Processing Board (SIPB), and more people are registering every day (you could be one of them!). We've got some announcements to make:

• We posted the complete schedule, so you can start thinking about which sessions you'd like to attend. This year's conference will be jam packed with great talks like "updating Mailman's UI," "fighting surveillance with free software," and "mapping for social justice." Make sure you check out the social events, including a Saturday night party and raffle.
• We finalized the design for this year's t-shirt! Register online by March 5, 2014 to pick up a shirt, or buy one at the conference.
• If you can't make it to Cambridge, you'll still be able to livestream the conference and watch recordings of the sessions afterwards. We encourage you to bookmark our streaming portal, libreplanet.org/2014/live. Participating remotely doesn't require any kind of registration.
• Looking to coordinate travel with other LibrePlanet attendees? Brainstorm ideas for lightning talks? Organize a get-together after the conference? Join the libreplanet-discuss email list to connect with other LibrePlanet attendees. After LibrePlanet, the list will become a place for discussing the conference and sharing ideas for next year.

If this sounds good to you, I hope you register for LibrePlanet. Don't forget that becoming an FSF member will make your admission gratis and support the FSF's work year-round.
Zak Rogoff
Campaigns Manager
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Watch and share this LibrePlanet video, plus exhibitor deadline extended!

One of LibrePlanet's major goals is inspiring people to make things and share them with their communities. So we knew 2013's conference was going well when an attendee volunteered to create a video for 2014, using only free software tools.
The video is finished now, ready for you to enjoy and share with your friends.
Like what you see in the video? We want you at LibrePlanet. Click here to register now. Remember, students and FSF members get in gratis!
Are you involved in a free software business or project and wanting to spread the word about your baby? The deadline to apply for an exhibitor table has been extended to today, February 5, 2014. Get your application in today.
I hope to see you at Libreplanet on March 22nd and 23rd in Cambridge, Massachusetts! I can't wait to see the new projects that come out of this year's conference.
Zak Rogoff
Campaigns Manager
You can view this post online at https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/watch-and-share-this-libreplanet-video-and-exhibitor-deadline-extended.

Speakers and venue announced for FSF's LibrePlanet 2014 -- register today!

There is so much to look forward to at LibrePlanet 2014 that I don't even know where to begin. Let me break it down for you.

Keynotes

The keynotes at LibrePlanet 2014 are sure to be amazing. We'll be joined by Sue Gardner, outgoing executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, Eben Moglen, director-counsel of the Software Freedom Law Center, Karen Sandler, executive director of the GNOME Foundation, and the Free Software Foundation's founder and president, Richard Stallman.
Register Today. You won't want to miss these fantastic speeches.

Sessions

This year, LibrePlanet will feature nearly 30 sessions centered around the theme, "free software, free society." You can find a sneak peek of all our sessions on the conference site now--sessions like "Everybody spies," "Lessons in tech activism," "TPP and free software," and "Updating Mailman's UI." Whether you're a developer seeking to deepen your knowledge, a free data advocate who wants to nerd out over OpenStreetMap, an academic who wants more free software in the classroom, or an organizer just starting to see the link between your work and free software, you'll find plenty of great conversations at LibrePlanet 2014.
Register today to catch all of these amazing sessions at LibrePlanet.

Location, Location, Location

LibrePlanet 2014 will be held in the iconic Stata Center on the MIT campus in Cambridge, MA. We'll have some beautiful lecture halls for our sessions and a great big hallway for our exhibitors. (If you're thinking about applying for an exhibit table, the deadline is January 31st, so get crackin'.) This building was designed by Frank Gehry and is also home to the offices of World Wide Web Consortium. So, while you're at LibrePlanet, you just may want to drop in and ask W3C why they are considering weaving support for DRM into HTML5!
Register today to bask in the shiny glory of the Stata Center.

Extracurriculars

Our traditional Friday night open house at the FSF offices is getting a new twist this year--we're adding a cryptoparty! We've also got the Free Software Awards, and a few new and exciting events we're working on announcing. Needless to say, there will be lots of fun activities to fill your evenings during LibrePlanet.
So, what are you waiting for? Registration is open, and, as always, admission to the conference is gratis for FSF members and students. Not a member? Join today and you'll get admission to the conference, plus you'll be helping us meet our winter fundraising goal of $450,000 by January 31st. See you in eight weeks!
Sincerely,
Libby and the LibrePlanet team
You can read this post online at https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/speakers-and-venue-announced-for-fsfs-libreplanet-2014-register-today.

LibrePlanet for all!

I can't even tell you how excited I am for LibrePlanet 2014 on March 22 and 23, 2014, which is fast approaching! Right now, the rest of the FSF staff and I are working hard on the program for our annual conference so that in the next few weeks we'll be able to share our amazing roster of speakers with you. But here's the thing: to put together the strongest possible program, we need the funds to help some of our speakers travel to Cambridge, MA so that they can share their ideas with all of us. We also want to bring attendees who will learn a ton at LibrePlanet and bring that new knowledge back to their communities, helping us make LibrePlanet's reach truly global.
We've launched a scholarship fund so that we can bring free software movers and shakers to Cambridge in March for LibrePlanet. Will you consider giving someone the gift of LibrePlanet this year by donating today?
We only have a few short weeks before we will start awarding travel scholarships. The money raised between now and January 10, 2014 will help us subsidize airfare and hotel rooms for all kinds of amazing people. We've never had a formal scholarship program for LibrePlanet before. With your help, we can get off to a great start.
A donation of $50 covers one night in a shared Boston-area hotel room, but any amount helps. Please donate to the scholarship fund today.
On the flip side of this request of course are all of you out there who need assistance in order to make it to LibrePlanet 2014. I'm happy to announce that we've just launched the scholarship application on LibrePlanet.org -- applications are due by January 10, 2014 at 22:00 UTC. Apply today!
And please, help us spread the word. If you know someone who would love to attend LibrePlanet if only they had some help paying for their travel, send them this email right away. January 10, 2014 is right around the corner.
Happy hacking,
Libby Reinish
Campaigns Manager (and Conference Guru)

Register for LibrePlanet today!

Excited to attend LibrePlanet 2014?

Registration is now open for LibrePlanet 2014: "Free Software, Free Society," March 22-23, 2014 in Cambridge, MA. Register today!
LibrePlanet is an annual conference for free software enthusiasts. LibrePlanet brings together software developers, policy experts, activists and computer users to learn skills, share accomplishments and face challenges to software freedom. Newcomers are always welcome, and LibrePlanet 2014 will feature programming for all ages and experience levels.
FSF members attend LibrePlanet gratis.
Not a member? Join today to register gratis, or register at our non-member rate. Your donations will also help us meet our goal of raising $450,000 by January 31st.
This year, the theme of LibrePlanet is "Free Software, Free Society." How can free software protect journalists, whistleblowers, activists, and regular computer users from government and corporate surveillance? How can free software, or free software values like copyleft, community development, and transparency, be used by people fighting to create free societies around the world? What challenges are standing between us and our goal of free software ubiquity? With your help, we'll tackle these questions and more at LibrePlanet 2014, on March 22 and 23 in Cambridge, MA.
We're excited to feature keynote addresses by Eben Moglen, founder of the Software Freedom Law Center, and Karen Sandler, executive director of the GNOME Foundation. The conference will also feature workshops in using free programs, talks and discussion panels with free software luminaries, plentiful networking opportunities, and a pre-conference social gathering. And as always, FSF founder and president Richard Stallman will be on hand to present the annual Free Software Awards.
If you're interested in the role of technology in struggles for justice, community, and freedom, then you will find a lot to be excited about at LibrePlanet. Join us at LibrePlanet 2014: Free Software, Free Society.
Register for the conference now or become a member to attend at no cost.
Hope to see you at LibrePlanet!
Libby Reinish
Campaigns Manager

LibrePlanet 2014 dates announced and session proposal deadline extended

Dear Pascal,
LibrePlanet is the annual conference of the Free Software Foundation, and the theme of this year's event is "Free Software, Free Society." The conference will take place on March 22 and 23, 2014 in Cambridge, MA. LibrePlanet is an event at the intersection of politics and technology. Free software activists, hackers, users, academics, policymakers, and other interested people gather at LibrePlanet for a weekend of learning about the latest project developments, thinking about how to advance software freedom, and meeting amazing like-minded peers.
As previously announced, there are three ways to get involved in the upcoming conference: answer our Call for Sessions, apply to join our Exhibit Hall, or join our new Volunteer Committee. The deadline for session proposals has been extended to 22:00 UTC (17:00 EST) November 22, 2013.
We're looking for session proposals that build on the theme by critically engaging with the connection between free software and other movements. The most successful proposals will strive to be accessible to an audience of various backgrounds, be engaging and dynamic, and feature a diverse array of presenters, including those of underrepresented genders and races.
If you are not interested in submitting a proposal, but would like to share a quick idea for a workshop, topic, or a speaker you’d like to see at LibrePlanet, please add your thoughts to our conference brainstorm page.
Sincerely,
William Theaker
Outreach & Communications Coordinator=1&jid=128797&qid=5818981&h=349a81154d116692.