Bulletin Issue 37

Issue 37 Bulletin Fall 2020 Contents I've had the good fortune of being at the FSF for over seventeen years – page 1: FSF at 35: Why free software nearly half of the thirty-five years matters more than ever we’re celebrating today. I'm so page 3: Celebrating the FSF's tireless thankful for all of you – the members, commitment volunteers, and supporters – who page 4: How Tor improves usability have stuck with us through the ups without compromising user privacy and downs. page 7: Free software payment I miss seeing so many of you in system launches at Swiss university person, hearing your stories, and page 9: Why providing source code getting updates on your projects and organizing efforts. This work that we for unmodified works is important do together, standing up to some of page 10: Updates from the FSF Tech the most powerful and wealthy Team corporations and governments on the FSF at 35: Why free software matters more than ever By John Sullivan Executive Director These are excerpts from John’s talk at the FSF35 anniversary celebration, edited for length and clarity. You can watch the full event videos at u.fsf.org/35vid. hope you have been enjoying our I small celebration of the thirty- five years that the FSF and our supporters have been hacking, The FSF thirty-fifth anniversary artwork campaigning, organizing, and was inspired by the interdependence of educating for user freedom. organisms in a coral reef. 1 planet, can be exhausting. This problem as companies having grown pandemic has been hell on people in too large, rather than companies so many ways, and I've wondered at being based on fundamentally unjust several points whether we should power. even be talking about free software We can't have massive companies with so many kinds of suffering leveraging their completely artificial happening around the world. and arbitrary control over the Then, I see the headlines. Public software and platforms through schooling conducted over Zoom, which billions of people experience which requires nonfree software; bulk their daily lives to subvert our surveillance of protesters at Black democracies. Lives Matter events, including We can't have cultural gatekeepers exploitation of proprietary software with the ability to determine what we backdoors; the massive cultural land watch and listen to – both by deciding grab by music and video streaming what gets made and what gets deleted, services that use Digital Restrictions sometimes silently – who also claim Management (DRM) to tightly the right to stop you from recording the control and surveil what we watch things they show, while they freely and listen to, and even what gets record you. created; and, of course, all of the We can't have our political speech headlines about science and our or willingness to join important desperate need for major peaceful demonstrations chilled by breakthroughs. bulk surveillance facilitated by the Our new “Rewind” animated proprietary software devices in so short focuses on the necessity of free many people's pockets, and the software and free software principles proprietary software entangling our to scientific advancement – if you governments. haven’t seen it yet, please watch and We can't have our schooling share u.fsf.org/rewind. We dependent on proprietary software, can't have our doctors and which represents the very antithesis of researchers unable to collaborate learning: you may not study it to learn with each other or check each other's how it works, you may not share it to math because of the proprietary help someone else, and you may not terms of some company's stupid apply what you've learned to make license agreement. improvements to it or just experiment. We also saw the antitrust So yes, free software is important hearings in the US that focused on right now. It isn't a magic wand, and Big Tech, but mistakenly viewed the it won't, by itself, solve all of these 2 issues. But it is a precondition, a Celebrating the FSF's necessary foundation on which to tireless commitment build the solutions we need. And the By Greg Farough FSF is likewise a foundation upon Campaigns Manager which the free software movement has been built, and upon which it can I t’s an honor to be the campaigns continue to grow. We are not manager of an organization that has developing all of the free software maintained a tireless commitment to ourselves, but we are fighting for the user freedom for thirty-five years. ideals, the awareness, and the sharing. Getting an accurate handle on decades We are providing legal and technical of historical, philosophical, and infrastructure, which creates and technical development hasn’t been holds the space for other people to do easy, but it never ceases to be inspiring. amazing things with free software. The free software movement is a When you support the FSF, testament to how enduring a simple that's what you're supporting. It isn’t set of principles can be. Not only has just the development of particular the Free Software Definition been programs, or the propagation and influential in other fields of endeavor defense of the GNU General Public like cultural works, but it's served as License and copyleft, though we a foundational tool for evaluating absolutely do that. You are whether the digital tools we use have supporting the idea that all software our best interests in mind. If they do, must be free as in freedom, and that that gives us cause to celebrate. But without free software, we cannot and if they don't, the definition also will not have free societies. points the way to practical steps that With your support, we can win. we need to take to achieve freedom. “Big Tech,” the term used to describe These sound principles and the corporate behemoths, is a misnomer, dedicated activists behind them are because there is no bigger tech than rare in any community, but when the free software. By definition, software organization was founded in 1985, that you distribute under terms that they were visionary. allow anyone on the planet to use, The stakes for our work are share, and improve – that is the higher today than most people would biggest possible tech. Let's make that have anticipated back then, unless a reality. Let's make sure all software they had read and understood their is free software before another thirty- Philip K. Dick. However, the FSF has five years pass. Thank you for your been discussing the potential for support. software to lead to a dystopia since 3 its inception. In a world in which your make limited recommendations on doorbell spies on you and Digital mobile phone freedom. We need to Restrictions Management (DRM) harness the energy and enthusiasm has penetrated to the deepest levels of a new generation of hackers from of computer hardware, subverting around the world to remedy this. It’s the user’s interests for those of our job to ensure that freedom is surveillance capitalism, these brought to all software users, even if principles are as vital and necessary their computer is pocket-sized, and as when they were conceived. this is particularly of concern to our The campaigns team, whose role is younger audience. to address issues threatening software Thirty-five years in, our freedom and to expand the free movement is just as relevant and software movement, was not present important as ever, and if its goals are at the beginning of the FSF’s history. going to succeed, we need more Instead, the early FSF focused on supporters than ever. Although our being the legal steward of the GNU community has built enough software General Public License (GPL) and the for the average person to do all of their technical development of the GNU daily computing in full freedom, we operating system. But as we saw are up against an incredible amount threats arise, and knowing that only of adversity. Companies like Apple, we would stand up in defense of the Google, Facebook, and Amazon have founding principles, the organization billions of dollars to pour into funding decided to combat them holistically. proprietary software. When the FSF Today, we have messaging on nearly was founded, computing freedom was every topic affecting the freedom of a niche concern, but today, the digital computer users, and our team is freedom of everyone you know is at constantly addressing new issues, such stake. We hope you’ll continue your as the need for ethical hosting services, support for many anniversaries to the continual threat of nonfree come. JavaScript, Service as a Software Substitute, institutional pressure to How Tor improves usability use nonfree communication tools, and the ubiquitous presence of DRM. without compromising user We’re now grappling with the privacy By Isabela Bagueros fact that a significant chunk of computing is done exclusively on Executive Director, Tor Project mobile phones, but due to technical he Tor Project is a nonprofit limitations, the community can only T whose mission is to advance 4 Isabela and a colleague at the Tor Project table at LibrePlanet 2019. human rights and freedoms by venting censorship, protecting creating and deploying free software democracy, and even protection from anonymity and privacy technologies, violence. It’s extremely important supporting their unrestricted that our tools are easy to use. availability and use, and furthering However, because our design their scientific and popular prioritizes privacy, our tools gather understanding. very little information about our We are the developers of the Tor users, which makes it difficult for us network and Tor Browser.

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