Issue 23 Bulletin November 2013

Contents GNU turns thirty by Libby Reinish Campaigns Manager GNU turns thirty 1 hirty years ago, the founding of the Personal fitness and free 3 TGNU System sparked a conversa- tion that has grown into the global free GNU 30th anniversary 4 software movement. On September 27, items now available 1983, Richard Stallman announced the How can 5 plan to develop a free Unix-like op- protect us from erating system called GNU, short for surveillance? “GNU’s not Unix.” GNU is the only Why the FSF must 6 operating system developed specifi- oppose bulk surveillance cally for the sake of users’ freedom. To- A short recap of RMS’s 9 day, the GNU System includes not only recent adventures a fully free operating system, but a uni- Licensing & Compliance 10 verse of software that serves a vast ar- Lab update ray of functions, from word processing Recognizing an 10 to advanced scientific data manipula- inspiring woman for Ada tion, and everything in between. Lovelace Day The GNU System is more than a collection of software components; it’s a philosophy, a social movement. The 0 Years ideas Richard Stallman later articu- 3 lated in the GNU Manifesto spawned of GNU some of the most important ideas of our time: copyleft and free culture. In September, the FSF held a flagship celebration at MIT in Cam- bridge, MA, the original home of the GNU System before it became a world- wide phenomenon. The event fea- tured a hackathon focused on federated publishing and communication soft- ware, and tools to protect privacy and The new GNU head logo made for the 30th anonymity. Hackathon participants anniversary. accessed the Internet through an ad-

1 hoc mesh network set up by folks from the cross-pollination of skills that oc- Commotion Wireless. A cryptoparty cured between projects. Tor hackers helped participants protect their in- helped Tahoe-LAFS identify some se- formation online, and an F-Droid tu- curity issues. Gnash tested a new re- torial and skillshare introduced atten- lease on different distributions brought dees to free software for mobile de- in by hackathon attendees. Progress vices. Aleph Objects used their Re- was also made on Debian packaging spects Your Freedom-certified Lulzbot for GNU MediaGoblin. Other proj- 3D printer to make GNU toppers for ects had people stop by to fix bugs, our birthday cupcakes, and an eager and everyone enjoyed the rare oppor- volunteer wore the FSF’s suit to tunity for in-person conversation be- pose for photos. MIT’s Student In- tween contributors who hail from all formation Processing Board hosted the over the globe. event for us, and helped us get an an- imated birthday message displayed on the side of a building.

Cupcakes being served at the Cambridge an- niversary celebration. The weekend culminated with an address by GNU founder Richard Stallman, in which he announced that privacy and security—especially against government surveillance—are now one of GNU’s primary priorities. Free software is one of the most ef- fective tools we have to protect our- selves against surveillance, and the ad- MIT’s building 54 lit up to celebrate GNU’s dress reflected an ongoing mobiliza- 30th anniversary. tion in the community to meet these Ten free software projects joined challenges. The talk was livestreamed the hackathon in Cambridge; Com- using entirely free software and was motion, coreboot, Gnash, GNOME, viewed by hundreds of people, many GNU FM, GNU MediaGoblin, GNU of them outside the United States. Octave, GNU social, Tahoe-LAFS, and Though the Cambridge hackathon Tor, with Guix participating simulta- was a roaring success, we’re not done neously online. One of the most ex- celebrating yet. An accomplishment citing outcomes of the hackathon was like turning thirty deserves a whole

2 year of festivities. For the latest on obese people at high risk of developing GNU 30th celebrations, or to make a type 2 diabetes.2 donation to honor three decades of free Today we live in a world where software, visit gnu.org/gnu30. people seek solutions on their personal computers (big and small). Where we eat, where we go, who we collaborate The Free Software with, and how we coordinate and com- Supporter municate with each other, are strongly influenced by the hardware and soft- ware we use. Therefore, it is no great Receive our monthly email leap to speculate that many of the ap- newsletter: fsf.org/fss proaches and solutions people come up with when tackling this growing health epidemic will involve computers and Internet technologies. Personal fitness and free This issue is not simply a theoreti- software cal one. Recently, wearable fitness de- by Joshua Gay vices have grown in popularity, offer- Licensing and ing the possibility of weight and exer- Compliance Manager cise management to those at risk for he Center for Disease Control es- diabetes. There are already rapidly Ttimates that as of 2010, 79 mil- growing companies, such as Jawbone lion Americans aged twenty years or and Fitbit, that sell hundreds of thou- older have prediabetes, a dangerous sands of personal health and fitness de- condition that greatly increases a per- vices each year. These devices monitor son’s risk of developing type 2 dia- heart rate, temperature, sleep cycles, betes, heart disease, and stroke. As of location, and more. Though this data 2010, the CDC estimates that 25.8 mil- could be valuable in addressing the is- lion people—8.3% of the population— sue of diabetes and prediabetes, none currently have diabetes.1 of these devices are designed to respect The Diabetes Prevention Program a user’s freedom. In my research of (DPP) was a federally funded study the numerous applications that are de- of more than three thousand people signed to interact with these devices, at high risk for diabetes. The DPP I was unable to find a single one that showed that a 5—7% reduction in was free software. body weight through diet and exercise At this moment, free software ad- can delay and sometimes prevent type vocates simply have no choices when it 2 diabetes. Building on this study, the comes to wearable computing devices. CDC’s National Diabetes Prevention This is not cause for despair. As Program recommends the development free software activists we are powerful of community-based, group lifestyle in- agents for change. Join me in view- tervention programs for overweight or ing this explosion of fitness devices and software as an opportunity to explain 1 cdc.gov/diabetes/consumer/research. to people, with whole new examples, htm 2ibid.

3 the issue of computer user freedom and Whether you are in the doctor’s office why it matters not just to each individ- or just looking for a wearable device ual, but to society at large. that can help you shed a few pounds, Use this opportunity to find other use this opportunity to discuss issues of activists that are coming at health care computer user freedom and make the and fitness from other angles and are case that free software is essential to also seeking to make a more just and creating a free, healthy, and prosper- fair world. When you explain what free ous society. software is in relation to wearable fit- ness devices, explain that the freedom to share software is the freedom to give Free Software Jobs your neighbor a powerful tool that can help them monitor and improve their personal health. The freedom to study Looking for employment in a program and to make improvements the world of free software? to it is the freedom for individuals to Visit fsf.org/jobs learn and adapt technologies to meet their unique health care needs. The freedom to share those improvements GNU 30th anniversary with their communities and over the global Internet is the freedom to use items now available technology to diminish the suffering of by Chrissie Himes hundreds of millions of people and to Operations Assistant make the world a more hospitable and n honor of GNU’s 30th anniversary prosperous place for all. Ithis past September, GNU Press is Though the group of metabolic dis- now carrying exclusive GNU 30 travel eases we call diabetes is a serious and mugs and GNU logo polo shirts. These important global health issue, it is just items feature the new GNU logo that one of many. This new generation of was unveiled at the GNU System’s wearable personal fitness devices is just 30th anniversary hackathon in Cam- a tiny fraction of the myriad hardware bridge, MA. To be notified of the lat- products and their associated software est news about the shop, please join 4 designed for medical, personal health the GNU Press mailing list. If you care, or personal fitness. Just ask the have any suggestions for GNU Press, cyborg lawyer and GNOME Founda- don’t hesitate to add them to our Ideas 5 tion executive director, Karen Sandler, page. about the proprietary software sitting We welcome volunteers to help out on her heart.3 with the GNU Press shop in our What this means is that it is all Boston office. The FSF also offers the more important that each of us, as internships throughout the year in free software activists, talk to health system administration, licensing, and care and fitness professionals about the campaigns. To learn more about in- importance of computer-user freedom. terning and view deadlines for up- 4 3tuxradar.com/content/ u.fsf.org/gnupresslist 5 karen-sandler-full-interview u.fsf.org/ideas

4 How can free software protect us from surveillance? by Zak Rogoff Campaigns Manager e know that the NSA has been Wtrying for years to compromise Tor, an Internet anonymity system that gives dissidents, whistleblowers, and other activists a fighting chance at evading government surveillance. De- spite the agency’s probing attacks, the Our new travel mug, featuring the new GNU core security of the system has held head logo, available at shop.fsf.org. strong, time after time.6 Stories like this have drawn public interest; most coming internship periods visit u.fsf. people are uncomfortable with exces- org/internships. sive government surveillance and many Even if you are not able to commit draw hope from knowing that Tor to an internship, we are always looking stands between dissidents and the gov- for volunteers of all skill levels to help ernment. But do people know that Tor us out with small tasks and larger proj- is robust to attacks largely because it ects. Volunteer roles include passing is free software? out FSF materials at events, updating Free software is an important part the Free Software Directory, stuffing of an effective resistance to today’s envelopes, writing articles about im- runaway surveillance states, because portant free software issues, and help- free software users are fundamentally ing to answer questions about free soft- harder to surveil. The reasons for this ware licensing. If you’re interested in are baked into the four essential free- volunteering, check out the volunteer doms that all free programs guarantee page at fsf.org/volunteer, send a their users. message to [email protected], or stop by Freedom 1 is the ability to study our office if you can make it to Boston. how a program works, and to change it. This freedom denies surveillance agencies some of their key strategies for snooping. Without the ability to Get 10% off! exploit hidden vulnerabilities in pro- grams, they cannot maintain the kind Visit shop.fsf.org and use of secret control that they can over coupon code BulletinNov2013 proprietary software with unavailable source code. This is why free soft- ware programs like Tor are the gold standard in encryption and anonymity,

6theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/04/ nsa-gchq-attack-tor-network-encryption

5 even among those who are not other- tractive to surveillance agents looking wise concerned with software freedom. for the fastest route to large amounts Freedoms 2 and 3 grant the abil- of information. This happened most ity to distribute identical and modi- recently with the PRISM program, in fied copies of a program without lim- which the NSA tapped into giant data itation.7 This defangs another tactic stores that tech companies were al- used by agencies like the NSA: strong- ready maintaining about their users. arming software companies into writ- Runaway surveillance states are a ing backdoors in software. This is complex problem and addressing them hardly worth doing to a company or requires a multifaceted approach com- group that develops free software, be- bining activism, policy, and technol- cause the community can respond by ogy. The free software movement of- forking their code and offering a safe fers some of the programs and design version. philosophies that will help people rise The four freedoms mean that a to meet the technical part of this chal- community using free software for ev- lenge. But we have another thing that eryday computing is much less vulner- is at least as important to offer soci- able to surveillance than one using pro- ety: our culture of hacking. Taking a prietary software. If we want to make hands-on, inquisitive approach to the full use of this advantage, we need to technology we use is the basis of tech- make using free software the norm. We nological freedom, even more than any need to focus on making free software particular program, license, or devel- replacements for widely used programs opment model. As we develop and just as easy to use, as accessible, and use free software, we must also foster as well known as their proprietary ver- this attitude amongst our friends and sions. neighbors. While advocating for software free- dom, it’s also important for us to re- member that even if a program is free, Why the FSF must we cannot actually modify its source oppose bulk surveillance code without access to the computer by John Sullivan running it. That’s why we need to Executive Director avoid Service as a Software Substitute n a letter mailed out to our support- and instead do our computing on our I 8 ers around the world this past spring, own machines. I highlighted the need for the FSF We also need to use decentralized to respond to the revelations about systems instead of concentrating many the U.S.’s National Security Agency people’s data, even for seemingly in- (NSA) spying on the phones and elec- nocuous purposes. High concentra- tronic activity of people both inside tions of data create targets that are at- and outside of the United States. 7Freedom 0 is the freedom to run the pro- The FSF sees this bulk surveillance gram for any purpose. Read more about as a free software issue. These revela- the four freedoms at gnu.org/philosophy/ tions are part of what inspired RMS free-sw 8 to announce at the GNU 30th an- gnu.org/philosophy/ who-does-that-server-really-serve niversary hackathon and celebration in

6 Cambridge, MA, that the GNU Sys- the government or corporations. tem would be taking on a new prior- Even though their work is legal, ity to help minimize the harm done to because these developers know that users as they interact over networks. their work may complicate government Our organization helped pioneer a surveillance efforts, they are concerned worldwide free software movement and about being targeted. A key organiza- provides an umbrella of legal and tech- tional function of the FSF is to serve as nical infrastructure for collaborative an important point of contact and co- software development internationally. ordination between developers. If we We advocate for the freedom, privacy, cannot promise the confidentiality of and autonomy of computer users, pri- our communications, this category of marily by making sure that the soft- our supporters will think twice before ware running on their computers is associating with us or with other mem- fully under their control. bers through us. Free “as in freedom” software Other of our software developer users choose their software on ethical members are working in areas that grounds according to these concerns, are legally controversial. They work similar to the way many vegetarians on free software to protect anonymity reject meat or labor activists reject online, or to circumvent technological sweatshop clothing. Because free soft- protection measures in order to access ware is developed collaboratively and copyrighted works to which they have often by grassroots communities, it is a legal right, or on encryption soft- a force for social change. Its devel- ware that, while legal, may be used by opers are very aware of what corpo- criminals as well. These members are rate and government interests are be- even more concerned about the privacy ing challenged with their software. of their communications, living in fear The revelation of our phone records that their work may be misconstrued to the government will result in harass- as illegal. ment, membership withdrawal, dis- But, since one of the basic re- couragement of new members, or other quirements of free software is that its consequences that objectively suggest source code be available to its users an impact on, or “chilling” of, our and since free software development so members’ rights to associate freely. often happens in public in order to fa- Many of our supporters are soft- cilitate effective and efficient collabo- ware developers working on operating ration, why do we care if our commu- systems, such as GNU/, to be nications are monitored? As one of our used instead of operating systems de- members has told us directly: veloped by Microsoft or Apple. Unlike “While I do work very openly in my those proprietary operating systems, day to day life in free software, and I all of the code for GNU/Linux is pub- am quite clearly an outspoken advocate licly available for inspection and mod- of free software, and the free software ification. A widespread motivation for movement, the fact that private com- developing software this way is to make munications may be turned over to the it very difficult for “backdoors,” such government would result in a sort of as those now known to be part of Mi- chilling effect. crosoft Windows, to be introduced by For instance, I would be reluctant

7 to ask the FSF questions about the legal crosshairs of government surveillance is status of code with federal regulation, a powerful deterrent that threatens to such as the implications of distribut- make working for us just not worth it. ing cryptographic software under the Anything that complicates our ability GNU GPL, or questions regarding pri- to attract and retain quality staff di- vacy software, such as Tor, for fear it rectly undercuts our mission of build- may implicate me later, when someone ing a strong association of free software else misuses such software. It would supporters. place me in an awkward situation, one Since the disclosure of the various where I cannot ask a question about illegal NSA surveillance programs, we software without being lumped into a have lost the ability to assure our mem- group which may misuse such software. bers and constituents, as well as all If I have misgivings about such things, others who seek to communicate with as an open and outspoken free software us, that the fact of their communica- contributor, I fear what the pseudo- tions to and with us will be kept con- anonymous contributors to free soft- fidential. We were able to make as- ware communities must think.” surances of confidentiality prior to the This chilling effect extends beyond disclosure, but they were illusory. our members who are software de- Moreover, the pattern of distortion velopers, to members who are also and lawless conduct by the NSA, ex- just free software users and advocates. acerbated by the intense secrecy of its Many of our members, when they activities, has left us unable to reas- joined, have cited our work to sup- sure our members and associates that port software that respects their pri- additional forms of surveillance, as yet vacy and freedom as a primary reason unconfirmed or actively denied by the for their association. Any revelation government, are not also occurring, that their communication with us is leaving us with no alternative forms being monitored discredits us as an or- of confidential communication. This ganization and a movement capable of is extremely damaging for us, because protecting the very interest that moti- the success of our movement depends vated them to associate with us. As concretely on the ability for dispersed a concrete example, some of our sup- individuals to collaborate freely and porters are hesitant to attend the an- openly. nual LibrePlanet conference we host in Often there is a temptation for the the United States, explicitly because FSF to get involved in social and po- of surveillance. We are exploring op- litical causes that are unrelated to free tions to host it elsewhere and to en- software. We avoid that, because we courage remote participation, but we view free software as a necessary base- also should work against the causes of line for any kind of computer-using po- this hesitation. litical advocacy to be effective and au- Finally, this chilling also affects our tonomous. We make sure to take only current staff and ability to hire new positions that are necessary for the free staff, who accept modest pay rates in software movement. order to do a job they feel can make a Using both policy and technology positive difference in the world. Know- to resist the kinds of surveillance that ing that doing this job puts them in the have been exposed is one of those fun-

8 damental positions. It is necessary to take this position in order to preserve the ability for free software developers and advocates to work safely and ef- fectively, and for us to do our job on behalf of that movement as an organi- zation. To that end, we have joined the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in filing a lawsuit against the NSA, we have announced new development pri- orities within the GNU System, and we have stepped up our advocacy cam- paigns to show the computer-using public around the world how using free software is an important step toward protecting their privacy and freedom. If you are a current or potential FSF member and are concerned about this issue, I would really like to hear RMS’s Internet Hall of Fame medal. firsthand about your concern. You can email me directly at [email protected]. Internet Hall of Fame in recognition for his work as an innovator, and during his brief acceptance speech, RMS ap- pealed to the audience to “fight hard” A short recap of RMS’s for network neutrality and an Inter- recent adventures net that is “something good for human by Jeanne Rasata freedom—instead of the final curtain Assistant to the President call for human freedom.” While he was in South Africa, he kickstarted Johan- MS continued to crisscross the nesburg’s Software Freedom Day cele- Rglobe this past semester, visit- bration, and spoke in four other cities. ing over a dozen countries to meet In September, he marked the 30th an- with free software activists, lobby for niversary of the GNU System in both computer-user rights, and spread the France, at an event organized by April, word about ethical computing through and at the FSF-sponsored celebration the almost fifty speeches he gave to in Cambridge, MA. For the rest of the both the initiated and the general pub- year, he has plans to be in California, lic alike. Starting off in Italy and the United Kingdom, and Spain. Spain, RMS then made his way from Canc´un, Mexico, in late May, to Porto Alegre, Brazil, in early July, and then on to Belgium and the United King- dom, speaking at universities and free software conferences, and meeting with elected officials. In August, he was inducted into the

9 Licensing & Compliance LibreWRT added as an en- Lab update dorsed distribution by Donald Robertson, III In June we announced the latest addi- Copyright and Licensing tion to our list of fully free GNU/Linux Associate Systems, LibreWRT. LibreWRT is for t’s that time of year again when we devices with limited capabilities, such Iupdate everyone on the work that as wireless routers, and is the first we’ve been doing at the FSF License small system added to our endorsed and Compliance Lab. distribution list.9

Compliance investigations Team explosion! and backlog reduction We’ve added several new volunteers to We’ve made great strides in reducing our licensing volunteer squad, as well our backlog of reports, handling over as taking on two new interns for the two hundred reports of violations on fall internship program. With the ex- GNU software. We resolved several panded team we’re hoping to tackle open cases, helping to bring compa- some larger projects in the coming nies and individuals into compliance. months, including a licensing guide- We also opened many more cases, and book, updated FAQs, and better tools currently have more than one hundred for helping people select a free license. open investigations. With our backlog of reports almost entirely gone, we are better able to respond to new reports, as well as move open compliance cases Recognizing an through to completion. inspiring woman for Ada Copyright assignment Lovelace Day by K˙yra process updated Campaigns Organizer We were happy to announce a new ctober 15, 2013, was Ada Lovelace way for U.S. contributors to make ODay, a day for highlighting women assignment on FSF-copyrighted pack- making great contributions to science, ages: GPG signatures. Instead of hav- technology, engineering, and mathe- ing to send a form via the post, or matics. This is a holiday of particular track down a scanner, U.S. contribu- importance to the free software move- tors can now sign their assignments us- ment, to remind us that there are pow- ing GPG. With growing concerns over erful social biases which permeate our privacy and security, encouraging the movement, sexism and transmisogyny use of cryptographic tools is now more being just two of these. important than ever. Being able to Ada Lovelace Day gives us an op- sign assignments with GPG also makes portunity to recognize contributors in the process much easier for contribu- our movement and show them the ap- tors. preciation they deserve. A personal in- 9gnu.org/distros/free-distros.html

10 spiration I want to write about is Au- tionary application for Chinese edu- drey Tang, an astonishingly impressive cation that combines Mandarin, Tai- Taiwanese free software hacker.10 wanese Holok, and Hakka with En- Tang most famously started and glish, French, and German.14 ran the Pugs project, a Haskell im- As such a brilliant hacker, it’s no plementation of the Perl 6 language, wonder that in 2006 she was described which grew into a large joint effort by ETtoday as one of the “ten greats between the Haskell and Perl com- of Taiwanese computing.” Recognizing munities. Tang also served on the Tang and other women in our global Haskell’ (pronounced “Haskell Prime”) community gives people who can iden- 2010 committee, working to shape the tify with her the ability to see their language standard.11 Importantly, she own potential for contributing to free has contributed to many localization software. efforts for both free software proj- It’s important to consider the val- ects and led many Traditional Chinese ues, ideologies, and behaviors that con- translation efforts for various books. tribute to the exclusion of marginalized At age twelve, she began learn- groups in our community. The Libre- ing Perl and has initiated an astound- Planet Women’s Caucus was started ing number projects since then. She in September 2010 to address issues dropped out of high school at fifteen, of gender in the free software move- and by nineteen she had held positions ment.15 Women of color may also join in multiple software companies. She is the Empowermentors Collective to ad- also a vocal proponent of anarchism, dress white racism and other intersec- as well as an autodidact (self-directed tional forms of oppression in relation learner). to free culture and free software.16 In addition to the Pugs project, We are honored to have supporters Tang started the popular Perl Archive like Audrey Tang and so many other Toolkit (PAR), a cross-platform pack- women in the free software movement. aging and deployment tool for Perl 5. We hope you’ll take the time to rec- PAR is just one of over a hundred Perl ognize the women who inspire you as projects she initiated on CPAN, be- well. coming one of the first to make that 14 moedict.tw incredible achievement. More recently 15libreplanet.org/wiki/WC she created EtherCalc, the popular 16empowermentors.org collaborative spreadsheet web applica- tion parallel to EtherPad.12 She has also been involved in politics, working with g0v.tw on using free software to build accountable and transparent in- frastructure for public participation.13 On a more literary front, she worked to build a popular web and mobile dic-

10pugs.blogs.com/about.html 11ghc.haskell.org/trac/haskell-prime 12ethercalc.net 13g0v.tw/manifesto.html#en

11 Published twice yearly by the , 51 Franklin Street, 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, (617) 542-5942, [email protected], www. fsf.org

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