NYC LOCAL: Free Software Foundation press conferences, lunches, seminars, and a gathering in New York City this week

[secretary]

<blockquote
  what="two official Free Software Foundation announcements"
  about="a press conference on licensing fraud, two lunches,
   two seminars on free software licensing,
   and a gathering of free software authors, users, and partisans"
  edits="subject lines provided, one space inserted in textized html, one typo 
fixed">


 ---------- Forwarded message ----------
 Subject: Free Software Foundation Counsel Eben Moglen Explains (New)SCO Fraud
 X-URL: http://www.fsf.org/press/2004-01-14-record-straight.txt

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 Media Contact: Free Software Foundation
                John Shannon <communication@fsf.org>
                Phone: +1-917-400-4996

         Setting the Record Straight: The Free Software Foundation,
               the General Public License and SCO versus IBM

 Boston, MA, USA - Wednesday, January 14, 2003 - On Wednesday, January 21,
 2004, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) will hold a press conference
 at Columbia University to discuss the strengths and successes of the
 GNU General Public License (GPL) and to refute the claims made by the
 The SCO Group, Ltd. (SCO) and their counsel in their ongoing lawsuit
 against International Business Machines Corp (IBM).

 In the last few months, SCO has been sowing confusion and misinformation
 regarding the validity of the GNU GPL as part of their strategy to extort
 money from users of the kernel named Linux, which is licensed under
 FSF's GPL.  FSF, the umpire of Free Software disputes, will respond to
 SCO's lawsuit and will explain how SCO seeks to inappropriately increase
 its own market value at the expense of the legitimate activity of the
 Free Software community's developers, distributors and users.

 This press conference is valuable to anyone interested in the state of
 Free Software, its licensing issues, the SCO v. IBM lawsuit, and the
 integrity of the GNU GPL.  FSF maintains that the SCO lawsuit is not only
 without merit, but that SCO have themselves benefited from distribution
 the kernel named Linux under GPL, even as they question that license's
 validity.  Indeed, Professor Eben Moglen, FSF Board Member and General
 Counsel, has pointed out that SCO has distributed Linux under GPL, even
 after filing their lawsuit.  SCO has therefore published its supposed
 trade secrets and copyrighted material under a license that gives
 everyone permission to copy, modify, and redistribute that software.

 Professor Moglen will head the press conference and will discuss both
 the strengths and successes of the GPL -- the most popular and widely
 used Free Software copyright license.  As the lawyer behind most
 successful enforcement efforts of GPL, and a nationally recognized
 authority on alternatives to contemporary copyright and patent law,
 Professor Moglen is in an unique position to discuss the history of the
 GPL, the FSF's continued success in obtaining compliance with the GPL,
 and why SCO's attack on the users of the kernel named Linux and the
 GPL is both unprecedented and without merit.

 This press conference offers an excellent opportunity to understand the
 history and intent of the GPL, its importance in the IT community and the
 weakness of SCO's current lawsuit against IBM.  Professor Moglen will be
 available to answer questions both during and after the press conference.


 About 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. Their web site,
 located at http://www.fsf.org, is an important source of information
 about GNU/Linux. They are headquartered in Boston, MA, USA.


 About Eben Moglen:

 Eben Moglen is Professor of Law and Legal History at the Columbia Law
 School, where he has taught since 1987. He clerked for Judge Edward
 Weinfeld of the United State District Court for the Southern District
 of New York and for Justice Thurgood Marshall of the United States
 Supreme Court. Before and during law school he was a designer and
 implementer of advanced computer programming languages at IBM's Santa
 Teresa Laboratory and Thomas J. Watson Research Center. His principal
 areas of interest are Anglo American legal history, constitutional law,
 computers and free expression, and intellectual property. Since 1993,
 he has served as pro bono General Counsel for the Foundation and has
 served on its board since July 2000.


 Copyright (C) 2004, Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place -
 Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA

 Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted
 in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.



 ---------- Forwarded message ----------
 Subject: Free Software Foundation Events in New York City January 20 through 
22, 2004
 X-URL: http://www.fsf.org/events/nyc-2004-01.html


    The Free Software Foundation will host a number of events in New York 
between
    January 20 - 23, 2004. These include:

    A lunch series, "SCO Without Fear", with Professor Eben Moglen, Board 
Member and
    General Counsel to FSF. Prof. Moglen will discuss the SCO Group vs IBM 
lawsuit
    and the implication of the lawsuit and of SCO's attacks on the GNU General 
Public
    License on the development and use of Free Software. The two day lunchtime
    series, on January 20 and 21, will be at Columbia University in New York 
from
    12:30 - 2 pm.

    On January 20 and 21, the FSF will offer two day-long seminars on Free 
Software
    Licensing and the GNU GPL at Columbia Law School. "Detailed Study and 
Analysis of
    GPL and LGPL", the seminar on January 20, will give a section-by-section
    explanation of the most popular Free Software copyright license, the GNU 
General
    Public License (GNU GPL). On January 21, FSF will offer "GPL Compliance Case
    Studies and Legal Ethics in Free Software Licensing". Also a day-long 
seminar,
    which will present the details of a few different GPL compliance cases 
handled by
    FSF's GPL Compliance Laboratory.

    On Thursday, January 22 from 6 to 9 pm, FSF will host an Associate Member
    reception at the office of Ada Core Technologies located at 104 Fifth 
Avenue,
    15th Floor, New York, phone +1-212-620-7300. The Associate Member reception 
is an
    informal gathering at which members meet FSF staff and board to hear about 
FSF's
    latest projects and to ask questions and share ideas. A buffet dinner will 
be
    served. The event is free for members and two of their guests.

    To RSVP or for more information about any of the events listed above, please
    contact John at johns@fsf.org or by phone at +1-617-542-5942 ext. 12 or 
Ravi at
    ravi@fsf.org or by phone at +1-617-620-9640.

</blockquote>


Distributed poC TINC:

Jay Sulzberger <secretary@lxny.org>
Corresponding Secretary LXNY
LXNY is New York's Free Computing Organization.
http://www.lxny.org