# Free Software Supporter
Issue 104, December 2016

Welcome to the Free Software Supporter, the Free Software
Foundation's (FSF) monthly news digest and action update -- being
read by you and 125,497 other activists. That's 3,556 more than last
month!

## Give back to the FSF: Strengthen our roots and make the free software movement stronger

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has sown the seeds of user
freedom across the world for more than three decades. Our roots are
in the free software community. Our roots are you.

The scope of our work has increased dramatically, as computers and
software permeate even more areas of life. We must grow to meet
these challenges. We launched our yearly 
fundraiser with the goal of welcoming 500 new members and raising 
$450,000 before December 31st. Will you help deepen our roots by
[becoming a new member](https://my.fsf.org/join) for just $10/month
($5/month for students), [increasing your current membership
giving](https://my.fsf.org/renew), or [making a
donation](https://my.fsf.org/donate/) by December 31st?

At the time of writing we have raised $69,810 toward our goal 
of $450,000.

[Read more](https://www.fsf.org/appeal) about how your donation will
support free software. 

## TABLE OF CONTENTS

* RMS receives the GNU Health Social Medicine Award at GNU Health Con
* The Licensing and Compliance Lab interviews Micah Lee of GPG Sync
* RMS photos from Lisbon
* Join us as a member to give back for the free software you use
* Licensing resource series: License violations and compliance
* Tear the wrapping paper off the 2016 Ethical Tech Giving Guide
* Tim Berners-Lee <strike>created</strike> sold out the Web?
* FSF now offering paperless option for all copyright assignments
* LibreHealth announced by key community members of OpenMRS & OpenEMR
* Russian bill makes free software a public priority
* Report: Online harassment – A form of censorship
* Recent Free Software Directory meeting recaps
* Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
* LibrePlanet featured resource: Media Coverage
* GNU Spotlight with Brandon Invergo: Seventeen new GNU releases!
* Richard Stallman's speaking schedule
* Thank GNUs!
* GNU copyright contributions
* Take action with the FSF!

View this issue online here: <http://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2016/december>

Encourage your friends to subscribe and help us build an audience by
adding our subscriber widget to your Web site.

  * Subscribe: <https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter>
  * Widget: <https://www.fsf.org/associate/widget>

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: <http://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2016/diciembre>

**Para cambiar las preferencias de usuario y recibir los próximos
  números del Supporter en español, haz click aquí:**
  <https://my.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/edit?reset=1&gid=34&id={contact.contact_id}&{contact.checksum}>

Le Free Software Supporter est disponible en français. Pour voir la
version française cliquez ici: <http://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2016/decembre>

**Pour modifier vos préférences et recevoir les prochaines
  publications du Supporter en français, cliquez ici:**
  <https://my.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/edit?reset=1&gid=34&id={contact.contact_id}&{contact.checksum}>


### RMS receives the GNU Health Social Medicine Award at GNU Health Con

*From November 30th*

RMS was in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, last month to take
part in the first edition of the International GNU Health
Conference, three days of sessions, workshops, and networking
with the main players in the GNU Health community. At the end of the
event, RMS was awarded the conference's GNU Health Social Medicine
Award for an individual, in recognition of his work. Take a look at
RMS receiving the award.

  * <https://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/photo-blog-2016-november-laspalmas-gnuhealthcon>

### The Licensing and Compliance Lab interviews Micah Lee of GPG Sync

*From November 30th*

In this edition, we conducted an email-based interview with Micah
Lee of GPG Sync. GPG Sync is a recently launched project for
managing the sharing of GPG keys, particularly within an
organization. Micah Lee made the project internally at First Look
Media and has now shared it with the world.

  * <https://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/the-licensing-and-compliance-lab-interviews-micah-lee-of-gpg-sync>


### RMS photos from Lisbon

*From November 30th*

RMS was in Lisbon, Portugal, last month to give a stand-alone
speech, "Should We Have More Surveillance Than the USSR?", hosted
by the Núcleo de Alunos de Ciência Política (the political science
students' group), at the Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE),
on November 10th. 

  * <https://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/photo-blog-2016-november-lisbon>


### Join us as a member to give back for the free software you use

*From November 29th*

By hosting most of the GNU Project, we enable development on free 
software components that are key for the whole computing industry, 
including Emacs, Bash, and the utilities at the base of all the 
GNU/Linux distributions powering supercomputers and the Internet's 
servers.

Here at the FSF, we run our own infrastructure using only free software,
which makes us stand out from nearly every other nonprofit
organization. Virtually all others rely on outside providers and use
a significant amount of nonfree software. With your support, we set
an example proving that a nonprofit can follow best practices while
running only free software. We need you to give back and support this 
root infrastructure, enabling future free software development and 
distribution to thrive.

  * <https://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/join-us-as-a-member-to-give-back-for-the-free-software-you-use>

### Licensing resource series: License violations and compliance

*From November 29th*

A big part of our work in the compliance lab revolves around license
compliance. We handle compliance for many GNU Project packages, such as
GCC and GNU Emacs. When someone fails to meet the conditions of the
GNU General Public License, we help them to understand what is
needed to be a good citizen in the free software community. But the
nature of that work generally means that it all happens behind the
scenes. We're not in the business of shaming those who need help
with compliance, so when a compliance case arises there may never be
any public statement about the situation. That can leave people
wondering about the inner workings of the compliance lab -- take a
look at what we do.

  * <https://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/licensing-resource-series-license-violations-and-compliance>

### Tear the wrapping paper off the 2016 Ethical Tech Giving Guide

*From November 23rd*

Electronics are popular gifts for the holidays, but people often
overlook the restrictions that manufacturers slip under the wrapping
paper. From surveillance to harsh rules about copying and sharing,
some gifts take more than they give. Give freedom-respecting gifts
this year.

  * <https://www.fsf.org/givingguide/>

### Tim Berners-Lee <strike>created</strike> sold out the Web?

*From November 9th*

Twenty-five years ago, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web.
Back then *timbl* -- as he's known online -- declined opportunities to
lock down his creation and established himself as an advocate for a
freedom-affirming, interoperable, and universally accessible World
Wide Web. Now he's considering turning his back on this vision to
make Netflix, Google, Apple, and Microsoft happy.

  * <https://www.defectivebydesign.org/blog/tim_bernerslee_created_sold_out_web>

### FSF now offering paperless option for all copyright assignments

*From November 4th*

For about 30 years, each copyright assignment required sending
paper documents via international post, not always an easy or
inexpensive process. All contributors can now take advantage of a
simpler assignment process!

  * <https://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/fsf-now-offering-paperless-option-for-all-copyright-assignments>


### LibreHealth announced by key community members of OpenMRS & OpenEMR

*From November 8th by Software Freedom Conservancy*

Several senior contributors and leaders from OpenMRS and OpenEMR,
the two leading free software Health IT platforms, have announced
the formation of LibreHealth, a new initiative to expand on many
years of work by those communities’ volunteers through increased
focused on needs of its users in critical areas. After many years of
growth under the sponsorship of organizations OpenMRS and OpenEMR,
key members of the two communities have joined forces to launch a
successor free software community to fulfill their vision of
improved health outcomes around the world.

  * <https://sfconservancy.org/news/2016/nov/10/openmrs-openemr-announcing-librehealth/>

### Russian bill makes free software a public priority

*From November 10th by FSF Europe*

Legislators have drafted a bill that will boost free software on
multiple levels within the Russian Federation's public sector. The
draft, approved by the Russian Federation's Duma (lower chamber) in
mid-October, requires the public sector to prioritize free software
over proprietary alternatives, gives precedence to local IT
businesses that offer free software for public procurement, and
recognizes the need to encourage collaboration with the global
network of free software organizations and communities.

  * <https://fsfe.org/news/2016/news-20161110-01.en.html>

### Report: Online harassment – A form of censorship

*From November 24th by Software Freedom Law Centre of India*

Read the SFLC's report, which "compiles findings from a year of
research into the issue, and attempts to provide an insight into the
relevant national and socio-political factors influencing exploitative
uses of the Internet." Make us of the report's "user-level safeguards
against online harassment," protect yourself, and fight mass
surveillance.

  * <http://sflc.in/report-online-harassment-a-form-of-censorship/>

### Recent Free Software Directory meeting recaps

Check out the great work our volunteers accomplished in recent
 Free Software Directory meetings. Every week, free software 
 activists from around the world come together in #fsf on 
 irc.gnu.org to help improve the Free Software Directory.

*October 28th meeting*

  * <https://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/free-software-directory-meeting-recap-for-october-28th-2016>

*November 4th meeting*

  * <https://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/free-software-directory-meeting-recap-for-november-4th-2016>

*November 11th meeting*

  * <https://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/free-software-directory-meeting-recap-for-november-11th-2016>

*November 18th meeting*

  * <https://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/free-software-directory-meeting-recap-for-november-18th-2016>
  
*November 25th meeting* 

  * <https://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/free-software-directory-meeting-recap-for-november-25th-2016>

### Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory

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
for 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, December 2nd from 1pm to 4pm EST (17:00
to 20:00 UTC). Details here:

  * <https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Free_Software_Directory:Meetings>

### LibrePlanet featured resource: Media Coverage

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 media coverage ideas for free
software projects. With the recent electoral news in the US there are
opportunities to build knowledge and support for free software
projects. You are invited to adopt, spread and improve this
important resource.

  * <https://libreplanet.org/wiki/Media_coverage>

Do you have a suggestion for next month's featured resource? Let us
know at <address@hidden>.

### GNU Spotlight with Brandon Invergo: Seventeen new GNU releases!

In the last month (as of November 24, 2016):

* [chess-6.2.4](https://www.gnu.org/software/chess/)
* [dico-2.4](https://www.gnu.org/software/dico/)
* [electric-9.07](https://www.gnu.org/software/electric/)
* [emms-4.2](https://www.gnu.org/software/emms/)
* [freeipmi-1.5.5](https://www.gnu.org/software/freeipmi/)
* [gnudos-1.10](https://www.gnu.org/software/gnudos/)
* [ghostscript-9.14.1](https://www.gnu.org/software/ghostscript/)
* [gnupg-2.1.16](https://www.gnu.org/software/gnupg/)
* [guile-ncurses-2.1](https://www.gnu.org/software/guile-ncurses/)
* [gvpe-3.0](https://www.gnu.org/software/gvpe/)
* [kawa-2.2](https://www.gnu.org/software/kawa/)
* [linux-libre-4.8.10-gnu](https://www.gnu.org/software/linux-libre/)
* [mailutils-3.0](https://www.gnu.org/software/mailutils/)
* [octave-4.2.0](https://www.gnu.org/software/octave/)
* [parallel-20161122](https://www.gnu.org/software/parallel/)
* [taler-0.2.0](https://www.gnu.org/software/taler/)
* [unifont-9.0.04](https://www.gnu.org/software/unifont/)

For announcements of most new GNU releases, subscribe to the
info-gnu mailing list:
<https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu>.

To download: nearly all GNU software is available from
<https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/>, or preferably one of its mirrors from
<https://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html>.  You can use the URL
<https://ftpmirror.gnu.org/> to be automatically redirected to a
(hopefully) nearby and up-to-date mirror.

This month, we welcome Mathieu Lirzin as the new maintainer of GNU
Freetalk.

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>.

If you have a working or partly working program that you'd like
to offer to the GNU project as a GNU package, see
<https://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html>.

As always, please feel free to write to us at <address@hidden>
with any GNUish questions or suggestions for future installments.

### 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:

  * January 31st, 2017, Detroit, MI, USA, ["Free Software - Essential for Your Freedom"](https://www.fsf.org/events/rms-20170131-detroit)
  * February 1st, 2017, Grand Rapids, MI, USA, ["Speaking about the goals and philosophy of the Free Software Movement, and the status and history of the GNU operating system"](https://www.fsf.org/events/rms-20170201-grandrapids)
  * February 2nd, 2017, Kalamazoo, MI, USA, ["Speech topic and start time to be determined"](https://www.fsf.org/events/rms-20170202-kalamazoo)
  * February 6th, 2017, Reykjavik, Iceland, ["Free Software: For Your Freedom and Privacy"](https://www.fsf.org/events/rms-20170206-reykjavik)
  * February 8th, 2017, Rennes, France, ["Thème, heure, et lieu précis du discours à déterminer"](https://www.fsf.org/events/rms-20170208-rennes)
  
### 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.

  * <https://www.gnu.org/thankgnus/2016supporters>

This month, a big Thank GNU to:

* Trevor Spiteri
* Aaron Grothe
* Matteo Frigo
* Adam Lewis
* Elyse Grasso
* Øyvind Gard Knudtzen 
* René Genz
* Paul Wang
* Rob Vens
* Antonio Carzaniga
* Vivek Ramachandran
* Aleph Objects, Inc.
* Norman Richards

You can add your name to this list by donating at
<https://donate.fsf.org/>.

### GNU copyright contributions

Assigning 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:

* Gemini Lasswell (Emacs)
* Aaron Qian Zhou (grep)
* Jose Luis Domenech Martinez (Emacs)
* David Amar (Emacs)
* Gergely Polonkai (Emacs)
* Hong Xu (Emacs)

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 FSF!

Contributions from thousands of individual members enable the FSF's
work. You can contribute by joining at <https://my.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://my.fsf.org/join>

The FSF is 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 campaigns section
(<https://www.fsf.org/campaigns>) and take action on software
patents, Digital Restrictions Management (DRM), free software
adoption, OpenDocument, Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA), and more.

###

Copyright © 2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit
<https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/>.