Please consider adding info@fsf.org to your address book, which
will ensure that our messages reach you and not your spam box.

Read and share online: https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/libreplanet-2021-join-us-online-on-march-20-21-with-keynote-julia-reda

Dear Ruben Safir,

Mark your calendars: LibrePlanet 2021: Empowering Users will
be held on March 20 and 21, 2021. For those of you who haven't
been to the LibrePlanet conference before: expect a friendly,
social, community-focused event with two days of inspiring talks
and workshops from some of the most active and inspiring people
in the free software community.

We announced today that Julia Reda, former European
Parliament member who is well known for her work on copyright
reform and net neutrality, and will discuss the need for public
funding for free software projects from different governments
around the world.

As Reda explained in today's announcement, "The recent
decision by Trump to defund the Open Technology Fund has
highlighted the dangers of a public funding landscape for public
interest technology that relies too heavily on a single
government, whose priorities could change rapidly at any time."
Reda believes funding should be decentralized to avoid single
points of failure, and is currently working on establishing a
European or German framework for free (as in freedom) technology
funding.

Motivated by stalwarts around the world defending their rights
and collaborating to battle the novel coronavirus, the theme for
2021 is Empowering Users. Stories have reached us from the
collaborative coordination of personal protection globally,
as well as community members who took matters into their own
hands when it came to protecting themselves or their children
from being subjected to proprietary software in remote
education. This was profoundly inspiring, and we hope to see
more of these stories at the event. Reda added, "In a time when
most of our social interactions, our work, and our policy debates
take place online, the free software community is more important
than ever to ensure individual autonomy and empowerment."

Participate in LibrePlanet 2021

Submit a session

Just like in 2020, LibrePlanet 2021: Empowering Users will be
an online event. We're preparing to translate the enjoyment of
real life interaction and catching up with everyone in the
community in person to an online event in which we can create a
space for people to enjoy talks, interact with other community
members, exchange ideas, and get to know organizations through an
exhibitor space. In the meantime, if you want to be a speaker
at LibrePlanet 2021, you now just have a few more days to
submit a session. Submissions will close right after this
weekend, Monday at 12:00 EST (17:00 UTC).

Register for the event

Registration for the event will open soon for all attendees. Like
for the previous edition, anyone will be able to watch the event
online through libreplanet.org/2021. However, if you
register for the conference, you will be able to enjoy an added
level of participation in the event and with the free software
community. For anyone who can spare a bit more, we have a special
LibrePlanet 2021 gift waiting as well. Want to receive all the
details? Subscribe to the LibrePlanet announcement list via
libreplanet.org/2021

Volunteer

Volunteers are essential to help make the event a success, and
this doesn't change for an online event. We can't do this without
you. Tasks include moderation of IRC chat channels, coordination
of program elements, writing, or just bringing us great ideas to
make the event even better. If you are interested, please contact
resources@fsf.org.

Get excited

If you want to know more about how the event is organized, and how we stream and record the event, fully free and
online, you can read more in our blog post about the 2020
edition's technical challenges. You can also browse through
the video archive of past LibrePlanet conference sessions on
our MediaGoblin instance to get inspired.

Support LibrePlanet by becoming an exhibitor or sponsor

LibrePlanet is organized by the FSF, a 501(c)(3) charity. Your
contribution will allow us to create a truly valuable event for
many people all over the globe by by funding the equipment and
staff time necessary to produce, stream, and document the event
using only free software.

We also offer unique opportunities for businesses and other
organizations to connect to a community that is dedicated to free
software. Early bird pricing for exhibitors starts now, and will
be available until February 15th, 2021. For information on how
your company can be represented in our virtual exhibit hall, or
to further sponsor the LibrePlanet conference, please email
campaigns@fsf.org.

We can't wait to welcome you at the event!

Kind regards,

Zoë Kooyman

Program Manager

Photo https://juliareda.eu/. Public domain.