We need your help. Like many organizations right now, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) has suffered and we have reported financial losses for a number of years. We have had to make salary adjustments to match inflation and rising health expenses so that we can retain our small but extremely talented and committed group of staff.
Operational costs have also risen, like the [legal fees][1] for the work we do in [compliance][2], which have gone up several times. These expenses have made it almost impossible to do the kind of enforcement that truly challenges violators. Revenue has not kept up, because people all over the world are going through the same challenges as we are. The imbalance has cost us staff members already, and it continues to force us into making difficult decisions about, for example, our much loved office space.
We know not everyone is in a position to, **but if you can, can you support our efforts by joining the FSF as an [associate member][13]?** An associate membership is a great show of support we can rely on. With your help, we can respond to current events with legal counsel, we can hold companies to account and make sure they recognize the freedoms granted to the user by the GPL licenses. With your help, we can play an important role in shaping legislation for future technologies such as AI and provide recommendations to governments on public infrastructure. With your help, we can provide infrastructure, campaigning, *and* financial support for free software projects such as the GNU System. With your help, we can increase our focus and rebuild our strength. By supporting us today, [you help secure our future][14]. Every membership this spring will help us towards our goal of 200 new members by July 19, *and* you will receive an FSF thermal mug as a welcome gift. Associate members will also be able to enjoy all the [member benefits.][15]
I speak about what it means to be up against billions of proprietary software dollars in the article I wrote for this season's *Free Software Bulletin*. It aims to illustrate the size of the challenge ahead of us, even when we are not suffering financial hardships. The FSF has an important role to play for computer users globally for years to come, and we still have a lot of work to do. Here are some accomplishments from these last few months alone:
* FSF was selected to participate in the [National Institute of Standards and Technology][16] (NIST) Consortium on Artificial Intelligence Safety. The work will provide recommendations to the government following President Biden's executive order on "the safe, secure, and trustworthy development and use of artificial intelligence." Our campaigns team is making sure that the free software perspective is represented in discussions about the ethical use of (so-called) AI.
* We contributed to the current UK cloud services market investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on the supply of public "cloud" infrastructure services in the UK.
* We took on a new [fiscally sponsored][17] project: [EmacsConf][18] is a great collective that has been successfully hosting the EmacsConf conference for several years now, and which has taken a step forward by opening themselves up to donations.
* The FSF licensing team has celebrated several successes with its licensing stewardship. The [GNU licenses][19] can sometimes be used in such a way that they, intentionally or not, [confuse users][20]. Such confusion can make it feel unsafe to use the license, which is bad for user freedom, and for the license itself. Using the GNU GPL is supposed to send a strong message that the purpose of the license is to grant users their four essential software freedoms -- and we need to protect that message.
* We dealt with two subpoenas in these last months. One of which was a subpoena by Vizio, which required a [deposition][21] in the *SFC v Vizio* case. I personally spent many hours preparing for this deposition with legal counsel so that I could confidently defend the FSF's intention for the GNU licenses to promote the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change, and improve software — which requires that source code be shared with users. Preparation was vital because Vizio challenged our responses the full 10(!) hours this deposition lasted. The deposition was held May 1st, 2024, and is due to be used when the case goes to court in July of this year, where we might still be asked to testify.
There is much more work to do, and much more we want to take on. The challenge we face is also our greatest opportunity and strength. We are not, and will never be, beholden to corporate and outside interests. Instead, we rely and thrive on the thousands of individual free software supporters and champions around the world.
We currently have fantastic people in place in our licensing, campaigns, tech, and operations teams, who will make your contribution worthwhile. We continue to make a difference every day towards preventing a future where proprietary software companies have taken full control. We rely on your help to achieve this.
Yours in freedom,
Zoë Kooyman Executive Director
-- Interested in helping us expand our reach?
* Follow us on Mastodon at and PeerTube at , showing your support for federated social networks. * Get active on the LibrePlanet wiki: * Share on your blog or [social network](https://www.fsf.org/share) that you support us, and why you do so. * Subscribe to our RSS feeds: * Join us as an associate member: ; and display your membership button () on your website.
Read our Privacy Policy:
Sent from the Free Software Foundation,
51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor Boston, Massachusetts 02110-1335 United States
You can unsubscribe from this mailing list by visiting
Please consider adding info@fsf.org to your address book, which will ensure that our messages reach you and not your spam box!
Dear Ruben Safir,
We need your help. Like many organizations right now, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) has suffered and we have reported financial losses for a number of years. We have had to make salary adjustments to match inflation and rising health expenses so that we can retain our small but extremely talented and committed group of staff.
Operational costs have also risen, like the legal fees for the work we do in compliance, which have gone up several times. These expenses have made it almost impossible to do the kind of enforcement that truly challenges violators. Revenue has not kept up, because people all over the world are going through the same challenges as we are. The imbalance has cost us staff members already, and it continues to force us into making difficult decisions about, for example, our much loved office space.
We know not everyone is in a position to, but if you can, can you support our efforts by joining the FSF as an associate member? An associate membership is a great show of support we can rely on. With your help, we can respond to current events with legal counsel, we can hold companies to account and make sure they recognize the freedoms granted to the user by the GPL licenses. With your help, we can play an important role in shaping legislation for future technologies such as AI and provide recommendations to governments on public infrastructure. With your help, we can provide infrastructure, campaigning, and financial support for free software projects such as the GNU System. With your help, we can increase our focus and rebuild our strength. By supporting us today, you help secure our future. Every membership this spring will help us towards our goal of 200 new members by July 19, and you will receive an FSF thermal mug as a welcome gift. Associate members will also be able to enjoy all the member benefits.
I speak about what it means to be up against billions of proprietary software dollars in the article I wrote for this season's Free Software Bulletin. It aims to illustrate the size of the challenge ahead of us, even when we are not suffering financial hardships. The FSF has an important role to play for computer users globally for years to come, and we still have a lot of work to do. Here are some accomplishments from these last few months alone:
FSF was selected to participate in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Consortium on Artificial Intelligence Safety. The work will provide recommendations to the government following President Biden's executive order on "the safe, secure, and trustworthy development and use of artificial intelligence." Our campaigns team is making sure that the free software perspective is represented in discussions about the ethical use of (so-called) AI.
We contributed to the current UK cloud services market investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on the supply of public "cloud" infrastructure services in the UK.
We took on a new fiscally sponsored project: EmacsConf is a great collective that has been successfully hosting the EmacsConf conference for several years now, and which has taken a step forward by opening themselves up to donations.
The FSF licensing team has celebrated several successes with its licensing stewardship. The GNU licenses can sometimes be used in such a way that they, intentionally or not, confuse users. Such confusion can make it feel unsafe to use the license, which is bad for user freedom, and for the license itself. Using the GNU GPL is supposed to send a strong message that the purpose of the license is to grant users their four essential software freedoms -- and we need to protect that message.
We dealt with two subpoenas in these last months. One of which was a subpoena by Vizio, which required a deposition in the SFC v Vizio case. I personally spent many hours preparing for this deposition with legal counsel so that I could confidently defend the FSF's intention for the GNU licenses to promote the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change, and improve software — which requires that source code be shared with users. Preparation was vital because Vizio challenged our responses the full 10(!) hours this deposition lasted. The deposition was held May 1st, 2024, and is due to be used when the case goes to court in July of this year, where we might still be asked to testify.
There is much more work to do, and much more we want to take on. The challenge we face is also our greatest opportunity and strength. We are not, and will never be, beholden to corporate and outside interests. Instead, we rely and thrive on the thousands of individual free software supporters and champions around the world.
We currently have fantastic people in place in our licensing, campaigns, tech, and operations teams, who will make your contribution worthwhile. We continue to make a difference every day towards preventing a future where proprietary software companies have taken full control. We rely on your help to achieve this.
We need your help. Like many organizations right now, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) has suffered and we have reported financial losses for a number of years. We have had to make salary adjustments to match inflation and rising health expenses so that we can retain our small but extremely talented and committed group of staff.
Operational costs have also risen, like the [legal fees][1] for the work we do in [compliance][2], which have gone up several times. These expenses have made it almost impossible to do the kind of enforcement that truly challenges violators. Revenue has not kept up, because people all over the world are going through the same challenges as we are. The imbalance has cost us staff members already, and it continues to force us into making difficult decisions about, for example, our much loved office space.
We know not everyone is in a position to, **but if you can, can you support our efforts by joining the FSF as an [associate member][13]?** An associate membership is a great show of support we can rely on. With your help, we can respond to current events with legal counsel, we can hold companies to account and make sure they recognize the freedoms granted to the user by the GPL licenses. With your help, we can play an important role in shaping legislation for future technologies such as AI and provide recommendations to governments on public infrastructure. With your help, we can provide infrastructure, campaigning, *and* financial support for free software projects such as the GNU System. With your help, we can increase our focus and rebuild our strength. By supporting us today, [you help secure our future][14]. Every membership this spring will help us towards our goal of 200 new members by July 19, *and* you will receive an FSF thermal mug as a welcome gift. Associate members will also be able to enjoy all the [member benefits.][15]
I speak about what it means to be up against billions of proprietary software dollars in the article I wrote for this season's *Free Software Bulletin*. It aims to illustrate the size of the challenge ahead of us, even when we are not suffering financial hardships. The FSF has an important role to play for computer users globally for years to come, and we still have a lot of work to do. Here are some accomplishments from these last few months alone:
* FSF was selected to participate in the [National Institute of Standards and Technology][16] (NIST) Consortium on Artificial Intelligence Safety. The work will provide recommendations to the government following President Biden's executive order on "the safe, secure, and trustworthy development and use of artificial intelligence." Our campaigns team is making sure that the free software perspective is represented in discussions about the ethical use of (so-called) AI.
* We contributed to the current UK cloud services market investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on the supply of public "cloud" infrastructure services in the UK.
* We took on a new [fiscally sponsored][17] project: [EmacsConf][18] is a great collective that has been successfully hosting the EmacsConf conference for several years now, and which has taken a step forward by opening themselves up to donations.
* The FSF licensing team has celebrated several successes with its licensing stewardship. The [GNU licenses][19] can sometimes be used in such a way that they, intentionally or not, [confuse users][20]. Such confusion can make it feel unsafe to use the license, which is bad for user freedom, and for the license itself. Using the GNU GPL is supposed to send a strong message that the purpose of the license is to grant users their four essential software freedoms -- and we need to protect that message.
* We dealt with two subpoenas in these last months. One of which was a subpoena by Vizio, which required a [deposition][21] in the *SFC v Vizio* case. I personally spent many hours preparing for this deposition with legal counsel so that I could confidently defend the FSF's intention for the GNU licenses to promote the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change, and improve software — which requires that source code be shared with users. Preparation was vital because Vizio challenged our responses the full 10(!) hours this deposition lasted. The deposition was held May 1st, 2024, and is due to be used when the case goes to court in July of this year, where we might still be asked to testify.
There is much more work to do, and much more we want to take on. The challenge we face is also our greatest opportunity and strength. We are not, and will never be, beholden to corporate and outside interests. Instead, we rely and thrive on the thousands of individual free software supporters and champions around the world.
We currently have fantastic people in place in our licensing, campaigns, tech, and operations teams, who will make your contribution worthwhile. We continue to make a difference every day towards preventing a future where proprietary software companies have taken full control. We rely on your help to achieve this.
Yours in freedom,
Zoë Kooyman Executive Director
-- Interested in helping us expand our reach?
* Follow us on Mastodon at and PeerTube at , showing your support for federated social networks. * Get active on the LibrePlanet wiki: * Share on your blog or [social network](https://www.fsf.org/share) that you support us, and why you do so. * Subscribe to our RSS feeds: * Join us as an associate member: ; and display your membership button () on your website.
Read our Privacy Policy:
Sent from the Free Software Foundation,
51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor Boston, Massachusetts 02110-1335 United States
You can unsubscribe from this mailing list by visiting
Please consider adding info@fsf.org to your address book, which will ensure that our messages reach you and not your spam box!
Dear Ruben Safir,
We need your help. Like many organizations right now, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) has suffered and we have reported financial losses for a number of years. We have had to make salary adjustments to match inflation and rising health expenses so that we can retain our small but extremely talented and committed group of staff.
Operational costs have also risen, like the legal fees for the work we do in compliance, which have gone up several times. These expenses have made it almost impossible to do the kind of enforcement that truly challenges violators. Revenue has not kept up, because people all over the world are going through the same challenges as we are. The imbalance has cost us staff members already, and it continues to force us into making difficult decisions about, for example, our much loved office space.
We know not everyone is in a position to, but if you can, can you support our efforts by joining the FSF as an associate member? An associate membership is a great show of support we can rely on. With your help, we can respond to current events with legal counsel, we can hold companies to account and make sure they recognize the freedoms granted to the user by the GPL licenses. With your help, we can play an important role in shaping legislation for future technologies such as AI and provide recommendations to governments on public infrastructure. With your help, we can provide infrastructure, campaigning, and financial support for free software projects such as the GNU System. With your help, we can increase our focus and rebuild our strength. By supporting us today, you help secure our future. Every membership this spring will help us towards our goal of 200 new members by July 19, and you will receive an FSF thermal mug as a welcome gift. Associate members will also be able to enjoy all the member benefits.
I speak about what it means to be up against billions of proprietary software dollars in the article I wrote for this season's Free Software Bulletin. It aims to illustrate the size of the challenge ahead of us, even when we are not suffering financial hardships. The FSF has an important role to play for computer users globally for years to come, and we still have a lot of work to do. Here are some accomplishments from these last few months alone:
FSF was selected to participate in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Consortium on Artificial Intelligence Safety. The work will provide recommendations to the government following President Biden's executive order on "the safe, secure, and trustworthy development and use of artificial intelligence." Our campaigns team is making sure that the free software perspective is represented in discussions about the ethical use of (so-called) AI.
We contributed to the current UK cloud services market investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on the supply of public "cloud" infrastructure services in the UK.
We took on a new fiscally sponsored project: EmacsConf is a great collective that has been successfully hosting the EmacsConf conference for several years now, and which has taken a step forward by opening themselves up to donations.
The FSF licensing team has celebrated several successes with its licensing stewardship. The GNU licenses can sometimes be used in such a way that they, intentionally or not, confuse users. Such confusion can make it feel unsafe to use the license, which is bad for user freedom, and for the license itself. Using the GNU GPL is supposed to send a strong message that the purpose of the license is to grant users their four essential software freedoms -- and we need to protect that message.
We dealt with two subpoenas in these last months. One of which was a subpoena by Vizio, which required a deposition in the SFC v Vizio case. I personally spent many hours preparing for this deposition with legal counsel so that I could confidently defend the FSF's intention for the GNU licenses to promote the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change, and improve software — which requires that source code be shared with users. Preparation was vital because Vizio challenged our responses the full 10(!) hours this deposition lasted. The deposition was held May 1st, 2024, and is due to be used when the case goes to court in July of this year, where we might still be asked to testify.
There is much more work to do, and much more we want to take on. The challenge we face is also our greatest opportunity and strength. We are not, and will never be, beholden to corporate and outside interests. Instead, we rely and thrive on the thousands of individual free software supporters and champions around the world.
We currently have fantastic people in place in our licensing, campaigns, tech, and operations teams, who will make your contribution worthwhile. We continue to make a difference every day towards preventing a future where proprietary software companies have taken full control. We rely on your help to achieve this.
