{% include "opengraph_partial.html" with url="/sustainer/" title="Support Conservancy!" description="Software freedom is critical to many of today’s most pressing social issues, but it’s only effective when FOSS is for everyone. Support Conservancy today to help make that happen!" %}
<p>We are so proud that we're funded by individuals and stay unbeholden to corporate interests and pressures. We stand up for developers, consumers and those who have been historically excluded. We work to make technology truly fair for all. </p>
<li>Standing up for consumer rights in <ahref="/copyleft-compliance/">copyleft compliance</a></li>
<li>Supporting <ahref="https://outreachy.org">Outreachy</a> with its increasing number of interns</li>
<li>Bringing <ahref="/vizio">legal action against prolific license violators</a></li>
<li>Hiring team members to get projects <ahref="https://reproducible-builds.org/news/">like Reproducible Builds</a> to continue pushing the forefront of software reproducibility</li>
and support our incredible <ahref="https://sfconservancy.org/members/current/">member projects</a>.
Our staff engaged in many invited speaking opportunities, we grew our staff,
and we continue to build community around important issues like the software
Right to Repair movement. We hosted our first large conference, <ahref="https://fossy.us">FOSSY</a>,
and while we finalize details for next year, we hope to see you there to join
us in community!</p>
<p>We are entering the third year of our <ahref="https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/vizio.html">lawsuit against Vizio</a>.
There is still a lot of work that needs to be done to ensure that all recipients
of GPL'd software maintain rights as <ahref="https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/glossary.html#third-party-beneficiary">third-parth beneficiaries</a>,
but after a <ahref="https://sfconservancy.org/news/2023/oct/12/transcript-msj-hearing/">recent argument in the case</a>,
but we are still moving in the right direction. With the rise of the <a
don't permit us to disclose at the moment) and our <ahref="https://sfconservancy.org/news/2022/may/02/conservancy-launches-copyright-assignment-system/">self-service
copyright assignment form</a> enables FOSS contributors to, without overly
important issues this year. From <ahref="https://sfconservancy.org/news/2023/feb/09/kuhn-neo4j-purethink-expert-report/">our perspective on the Neo4j suit</a>
to <ahref="https://sfconservancy.org/news/2023/aug/15/exit-zoom/">highlighting problematic behavior from proprietary software companies</a>, you can find out more about our speaking engagements
<ahref="https://sfconservancy.org/videos/sfc-introduction_1080p.mp4"><imgsrc="https://sfconservancy.org/videos/sfc-introduction-video_poster.jpg"alt="Thumbnail of video showing a tree and Software Freedom"/></a>
Research</a> completed it's fifth year, supporting 32 students in 3 cities this
summer. Now providing training, education and real world software experience to
high school students in 3 cities and exploring additional cities that may join
next summer. These research internships are a great way for high school
students to get involved in real academic research while also being exposed to
the ideas and principles of software freedom.</p>
<p><ahref="https://inkscape.org">Inkscape</a> just celebrated their 20th
anniversary! Coinciding with their new <ahref="https://inkscape.org/news/2023/11/18/big-small-release-inkscape-131-is-out/">1.3.1 release</a>, Inkscape is as active as ever and proving itself one
of the most vital free software projects, full of longevity and an ever
growing community. This year has been a big year of development, marking some
very exciting developments for the project. Creation of a new <ahref="https://inkscape.org/*membership/blog/october-bug-accelerator-2023/">bug accelerator program</a>, a migration to <ahref="https://inkscape.org/*membership/blog/august-gtk4-migration-tavmjong/">GTK4</a>, another year of <ahref="https://inkscape.org/*membership/blog/customizable-canvas-controls/">GSOC participation</a> and new support for <ahref="https://inkscape.org/*membership/blog/may-ai-extension-2023/">Adobe Illustrator import</a>!</p>
<p>Our member projects had a range of in person and online events this year.
<b>Inkscape</b> hosted an in-person meeting in Bensberg, Germany. A great meeting
for the PLC and contributors to get together to plan and work on technical
challenges. The first back in-person <b>Selenium</b><a
href="https://seleniumconf.com/">conference</a> was in Chicago this past
may</a>. Attendence from over 10 countries, it was an incredible reunion for
the project contributors and users to get together. The <b>Git</b>
contributor summit was held online this year in September. Topics ranged from
ideas of new library support to how to better support for scaling with large
code forges and what the new contributor experience is like. A great mix of
code related and process related talks. The <ahref="https://reproducible-builds.org/">Reproducible Builds</a>
annual summit was hosted in Hamburg featuring incredible
technical talks, project planning and continues to build the momentum and
Our Executive Director Karen Sandler received an honorary doctorate from
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven for her incredible work in FOSS leadership, and
her advocacy and pursuit of software freedom and rights for all.
In November she spoke at <ahref="https://www.sfscon.it/talks/the-history-of-and-path-forward-for-copyleft-and-the-gpl/">SFSCON about "The History of, and Path forward for, Copyleft and the GPL"</a>.</p>
<ahref="/videos/2023-02-02_Sandler-Karen_KU-Leuven_Honorary-Doctorate.mp4">Download the talk video</a>
or <ahref="https://youtu.be/zca7dOU7jfs">watch on YouTube</a>
</video>
<p>Policy Fellow Bradley M. Kuhn gave many conference talks and also represented SFC at many
government hearings and inquiries. Beginning the year at <ahref="https://archive.fosdem.org/2023/schedule/speaker/bradley_m_kuhn/">FOSDEM</a>,
Bradley (and Karen) led the Legal and Policy DevRoom. He then spoke at SCaLE
20x giving a talk titled <ahref="https://www.socallinuxexpo.org/scale/20x/presentations/learning-big-failures-improve-foss-advocacy-and-adoption">Learning From the Big Failures To Improve FOSS Advocacy and Adoption</a>.
As a panel member, he was the only representative for the FOSS community on
the FTC's discussion <ahref="https://sfconservancy.org/news/2023/oct/04/ftc-ai-panel/">“Creative Economy and Generative AI“</a></p>
<p>Our Director of Compliance, Denver Gingerich, spoke at SFSCON talking about what it's really like to <ahref="https://www.sfscon.it/talks/how-do-you-really-do-gpl-enforcement/">enforce the GPL</a>. His talk at FOSSY titled <ahref="https://2023.fossy.us/schedule/presentation/84/">You don't carry a phone?! Improving societal acceptance of abnormal people</a>
was one of the most talked about from our own conference.
Pono represented SFC at <ahref="https://www.socallinuxexpo.org/scale/19x">SCaLE
19x</a> and <ahref="https://seagl.org">SeaGL</a>, which was great to be back
at community centered conferences.
SFC staffers also participate in key meetings to represent community interests
in a variety of FOSS related discussions concerning security, governmental use
of FOSS and in critical infrastructure discussions and also presented in
classroom to educate students about software freedom.</p>
<imgsrc="/img/scaled-LLW-2015-Conservancy-Supporters-by-Carlo-Piana-CC-0.jpg"alt="Zack, Karen, John and Jim pose, mostly wearing the vintage t-shirt!"/>
<p>Sustainers pose with Karen! <br/>From left: Stefano “Zack” Zacchiroli, Karen M. Sandler, John Sullivan, and Jim Wright</p>
