From e908683c61082e2af8cf247b27aee01d77c38a30 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Daniel Pono Takamori Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2024 13:22:29 -0500 Subject: [PATCH] 2024 year in review --- .../supporters/sustainers_stripe.html | 244 +++++------------- 1 file changed, 65 insertions(+), 179 deletions(-) diff --git a/conservancy/supporters/templates/supporters/sustainers_stripe.html b/conservancy/supporters/templates/supporters/sustainers_stripe.html index 26f4e75c..d9d6f983 100644 --- a/conservancy/supporters/templates/supporters/sustainers_stripe.html +++ b/conservancy/supporters/templates/supporters/sustainers_stripe.html @@ -171,219 +171,105 @@ (watch on Youtube) -

The wide range of work we engage in is supported by people like you.

+Year In Review 2024 -

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.

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Thank you for helping making this work possible:

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The wide range of work we engage in is supported by people like you.

+ +

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.

+ +

Thank you for helping making this work possible:

+ + -

Help us Continue this Work

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We are beyond thankful for the ability to continue our work — which - only continues due to your financial contributions. We - recognize that not everyone has the same financial leeway to donate as they - have in the past. But please consider giving what you can so that our - organization can continue to advocate and support the rights of all - software users. We work hard and efficiently, and accomplish so much with - our small staff. We hope — through our hard work, creativity, and - passionate dedication — that we've demonstrated over the years how - Software Freedom Conservancy continues to be the beacon of change for - software freedom that the world needs. Please consider - donating now!

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2023 in Review

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We are beyond thankful for the ability to continue our work — which only continues due to your financial contributions. We recognize that not everyone has the same financial leeway to donate as they have in the past. But please consider giving what you can so that our organization can continue to advocate and support the rights of all software users. We work hard and efficiently, and accomplish so much with our small staff. We hope — through our hard work, creativity, and passionate dedication — that we've demonstrated over the years how Software Freedom Conservancy continues to be the beacon of change for software freedom that the world needs. Please consider donating now!

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2024 in Review

- Overview -

This has been a big year for Software Freedom Conservancy in our tireless -efforts to promote ethical technology, increase diversity and inclusion in -FOSS, continuing to fight for your rights with copyleft compliance, -and support our incredible member projects. -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, FOSSY, -and while we finalize details for next year, we hope to see you there to join -us in community!

+ Overview -
SFC lawyers posing outside at the courthouse“ -

SFC lawyers after recent Vizio case- CC BY-SA 4.0

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Our lawsuit against Vizio— the first -lawsuit of its kind to seek third party beneficiary rights to the -complete, corresponding source code under the GPL is progressing! -World-changing, public policy litigation requires resources and time, but -it's worth every penny so we can build a future where every consumer has -access to the source code they need to modify and repair their devices. At a -recent hearing in the case, -we presented -our opposition to Vizio's Summary Judgement Motion, -our lawyers -presented the eloquent case -that recipients of software under the GPL Agreements can enforce their -rights to the corresponding source code themselves, and that right should not -be preempted by copyright law. We are the only organization currently taking -legal action to protect the GPL Agreements in the USA; your support is -critical for us to continue these kinds of efforts.

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2024 has been a jam packed year at Software Freedom Conservancy; from the new copyleft compliance efforts, continued community building at Outreachy and new venues of outreach and advocacy in the software right to repair world. There is growing interest in why software freedom is important for us all, and as we learn from and work with all of you about how to affect the change needed, we strive for making the world a more technologically inclusive and human centered place.

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We have also once again -filed key DMCA exemptions for the following categories:

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Outreachy accepted 58 interns in the December 2023 cohort, and 35 interns in the May 2024 cohort with over 30 Free and Open Source software communities. Bringing in new communities in the Open Science and Humanitarian spheres, Outreachy continues to lead the way in providing opportunities to people subject to systemic bias and impacted by underrepresentation in technology. Last year celebrated our 1000th intern (!!!), and we've continued to provide these critical opportunities to people who need them most.

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Since last year at this time, we spent over $1.4 million that we raised, administered and/or facilitated to improve software freedom directly! This includes contractors, interns and students, administrators, and grants for creation, distribution and maintenance of free software projects. Part of the unique position of our organization is the expertise necessary to do this kind of work.

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These allow people access (that should be granted in the first place!) to -investigate their own devices for issues of license compliance, security, -and replacing the firmware on their TVs and routers. It's a key ability to -vet and replace software on devices we own and operate, so renewing this -exemption each time it comes up is very important for us all. The medical -device exemption was submitted by our Executive Director Karen Sandler in -partnership with others who are personally affected by proprietary medical -technology.

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As software based technology becomes more pervasive in our lives, it's vital -that we communicate the importance of software freedom to the wider population. -In that vein we've created a video -(narrated by our Executive Director Karen Sandler) that introduces -the ideas of software freedom, and specifically what Software Freedom -Conservancy does. We also did a lot of public writings about some of the -important issues this year. From our perspective on the Neo4j suit -to highlighting problematic behavior from proprietary software companies and calling for folks to Exit Zoom. We'd also like to -remind you that as a Sustainer, we will provide you with your own BigBlueButton account so that you can host your own video calls on a FOSS platform. Once -you have donated to us, you can fill our the new account signup and your -account will be approved.

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Among our many avenues for making change, SFC works with our projects to host conferences, release hardware (which will be generally available by the end of the year) and continue providing important hosting and infrastructure services to the free software world. Our member projects provide ways to assert our freedom over our technology and pursue important work in expanding the ways that we make free software available for everyone. Through liberating firmware, educational software, creating freedom respecting content hosting software, and leading development in supply chain security.

- Thumbnail of video showing a tree and Software Freedom -
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-New Staff! -

SFC hired two additional employees this year! General Counsel Rick Sanders -joins the team to help with our continued legal needs. Rick has over 20 years -experience as a intellectual-property litigator. His expertise has been -critical in helping our license compliance efforts and helping our organization -take on the increasing needs from projects and new initiatives. SFC's new -systems administrator is Paul Visscher. With over 20 years experience with -Linux and free software, Paul's belief in the power of free software to help -people engage with technology in non-exploitative ways fits in perfectly to -support our growing organizational needs and mission. Helping make sure we -can provide solid FOSS replacements to proprietary technologies for all of us.

+ Picture of AV team with panel sitting on stage at FOSSY

OSUOSL alumni panel with director Lance Albertson

CC BY-SA 4.0 Samhir Vasdev

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This year we hosted the second annual FOSSY in Portland, Oregon. Over 15 tracks and speakers from over 10 countries, our event continues to grow and expand. Help us build the next big North American free software event by submitting track ideas or joining our XMPP room. Next year we'll be having it again July 31st - August 3rd, so mark your calendars!

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All year long, we've worked tirelessly on our monumental and ground-breaking software Right to Repair litigation, which will establish a third-party right to enforce copyleft licenses (such as the GPL and LGPL). Throughout our fundraiser this year, we'll release various interesting items from this litigation against Vizio — so those of you who are litigation geeks will have lots of interesting reading this season!

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In this years DMCA triennial we once again won exemptions for all four of the categories that we applied for! Thanks to our Director of Compliance, Denver Gingerich for participating and providing expert testimony to the Library of Congress in the hearing.

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These allow people access (that should be granted in the first place!) to investigate their own devices for issues of license compliance, security,and replacing the firmware on their TVs and routers. It's a key ability to vet and replace software on devices we own and operate, so renewing this exemption each time it comes up is very important for us all. The medical device exemption was submitted by our Executive Director Karen Sandler in partnership with others who are personally affected by proprietary medical technology.

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+Thumbnail of video showing a tree and Software Freedom
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As software based technology becomes more pervasive in our lives, it's vital that we communicate the importance of software freedom to the wider population. We have a video(narrated by our Executive Director Karen Sandler) that introduces the ideas of software freedom, and specifically what Software Freedom Conservancy does. Continuing to advocate against corporate controlled software, we'd also like to remind you that as a Sustainer, we will provide you with your own BigBlueButton account so that you can host your own video calls on a FOSS platform. Once you have donated to us, you can fill our the new account signup and your account will be approved.

- Writing and Speaking -

Our staff has been presenting and speaking about software freedom all year. -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 SFSCON about "The History of, and Path forward for, Copyleft and the GPL".

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Download Karen's talk - or watch on YouTube

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+ Writing and Speaking -

Policy Fellow Bradley M. Kuhn gave many conference talks and also represented SFC at many -government hearings and inquiries. Beginning the year at FOSDEM, -Bradley (and Karen) led the Legal and Policy DevRoom. He then spoke at SCaLE -20x giving a talk titled Learning From the Big Failures To Improve FOSS Advocacy and Adoption. -As the host of a keynote discussion at FOSSY, Bradley facilitated a - -community discussion about the RHEL policy change. -As a panel member, he was the only representative for the FOSS community on -the FTC's discussion “Creative Economy and Generative AI“

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Our Director of Compliance, Denver Gingerich, spoke at SFSCON talking about what it's really like to enforce the GPL. His talk at FOSSY titled You don't carry a phone?! Improving societal acceptance of abnormal people -was one of the most talked about from our own conference. -Pono represented SFC at SCaLE -19x and SeaGL, 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.

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This year our staff attended and spoke at many conferences, including keynoting FOSDEM!, speaking to both current issues by hosting a panel discussion at FOSDEM and speaking about the 25 year history of copyleft compliance. You probably also saw us at OSSEU, SCaLE, LLW and many more. Our Executive Director Karen Sandler spoke at NAVA Open Source Summit: Advancing IT Solutions in Federal Health and Beyond, Apereo microconf, participating in the UN OSPOs for Good event being a content partner at What's Next 4 OSS, as well as other diversity and public health events. As we move into a new era of computing, we also want to make sure that our values are present in discussions of emerging technologies, that's why we released our aspirational statement on generative AI. SFC's advocacy for software freedom and digital rights is widening and spreading to more regional policy; our Director of Compliance recently spoke at CanRepair, the Canadian Repair Convention. Coalition building and community hosting is something we take so much pride in, and by hosting FOSSY our own community focused conference. Hosting tracks, keynotes and giving talks, our staff was so excited to be back in Portland to celebrate software freedom with our attendees. We want to hear from you about what kind of tracks, talks and events you'd like to participate in. As we continue to ramp back into more face to face events, we're so excited for safe and inclusive events; you just can't beat being in community!

- Highlights From Our Member Projects -

We've raised, administered and/or facilitated $1.8 million to improve -software freedom directly! This includes contractors, interns and students, -administrators, and grants for creation, distribution and maintenance of free -software projects. Part of the unique position of our organization is the -expertise necessary to do this kind of work.

+ + Highlights From Our Member Projects + + +

As a fiscal host, our member projects are all our children and it's hard to pick a favorite :) Here are some highlights from the incredible member projects (members as we consider our relationship collaborative). Ranging from education software, to content management systems, copyright aggregation, free firmware and open compatibility software, SFC is home to an amazing gamut of incredibly important infrastructural and user facing free software projects.

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The Institute for Computing in Research completed it's sixth year, 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 and unique way for high school students to get involved in real academic research while also being exposed to the ideas and principles of software freedom.

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Group Picture: Outreachy interns, mentors, and community coordinators gathered to celebrate the 1,000 interns milestone in Lagos, Nigeria.

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You can view a video of the celebration here.

+Picture of OpenWrt One PCB showing Software Freedom Conservancy logo and offer for source

Picture of OpenWrt One PCB showing Software Freedom Conservancy logo and offer for source CC-BY-SA 4.0 Denver Gingerich

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Outreachy accepted 63 interns in the December 2022 cohort, and 64 -interns in the May 2023 cohort with over 30 Free and Open Source software -communities. Bringing in new communities in the Open Science and Humanitarian -spheres, Outreachy continues to lead the way in providing opportunities to -people subject to systemic bias and impacted by underrepresentation in -technology. Celebrating our 1000th intern (!!!), there were celebrations -featuring alumni and current interns all over the world.

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OpenWrt had both a major release and with support from SFC, launched their first official hardware project called the OpenWrt One (which will be generally available by the end of the year)! Being both reference hardware for the project as well as a shining example of providing making the Complete Corresponding Source available. We're so excited for the OpenWrt team for making this happen and increasing the amount of open source first products in the world.

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OpenWrt released version 23.05.0 -which continued adding hardware support for myriad devices, now supporting over -1790 devices, over 200 of which were added since last year! There is also now -support for various Rust packages, and major improvements to the core -components. OpenWrt remains one of the most important alternative firmware -projects, ensuring user rights in the ability to install (free) software on -your own devices.

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qemu hosted KVM Forum in Brno this year. Featuring talks from over 50 speakers which you can view on the conference website. qemu remains a hallmark project that is the industry standard for emulation and virtualization, on which so much of our technology relies.

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git participated in GSoC with three students and hosted their Git Merge conference in Berlin this fall. Coming up on their 20th year, the project stands as a standard for free software development and just as importantly, using free software to develop itself.

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The Institute for Computing in -Research 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.

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Inkscape had their huge 1.4 release! A landmark project that celebrated their 21st year in 2024. Inkscape is looking toward a bright future with plenty of community support and a growing user base.

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Inkscape just celebrated their 20th -anniversary! Coinciding with their new 1.3.1 release, 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 bug accelerator program, a migration to GTK4, another year of GSOC participation and new support for Adobe Illustrator import!

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Our member projects had a range of in person and online events this year. -Inkscape 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 Selenium conference was in Chicago this past -may. Attendance from over 10 countries, it was an incredible reunion for -the project contributors and users to get together. The Git -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 Reproducible Builds -annual summit was hosted in Hamburg featuring incredible -technical talks, project planning and continues to build the momentum and -reach for reproducibility.

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Reproducible Builds continued their incredible work with The Sovereign Tech Fund to lead by example the practicality and importance of supply chain security. Giving talks in over 5 countries, influencing academic papers, and hosting their annual summit, it's been an incredibly busy year for the team!

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