Ben Sturmfels
531a97a3c9
The directory nesting is unnecessary here and confusing to navigate. I've moved all apps to the project subdirectory, currently called "www", but soon to be renamed "conservancy". I've also moved manage.py to the top-level directory.
126 lines
7.1 KiB
HTML
126 lines
7.1 KiB
HTML
{% extends "base_compliance.html" %}
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{% block subtitle %}Copyleft Compliance Projects - {% endblock %}
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{% block submenuselection %}CopyleftCompliance{% endblock %}
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{% block content %}
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<h1 id="ourwork">Conservancy's Copyleft Compliance Projects</h1>
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<p>As existing donors and sustainers know, the Software Freedom Conservancy
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is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity registered in New York, and Conservancy
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helps people take control of their computing by growing the software
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freedom movement, supporting community-driven alternatives to proprietary
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software, and defending free software with practical initiatives.
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Conservancy accomplishes these goals with various initiatives, including
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defending and upholding the rights of software users and consumers under
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copyleft licenses, such as the GPL.</p>
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<p>Free and open source software (FOSS) is everywhere and in everything; yet
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our software freedom is constantly eroded. With the help of its
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volunteers, <a href="/members/current/">member projects</a>,
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and <a href="/about/staff/">staff</a>, Conservancy stands up for users'
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software freedom via its copyleft compliance work.</p>
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<p>Conservancy's primary work in copyleft compliance currently focuses on
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our <a href="/copyleft-compliance/enforcement-strategy.html">Strategic GPL
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Enforcement Initiative</a>. This initiative, <a href="/news/2020/oct/01/new-copyleft-strategy-launched-with-ARDC-grant/">launched in October 2020</a>,
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represents the culmination of nearly 15 years of compliance work of
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Conservancy spanning ten different fiscally sponsored projects, past lawsuits
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against more than a dozen defendants, and hundreds of non-litigation
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compliance actions.</p>
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<p>For these many years, Conservancy has always given the benefit of the
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doubt to companies who exploited our good nature and ultimately simply
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ignore the rights of users and consumers. In that time, the compliance
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industrial complex has risen to a multi-million-dollar industry —
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selling (mostly proprietary) products, services, and consulting to
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companies. Yet, these compliance efforts ignore consistently the most
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essential promise of copyleft — the complete, Corresponding Source
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and “the scripts used to control compilation and installation of the
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executable”.</p>
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<p>We encourage our sustainers and software freedom enthusiasts everywhere to
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<a href="/copyleft-compliance/enforcement-strategy.html">read our detailed
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strategic plan for GPL enforcement</a> and its companion
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project, <a href="/copyleft-compliance/firmware-liberation.html">our
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Firmware Liberation Project</a>.</p>
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<h2 id="projects">Compliance Relationship to Fiscally Sponsored Projects</h2>
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<p>Historically, Conservancy was well-known for its ongoing license
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compliance efforts on behalf of its BusyBox member project. Today,
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Conservancy does semi-regular compliance work for its BusyBox, Git, Inkscape,
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Mercurial, Samba, QEMU and Wine member projects. If you are a copyright
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holder in any member project of Conservancy, please contact the project's
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leadership committtee,
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via <a href="mailto:PROJECTNAME@sfconservancy.org"><PROJECTNAME@sfconservancy.org></a>
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for more information on getting involved in compliance efforts in that
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project.
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</p>
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<h2 id="linux">GPL Compliance Project For Linux Developers</h2>
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<p>In May
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2012, <a href="/news/2012/may/29/compliance/">Conservancy
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launched</a> the <cite>GPL
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Compliance Project for Linux Developers</cite>, which handles compliance and
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enforcement activities on behalf of more than a dozen Linux copyright
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holders.</p>
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<p>The GPL Compliance Project for Linux Developers is comprised of copyright
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holders in the kernel, Linux, who have contributed to Linux under its
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license, <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html">the
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GPLv2</a>. These copyright holders have formally asked Conservancy to engage
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in compliance efforts for their copyrights in the Linux kernel. In addition,
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some developers have directly assigned their copyrights on Linux to Conservancy,
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so Conservancy also enforces the GPL on Linux via its own copyrights in Linux.</p>
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<p>Linux copyright holders who wish to assign copyright to or sign an enforcement agreement with
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Conservancy should
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contact <a href="mailto:linux-services@sfconservancy.org"><linux-services@sfconservancy.org></a>.
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In 2016,
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Conservancy <a href="/news/2016/nov/03/linux-compliance-agreements/">made
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public the template agreements used as part of this project</a>; both the
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<a href="/docs/blank_linux-enforcement-agreement.pdf">non-anonymous</a> and
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<a href="/docs/blank_anonymous-linux-enforcement-agreement.pdf">anonymous</a>
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versions are available. However, please <strong>do not</strong> sign these
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unilaterally without contacting and discussing
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with <a href="mailto:linux-services@sfconservancy.org"><linux-services@sfconservancy.org></a>
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first.</p>
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<h2 id="debian">The Debian Copyright Aggregation Project</h2>
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<p>In August 2015, <a href="/news/2015/aug/17/debian/">Conservancy announced the Debian Copyright Aggregation
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Project</a>. This project allows Debian contributors to assign copyrights to
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Conservancy, or sign enforcement agreements allowing Conservancy to enforce
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Free and Open Source (FOSS) licenses on their behalf. Many Debian contributors
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have chosen each of these options already, and more continue to join.</p>
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<p>Debian contributors who wish to assign copyright to or sign an enforcement agreement with
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Conservancy should contact <a href="mailto:debian-services@sfconservancy.org"><debian-services@sfconservancy.org></a>.</p>
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<h2 id="commitment">Conservancy's Commitment to Copyleft License Compliance</h2>
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<p>Conservancy is dedicated to encouraging all users of software to comply
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with Free Software licenses. Toward this goal, in its compliance efforts,
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Conservancy helps distributors of Free Software in a friendly spirit of
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cooperation and participation. In this spirit, Conservancy has co-published,
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with the Free Software Foundation (FSF), <a href="/copyleft-compliance/principles.html">the principles that both organizations
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follow in their compliance efforts</a>.
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Also in collaboration with the FSF, Conservancy also sponsors
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the <a href="https://copyleft.org/guide/"><cite>Copyleft and the GNU
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General Public License:A Comprehensive Tutorial and Guide</cite></a>,
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which <a href="/news/2014/nov/07/copyleft-org/">formally
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launched in fall 2014</a>. The Guide includes tutorial materials about
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copyleft and compliance with copyleft licenses,
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including <a href="https://copyleft.org/guide/comprehensive-gpl-guidepa2.html"><cite>A
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Practical Guide to GPL Compliance</cite></a>. The materials
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on <a href="https://copyleft.org/">copyleft.org</a> have been developed and
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improved since 2002, and are themselves copylefted, and developed
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collaboratively in public.</p>
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<p>However, the Guide is admittedly a large document, so for those who are
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interested in a short summary of describing how Conservancy handles GPL
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enforcement and compliance
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work, <a href="/blog/2012/feb/01/gpl-enforcement/">this blog post outlining
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the compliance process</a> is likely the best source.</p>
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{% endblock %}
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