[FSF] Free Software Supporter - Issue 23, February 2010

[Free Software Foundation]

# Free Software Supporter
Issue 23, February 2010

Welcome to the Free Software Supporter, the Free Software Foundation's
monthly news digest and action update -- being read by you and
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

* LibrePlanet 2010 free software community conference: March 19-21
* Defective by Design at iPad unveiling, delivers 5,000 anti-DRM
signatures to Jobs
* Free software in the Haiti aid effort, and how you can help
* FSFE wins Theodor Heuss Medal
* Steven DuBois is the GNU Generation member of the month!
* Free Software Foundation files new objection to amended Google Book
Search settlement
* Ask YouTube for Ogg support!
* Windows 7 Sins now in 9 languages!
* Australia: time for software patent action
* Page orientation patents, the USPTO, and you
* Letter to Israeli Patent Office, from Hamakor
* TinyOgg project liberates Flash videos
* GNU spotlight with Karl Berry
* Richard Stallman's speaking schedule and other FSF events
* Take action with the FSF!

## LibrePlanet 2010 free software community conference: March 19-21

LibrePlanet 2010 will feature workshops on the most widely used free
software tools for working with the web, video, graphics and software
development. You can learn about the latest developments in the GNU
Project, free network services, digital radio, voice-over-IP,
encryption, software licensing, media formats, and view the premiere
of a new film on software patents. Plus at this year's LibrePlanet
we'll be discussing how you can successfully engage with free
software communities, mentor free software projects, and how
non-coders can take up important roles in free software projects.

The three-day conference will be held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at
the Harvard University Science Center, from March 19th to March 21st,
2010.

    * <http://groups.fsf.org/wiki/LibrePlanet2010>

## Defective by Design at iPad unveiling, delivers 5,000 anti-DRM
signatures to Jobs

The group set up "Apple Restriction Zones" along the approaches to
the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, informing
journalists of the rights they would have to give up to Apple before
proceeding inside.

    * <http://www.fsf.org/news/ibad_launch>

The response to our iPad protest and petition has been tremendous.
Defective by Design delivered the first 5,000 signatures on a giant
iPad tablet, direct to Steve Jobs. We'll send another tablet for each
new block of 5,000 signatures.

    * <http://www.defectivebydesign.org/apple-ipad-drm-petition-mailed>

## Free software in the Haiti aid effort, and how you can help

OpenStreetMap and Sahana are two free software projects that are
facilitating aid to Haiti.

    * <http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/free-software-haiti-aid>

## FSFE wins Theodor Heuss Medal

The Theodor Heuss Foundation has announced that Free Software
Foundation Europe has been awarded the 2010 Theodor Heuss Medal for
its contribution "to the development and establishment of rules for
good global governance."

    * <http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/fsfe-heuss>

## Steven DuBois is the GNU Generation member of the month!

Steven is an official FSF campaigns volunteer. He edited an enormous
amount of video for the FSF, as well as assisting on Software Freedom
Day 2009 and the launch of our Windows 7 Sins Campaign back in August.

    * <http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnugeneration-dec09>

## Free Software Foundation files new objection to amended Google Book
Search settlement

The FSF filed another objection in court to the proposed amended
Google Book Search settlement. The objection notes that proposed
amendments which discuss works under free licenses unfairly burden
their authors with ensuring license compliance, and urges the court
to reject the proposed settlement unless it incorporates terms that
better address the needs of authors using free licenses like the GFDL.

    * <http://www.fsf.org/news/2010-02-gbs-objection>

## Ask YouTube for Ogg support!

Google has closed the window on HTML5 feedback, saying that peoples'
voices have been heard. However, notably absent is any mention of Ogg.

    * <http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/youtube-ogg>

## Windows 7 Sins now in 9 languages!

Our campaign for computer user freedom, Windows 7 Sins, now has 6
language translations available with several more on the way.

    * <http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/windows7sins-languages>

## Australia: time for software patent action

Australia seems to be headed for software patent legislation in 2010.
The bad news is that there was a consultation, and we missed it. The
good news is that the consultation was just a preliminary step, so if
we start organising now, we can still participate fully in the
legislative phase.

    * <http://news.swpat.org/2010/01/australia-action-time/>

## Page orientation patents, the USPTO, and you

When people or computers at the USPTO detect that a fax has been sent
upsidedown and needs to be turned 180°, what do they do? They send it
back and ask you to turn it 180°. Why don’t they do this obvious task
themselves automatically?

    *
<http://news.swpat.org/2010/02/page-orientation-patents-the-uspto-and-you/>

## Letter to Israeli Patent Office, from Hamakor

In response to the Israeli Patent Office’s consultation about
software patents, free software group Hamakor has submitted a brief
(that linked page contains many other good links). Great work Hamakor!

    *
<http://news.swpat.org/2010/02/hamakor-to-israeli-patent-office-from-hamakor/>

## TinyOgg project liberates Flash videos

FSF volunteer and GNU Generation member Osama Khalid just launched a
great tool: TinyOgg. TinyOgg takes in a link to a Flash video (boo!)
and spits out a link to an Ogg video (hooray!).

    * <http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/tinyogg>

## GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry

Here are the recent GNU software releases:

acct-6.5.3              gmp-5.0.1               mkisofs-1.13
aspell5-ro-3.3-2        grub-1.97.2             nano-2.2.2
ccscript-4.1.3          gsslib-0.1.2            ocrad-0.19
coreutils-8.4           gzip-1.4                octave-3.2.4
denemo-0.8.12           hello-2.5               shishi-0.0.41
enscript-1.6.5          icecat-3.6              sipwitch-0.7.0
fdisk-1.2.4             libextractor-0.6.0      source-highlight-3.1.3
freeipmi-0.8.3          libidn-1.16             ucommon-2.0.8
gcc-4.4.3               libmicrohttpd-0.4.5     unrtf-0.21.1
glpk-4.42               libtasn1-2.4

To get announcements of most new GNU packages, subscribe to the info-gnu
mailing list: <http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu>.  Nearly
all GNU software is available from <http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/>, or
preferably one of its mirrors (<http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html>).  You
can use the url <http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/> to be automatically
redirected to a (hopefully) nearby and up-to-date mirror.

Several GNU packages are looking for maintainers and other assistance.
Please see <http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint> if you'd
like to help.  The general page on how to help GNU is at
<http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html>.  To submit new packages to GNU, see
<http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html>.

As always, please feel free to write to me, <address@hidden>, with any
GNUish questions or suggestions for future installments.


## Richard Stallman's speaking schedule and other FSF events

2010-02-11 | Richard Stallman: The Danger of Software Patents
 Berne, Switzerland -  Hauptgebäude, Second floor, room 210,
Hochschulstrasse 4

     * <http://www.fsf.org/events/20100211berne>

2010-02-17 | Richard Stallman: Copyright vs. Community
 Morgantown, WV - 113 Mineral Resources Building, Engineering Campus,
WVU

     * <http://www.fsf.org/events/20100217morgantown>

2010-02-19 | Richard Stallman: Copyright vs. Community
 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - William Pitt Union, Lower Lounge,
University of Pittsburgh

     * <http://www.fsf.org/events/20100219pittsburgh>

2010-02-22 | Richard Stallman: Free Software in Ethics and in Practice
 Rochester, NY - Innovation Center, Rochester Institute of Technology

     * <http://www.fsf.org/events/20100222rochester>

2010-02-23 | Richard Stallman: Free Software in Ethics and in Practice
 Rochester, NY - Innovation Center, Rochester Institute of Technology

     * <http://www.fsf.org/events/20100223rochester>

2010-02-24 | Richard Stallman: Copyright vs. Community
 Troy, NY - DotCIO Computer Labs and Classrooms (DCC) 308, Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute

     * <http://www.fsf.org/events/20100224troy>

2010-02-25 | Richard Stallman: Copyright vs. Community
 Schenectady, NY - Olin 115, Union College, 807 Union St.

     * <http://www.fsf.org/events/20100225schenectady>

2010-02-26 | Richard Stallman: The Free Software Movement
 Albany, NY -  Recital Hall, Performing Arts Center, SUNY-Albany

     * <http://www.fsf.org/events/20100226albany>

2010-02-27 | Richard Stallman: The Danger of Software Patents
 Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India - Rajam Hall, MIT campus, Anna
University, Chromepet

     * <http://www.fsf.org/events/20100227chennai>

2010-03-19 | Libre Planet 2009

     * <http://www.fsf.org/events/lp2009>

2010-05-01 | The Free Software Movement
 San Francisco, CA - 1675 Owens Street, Mission Bay Conference Center
at UCSF

     * <http://www.fsf.org/events/20100501sanfrancisco>

## Take action with the FSF

Contributions from thousands of individual members enable the FSF's
work. You can contribute by joining at <http://www.fsf.org/join>. If
you're already a member, you can help refer new members (and earn some
rewards) by adding a line with your member number to your email
signature like:

  I'm an FSF member -- Help us support software freedom!
  <http://www.fsf.org/jf?referrer=2442>

The FSF is also always looking for volunteers
(<http://www.fsf.org/volunteer>). From rabble-rousing to hacking, from
issue coordination to envelope stuffing -- there's something here for
everybody to do. Also, head over to our campaign section
(<http://www.fsf.org/campaigns>) and take action on software patents,
DRM, free software adoption, OpenDocument, RIAA and more.

###

Copyright © 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative
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