FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Free Software Foundation
Ravi Khanna <media(a)fsf.org>
Phone: +1-617-620-9640
Gift from MySQL AB Supports
Free Software Foundation's General Public License Compliance Lab
Boston, Mass. - November 12, 2002 - The Free Software Foundation (FSF)
today announced that MySQL AB, the company that develops, supports and
markets the MySQL database, made a contribution of $25,000 to the FSF to
support the protection and promotion of the GNU General Public License
(GPL). The FSF incurs over $100,000 in costs each year defending and
enforcing the GPL. MySQL is the first company to contribute generously to
support this work.
Marten Mickos, CEO of MySQL, explained the motivation for this donation:
"MySQL appreciates FSF's tireless work preserving, protecting and
promoting Free Software, diligently policing the use of the GPL, defending
GPL developers against license breaches, and educating the world about the
principles of software freedom". Continued Mickos, "Everyone who uses
Open Source and Free Software owes the FSF more than a debt of gratitude.
We hope that our contribution will encourage other individuals and vendors
who believe in and rely on the GPL to support the FSF any way they can."
MySQL's gift supports FSF's GPL Compliance Lab, an initiative that has
existed informally since 1992, but was formalized by FSF late last
year. The goal of the Compliance Lab is to help enforce the GPL license so
that GPL-violating competitors cannot take advantage of companies that do
comply with the license.
According to Bradley M. Kuhn, FSF's Executive Director: "FSF sees the
defense of the license as fundamental to the work of the Free Software
Movement. Even though FSF is strapped for resources, when MySQL needed
help in their enforcement of the GPL, FSF lent its expertise. We are
committed to doing this work regardless of our funding woes. We have
always seen the need for an impartial party to enforce GPL. We are elated
that MySQL shares our view and is willing to support our work
financially."
Ideally, to run at full capacity, FSF's GPL Compliance Lab would require a
budget of $200,000 per year. When the Compliance Lab was formalized, FSF
had hoped that many companies that benefit greatly from Free Software
would recognize its importance and help pay for the costs of this service.
FSF hopes that this show of support will encourage other companies to come
forward.
In 1992, when FSF was working informally to enforce GPL, there were just
one or two violations each year. Today, FSF handles and resolves --
through diplomatic negotiation -- at least fifty GPL violations each year.
All indications are that these numbers will continue to grow indefinitely.
About the GNU GPL:
FSF created the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL) in 1989 and
periodically publishes updated versions of that license. Today, GPL is
the most common Free Software license, used for over 50 percent of all
known Free Software. Unlike most copyright agreements that are designed
to take away users' freedoms, the GPL guarantees users' rights to share
and change Free Software. Many companies, including MySQL AB, IBM and HP
have profitable business units centered around these freedoms.
The GPL is seen as a serious threat by many proprietary software companies
whose licenses aim to take these freedoms from users. All the while, FSF
continues to defend the GNU GPL against both PR and legal attacks and
diligently works on version 3 (GPLv3) of the license (the first new
version in 12 years). GPLv3 will address new issues of freedom for users
and programmers that were unknown at the time of the 1991 version 2
publication. No date for public draft distribution of GPLv3 has been set,
but it is expected in the first half of 2003. An early draft of a few
GPLv3 provisions was released earlier this year as part of the Affero
General Public License.
Copyright (C) 2002, Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in
any medium, provided this notice is preserved.
_______________________________________________
FSF And GNU Press mailing list <info-press(a)gnu.org>
http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-press
The Free Software Foundation is outraged by the letter submitted by
Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia (Chairperson of the Government Reform
Subcommittee of Technology) and Rep.Jim Turner of Texas (Ranking Member
of that Subcommittee) to Richard A. Clarke (who is chair of the
President's Critical Infrastructure Board). This letter brings to light
the desire of these Representatives, likely funded by campaign
contributions from Microsoft, to limit the free market development of
software. There suggestions do not offer the software industry a true
choice for a competitive ecosystem of software licensing legal
strategies. By contrast, these Congressional Representatives seek to
limit choice in software licensing not even through legislation, but
through brow-beating the administrative branch.
Prof. Eben Moglen, Board Member and General Counsel of the Free Software
Foundation and Professor of Law and Legal History of Colombia Law School
and Bradley M. Kuhn, Executive Director of the Free Software Foundation
are available to respond to this most recent attack on software
freedom. Please write or call me, Ravi Khanna (Director of
Communications of FSF) at <ravi(a)fsf.org> or 617-620-9640.
In this letter, which can be found at,
http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=02/10/23/1247236&mode=thread&ti…
the two Congressmen write "it is essential that the National Strategy
affirm federal tradition by explicitly rejecting licenses that would
prevent or discourage commercial adoption of promising cyber security
technologies developed through federal R&D."
This letter was in response to the "National Strategy to Secure
Cyberspace" a documented circulated to Congress by Mr. Clarke. The
congressmen further write that "We believe the National Strategy should
explicitly recognize that overall cyber security will improve if
federally funded research and development is made available to Americans
under intellectual property licenses that allow for further development
and commercialization of that work product. This is a long-standing
federal principle that should be explicitly stated in the National
Strategy."
Congressmen Adam Smith of Washington, Ron Kind of Wisconsin and Jim
Davis of Florida circulated a letter dated Oct. 18, 2002 to members of
the New Democratic Coalition asking them to support the position taken
in the letter to Mr. Clarke. In asking for their colleagues to support
the letter they write, "Attached is a letter that is being sent to Dick
Clarke, the Chair of the President's Critical Infrastructure Protection
Board. As he shapes the "National Strategy"on cyber security, it is
important to affirm that government R&D should be made available under
intellectual property licenses that allow for further development and
commercialization of that work. Licenses such as the General Public
License (GPL) are problematic and threaten to undermine innovation and
security. I urge you to sign this letter.
The terms of restrictive license's - such as those in the GNU or GPL -
prevent companies from adopting, improving, commercializing and deriving
profits from the software by precluding companies from establishing
commercial IP rights in any subsequent code. Thus, if government R&D
creates a security innovation under a restrictive license, a commercial
vendor will not integrate that code into its software. So long as
government research is not released under licensing terms that restrict
commercialization, publicly funded research provides an important
resource for the software industry.
--
Ravi Khanna Phone: 617-620-9640
Director of Communication Fax: 617-542-2652
Free Software Foundation E-mail: ravi(a)fsf.org
59 Temple Place, Suite 660 Website: www.fsf.org
Boston, MA 02111-1307
Please support the Free Software Foundation
http://svcs.affero.net/rm.php?r=surya
_______________________________________________
FSF And GNU Press mailing list <info-press(a)gnu.org>
http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-press
FFII Associated with FSF Europe
13th of June 2002
Munich/Hamburg
The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) is now an
official associate organisation of the Free Software Foundation Europe
(FSFE).
This follows a decision of the last general assembly of FFII to
cooperate more closely with FSF Europe and was greatly welcomed by FSF
Europe. The FFII is the first associate organisation of the FSF Europe
based in Germany which is a strong Free Software country.
"The FFII has been the backbone of the resistance against fully
introducing software patents in Europe", explains Georg Greve,
President of Free Software Foundation Europe. "This hard and tedious
work is very important because patents on software restrict the
freedom of knowledge and software significantly. Strengthening
the FFII therefore furthers the cause for Free Software in Germany."
"We have always promoted open information systems as an essential
underpinning of an open society", says Hartmut Pilch, president of
FFII. "Free software has done more to make our society free and
productive than many standardisation efforts and political initiatives
have ever achieved. No matter what worthy aim you may be pursuing, be
it fair competition, secure infrastructures, innovation, productivity
or civil liberty, you often end up writing Free Software."
About the Foundation for Free Information Infrastructure (FFII)
The "Förderverein für eine Freie Informationelle Infrastruktur" (FFII)
was founded in Munich 1999 and is non-profit association under german
law that promotes a sustainable development of public information
goods based on copyright, free competition and open standards. The
FFII is a member of the EuroLinux Alliance and is well known for its
activities for the protection of information innovation against the
abuse of the patent system in Europe.
www.ffii.org
About the Free Software Foundation Europe
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSF Europe) is a charitable
non-governmental organization dedicated to all aspects of Free
Software in Europe. Access to software determines who may participate
in a digital society. Therefore the freedoms to use, copy, modify and
redistribute software - as described in the Free Software definition -
allow equal participation in the information age. Creating awareness
for these issues, securing Free Software politically and legally, and
giving people freedom by supporting development of Free Software are
central issues of the FSF Europe, which was founded in 2001 as the
European sister organization of the Free Software Foundation in the
United States.
www.fsfeurope.org
Contact
FSF Europe:
Georg C. F. Greve <greve(a)fsfeurope.org>
phone: +49-40-23809080
fax: +49-40-23809081
FFII:
Hartmut Pilch <phm(a)ffii.org>
phone: +49-89-12789608
fax: +49-89-12789609
ANNOUNCEMENT
AGNULA: A GNU/Linux Audio distribution
(IST-2001-34879)
The AGNULA (A GNU/Linux Audio distribution, acronym pronounced
with a strong g) project, supported by the European Commission
under the Key Action IV.3.3 (Free Software towards the Critical
Mass) has started on April 1st and will last for 24 months
up to March 2004. The project is coordinated by the Centro
Tempo Reale in Firenze (http://www.centrotemporeale.it)
and has the following partners:
* IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique),
Paris (http://www.ircam.fr)
* Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Music Technology Group, Barcelona
(http://www.iua.upf.es/mtg)
* Kung Tekniska Högskolan (KTH), Music Acoustics Group,
Stockholm (http://www.speech.kth.se/music/)
* Free Software Foundation Europe (http://fsfeurope.org)
* Red Hat France (http://www.redhat.fr)
AGNULA's main goal will be the development of two reference
distributions for the GNU/Linux operating system completely
based on Free Software (i.e. under a FSF approved Free Software
license) and dedicated to audio and multimedia. One distribution
will be Debian-based (DeMuDi) and the other will be Red
Hat-based (ReHMuDi). Both will be available on the network
for download and on CD. In the second year the project will
also extend to hardware platforms other than PCs (e.g. PowerPCs,
64-bit architectures).
A new website (http://www.agnula.org) is available with further
information on the project. Other announcements will be
posted on relevant mailing lists.
Nicola Bernardini - Centro Tempo Reale, via Pisana 77 Firenze ITALY
email: info(a)agnula.org
(C) Copyright the AGNULA consortium 2002, All Rights Reserved.
AGNULA is a registered trademark of the AGNULA consortium.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Press-release of the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSF Europe)
For immediate release
FSF Europe completes successful first year
(Paris) On May 26th 2002, the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSF
Europe) finishes its second general assembly, completing the first
year of activities. Members from Sweden, Italy, Germany and France
drew a summary of last years activities, analyzed the current
situation of Free Software and exchanged plans and visions for the
upcoming year.
"The past year has been a difficult one for the IT industry, but a
very successful one for the FSF Europe." says Jonas Oberg,
Vice-President of the FSF Europe. "Following our plans last year, we
were able to establish good connections with the Free Software
community throughout Europe and the world, bringing the number of
associates of the FSF Europe up to seven organizations in six
countries."
In the political field, the FSF Europe has been able to deliver
serious impulses for Free Software. Its recommendation for the
upcoming 6th framework programme of the European Commission was backed
by over 50 companies, associations, research institutes and
consortiums. Also the FSF Europe participated in making Free Software
a topic during the French presidential elections.
"The FSF Europe established a well-working cooperation with the Free
Software community and organizations in France. Together we approached
politicians from the big parties." says Frederic Couchet, French
chancellor of the FSF Europe. "As a result, all major candidates
issued statements about their position on Free Software and software
patents."
"The fear of software patents getting established in Europe is casting
a shadow at all Free Software activity right now, our assembly not
being an exception." explains Bernhard Reiter, German chancellor of
the FSF Europe. "It is clear that the FSF-Europe will stay engaged to
ensure that the position of the Free Software community on this and
other political topics is heard."
To ensure the persistance and continuity of Free Software is another
seminal topic on the agenda of the FSF Europe for the next year.
"Most Free Software developers and many companies are not yet aware
that legal maintainability can be as important as technical
maintainability for software." says Georg C. F. Greve, President of
the FSF Europe. "Raising awareness for these issues and offering a
solution to this problem will be an important step to secure the
long-term future of Free Software."
These two areas of interest are supplemented by the activites of the
FSF Europe in the 5th European framework programme within the AGNULA
project, which aims to provide an entirely Free Software GNU/Linux
distribution for professional audio users and will be announced
shortly.
"The words of the Mayor of Florence and the President of Tuscany at
the press conference following the kick-off meeting in April have shown
that Free Software is becoming part of the political agenda for
parties in Italy." says Stefano Maffulli, new member of the FSF Europe
and designated Italian chancellor. "We are glad that the Centro Tempo
Reale initiated this project and asked the FSF Europe to provide Free
Software competence, vision and also legal maintainability for it."
About the FSF Europe:
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSF Europe) is a charitable
non-governmental organization dedicated to all aspects of Free
Software in Europe. Access to software determines who may participate
in a digital society. Therefore the freedoms to use, copy, modify and
redistribute software - as described in the Free Software definition -
allow equal participation in the information age. Creating awareness
for these issues, securing Free Software politically and legally, and
giving people freedom by supporting development of Free Software are
central issues of the FSF Europe, which was founded in 2001 as the
European sister organization of the Free Software Foundation in the
United States.
More information: http://fsfeurope.org/
Contact:
Georg C. F. Greve <greve(a)gnu.org>
Tel: +49-40-23809080
Fax: +49-40-23809081
Further press contact information is available at
http://fsfeurope.org/press/.
[for immediate release]
London/Hamburg, May 22nd 2002
"Association For Free Software (AFFS) becomes associate of the
Free Software Foundation Europe (FSF Europe)"
The FSF Europe proudly announces that the UK based "Association For
Free Software" (AFFS) is now an associate organisation of the "Free
Software Foundation Europe" (FSF Europe).
AFFS has joined with the FSF Europe to actively support its
activities, to work for Free Software in Europe and to facilitate
cooperation with organisations in other countries.
The AFFS currently focuses on the preparation of PR material to
inform the public and to lobby politicians in the UK. Part of this
effort is drafting an introduction to Free Software for
non-specialists and to prepare demo versions of the Debian GNU/Linux
operating system for live demonstrations.
Through various liaisons the AFFS is actively involved in bringing
the benefits of Free Software especially to schools, other educational
institutions, politicians and - of course - the public in the UK, to
help create a critical mass of people using Free Software.
Members of the AFFS also engage themselves in attending fairs,
exhibitions and relevant public and non-public meetings of UK
governmental institutions. The aim is to provide a recognised point
of contact in the UK for information about Free Software. This is
achieved by simultaneously establishing links with the press, MEPs,
MPs and local politicians throughout the UK.
"Although the AFFS is based in the UK, it fully recognises and
appreciates that Free Software is a world wide effort to bring the
benefits of the information age to everyone on this planet. This
requires international cooperation and coordination. The association
with the FSF Europe is probably the most important step yet for the
AFFS to achieve this goal." said Dr. Marc Eberhard, a committee
member and one of the founders of the AFFS.
"Experience indicates that it is crucial for the adoption and
understanding of Free Software within a country to have the community
of that country organise itself in competent local organisations."
said Georg Greve, President of the FSF Europe. "Therefore we were very
happy to see the UK community taking the big step forward with the
creation of the AFFS and we gladly welcomed them in our network of
associate organisations. This brings UK people, press and politics the
chance to interface with Free Software and the FSF in a more immediate
way than ever before."
About the Association for Free Software:
The Association for Free Software is a non-profit association with the
primary goal of promoting the adoption of Free Software in the UK.
More information: http://www.affs.org.uk
Contact: AFFS
c/o Luminas Ltd
7 Webster Close
Norwich NR5 9DF
UK
Phone: 0709 2312239
About the Free Software Foundation Europe:
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSF Europe) is a charitable
non-governmental organisation dedicated to all aspects of Free
Software in Europe. Access to software determines who may participate
in a digital society. Therefore the freedoms to use, copy, modify and
redistribute software - as described in the Free Software definition -
allow equal participation in the information age. Creating awareness
for these issues, securing Free Software politically and legally, and
giving people freedom by supporting development of Free Software are
central issues of the FSF Europe, which was founded in 2001 as the
European sister organisation of the Free Software Foundation in the
United States.
More information: http://fsfeurope.org/
Contact:
Georg C. F. Greve <greve(a)gnu.org>
Tel: +49-40-23809080
Fax: +49-40-23809081
Further press contact information is available at http://fsfeurope.org/press/.
[ This release is also available at
http://www.fsf.org/press/2002-05-21-eldred-brief.html ]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Free Software Foundation
Bradley M. Kuhn <pr(a)fsf.org>
Phone: +1-617-542-5942
Free Software Foundation Files Brief Amicus Curiae
in Eldred v. Aschroft Supreme Court Case
Boston, Massachusetts, USA - Tuesday, May 21, 2002 - Yesterday,
the Free Software Foundation (FSF) filed a Brief Amicus Curiae in the
pending Supreme Court case, Eldred v. Aschroft. The future of copyright
law in the digital age is at issue in this case. For decades, the US
Congress has been retroactively extending copyright protection, directly
harming the public good by withholding material from the public domain.
FSF strongly supports the rights of the public to benefit from useful
intellectual works.
In our brief, Eben Moglen, FSF Board Member and General Counsel, wrote:
"The constitutional importance of the 'limited Times' restriction
cannot be vitiated ... by affording Congress the opportunity to
create perpetuities on the installment plan, any more than Congress can
eliminate the constitutional requirement of originality". He continues:
"To turn the system of free expression into a series of private fiefdoms
for the benefit of monopolists ... is forbidden to Congress by the
plain wording of the Copyright Clause and by the First Amendment".
While nearly all of the Free Software code base at the core of the
popular GNU/Linux operating system is copyrighted--much of it protected
by FSF's GNU General Public License (GPL)--FSF promotes a healthy and
vibrant public domain. Copyright is a government-granted, limited time,
monopolistic control that has run amok. FSF filed this amicus brief
to stand with those who fight for the public's freedom to build on the
intellectual works of the past.
The full brief is available at
http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/eldred-amicus.html.
About Free Software Foundation:
The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting
computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute
computer programs. FSF promotes the development and use of free (as
in freedom) software--particularly the GNU operating system and its
GNU/Linux variants--and free documentation for free software. FSF also
helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom
in the use of software. Their web site, located at http://www.gnu.org,
is an important source of information about GNU/Linux. They are
headquartered in Boston, MA, USA.
Copyright (C) 2002, Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is
permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.
[ http://fsfeurope.org/documents/fp6/ ]
Recommendation by the
FSF Europe
and more than 40 European
companies, organizations, research centers and projects
for the 6th EU framework programme
Free Software is a concept that has fundamentally changed the way some
parts of the IT sector are working towards a more stable, lasting and
sustainable approach with higher dynamics and increased efficiency. It
is obvious that the first region to adopt and support this principle
on a larger scale can profit enormously and get a head-start in the
information age.
This document explains some of the reasons why Free Software should be
included in the considerations on the 6th European Community framework
programme 2002-2006 and gives input on how this could be done.
Free Software -- sometimes also referred to as ``Libre software'' or
``Open Source Software'' -- is best defined by the following four
freedoms:
* 1. freedom: The freedom to run the program, for any purpose.
* 2. freedom: The freedom to study how the program works, and
adapt it to your needs. Access to the source code is a
precondition for this.
* 3. freedom: The freedom to redistribute copies.
* 4. freedom: The freedom to improve the program, and release your
improvements to the public, so that the whole community
benefits. Access to the source code is a precondition for
this.
For reasons that can be found online [1], this document will use Free
Software as the preferred term.
- Summary
The ability of any region, country or person to participate in the
information age will be largely determined by access to and control
over key technologies and networks.
As a result of the proprietary software model, we are currently in a
situation where almost the whole European information technologies
industry is dependent on an oligopoly of U.S. software
companies. Viewed from the European perspective, such a situation is
highly unstable and unfavorable.
Not coincidentally, the only true exception to this, the internet, is
largely run on Free Software.
Recognizing the usefulness and importance of Free Software for the
future of Europe, the Information Society Technologies (IST) research
programme of the European Commission has shown increasting interest in
Free Software over the past years. An example of this was the ``2001
action line Free Software development: towards critical mass'' within
the 5th European European Community framework programme. Consequently,
Free Software is also found in the ``Work Programme 2002'' of the IST.
Free Software provides an alternative model for information technology
with significant advantages for numerous objectives and areas
specified in the Proposal for the 6th European Commission framework
programme.
Even if these are sometimes hard to quantify, it is clear that Europe
could greatly benefit from increased employment of Free Software in
terms of
* Greater independence
* Increased sustainability
* Freedom from foreign mono- and oligopolies
* Alternative hard- and software possibilities
* Strengthened domestic market and local industries
* Better cooperation between research and economy
* Encouraged transdisciplinary research
* Better protection of civil rights
Free Software is clearly a model of the future and Europe already has
an increasingly vibrant Free Software scene unrivaled anywhere in the
world. This gives Europe a very unique chance to capitalize on the
benefits of Free Software and get a head-start into the knowledge
economy.
For a more detailed and explanatory reasoning, please see section
Reasoning. Recommendation
We [2] recommend that for all activities within the 6th European
Commission framework programme, Free Software becomes the preferred
and recommended choice.
We suggest that the programme and projects should monitor and report
on the share of the funding used for results released under a Free
Software or Free Documentation license. In certain areas like the IST
programme or fundamental research, the objective must be set that this
share is at least 50% of the budget used to produce software or
disseminable documentation.
As other ways of increasing the European edge, we furthermore
recommend:
Dedicated calls
In some areas -- ``eEurope'' or fundamental scientific research
being two examples -- it would be advisable to enforce the
advantages offered by Free Software by explicitly and
exclusively calling for projects that will release their results
under a Free Software and/or Free Documentation license.
Preference in evaluation
As a general criterion it would be in the interest of Europe
that projects making their results available under a Free
Software (and -- possibly -- Free Documentation) license [3]
should receive a positive score in the evaluation process,
giving them an advantage over comparable projects not offering
this increased European value.
Additional positive scores in the evaluation process should be
granted to projects employing ``Copylefted'' Free Software [4]
and projects taking steps to ensure the enduring availability
and legal maintainability of the Free Software created through
copyright assignments [5] to appropriate institutions.
Information
The preference and recommendation for Free Software should be
added in the guidelines for evaluators, the policy documents and
the documents explaining the rules of participation for project
applications.
Although Free Software is per se available to any organization,
person or company, the European Commission should seek to inform
and encourage local companies about and to Free Software,
building up the expertise fundamentally necessary for the
information age.
[1] Please see http://fsfeurope.org/documents/whyfs.en.html
[2] The Free Software Foundation Europe and parties supporting this
recommendation. Information about the FSF Europe and the list of
supporting parties can be found at
http://fsfeurope.org/documents/fp6/supporting-parties.en.html
[3] See http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html
[4] Copylefted Free Software not only offers the four freedoms quoted
above, it also protects them. The most successful and best-known
Copyleft license is the ``GNU General Public License'' of the Free
Software Foundation, under which more than 50% of all Free Software is
being released.
[5] Transferral of exclusive exploitation rights in countries
following the ``Droit d'Auteur'' tradition.
About the Free Software Foundation Europe:
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSF Europe) is a charitable
non-governmental organization dedicated to all aspects of Free
Software in Europe. Access to software determines who may participate
in a digital society. Therefore the freedoms to use, copy, modify and
redistribute software - as described in the Free Software definition -
allow equal participation in the information age. Creating awareness
for these issues, securing Free Software politically and legally, and
giving people freedom by supporting development of Free Software are
central issues of the FSF Europe, which was founded in 2001 as the
European sister organization of the Free Software Foundation in the
United States.
More information: http://fsfeurope.org/
Contact:
Georg C. F. Greve <greve(a)fsfeurope.org>
Tel: +49-40-23809080
Fax: +49-40-23809081
Further press contact information is available at http://fsfeurope.org/press/.
[ An online version of this release is available at
http://www.fsf.org/press/2002-04-11-ms-patent.html. ]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Free Software Foundation
Bradley M. Kuhn <pr(a)fsf.org>
Phone: +1-617-542-5942
Microsoft Attacks Free Software Developers with New License
Boston, Massachusetts, USA - Thursday, April 11, 2002 - Microsoft,
in its new "Royalty-Free CIFS Technical Reference License Agreement",
unequivocally targets Free Software developers who choose copyleft
licensing terms. Microsoft's new license directly attacks the GNU
General Public License (GPL) and the GNU Lesser General Public License
(LGPL)----licenses published by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and
used prominently by numerous Free Software projects worldwide.
Microsoft has veiled this attack in the trappings of a "gift". Microsoft
agrees to grant royalty-free permission to use and exercise their CIFS
patents in Free Software, but only to a limited set of developers. Under
the guise of fulfilling its obligations under the anti-trust settlement,
Microsoft has singled out developers and companies who choose copyleft
licenses (such as GPL and LGPL). Software distributors of copylefted
software are forbidden from exercising the patents royalty-free, and thus
are effectively forbidden from exercising the patents at all under copyleft.
In effect, Microsoft has vindicated the warnings FSF set forth in its
Tunney act filing against the Proposed Revised Final Judgment in United
States vs. Microsoft. As we there warned the Justice Department and the
courts, the settlement terms are not in the public interest because they
permit Microsoft to deny effective access to their APIs to Microsoft's
most effective competitors--Free Software developers.
Microsoft's tactics were no surprise to Bradley M. Kuhn, executive director
of the FSF, who pointed out: "Microsoft's new assault follows a year's
worth of rhetoric aimed at slandering the GPL and those who, in the name of
software freedom, advocate the use of GPL. Now, that war of words has been
followed up with a legal attack. As Mundie's speeches tried and failed
to do last summer, Microsoft seeks to pressure existing GPL'ed projects
to give up copyleft. Microsoft loves non-copylefted Free Software;
it allows them to benefit from the commons without contributing back.
In copylefted Free Software, Microsoft now faces a rival that they cannot
buy nor run out of business. As expected, they've turned to their patent
pool as their last resort to assail us". Fortunately, developers of GPL'ed
code stand united in rejecting this anti-competitive act by Microsoft.
The FSF is also encouraging key industry leaders who distribute and rely
on GPL'ed software to stand against Microsoft on this matter.
This situation exemplifies the dire threat software patents have against
software freedom. Fortunately, software patents do not exist in every
country. The FSF urges citizens in software-patent-free countries to demand
that their governments categorically reject software patents. Kuhn noted:
"the best way to fight Microsoft as they offensively assert their patent
rights is to convince your government not to recognize software patents
as a legitimate use of patent law". The fight against software patents is
particularly urgent in Europe, as the European Union may decide to permit
software patents soon. Europeans citizens are encouraged to support
efforts opposing software patents for the EU. For more information,
see http://www.freepatents.org/.
About the Free Software Foundation:
The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting
computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute
computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of Free (as
in freedom) Software - particularly the GNU operating system and its
GNU/Linux variants - and Free Documentation for Free Software. The FSF
also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of
freedom in the use of software. Their web site, located at
http://www.fsf.org, is an important source of information about GNU/Linux.
They are headquartered in Boston, MA, USA.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts:
Affero
Henri Poole <press(a)affero.com>
Phone: +1-415-371-9900
Free Software Foundation
Bradley M. Kuhn <pr(a)gnu.org>
Phone: +1-617-542-5942
Free Software Foundation Announces Support of the
Affero General Public License, the First Copyleft License for Web Services
Boston, Massachusetts, USA - Tuesday, March, 19th, 2002 - The Free
Software Foundation (FSF) announces support for and invites public comment
on the first public license designed to protect software distributed as
Web services: the Affero General Public License (AGPL). The AGPL combines
the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL) V2 with one additional provision
to address software used by the public over a network. The new provision
enables the author to ensure that users will have the right to use, study,
copy, modify, and redistribute that software, by providing a mechanism for
downloading the source and restricting the removal of the mechanism.
The FSF has worked since its inception in 1985 to promote freedom for
computer users to share and change software. In January, 1989, the FSF
released the GNU GPL Version 1. It empowered free software developers by
providing a mechanism which ensured that all users be entitled to use,
study, copy, modify, and redistribute the software.
The FSF modified the license in 1991 to meet changes in technology and
business, with the goal to continue the protection of users' freedoms.
The license has since been adopted by thousands of software developers,
from individuals to large organizations such as IBM (NYSE: IBM).
Eben Moglen, board member and general legal counsel to the Free Software
Foundation, said: "We are eager to solve problems experienced by free
software companies, like Affero, who are exploring new business models and
meeting new challenges that threaten the freedom of software."
Affero is delivering a new online service which empowers members of
virtual communities to recognize and reward positive contributions with
feedback and donations to non-profits and the causes they support. The
company, committed to the idealism embodied in the GNU GPL, requires full
protection of software freedom for their user and partner community.
Because Affero's service is run over a network by their users, Affero
needed the additional provision to the GNU GPL. The FSF worked with
Affero to address the licensing requirements for their business model and
is considering including this additional provision in the upcoming version
of the GNU GPL 3.0 and is inviting public comment.
Affero's software enables any user to download its complete source code on
any screen in the user interface. The new licensing provision protects
the removal of this feature, ensuring that the existing software and any
derivative works continue to be available to the general public under the
same terms as the original work. "As an advocate for the individual, full
access to Affero's source code is essential to our service" comments Henri
Poole, President of Affero. "We are building tools to reward sharing and
enable more effective community dialogue, and these communities and their
members should be fully empowered to run, copy, distribute, study, change
and improve the software. With new Web delivered services, we need a
license which will weld the virtual door open."
For full text of the Affero General Public License, please visit:
http://www.affero.org/oagpl.html
Public comments about the Affero General Public License can be sent
to: agpl(a)fsf.org
About the Free Software Foundation:
The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting
computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute
computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of Free (as
in freedom) Software - particularly the GNU operating system and its
GNU/Linux variants - and Free Documentation for Free Software. The FSF
also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of
freedom in the use of software. Their web site, located at
http://www.fsf.org, is an important source of information about GNU/Linux.
They are headquartered in Boston, MA, USA.
About Affero:
Affero, Inc., founded in 2001, was established to empower individuals
to introduce their communities to non-profit organizations, projects
and causes. Services combine a rating system with a commerce system.
Individuals can rate the value of contributions as well as make
donations on behalf of the efforts extended by community participants.
All funds pledged as as result of these interactions are disbursed to
beneficiaries of the volunteer's choice. Affero endorses the
development and use of Free Software and their web site can be found
at http://www.affero.org. They are headquartered in San Francisco,
CA, USA.
Copyright (C) Free Software Foundation, Inc., and Affero, Inc.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in
any medium, provided this notice is preserved.