A #ThankGNU! to Sally Gudbrandsen, Sandra Hatcher, and Shashank Sabniveesu for helping the FSF to promote #FreeSoftware. To see a longer list of those who have helped us financially in our advocacy for #SoftwareFreedom and awareness, visit: https://u.fsf.org/45m
#SoftwareFreedom
We're just $1,405 away now!!! That's just 11 new sustainers!
Know anyone who cares about #FreeSoftware but hasn't heard about #SoftwareFreedomConservancy? You can let them know we're the ones enforcing the #GPL, expanding the #softwarefreedom community and being the home of software projects that you rely on like git, openwrt, u-boot and inkscape to name just a few!
We can only do this work together!
OK! Just $2,017 left in #SFC's biggest match challenge ever (bigger by far)! So close!!! The next $20 donation will change the first number to 1!!!
I'm humbled by all of the support everyone has shown! So many people have given already, I think this will be a real nail biter!
The fact we've been able to come so far is a testament to our volunteers who care about #softwarefreedom! We the public deserve to control our own software! Please spread the word
Bit by bit, folks are kicking in for #softwarefreedom! Just $2273 left to go!
Small donations in many ways are our most important. They show that people really care about free software and that the work we do speaks to the public interest at large.
Can you help us spread the word? You can check out our Year in Review here below the donation box:
Good morning Australians and Kiwis! I know that you live in the future but I send you this message from the past that we still have 14 hours left in February 5 (until AoE)! Can you help us raise the $2,657 we have left until we make our match challenge?
Help us stand up for the #GPL, provide critical internships to those who need them most, and support our awesome member projects! 2026 will be a good year for #softwarefreedom, yes?
We're also proud of our member projects (we're picky about adding new member projects, so ones we add are very important for #softwarefreedom)! We have too many to mention them all heew, so I'll focus on our most recent ones (though perhaps you use #Git?)!
Did you know that U-boot is a part of #SFC?
And X.org (no, not the .com one)!
And @sourceware!
And Liblouis!
There's less than $3k left to meet our match and just hours to do it! Can you help?
You know, I almost forgot! Not only do we do general #freesoftware advocacy, #copyleft enforcement, fiscal sponsorships and internships, we also run an annual conference #FOSSY, where people come together to talk about #softwarefreedom! This year will be in Vancouver, Canada August 6-9!
Every penny you donate to @conservancy goes so far. We're the scrappiest org!
Please help us over our last hurdle, we've got less than $3k to raise today! We can do this, right?
OK Team Fedi, we've now just got $2,797 left to raise in this year's Software Freedom Conservancy fundraiser!!
If you care about our awesome member projects, about helping newcomers get their start in #FOSS, or standing up for the #GPL and #copyleft, now is the time!
https://sfconservancy.org/sustainer/
Let's go for #softwarefreedom!!!
Did you see that @conservancy submitted comments to the European Commission in response to their call for evidence on digital ecosystems? We encouraged the Commission to continue to work globally, and also to consider prioritizing #copyleft for the long term benefit of digital sovereignty!
Because of your support, we're able to advocate and educate for #softwareFreedom
There's only $6512 left in our match challenge that we have to raise today! Please help us get there!
⚖️ New Legal Corner Article ⚖️
This time, we take an in-depth look at a ruling issued last autumn in Spain. This decision provides a legal precedent that underlines the importance of transparency in source codes and algorithms, and support for the Freedom to Study!
https://fsfe.org/news/2026/news-20260205-01.en.html
Many thanks to @civio for their outstanding work!
It's amazing to think the last time I suffered Sindows was 13 year ago. #Lubuntu was my first foray into Linux. Since then I've been from Arch to FreeBSD and everywhere in-between. Now thinking of possibly trying #Manjaro again after 5 year, or back to the Gekko because #OpenSuse doesn't get the love it deserves.
And no, there is no way in a firestorm I am doing Linux From Scratch.😜 ....again.
A #ThankGNU! to Paul Morris, Peter Kunze, and René Genz for helping the FSF to promote #FreeSoftware. To see a longer list of those who have helped us financially in our advocacy for #SoftwareFreedom and awareness, visit: https://u.fsf.org/45m
@Vivaldi @librewolf @zenbrowser
And I know someone will ask, so here is Section 7 of Vivaldi's EULA:
"7. Without limiting the foregoing, you are neither allowed to (a) adapt, alter, translate, embed into any other product or otherwise create derivative works of, or otherwise modify the Software ; (b) separate the component programs of the Software for use on different computers; (c) reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or otherwise attempt to derive the source code for the Software, except as permitted by applicable law; or (d) remove, alter or obscure any proprietary notices on the Software or the applicable documentation therein."
https://vivaldi.com/privacy/vivaldi-end-user-license-agreement/
https://sfconservancy.org/sustainer/
It's been a long fundraising season given #SFC's stretch match, but we are close to the end; we're just about to be ≤ $10k to take advantage of all our generous match donations this season.
We appreciate all who have donated & hope that you can give a little bit more now.
Or, if you forgot to give last year or at #FSODEM2026, now is your change to double your donation.
Thanks to all who donated at #FOSDEM. We raised a *lot* at #FOSDEM26.
A #ThankGNU! to Morten Lind, Nicolas Avrutin, and Pablo González Otero for helping the FSF to promote #FreeSoftware. To see a longer list of those who have helped us financially in our advocacy for #SoftwareFreedom and awareness, visit: https://u.fsf.org/45m
I got hit with the flu and couldn’t make it to #fosdem 2026. I normally go because I like to get a feel for where the broader “software freedom” world is heading. But let’s be honest: FOSDEM isn’t really about #softwarefreedom in the political sense. It’s mostly an #opensource event - “open code,” “open collaboration" - framed in a way that’s comfortable for companies and public institutions.
This year, from what I watched online, a few speakers tried to bring politics back into the room. They talked about things like technological sovereignty and the war. After years of carefully avoiding politics, that shift is genuinely welcome.
But the real question is: who are you talking to, and what do you think it will achieve?
If your strategy is to appeal to the EU, or to the supposedly “good intentions” of big corporations, then you’re not fixing the movement’s confusion - you’re reinforcing it.
Because in Brussels and in C-suite offices, the only constant is money and power. And that’s why they will never seriously confront Big Tech, or the US state that protects it. The whole “we just need better policy” or “we can partner our way out of this” story collapses the moment it runs into actual interests.
And the irony is impossible to miss: FOSDEM itself takes sponsorship money from the very companies shaping the problem - including Google, and IBM (via Red Hat). Whatever you think of sponsorship in general, it’s hard to square that with any serious claim of challenging US tech hegemony.
Technological radicalism didn’t come from boardrooms or polished conference stages. It came from communities: from messy, stubborn, principled people building things together with #FreeSoftware and from the hacker ethic, with its insistence on autonomy, curiosity, and refusal to ask permission.
If we want to keep the spirit of dissent - and the possibility of genuinely free creation - alive, we have to stop chasing legitimacy from institutions that will never be on our side. We have to rebuild from the roots: our communities, our practices, and our politics.
This year, from what I watched online, a few speakers tried to bring politics back into the room. They talked about things like technological sovereignty and the war. After years of carefully avoiding politics, that shift is genuinely welcome.
But the real question is: who are you talking to, and what do you think it will achieve?
If your strategy is to appeal to the EU, or to the supposedly “good intentions” of big corporations, then you’re not fixing the movement’s confusion - you’re reinforcing it.
Because in Brussels and in C-suite offices, the only constant is money and power. And that’s why they will never seriously confront Big Tech, or the US state that protects it. The whole “we just need better policy” or “we can partner our way out of this” story collapses the moment it runs into actual interests.
And the irony is impossible to miss: FOSDEM itself takes sponsorship money from the very companies shaping the problem - including Google, and IBM (via Red Hat). Whatever you think of sponsorship in general, it’s hard to square that with any serious claim of challenging US tech hegemony.
Technological radicalism didn’t come from boardrooms or polished conference stages. It came from communities: from messy, stubborn, principled people building things together with #FreeSoftware and from the hacker ethic, with its insistence on autonomy, curiosity, and refusal to ask permission.
If we want to keep the spirit of dissent - and the possibility of genuinely free creation - alive, we have to stop chasing legitimacy from institutions that will never be on our side. We have to rebuild from the roots: our communities, our practices, and our politics.
💕 I Love Free Software Day 2026 💕
For this year’s I Love Free Software Day I am co-organising two special events, and I am super excited about them!
- 🧶 Knitting Our Internet at Snackbar Frieda, Rotterdam, on Friday Feb 13th at 18:00. All information here.
- 🛹 A reading of @kirschner’s Ada & Zangemann in English and in Dutch. After that, a conversation about Free Software maintenance as care work, together with @mayel from @Bonfire ❤️🔥 at the @internetarchiveeurope, Oudeschans 16, Amsterdam on Saturday Feb 14th at 14:00. All information here. Info about the super cool poster in the post below.
#FreeSoftware #SoftwareFreedom #ILoveFS #ILoveFreeSoftware #ILoveFS #IloveFS26 #ournet #KnittingOurInternet #SnackbarFrieda #Rotterdam #Amsterdam #InternetArchive #InternetArchiveEurope #AZbook #Ada #AdaZangemann #reading #event #decentralizaion #InternetHistory #Internet
❤️ Big thank you to @fosdem From "staff" to video team, volunteers taking care about the wardrobe, the food to volunteers cleaning toilets and many more! ♥️
❤️ Thanks to DevRoom organisers, fellow speakers, the booth teams, and all the visitors who contributed with great questions, discussions, and by creating the special #FOSDEM atmosphere of knowing you are not alone working for #softwarefreedom. ❤️ 👏
Back from #fosdem26 and fighting the post #fosdem blues with slowly beginning editing the recording of the @fsfe's #SoftwareFreedom #podcast that we did after our talk on #podcasting with free software tools, with @annabonnie and featuring the insightful @llas on the fight for mobile user freedom.
I LOVED to record this episode. So interesting and rare to get do it all in person!
Can't wait for you to hear it!
Thank you all for a great, fun FOSDEM!
Very much looking forward to our upcoming first live recording of the #SoftwareFreedom #podcast together with @llas at 14:00 CET (Europe/Brussels), UA4.218
Lucas will share his insights about "can the #DMA help to protect #FreeSoftware developers working with #AOSP?"
https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/event/CFR7NJ-software_freedom_podcast_with_dr_lucas_lasota/
#FOSDEM #FOSDEM25 #FOSDEM2026 #fahrplan @fosdem
Client Info
Server: https://mastodon.social
Version: 2025.07
Repository: https://github.com/cyevgeniy/lmst