New FSF campaigns team to coordinate free software activism in defense of computer
user freedom
BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA—Wednesday, May 16, 2007—The Free Software Foundation
(FSF) today announced the creation of a new activist campaigns team to organize
public support into action on software freedom issues.
The new team will be composed of two campaigns managers and an international group
of volunteers, with one position to be filled by current staff member John Sullivan
and the other by new appointee Joshua Gay. They will work together on the FSF campaigns
BadVista.org and DefectiveByDesign.org, and launch additional campaigns in the near
future.
In announcing the decision to create the campaigns team, FSF executive director
Peter Brown spoke about the recent attempts by Microsoft to use software patents
as the basis of an attack against free software. “Microsoft continues to threaten
the freedom of all computer users with vague claims of software-patent infringement.
Although more people than ever before in the U.S. have the technical capabilities
to develop software, the blight of patents prevents them from making useful advancements.
As such, we need to ask—what is the best way to eliminate the specter of software
patents so that free software development can flourish, and how do we get organized
to make it happen?”
With the expanding use of free software, the defense of its ethical principles is
becoming more important. In addition to software patents, other proprietary software
schemes like Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) and Treacherous Computing threaten
to stifle free software development and shackle users to proprietary software.
“In the early years of the free software movement, the FSF worked to solve the problem
of proprietary software by funding free software development. With the creation
of this campaigns team, we are expanding our work to help clear the way politically
and publicly for free software,” said John Sullivan.
On joining the campaigns team, Joshua Gay said, “I am excited to be joining the
staff of the Free Software Foundation at such an exciting and important time. I
look forward to working with John Sullivan and continuing the momentum of BadVista.org,
DefectivebyDesign.org, and community adoption of GPLv3. Most of all, I hope to begin
reaching out and working with the many communities that value and appreciate the
importance of software freedom.”
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. Its Web site, located at www.fsf.org, is an important
source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be
made at http://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.
Media Contacts
John Sullivan
Campaigns Manager
Free Software Foundation
617-542-5942×23
johns@fsf.org
Joshua Gay
Campaigns Manager
Free Software Foundation
617-542-5942×19
jgay@fsf.org