High-Priority Proposals for the FSF in 2021
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2021-03-23 17:04:54 UTC
- Modified: 2021-03-23 17:10:08 UTC
Summary: Some personal suggestions or a list of things that would help the FSF succeed and keep growing (and remaining relevant) for decades to come
- Offer a compelling way to replace the GitHub (Microsoft) near-monopoly with something that is self-hosted, preferably decentralised to a certain degree, and without a "Community Edition" (everything is for the community). It's already work in progress based on our understanding.
- Promote the use of existing remote work (or conferencing, teaching etc.) tools, especially ones that aren't controlled by GitHub. Or try to wean them off GitHub. The latter points relates to (1).
- Form a stronger coalition with Free software proponents around the world (numbers are our strength) and keep a distance from the corrupting influence (monopolies) of the Linux Foundation and OSI. In many ways they nowadays represent interests opposite to those of the FSF.
- Tackle the growing threat of increasing complexity as barrier to community participation in particular projects (systemd has earned notoriety for this).
- Speak about the growing threat of Clown Computing; the FSFE has done some work in that area, but many people ignore the warnings and outsource almost everything to third parties (mostly monopolies that spy).
- Create a capsule for presence in Gemini space (protocol), which helps tackle most of the issues the World Wide Web has become notorious for. It can help inspire many more capsules.
- Reinstate old campaigns that call out Microsoft Windows for the threat that it is (it is still a growing threat) to people's freedom.
- Repudiate fake solutions to the software patents threat; some of their purveyors have attempted to enlist GNU projects, in effect bypassing real patent reform attempts, seeking to altogether abolish software patents (even after Alice/35 U.S.C. ۤ 101; SCOTUS, 2014).
- Issue a polite public statement just to explain why the FSF's founder was led to resign; many people would appreciate a frank explanation.
- Tackle the issue of censorship, including (reportedly) censorship of mailing lists of LibrePlanet. Freedom of expression is also a form of freedom that must not be conflated with "trolling".
Recent Techrights' Posts
- Stefano Maffulli and His Microsoft-Funded OSI Staff Are Killing the OSI and Killing "Open Source" (All for Money!)
- This is far from over
- Techrights Headlines as Semaphore
- "If you are hearing this, thank you"
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- Links 01/04/2025: Mass Layoffs at Eidos and "Microsoft Pulls Back on Data Centers" (Demand Lacking); "Racist and Sexist" Slop From Microsoft
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- "A recent visit by the South China Morning Post confirmed that the office was dark, unoccupied, and had its logo removed."
- Over at Tux Machines...
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- IRC logs for Monday, March 31, 2025
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- It also sounds like more IBM layoffs are in the making
- Law Firms Can Also Lose Their Licence for Clearly Misusing It
- The bottom line is, never made the false assumption that because you can pile up SLAPPs in a docket you will not suffer from bad reputation or even get disbarred
- Link between institutional abuse, Swiss jurists, Debianism and FSFE
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- LLM Slop Piggybacking News About GNU/Linux and Distorting It
- new examples
- Links 31/03/2025: Press and Democracy Under Further Attacks in the US, Attitudes Towards Slop Sour
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- The surveillance mafia that bans dissent or key people (even co-founders) with dissenting views
- Gemini Links 31/03/2025: More X-Filesposting and Dreaming in Emacs
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 30, 2025
- IRC logs for Sunday, March 30, 2025
- Links 30/03/2025: Security Breaches, Crackdowns on Dissent/Rival Politicians
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- Gemini Links 30/03/2025: London Soundtrack Festival, Superbloom, gmiCAPTCHA
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- Phasing Out Vista 10 in Nations Where ~90% of Windows Users Still Rely on It
- Recipe for another Microsoft disaster
- The Cost of Pursuing the Much-Needed Reform/Shield Against Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs)
- “It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.”
- The LLM Bubble is About to Implode, Gimmicks and Financial Shell Games Cannot Prevent That, Only Delay It
- To inflate the bubble MElon is now doing the classic trick of buying from oneself for a fictional value
- Links 30/03/2025: Contagious Ideas, Signal Leak, and Squashing Lousy Patents
- Links for the day
- Links 30/03/2025: "Quantum Randomness" and "F-1 Visa Revoked" in US
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 30/03/2025: US as a Threat, Returning to the WWW
- Links for the day
- Links 30/03/2025: Judge Blocks Dismantling Of VOA, Turkey Arrested Many Journalists
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 29, 2025
- IRC logs for Saturday, March 29, 2025
