FSFLA announcementsFSFLAhttp://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/index.en.htmlFSFLA announcementsikiwiki2023-05-17T22:00:24ZIRPF-Livre 2023 releasedhttp://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2023-05-IRPF-Livre-2023.en.html2023-05-17T22:00:24Z2023-05-17T22:00:24Z
<h1>IRPF-Livre 2023 released</h1>
<p>Governments come and go, but the oppression of imposed taxing software
for taxation remains.</p>
<p>For a lot of people, using software they cannot control is like water
for a fish: a part of the environment they're in. When the water is
low on oxygen, they may even feel the discomfort, but they seldom
trace it back to the root cause.</p>
<p>For us who love, live and breathe software freedom, any program that
takes it away, that attempts to control our computing and ultimately
ourselves, is painful like a sore toe in a tight shoe.</p>
<p>Uncomfortable and painful as the oxygen-deprived water and the tight
shoe might be, being forced to breathe or wear them, prevented from
seeking better waters or from taking the shoes out, is unbearable.</p>
<p>We struggle to correct an analogous injustice. We had a chance to
relieve one case of imposed taxing software for taxation, so we took
it, and held on to it:</p>
<p>Back in 2007, IRPF, the program that Brazilian taxpayers are required
to run to prepare their income tax returns, was released without
obfuscation, with debug information and surprisingly even under an
acceptable license, which enabled us to reverse engineer it and from
then on to update the rescued source code.</p>
<p>That relieved the primary oppression, but the government changes the
software yearly, so every year brings a new threat to our freedom, and
defending it requires duplicating the changes. That, too, is unjustly
taxing!</p>
<p>Democratic governments ought to respect our freedom, not threaten it.
The tax laws and regulations that the program implements are and must
be public code. Nothing that the software is programmed to do should
be a secret. The tax returns need to be and are verified after
turning in. Nothing justifies making the program freedom depriving.</p>
<p>That it remains so is a manifestation of the bad habit of abusing
power through software, of hijacking others' computers to serve one's
purposes, without thinking much of it. Thus we draw the fish's
attention to the toxic water, and to the root cause of its toxicity.</p>
<p>As we celebrate the 16th anniversary of the IRPF-Livre project, and
take the too-tight shoes out by releasing its updates for 2023, we
call upon the new Brazilian government, and indeed upon all democratic
governments, to quit this bad habit, and to release, under freedom-
and transparency-respecting terms, the source code for all
government-mandated programs, so that they are not imposed taxing
software.
<br /><a href="https://www.fsfla.org/~lxoliva/fsfla/irpf-livre/2023/">https://www.fsfla.org/~lxoliva/fsfla/irpf-livre/2023/</a></p>
<hr />
<p><a name="softimp"></a></p>
<h1>About Imposed Taxing Software</h1>
<p>Since 2006, we have been running a campaign against imposed taxing
software: programs that are imposed in the sense that you cannot avoid
them, and taxing in the sense that they burden you in a way that
resembles a tax, but is exempt from social benefits and paid for with
your freedom.</p>
<p>Nonfree programs are unjust and too onerous (even when they are
nominally gratis), because they imply a loss of freedom, that is, of
control over your digital life. When this burden (of suppressed
freedom) is compounded with the imposition of use of such programs,
they become profoundly oppressive: imposed taxing software.</p>
<p>Our initial focus was on oppressive software imposed by governments,
such as mandatory tax-related programs and software required to
interact with public banks.
<br /><a href="https://www.fsfla.org/circular/2006-11#Editorial">https://www.fsfla.org/circular/2006-11#Editorial</a></p>
<p>While pressuring the government to liberate income tax software in
Brazil, we have been updating and publishing a compatible and
freedom-respecting version every year since 2007.
<br /><a href="https://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2012-10-Acesso-SoftImp">https://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2012-10-Acesso-SoftImp</a>
<br /><a href="https://www.fsfla.org/~lxoliva/fsfla/irpf-livre/">https://www.fsfla.org/~lxoliva/fsfla/irpf-livre/</a></p>
<p>In 2023, we extended the campaign to taxing software imposed by
private providers: when freedom-depriving software is required to
obtain or enjoy products or services.</p>
<p>To be clear, this campaign is not (solely) about software for
taxation, but rather about software that is taxing (an unjust burden,
because it taxes your freedom; the software is itself like a tax), and
that, on top of that, is imposed, thus profoundly oppressive.</p>
<hr />
<h1>About IRPF-Livre</h1>
<p>It's a software development project to prepare Natural Person's Income
Tax returns compliant with the standards defined by the Brazilian
Secretaria de Receita Federal (IRS), but without the technical and
legal insecurity imposed by it.</p>
<p>IRPF-Livre is Free Software, that is, software that respects users'
freedom to run it for any purpose, to study its source code and adapt
it to their needs, and to distribute copies, modified or not.</p>
<p>The program is available both in source and Java object code forms:
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/~lxoliva/fsfla/irpf-livre/">http://www.fsfla.org/~lxoliva/fsfla/irpf-livre/</a></p>
<hr />
<h1>About FSFLA</h1>
<p>Free Software Foundation Latin America joined in 2005 the
international FSF network, previously formed by Free Software
Foundations in the United States, in Europe and in India. These
sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies towards
promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same
freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but
cooperating globally.
<br /><a href="https://www.fsfla.org/">https://www.fsfla.org/</a></p>
<hr />
<p>Copyright 2023 FSFLA</p>
<p>Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
entire document without royalty, provided the copyright notice, the
document's official URL, and this permission notice are preserved.</p>
<p>Permission is also granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
individual sections of this document worldwide without royalty
provided the copyright notice and the permission notice above are
preserved, and the document's official URL is preserved or replaced by
the individual section's official URL.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2023-05-IRPF-Livre-2023">https://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2023-05-IRPF-Livre-2023</a></p>
Bankrupthttp://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2023-04-bancarrota.en.html2023-04-30T21:59:53Z2023-04-15T14:25:35Z
<h1>Bankrupt</h1>
<p>Banking institutions have sought to automate customer service through
websites and, more recently, through TRApps.
<br /><a href="https://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2023-03-TRApps">https://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2023-03-TRApps</a></p>
<p>What these banks are saving in offices and staff, we customers are
paying for with security and freedom. They are morally bankrupt.</p>
<p>Genuine security never depends on secret software. On the contrary,
transparency strengthens security.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, these banks impose on us, in the name of security (their
own, not ours), various harmful behaviors:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the use of software that we cannot control and whose actions on our
computers are hidden from us;</p></li>
<li><p>the use of too-short passwords; and</p></li>
<li><p>the use of devices and operating systems designed to run under
someone else's control, and to collect and exfiltrate our data.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Running software controlled by others always implies a loss of
freedom, and a threat to security and privacy.</p>
<p>The requirement to use these programs has become so common and
persistent that it seems unavoidable. Thus, we have decided to expand
our campaign against imposed taxing software beyond state-controlled
institutions to also include private services and goods whose
providers converge on such impositions.
<br /><a href="https://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2023-04-bancarrota#softimp">https://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2023-04-bancarrota#softimp</a></p>
<p>We share our board member Alexandre Oliva's recent account of his over
20 years of struggle against technological abuse by banks in his
country. We highlight his recent legal victory: online banking
services must be restored without requiring the installation of
programs other than a standard browser. Read more:
<br /><a href="https://www.fsfla.org/texto/bancarrota">https://www.fsfla.org/texto/bancarrota</a></p>
<hr />
<p><a name="softimp"></a></p>
<h1>About Imposed Taxing Software</h1>
<p>Since 2006, we have been running a campaign against imposed taxing
software: programs that are imposed in the sense that you cannot avoid
them, and taxing in the sense that they burden you in a way that
resembles a tax, but is exempt from social benefits and paid for with
your freedom.</p>
<p>Nonfree programs are unjust and too onerous (even when they are
nominally gratis), because they imply a loss of freedom, that is, of
control over your digital life. When this burden (of suppressed
freedom) is compounded with the imposition of use of such programs,
they become profoundly oppressive: imposed taxing software.</p>
<p>Our initial focus was on oppressive software imposed by governments,
such as mandatory tax-related programs and software required to
interact with public banks.
<br /><a href="https://www.fsfla.org/circular/2006-11#Editorial">https://www.fsfla.org/circular/2006-11#Editorial</a></p>
<p>While pressuring the government to liberate income tax software in
Brazil, we have been updating and publishing a compatible and
freedom-respecting version every year since 2007.
<br /><a href="https://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2012-10-Acesso-SoftImp">https://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2012-10-Acesso-SoftImp</a>
<br /><a href="https://www.fsfla.org/~lxoliva/fsfla/irpf-livre/">https://www.fsfla.org/~lxoliva/fsfla/irpf-livre/</a></p>
<p>In 2023, we extended the campaign to taxing software imposed by
private providers: when freedom-depriving software is required to
obtain or enjoy products or services.</p>
<p>To be clear, this campaign is not (solely) about software for
taxation, but rather about software that is taxing (an unjust burden,
because it taxes your freedom; the software is itself like a tax), and
that, on top of that, is imposed, thus profoundly oppressive.</p>
<hr />
<h1>About FSFLA</h1>
<p>Free Software Foundation Latin America joined in 2005 the
international FSF network, previously formed by Free Software
Foundations in the United States, in Europe and in India. These
sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies towards
promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same
freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but
cooperating globally.
<br /><a href="https://www.fsfla.org/">https://www.fsfla.org/</a></p>
<hr />
<p>Copyright 2023 FSFLA</p>
<p>Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
entire document without royalty, provided the copyright notice, the
document's official URL, and this permission notice are preserved.</p>
<p>Permission is also granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
individual sections of this document worldwide without royalty
provided the copyright notice and the permission notice above are
preserved, and the document's official URL is preserved or replaced by
the individual section's official URL.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2023-04-bancarrota">https://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2023-04-bancarrota</a></p>
The TRApp Traphttp://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2023-03-TRApps.en.html2023-03-19T15:12:47Z2023-03-18T18:07:02Z
<h1>The TRApp Trap</h1>
<p>Mobile phone apps, that our board member Alexandre Oliva calls TRApps in
his new article, have replaced, not very spontaneously, web sites that
adhered to international standards and were compatible with free
systems, TRApping people in a duopoly of proprietary and invasive
systems.</p>
<p>When private businesses do so, it's bad; but when governments impose
on citizens the use of proprietary operating systems and programs, to
get public services or to comply with legal obligations, we denounce
them as imposed taxing software.</p>
<p>They're "imposed" in the sense that you can't avoid them, and "taxing"
in that they charge you and take from you your most valuable good:
your freedom.</p>
<p>We call for consumers, citizens and users at large to resist these
impositions and insist that public and private services be available
through sites that will work properly when accessed with a standard
browser on a free operating system, without installing
freedom-depriving programs, not even those that even standard browsers
themselves would install and run automatically from visited sites.
And, when it's necessary to run software on the service recipient's
computer, the software ought to be free.</p>
<p>Read the full article on our site, without TRApps or proprietary
JavaScript.
<br /><a href="https://www.fsfla.org/texto/TRApps">https://www.fsfla.org/texto/TRApps</a></p>
<hr />
<h1>About FSFLA</h1>
<p>Free Software Foundation Latin America joined in 2005 the
international FSF network, previously formed by Free Software
Foundations in the United States, in Europe and in India. These
sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies towards
promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same
freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but
cooperating globally.
<br /><a href="https://www.fsfla.org/">https://www.fsfla.org/</a></p>
<hr />
<p>Copyright 2023 FSFLA</p>
<p>Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
entire document without royalty, provided the copyright notice, the
document's official URL, and this permission notice are preserved.</p>
<p>Permission is also granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
individual sections of this document worldwide without royalty
provided the copyright notice and the permission notice above are
preserved, and the document's official URL is preserved or replaced by
the individual section's official URL.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2023-03-TRApps">https://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2023-03-TRApps</a></p>
Linux-libre turns 15!http://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2023-02-Linux-libre-15.en.html2023-03-18T18:13:59Z2023-02-25T21:44:45Z
<h1>Linux-libre turns 15!</h1>
<p>It was February 2008 when Jeff Moe announced Linux-libre, a project to
share the efforts that freedom-respecting distros had to undertake to
drop the nonfree bits distributed as part of the kernel Linux.
<br /><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/1/lists.autistici.org/message/20080221.002845.467ba592.en.html">https://web.archive.org/web/1/lists.autistici.org/message/20080221.002845.467ba592.en.html</a></p>
<blockquote><p>"For fifteen years, the Linux-libre project has remained dedicated
to providing a kernel that respects everyone's freedom and has
become an essential part of the free software movement. Linux-libre
is widely used by those who value their freedom to use, study,
change, and share software without restrictions or limitations.
These freedoms are essential to creating a just society."
<br />-- Jason Self</p></blockquote>
<p>Since around 1996, Linux has carried sourceless firmware encoded as
sequences of numbers disguised as source code. UTUTO and gNewSense
pioneered the efforts of removing them. Cleaning Linux up is a
substantial amount of work, so the existence of Linux-libre has
alleviated one of the main difficulties in maintaining GNU+Linux
distros that abide by the GNU Free Software Distribution Guidelines.
The Linux-libre compiled kernel distributions maintained by Jason
Self, Freesh (.deb), liberRTy (low-latency .deb) and RPMFreedom
(.rpm), make it easy for users of other GNU+Linux distros to take a
step towards freedom when their hardware is not too user-hostile.</p>
<blockquote><p>"Thanks to Linux-libre, we have entirely libre GNU+Linux distros.
Thanks to Linux-libre, people like me who are not kernel hackers can
install one of those distros and have a computer which never runs a
nonfree program on the CPU. (Provided we use LibreJS as well to
reject nonfree Javascript programs that web sites send us.)"
<br />-- Richard Stallman</p></blockquote>
<p>Early pieces of firmware in Linux ran peripheral devices, but some of
the blobs loaded by Linux nowadays reconfigure the primary central
processing units and others contain an entire operating system for the
peripherals' CPUs, including a copy of the kernel Linux itself and
several other freedom-depriving programs!</p>
<p>After years of our denouncing the social, technical, and legal risks
out of Linux's misbehavior, most of the blobs got moved to separate
files, still part of the kernel Linux, and then to separate packages,
which mitigates some of the legal risks, but the problem keeps
growing: more and more devices depend on nonfree firmware and thus
remain under exclusive and proprietary control by their suppliers.</p>
<h1>Challenge</h1>
<p>For 27 years, the nonfree versions of Linux have shown that tolerating
blobs and making it easy for users to install and accept them makes
users increasingly dependent on user-hostile, blob-requiring devices
for their computing. Refusing to give these devices' suppliers what
they wish, namely your money and control over your computing, is more
likely to succeed at changing their practices if more users refuse.</p>
<p>If you're the kind of software freedom supporter who demands respect
for your freedom, keep on enjoying the instant gratification that GNU
Linux-libre affords you, and supporting (or being!) those who
refurbish old computers and build new ones to respect our autonomy.</p>
<p>However, if you're of the kind for whom last-generation computers are
hard to resist, even though you'd prefer if they were more respectful
of your freedom, you may wish to consider a delayed gratification
challenge: if you and your friends resist hostile computers now, you
may get more respectful ones later, for yourselves and for all of us;
if you don't, the next generations will likely be even more hostile.
Are you up for the challenge?
<br /><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_gratification">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_gratification</a></p>
<h1>Present and Future</h1>
<p>GNU Linux-libre releases are currently prepared with scripts that
automate the cleaning-up and part of the verification. For each
upstream major and stable release, we run the scripts, updating them
as needed, and publish them, along with the cleaning-up logs and the
cleaned-up sources, in a git repository. Each source release is an
independent tag, as in, there are no branches for cleaned-up sources.
This is so we can quickly retract releases if freedom bugs are found.</p>
<p>We have plans to change the cleaning-up process and the repository
structure in the future: we're (slowly) preparing to move to a
rewritten git repository, in which, for each commit in upstream Linux
main and stable repositories, there will be a corresponding cleaned-up
commit in ours. Undesirable bits are going to be cleaned up at the
commit corresponding to the one in which upstream introduced or
modified them, and other modifications will be checked and integrated
unchanged, mirroring the upstream commit graph, with "git replace"
mappings for individual commits and, perhaps, also for cleaned-up
files.</p>
<p>This is expected to enable us to track upstream development very
closely, to get stable and major releases out nearly instantly and
often automatically and to enable Linux developers to clone our freed
repository instead of our upstream to write and test their changes.
The same techniques used to create the cleaned-up repository can be
used to fix freedom bugs in it.</p>
<h1>Artwork</h1>
<p>Jason Self has made several beautiful pictures of his version of
Freedo, our light-blue penguin mascot, and we've used them for our
recent releases.</p>
<p>Marking the beginning of the week in which we celebrate 15 years of
Linux-libre, we had the pleasure of publishing a major release,
6.2-gnu, codenamed "la quinceañera", with a picture of Freedo dressed
up for the occasion.
<br /><a href="https://www.fsfla.org/pipermail/linux-libre/2023-February/003502.html">https://www.fsfla.org/pipermail/linux-libre/2023-February/003502.html</a></p>
<p>But there's more! He also made a commemorative black-and-white
wallpaper with classic Freedo, also dressed up for the occasion.
Check them out, and feel free to tune the colors to your liking!
<br /><a href="https://linux-libre.fsfla.org/#news">https://linux-libre.fsfla.org/#news</a></p>
<p>He also modeled a 3D Freedo in Blender, and we're looking for someone
who could 3D-print it and get it to the FSF office in time for the
LibrePlanet conference. Rumor has it that Richard Stallman is going
to auction it off to raise funds for the FSF! Can you help?
<br /><a href="https://libreplanet.org/2023/">https://libreplanet.org/2023/</a></p>
<hr />
<h1>About GNU Linux-libre</h1>
<p>GNU Linux-libre is a GNU package maintained by Alexandre Oliva, on
behalf of FSFLA, and by Jason Self. It releases cleaned-up versions
of Linux, suitable for use in distributions that comply with the Free
Software Distribution Guidelines published by the GNU project, and by
users who wish to run Free versions of Linux on their GNU systems.
The project offers cleaning-up scripts, Free sources, binaries for
some GNU+Linux distributions, and artwork with GNU and the Linux-libre
mascot: Freedo, the clean, Free and user-friendly light-blue penguin.
Visit our web site and Be Free!
<br /><a href="https://linux-libre.fsfla.org/">https://linux-libre.fsfla.org/</a>
<br /><a href="https://www.gnu.org/distros/">https://www.gnu.org/distros/</a></p>
<h1>About the GNU Operating System and Linux</h1>
<p>Richard Stallman announced in September 1983 the plan to develop a
Free Software Unix-like operating system called GNU. GNU is the only
operating system developed specifically for the sake of users'
freedom.
<br /><a href="https://www.gnu.org/">https://www.gnu.org/</a>
<br /><a href="https://www.gnu.org/gnu/the-gnu-project.html">https://www.gnu.org/gnu/the-gnu-project.html</a></p>
<p>In 1992, the essential components of GNU were complete, except for
one, the kernel. When in 1992 the kernel Linux was re-released under
the GNU GPL, making it Free Software, the combination of GNU and Linux
formed a complete Free operating system, which made it possible for
the first time to run a PC without non-Free Software. This
combination is the GNU+Linux system.
<br /><a href="https://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html">https://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html</a></p>
<h1>About FSFLA</h1>
<p>Free Software Foundation Latin America joined in 2005 the
international FSF network, previously formed by Free Software
Foundations in the United States, in Europe and in India. These
sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies towards
promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same
freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but
cooperating globally.
<br /><a href="https://www.fsfla.org/">https://www.fsfla.org/</a></p>
<hr />
<p>Copyright 2023 FSFLA</p>
<p>Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
entire document without royalty, provided the copyright notice, the
document's official URL, and this permission notice are preserved.</p>
<p>Permission is also granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
individual sections of this document worldwide without royalty
provided the copyright notice and the permission notice above are
preserved, and the document's official URL is preserved or replaced by
the individual section's official URL.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2023-02-Linux-libre-15">https://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2023-02-Linux-libre-15</a></p>
Richard Stallman in Brasilhttp://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2012-11-RMS-Brasil.en.html2012-12-11T09:36:55Z2012-11-29T18:09:43Z
<h1>Richard Stallman in Brazil</h1>
<p>Brazil, November, 2012---Richard Stallman, founder of the Free
Software social and political movement, again honors us with his
presence in Latin America, this time in Brazil. The event that brings
him to the region is CONSEGI, the Free Software and Electronic
Government International Congress, that this year will take place in
Belém, Pará, from December 3 to 7. Thanks to support by CONSEGI
organizers and sponsors, we could schedule, in Goiás, in the Federal
District, and in São Paulo, other speeches by the president of our
sister organization, the original Free Software Foundation (FSF). The
speeches are all non-technical and open to the general public; for
some, prior registration is required.</p>
<p>At Fórum Goiano de Software Livre, in Goiânia, Goiás, from November 30
to December 1st, he will speak on both event days, about GPLv3 and the
Free Software Movement.
<br /><a href="http://fgsl.aslgo.org.br/">http://fgsl.aslgo.org.br/</a></p>
<p>At the University of Brasília, in the Federal District, he will speak
on December 3rd about the dangers of software patents.
<br /><a href="http://www.cic.unb.br/~pedro/trabs/stallman.html">http://www.cic.unb.br/~pedro/trabs/stallman.html</a></p>
<p>His speech at CONSEGI is scheduled for December 6th.
<br /><a href="http://www.consegi.gov.br/">http://www.consegi.gov.br/</a></p>
<p>On the 11th, he will deliver the speech “A Free Digital Society” at
the São Carlos campus of the University of São Paulo.
<br /><a href="http://ccsl.icmc.usp.br/pt-br/news/palestra-stallman-icmc">http://ccsl.icmc.usp.br/pt-br/news/palestra-stallman-icmc</a></p>
<p>On December 12th, he will speak about Free Software at the Sorocaba
Campus of the Federal University of São Carlos.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/redir/20121212-rms-sorocaba">http://www.fsfla.org/redir/20121212-rms-sorocaba</a></p>
<p>We thank the local organizers of each of these events and extend their
invitation for participation in these and other speeches by Richard
Stallman, always announced at FSF's events page.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsf.org/events/">http://www.fsf.org/events/</a></p>
<h1>Update 2012-12-11</h1>
<p>Adding to Richard Stallman's public appointments this week, after the
previously announced speeches in São Carlos and Sorocaba, Solidarius
International takes him to Curitiba, Paraná, to speak about the Free
Software Movement, on December 13, at the Federal University of
Paraná.
<br /><a href="http://softwarelivre.org/curitibalivre/blog/palestra-stallman-ufpr">http://softwarelivre.org/curitibalivre/blog/palestra-stallman-ufpr</a></p>
<hr />
<h1>About the Free Software Movement</h1>
<p>The Free Software Movement promotes software freedom to computer
users, to avoid control and subjugation of users through the programs
they use. DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) and artificial
impediments to the use, sharing and modification of programs are
symptoms of this social problem, fought through informative campaigns,
political activism and development of Free Software, such as the GNU
operating system and the GNU Linux-libre kernel.</p>
<h1>About the Free Software Foundation</h1>
<p>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, and its Web sites,
located at fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information
about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at
<a href="http://donate.fsf.org">http://donate.fsf.org</a>. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsf.org/">http://www.fsf.org/</a></p>
<h1>About FSFLA</h1>
<p>Free Software Foundation Latin America joined in 2005 the
international FSF network, previously formed by Free Software
Foundations in the United States, in Europe and in India. These
sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies towards
promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same
freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but
cooperating globally.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/">http://www.fsfla.org/</a></p>
<h1>About Free Software and Open Source</h1>
<p>The Free Software Movement's goal is freedom for computer users.
Some, especially corporations, advocate a different viewpoint, known
as “open source,” which cites only practical goals such as making
software powerful and reliable, focuses on development models, and
avoids discussion of ethics and freedom. These two viewpoints are
different at the deepest level.
<br /><a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html">http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html</a></p>
<h1>About the GNU Operating System and Linux</h1>
<p>Richard Stallman announced in September 1983 the plan to develop a
Free Software Unix-like operating system called GNU. GNU is the only
operating system developed specifically for the sake of users'
freedom.
<br /><a href="http://www.gnu.org/">http://www.gnu.org/</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.gnu.org/gnu/the-gnu-project.html">http://www.gnu.org/gnu/the-gnu-project.html</a></p>
<p>In 1992, the essential components of GNU were complete, except for
one, the kernel. When in 1992 the kernel Linux was re-released under
the GNU GPL, making it Free Software, the combination of GNU and Linux
formed a complete Free operating system, which made it possible for
the first time to run a PC without non-Free Software. This
combination is the GNU/Linux system.
<br /><a href="http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html">http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html</a></p>
<h1>About GNU Linux-libre</h1>
<p>GNU Linux-libre is a project maintained since 2007 by FSFLA to publish
Free version of the kernel Linux, that in 1996 ceased to be entirely
Free. They're adequate for users who don't wish to give up their
freedoms and for distributions that don't wish to induce their users
to this harmful behavior.
<br /><a href="http://linux-libre.fsfla.org/">http://linux-libre.fsfla.org/</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.gnu.org/distros/">http://www.gnu.org/distros/</a></p>
<hr />
<p>Copyright 2012 FSFLA</p>
<p>Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
entire document without royalty, provided the copyright notice, the
document's official URL, and this permission notice are preserved.</p>
<p>Permission is also granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
individual sections of this document worldwide without royalty
provided the copyright notice and the permission notice above are
preserved, and the document's official URL is preserved or replaced by
the individual section's official URL.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2012-11-RMS-Brasil">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2012-11-RMS-Brasil</a></p>
Access to the Source Code of Imposed Tax Softwarehttp://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2012-10-Acesso-SoftImp.en.html2012-11-24T18:19:26Z2012-10-15T11:32:18Z
<h1>Access to the Source Code of Imposed Tax Software</h1>
<p>Brazil, October 2012--Receita Federal do Brasil (RFB for short), the
Brazilian public administration office in charge of federal taxes, has
ignored for years its obligations of transparency and of respecting
taxpayers' software freedom. However, because of a recent federal law
that sets deadlines for them to respond to citizens' requests for
information, and penalties if they don't, they resort to lies and
distortions to avoid public scrutiny and to impose their
anti-democratic policy.</p>
<p>Since 2008, RFB has been subject to federal regulations that require
the product of software development contracts to be published in the
Brazilian Public [Free] Software Portal, licensed under the GNU GPL.
Their contract with SERPRO (the Federal Data Processing Service), to
develop several programs that RFB publishes on its web site for
taxpayers to fill in and submit tax returns and other forms, should
comply with the obligations established in this regulation, but RFB
prefers to pretend the regulation “does not apply to these programs,
because they do not meet the requirements to be published in the
Portal,” as if their refusal to meet the requirements excused the
non-compliance with the obligations.</p>
<p>As of May 2012, a new law that regulates the constitutional right to
access to public information came into effect, enabling citizens to
request and obtain information from public officials within specific
time frames. On the first day, two requests for access to the source
code of income tax form-filling software were filed on a web site
maintained by the federal government.</p>
<p>Professor Jorge Machado, from University of São Paulo's Access to
Information Public Policies Research Group, got a response stating
that the source code of the requested program contained information
protected by fiscal privacy, that therefore could not be divulged.
Alexandre Oliva, from FSF Latin America, got a response several weeks
after the deadline, with a significantly different argument: the
source code “does not contain, per se, third-party economic-financial
information,” but “evidence about security rules of the institution,
that would increase significantly the risk of unauthorized access to
the systems that receive and validate files sent to this organization,
exposing to vulnerabilities all the private information in the
databases it guards.”</p>
<p>Laymen in information security science might regard this revised
statement as credible, except for a small detail: we have obtained,
through reverse engineering, and published, several years ago, the
source code of one of these programs. We know it contains no
information that could raise the risk of unauthorized access to the
systems or databases containing fiscal information: it doesn't even
interact with such systems or databases.</p>
<p>SERPRO, that not only develops and publishes the requested programs,
but also develops and maintains the databases and the reception and
validation systems, confirmed that “the source code contains no such
information,” that this assertion applies to all programs they have
developed and made available to third parties, and that “there
wouldn't be any technical justification to make the mistake” of
including such sensitive information in these programs.</p>
<p>Why, of course! Since the source code has been public since April,
2007 and both RFB and SERPRO knew it, anything in it that could have
exposed to vulnerabilities the databases with fiscal information would
have demanded immediate action to patch the security issues.
According to SERPRO, no such action was taken. After all, there was
no need for any.</p>
<p>RFB, on its turn, does not even acknowledge that, if they couldn't
publish the source code for security reasons but they took no action
upon knowing it was published, it would follow that they have been
negligent for years in protecting fiscal privacy. But in order to
sustain their authoritarian, antidemocratic and unlawful policy that
“all source code of its ownership [sic] must be safeguarded” because
of its alleged “effective potential to reduce security,” they won't
retract their lie, or they'd lose their only remaining argument
against publishing the programs that ought to be Public Free Software.</p>
<p>Fortunately for all Brazilians, SERPRO has disclaimed RFB's lie, so if
RFB higher officials do not act on this matter out of their own will,
the justice system or other government agencies in charge of enforcing
compliance with the mandate of transparency by default ought to demand
them to do so. While they don't, we keep on pressing RFB with
requests for information that challenge and contradict their lie.</p>
<p>While they insist on it, we get further evidence for future lawsuits
to set them straight, even if with a slim hope they will retract the
lie and publish the requested source code. Meanwhile, we realized
SERPRO is just as required as RFB to publish the source code in their
possession, so we've now filed a request for SERPRO to publish the
source code of some of the programs.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/blogs/lxo/2012-10-10-IRPF-LAI">http://www.fsfla.org/blogs/lxo/2012-10-10-IRPF-LAI</a> (in Portuguese)</p>
<p>When either of them do, we'll have further evidence for the future
lawsuits, and we'll be much closer to meeting the first goal set for
our campaign against Softwares Impostos in Brazil. The source code
will probably still be proprietary if SERPRO publishes it, but its
availability will counter the authoritarian reasoning that alleges a
need for secrecy, so going from that to Free Software shouldn't take
long: the law that requires the software to be published under the GNU
GPL on the Public [Free] Software Portal is on our side for the final
step too.</p>
<h1>About FSFLA's Campaign against Imposed/Tax Software</h1>
<p>We understand the Brazilian law, particularly the Federal
Constitution, grant preference to Free Software in the public
administration, both internally, for compliance with constitutional
principles, and in interactions with citizens, for respect for their
fundamental constitutional rights and for compliance with the same and
other constitutional principles.</p>
<p>This campaign, started in October, 2006, seeks to educate public
administration managers about these obligations that are beneficial
both to citizens and to the public administration itself, such that
they pay attention not only to compliance with the law, but also to
respect for citizens and for digital freedom.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/blogs/lxo/pub/o-software-era-a-lei">http://www.fsfla.org/blogs/lxo/pub/o-software-era-a-lei</a> (in Portuguese)
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2011-04-IRPF-Livre-2011">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2011-04-IRPF-Livre-2011</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2010-03-IRPF-Livre-2010">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2010-03-IRPF-Livre-2010</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/blogs/lxo/pub/misterios-de-eleusis">http://www.fsfla.org/blogs/lxo/pub/misterios-de-eleusis</a> (in Portuguese)
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2009-04-softimp-irpf-livre-2009">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2009-04-softimp-irpf-livre-2009</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2008-04-softimp-irpf-livre-2008">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2008-04-softimp-irpf-livre-2008</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2008-02-softimp-irpf2008">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2008-02-softimp-irpf2008</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/circular/2007-09#1">http://www.fsfla.org/circular/2007-09#1</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/circular/2007-04#3">http://www.fsfla.org/circular/2007-04#3</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2007-03-irpf2007">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2007-03-irpf2007</a> (in Portuguese)
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/circular/2007-03#1">http://www.fsfla.org/circular/2007-03#1</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/circular/2006-11#Editorial">http://www.fsfla.org/circular/2006-11#Editorial</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2006-10-softimp">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2006-10-softimp</a></p>
<h1>About IRPF-Livre</h1>
<p>It's a software development project to prepare Natural Person's Income
Tax returns in the standards defined by the Brazilian Receita Federal,
but without the technical and legal insecurity imposed by it.</p>
<p>IRPF-Livre is Free Software, that is, software that respects users'
freedom to run it for any purpose, to study its source code and adapt
it to their needs, and to distribute copies, modified or not.</p>
<p>The program can be obtained, both in source and Java object code forms
at the following location:
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/~lxoliva/fsfla/irpf-livre/">http://www.fsfla.org/~lxoliva/fsfla/irpf-livre/</a></p>
<h1>About FSFLA's “Be Free!” Initiative</h1>
<p>It's a project to renew the original goals of the Free Software
Movement: not just promote Free Software itself, but rather Software
Freedom, achieved by a user only when all the software s/he uses is
Free Software.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/befree/">http://www.fsfla.org/befree/</a></p>
<p>To make this goal achievable, besides awareness campaigns and speeches
and the activities against “Imposed/Tax Software,” FSFLA has
maintained GNU Linux-Libre, a project to set and keep Free the
non-Free kernel Linux, most used along with the Free operating system
GNU.
<br /><a href="http://linux-libre.fsfla.org/">http://linux-libre.fsfla.org/</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.gnu.org/distros/">http://www.gnu.org/distros/</a></p>
<h1>About FSFLA</h1>
<p>Free Software Foundation Latin America joined in 2005 the
international FSF network, previously formed by Free Software
Foundations in the United States, in Europe and in India. These
sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies towards
promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same
freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but
cooperating globally.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/">http://www.fsfla.org/</a></p>
<h1>Press contacts</h1>
<p>Alexandre Oliva<br />
Board member, FSFLA<br />
<a href="mailto:lxoliva@fsfla.org">lxoliva@fsfla.org</a><br />
+55 19 9714-3658 / 3243-5233<br /></p>
<hr />
<p>Copyright 2012 FSFLA</p>
<p>Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
entire document without royalty, provided the copyright notice, the
document's official URL, and this permission notice are preserved.</p>
<p>Permission is also granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
individual sections of this document worldwide without royalty
provided the copyright notice and the permission notice above are
preserved, and the document's official URL is preserved or replaced by
the individual section's official URL.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2012-10-Acesso-SoftImp">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2012-10-Acesso-SoftImp</a></p>
IRPF-Livre 2011: Death and Taxeshttp://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2011-04-IRPF-Livre-2011.en.html2011-04-25T19:54:12Z2011-04-25T19:54:12Z
<h1>IRPF-Livre 2011: Death and Taxes</h1>
<p>Brazil, April 25, 2011---Last week, billions of people around the
world celebrated their faith on a Nazarene liberator and his
miraculous victory over death. On the 21st, Brazil also remembered
the death of Tiradentes, martyr for the country's independence, who
survived only in memories and in history books. Our gift, hereby
announced, doesn't contain Easter Eggs, that symbolize rebirth,
resurrection or the creativity of computer programmers, but it has to
do with one of the two certainties in life. Although it doesn't avoid
death, it enables escaping from an unfair tax charged by the Brazilian
government in the form of freedom. We offer IRPF-Livre, 2011 version,
a Free alternative to the illegally privative software imposed on
Brazilian taxpayers to prepare their annual Income Tax returns (IRPF).
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/~lxoliva/snapshots/irpf-livre/2011/">http://www.fsfla.org/~lxoliva/snapshots/irpf-livre/2011/</a></p>
<p>IRPF-Livre, that we have maintained since 2007 as part of our campaign
against the deprivation of freedom by governments through Imposed/Tax
Software, was updated in accordance with changes in legislation and
the undocumented file formats required by Receita Federal do Brasil
(RFB).</p>
<p>Although RFB has fixed some of the copyright violations over Free
Software libraries that we pointed out in earlier versions of its
privative IRPF2011, the imposition of this software amounts to failing
to respect not only citizens, but also recent regulations.</p>
<p>Specifically, Normative Instruction (IN) 04/2008/SLTI, effective since
January, 2009, demands from public administration, in its article 21,
that “software resulting from development services must be [...]
published at the Brazilian Public Software Portal.”
<br /><a href="http://www.comprasnet.gov.br/legislacao/in/in04_08.htm">http://www.comprasnet.gov.br/legislacao/in/in04_08.htm</a> (in Portuguese)</p>
<p>Furthermore, IN 01/2011/SLTI, effective since January, 2011, regulates
how software is to be published at this portal, demanding in article 4
that source code be made available and in article 7 the licensing
under free licenses, so far only GNU GPL, and prohibiting, in article
5, the use of privative components.
<br /><a href="http://www.softwarepublico.gov.br/spb/download/file/in_spb_01.pdf">http://www.softwarepublico.gov.br/spb/download/file/in_spb_01.pdf</a> (in Portuguese)</p>
<p>RFB did not publish IRPF2011 at the portal, it didn't offer source
code, it granted a privative license instead of GNU GPL, and it used
privative components, some developed by the company hired to perform
the services, others offered by third parties as Free Software, but
potentially turned privative by not offering the possibly modified
corresponding source code.</p>
<p>To preserve Brazilian taxpayers' freedoms and defend them from the
illegality of the software imposed by RFB, we recommend the use of
IRPF-Livre 2011. On the other hand, we request RFB, the Public
Ministry and the Union Account Court to pursue the correction of this
irregularities that have deprived citizens from essential freedoms and
rights guaranteed by the aforementioned INs. These norms determine
freedom or death to imposed software.</p>
<h1>About IRPF-Livre</h1>
<p>It's a software development project to prepare Natural Person's Income
Tax returns in the standards defined by the Brazilian Receita Federal,
but without the technical and legal insecurity imposed by it.</p>
<p>IRPF-Livre is Free Software, that is, software that respects users'
freedom to run it for any purpose, to study its source code and adapt
it to their needs, and to distribute copies, modified or not.</p>
<p>The program can be obtained, both in source and Java object code forms
at the following location:
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/~lxoliva/fsfla/irpf-livre/2011/">http://www.fsfla.org/~lxoliva/fsfla/irpf-livre/2011/</a></p>
<h1>About FSFLA's Campaign against Imposed/Tax Software</h1>
<p>We understand the Brazilian law, particularly the Federal
Constitution, grant preference to Free Software in the public
administration, both internally, for compliance with constitutional
principles, and in interactions with citizens, for respect for their
fundamental constitutional rights and for compliance with the same and
other constitutional principles.</p>
<p>This campaign, started in October, 2006, seeks to educate public
administration managers about these obligations that are beneficial
both to citizens and to the public administration itself, such that
they pay attention not only to compliance with the law, but also to
respect for citizens and for digital freedom.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2010-03-IRPF-Livre-2010">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2010-03-IRPF-Livre-2010</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/blogs/lxo/pub/misterios-de-eleusis">http://www.fsfla.org/blogs/lxo/pub/misterios-de-eleusis</a> (in Portuguese)
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2009-04-softimp-irpf-livre-2009">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2009-04-softimp-irpf-livre-2009</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2008-04-softimp-irpf-livre-2008">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2008-04-softimp-irpf-livre-2008</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2008-02-softimp-irpf2008">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2008-02-softimp-irpf2008</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/circular/2007-09#1">http://www.fsfla.org/circular/2007-09#1</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/circular/2007-04#3">http://www.fsfla.org/circular/2007-04#3</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2007-03-irpf2007">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2007-03-irpf2007</a> (in Portuguese)
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/circular/2007-03#1">http://www.fsfla.org/circular/2007-03#1</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/circular/2006-11#Editorial">http://www.fsfla.org/circular/2006-11#Editorial</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2006-10-softimp">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2006-10-softimp</a></p>
<h1>About FSFLA's “Be Free!” Initiative</h1>
<p>It's a project to renew the original goals of the Free Software
Movement: not just promote Free Software itself, but rather Software
Freedom, achieved by a user only when all the software s/he uses is
Free Software.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/befree/">http://www.fsfla.org/befree/</a></p>
<p>To make this goal achievable, besides awareness campaigns and speeches
and the activities against “Imposed/Tax Software”, FSFLA has
maintained Linux-Libre, a project to set and keep Free the non-Free
kernel Linux, most used along with the Free operating system GNU.
<br /><a href="http://linux-libre.fsfla.org/">http://linux-libre.fsfla.org/</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.gnu.org/distros/">http://www.gnu.org/distros/</a></p>
<h1>About FSFLA</h1>
<p>Free Software Foundation Latin America joined in 2005 the
international FSF network, previously formed by Free Software
Foundations in the United States, in Europe and in India. These
sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies towards
promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same
freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but
cooperating globally.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/">http://www.fsfla.org/</a></p>
<h1>Press contacts</h1>
<p>Alexandre Oliva<br />
Board member, FSFLA<br />
<a href="mailto:lxoliva@fsfla.org">lxoliva@fsfla.org</a><br />
+55 19 9714-3658 / 3243-5233<br />
+55 61 4063-9714</p>
<hr />
<p>Copyright 2011 FSFLA</p>
<p>Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
entire document without royalty, provided the copyright notice, the
document's official URL, and this permission notice are preserved.</p>
<p>Permission is also granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
individual sections of this document worldwide without royalty
provided the copyright notice and the permission notice above are
preserved, and the document's official URL is preserved or replaced by
the individual section's official URL.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2011-04-IRPF-Livre-2011">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2011-04-IRPF-Livre-2011</a></p>
FSFLA's petition for Canaima GNU/Linux to be Freehttp://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2010-12-Canaima-Libre.en.html2010-12-07T10:11:30Z2010-12-07T10:11:30Z
<h1>FSFLA's petition for Canaima GNU/Linux to be Free</h1>
<p>The Venezuelan Presidential Decree 3390, specifically in articles 2
and 7, explains and backs up the reasons why the Venezuelan state
should develop a Free Software distribution. Canaima GNU/Linux is
this distribution, so it ought to be a Free distribution, without
parts that threaten its users' freedoms.
<br /><a href="http://www.gobiernoenlinea.ve/docMgr/sharedfiles/Decreto3390.pdf">http://www.gobiernoenlinea.ve/docMgr/sharedfiles/Decreto3390.pdf</a></p>
<p>Some institutions have computers with devices that cannot work without
privative drivers and “firmwares”. In the long term, they ought to be
replaced, but in the short term there will be wishes to install these
drivers so as to use them, as if it was normal to include them,
without any warning, and as if they didn't amount to any problem or
danger.</p>
<p>Canaima GNU/Linux ought to resist the temptation to include these
programs in its base distribution and in its future versions.
Specially, it ought to avoid at all costs including them as if they
were normal and acceptable, for this amounts to legitimizing and
accepting them submissively, without actual plans or explicit
intentions to avoid this dependency. There are regulations that will
require that computers purchased or produced by the Venezuelan state
be capable of working with Canaima GNU/Linux. If Canaima GNU/Linux
includes privative drivers, it will enable the purchase of far more
hardware that demands Privative Software to work, preventing the
achievement of our dreamed Technological Sovereignty.</p>
<p>If an institution, for hardware already acquired, requires privative
parts to be able to use these devices, then it will have to name and
install these parts, optionally and with notification on the documents
generated in the process, as established in Presidential Decree 3390.
Privative Software is a problem, and not offering resistance amounts
to losing many past achievements.</p>
<p>Accepting Privative Software amounts to making entire institutions
dependent on the wishes of a business or a small group of people.
It's carrying on in the Privative model.</p>
<p>If Privative Software is integrated with Canaima GNU/Linux, we hope it
isn't with conscientious acceptance by the project, but rather with
the regret and the consciousness of losing Technological Sovereignty,
depriving ourselves of our freedom to learn in informatics, and to be
able to improve these technologies. Besides, many times nothing can
be done with them without approval and blessing from the developers of
these privative parts.</p>
<p>Using Privative Software (in any amount) risks the stability and the
operation of any system, including the defense ones. A tiny privative
program can easily spy on, delete or copy information in such a way
that the user cannot realize it.</p>
<p>Finally, regarding the “freedom” to choose Free Software or Privative
Software in order to be free: it is possible to accept that someone
else controls your computer. It is usual to see those who agree that
someone else makes the decisions on their computers, spy on them or
deny them some features, in addition to preventing studying and
improving its software, for sure. It is true that they can choose to
use Privative Software. We know it and we understand it, though with
much disappointment, for it is unfortunate that someone wants to
choose this option. What we do about this is not to force them or
make them reject Privative Software: we notify them that by taking
this action (which is not a freedom, neither in fact nor by law) they
lose many actual freedoms, of the most important kind, of the kind
that affects entire countries and peoples.</p>
<hr />
<h1>About FSFLA</h1>
<p>Free Software Foundation Latin America joined in 2005 the
international FSF network, previously formed by Free Software
Foundations in the United States, in Europe and in India. These
sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies towards
promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same
freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but
cooperating globally.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/">http://www.fsfla.org/</a></p>
<hr />
<p>Copyright 2010 FSFLA</p>
<p>Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
entire document without royalty, provided the copyright notice, the
document's official URL, and this permission notice are preserved.</p>
<p>Permission is also granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
individual sections of this document worldwide without royalty
provided the copyright notice and the permission notice above are
preserved, and the document's official URL is preserved or replaced by
the individual section's official URL.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2010-12-Canaima-Libre">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2010-12-Canaima-Libre</a></p>
Linux-2.6.36-libre: turning Linux's Free Bait into Free Softwarehttp://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2010-11-Linux-2.6.36-libre-debait.en.html2010-11-08T10:43:49Z2010-11-08T10:43:49Z
<h1>Linux-2.6.36-libre: turning Linux's Free Bait into Free Software</h1>
<p>Cyberspace, November 8, 2010---Linux hasn't got any Freer between the
Linux-2.6.33-libre announcement, back in March, and the present
announcement, that marks the release of Linux-2.6.36-libre. Linux now
contains more non-Free Software, and more drivers in its Free core
that require separately distributed non-Free Software to function.
The welcome news is that Open Source advocates have joined the Free
Software Movement in denouncing the practice of Free Bait or Open
Core.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2010-03-Linux-2.6.33-libre">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2010-03-Linux-2.6.33-libre</a>
<br /><a href="http://linux-libre.fsfla.org/pub/linux-libre/releases/LATEST-2.6.36.0/">http://linux-libre.fsfla.org/pub/linux-libre/releases/LATEST-2.6.36.0/</a></p>
<p>OSI director Simon Phipps writes “Open Core Is Bad For You”, “it's a
game on software freedom”, “it's a bait-and-switch, wrapping the same
old lock-in in the flag of open source and hoping you won't notice.”
Bait-and-switch is a deceptive commercial practice in which one
product is announced to attract customers, to sell another instead.
<br /><a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/simon-says/2010/06/open-core-is-bad-for-you/">http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/simon-says/2010/06/open-core-is-bad-for-you/</a>
<br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bait_and_switch">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bait_and_switch</a></p>
<p>OSI director Andrew C. Oliver adds that “Open Core puts the software
user at a disadvantage in the same way that all proprietary software
puts the user at a disadvantage”, it “is merely a nick-name for a
proprietary software company”, and those who imply their “proprietary
software is open source or has the advantages of open source are
engaging in deception.”
<br /><a href="http://www.opensource.org/blog/OpenCore">http://www.opensource.org/blog/OpenCore</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20100704191126134">http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20100704191126134</a></p>
<p>This agreement between the Free Software movement Freedom campaign and
Open Source spokespeople on a matter of principle signals the
importance of denouncing this practice. However, most of our
community is not aware that Linux has this problem. The most popular
GNU+Linux distributions, and most of their user groups, downplay the
problem of non-Free parts of Linux.</p>
<p>Free Bait, or Open Core as first coined by Andrew Lampitt, is a
licensing strategy that combines Free and non-Free Software: the
distributor offers, under non-Free terms, premium features that are
not available in the Free, typically copyleft, core. The original
definition, presented in the context of deriving benefits such as
profit or code contributions, may appear confusing because it
conflates non-Free with commercial, but Free Bait does not mean
selling additional permissions to the same code, letting others offer
non-Free extensions, or offering Free extensions to paying customers.
Rather, it means that a community member or distributor of the Free
core also offers non-Free extensions to go with it.
<br /><a href="http://alampitt.typepad.com/lampitt_or_leave_it/2008/08/open-core-licen.html">http://alampitt.typepad.com/lampitt_or_leave_it/2008/08/open-core-licen.html</a>
<br /><a href="http://blogs.the451group.com/opensource/2010/10/20/what-is-open-core-licensing-and-what-isnt/">http://blogs.the451group.com/opensource/2010/10/20/what-is-open-core-licensing-and-what-isnt/</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/selling-exceptions">http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/selling-exceptions</a></p>
<p>Sad to say, Linux fits the definition of Free Bait or Open Core. Many
believe that Linux is Free Software or Open Source, but it isn't.
Indeed, the Linux-2.6.36 distribution published by Mr. Torvalds
contains sourceless code under such restrictive licensing terms as
“This material is licensed to you strictly for use in conjunction with
the use of COPS LocalTalk adapters”, presented as a list of numbers in
the corresponding driver, and “This firmware may not be modified and
may only be used with Keyspan hardware” and “Derived from proprietary
unpublished source code, Copyright Broadcom” in the firmware
subdirectory, just to name a few examples.</p>
<p>Although the corresponding drivers are part of the Free and GPLed
core, the features they are meant to provide will only be available to
users that accept the non-Free code that Mr. Torvalds redistributes.
The drivers work as bait, luring users into accepting the deprivation
of essential freedoms over the corresponding non-Free Software.</p>
<p>Most GNU+Linux distributions follow the same practice: they include
other freedom-denying programs beyond the kernel Linux, while
continuing to associate themselves with the terms Free Software or
Open Source.</p>
<p>Even if they, Linux included, remove all these non-Free programs, as
long as they keep software or documentation that induces users to seek
and use non-Free programs, they're still bait.</p>
<p>Please join us in bringing these problems to users' attention, and
also in informing users about the various Free GNU+Linux distros and
Linux-libre, our Free version of the kernel Linux. Available since
October 21, Linux-2.6.36-libre is Bait-free Free Software; Linux and
GNU+Linux can be de-baited and Free again, if we work together at it.
<br /><a href="http://linux-libre.fsfla.org/">http://linux-libre.fsfla.org/</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.gnu.org/distros/">http://www.gnu.org/distros/</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsf.org/working-together/">http://www.fsf.org/working-together/</a></p>
<hr />
<h1>About Linux-libre</h1>
<p>Linux-libre is a project maintained by FSFLA, that releases cleaned-up
versions of Linux, suitable for use in distributions that comply with
the Free Software Distribution Guidelines published by the GNU
project, and by users who wish to run Free versions of Linux on their
GNU systems. The project offers cleaning-up scripts and Free sources,
binaries for some Free GNU/Linux-libre distributions, binaries to
replace with minimal changes the kernels in non-Free GNU/Linux
distributions: Freed-ebian and Freed-ora, and artwork with GNU and the
Linux-libre mascot: Freedo, the clean, Free and user-friendly
light-blue penguin. Visit our web site and Be Free!
<br /><a href="http://linux-libre.fsfla.org/">http://linux-libre.fsfla.org/</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.gnu.org/distros/">http://www.gnu.org/distros/</a></p>
<h1>About FSFLA</h1>
<p>Free Software Foundation Latin America joined in 2005 the
international FSF network, previously formed by Free Software
Foundations in the United States, in Europe and in India. These
sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies towards
promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same
freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but
cooperating globally.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/">http://www.fsfla.org/</a></p>
<hr />
<p>Copyright 2010 FSFLA</p>
<p>Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
entire document without royalty, provided the copyright notice, the
document's official URL, and this permission notice are preserved.</p>
<p>Permission is also granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
individual sections of this document worldwide without royalty
provided the copyright notice and the permission notice above are
preserved, and the document's official URL is preserved or replaced by
the individual section's official URL.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2010-11-Linux-2.6.36-libre-debait">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2010-11-Linux-2.6.36-libre-debait</a></p>
IRPF-Livre 2010: Free as Always, Sooner than Everhttp://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2010-03-IRPF-Livre-2010.en.html2010-03-01T06:03:55Z2010-03-01T06:03:55Z
<h1>IRPF-Livre 2010: Free as Always, Sooner than Ever</h1>
<p>Brazil, March 1st, 2010---It's with great pleasure that we announce
the release of the 2010 version of IRPF-Livre, a Free implementation
of the program to generate natural people's income tax returns. For
the first time since we started the campaign against “Imposed/Tax
Software” (“Softwares Impostos”), in 2006, we publish the Free version
before Receita Federal publishes the proprietary one, that it
traditionally publishes in flagrant disrespect for essential freedoms
and fundamental constitutional rights of Brazilian citizens and
taxpayers.</p>
<h1>Campaign Against Imposed/Tax Software</h1>
<p>More than 3 years ago, FSFLA launched a campaign against Imposed/Tax
Software, with focus on Receita Federal's income tax programs and the
authentication applet for Internet access to Banco do Brasil's
accounts, two proprietary programs unjustly imposed on millions of
citizens by organizations under control of the Brazilian federal
government.</p>
<p>Banco do Brasil recently dropped the requirement for that program, but
introduced a new one: a new proprietary program, less visible, more
dangerous and not effective: browsers that identify themselves as a
specific brand of proprietary cell phones are relieved from this
demand, a trick that can be easily abused by spy sites or programs
that stand in the middle and use this identification, or that simply
display similar pages to capture passwords.</p>
<p>Several security and cybercrime experts recommend the use of a
GNU/Linux Live CD to access banks. Banco do Brasil itself uses this
operating system in pretty much all of its computers, from ATMs to
mainframes. It could easily extend this benefit to its customers,
offering them a fully Free, customized and secure version of this
system for Internet banking, to run independently from the operating
system installed on the computer, or on a virtual machine. The
presence of digital certificates and preselected access links, along
with the impossibility for malicious software to modify the system,
would do away with several supposedly-security measures, that today
weaken the security for those who use already robust systems.</p>
<p>As for Receita Federal and its proprietary program, IRPF, the
nearly-secret formats that it uses to store tax returns, as well as
the secret protocols it uses to transfer them, demand citizens to
blindly give up to Receita Federal, or to third parties, control over
their computers and data stored in them. The way Receita Federal
adopted to distribute the program permits in-flight tampering.
Without means to authenticate the origin of the program, or to inspect
its behavior, users are subject to leaks of the highly personal
information in the tax returns, as well as of other data stored in the
computer. They can't even reassure themselves that the filled-in
forms contain the intended information, or that they are transmitted,
without tampering, only to Receita Federal, or even verify that the
receipt was issued by Receita Federal.</p>
<p>If Receita Federal published the programs as Free Software, with
authentication of origin through digital signatures, these problems
would be solved, without introducing new ones. Whoever attempted to
cheat the system tampering with the computations would find out,
receiving a notification of attempted fraud, that the system that
receives and processes the tax returns performs all the verifications.</p>
<p>Although laymen in information sciences are often fooled by the myth
of security through obscurity (“close your eyes and trust me”),
experts in the subject expose the myth, casting serious doubts on the
competence or the honesty of those who impose blind trust:</p>
<blockquote><p>“Security through obfuscation and secrecy is not security. Fully
disclosed source code is the path to true transparency and
confidence in the voting process for all involved.” --- Eric
D. Coomer, PhD, Vice President of Research and Product Development
at Sequoia Voting Systems.
<br /><a href="http://www.sequoiavote.com/press.php?ID=85">http://www.sequoiavote.com/press.php?ID=85</a></p></blockquote>
<p>Voting systems have far more complex security demands than banking and
fiscal ones, so complex that they can't ever do without recording of
votes on paper. Nevertheless, they can achieve security without
giving up transparency. Popular myths do not grant simpler systems
authority to disrespect transparency or to take control of citizens'
computers and expose them to threats.</p>
<h1>IRPF-Livre</h1>
<p>Given Receita Federal's reluctance in respecting taxpayers and the
Federal Constitution, we started in 2007 a project to offer taxpayer a
Free program to prepare the tax returns that have to be turned in
annually to Brazilian tax authorities.</p>
<p>The program was based on IRPF2007, published under a Free Software
license, but without the source code needed for it to be Free
Software. Without source code, there isn't freedom to study, adapt or
improve the program. Using reverse engineering tools, we could obtain
source code and adapt the program to work on Free Java virtual
machines. Receita Federal changed the license in later versions, so,
instead of adopting the same procedure as in 2007, we have updated the
program, in accordance with changes to law and the file formats
adopted by newer versions.</p>
<p>IRPF-Livre 2010, that we now unleash, performs computations and
generates tax returns files identical to those produced by the test
version of IRPF 2010, released by Receita Federal in January,
reconfigured as a final version, to permit saving files.</p>
<p>In general, between the testing and final versions, there aren't
changes in file formats or computations determined by law, so we are
confident that the program we published will be useful for the
preparation, without the use of any proprietary software, of natural
people's income tax returns to be turned in, on diskettes or pen
drives, at Receita Federal's, Banco do Brasil's and Caixa Econômica
Federal's offices.</p>
<p>However, if there are changes, newer compatible versions, that will be
able to use declarations prepared with the just-published version,
will be released at the same location, where instructions to install
and run the program can also be found:
<br /><a href="http://fsfla.org/~lxoliva/fsfla/irpf-livre/2010/">http://fsfla.org/~lxoliva/fsfla/irpf-livre/2010/</a></p>
<p>Be Free!</p>
<h1>About FSFLA's Campaign against Imposed/Tax Software</h1>
<p>We understand the Brazilian law, particularly the Federal
Constitution, grant preference to Free Software in the public
administration, both internally, for compliance with constitutional
principles, and in interactions with citizens, for respect for their
fundamental constitutional rights and for compliance with the same and
other constitutional principles.</p>
<p>This campaign, started in October, 2006, seeks to educate public
administration managers about these obligations that are beneficial
both to citizens and to the public administration itself, such that
they pay attention not only to compliance with the law, but also to
respect for citizens and for digital freedom.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/blogs/lxo/pub/misterios-de-eleusis">http://www.fsfla.org/blogs/lxo/pub/misterios-de-eleusis</a> (in Portuguese)
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2009-04-softimp-irpf-livre-2009">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2009-04-softimp-irpf-livre-2009</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2008-04-softimp-irpf-livre-2008">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2008-04-softimp-irpf-livre-2008</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2008-02-softimp-irpf2008">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2008-02-softimp-irpf2008</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/circular/2007-09#1">http://www.fsfla.org/circular/2007-09#1</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/circular/2007-04#3">http://www.fsfla.org/circular/2007-04#3</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2007-03-irpf2007">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2007-03-irpf2007</a> (in Portuguese)
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/circular/2007-03#1">http://www.fsfla.org/circular/2007-03#1</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/circular/2006-11#Editorial">http://www.fsfla.org/circular/2006-11#Editorial</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2006-10-softimp">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2006-10-softimp</a></p>
<h1>About FSFLA's “Be Free!” Initiative</h1>
<p>It's a project to renew the original goals of the Free Software
Movement: not just promote Free Software itself, but rather Software
Freedom, achieved by a user only when all the software s/he uses is
Free Software.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/befree/">http://www.fsfla.org/befree/</a></p>
<p>To make this goal achievable, besides awareness campaigns and speeches
and the activities against “Imposed/Tax Software”, FSFLA has
maintained Linux-Libre, a project to set and keep Free the non-Free
kernel Linux, most used along with the Free operating system GNU.
<br /><a href="http://linux-libre.fsfla.org/">http://linux-libre.fsfla.org/</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.gnu.org/distros/">http://www.gnu.org/distros/</a></p>
<h1>About FSFLA</h1>
<p>Free Software Foundation Latin America joined in 2005 the
international FSF network, previously formed by Free Software
Foundations in the United States, in Europe and in India. These
sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies towards
promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same
freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but
cooperating globally.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/">http://www.fsfla.org/</a></p>
<h1>Press contacts</h1>
<p>Alexandre Oliva<br />
Board member, FSFLA<br />
<a href="mailto:lxoliva@fsfla.org">lxoliva@fsfla.org</a><br />
+55 19 9714-3658 / 3243-5233<br />
+55 61 4063-9714</p>
<hr />
<p>Copyright 2010 FSFLA</p>
<p>Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
entire document without royalty, provided the copyright notice, the
document's official URL, and this permission notice are preserved.</p>
<p>Permission is also granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
individual sections of this document worldwide without royalty
provided the copyright notice and the permission notice above are
preserved, and the document's official URL is preserved or replaced by
the individual section's official URL.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2010-03-IRPF-Livre-2010">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2010-03-IRPF-Livre-2010</a></p>
Take your freedom back, with Linux-2.6.33-librehttp://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2010-03-Linux-2.6.33-libre.en.html2010-03-01T06:03:55Z2010-03-01T06:03:55Z
<h1>Take your freedom back, with Linux-2.6.33-libre</h1>
<p>Cyberspace, March 1st, 2010---Linux hasn't been Free Software since
1996, when Mr Torvalds accepted the first pieces of non-Free Software
in the distributions of Linux he has published since 1991. Over these
years, while this kernel grew by a factor of 14, the amount of
non-Free firmware required by Linux drivers grew by an alarming factor
of 83. We, Free Software users, need to join forces to reverse this
trend, and part of the solution is Linux-libre, whose release
2.6.33-libre was recently published by FSFLA, bringing with it
freedom, major improvements and plans for the future.</p>
<h1>History</h1>
<p>All firmware in Linux-1.3.0 was Free Software. Whatever little
relevance the GNU/Linux operating system had back in 1995 was enough
for a few hardware vendors to disclose the details of their hardware
or even offer all the software needed to make it work under terms that
respected users' essential freedoms. They knew Linux, already
licensed under the GNU GPLv2, wouldn't have drivers for their
components otherwise.</p>
<p>Over the year that followed, Mr Torvalds changed his stance, and
started accepting binary-only firmware in Linux. Because of this
decision, GNU/Linux ceased to be an incentive for hardware vendors to
respect users' essential freedoms. Since the Linux developers
forfeited the defenses provided by the GPL, nearly all of the vendors
decided to keep only to themselves the control over the ever-growing
computers that passed for peripherals.</p>
<p>Some 143KB of object code disguised as source code were present in the
4.7MB compressed tarball of Linux-2.0, released in June, 1996. Some 6
years later, there were 1.3MB of non-Free firmware hiding in the 26MB
compressed tarball of Linux-2.4.19. In Linux-2.6.33, all of these
pieces and them some, adding up to 2MB, lie in a subtree created some
two years ago to hold firmware in Linux. Another 650KB still
disguised as sources were recently added to the staging subtree, and
another 9.2MB (duplicates removed) live in a separate archive, created
to eventually replace the firmware subtree in Linux.</p>
<h1>Perspective</h1>
<p>The largest single piece of non-Free firmware in the linux-firmware
repository weights 1.25MB today. In the 1980s, half as many bytes
were held as enough memory for any application in a personal computer.
It was then that Richard Stallman started working on GNU, when entire
operating systems were smaller than that. He realized that users
should be entitled to the four essential freedoms over all the
software that ran on computers, even when they were far less powerful
than today's peripherals.</p>
<p>We have achieved that, a Free operating system for general-purpose
personal computers, but it lasted for only a few years. The kernel
that provided the piece that was missing in the GNU operating system
hasn't been Free Software for more than a decade, and it requests
users to install a growing number of non-Free programs that are not
included in it.</p>
<h1>Progress</h1>
<p>We welcome, applaud and thank the various recent efforts that resulted
in Free firmware for various devices: Atheros contributed Free
firmware for its ar5k and ar9k wireless networking cards; experts in
reverse engineering developed Free firmware for some of Broadcom's b43
wireless networking cards; others developed the Free nouveau driver
for nVidia video cards, and, more recently, completed the task with
Free firmware for them, unfortunately a bit too late for the final
pieces to make Linux-2.6.33.</p>
<p>However, just like RMS, we realized that developing Free Software
isn't enough to establish freedom for the users of GNU/Linux. We also
need to educate them to value their freedom, and to recognize and
reject non-Free Software. Otherwise, the products that require users
to give up their freedom would continue to find willing customers.</p>
<p>A few years ago, the Free Software community realized that Linux was
no longer Free Software, and started various efforts to fix this
problem. One of them, born nameless within gNewSense, was named
Linux-libre within BLAG. Once we took responsibility for it, in
addition to removing the non-Free components from Linux, we replace
the requests for non-Free firmware with messages that inform users
that the hardware in question is a trap.</p>
<p>Our hope is that more users will use this Free version of Linux,
present in various GNU/Linux-libre distributions, to find out about
hardware components that do not respect their freedoms, then tell
vendors how unhappy they are, and use their freedom and power of
choice to support vendors that do respect their customers.</p>
<p>Large businesses, governments or lots of users working together,
applying a little pressure at the right spot of vendors' pockets, can
often get them to change their minds and voluntarily respect
customers' freedom. Failing that, we can still help, participating in
or funding reverse engineering efforts. The manufacturers that
voluntarily respect our freedom deserve the most appreciation, but a
product that works in freedom despite the efforts of the manufacturer
is much better than nothing.</p>
<h1>What's new in Linux-2.6.33-libre</h1>
<p>We don't maintain the Linux-libre source files directly. Instead we
maintain “deblobbing” scripts that clean Linux “sources”, thus
producing Linux-libre sources. The main improvement in this
generation of Linux-libre, the fourth since we got involved, consisted
of making the deblobbing scripts more efficient.</p>
<p>As we accumulated thousands of patterns to recognize blobs, sequences
that look like blobs but that aren't, requests for non-Free firmware
external to Linux, and documentation that induces users to install it,
running the GNU sed script generated to locate and remove blobs became
too expensive for many users: in recent releases of Linux-libre, GNU
sed took some 15 seconds and more than 2GB of RAM to compile all the
patterns in the script.</p>
<p>The solution was to rewrite the main script in higher-level scripting
languages. GNU awk reduced the start-up time to about 3 seconds, and
memory requirements dropped by an order of magnitude, but 3 seconds
multiplied by the 260 files that get cleaned up with this script to
form Linux-2.6.33-libre is a lot of time to waste. Python and PERL
compile our huge collection of patterns in tenths of a second, while
reducing memory use by almost another order of magnitude. However,
internal limits in PERL's pattern matching algorithm produce incorrect
results in deblob-check, so using it with PERL is not recommended for
now.</p>
<p>For deblob-main's cleaning-up of small files in Linux, Python was
determined to be fastest, which is why it is the new default. For
verifying that a large tarball is clean, Python and PERL's run-time
jump to more than 90 minutes, up from 5 minutes with GNU awk and as
little as 3 minutes with GNU sed. GNU awk comes ahead when listing
all the blobs in a Linux tarball, now with a long-wished feature:
printing before each blob the name of the file within the tarball that
contains it.</p>
<p>Future releases may be smarter in choosing suitable backend depending
on task and inputs. For now, users of deblob-check should be aware of
the new flags: --use-python, --use-awk, --use-perl, and --use-sed, and
the corresponding environment variables PYTHON, AWK, PERL, and SED.</p>
<p>The lower memory footprint and CPU requirements for checking and
cleaning up individual files means it is again possible to clean up
Linux trees on the fly, which a number of users used to find valuable.</p>
<p>Over the next few days, we'll also roll out Linux-libre, generation 4,
for earlier Linux releases, fixing a few deblobbing errors in staging
drivers and catching a few more occurrences of non-Free blob names in
documentation and error messages.</p>
<h1>Request for comments</h1>
<p>A number of our users have expressed legitimate dissatisfaction with a
consequence of the method we've used to stop the kernel from inducing
users to install non-Free firmware. It is not our goal to prevent
users from loading or running non-Free firmware, but the only way we
thought of to avoid inducing users to run non-Free firmware had the
side effect of making it impossible to use the non-Free firmware just
by installing it.</p>
<p>In Linux, several drivers call request_firmware with a blob name.
This request is logged, including the blob name, and passed on to a
userland program, supposed to locate a firmware file with that name
and upload it to the kernel. Given the logs, in addition to existing
and potential behavior of the userland program, this amounted to Linux
telling its user to install a specific non-Free program, which is
unacceptable.</p>
<p>Linux-libre releases since generation 2 replace the blob name with a
name that the firmware loader is unlikely to match, and that could be
recognized in userland to inform users about the lack of Free firmware
for some hardware component of the system. We also reject whatever
response the firmware loader produces for such requests, to minimize
the risk of accidental matches and hardware damage.</p>
<p>We reasoned that anyone determined to use the firmware could still
build a module, or a complete kernel, that issues the request and uses
the response. This possibility was considered too cumbersome by some.</p>
<p>Recently we came up with another way to achieve the goal of stopping
the kernel from inviting users into the trap of non-Free Software:
where Linux requests a firmware file that we know is non-Free, we
could anonymize the blob name with a unidirectional hash of its name
and a kernel build and/or session identifier, and issue a request for
a file named after the computed hash.</p>
<p>Given a suitable implementation of the userland firmware loader,
whatever pieces of firmware the user chose to install would still be
readily located and made available to the kernel. However, because of
the unidirectional nature of the hash, a request for firmware that's
not installed won't steer users toward that firmware, because the hash
code won't immediately identify it. Thus, if the user insists on
installing this firmware, Linux-libre will work with it, but it is
very unlikely anyone will install the firmware because of Linux-libre.</p>
<p>Join us at <a href="mailto:linux-libre@fsfla.org">linux-libre@fsfla.org</a> and let us know your suggestions,
other ways to address this issue, or your opinion about this plan and
whether it might be accepted upstream. Feedback and help are welcome!</p>
<p>In the mean time, Be Free! with Linux-2.6.33-libre, and help us
reverse the growing dependency of Linux on non-Free firmware.</p>
<h1>About Linux-libre</h1>
<p>Linux-libre is a project maintained by FSFLA, that releases cleaned-up
versions of Linux, suitable for use in distributions that comply with
the Free Software Distribution Guidelines published by the GNU
project, and by users who wish to run Free versions of Linux on their
GNU systems. The project offers cleaning-up scripts and Free sources,
binaries for some Free GNU/Linux-libre distributions, binaries to
replace with minimal changes the kernels in non-Free GNU/Linux
distributions: Freed-ebian and Freed-ora, and artwork with GNU and the
Linux-libre mascot: Freedo, the clean, Free and user-friendly
light-blue penguin. Visit our web site and Be Free!
<br /><a href="http://linux-libre.fsfla.org/">http://linux-libre.fsfla.org/</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.gnu.org/distros/">http://www.gnu.org/distros/</a></p>
<h1>About FSFLA</h1>
<p>Free Software Foundation Latin America joined in 2005 the
international FSF network, previously formed by Free Software
Foundations in the United States, in Europe and in India. These
sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies towards
promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same
freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but
cooperating globally.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/">http://www.fsfla.org/</a></p>
<hr />
<p>Copyright 2010 FSFLA</p>
<p>Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
entire document without royalty, provided the copyright notice, the
document's official URL, and this permission notice are preserved.</p>
<p>Permission is also granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
individual sections of this document worldwide without royalty
provided the copyright notice and the permission notice above are
preserved, and the document's official URL is preserved or replaced by
the individual section's official URL.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2010-03-Linux-2.6.33-libre">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2010-03-Linux-2.6.33-libre</a></p>
Argentine peacehttp://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2009-08-paz-argentina.en.html2009-08-24T01:47:14Z2009-08-24T01:34:02Z
<h1>Argentine peace</h1>
<p>To SOLAR, Hipatia, Madres de Plaza de Mayo, UTUTO, and their members;
to other Free Software and Human Rights organizations, projects and
activists; and to whomever else it may concern,</p>
<p>FSFLA is accused of acts in Argentina that are incompatible with our
values and public commitments. The accusations are misdirected: they
were first raised more than 4 years ago, against a few people who
later came to be FSFLA founding members but are no longer in FSFLA.
We cannot judge the dispute between others, but if we had existed then
as today, we certainly wouldn't have behaved as alleged. We shall
never recommend that Free Software speakers avoid a venue where they
will be welcome and listened to, and we shall never try to divide a
project committed to the values of the Free Software Movement.</p>
<p>FSFLA was founded in November, 2005. One year later, insurmountable
internal differences forced a restart. Of the people against which
the accusations were first raised, none remained. We adopted a new
constitution and invited Free Software activists from all over Latin
America to join us.</p>
<p>Whatever occurred happened before FSFLA's founding, it wasn't approved
by FSFLA. There wasn't even discussion about these issues within the
FSFLA formation team before they allegedly took place. Per our
constitution, nobody represents FSFLA without a formal decision to
approve this. If our name was used, it was without authorization. We
deny any connection with whatever did happen. Our current values and
public commitments would not have permitted us to behave as alleged:
if consulted, we'd advise and decide against the alleged acts
attributed to a few of our founders.</p>
<p>In spite of our non-involvement, we recognize and regret the setbacks
and conflicts that followed the doubts about whether Richard Stallman
should speak at the Universidad Popular de Madres de Plaza de Mayo, in
2004, and the alleged attempt to divide the UTUTO project, in early
2005. Our constitution demands us to value the long-term advancement
of Software Freedom ahead of anything else. This is the opposite of
the alleged acts.</p>
<p>We stand by our commitments to our constitution, our mission, and the
ethical, moral and social values that are the foundations of the Free
Software Movement. We vow to help and support the promotion of the
ideals and principles of Software Freedom to people and entities,
regardless of their political inclinations, including social movements
and human rights organizations such as Madres de Plaza de Mayo, along
with any Free Software communities that welcome our cooperation to
that end. We respect and support the unity of the UTUTO project, the
first to create a 100% Free distribution of GNU/Linux, and of any
other projects committed to the values of the Free Software Movement.</p>
<p>We urge the involved parties to attempt to resolve peacefully the
remaining conflicts and put an end to the hostilities that harm the
Free Software Movement. We reaffirm our wish and invitation for
further cooperation with and among all communities, organizations, and
activists in the promotion of Software Freedom.</p>
<hr />
<p>Free Software Foundation Latin America</p>
<h1>About FSFLA</h1>
<p>Free Software Foundation Latin America joined in 2005 the
international FSF network, previously formed by Free Software
Foundations in the United States, in Europe and in India. These
sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies towards
promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same
freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but
cooperating globally.</p>
<hr />
<p>Copyright 2009 FSFLA</p>
<p>Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
entire document without royalty, provided the copyright notice, the
document's official URL, and this permission notice are preserved.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2009-08-paz-argentina">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2009-08-paz-argentina</a></p>
Caracas Declarationhttp://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2009-07-declaracion-de-caracas.en.html2009-08-24T01:32:44Z2009-07-27T06:45:22Z
<p></p><h1>Caracas Declaration<br />
<center>
</center></h1><h2>
Need for international<br />
and community cooperation<br />
in Latin America in favor<br />
of Free Software<br />
<br />
Caracas, Venezuela. July 20th, 2009<br />
<br />
Free Software Foundation Latin America's<br />
First Meeting
</h2>
<h1>Preamble</h1>
<p>In Caracas, Venezuela, on the 20th day of the month of July, 2009, in
conformance with the Freedom values established in the GNU Manifesto
and in the Free Software definition,</p>
<p>Considering that scientific and technologic knowledge amounts to a
need and a right of the peoples of Latin America, as prioritary policy
for the cultural, economic, social and political development of their
nations.</p>
<p>Considering that the commitment is inalienable to defend the rights of
users, developers, governments and businesses to use, adapt, share and
improve their software and resist the unauthorized use of personal
information by third parties, so as to be able to maintain control of
their informatics.</p>
<p>Considering that Free Software is an ethical way of technological
development, with collaborative features, based on or supported by a
social fabric formed by multidisciplinary teams that fight and
participate for a common end: Software Freedom and the values it
encompasses.</p>
<p>Considering that Free Software represents, for the Peoples and
Governments of Latin America, an opportunity for the adoption of Free
Open Standards in their administrative processes, that suit their
needs for implementing information systems for Electronic Government.</p>
<p>Considering that the adoption of Free Software developed with Free
Open Standards in Latin American governments will facilitate
interoperability of the information systems of the States,
contributing to faster and appropriate responses to citizens,
improving governability, along with a greater participation of users
in the maintenance of security levels of their software.</p>
<p>Considering that Free Software represents a unique opportunity for the
consolidation of Technological Sovereignty and Integration of the
Latin American peoples, and the elimination of technological lock in
caused by Proprietary Software monopolies.</p>
<p>Considering that a common understanding of these rights and freedoms
is of great importance for full compliance with said commitment.</p>
<p>As Free Software Foundation Latin America, we have decided to publish
the following message through this document, which proclaims “Software
Freedom” as a common goal, for which all Latin American nations ought
to strive, to the end of generating community work that promotes and
demands ethical values, through education and respect for the rights
and Freedoms to use, study, modify and distribute Free Software. This
is how we have developed the following declaration titled “Caracas
Declaration” that contains recommendations for each one of the action
axes that we regard as priorities:</p>
<h1>On Local Communities and Free Software</h1>
<p>We invite Latin American communities and their members to disseminate
all their activities and overall their success cases, for knowledge of
all local achievements at an international level will serve to
exemplify with facts the benefits of Freedom, encouraging other
communities to imitate them.</p>
<p>Likewise, for the success of our mission it is important to set aside
differences and problems that have become historical background,
taking community work initiatives, so that the many similarities
prevail over the few differences between local communities, to achieve
more and better results.</p>
<p>Software Freedom activists have a responsibility to present values,
defending and disseminating the essential Freedoms that define Free
Software, and it is to this end that we request them to inform users
about the harm caused by the Proprietary Software included in a
majority of the currently popular GNU/Linux distributions, and invite
them to promote wholly Free distributions, educating society for
Freedom and its values over technology.</p>
<p>Free Software Foundation Latin America, conscious of the needs and
requirements to confront the grave implications that Proprietary
Software imposes, renews its commitment to support the dissemination
and the community processes that promote synergy among local
communities on an international level, in favor of Freedom and the
values that Free Software promotes.</p>
<h1>On Free Software and Latin American States</h1>
<p>Governments must represent and promote the interests of their peoples,
having a duty to ensure the control of the goods they administrate and
regulate, a reason for which they must keep them under control through
Software that brings with it freedom to run it for any purpose, to
study its source code to understand its functioning and adapt it to
their own needs, thereby ensuring the state's sovereignty in the
technological field and the continuity and integrity of access to
information.</p>
<p>This is why we invite governments to use and promote Free Software
(including free drivers and associated technologies) so that they can
comply with their duty to maintain self control, auditability and
sovereignty.</p>
<p>All that states produce in terms of Software is citizens' property and
thus a public good, that should be published, respecting the essential
Freedoms of Free Software, unless the people decides not to publish
it. Furthermore, these public goods must keep their function of
serving citizens and must be published under terms that promote the
interests of the nations and of society. We summon governments to
publish software they develop and use, under licenses that not only
respect, but also defend and promote the appropriate values for all
its users, that is, Free Software and Copyleft licenses, that make the
freedoms inseparable from the software.</p>
<p>Governments of Latin America: promote a culture of respect for
Software Freedom, breaking the social inertia that induces governments
and people to give up their freedoms, enabling them to generate a
society that is freer, more equitable and just.</p>
<h1>Free Software in Latin American Education</h1>
<p>In the field of education, teaching Free Software will instill the
ethical and moral values as a dynamic instrument of integration among
individuals, their social contexts and therefore in all nations.</p>
<p>We issue a call for the promotion, among students, of values towards
society, fomenting in them the cooperation and the will to share with
their neighbor through the use of Free Software, since the use of
Proprietary Software turns sharing and collaboration into a crime, and
restricts the Freedom to learn by not permitting access to the
knowledge about how the Software is built.</p>
<p>Another point is that Free Software enables a better use and
redistribution of the economic resources, and these savings enable
better educational platforms at education centers.</p>
<h1>Our Commitment</h1>
<p>Free Software Foundation Latin America, acting as an international
network of organizations and people who promote Software Freedom, will
serve as a facilitating agent for the communication and diffusion of
local activities, also supporting initiatives by means of
representation and international bridging.</p>
<h1>About this document</h1>
<p>This document springs out of the first meeting of Free Software
Foundation Latin America members, who in Caracas, Venezuela, met at
the Fifth National Congress on Free Software and decided to compose
this declaration. It contains a set of impressions and positions
about community, educational and political aspects, in which the
primary focus given to the document is promoting Freedom values over
technology and ethical values of practical ones.
</p>
<h1>About FSFLA</h1>
<p>Free Software Foundation Latin America joined in 2005 the
international FSF network, previously formed by Free Software
Foundations in the United States, in Europe and in India. These
sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies towards
promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same
freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but
cooperating globally.</p>
<hr />
<p>Copyright 2009 FSFLA</p>
<p>Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
entire document without royalty, provided the copyright notice, the
document's official URL, and this permission notice are preserved.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2009-07-declaracion-de-caracas">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2009-07-declaracion-de-caracas</a></p>
<hr />
<p>The board members of Free Software Foundation Latin America sign in a
single act in the city of Caracas, Venezuela, on July 20th, 2009, with
cooperation of the board observer Eduardo Saavedra.</p>
IRPF-Livre 2009: The struggle against “Softwares Impostos” goes onhttp://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2009-04-softimp-irpf-livre-2009.en.html2009-04-17T07:37:04Z2009-04-17T07:37:04Z
<h1>IRPF-Livre 2009: The struggle against “Softwares Impostos” goes on</h1>
<p>The deadline to turn in income tax returns to Receita Federal do
Brasil is approaching. RFB wants you to prepare yours using a trojan
horse it created and controls. FSFLA, once again, offers a solution:
IRPF-Livre 2009.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/~lxoliva/fsfla/irpf-livre/2009/">http://www.fsfla.org/~lxoliva/fsfla/irpf-livre/2009/</a> (in Portuguese)</p>
<p>RFB's failure to abide by the Brazilian Federal Constitution remains:
it is incompliant with the constitutional principle of publicity, even
after a demand backed by the transparency law, for denying citizens
the possibility of verifying, through inspection of source code, that
the programs it offers work in accordance with the tax law in force.
<br /><a href="http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2004-2006/2005/Lei/L11111.htm">http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2004-2006/2005/Lei/L11111.htm</a> (in Portuguese)</p>
<p>Even after legal procedures, it still imposes on taxpayers
inconstitutional demands, of using a specific program to present
information required by law, instead of setting a Free Open Standard
for the forms, enabling multiple compatible implementations, among
which RFB's own, which should in turn be Free Software.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/stdlib/">http://www.fsfla.org/stdlib/</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2007-03-irpf2007">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2007-03-irpf2007</a></p>
<p>Once again, to protect citizens' rights to freedom, to safety and to
privacy, it was necessary to resort to reverse engineering, to find
out undocumented changes to file formats in the specification
published by RFB, so as to update the program IRPF-Livre, that we
first published in 2007.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/texto/denuncia-irpf">http://www.fsfla.org/texto/denuncia-irpf</a> (in Portuguese)</p>
<p>Take advantage of the upcoming holiday to set yourself free, not only
from the obligation of turning in your tax return, but also in a
broader sense! Prepare your declaration using exclusively Free
Software: IRPF-Livre 2009, Free Java virtual machines such as GNU
Interpreter for Java and IcedTea, the GNU operating system, and a Free
kernel, such as Linux-libre. And then, after you're done with
IRPF-Livre, keep on using the others: Be Free!
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/~lxoliva/fsfla/irpf-livre/2009/">http://www.fsfla.org/~lxoliva/fsfla/irpf-livre/2009/</a> (in Portuguese)
<br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Interpreter_for_Java">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Interpreter_for_Java</a>
<br /><a href="http://icedtea.classpath.org/wiki/Main_Page">http://icedtea.classpath.org/wiki/Main_Page</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.gnu.org/distros/">http://www.gnu.org/distros/</a>
<br /><a href="http://linux-libre.fsfla.org/">http://linux-libre.fsfla.org/</a></p>
<h1>About IRPF-Livre</h1>
<p>It's a software development project to prepare Natural Person's Income
Tax returns in the standards defined by the Brazilian Receita Federal,
but without the technical and legal insecurity imposed by it.</p>
<p>IRPF-Livre is Free Software, that is, software that respects users'
freedom to run it for any purpose, to study its source code and adapt
it to their needs, and to distribute copies, modified or not.</p>
<p>The program can be obtained, both in source and Java object code forms
at the following location:
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/~lxoliva/fsfla/irpf-livre/2009/">http://www.fsfla.org/~lxoliva/fsfla/irpf-livre/2009/</a> (in Portuguese)</p>
<h1>About FSFLA's Campaign against Softwares Impostos</h1>
<p>We understand the Brazilian law, particularly the Federal
Constitution, grant preference to Free Software in the public
administration, both internally, for compliance with constitutional
principles, and in interactions with citizens, for respect for their
fundamental constitutional rights and for compliance with the same and
other constitutional principles.</p>
<p>This campaign, started in October, 2006, seeks to educate public
administration managers about these obligations that are beneficial
both to citizens and to the public administration itself, such that
they pay attention not only to compliance with the law, but also to
respect for citizens and for digital freedom.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2008-04-softimp-irpf-livre-2008">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2008-04-softimp-irpf-livre-2008</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2008-02-softimp-irpf2008">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2008-02-softimp-irpf2008</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/circular/2007-09#1">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/circular/2007-09#1</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/circular/2007-04#3">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/circular/2007-04#3</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2007-03-irpf2007">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2007-03-irpf2007</a> (in Portuguese)
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/circular/2007-03#1">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/circular/2007-03#1</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/circular/2006-11#Editorial">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/circular/2006-11#Editorial</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2006-10-softimp">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2006-10-softimp</a></p>
<h1>About FSFLA's “Be Free!” Initiative</h1>
<p>It's a project to renew the original goals of the Free Software
Movement: not just promote Free Software itself, but rather Software
Freedom, achieved by a user only when all the software s/he uses is
Free Software.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/befree/">http://www.fsfla.org/befree/</a></p>
<p>To make this goal achievable, besides awareness campaigns and speeches
and the activities against “Softwares Impostos”, FSFLA has maintained
Linux-Libre, a project to set and keep Free the non-Free kernel Linux,
most used along with the Free operating system GNU.
<br /><a href="http://linux-libre.fsfla.org/">http://linux-libre.fsfla.org/</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.gnu.org/distros/">http://www.gnu.org/distros/</a></p>
<h1>About Free Software Foundation Latin America</h1>
<p>FSFLA joined in 2005 the FSF network, previously formed by Free
Software Foundations in the United States, in Europe and in India.
These sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies
towards promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same
freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but
cooperating globally. For more information about FSFLA and to
contribute to our work, visit our web site at <a href="http://www.fsfla.org/">http://www.fsfla.org/</a> or
write to <a href="mailto:info@fsfla.org">info@fsfla.org</a>.</p>
<h1>Press contacts</h1>
<p>Alexandre Oliva<br />
Board member, FSFLA<br />
<a href="mailto:lxoliva@fsfla.org">lxoliva@fsfla.org</a><br />
+55 19 9714-3658 / 3243-5233<br />
+55 61 4063-9714</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Copyright 2009 FSFLA</p>
<p>Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
entire document without royalty, provided the copyright notice, the
document's official URL, and this permission notice are preserved.</p>
<p>Permission is also granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
individual sections of this document worldwide without royalty
provided the copyright notice and the permission notice above are
preserved, and the document's official URL is preserved or replaced by
the individual section's official URL.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2009-04-softimp-irpf-livre-2009">http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2009-04-softimp-irpf-livre-2009</a></p>
Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the GNU projecthttp://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2008-09-gnu-25.en.html2008-09-27T06:37:05Z2008-09-27T06:37:05Z
<h1>
Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the GNU project
</h1>
<p>Few people had access to computers back when Richard Matthew Stallman
realized the then-nascent software industry was adopting a business
model based on denying software users their four essential freedoms,
and that he could do something about it. Today, millions of people,
businesses and governments run the result of the efforts to preserve
and defend their freedoms he started 25 years ago, but few even know
about the GNU project. Let's celebrate the accomplishments, and
spread the word!
<br /><a href="http://www.gnu.org/">http://www.gnu.org/</a></p>
<p>On Sept 27, 1983, RMS announced to the world his goal of writing a
Free UNIX-compatible operating system, i.e., one that wouldn't demand
users to give up their freedoms to run, study, modify and distribute
any software, modified or not. He invited programmers to join him in
this task of developing a sufficiently large body of software to
enable people to use computers in freedom, and in accordance with the
moral foundations of sharing, solidarity and reciprocity.
<br /><a href="http://www.gnu.org/gnu/initial-announcement.html">http://www.gnu.org/gnu/initial-announcement.html</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html</a></p>
<p>After the initial focus on development tools such as a compiler, a
debugger, an integrated development environment and a system library
(GCC, GDB, Emacs and glibc, respectively), hundreds of other
applications, utilities and libraries were contributed by a growing
army of volunteers.
<br /><a href="http://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/">http://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/</a></p>
<p>Most of these programs were released under the GNU GPL, a license that
not only respects users' freedoms, granting enough permissions to
counter copyright's anti-social default provisions, but that also
defends the freedoms, introducing copyleft as a means to use the
remaining power of copyright to keep the software Free for all its
users.
<br /><a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/copyleft.html">http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/copyleft.html</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html">http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsf.org/news/gplv3_launched">http://www.fsf.org/news/gplv3_launched</a></p>
<p>Almost 8.5 years after the initial announcement, a kernel designed to
work with the GNU operating system was released as Free Software,
under the GNU GPL, providing the missing piece to form a completely
Free operating system.
<br /><a href="http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/Historic/old-versions/RELNOTES-0.01">http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/Historic/old-versions/RELNOTES-0.01</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/Historic/old-versions/RELNOTES-0.12">http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/Historic/old-versions/RELNOTES-0.12</a></p>
<p>Other major accomplishments followed, such as the image processor
GIMP, the GUI toolkit GTK, the desktop environment GNOME, the
educational suite GCompris, the browser GNUZilla IceCat, the Java
library and interpreter, GNU Classpath, and GCJ, the GNU Compiler for
Java, the Flash player Gnash, the GNUstep framework, the DotGNU
runtime, the accounting program GNU Cash, the boot loader GRUB, and
the software forge Savannah, among too many others to mention by name.
<br /><a href="http://savannah.gnu.org/">http://savannah.gnu.org/</a></p>
<p>Ever since the combination of the operating system GNU with the kernel
Linux became usable, people and businesses started publishing
distributions that could be installed on bare hardware. Such
distributions run today on servers, workstations, desktops, laptops,
mainframes, ATMs, phones, media players and recorders, routers,
automobiles, aircraft, and all sorts of computers.</p>
<p>Alas, although distributions have always contained, far more than
anything else, GNU system libraries, operating system utilities, tools
and applications, i.e., the GNU operating system, they have most often
been named after Linux. As a result, most GNU users don't realize
they are running the operating system created to restore and preserve
their freedom. In fact, most aren't even aware of this purpose, and
of the ethical and moral principles and the philosophy behind it.</p>
<p>Indeed, nearly all GNU+Linux distributions, and even Linux itself,
have been contaminated with software that does not respect users' four
essential freedoms, denying most users of the GNU operating system the
realization of its purpose. However, the GNU project maintains a list
of distributions committed to offering their users only Free Software.
<br /><a href="http://www.gnu.org/links/links.html">http://www.gnu.org/links/links.html</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html">http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html</a></p>
<p>UTUTO XS was the first to take this stand. gNewSense (based on one of
the most popular .deb-package distributions) was the first to ship a
cleaned-up, Free version of the kernel Linux. BLAG Linux and GNU
(based on one of the most popular .rpm-package distributions) evolved
this effort into Linux-libre, a project adopted by FSFLA to maintain
Free versions of Linux, in use by several GNU + Linux-libre
distributions and by individual users pursuing freedom.
<br /><a href="http://www.ututo.org/">http://www.ututo.org/</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.gnewsense.org/">http://www.gnewsense.org/</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.blagblagblag.org/">http://www.blagblagblag.org/</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/be-free/linux-libre/">http://www.fsfla.org/be-free/linux-libre/</a></p>
<p>There is still a long way to go to achieve freedom for all software
users. However, more than developing more Free Software, the current
priorities are spreading awareness of software freedom issues, and
encouraging users to value their freedoms and demand respect for them.
It is in this spirit that FSFLA launched the campaign “Be Free!”
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/be-free/">http://www.fsfla.org/be-free/</a></p>
<p>Let us all celebrate a quarter century of the GNU project and of work
for freedom, and help more people realize why the software they run
was developed, and why it is so important that they pursue freedom,
for their own sake and for that of all the community.
<br /><a href="http://www.gnu.org/fry/happy-birthday-to-gnu.html">http://www.gnu.org/fry/happy-birthday-to-gnu.html</a></p>
<p>May every day be a software freedom day. Be Free!
<br /><a href="http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/">http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/">http://www.fsfla.org/</a></p>
<h1>About Free Software Foundation Latin America</h1>
<p>FSFLA joined in 2005 the FSF network, previously formed by Free
Software Foundations in the United States, in Europe and in India.
These sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies
towards promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same
freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but
cooperating globally. For more information about FSFLA and to
contribute to our work, visit our web site at <a href="http://www.fsfla.org">http://www.fsfla.org</a> or
write to <a href="mailto:info@fsfla.org">info@fsfla.org</a>.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Copyright 2008 FSFLA</p>
<p>Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
entire document without royalty provided the copyright notice, the
document's official URL, and this permission notice are preserved.</p>
<p>Permission is also granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
individual sections of this document without royalty provided the
copyright notice and the permission notice above are preserved, and
the document's official URL is preserved or replaced by the individual
section's official URL.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2008-09-gnu-25">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2008-09-gnu-25</a></p>
Authoriterrorism and surveillance, the Brazilian wayhttp://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2008-07-brasil-autoriterrorismo.en.html2010-03-27T19:25:41Z2008-07-07T11:02:56Z
<h1>
Authoriterrorism and surveillance, the Brazilian way
</h1>
<p>Brazil, July 7, 2008---Pressure from banks against on-line fraud,
already covered by existing law, is being used as excuse to push
through major threats to society. Puppets in the Brazilian Senate are
about to approve a bill supported by banking and copyright profiteers
in detriment of freedom and privacy of the people they were elected to
serve and represent. Bill 89/2003 criminalizes day-to-day Internet
activities, and it is likely to be voted in the Senate this week.
<br /><a href="http://fsfla.org/svnwiki/blogs/lxo/2008-07-05-surpresa,-sou-contra">http://fsfla.org/svnwiki/blogs/lxo/2008-07-05-surpresa,-sou-contra</a> (in Portuguese)
<br /><a href="http://www.safernet.org.br/twiki/bin/view/Colaborar/BrazilianCybercrimeBillXCybercrimeConvention">http://www.safernet.org.br/twiki/bin/view/Colaborar/BrazilianCybercrimeBillXCybercrimeConvention</a> (about an earlier draft of the bill)
<br /><a href="http://www.petitiononline.com/veto2008/">http://www.petitiononline.com/veto2008/</a> (in Portuguese)</p>
<p>The bill introduces on-line surveillance, demanding networking service
providers to record customers' every on-line activity, and to share
with authorities logs and received reports of possibly-illicit
activities. The wording is so broad that providers may be heftily
fined if they fail to retain, for at least 3 years, a copy of every
packet that crosses its network. Even more serious than the costs and
risks, imposed on service providers, is the danger to users' privacy,
by the assurance of possibility of retroactive wiretapping of every
VoIP phone call, every e-mail or instant message sent or received,
every visited web-page and every on-line transaction.</p>
<p>It further establishes jail time for such broad activities as
unauthorized access to computer systems, networks, and data stored in
them. In spite of being justified and promoted by banks on the
grounds of stopping criminals from obtaining, selling or destroying
information through fraud or exploitation of vulnerabilities, it is
worded so ambiguously that it can be easily abused by suppliers of
electronic equipment (computers such as servers, desktops, laptops,
video games, cell phones, digital cameras, media players and
recorders, etc) and of digitally-encoded information (text, audio,
video, software, etc).</p>
<p>Abuses may range from legal threats to actual jail time for people who
unlock video games or cell phones to install software not approved by
the supplier; who work around deliberate defects in media players or
recorders to gain access to their own songs or movies stored in them;
who use copyrighted works in ways that do not infringe on copyrights,
but that authoriterrorists would like to outlaw.
<br /><a href="http://defectivebydesign.org/">http://defectivebydesign.org/</a>
<br /><a href="http://drm.info/">http://drm.info/</a></p>
<p>Authoriterrorism is the practice of (i) mislabeling as property a
limited monopoly granted by society as a means to get, after an
originally short period of deprivation, more creative works available
for all to enjoy and build upon; (ii) promoting the extension of the
monopoly and other authoritarian laws that grant authoriterrorists
technical and legal means to steal from society the fulfillment of the
goal of copyrights; (iii) using these technical and legal measures and
scare tactics to stop people from using works in ways that fall
outside the scope or the period of the monopoly; (iv) brainwashing
people so they believe they don't and shouldn't have the right to use
works in these ways, that it would somehow harm authors (as if
authoriterrorists didn't), and that it is the moral equivalent of
invading ships, stealing the cargo and enslaving or murdering the
crew.
<br /><a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.xhtml">http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.xhtml</a>
<br /><a href="http://fsfla.org/svnwiki/texto/DMCAnada">http://fsfla.org/svnwiki/texto/DMCAnada</a>
<br /><a href="http://fsfla.org/svnwiki/blogs/lxo/pub/PIFAQ">http://fsfla.org/svnwiki/blogs/lxo/pub/PIFAQ</a> (in Portuguese)</p>
<p>But we should think for a moment about who is invading our homes,
building spies and policemen into our electronic equipment; tying our
hands, and putting on blinds and gags on us through this same
equipment, stealing through force our fair use rights and the public
domain; enslaving us by ensuring we can only do what they want us to
do, and killing our wish to fight for our rights by fooling us into
feeling guilty. Who are the real pirates, and who is really being
harmed?</p>
<p>Bills that would give even more power to the powerful authoritarian
intermediaries, that exploit authors and terrorize society, appear to
not be in short supply these days. Rushing them to approval, avoiding
public debate, appears to be a common trait for such bills that harm
society.
<br /><a href="http://www.defectivebydesign.org/fight-the-canadian-dmca">http://www.defectivebydesign.org/fight-the-canadian-dmca</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.digitalmajority.org/forum/t-72379/european-parliament-rushes-towards-soviet-internet">http://www.digitalmajority.org/forum/t-72379/european-parliament-rushes-towards-soviet-internet</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=1117">http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=1117</a></p>
<p>Representatives in democratic governments ought to remember what
democracy stands for, that the law in a democratic state is supposed
to benefit society, and resist the pressure and the lobbying to grant
any authoriterrorist even more power over the people they represent.</p>
<p>Fraud, blackmail, violation of privacy and of trade secrets are
already crimes, regardless of whether they're perpetrated on-line, and
they haven't prevented Brazilian banks from making huge and growing
profits.</p>
<p>Permanent on-line surveillance is too much of a privacy threat to be
regarded as a potential solution for these crimes, rather than a
problem on its own, and there is no doubt that the availability of all
this information will be abused by authoriterrorists as well.</p>
<p>We beg good-faith legislators and other government officials to try to
stop the rush for approval of this terrible bill, to make room for
public debate and to separate the needed juridic advances from the
redundancies and the erosion of citizens' rights. We further beg for
help in bringing this urgent issue to the public's attention, lifting
the apparent gag order upon the national press, and bringing to public
shame any legislator who sells out and votes into law this
anti-democratic weapon of mass criminalization.</p>
<h1>About Free Software Foundation Latin America</h1>
<p>FSFLA joined in 2005 the FSF network, previously formed by Free
Software Foundations in the United States, in Europe and in India.
These sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies
towards promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same
freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but
cooperating globally. For more information about FSFLA and to
contribute to our work, visit our web site at <a href="http://www.fsfla.org">http://www.fsfla.org</a> or
write to <a href="mailto:info@fsfla.org">info@fsfla.org</a>.</p>
<h1>Press contacts</h1>
<p>Alexandre Oliva<br />
Board member, FSFLA<br />
<a href="mailto:lxoliva@fsfla.org">lxoliva@fsfla.org</a><br />
+55 19 9714-3658 / 3243-5233<br />
+55 61 4063-9714</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Copyright 2008 FSFLA</p>
<p>Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
entire document without royalty provided the copyright notice, the
document's official URL, and this permission notice are preserved.</p>
<p>Permission is also granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
individual sections of this document without royalty provided the
copyright notice and the permission notice above are preserved, and
the document's official URL is preserved or replaced by the individual
section's official URL.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2008-07-brasil-autoriterrorismo">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2008-07-brasil-autoriterrorismo</a></p>
Be Free from Imposed Tax Software: IRPF-Livre 2008 liberatedhttp://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2008-04-softimp-irpf-livre-2008.en.html2008-04-25T21:49:07Z2008-04-25T21:49:07Z
<h1>
Be Free from Imposed Tax Software: IRPF-Livre 2008 liberated
</h1>
<p>Campinas, Brazil, April 25, 2008---FSFLA is honored to announce the
availability of a completely Free program to prepare Natural Person's
Income Tax (IRPF) returns for 2008 in the standards set by the
Brazilian Receita Federal. It's a major step with regards to
transparency, safety, freedom and respect to the taxpayer, on whom the
non-Free Software IRPF2008 was imposed by Receita Federal.</p>
<p>"In 2007 it was much easier", says Alexandre Oliva, FSFLA board member
who's worked in the development of IRPF-Livre. Although Receita
Federal's IRPF2007 didn't respect taxpayers' safety and freedom,
copyrights over several Free Software packages used in IRPF2007, and
even the Federal Constitution, due to a number of details it was
relatively easy to turn it into Free Software, technically and legally
safe.</p>
<p>In spite of some progress in IRPF2008's respect for third parties'
copyrights, there were significant regressions as well. More serious
were the regressions in respect for taxpayers and for the transparency
principle established in the Federal Constitution. "It would still be
possible to decompile, with some additional effort, the binary code
obfuscated by Receita Federal", explains Oliva, "but the resulting
source code wouldn't be Free, because of arbitrary decisions in the
licensing of the 2008 version that amount to even more violation of
third parties' copyrights."</p>
<p>The solution we found was to update IRPF2007-Livre, published by FSFLA
a year ago, as needed to generate tax returns files for 2008,
indistinguishable from those prepared by Receita Federal's IRPF2008.
To this end, it was necessary to run the non-Free IRPF2008, making the
only socially-beneficial use of non-Free Software: the use in
developing its Free replacement.</p>
<p>Although the program has worked perfectly preparing Oliva's returns,
it may still lack adaptations to cover other situations. Our
suggestion is that the returns file be prepared for submission using
IRPF-Livre 2008, then compared with the file generated by IRPF2008, as
per instructions detailed in the program itself. Any differences
would indicate an error we'd like to fix. In the absence of
differences, there's complete trust on the integrity of the
declaration prepared with Free Software.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, this scenario is far from ideal. Instead of wasting
efforts finding out and duplicating software development work already
done by Receita Federal, it would be far more efficient if Receita
Federal itself published as Free the software it develops and that
belongs to the public, and all of us could help improve it, rather
than competing with it.</p>
<p>The stated security reasons that allegedly prevent this publication,
besides the technical implausibility, are not confirmed by internal
sources involved in the development and maintenance of the non-Free
IRPF. This puts us at ease to one more time offer Brazilian taxpayers
the ability to fill in their IRPF returns in safety and freedom.</p>
<h1>About IRPF-Livre</h1>
<p>It's a software development project to prepare Natural Person's Income
Tax returns in the standards defined by the Brazilian Receita Federal,
but without the technical and legal insecurity imposed by it.</p>
<p>IRPF-Livre is Free Software, that is, software that respects users'
freedom to run it for any purpose, to study its source code and adapt
it to their needs, and to distribute copies, modified or not.</p>
<p>The program can be obtained, both in source and Java object code forms
at the following location:
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/~lxoliva/snapshots/irpf-livre/2008/">http://www.fsfla.org/~lxoliva/snapshots/irpf-livre/2008/</a></p>
<h1>About FSFLA's Campaign against Softwares Impostos</h1>
<p>We understand the Brazilian law, particularly the Federal
Constitution, grant preference to Free Software in the public
administration, both internally, for compliance with constitutional
principles, and in interactions with citizens, for respect for their
fundamental constitutional rights and for compliance with the same and
other constitutional principles.</p>
<p>This campaign, started in October, 2006, seeks to educate public
administration managers about these obligations that are beneficial
both to citizens and to the public administration itself, such that
they pay attention not only to compliance with the law, but also to
respect for citizens and for digital freedom.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2008-02-softimp-irpf2008">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2008-02-softimp-irpf2008</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/circular/2007-09#1">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/circular/2007-09#1</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/circular/2007-04#3">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/circular/2007-04#3</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2007-03-irpf2007">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2007-03-irpf2007</a> (in Portuguese)
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/circular/2007-03#1">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/circular/2007-03#1</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/circular/2006-11#Editorial">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/circular/2006-11#Editorial</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2006-10-softimp">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2006-10-softimp</a></p>
<h1>About Free Software Foundation Latin America</h1>
<p>FSFLA joined in 2005 the FSF network, previously formed by Free
Software Foundations in the United States, in Europe and in India.
These sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies
towards promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same
freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but
cooperating globally. For more information about FSFLA and to
contribute to our work, visit our web site at
<a href="http://www.fsfla.org">http://www.fsfla.org</a> or write to <a href="mailto:info@fsfla.org">info@fsfla.org</a>.</p>
<h1>Press contacts</h1>
<p>Alexandre Oliva<br />
Board member, FSFLA<br />
<a href="mailto:lxoliva@fsfla.org">lxoliva@fsfla.org</a><br />
+55 19 9714-3658 / 3243-5233<br />
+55 61 4063-9714</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Copyright 2008 FSFLA</p>
<p>Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
entire document without royalty provided the copyright notice, the
document's official URL, and this permission notice are preserved.</p>
<p>Permission is also granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
individual sections of this document without royalty provided the
copyright notice and the permission notice above are preserved, and
the document's official URL is preserved or replaced by the individual
section's official URL.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2008-04-softimp-irpf-livre-2008">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2008-04-softimp-irpf-livre-2008</a></p>
stdlib: FSFLA's Workgroup for Free Open Standardshttp://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2008-03-stdlib.en.html2008-03-25T18:31:49Z2008-03-25T18:31:49Z
<h1>stdlib: FSFLA's Workgroup for Free Open Standards</h1>
<p>FSFLA has launched a workgroup to promote the adoption of Free Open
Standards, including in international and Latin-American national
standardization bodies, and the rejection of non-standard file formats
and of proposals of standards that do not qualify as Free Open
Standards.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/circular/2007-078#3">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/circular/2007-078#3</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/stdlib/mision">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/stdlib/mision</a></p>
<p>We use Free Open Standards not in opposition to the wide adoption of
the term Open Standards, but rather as a means to clarify that we
refer to the forming consensus on the meaning of Open Standards:
standards that promote interoperability and prevent vendor lock-in.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/stdlib/def">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/stdlib/def</a></p>
<p>The initial focus of our workgroup is on promoting the adoption of the
Open Document Format (ODF), ISO/IEC 26300:2006, including in national
standardization bodies and through the Document Freedom Day, and on
avoiding the adoption and ratification of other competing proposals,
such as Microsoft's Office OpenXML (OOXML), ECMA-376, ISO/IEC DIS 29500.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/stdlib/offdoc/mision">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/stdlib/offdoc/mision</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2008-02-stdlib-dfd">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2008-02-stdlib-dfd</a></p>
<p>As of Sept 2, the world has managed to avoid OOXML's immediate
approval in ISO's Fast Track procedure, but there is still a risk of
approval after February's Ballot Resolution Meeting, in votes to be
cast up to March 29, 2008.
<br /><a href="http://www.noooxml.org">http://www.noooxml.org</a></p>
<p>Please help us collect information in our Wiki about procedures in
national standardization bodies in Latin America, spread the
information and get as many people and organizations to join the
process such that Free Open Standards prevail. Although ODF is
already approved and the decision on OOXML is very close, there are
other standards in discussion, such as the already-approved Portable
Document Format (PDF) and the alternative XPS proposed and promoted by
Microsoft.
<br /><a href="http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071205-adobes-pdf-now-an-iso-standard.html">http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071205-adobes-pdf-now-an-iso-standard.html</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/stdlib">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/stdlib</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/mailman/listinfo/stdlib">http://www.fsfla.org/mailman/listinfo/stdlib</a></p>
<h1>About FSFLA</h1>
<p>FSFLA joined in 2005 the FSF network, previously formed by Free
Software Foundations in the United States, in Europe and in India.
These sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies
towards promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same
freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but
cooperating globally. For more information about FSFLA and to
contribute to our work, visit our web site at <a href="http://www.fsfla.org">http://www.fsfla.org</a> or
write to <a href="mailto:info@fsfla.org">info@fsfla.org</a>.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Copyright 2007, 2008 FSFLA</p>
<p>Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
entire document without royalty provided the copyright notice, the
document's official URL, and this permission notice are preserved.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2008-03-stdlib">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2008-03-stdlib</a></p>
FSFLA confirms presence at FISL 9.0http://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2008-03-fisl.en.html2008-03-13T23:59:46Z2008-03-13T23:59:46Z
<h1>FSFLA confirms presence at FISL 9.0</h1>
<p>Brazil, March 13, 2008---One of the greatest Free Software events in
the world is coming up: the ninth edition of "Fórum Internacional de
Software Livre", to be held on April 17-19, 2008, in Porto Alegre, Rio
Grande do Sul, Brazil. As expected, FSFLA will be present, and it
hopes to count on your help!</p>
<p>We thank the event organizers for offering us a booth, from which we
intend to spread the Free Software philosophy, distribute flyers,
T-shirts and other gifts, as well as raise funds to carry out our
mission: to defend freedoms and rights of software users and
developers.</p>
<p>We invite our supporters to help design, organize and prepare
materials for distribution at FISL, as well as to lend us a hand at
the booth, during the conference. In addition to our eternal
gratitude and that delicious feeling of fighting for a good cause,
what we have to offer are some FISL expositor badges, and the gifts
themselves, that we give not only to those who make monetary
contributions, but also to those who donate efforts to our
organization.</p>
<p>In order to help, subscribe to our list for organization and planning
of participation in events, at the address <a href="mailto:eventos@fsfla.org">eventos@fsfla.org</a>, and
write about your ideas of topics and drawings for pamphlets, T-shirts,
buttons, key chains, stickers, mugs, pens, and other materials that
might be attractive to spread the Free Software philosophy and our
campaigns, as well as to raise funds. Also visit the wiki to see what
we have already planned and prepared.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/eventos/fisl9">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/eventos/fisl9</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/mailman/listinfo/eventos">http://www.fsfla.org/mailman/listinfo/eventos</a></p>
<p>If you're available to share responsibility for the booth for some
time, you'll be very welcome. If you just want to drop by and chat,
make a donation and take a gift, we'll be pleased by your visit. See
you there!
<br /><a href="http://fisl.softwarelivre.org/9.0">http://fisl.softwarelivre.org/9.0</a></p>
<h1>About FSFLA</h1>
<p>FSFLA joined in 2005 the FSF network, previously formed by Free
Software Foundations in the United States, in Europe and in India.
These sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies
towards promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same
freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but
cooperating globally. For more information about FSFLA and to
contribute to our work, visit our web site at <a href="http://www.fsfla.org">http://www.fsfla.org</a> or
write to <a href="mailto:info@fsfla.org">info@fsfla.org</a>.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Copyright 2008 FSFLA</p>
<p>Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
entire document without royalty provided the copyright notice, the
document's official URL, and this permission notice are preserved.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2008-03-fisl">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2008-03-fisl</a></p>
Introducing Document Freedom Dayhttp://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2008-02-stdlib-dfd.en.html2008-02-26T18:03:28Z2008-02-26T18:03:28Z
<p>[ <a href="http://documentfreedom.org/News/20080220">http://documentfreedom.org/News/20080220</a> ]</p>
<h1>Introducing Document Freedom Day</h1>
<blockquote><p>26 March: A global day for document liberation<br />
Sign up your DFD team today!</p></blockquote>
<p>The Document Freedom Day (DFD) is a global day for Document Liberation
with grassroots action for promotion of Free Document Formats and Open
Standards in general. The DFD was initiated and is supported by a
group of organisations and companies, including, but not limited to,
the Free Software Foundation Europe, ODF Alliance, OpenForum Europe,
IBM, Red Hat and Sun Microsystems, Inc.</p>
<p>On 26 March 2008, the Document Freedom Day will provide a global
rallying point for Document Liberation and Open Standards. It will
literally give teams around the world the chance to "hoist the flag":</p>
<p>A "DFD Starter Pack" containing a flag, t-shirt, leaflets and stickers
is in preparation and is planned to be sent out in the first weeks of
March to the first 100 teams that sign up. Sixteen teams already
signed up during the preparation phase of the DFD prior to this
release. Sign your team up now!</p>
<p>"We're proud to support this global effort to encourage open and
inclusive information exchange," said Marino Marcich, Managing Director,
OpenDocument Format Alliance. "Document freedom means creating,
exchanging, and preserving your electronic documents without having to
buy software from a particular vendor."</p>
<p>"Data lock-in and subsequent vendor lock-in are some of the most
severe issues users are facing today," says FSFE president Georg
Greve. "Yet most people only realise this connection when it is too
late and they have effectively lost control over their own data. We
are supporting the Document Freedom Day to help raise awareness for
this issue by starting with something that affects pretty much all
users of computers: text documents, spreadsheets and presentations."</p>
<p>"Free document formats and open standards are important elements in the
continued expansion of the global open source community," said Tom
Rabon, executive vice president, Corporate Affairs at Red Hat. "Red Hat
strongly supports Document Freedom Day and encourages participation by
all who look forward to the day when documents are controlled by those
who own them, not necessarily by those who create the technology to
access those documents."</p>
<p>Simon Phipps, Chief Open Source Officer, Sun Microsystems stated, "As I
explained in my paper "Freedom to Leave" [<em>], it's fundamental in the
emerging market for people to be free to use any software they desire to
handle their data. I fully support the goals of Document Freedom."
<br />[</em>] <a href="http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dhb29vwq_3dzb2cs">http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dhb29vwq_3dzb2cs</a></p>
<p>Alexandre Oliva of the Free Software Foundation Latin America (FSFLA)
comments: "When you save your documents using a Free Open Standard
format such as ODF, you're also saving your own future, ensuring your
continued ability to access, decode and convert their contents."</p>
<p>Graham Taylor Director of OpenForum Europe: "OpenForum Europe applauds
the announcement of Document Freedom Day. The whole essence of
'openness' is captured by the right of users, citizens,
governments... to be able to freely access and exchange documents
today and in the future. Nothing gives greater meaning to the
prevalent danger of lock-in to proprietary solutions, and for the need
for Government to act now."</p>
<h1>About the Document Freedom Day</h1>
<p>The Document Freedom Day (DFD) is a global day for Document
Liberation. It is a day of grassroots effort around the world to
promote and build awareness for the relevance of Free Document Formats
in particular and Open Standards in general. The DFD is supported by
a large group of organisations and individuals, including, but not
limited to Ars Aperta, COSS, Esoma, Free Software Foundations Europe
and Latin America, IBM, NLnet, ODF Alliance, OpenForum Europe, OSL,
iMatix, Red Hat, Sun Microsystems, Inc., The Open Learning Centre,
Opentia, Estandares Abiertos.</p>
<p>The list of DFD supporting groups can be found at
<br /><a href="http://documentfreedom.org/Who">http://documentfreedom.org/Who</a></p>
<p>The list of DFD teams is available at
<br /><a href="http://documentfreedom.org/Category:Teams">http://documentfreedom.org/Category:Teams</a></p>
<h1>Further information</h1>
<p><a href="http://documentfreedom.org">http://documentfreedom.org</a></p>
<h1>Contact</h1>
<pre><code>contact - AT - documentfreedom.org
Graham Taylor graham - AT - openforumeurope.org
Ivan Jelic jelic - AT - fsfeurope.org
Kerri Catallozzi kcatallo - AT - redhat.com
Marino Marcich mmarcich - AT - odfalliance.org
Marko Milenovic milenovic - AT - fsfeurope.org
Terri Molini terri.molini - AT - sun.com
FSFLA info - AT - fsfla.org
</code></pre>
<h1>About FSFLA</h1>
<p>FSFLA joined in 2005 the FSF network, previously formed by Free
Software Foundations in the United States, in Europe and in India.
These sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies
towards promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same
freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but
cooperating globally. For more information about FSFLA and to
contribute to our work, visit our web site at <a href="http://www.fsfla.org">http://www.fsfla.org</a> or
write to <a href="mailto:info@fsfla.org">info@fsfla.org</a>. To join our workgroup on Free Open
Standards, subscribe:
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/mailman/listinfo/stdlib">http://www.fsfla.org/mailman/listinfo/stdlib</a></p>
FSFLA board member requests source code of Brazilian tax softwarehttp://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2008-02-softimp-irpf2008.en.html2008-02-18T20:12:52Z2008-02-18T20:12:52Z
<h1>FSFLA board member requests source code of Brazilian tax software</h1>
<p>Brazil, February 18, 2008---Last year, FSFLA supported the release, as
Free Software, of the Brazilian income tax software distributed by
Receita Federal. We are already working to make it happen earlier in
2008, but Receita Federal insists in breaking the law and
disrespecting citizens, taxpayers and Free Software developers.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2007-04-irpf2007-livre">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2007-04-irpf2007-livre</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/blogs/lxo/pub/freeing-the-lion">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/blogs/lxo/pub/freeing-the-lion</a></p>
<p>As in past years, early last December, Receita Federal published a
test version of the software to fill in forms for the following year's
income tax for natural persons, IRPF. Unfortunately, it disregarded
all of the points in the our last year's petition, justified legally
and technically in an article we'd published before.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2007-03-irpf2007-pet">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2007-03-irpf2007-pet</a> (in Portuguese)
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/texto/denuncia-irpf">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/texto/denuncia-irpf</a> (in Portuguese)</p>
<p>The test program was still non-Free Software; still impossible to run,
or even install, using Free Software implementations of the Java
Virtual Machine, including IcedTea, the upcoming OpenJDK 1.7 to be
released by Sun under the GNU GPL shortly; it still used undocumented
file formats and protocols; and it still infringed on third parties'
copyrights, including those of FSFLA's sister organization, the
original Free Software Foundation. "We had told them about all of
these problems almost a year ago, and they have done nearly nothing to
fix them", says Fernanda G. Weiden, FSFLA board member.</p>
<p>Reverse-engineering this year's program is slightly more difficult
than last year's, because of technical measures taken by Receita
Federal. "That's why I've started earlier this year", says Alexandre
Oliva, the FSFLA board member behind IRPF2007-Livre. Unfortunately,
there are new legal restrictions on the program that prevent the
result of these efforts from being used in Free Software. These
restrictions are in conflict with some licenses of Free Software
included in the program distributed by Receita Federal.</p>
<p>So, while coordinating with copyright holders of the Free Software
used by Receita Federal to help them correct the violations, we've
requested Receita Federal and SERPRO to publish the original source
code, ideally under a Free Software license. "Every Brazilian has a
constitutional right to receive those specifications and source code
from government offices", says Alexandre, "so I've requested them, and
suggested they might as well proactively set them free."
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/blogs/lxo/2007-12-24-querido-papai-noel">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/blogs/lxo/2007-12-24-querido-papai-noel</a></p>
<p>But while SERPRO, now publicly committed to the federal government
mandate to choose and publish Free Software, had previously claimed to
have its hands tied, Receita Federal resists, hiding behind alleged
security and data integrity reasons. "It's not just against the law,
it's also against technical principles of security", challenges Pedro
A.D. Rezende, FSFLA board member and professor of security and
cryptography at University of Brasília, "you just can't entrust
taxpayers' computers to perform data integrity checking, too many
things can go wrong. Even if you do, you must also verify the data at
the receiving end, if you want the verification to be trustworthy."</p>
<p>Ultimately, Receita Federal is forcing taxpayers to run software that,
by its own arguments, is insecure, and not too hard to reverse
engineer to expose the flaws while at that. "A robust solution can
only be achieved through transparency in file formats, protocols and
source code. If it depends on the difficulty or absence of reverse
engineering, it is already broken", complements Pedro.</p>
<p>"Other countries, such as US and Ecuador, publish their tax file
formats, enabling multiple software implementations, including Free
Software ones", points out Oscar Valenzuela, FSFLA board member.
"It's a pity that Brazil, held as a global reference of Free Software
adoption, resorts to insecure non-Free Software for something that
affects so many citizens, aggravated by the missing or incomplete
publication of transmission protocol and file format specifications."</p>
<p>"It is our tax money that paid for this software, so it belongs to the
public. We have the right to run, inspect, modify and distribute it.
It must be Free Software.", agree Brazilian FSFLA members.</p>
<h1>About FSFLA's Campaign against Softwares Impostos</h1>
<p>We understand the Brazilian law, particularly the Federal
Constitution, grant preference to Free Software in the public
administration, both internally, for compliance with constitutional
principles, and in interactions with citizens, for respect for their
fundamental constitutional rights and for compliance with the same and
other constitutional principles.</p>
<p>This campaign, started in October, 2006, seeks to educate public
administration managers about these obligations that are beneficial
both to citizens and to the public administration itself, such that
they pay attention not only to compliance with the law, but also to
respect for citizens and for digital freedom.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/circular/2007-09#1">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/circular/2007-09#1</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/circular/2007-04#3">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/circular/2007-04#3</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2007-03-irpf2007">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2007-03-irpf2007</a> (in Portuguese)
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/circular/2007-03#1">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/circular/2007-03#1</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/circular/2006-11#Editorial">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/circular/2006-11#Editorial</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2006-10-softimp">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2006-10-softimp</a></p>
<h1>About FSFLA</h1>
<p>FSFLA joined in 2005 the FSF network, previously formed by Free
Software Foundations in the United States, in Europe and in India.
These sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies
towards promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same
freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but
cooperating globally. For more information about FSFLA and to
contribute to our work, visit our web site at
<a href="http://www.fsfla.org">http://www.fsfla.org</a> or write to <a href="mailto:info@fsfla.org">info@fsfla.org</a>.</p>
<h1>Press contacts</h1>
<p>Alexandre Oliva<br />
Board member, FSFLA<br />
<a href="mailto:lxoliva@fsfla.org">lxoliva@fsfla.org</a><br />
+55 19 9714-3658 / 3243-5233</p>
<p>Pedro A.D. Rezende<br />
Board member, FSFLA<br />
<a href="mailto:prezende@fsfla.org">prezende@fsfla.org</a><br />
+55 61 3368-6031 / 3307-2482</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Copyright 2008 FSFLA</p>
<p>Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
entire document without royalty provided the copyright notice, the
document's official URL, and this permission notice are preserved.</p>
<p>Permission is also granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
individual sections of this document without royalty provided the
copyright notice and the permission notice above are preserved, and
the document's official URL is preserved or replaced by the individual
section's official URL.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2008-02-softimp-irpf2008">http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2008-02-softimp-irpf2008</a></p>
The Lion is Free, lightweight, and releasedhttp://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2007-04-irpf2007-livre.en.html2007-07-05T19:43:13Z2007-05-03T13:06:27Z
<p>Campinas, April 26, 2007---Free Software Foundation Latin America
(FSFLA) finished yesterday the process of liberation of Receita
Federal's program IRPF2007. This work enabled the submission of the
first income tax declaration in Brazil to be prepared exclusively with
Free Software.</p>
<p>A number of months went by negotating with Receita Federal, almost
without progress. The only concrete step was the publication of
specifications of file formats for the declaration, unfortunately
incomplete.</p>
<p>There wasn't any progress in the regularization of the IRPF2007
program, whose Java version for GNU/Linux infringes on copyrights of
11 Free Software packages, and whose use appeared to violate the
Software Law, that states that a computer program can only be used
with a license contract.</p>
<p>Receita Federal alleged that no further license was necessary, since
it was already implied. As it turns out, inside the application
package, we found a happy surprise. The license GNU LGPLv2, a Free
Software license! This was the implied license!</p>
<p>FSFLA believes that all the software must be Free, respecting the
freedoms to run, study, adapt and distribute the software. Therefore,
as soon as we learned about the license, we started the process of
"liberating the Lion" [T.N.: income tax is known as "the Lion" in
Brazil], using programs that, starting from the executable, generate
source code that is functionally equivalent.</p>
<p>It's not the corresponding source code that LGPL requires, since it's
missing comments and documentation, but it's something we can already
work with. In fact, since Receita Federal forgot to publish the
source code of a few LGPLed libraries that it uses in its programs, it
seems reasonable to assume that it forgot to publish its own source
code.</p>
<p>What we did was little more than rendering explicit the freedoms that
we were given, and, because of this, it is possible to create Income
Tax declarations in electronic formats using only Free Software.</p>
<p>IRPF2007-Livre still carries some deficiencies, such as the lack of a
graphical user interface. We hope that next year Receita Federal will
release a Free version of the program, that works on 100% Free
platforms.</p>
<p>For those who don't use proprietary software, there's still time to
comply with their fiscal obligations without compromising their
freedoms. The instructions manual, the source code and the license
are available in the address below.</p>
<h1>About IRPF2007-Livre</h1>
<p>It's a Free version of the IRPF2007 program distributed by Receita
Federal, prepared by FSFLA as part of its Campaign against "Softwares
Impostos".</p>
<p>It offers a text-mode interface functionally sufficient to prepare
IRPF declarations for submission to Receita Federal.</p>
<p>It can be obtained, both in executable and source code forms, in the
following URL:
<br /><a href="http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/snapshots/irpf2007-livre/">http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/snapshots/irpf2007-livre/</a></p>
<h1>About FSFLA's Campaign against Softwares Impostos</h1>
<p>We understand the Brazilian law, particularly the Federal
Constitution, grant preference to Free Software in the public
administration, both internally, for compliance with constitutional
principles, and in interactions with citizens, for respect for their
fundamental constitutional rights and for compliance with the same and
other constitutional principles.</p>
<p>This campaign, started in October, 2006, seeks to educate public
administration managers about these obligations that are beneficial
both to citizens and to the public administration itself, such that
they pay attention not only to compliance with the law, but also to
respect for citizens and for digital freedom.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/153#3">http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/153#3</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/?q=pt/node/152">http://www.fsfla.org/?q=pt/node/152</a> (in Portuguese)
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/148#1">http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/148#1</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/122#Editorial">http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/122#Editorial</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/120">http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/120</a></p>
<h1>About FSFLA</h1>
<p>FSFLA joined in 2005 the FSF network, previously formed by Free
Software Foundations in the United States, in Europe and in India.
These sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies
towards promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same
freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but
cooperating globally. For more information about FSFLA and to
contribute to our work, visit our web site at
<a href="http://www.fsfla.org">http://www.fsfla.org</a> or write to <a href="mailto:info@fsfla.org">info@fsfla.org</a>.</p>
<h1>Press contacts</h1>
<p>Alexandre Oliva<br />
Board member, FSFLA<br />
<a href="mailto:lxoliva@fsfla.org">lxoliva@fsfla.org</a><br />
+55 19 9714-3658 / 3243-5233</p>
<p>Pedro A.D. Rezende<br />
Board member, FSFLA<br />
<a href="mailto:prezende@fsfla.org">prezende@fsfla.org</a><br />
+55 61 3368-6031 / 3307-2482</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Copyright 2007 FSFLA</p>
<p>Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
entire document without royalty provided the copyright notice, the
document's official URL, and this permission notice are preserved.</p>
<p>Permission is also granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
individual sections of this document without royalty provided the
copyright notice and the permission notice above are preserved, and
the document's official URL is preserved or replaced by the individual
section's official URL.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/157">http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/157</a></p>
Delate Receita Federal to the Brazilian Ministério da Fazenda!http://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2007-02-irpf2007-2.en.html2007-07-05T19:43:13Z2007-02-26T23:51:02Z
<p>Have you already written your letter to Receita Federal? Explained
why its decision to require of you the use of non-Free Software
<strong>disrespects</strong> your <strong>fundamental constitutional citizen's
rights</strong>? Why this induces, when it doesn't demand, you to
<strong>infringe on copyright</strong>, in addition to bringing you several
<strong>other legal risks</strong>? That this amounts to <strong>inconstitutional
discrimination</strong> for your political and philosophical beliefs? That
this attitude <strong>disrespects constitutional principles</strong> for the
public administration and the economic order?</p>
<p>If you're a Brazilian citizen, or you pay taxes in Brazil, and still
haven't sent your letter, read the sample letters, that summarize the
main arguments, at <a href="http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/145">http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/145</a>; read the
article (in Portuguese) that details the arguments at
<a href="http://www.fsfla.org/?q=pt/node/143">http://www.fsfla.org/?q=pt/node/143</a>; write your own letter with the
points you feel aligned with and sent it:
<br /><a href="https://www.receita.fazenda.gov.br/dvssl/atbhe/falecon/comum/asp/env_msg.asp?id=31">https://www.receita.fazenda.gov.br/dvssl/atbhe/falecon/comum/asp/env_msg.asp?id=31</a></p>
<p>If you've already sent it, maybe you've also received a semi-automated
impersonal response, giving the impression that they can't or won't do
anything. If this happened to you as well, you can and should <strong>do
the following immediately</strong>:</p>
<p>1. Locate the representative of the nearest Taxpayer Attention Center
and get in touch immediately, explaining the situation.
<br /><a href="http://www.receita.fazenda.gov.br/AtendContrib/Atendimento/UnidAtendimento/CentroAtendimento.htm">http://www.receita.fazenda.gov.br/AtendContrib/Atendimento/UnidAtendimento/CentroAtendimento.htm</a> (in Portuguese)</p>
<p>2. Send your <strong>delation</strong> to the Ombudsman at Ministério da Fazenda.
You can call 0800 702-1111 (from Brazil), use the web form at:
<br /><a href="http://portal.ouvidoria.fazenda.gov.br/sisouvidor/autoatendimento/cadastro/formularioMensagem.jsp">http://portal.ouvidoria.fazenda.gov.br/sisouvidor/autoatendimento/cadastro/formularioMensagem.jsp</a> (in Portuguese)
or send e-mail to <a href="mailto:ouvidormf@fazenda.gov.br">ouvidormf@fazenda.gov.br</a>. If you live in Brasília,
call the number above and schedule a meeting with the Ombudsman to
discuss this matter. For other ways of getting in touch, visit:
<br /><a href="http://portal.ouvidoria.fazenda.gov.br/ouvidoria/ActionServlet?idInstitucional=7&objeto=br.com.tellus.ouvidoria.negocio.Institucional&acao=recover">http://portal.ouvidoria.fazenda.gov.br/ouvidoria/ActionServlet?idInstitucional=7&objeto=br.com.tellus.ouvidoria.negocio.Institucional&acao=recover</a> (in Portuguese)</p>
<p>3. File an <strong>administrative proceeding</strong> with Receita Federal.
Address it to the Secretary of Receita Federal, Mr. Jorge Antonio
Deher Rachid, and to the Manager of Information Technology and
Security at Receita Federal, Sr. Vítor Marcos Almeida Machado, in
Brasília. It suffices to take a petition and copies of your documents
to the nearest Receita Federal's office.</p>
<p>4. Open a <strong>consultation proceeding</strong> with Receita Federal's
Regional Superintendence, according to guidance on the web page:
<br /><a href="https://www.receita.fazenda.gov.br/GuiaContribuinte/ConsLegisTrib/ConsLegisTrib.htm">https://www.receita.fazenda.gov.br/GuiaContribuinte/ConsLegisTrib/ConsLegisTrib.htm</a></p>
<h1>About FSFLA</h1>
<p>FSFLA joined in 2005 the FSF network, previously formed by Free
Software Foundations in the United States, in Europe and in India.
These sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies
towards promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same
freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but
cooperating globally. For more information about FSFLA and to
contribute to our work, visit our web site at <a href="http://www.fsfla.org">http://www.fsfla.org</a> or
write to <a href="mailto:info@fsfla.org">info@fsfla.org</a>.</p>
<h1>About FSFLA's Campaign against Softwares Impostos</h1>
<p>We understand the Brazilian Federal Constitution grants preference to
Free Software in the public administration, both internally, for
compliance with constitutional principles, and in interactions with
citizens, for respect for their fundamental constitutional rights and
for compliance with the same and other constitutional principles.
This campaign, started in October, 2006, seeks compliance with the
Federal Constitution in this regard.
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/109">http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/109</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/110">http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/110</a> (editorial)
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/115">http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/115</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/117">http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/117</a> (section 3.)
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/120">http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/120</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/122#Editorial">http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/122#Editorial</a></p>
<h1>Press contacts</h1>
<p>Alexandre Oliva<br />
Board member, FSFLA<br />
<a href="mailto:lxoliva@fsfla.org">lxoliva@fsfla.org</a><br />
+55 19 9714-3658 / 3243-5233</p>
<p>Pedro A.D. Rezende<br />
Board member, FSFLA<br />
<a href="mailto:prezende@fsfla.org">prezende@fsfla.org</a><br />
+55 61 3368-6031 / 3307-2482</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Copyright 2007 FSFLA</p>
<p>Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
entire document without royalty provided the copyright notice, the
document's official URL, and this permission notice are preserved.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/147">http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/147</a></p>
Write to the Brazilian Receita Federal against "Softwares Impostos"!http://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2007-02-irpf2007.en.html2007-07-05T19:43:13Z2007-02-22T22:37:58Z
<p>As part of FSFLA's campaign against "Softwares Impostos", we have
written an article and letters to Receita Federal (Brazilian IRS) that
explain why its decision to require taxpayers to use non-Free Software
violates constitutional principles and citizens' fundamental
constitutional rights, imposes various juridic risks upon taxpayers,
including compulsory copyright infringement, and unlawfully
discriminates against political and philosophical convictions.</p>
<p>FSFLA's Brazilian board members have written and sent the letters
below to Receita Federal, summarizing the main points of the article
published at <a href="http://www.fsfla.org/?q=pt/node/143">http://www.fsfla.org/?q=pt/node/143</a> (so far only in
Portuguese). We urge citizens and taxpayers to send their own letters
to Receita Federal at
<a href="https://www.receita.fazenda.gov.br/dvssl/atbhe/falecon/comum/asp/env_msg.asp?id=31">https://www.receita.fazenda.gov.br/dvssl/atbhe/falecon/comum/asp/env_msg.asp?id=31</a>.
Copies of your letters are welcome at <a href="mailto:softwares-impostos@fsfla.org">softwares-impostos@fsfla.org</a>.</p>
<p>FSFLA invites Receita Federal to act on these requests before IRPF2007
is released, and to contact us as soon as possible to seek an amicable
resolution.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, FSFLA urges citizens to pursue their rights, invites the
Public Ministry and the Republic's General Attorney Office to support
citizens in this pursuit, and offers its mailing list on legal issues,
<a href="mailto:legales@fsfla.org">legales@fsfla.org</a>, to lawyers and laymen interested in planning legal
action, should it prove necessary. Alternate communication methods
can be arranged should the need for confidentiality arise.</p>
<p>The IRPF2007 release is scheduled to March 1st, so don't wait! Send
your letter right away!</p>
<h1>About FSFLA</h1>
<p>FSFLA joined in 2005 the FSF network, previously formed by Free
Software Foundations in the United States, in Europe and in India.
These sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies
towards promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same
freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but
cooperating globally. For more information about FSFLA and to
contribute to our work, visit our web site at <a href="http://www.fsfla.org">http://www.fsfla.org</a> or
write to <a href="mailto:info@fsfla.org">info@fsfla.org</a>.</p>
<h1>Press contacts</h1>
<p>Alexandre Oliva<br />
Board member, FSFLA<br />
<a href="mailto:lxoliva@fsfla.org">lxoliva@fsfla.org</a><br />
+55 19 9714-3658 / 3243-5233</p>
<p>Pedro A.D. Rezende<br />
Board member, FSFLA<br />
<a href="mailto:prezende@fsfla.org">prezende@fsfla.org</a><br />
+55 61 3368-6031 / 3307-2482</p>
<h4>#</h4>
<p>Copyright 2007 FSFLA</p>
<p>Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
entire document without royalty provided the copyright notice, the
document's official URL, and this permission notice are preserved.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/145">http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/145</a></p>
<h1>Letters sent to Receita Federal</h1>
<p>(translated to English)</p>
<p>Dear Mr. Jorge Antonio Deher Rachid,
Secretary of Receita Federal,</p>
<p>I hereby request your assistance to address some difficulties I've had
in complying with my tax obligations. There are more details at
<a href="http://www.fsfla.org/?q=pt/node/143">http://www.fsfla.org/?q=pt/node/143</a> (in Portuguese).</p>
<p>According to Article 5.XXXIII of the Brazilian Federal Constitution of
1988, and to the transparency it demands from the public
administration, I understand I'm entitled to receive from SRF
information of private or collective interest. I request, thus, the
source code of all software provided by SRF for purposes of
preparation and delivery of income tax declarations.</p>
<p>My interest in this source code is related with my philosophical
beliefs as Free Software advocate. I understand that philosophical
discrimination is not permitted by the constitution, also per Article
5.VIII and .XLI.</p>
<p>So I'd like to obtain permission from SRF to adapt its programs to
Free operating systems and/or Java virtual machines, and to offer the
result of my modifications to others who share my beliefs.</p>
<p>To this end, it would be enough for SRF to license these programs,
whose copyright it holds, under a Free Software license. I understand
SRF's software, without any license whatsoever, imposes on taxpayers
the violation of article 9 of law 9609/98, who incur the penalties
described in article 12 of law 9610/98, with the aggravation of § 3.I.
SRF can be held liable for this, so immediate corrective action is
recommended.</p>
<p>The referenced article details these and other technical and legal
problems related with juridic insecurity and the violation of
constitutional principles and taxpayers' fundamental citizen rights,
that SRF has been conducting.</p>
<p>I thank you in advance for your prompt cooperation towards addressing
in an amicable way these certainly unintentional transgressions.</p>
<p>Yours respectfully,</p>
<p>Alexandre Oliva</p>
<h4>#</h4>
<p>Dear Mr. Jorge Antonio Deher Rachid,
Secretary of Receita Federal,</p>
<p>I seek, by means of this letter, to point out problems detailed in
<a href="http://www.fsfla.org/?q=pt/node/143">http://www.fsfla.org/?q=pt/node/143</a> (in Portuguese), that I
co-authored, and request appropriate measures to address them.</p>
<p>I find RF's dependency on proprietary information technologies and the
imposition of these inscrutable and inauditable on taxpayers
disturbing. I recommend, according to government standard e-PING 2.0,
the adoption of standards, formats and software under free licenses.</p>
<p>As researcher in cryptography and security, I'm concerned about
taxpayers of whom electronic submission of tax forms is required, for
public scrutiny of the employed programs, formats and protocols is
impossible, requiring blind trust on the technical abilities and
ethical infallibility of RF's employees.</p>
<p>As far as we can see through the obscurity of the process, taxpayers
who submit their declarations over the Internet are exposed to
multiple technical and juridic risks that, among other things, also
represent pressure and responsibility overload upon Receita's own
internal auditing.</p>
<p>I cite, for the sake of an example, the impossibility for a taxpayer
to demonstrate, to her/himself and before third parties, that the
forms s/he filled have been transmitted and processed according to the
norms and without adulteration. In case of questioning, the best
someone who needs to face RF on court can do is to present an
electronic receipt, also alterable or falsifiable at the source, that
only RF itself can validate, in a potentially vitiated way by whoever
possesses controls over its processing.</p>
<p>It also frustrates me that I cannot verify whether technical
mechanisms are already in use that enable effective internal auditing,
and that may offer taxpayers legal evidence, should they be formally
accused by tax authorities of defaulting their tax obligations.</p>
<p>Certain of being able to count on your cooperation,</p>
<p>Pedro Antonio Dourado de Rezende</p>
<h4>#</h4>
<p>Dear Mr. Jorge Antonio Deher Rachid,
Secretary of Receita Federal,</p>
<p>Based on the article <a href="http://www.fsfla.org/?q=pt/node/143">http://www.fsfla.org/?q=pt/node/143</a> (in
Portuguese), I hereby request actions towards helping address some
concerns I have.</p>
<p>Residents abroad are not allowed to present their income tax
declarations in non-electronic formats. Since I live abroad, this
causes me concern and trouble, for myself and for others in the same
situation.</p>
<p>Trouble, because I'm a Free Software advocate, and it's disturbing to
not only be required to use non-Free Software, but also to watch the
Brazilian public administration promote, through its choice of
platform for this program, other non-Free Softwares, infringing even
on the constitutional principle of impersonality.</p>
<p>Concern, because, being trained in computing, I understand it's not
possible to trust software that won't permit inspection and auditing;
secret file formats; or allegedly-secure secret communication
protocols.</p>
<p>In order to guarantee the transparency of the process and taxpayers'
legal safety, it would be necessary for taxpayers to have access to
the source code of the programs, or at least to the specifications of
protocols and file formats, such that we could develop our own
programs.</p>
<p>It would certainly be more efficient if we could inspect and use
Receita Federal's own programs, on software platforms that respected
our philosophical beliefs. For this reason, I suggest Receita Federal
to distribute its programs under the terms of some Free Software
license that ensures that any taxpayer who receives the program is
entitled to run it legitimately, study it, adapt it to her own needs
and distribute it, with or without modifications.</p>
<p>I count on your support to solve the problems pointed out above, and
offer FSFLA's assistance for clarifications and joint efforts to this
end.</p>
<p>Fernanda Giroleti Weiden</p>
FSFLA.ORG is back!http://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2007-02-outage.en.html2008-01-11T22:03:36Z2007-02-21T19:16:00Z
<h1>What happened to fsfla.org?</h1>
<p>Some have noticed and asked us about the extended downtime of
fsfla.org. We've experieced the loss of the primary hard disk and of
the external storage containing the on-site backups. As a result,
restoring the services has taken much longer than initially expected.</p>
<h1>Damage report</h1>
<p>Messages posted on February 2 and 3, delivered between the disk crash
and the last backup before it won't appear in the archives. Changes
to the wiki in the same period may have been lost. Some messages
posted on February 13 and 14 may have returned due to transient
incompatibilities between DNS and mail relay configurations.</p>
<p>We apologize for the inconvenience, and we're very excited to be back.</p>
<h1>Acknowledgements</h1>
<p>Our server still runs on a virtual machine kindly offered by FSFE, and
we thank FSFE and its system hackers for the attention and dedication
devoted to restoring our server even before fully restoring their own.</p>
FSFLA campaign against "Softwares Impostos" in Brazilhttp://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2006-10-softimp.en.html2007-07-05T19:43:13Z2006-10-16T01:43:00Z
<p>Brazil requires some taxpayers to use non-free software to fill in<br />
their tax forms. In order to fight for citizens' and taxpayers' right<br />
to freedom, FSFLA launches a campaign against "Softwares Impostos" in<br />
Brazil. (In Portuguese, "Impostos" means both "taxes" and "imposed".)</p>
<p>Citizens and taxpayers of Brazil, write to the president to let him<br />
know you want to be able to choose freedom! Call for the state to<br />
make this tax software free! Say that you want the public<br />
administration to make commitment to Free Software, both internally<br />
and in interactions with us all!</p>
<p>We recommend that you write your own letter to the president.<br />
You can mention other cases in which the public administration makes it<br />
difficult to avoid proprietary software. As a suggestion, we offer a<br />
sample letter below, that one of the Brazilian FSFLA board members<br />
sent.</p>
<p>We suggest letters to be short (25-30 lines of content) and<br />
respectful, addressed to the current president. Use the web form<br />
available at <a href="http://www.presidencia.gov.br/presidente/falecom/">http://www.presidencia.gov.br/presidente/falecom/</a> or, if<br />
you prefer, send regular mail to the address in the sample letter. If<br />
you like, also send it to <a href="mailto:softwares-impostos@fsfla.org">softwares-impostos@fsfla.org</a>, so that we can<br />
arrange for all such letters to be published on the Internet.</p>
<p>Freedom is not something you're given, it's something you conquer.<br />
Do your part for a Freer Brazil!</p>
<p>About FSFLA</p>
<p>FSFLA, in process of legal constitution, joined the FSF network<br />
previously formed by FSFs in the United States, in Europe and in<br />
India. These sister organizations work in their corresponding<br />
geographies towards promoting the same Free Software ideals and<br />
defending the same freedoms for software users and developers, working<br />
locally but cooperating globally. For more information about FSFLA<br />
and to contribute to our work, visit our web site at www.fsfla.org or<br />
write to <a href="mailto:info@fsfla.org">info@fsfla.org</a>.</p>
<p>Press Contacts</p>
<p>Alexandre Oliva<br />
Board member, FSFLA<br />
+55 19 9714-3658 / 3243-5233<br />
<a href="mailto:lxoliva@fsfla.org">lxoliva@fsfla.org</a></p>
<p>To Mr Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva<br />
President of the Federative Republic of Brazil<br />
Palácio do Planalto<br />
70150-900 Brasília, DF<br />
Brazil</p>
<p>I hereby request that the president keeps on promoting and<br />
accelerating the option for Free Software, that respects the freedoms<br />
to run, study, modify and distribute, both within the sphere of the<br />
public administration and in digital inclusion programs.</p>
<p>I request priority to the effort of ensuring that software offered to<br />
citizens and taxpayers be Free and functional on Free platforms.<br />
Concrete examples of initiatives to this end that still need attention<br />
are:</p>
<p>a) proprietary programs distributed by Receita Federal (IRS): even the<br />
multi-platform versions won't work on Free Java implementations,<br />
because they use undocumented features available only in proprietary<br />
implementations.</p>
<p>b) the Internet banking system at Banco do Brasil, that, in addition<br />
to being proprietary, won't accept passwords when run on entirely Free<br />
platforms.</p>
<p>More generally, I request that every electronic interaction between<br />
the public administration and citizens or taxpayers be done by means<br />
of formats, standards and protocols that are open, public and of<br />
irrestricted use, with Free implementations available for Free<br />
platforms.</p>
<p>These measures are necessary to comply with several constitutional<br />
principles, such as publicness (transparency), impersonality,<br />
legality, efficiency, economicity, sovereignty, free market and<br />
reduction of regional and social inequalities.</p>
<p>Without more, I subscribe myself,</p>
<p></p>
Government's disobedience to the Brazilian constitution in checkhttp://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2006-09-admpub-ilegal.en.html2007-07-05T19:43:13Z2006-09-25T23:32:00Z
<p><strong>Lawsuits debate freedoms pertaining to software.</strong></p>
<p>This past week was marked by two important developments towards stopping the disobedience to the Brazilian Constitution by the Brazilian public administration, as far as choosing software platforms is concerned.</p>
<p>On one hand, IBDI: Brazilian Institute of Informatics Politics and Law filed its Amicus Curiæ petition for the constitutionality lawsuit 3059/03 filed against the Free Software law in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, carrying FSFLA's article `On the constitutional preference for Free Software´ as an annex. FSFLA thanks IBDI and all the participants in preparing this petition, particularly the lawyers Dr Omar Kaminski and Dr Euripedes Brito Cunho Junior. More information in the editorial of our latest bulletin at <a href="http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/110">http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/110</a>, in our article at<br />
<a href="http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/109">http://www.fsfla.org/?q=en/node/109</a> and (in Portuguese)<br />
<a href="http://www.stf.gov.br/processos/processo.asp?PROCESSO=3059&CLASSE=ADI&ORIGEM=AP&RECURSO=0&TIP_JULGAMENTO=M">http://www.stf.gov.br/</a></p>
<p>On another hand, lawyers Dr Segio Ruy David Polimeno Valente and Dr Rafael Gandara D'Amico, representing Mr Odilon Guedes, filed mandamus #3494 against the requirement, by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), of use of a program exclusively for the MS-Windows platform for accounting information demanded of every electoral campaign.<br />
<a href="http://www.projetopopular.org/uploads/outros/7.pdf">http://www.projetopopular.org/uploads/outros/7.pdf</a> (in pt_BR).</p>
<p>Even though their arguments contain errors such as referring to GNU/Linux, one of the operating systems the candidate would like to be able to use, by the name of one of its components, Linux, we consider pertinent the allegation of violation of the constitutional priciples of legality and impersonality, by the arbitrary choice of a software platform that benefits, in an unjustified way, a single company.</p>
<p>Although many won't identify with this situation, that affects only electoral candidates, a similar imposition is made by the Federal Income (parallel to USA's IRS) office. Many of its programs are offered both for MS-Windows and for Java. Even though the need for a Java virtual machine is indicated, such programs often refer to features not defined in the platform specification, but present in the implementation by a single company, among the various companies that offer Java virtual machines. That's therefore the same kind of violation of the principles of legality and impersonality.</p>
<p>In order to avoid such violations, we suggest complementary approaches:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>publishing protocols and file formats used by programs offered by the public administration, in order to respect the transparency principle and enable alternate implementations of these programs for other platforms, and</p></li>
<li><p>licensing of software distributed by the public administration in such a way that enables citizens to adapt the software to platforms of their choice and/or hire third parties to do so. These permissions require the source code of the applications to be made available (which is also necessary to comply with the transparency principle) and respect to the freedoms to adapt, distribute, study and run the software, modified or otherwise. In other words, licensing of the software under terms compatible with the Free Software definition.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>FSFLA expects the disobedience to constitutional principles, that has caused losses to both citizens and the public administration itself, to come to an end, and encourages citizens to act to assert their rights and freedoms, among them those of demanding from public administrators the compliance with the constitution.</p>
<p>About FSFLA</p>
<p>FSFLA, in process of legal constitution, joined in 2005 the FSF network previously formed by FSFs in the United States, in Europe and in India. These sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies towards promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but cooperating globally. For more information about FSFLA and to contribute to our work, visit our web site at www.fsfla.org or write to <a href="mailto:info@fsfla.org">info@fsfla.org</a></p>
Second Discussion Draft of Revised GNU General Public License Releasedhttp://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2006-07-gplv3-draft-2.en.html2007-07-05T19:43:13Z2006-07-28T17:07:00Z
<p>Six-Month International Review Process Leads to Revisions and Clarifications</p>
<p>BOSTON and NEW YORK, July 27, 2006 -- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) and the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) today have released the second discussion draft of the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 3 (GPLv3). This new draft marks the middle of a year-long public review process designed to evaluate proposed changes and to finalize a new version of the GPL.</p>
<p>The GNU GPL is the most widely used free software license worldwide: almost three quarters of all free software programs (also known as "Free/Libre and Open Source Software", or FLOSS) are distributed under this license. Since the GPL's last revision more than 15 years ago, free software development, distribution, and use have changed tremendously.</p>
<p>Since the release of the initial GPLv3 discussion draft in January, members of the free software community have submitted nearly one thousand suggestions for improvement. Many have continued the discussion at international GPLv3 conferences held in the United States, Brazil, and Spain. With the help of discussion committees, the Free Software Foundation and the Software Freedom Law Center have<br />
considered all the issues raised by public comments. The new draft of GPLv3 contains extensive revisions in light of these comments.</p>
<p>"We have considered each suggestion with care," said Eben Moglen, founder and Chairman of the Software Freedom Law Center, which represents various free software projects and is assisting FSF in revising the new license. "By listening to people from around the world, we are working toward a license that acts consistently in many different legal systems and in a variety of situations."</p>
<p>"The primary purpose of the GNU GPL is to preserve users' freedom to use, share, and modify free software," said Richard Stallman, founder of FSF and original author of the GPL. "We depend on public review to make the GPL do this job reliably."</p>
<p><strong>About the Revisions</strong></p>
<p>The new draft clarifies that the license only directly restricts DRM in the special case in which it is used to prevent people from sharing or modifying GPLv3-covered software. The clarified DRM section preserves the spirit of the original GPL, which forbids adding additional unfree restrictions to free software. GPLv3 does not prohibit the implementation of DRM features, but prevents them from being imposed on users in a way that they cannot remove.</p>
<p>Other significant revisions in the new draft include a reworked license compatibility section, and provisions that specifically allow GPL-covered programs to be distributed on certain file sharing networks such as BitTorrent.</p>
<p>Additionally, this release includes the first draft of the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) version 3. The LGPL license covers many free software system libraries, including some published by the Free Software Foundation.</p>
<p>The text of the new GPL and LGPL drafts can be found on the web at <a href="http://gplv3.fsf.org/">http://gplv3.fsf.org/</a>. The site also includes audio commentary from Eben Moglen; a rationale document which describes the changes to the new draft; and further information about the GPLv3 revision process. As with the first draft, community members are encouraged to submit comments online at gplv3.fsf.org.</p>
<p>Throughout the remainder of the process, there will continue to be international GPLv3 discussion conferences, including one next month in Bangalore, India. A third discussion draft of GPLv3 is expected to be released this fall, and the final version will be released between January and March of 2007.</p>
<p>"Last November, we published a document which outlined the process for drafting the new GPL," said Eben Moglen, chair of SFLC. "As of now, we are still on schedule for a final release in early 2007."</p>
<p><strong>About The Free Software Foundation</strong></p>
<p>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,<br />
located at <a href="http://www.fsf.org">http://www.fsf.org</a> is an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support their work can be made at <a href="http://donate.fsf.org ">http://donate.fsf.org</a>. Their headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.</p>
<p><strong>About The Software Freedom Law Center</strong></p>
<p>The Software Freedom Law Center -- chaired by Eben Moglen, one of the world's leading experts on copyright law as applied to software -- provides legal representation and other law-related services to protect and advance Free and Open Source Software. In addition to the Free Software Foundation, SFLC's clients include X.org, Plone, and Wine. The Law Center is dedicated to assisting non-profit open source developers and projects. For criteria on eligibility and to apply for assistance, please contact the Law Center directly or visit the Web at <a href="http://www.softwarefreedom.org">http://www.softwarefreedom.org</a>.</p>
<p><strong>About FSFLA -- Free Software Foundation Latin America </strong></p>
<p>FSFLA is a non-governamental organisation, non for profit, based in Argentina. Together with our Sister Organizations, FSF, FSF Europe and FSF India, our mission is promoting and defending the use and development of Free Software, and the people's right of use, study, copy, modify and redistribute software. More information about FSFLA could be found at <a href="http://www.fsfla.org">http://www.fsfla.org</a> or by contacting <a href="mailto:info@fsfla.org">info@fsfla.org</a></p>
<p><strong>Media Contacts</strong></p>
<p>John Sullivan<br />
Program Administrator<br />
Free Software Foundation<br />
617-542-5942 x23<br />
<a href="mailto:johns@fsf.org">johns@fsf.org</a></p>
<p>Jim Garrison<br />
Public Relations Coordinator<br />
Software Freedom Law Center<br />
212-461-1910<br />
<a href="mailto:garrison@softwarefreedom.org">garrison@softwarefreedom.org</a></p>
<p>Beatriz Busaniche<br />
Consejera<br />
Fundación Software Libre América Latina<br />
<a href="mailto:bea@fsfla.org">bea@fsfla.org</a><br />
(Spanish)</p>
<p>Alexandre Oliva<br />
Consejero<br />
Fundación software Libre América Latina<br />
<a href="mailto:lxoliva@fsfla.org">lxoliva@fsfla.org</a><br />
(Portuguese)</p>
Brazil to host the 2nd International Conference on GPLv3http://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2006-02-gplv3-conf-2.en.html2007-07-05T19:43:13Z2006-02-21T20:48:00Z
<p>Porto Alegre, Brazil - April 21st & 22nd.</p>
<p>BOSTON - February 21, 2006 - The 2nd international GPLv3 conference will take place on April 21st & 22nd in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The international GPLv3 conferences are part of a year-long public consultation process to update GNU General Public License ("the GPL") which today protects the freedom of 100s of millions of software users and is the most used Free Software license in the world.</p>
<p>The conference will take place during the 7th International Free Software Forum, which takes place from April 19th to the 22nd.</p>
<p>Like the current GPL, version 3 will work to guarantee that all users of software distributed under its terms have the freedom to examine, share, and modify that software.</p>
<p>Version 2 of the GPL was released in 1991. It is now being updated to account for changes in the legal and technical environment in which software licenses operate, and to protect against new threats to the freedoms of software users such as software patents and Digital Restrictions Management (DRM).</p>
<p>The new version will also incorporate what has been learned over the last 15 years about enforcing a single software license in varying legal systems around the world, and with the 2nd international GPLv3 conference, the current draft of GPL version 3 will receive particular scrutiny from lawyers and software users of Latin America. A main goal of these conferences is to get input from free software users in all parts of the world.</p>
<p>The main changes in the text are those which would make GPLv3 compatible with other Free Software licenses. That is to say that programmers will be able to combine GPLv3-covered code with code distributed under some other Free Software licenses which version 2 would have prohibited.</p>
<p>We invite you join us at FISL for the second round of presentations and discussions, with both international and Latin American perspectives.</p>
<p>Confirmed speakers include Richard Stallman, founder and president of Free Software Foundation (FSF), who will introduce the new draft, and Richard Fontana, lawyer at Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC), who will provide legal interpretation. Expert panelists form across Latin America will lead discussion on license internationalization, DRM, software patents, and license compatibility.</p>
<p>The Conference's schedule and further information will be published soon at<br />
<a href="http://gplv3.fsf.org/wiki/index.php/International_conferences">http://gplv3.fsf.org/wiki/index.php/International_conferences</a></p>
<p>About the Free Software Foundation</p>
<p>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 www.fsf.org, is an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support their work can be made at <a href="http://donate.fsf.org">http://donate.fsf.org</a>. Their<br />
headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.</p>
<p>Free Software Foundations currently exist in the United States, Europe, India and Latin America. All FSFs form a network of sister organisations.</p>
Birth of FSFLAhttp://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/anuncio/2005-11-birth.en.html2007-07-05T19:43:13Z2005-11-23T20:02:00Z
<p>During the 5tas Jornadas Regionales del Software Livre, that took place in Rosario, Argentina, the founding members of FSFLA Free Software Foundation Latin America took the first formal steps to the Foundation's legal constitution, joining the network of Free Software Foundations.</p>
<p>During its Founding Assembly, the Council of Administration of FSFLA designed as President Federico Heinz, as Secretary Alexandre Oliva and Beatriz Busaniche as Treasurer, constituting the Executive Council of the new organization. The other members of the Council of administration are Enrique A. Chaparro, Mario M. Bonilla, Fernanda G. Weiden and Juan José Ciarlante.</p>
<p>The official launch of the new organization was attended by the President of Free Software Foundation Europe, Georg Greve.</p>
<p>FSFLA is the fourth Free Software Foundation in the network, started in 1985 with the Free Software Foundation by Richard M. Stallman, later joined by Free Software Foundation Europe and India.</p>