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Free as in Freedom
November 11, 2014
Summary
Karen and Bradley announce
Conservancy's DMCA filing and Conservancy
and FSF's joint launch of the copyleft.org project, and then discuss
Eileen
Evans' FOSDEM 2014 talk,
entitled Licensing Models and Building an Open Source Community.
This show was released on Tuesday 11 November 2014; its
running time is 01:13:10.
Show Notes
Segment 0 (00:36)
●Conservancy file a DMCA
petition regarding so-called “Smart TVs”. (02:00)
●Bradley mentioned the magic
marker that was as circumvention technique under DMCA. Here's an amusing joke press release about the
issue. (03:10)
●There isn't much documentation online of Bruce Perens
live DMCA violation, but this
article appears to be the main one on the subject, and there is also
this interview (06:46).
●Bradley and Karen talked about
the joint FSF/Conservancy copyleft.org announcement. (09:10)
●Bradley first pulled together the materials for copyleft.org for
FSF's CLE seminars, particularly the one in March 2014. (10:00)
●Karen noted that Conservancy donated the time to write up a pristine example of good complete,
corresponding source code for a GPL'd product. (11:30)
●Bradley
discussed the incorrect GPLv2§2(a) violation accusations that some made against Red Hat regarding
its changes to its publication of RHEL's Linux fork. (12:00)
●Karen and Bradley encouraged listeners to submit
talk proposals for the FOSDEM 2015 Legal and Policy Issues DevRoom (15:03)
Segment 1 (19:38)
This is a recording of Eileen
Evans' FOSDEM 2014 talk,
entitled Licensing Models and Building an Open Source
Community. If you'd rather watch
the video, which includes the slides from her talk, it's available on
FOSDEM's site.
Segment 2 (46:40)
●Bradley and Karen discuss Eileen's talk.
●Bradley mentioned the OpenStack CLA fight, which was covered in a panel discussion on
FaiF 0x4B. (56:16)
●Karen mentioned the 501(c)(6) issues that OpenStack Foundation has faced,
which were discussed already
on FaiF 0x4E. (56:34)
Tags: faif, commercial, licensing, non-profit, copyright, CLAs, copyleft
September 23, 2014
Summary
Bradley and Karen discuss the key differences between 501(c)(3) and
501(c)(6) organizations in the USA, and discuss recent refusals by the IRS
to grant such statuses to Open Source and Free Software orgs.
This show was released on Tuesday 23 September 2014; its
running time is 00:49:25.
Show Notes
Segment 0 (00:34)
●Bradley mentioned the 501(c)(3) vs. 501(c)(6) difference came up on FaiF 0x41. (03:35)
●Bradley mentioned that in 501(c)(3)
status from the IRS is based on receiving some status governed by §170(b)(1)(A)
of the tax code. (Most Free Software charities, such as Conservancy,
are classifed as non-profit charities under §170(b)(1)(A)(vi).)
(05:10)
●Bradley mentioned this issue had been discussed on FLOSS Foundations' mailing list
(05:50)
●Bradley discussed that at the OSCON
2013 tutorial, Community Foundations 101, most of the
501(c)(6) representatives who spoke argued incorrectly that the
differences between 501(c)(3)'s and 501(c)(6)'s were not
substantive. (10:50)
●Karen referenced how the
TV show Silicon Valley parodies the irony of for-profit
software companies claiming they make the w
orld a better place
.
(11:58)
●Bradley mentioned he was inspired by Michael Moore in his work on Free
Software. (15:02)
●Bradley mentioned Karen's
talk called Identity Crisis (15:21)
●Karen mentioned that open
source was on the list of items the IRS gave additional scrutiny. (16:51)
●Bradley mentioned a blog
post by Jim Nelson where Yorba's rejection was discussed; Yorba's
501(c)(3) application was previously discussed on was
discussed on 0x1C, and covered
in many other places. (17:46)
●Karen
wrote a blog post about why she isn't worried for Conservancy's 501(c)(3)
status at this time. (18:30)
●Bradley mentioned that IRS decisions don't make precedent, and if
there's a dispute, it would go to USA Tax Court (19:00)
●Mozilla Foundation's odd hybrid for-profit/non-profit model was audited
by the IRS, and Mozilla Foundation settled with the IRS. (20:22)
●Open Stack Foundation was initially denied
501(c)(6) status, as reported on Mark McLoughlin's blog. (25:10)
●Bradley promised links to both Yorba's
501(c)(3) denial letter from the IRS and Open
Stack Foundation's 501(c)(6) denial letter from the IRS. (The response
to the IRS from OpenStack, written by DLA Piper, OpenStack
Foundation's law firm, is also available, too. (27:15)
●Bradley and Karen discussed Board of Directors meetings in FaiF 0x45: I'm Board
(31:40)
●Bradley mentioned the How
fresh stays fresh campaign, which includes the Nature's Pause Button
television commercials by the American
Frozen Food Institute, which is a 501(c)(6) organization. It's FY
2012 Form 990 is the most recent on available.
●Bradley also mentioned the Beef: It's What's For
Dinner advertisting campaign that has existed for decades in the USA,
which is sponsored by the National Cattlemen's
Beef Association, Inc. which is a 501(c)(6) as well. It's FY
2012 Form 990 is the most recent on available.
(35:40)
●Bradley further mentioned the Pork: the other white
meat advertising campaign, which has also existed for decades but is
now called the Pork:
Be Inspired campaign, seems a bit more dubious in its non-profit
existence. It appears to be funded by the National Pork Board Foundation,
which is ostensibly a 501(c)(3) but has no
assets, revnue nor expenses, and appears to be a front for an
org called the America's Pork
Producers / Pork Checkoff, which appears to be some quasi-govermental
agency related to pork (in other words, it's pork for pork). More research would probably be needed to
figure out better what's going on here with regard to non-profit status,
but it seems that unlike the Beef ads, which are clearly funded by a
501(c)(6), this campaign is funded by a separate legislation, presumably
unrelated to §501(c). There is, BTW, also, a 501(c)(5) called the
National Pork Producers Council, which
appears to be where
the big money is (— not surprisingly — 501(c)(4)'s and 501(c)(5)'s often
make 501(c)(6)'s and 501(c)(3)'s look tiny by comparison). (36:13)
Segment 1 (39:43)
Conservancy
and OSI jointly announced a working group on IRS applications and
denials. (40:49)
Tags: faif, non-profit, Form 1023
May 27, 2014
Summary
Bradley and Karen discuss the details, what to worry about, and what
the usual duties are when serving on a Board of Directors for a USA
non-profit. The discussion is primarily about 501(c)(3) organizations,
but at the end they spend some time discussing 501(c)(6) organizations as
well.
This show was released on Tuesday 27 May 2014; its
running time is 01:02:56.
Show Notes
Segment 0 (00:00:44)
●An
image of Alfie chewing on the antler (01:22)
●Karen
is running for the GNOME Foundation Board of Directors. (05:15)
●Bradley once criticized the CNRI OPEN SOURCE
LICENSE AGREEMENT (used for parts of Python), because it is governed by
the laws of a place that doesn't exist. (06:48)
●Bradley mentioned a Planet
Money episode that talked about it's “too easy” to incorporate
in Delaware (23:50)
Segment 1 (00:32:25)
●Bradley and Karen discuss various additional things about being on a
Board of Directors, including why and how you might be able to serve on
one.
●Bradley and Karen discuss the requirements for
getting on a 501(c)(6) Board like Linux Foundation (55:30)
Tags: faif, non-profit
October 17, 2013
Summary
Karen and Bradley listen to and discuss John
Sullivan's talk from FOSDEM 2013,
entitled State
of the GNUnion.
This show was released on Thursday 17 October 2013; its
running time is 01:19:37.
Show Notes
Segment 0 (00:00:33)
Karen and Bradley introduce the talk.
Segment 1 (00:01:58)
The slides
for John's talk are available, and the source
of those slides is available too.
Segment 1 (00:54:31)
●Bradley mentioned RMS'
essay, Who Does That Server Really Serve?
(01:08:55)
Segment 2 (01:14:53)
Private
Internet Access became a new GNOME Advisory Board Member.
Tags: faif, GNU, GPL, FSF, non-profit, copyright, FOSDEM
August 14, 2013
Summary
Bradley and Karen interview Jim Zemlin,
Executive Director of the The
Linux Foundation.
This show was released on Wednesday 14 August 2013; its
running time is 00:37:16.
Show Notes
Bradley and Karen interview Jim Zemlin,
Executive Director of the The
Linux Foundation.
Segment 0 (00:00:33)
Bradley and Karen introduce the interview.
Segment 1 (00:03:03)
Bradley and Karen interview Jim Zemlin.
Segment 2 (00:25:23)
●Karen and Bradley wrap up the discussion about 501(c)(3) and
501(c)(6).
●Bradley referenced this post which ocurred in this thread about Linus saying Greg KH is a doo
r-mat
. (26:36, 34:55)
●The OSCON session that Bradley chaired was Non-Profits
Organizations for FLOSS Projects: There Is No Place Like Home,
and the slides
are available. (33:21)
Tags: faif, commercial, non-profit
June 13, 2013
Summary
Karen and Bradley listen to and discuss Gervase
Markham's talk from FOSDEM
2013, entitled Mozilla: Licensing In The Trenches.
This show was released on Thursday 13 June 2013; its
running time is 01:11:55.
Show Notes
Segment 0 (00:00:34)
●Bradley encouraged listeners to Conservancy's campaign for
non-profit accounting software.
(02:10)
●Bradley mentioned his
2009 blog post encouraging people to donate to Free Software charities (02:50)
●Karen asked people to donate
to the GNOME Foundation privacy campaign (04:11)
Segment 1 (00:04:57)
Gerv's slides
from his FOSDEM 2013 talk can be downloaded from FOSDEM's website.
Segment 2 (00:51:48)
Bradley and Karen discuss Gerv's talk.
Tags: Creative Commons, licensing, non-profit, copyright, IBM, conferences, FOSDEM
May 29, 2012
Summary
Karen and Bradley discuss Software Freedom Conservancy's
announcement
regarding its coordinated license compliance program.
This show was released on Tuesday 29 May 2012; its
running time is 00:32:53.
Show Notes
Segment 0 (00:36)
Karen and Bradley discuss Software Freedom Conservancy's
announcement
regarding its coordinated license compliance program.
Tags: faif, GPL, licensing, non-profit, copyright
December 16, 2011
Summary
Karen and Bradley discuss recent debates about the value of
non-profit organizations for Free Software.
This show was released on Friday 16 December 2011; its
running time is 00:44:33.
Show Notes
Segment 0 (00:34)
●Fontana
(and other Red Hat employees) pointed out some imprecision in what
Bradley said in Episode
0x1D about Debian non-free. (01:07)
●Acall for
participation has been
announced for the Legal
and Policy Issues DevRoomatFOSDEM 2012. Please submit a
proposal by 30 December 2011 (04:30)
●A recent debate about non-profits started, initiated by a blog post
called Apache
Considered Harmful. (12:55)
●Karen and Bradley briefly mentioned that some now believe
that Considered Harmful Considered Harmful
(13:16)
●A long thread on this issue occurred on the FLOSS Foundations mailing
list (13:45)
●Bradley made an official Conservancy Blog post about the value of
non-profits for Free Software (14:17)
●Sourceforge
became proprietary software in 2001, as is well-described in this
by The Sourceforge
proprietarization debacle is well described in an article by Loïc
Dachary. (19:19)
●Bradley mentioned FaiFCast Episode 0x11,
which discussed the OpenOffice.org/Apache/LibreOffice
situation. (44:35)
●Bradley pointed out that this debate conflates a lot of different
issues, and tried to list all the conflated questions here:
●Should a non-profit home decide what technical infrastructure is
used for a software freedom project? And if so, what should it be?
●If the projects doesn't provide technological services, should
non-profits allow their projects to rely on for-profits for
technological or other services?
●Should a non-profit home set political and social positions that
must be followed by the projects? If so, how strictly should they be
enforced?
●Should copyrights be held by the non-profit home of the project, or
with the developers, or a mix of the two?
●Should the non-profit dictate licensing requirements on the
project? If so, how many licenses are ok?
●Should a non-profit dictate strict copyright provenance
requirements on their projects? If not, should the non-profit at least
provide guidelines and recommendations?
Tags: FSF, non-profit, Richard Fontana
November 11, 2011
Summary
Karen interviews Adam Dingle of Yorba, and Bradley and Karen briefly
discuss the interview.
This show was released on Friday 11 November 2011; its
running time is 00:51:23.
Show Notes
Segment 0 (00:33)
●The interview is with Adam
DingleofYorba.
(02:30)
Segment 1 (02:45)
●Yorba was founded in January
2009. (04:01)
●Yorba applied for 501(c)(3) status nearly two years ago and the
application is still pending in the queue (the same delay queue we
discussed in Episode
0x13. (28:30)
●Adam mentioned Yorba's donation
page. (30:13)
Segment 2 (41:08)
●Karen mentioned that Yorba's response to the IRS should be
published soon. (41:35)
●Bradley mentioned Cat
Allman's Fundraising 101 talk from OSCON. (43:30)
Tags: faif, non-profit, Form 1023
October 25, 2011
Summary
Bradley and Karen discuss their jobs, particularly fundraising, and
plans for future shows.
This show was released on Tuesday 25 October 2011; its
running time is 00:31:47.
Show Notes
Segment 0 (00:36)
●The Google Summer of Code Program is
large philanthropic program by Google for students to write Free
Software in the summer.
●Bradley gave a talk
about non-profit organizations at the Google SoC Mentor
Summit 2011
●Karen mentioned the GNOME
Women's Outreach Program, which coordinates with the SoC, and the
Season
of KDE. (09:36)
●Conservancy's Amarok, Mercurial and PyPy projects
are all currently doing fundraising programs (14:38)
●Bradley will give two
talks
at LinuxCon Europe this week. (15:15)
●Karen will attend the Ubuntu Developer Summit. (20:20)
●Karen will speak in Latvia later this year. (24:20)
●Richard Fontana discussed RMS' quote about Jobs on
identi.ca (26:27)
Segment 1 (29:28)
●We'll try to record some talks/interviews at upcoming events.
Tags: faif, non-profit
July 5, 2011
Summary
Karen and Bradley discuss the USAmerican legal system in regard to
torts, and the current delays from the USA IRS on 501(c)(3) non-profit
applications (i.e., Form 1023s).
This show was released on Tuesday 5 July 2011; its
running time is 00:39:49.
Show Notes
Segment 0 (00:48)
●Billy Crook wrote in to make a good joke about 0x12 being the last
episode available in other RSS feeds. (Don't forget the right RSS feed
is at faif.us.)
●Karen calls tortes
delicious pa
stries
.
●Bradley saw a documentary
called Hot Coffee, which discussed the idea of tort deform. (03:35, 05:45)
●Bradley mentioned that Karl
Rove, George W. Bush's political operative, was involved in early tort
“reform”. (06:54)
●Brendan Scott is a lawyer in Australia, who has published about GPL
enforcement and writes
a blog about legal issues related to Open Source and Free Software
(11:58)
Segment 1 (12:50)
●Bradley talked about 501(c)(3) status and Form 1023s in his interview on FLOSS
weekly. (13:50)
●Around 2010, applications for Free Software non-profits' 501(c)(3)
status started to be delayed, according to independent evidence that
Karen and Bradley have collected from the IRS and the community of
non-profits. (16:20)
●Form
1023s are the applications you file with the IRS (17:15)
●As far as we know, no applications have been refused yet for a
Free Software non-profit, but there seem to be extremely long
delays. (18:40)
●Bradley mentioned a blog post from the
Executive Director of CASH Music, where he talked about their Form
1023 being delayed. (19:10)
●Karen has confirmed with IRS agents that this process of
applications does not impact existing non-profits
currently. (21:00)
●Bradley pointed out that COBOL jobs are still very
prevalent. Bradley even found a website dedicated only to COBOL
jobs. (36:18)
●After we recorded, Simon
Phipps posted a blog post quoting Bradley about the issue
.
Tags: faif, non-profit, tort, Form 1023
April 26, 2011
Summary
This episode is a recording of Richard Fontana's talk, Open Source Projects and
Corporate Entanglement from the 2011
Linux Collaboration Summit, with some commentary from Bradley and
Karen on the talk.
This show was released on Tuesday 26 April 2011; its
running time is 01:02:48.
Show Notes
Segment 0 (00:34)
●Bradley is still recovering from a rhinovirus which he
didn't take care of and also made him sicker, which explains the
problems with his voice. In fact, the coughing in the background during
Fontana's talk is all Bradley. He apologizes. (00:50)
●This show is Richard Fontana's Linux
Collaboration Summit 2011 talk, Open Source Projects and
Corporate Entanglement. (03:24)
Segment 1 (03:48)
●Richard Fontana's
slides for his talk, Open Source Projects and Corporate
Entanglement are available on his website. (04:29)
●Bradley was live-denting
Fontana's LCS talk. (04:31)
●Richard Fontana is the purveyor of the disturbing group on
identi.ca. (04:30)
●Fontana makes reference to a Bradley's
blog post on switching back to Debian from Ubuntu. (05:55)
●Fontana pointed out
that the GNU Manifesto deals a lot with how
Free Software is completely compatible with many business models.
(12:30)
●Fontana pointed out
that many of the relationships between companies in Free software
have great variability in level of transparency. (16:00)
●In the background, you hear Bradley saying something. He's giving
Josh Berkus credit for the phrase throw code over the wall
, a
phrase which both Fontana and Bradley now use regularly. (32:28)
Segment 2 (48:25)
●Fontana
made an interesting analogy to commissioned art and its similarity
to FLOSS. (50:33)
●Fontana noted later on
identica that he does support non-profit as solution to entanglement
problem. (54:48)
●Bradley mentioned the 60
Minutes story about Mortenson's Central Asia Institute (CAI). (55:30)
●Fontana now talking
about GE/NBC relationship, but Bradley was surprised that Fontana
didn't mention Ben
Bagdikian's book, The Media
Monopoly. (18:26, 56:30)
●Bradley was glad that
Fontana called proprietary relicensing illegitimate. Bradley points
out that sometimes community members, including himself, have too
easily forgiven business models on the edges of software
freedom. (25:13, 30:50 58:30)
Tags: faif, GNU, licensing, non-profit, Richard Fontana
March 15, 2011
Summary
Bradley and Karen
have an introductory discussion on how non-profit governance interacts
with Free Software projects and what issues are important for
developers who want their project to have a non-profit existence.
This show was released on Tuesday 15 March 2011; its
running time is 00:34:42.
Show Notes
Segment 0 (00:37)
●Bradley and Karen began the discussion by commenting
on this blog post by Andy Updegrove about non-profit
governance. (01:50)
●Bradley and Karen tend to agree that non-profit settings are better
places to foster and help Free Software development. (03:40)
●Bradley mentioned that Roland McGrath wrote GNU C
Library (and other GNU programs) while working as an employee at the FSF, and many of those programs are now
often maintained by Red Hat (or other company's) developers, under the
auspices of the GNU project, as overseen by the FSF. (04:50)
●Corporate form and organization questions should be secondary to
project leadership ones. (09:50)
●One of the most important things is to have an organization in a
place where people are willing to do the work to keep the organization
going. (20:10)
●Enthusiasm to keep the organization running is the most important
resource for running the organization. (22:26)
Tags: faif, non-profit
Free as in Freedom is produced by Dan Lynchofdanlynch.org. Theme
music written and performed
by Mike Tarantino
with Charlie Paxson on drums.
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0x50: Big Announcements & Evans' FOSDEM 2014 Talk