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Your most frequently asked questions about the Vizio lawsuit, answered in one place. ● Donate

●News

Press Releases

Press

Blog

Vizio Lawsuit in the News

Our Issues in the News

●About

Sustainers

Board of Directors

Staff

Evaluation Committee

Outside Counsel, et alia

Transparency

Contact

●Our Work

Copyleft Compliance

We defend and uphold the rights of software users and consumers under copyleft licenses.

Impact Litigation

We defend the legal rights of software users. Learn the details, status, and stakes of our court cases.

Give Up GitHub

We urge FOSS Developers to Give Up GitHub! Learn why.

Outreachy

We offer internships for anyone who faces underrepresentation, systemic bias, or discrimination in the tech industry.

FOSSY

Our annual community-oriented conference focused on the creation and impact of free and open source software. ●Tools

Member Projects

We provide non-profit infrastructure and services to our members creating Free/Libre and Open Source Software.

Use The Source

Our tool for evaluating the source code candidates companies must provide for GPLed software.

OpenWrt One

We designed and built the first ever wireless Internet router designed with software freedom and right to repair in mind. ●Learn

The Corresponding Source

A bi-weekly oggcast about legal, policy, and many other issues in the Free, Libre, and Open Source Software (FLOSS) world.

Glossary of Terms

A list of terms you might be unfamiliar with but occur frequently in our work.

FAQ About the Vizio Lawsuit

Your most frequently asked questions about the Vizio lawsuit, answered in one place. ●Donate Thanks to so many donors, we met our largest match donation ever of $211,939. Two generous anonymous donors have provided another $40,012ofadditional matching funds. Give now to help us reach this stretch goal! For only 4 more days, the next $13,079offinancial support we receive will be matched! $26,933 matched! $13,079 to go! $211,927 fully matched! Home / News

Displaying posts tagged conservancy

Interview with Tracy Homer about Software Freedom and Maker Spaces

byDaniel Takamori on January 26, 2026 My name is Tracy and I'm the Operations Manager here at Software Freedom Conservancy. Basically that means I support many different parts of the organization, from writing up contracts for project developers to banking reconciliation. I also manage our annual conference, FOSSY. Below is a conversation I had with our Executive Director Karen Sandler about my story with free software. Part of which centers my work with Knox Makers, the Makerspace I'm a board member of. Software freedom is an issue that affects us all, and I hope to bring some light to both my own story and a wider view of how non-FOSS developers and users interact with free software in an everyday way. Karen Sandler: How did you first encounter the idea of software freedom? Tracy Homer: It was a slow discovery process. When I first started using Linux, it's primary draw was that it was free (as in beer). I didn't really know it had anything to do with free as in speech and copyleft licensing. Over time I've learned how important it is to be able to modify your own devices and see what goes on behind the screens in the services that hold our most personal information. Karen: What was the first FOSS software you used? Tracy: Inkscape, one of SFC's member projects! I use it for all kinds of design work -both for SFC and personally. If you've been to FOSSY or visited our booth at other conferences, chances are the print material was designed in Inkscape. Karen: We know you are very involved with the makerspace, Knox Makers. How does Knox Makers use FOSS? Tracy: Knox Makers is committed to open source software and hardware wherever possible. We feel it is an aspect of accessibility for our members, and allows them the ability to try out and learn deeply all kinds of different tools, without having to pay expensive licensing fees, or worry about their art being sucked up by AI, or needing to buy a certain OS to run it. We've modified some software to make it more community user friendly, and written our own plugins and tools for our member's use as well. Knox Makers is actually how I learned of SFC in the first place, as a few of my good friends there are sustainers. Karen: What are some projects you've recently done personally? Tracy: I just finished a year's long project, embroidering a globe. It doesn't sound like it fits with free sofware but it does! I created my own pattern in QGIS (open source geographic software) using depth of the ocean translated into different shades of blue. Then I exported each of the 20 spherical triangular pieces into Inkscape to add some registration lines and print out. It took so long that I feel kind of lost what to work on next. Karen: How does software freedom enrich your daily life? Tracy: The few proprietary systems I still have to use are intensely frustrating. I feel like it's a game of cat and mouse trying to figure out how to use a "new and better!" interface with no documentation and no way to revert changes feels very disheartening. Any searching for error messages just brings up a long thread of other users with the same issue and maybe a rote answer from the company, typically unhelpful. That maybe doesn't answer the question, because I went the other way with it. But so most of my life is using open software and hardware that it's really become a non issue. I have a problem with something; I fix it. I can switch to something different if I really don't like it - I can even change up my whole computer system if I find it doesn't suit my needs. I don't get ads and other popups thrown in my face every where I turn, and I know my data and art belongs to only me. Karen: You've been at SFC for over 3 years! And, as Operations Manager, you take care of some of the least glamous work that we have. What do you enjoy about your job? (hopefully it's something!) Tracy: Working here has been great - everyone at SFC is lovely and I think we make a great team. I really enjoy meeting other people in the FOSS world, so I like tabling at conferences. And seeing everyone at FOSSY too. Weirdly, I enjoy the accounting aspects, because it feels like a puzzle to put together. All the numbers have to fit somewhere and they all have to sum up perfectly in the end so tracking down the missing pieces is a fun challenge. Karen: What do you hope to accomplish in software freedom, either personally or professionally in the coming months or years? Tracy: I've only done the most minor contributions to projects, and someday I'd like to develop the skills to do more. I'd also like to focus on adding more to my city in OpenStreetMap - it's pretty sparse in places. I think with SFC I'd like to help focus on on advocacy and how software freedom benefits many different aspects of life, especially in the creative space. [permalink] Tags: conservancy

Some Unfortunate Delays in our Struggle for Copyleft Justice

byBradley M. Kühn on January 26, 2026 We at Software Freedom Conservancy are disappointed at some surprising news. Two weeks ago (THU 2026-01-08), we had our original pretrial motions hearing scheduled in our historic impact litigation against Vizio. Just about an hour before the hearing's start-time, Judge Sandy Leal issued a minute order that rescheduled the hearing and (effectively) removed the trial (which was set to start on Monday 12 January 2025) from her calendar. The rescheduled hearing date was Monday 2026-01-26 at 09:00. At 08:15 that morning, our attorneys were contacted from the Court Clerk that the hearing was again postponed.. We have been in this litigation against Vizio since October 2021. Vizio violated both the General Public License (GPL) and Lesser GPL Agreements. Vizio's “Smart” TV products include more than a dozen packages under these copyleft licenses, yet Vizio has continually failed to comply with these agreements in various ways — most notably (and including but not limited to) by (a) not providing complete, corresponding source code, (b) not providing “the scripts used to control compilation and installation of the executable[s]”, and (c) not providing object code necessary for relinking the LGPLv2.1'd works. We were looking forward to our days in Court that week to show the world all the details of Vizio's non-compliance, and to ask the Court to acknowledge (among other things) our right as a third-party beneficiary under the GPL Agreements to receive all the materials that those Agreements require Vizio to give to all consumers who purchase their devices. These devices, BTW, are called “Smart” TVs because what's inside is actually a small (but powerful) computer attached to the giant video display — driven and controlled largely by copylefted FOSS. Notwithstanding our frustration, our trial was delayed for good reason. Another case — even older than ours — needed more time for their jury trial (and thus had priority over ours). While some criticize the USA for being “too litigious”, we at SFC believe firmly that the civil Courts are the best place where ordinary citizens and small, scrappy non-profit charities like SFC can seek justice when our rights are violated. We also know that there is more injustice in our country these days than anyone would like, and this delay occurred because there are other folks out there seeking justice on other important issues and rights, too. We understand that we've been waiting for a long time in a very long queue in the California Courts, and while we (like everyone) get frustrated when the line is taking much longer than expected, we also appreciate that Judge Leal is carefully managing her docket to grant all parties an impartial opportunity for justice. Attorneys for both SFC and Vizio are now negotiating with the Court for rescheduling. We hope the pretrial hearing will be scheduled fairly soon. We will update here and on the Fediverse as we know more. We'll spend the next few weeks posting the various recent motions and filings in the case, and publishing some retrospective summaries of the last four and a half years of the case for you all to read. Be sure subscribe to our feed in your RSS readers/aggregators and follow us on the Fediverse (via Mastodon or your preferred ActivityPub software). to receive updates! [permalink] Tags: conservancy, GPL, law

Join SFC for a Q&A on how to keep your sideloading, and other phone freedom tips

byDenver Gingerich on September 3, 2025 You may have heard that Google will be limiting sideloading in the next few months, which is likely to be enforced through Google Play Services, something that runs on virtually all Android phones. Google plans include blocking sideloading of apps where the developer has not shown their ID to Google. Many people have been asking us how they can support app developers who will not or cannot be involved in a Google-run identity verification program. In particular, we've been increasingly hearing that Android users want to remove their dependence on Google, for this and many other reasons, including the tracking and surveillance that come with using Google Play Services and other Google apps. As a result, we will be hosting a Q&A session this week, in conjunction with folks from F-Droid, to discuss how to best remove proprietary Google code from your phone, and ensure that you control how your phone operates, and which apps can run on it (and from whom).

"Phone freedom tips, and related Q&A" video chat details:

●Friday, Sep 5 (2025), at 15:00 UTC (08:00 US/Pacific, 11:00 US/Eastern, 17:00 CEST) ●https://bbb.sfconservancy.org/b/den-i3x-a5u-vkq We will cover the basics of which Google apps and other code you might be using, which of that you can remove while maintaining the use cases you have for your phone, and how to adapt use cases to potentially further reduce reliance on other non-free tools that prevent you from using your phone as you wish. Among other options, we'll talk about how to use LineageOS on your phone, or another phone you might have already, what you can expect from alternate OSes in general, and how you can keep doing what you need, while giving yourself more control over what you can do in the future. Alongside participants from F-Droid, we will also discuss the F-Droid project, which hosts free apps that provide alternatives for non-free apps from Google Play, as well as classifying apps by how your data is handled, so you can maintain as much say over your privacy and freedom as possible. We're excited to chat about how to improve your phone experience through the tools and expertise that software right to repair enthusiasts have created to ensure your phone and what you do on it is truly in your own hands! [permalink] Tags: conservancy, events, resources

2024 End-of-Year Fundraiser Succeeds: over $480k to support software freedom

byDaniel Takamori on January 16, 2025

We thank both donors who offered this historic $204,877 match & those who gave to help to exceed the challenge

In late November, SFC, with the help of a group of generous individuals who pledged match gifts large and small, posted a huge challenge to our donors. We were so thankful for the donors who came together to offer others a match challenge of $204,877 — which was substantially larger than any of our match challenges in history. Donors heard our ask, and we were even more thankful of all the donors who responded. Toward the end, we were so overwhelmed by last minute response that we were tabulating updates by hand. We saw so many donors who had already given coming in for another $10, $50 or $100 to get us there. We made the match primarily because of the hundreds of small donors who came in with Sustainer amounts, and we thank those small donors so much for often doing a bit extra: so many of you hit the $512 and even the $1024 button instead of the minimum of $128. It means so much to us when we see a donor who gave $128 in 2023 double their donation for 2024 — you all made this match challenge succeed. We also so appreciate the donors who, despite experiencing financial challenges, gave smaller amounts when it was a stretch for them to give at all. Most surprising of all, an anonymous donor who in the past has made a very large donation around the time of FOSDEM came in early this year. That donation bursts us right through our status bar and puts us well over. We've raised over $475,000 this season, which is now reflected on our fundraiser status bar. (We're still tabulating and entering the paper checks and ACH/wire transactions that came during the final days of the fundraiser, so the number may soon increase even more!) We are truly humbled. Every year, our staff is working tirelessly through the holiday season to make sure we balance our work and fundraising. Every dollar you all give us is noticed and appreciated, and gets us there, step by step. SFC does receive some grants and corporate sponsorship for which we are also grateful, but the bulk of our funding comes from individual donors, like you. Fundraising is (sometimes annoyingly) mandatory work that as a small staff we must do in addition to our normal work. Nevertheless, it's a simple fact that the more you donate, the more program activity we can do. In essence, you make our important work for software freedom and rights. [permalink] Tags: conservancy, fundraiser Next page (older) » [1] 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 2829 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52

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