Hundreds of people from around the world will meet at LibrePlanet 2016: Fork the System, March 19-20, 2016 at MIT in Cambridge, MA. This year's conference program will examine how free software creates the opportunity of a new path for its users, allows developers to fight the restrictions of a system dominated by proprietary software by creating free replacements, and is the foundation of a philosophy of freedom, sharing, and change. Sessions like "Yes, the FCC might ban your operating system" and "GNU/Linux and Chill: Free software on a college campus" will offer insights about how to resist the dominance of proprietary software, which is often built in to university policies and government regulations.

Activists from EFF, April, FSF Latin America, and the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative will talk about the possibility of changes to copyright law in the US, how to De-Google-ify the Internet, how our world resembles dystopian sci-fi, and how to bolster asset-based community development work.

There are opportunities to learn to use free software, too: there will be an introduction to using Python in the 3D creation program Blender; a workshop devoted to LittleSis, a wiki-style database that tracks connections between the world's most powerful people and organizations; and an overview of the secure, distributed voice, video, and chat communication platform Ring.

There will be four keynotes devoted to free software in relation to surveillance, philosophy, and more. We previously announced our opening session, a livestreamed conversation between NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and ACLU Technologist Daniel Kahn Gillmor, "The last lighthouse: Free software in dark times," and we are pleased to announce our three other keynote speakers: Allison Randal, president of the Open Source Initiative, Karen Sandler, executive director of the Software Freedom Conservancy, and Richard Stallman, president of the Free Software Foundation.

The full draft program is now online. Check it out, then register – we anticipate very high attendance this year, and advance registration is the best way to guarantee admission to LibrePlanet. Remember, FSF members and students attend gratis.

Each year at LibrePlanet, we gather software developers, activists, policy experts, and computer users to share accomplishments, learn skills, and address challenges to software freedom. Newcomers are always welcome, and LibrePlanet 2016 will feature programming for a broad range of experience levels, including students. LibrePlanet 2016 is produced in partnership by the Free Software Foundation with the Student Information Processing Board (SIPB) at MIT.

Pre-order a LibrePlanet 2016 t-shirt by February 26

You can also pre-order a LibrePlanet 2016 commemorative t-shirt in the GNU Press shop. Order your shirt by Thursday, February 25th to guarantee availability in your size.

Volunteers make LibrePlanet great

LibrePlanet started out as a Free Software Foundation membership meeting, but now it is much more. The conference would never have become the highly anticipated event it is today without the commitment of dozens of volunteers who aid with the planning and execution of LibrePlanet each year, in a variety of roles. We are still looking for volunteers for this year's event. If you are interested in helping out, complete the volunteer interest form. We show our appreciation for our volunteers by offering gratis conference admission and a LibrePlanet t-shirt.

Don't miss out on your chance to Fork the System. Register for LibrePlanet 2016 today!

Once again, the free software community helped put the FSF in a strong position to tackle our list of free software initiatives in 2016, by giving $5 or $10,000, becoming a member for the first time, donating a little bit extra this year, and simply helping spread the word. We've said it before, but we'll say it again: we really can't do this work without your passion and generosity.

Here's what you helped us achieve:

• 4,124 membership contributions (annual and monthly)
• 2,163 one-time donations -- an increase of 629 over last year's fundraiser
• An average one-time donation of $97.39

And finally, you smashed our goal of 400 new members:

• 495 new members

In addition to feeling humbled by your generosity, we get some heartening takeaways from those numbers. More people than ever are supporting the FSF's work defending user freedom - in addition to welcoming more new members than in any previous fundraiser, more people gave, and gave more generously, than in the past. Modest giving made an impact, too: those who gave $30 or less contributed nearly $7,000 more than last year, proving that every little bit really does add up. We always appreciate any new membership, but this year, we witnessed an especially moving commitment from hundreds of people who have made the choice to pledge ongoing financial support to the FSF, bringing our total membership to nearly 4,000. Imagine that: four thousand candles lighting the way.

Your support is our mandate. We will continue our work to serve as a guiding light for the free software movement, and to make new lights to burn brighter. In the coming weeks, look for a report on our findings from the FSF Vision survey, an update to the High Priority Free Software Projects list, and rousing conversation and community building at LibrePlanet, as well as more announcements from the Respects Your Freedom certification program, further action resisting the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's Digital Restrictions Management anti-circumvention provisions, and upgrades to the FSF and GNU Project infrastructure.

Once again, thank you for your contributions to the free software movement, and your support of the FSF. Remember that FSF membership offers many benefits, including gratis admission to our annual LibrePlanet conference. Register today to join us at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Stata Center on March 19-20, 2016, where we will present LibrePlanet 2016: Fork the System, in partnership with MIT's Student Information Processing Board.

Valentine's day is this Sunday. You may be looking forward to it or you may be dreading it; most of us have been through both. But there's something important that you can do regardless of your relationship status:

Ask someone you like -- romantically or otherwise -- to be your cryptovalentine. If they say yes (yikes, nervous!) use the free program GnuPG to set up private and encrypted communication with them.

If one or both of you is new to GnuPG, we recommend our beginner-friendly Email Self-Defense guide. Setting up encrypted communication is a quick activity you can do together whether you are across the room or across the world. And what better way to show love than by helping someone defend their security, privacy, and freedom? This year, we have a new section with tips for teaching Email Self-Defense, which you may find useful when proposing an encryption date.

Once you're done setting up secure communication, share your love with the world by posting about it, or microblogging with the hashtag #ilovefs. Just make sure not to use proprietary software to post.

This is a fun activity, but it can also make a difference. The right to encrypt is endangered around the world, with governments threatening our security and freedom by demanding legal or technological crippling of encryption. Resist with the power of love -- encrypt with your valentine, and tell the world!

And as we've discussed at length, free software is necessary for privacy online. Because nonfree software's code can't be audited publicly, we can never trust it to be free of back doors inserted by accident or by design. We're thankful to all the hardworking free software developers who give us a fighting chance at digital privacy. It goes without saying, but we do love FS.

For more free software Valentine's day fun, like postcards and an #ilovefs photo gallery, visit the Free Software Foundation Europe Web site.

<3

Richard Stallman has published a a new guide on gnu.org titled License compatibility and relicensing. Gnu.org is home to a whole host of resources on free software licensing, including frequently asked questions about GNU licenses and our list of free software licenses. Our license list contains information on which licenses are compatible with the GNU General Public License as well as a brief description of what it means to be compatible. This latest article by Stallman provides a more in–depth explanation of what compatibility means and the different ways in which it is achieved.

As Stallman states, "In general we say that several licenses are compatible if there is a way to merge code under those various licenses while complying with all of them." Even where two licenses are crafted in a such a way that they cannot naturally be combined, however, explicit relicensing provisions can enable code combinations that otherwise wouldn't be permitted. The guide covers all of this and more in depth and clarity.

Resources like this guide are made possible by donations from our community and help from our volunteers. Here is what you can do to help make sure everyone has quality tools for understanding and using free licenses:

• Volunteer on the licensing team or as a GNU Webmaster. There are many other ways to volunteer as well.
• Help fund our work by making donation to the FSF or join as an FSF member.

Join the FSF and friends Friday, February 5th, from 12pm to 3pm EST (17:00 to 20:00 UTC) to help improve the Free Software Directory.

Participate in supporting the Free Software Directory by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the #fsf channel on freenode.

Tens of thousands of people visit directory.fsf.org each month to discover free software. Each entry in the Directory contains a wealth of useful information, from basic category and descriptions, to providing detailed info about version control, IRC channels, documentation, and licensing info that has been carefully checked by FSF staff and trained volunteers.

While the Free Software Directory has been and continues to be a great resource to the world over the past decade, it has the potential of being a resource of even greater value. But it needs your help!

If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to make it onto IRC on Friday, our participation guide will provide you with all the information you need to get started on helping the Directory today! There are also weekly FSD Meetings pages that everyone is welcome to contribute to before, during, and after each meeting.