Join the FSF and friends on Friday, October 24, from 2pm to 5pm EDT (18:00 to 21:00 UTC) to help improve 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!

LibrePlanet 2015's call for sessions is open for ten more days, until Sunday, November 2nd. Submit your proposal now! Email campaigns@fsf.org with questions about the call for sessions.

CC BY SA Bryan Smith

When the call for session proposals for LibrePlanet rolled around last year, I wasn't sure whether to submit. I hadn't spoken at many conferences before, and I wasn't sure whether the topic I wanted to speak on -- open science -- would be a good fit. But when I looked through the conference Web sites from previous years, I saw a lot of diverse topics and enthusiasm for welcoming new speakers.

So I applied, and a few months later the panel I organized spoke to a full room. I encourage you to submit a session proposal for LibrePlanet 2015!

LibrePlanet is a small, casual conference with a friendly atmosphere. That makes it a great place to speak for the first time, or to propose a new topic. If you have questions or would like advice about submitting a proposal, you can ask the FSF Campaigns Team at campaigns@fsf.org. Hope to see you at LibrePlanet 2015!

In today's Friday Free Software Directory (FSD) IRC Meeting we approved updates to several entries; we added a new category, System-administration/virtualization; and we also sent emails to the maintainers of two different programs asking them if, in addition to publishing their source code, they would consider making it free software. We also added a new entry that I am looking forward to trying out this weekend:

• tocc, a tag-based file management system that allows you to tag/classify any file in your file system. It is licensed under the terms of the GNU GPL version 3 or (at your option) any later version.

In addition to all this good work, we also also had some discussions related to Respects Your Freedom computer hardware certification, which makes me think that we should make RYF a theme for an upcoming meeting!

You can join in our discussions and help improve the Free Software Directory every Friday! Find out how to attend the Friday Free Software Directory IRC Meetings by checking our blog or by subscribing to the RSS feed.

The flaw, which only affects the SSL 3.0 protocol, makes traffic vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks. We have dropped support for SSL 3.0 on fsf.org and gnu.org until a fix is released.

SSL 3.0 is nearly two decades old so most users will not be impacted by this change as we will continue to support modern encryption protocols. Older Web browsers without support for TLS 1.0 or later may have trouble connecting to our websites using a secure http connection (https).

A summary of CVE-2014-3566 can be found on the National Vulnerability Database.

The OpenSSL project has also produced a technical report (PDF) on the vulnerability.

Register now ▶

FSF members attend LibrePlanet gratis. Not a member? Join today to register gratis, or register at our non-member rate.

This year, the theme of LibrePlanet is "Free Software Everywhere." Talks at this year's conference will touch on the many places and ways that free software is used around the world, as well as ways to make free software ubiquitous. At LibrePlanet 2015, we're once again teaming up with the Student Information Processing Board at MIT (SIPB), and together we're taking software freedom around the world, to outer space, and through all kinds of industries, governments, organizations, fields of study, and communities.

Want to speak at LibrePlanet?

Our Call for Sessions is still open. You can propose an individual session, panel, or workshop now through Sunday, November 2, 2014 at 23:59 UTC.

Have questions about what makes a good proposal? We're hosting an information session to answer any questions you have about submitting a proposal for LibrePlanet on Wednesday, October 22, 2014 from 16:00 - 18:00 UTC (12:00 - 14:00 EDT). Join us in the #libreplanet IRC channel on freenode. Don't use IRC? Email your questions to campaigns@fsf.org.

Need help getting to LibrePlanet?

Apply for a travel scholarship! We have a limited amount of funding to bring conference participants to LibrePlanet from all around the world. You can apply for a scholarship starting now -- the application deadline is November 30 at 23:59 UTC. Scholarship recipients will be notified in mid-December.

If you don't need a scholarship, you can help us ensure that LibrePlanet 2015 welcomes all people by making a contribution to the conference's scholarship fund now, or when you register for LibrePlanet. A donation of $50 covers one night in a shared Boston-area hotel room, but any amount helps.

Register for the conference now or become a member and then register at no cost, and don't forget to pick up a limited-edition, 100% certified organic cotton, union-made t-shirt while you're at it.

The energy and inspiration is palpable at LibrePlanet. Whether it's rubbing elbows with a maintainer you admire, learning about a new tool that can help you with your work, or rolling up your sleeves for the struggle against proprietary software, I'm telling you, you want to be in Cambridge, MA on March 21-22, 2015 for this year's LibrePlanet.