On day one of LibrePlanet 2019, we welcomed 264 attendees to the Stata Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Techology (MIT). The LibrePlanet conference has now entered its second decade, and as software infiltrates more and more of daily life, there are many new and important ethical, social, legal, and technological questions to answer. Today's sessions examined the theme of "Trailblazing Free Software" from many different angles, addressing how we can apply the practical advantages of free software while maintaining and defending the indispensable principles behind it.

LibrePlanet 2019 kicked off on Saturday, March 23rd with a moving, urgent keynote by Tarek Loubani, an emergency physician who splits his time between Canada and the Gaza Strip, focusing on the production and proliferation of free medical devices. Loubani's work involves gaining self-sufficiency and local independence for medical systems through the use of free techniques.

Dr. Loubani described his journey from seeing change as the work of superheroes to a point of understanding change as built by millions of "tiny ants," working collaboratively to improve how we live. Beginning with stethoscopes, Dr. Loubani and other determined medical professionals and designers created free designs to 3D print cheap but high-quality medical devices, which can save lives in Gaza and other war-torn regions around the world. While many of the stories he told were tragic, Dr. Loubani's talk ended on a hopeful note, celebrating the dignity and ingenuity of the Palestinian people, and connecting it to the vibrancy and importance of the free software movement.

Videos of this talk and others will be available soon, at the LibrePlanet GNU MediaGoblin page.

Throughout the day, there were over two dozen talks, spanning a wide range of topics relating to software freedom and user freedom. Chris Lamb and Do Yoon Kim addressed the importance of copyleft licenses in their talks "Redis Labs and the tragedy of the Commons Clause" and "GPL enforcement and customer benefits: Evidence from OpenWRT." Speakers introduced attendees to global frontiers (and barriers) of free software with their talks on "Sharing global opportunities for new developers in the Wikipedia community," "Hackerspace Rancho Electrónico," and "Australia's decryption law and free software." A panel of organizers, developers, and collaborators explored the possibilities opened up by the Internet for large, decentralized groups of people from around the world to collaborate with each other in "Large-scale collaboration with free software." And longtime LibrePlanet contributor Andrew Oram explained what he describes as the "seemingly unstoppable ascendance of a few large corporations in computing" in his talk, "Technical drivers of "cloud" centralization and megacorporate domination."

There was space for some more lighthearted discussion as well: in his talk "Free software for safe and happy chickens," Adam Monsen introduced the audience to his awesome free-software-powered chicken door, which of course utilizes only free software. You can, of course, purchase a light-activated chicken door online, but it's so much more fun to figure out how to make it work on your own, and get your kids involved too! Amanda Sopkin's talk on the colorful history of encryption methods was also full of fun factoids -- for instance, the bombe machine used by British and Polish cryptographers to decipher German messages during World War II weighed a ton and had 12 miles of wiring!

At the end of the day, Free Software Foundation (FSF) president Richard Stallman announced the winners of the 2018 Free Software Awards, celebrating an individual's ongoing commitment to user freedom (the Award for the Advancement of Free Software) and the work of a free software project that has created significant social good (the Award for Projects of Social Benefit).

Deborah Nicholson, dedicated community advocate and free software activist, received the Award for the Advancement of Free Software. And OpenStreetMap chairperson and co-founder of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT), Kate Chapman, accepted the Award for Projects of Social Benefit on behalf of OpenStreetMap.

In addition to her role as the director of community operations at the Software Freedom Conservancy, Deborah has served as the membership coordinator for the Free Software Foundation. She’s done outstanding volunteer work with GNU MediaGoblin, a federated media-publishing platform, and OpenHatch, free software's welcoming committee, and she continues her work as a founding organizer of the Seattle GNU/Linux Conference, an annual event dedicated to surfacing new voices and welcoming new people to the free software community. Plus, she has delivered some truly terrific LibrePlanet talks, including last year's keynote speech, "Free software forever."

OpenStreetMap is a collaborative project to create a free editable map of the world. Founded by Steve Coast in the UK in 2004, OpenStreetMap is built by a community of over one million community members and has found its application on thousands of Web sites, mobile apps, and hardware devices. OpenStreetMap is the only truly global service without restrictions on use or availability of map information.

At the end of the Free Software Awards presentation, we presented raffle prize bundles to three lucky winners, which included a Technoethical S3 smartphone and a Technoethical T400S laptop! Congratulations, and thank you Technoethical, Vikings, and ThinkPenguin for donating these terrific prizes!

Don't forget, if you're not attending tomorrow, you can still participate via IRC through your IRC client or our Web IRC interface, powered by Kiwi IRC, or via voice chat on our Mumble server. You can also tune in to watch all of the LibrePlanet sessions at our livestream page.

We're so grateful to our amazing little army of volunteers, our exhibitors, and our generous sponsors, Red Hat and Private Internet Access, for helping us put on this yearly celebration of free software. We hope that all of our participants, both on-site at MIT and watching from afar, are having a fun and educational time at LibrePlanet. See you tomorrow!

Photo credits: Copyright © 2019 Free Software Foundation, by Madi Muhlberg, photos licensed under CC-BY 4.0.

It's almost time for LibrePlanet -- the Free Software Foundation annual conference and associate members' meeting -- and we couldn't be more excited! There is so much going on at the conference, great events in the evenings, a raffle, an exhibit hall, and an amazing collection of free software enthusiasts from around the world. We hope to see you there! Registration may be closed, but you can still register for the conference on-site, space permitting.

In the event you can't make it to LibrePlanet, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA, there are ways to get involved! We have three ways to enable remote participation: IRC, mumble, and, of course, the livestream. We provide these resources, along with video streaming, so that free software supporters who are unable to travel to the US for economic and/or political reasons are still able to participate.

IRC

You can log onto IRC through your IRC client or our Web IRC interface, powered by Kiwi IRC. You have four options for channels: A general #libreplanet chat, and then a chat for each of our three session rooms. Volunteers will be on hand at the conference to help you ask questions submitted over IRC during the Q&A section of talks.

Mumble

If you prefer to talk over voice chat rather than typing, you can use Mumble to communicate with other free software supporters on-site or remotely. Mumble is a free software voice chat system, and we're hosting our own Mumble server for the duration of the conference. Rather than just typing to other in person and remote attendees, you can now chat over voice as well. There will be a dedicated computer that is set up and connected to Mumble in the exhibit hall at the conference, which you can use.

Livestream

As we do every year, we will be streaming and recording every session using our entirely free software system. You can watch the livestream online. recordings will be available after the conference via GNU Media Goblin.

T-shirts

Whether you're at the conference or watching from home, you can remember your LibrePlanet 2019 experience with this year's conference T-shirt. If you'll be there, you can pick it up in person. If you won't be in attendance, we can still ship you a shirt after the conference. Please note that quantities are limited, and we won't know until after the conference if we can fulfill every order.

Thank you to our sponsors!

LibrePlanet 2019 is supported by several generous sponsors. Big thanks to Red Hat and Private Internet Access!

We look forward to seeing you this weekend, whether in person or online.

In "Install fests: What to do about the deal with the devil," Richard Stallman issues both a caveat to free software novices who would like to transition to using free software exclusively via an install-fest, and a plea to install-fest organizers and volunteers not to make injurious ethical decisions for the people availing themselves of their help.

Stallman explains that, because of obstacles deliberately devised to thwart back engineering, not all computers can function properly with a completely free distro. And that a choice, therefore, often has to be made, between freedom and convenience, between installing a fully free distro that won't function as intended, and installing a nonfree distro that will. He argues that this choice should be made by the informed user alone, not silently by the install-fest volunteer.

Stallman appeals to install fests to forgo the "tacit deal with the devil" that suppresses the free software movement's message about freedom and justice, and to take advantage of the teachable moment, to introduce the user to the "moral dimension" of their computing choices. He suggests a number of things an install-fest could do (implement visual demarcations that help users understand when they're about to "forfeit their freedom," give technical advice regarding free software and free hardware, encourage users to lobby offending manufacturers) in order to "retain full moral authority when it talks about the imperative for freedom." Better the devil you know than the devil you don't, and, ultimately, better no devil at all.

In 2018 we updated our list of free GNU/Linux distributions to add a "Historical" section. We retired BLAG Linux and GNU at that time, as it was no longer maintained. We are sad to announce today that Musix will also being moving to the Historical section, as it is likewise no longer maintained. Founded in 2004, Musix was on the list of free GNU/Linux distributions for over a decade. The list helps users to find operating systems that come with only free software and documentation, and that do not promote any nonfree software. Being added to the list means that a distribution has gone through a rigorous screening process, and is dedicated to diligently fixing any freedom issues that may arise.

Musix was maintained by a sole developer, Marcos Guglielmetti, as a volunteer effort, a truly impressive accomplishment. Maintaining a distribution is a difficult task. Dealing with technical and security issues across an entire system, as well as upholding the ethical standards required for inclusion on our list, takes a great deal of effort.

While it is sad that Musix will now reside in our Historical section, we can all still be thankful for the maintainer's work over the years, and for the fact that there are still many endorsed distributions available. Users of Musix should consider switching to another distro on our list to ensure that the security and freedom of their system is up to date.

Are you planning on joining us for LibrePlanet 2019, coming up this weekend, March 23-24, at the Stata Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)? If you haven't registered yet, there's still time -- registration is open through Tuesday, March 19 at 10:00 EDT, and we also welcome walk-ins (space permitting)! Remember, students and Free Software Foundation (FSF) associate members get in gratis.

We also hope you'll join us for the Friday night open house at the FSF office, here in Boston -- you can pick up your badge early to skip the line Saturday morning (more details below).

Here's your guide to maximum enjoyment of LibrePlanet:

• If you haven't seen it yet, the full conference program is now available.

• Badge pickup, registration, and coffee begin at 09:00 on Saturday at the conference site, the Stata Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139.

Social events

You're invited to social and community events happening before the conference and during the conference weekend. All ages are welcome at all social events, and we strongly recommend using public transportation.

• On Friday evening, the FSF is hosting an open house at the FSF office, 51 Franklin Street, 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02110 from 17:00 to 19:30. The FSF office is a short walk from the Downtown Crossing, State, and Park Street MBTA stops. The FSF office is an accessible space. We will provide beverages and light refreshments.

• After the open house, all women, genderqueer, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people interested in free software are invited to the Welcome Dinner. This is a gratis meal with some great people in free software -- keep an eye on the social activities page for the details.

• We'll celebrate on Saturday, March 23rd, after the Free Software Awards, from 19:00 to 22:00, at Scholars Bistro, 25 School Street, Boston, MA 02108, near the FSF office. All ages are welcome until 21:00. Gratis snacks will be provided, and your first drink is on the FSF. A full dinner menu is also available for purchase. The venue is accessible.

• Prefer a quieter social space? The FSF office will be open late for hacking and hanging out on Saturday from 19:00 to 21:30. Snacks, beverages, and power are provided. This is an alcohol-free event.

• On Sunday afternoon, during the lunch break from 12:35-13:35, we'll be holding an FSF members meeting at the LibrePlanet site (room TBA), where you can join other associate members to discuss successes from the past year and what you'd like to see in the future of the FSF. Pizza and salad will be provided. Please RSVP at https://libreplanet.org/wiki/LibrePlanet:Conference/2019/sunday_members_lunch.

• On Sunday night, starting at 21:00, join us at Grendel's Den, a Cambridge pub that is popular with local free software and free culture folks, located at 89 Winthrop Street in Harvard Square. This afterparty is not an official conference event, but is a standing tradition of many years. There is elevator access upon request. Call 617-491-1160 to have someone from Grendel's assist you.

• Want to plan a group dinner or other social gathering during LibrePlanet? Use the wiki to plan an event or join someone else's event.

More at LibrePlanet

• We're continuing our popular five-minute lightning talks by conference attendees about their free software passions. Sign up to give one!

• We're hosting an exhibit hall for a select group of projects and businesses in the free software world. Come by from 09:00 until 18:00 on both days of the conference to check out tables from 3NWeb, CivicActions, FreedomBox Foundation, GNOME, MIT Libraries' Program on Information Science, Private Internet Access, Purism, Technoethical, ThinkPenguin, and the Tor Project.

• You can use the #libreplanet IRC channel on freenode (irc.freenode.org) to participate in the online discussion before, during, and after the conference. You can also use Mumble voice chat on the mumble server at mumble.fsf.org. We provide these resources, along with video streaming, so that free software supporters who are unable to travel to the US for economic and/or political reasons are still able to participate.

• You can pre-order your LibrePlanet 2019 T-shirt until Wednesday, March 20, at midnight EDT -- or, just wait and buy yours at the GNU Press table at the conference!

Resources

• Logistics info, including transportation, accommodations, and restaurants, is available to make it easy for you to figure out travel and choose lodging near the conference.

• The libreplanet-discuss mailing list is great for planning ride-shares or social events during the conference weekend, and also for participating in the year-round conversation about free software events and issues.

• Are there two LibrePlanet sessions you want to see, and they're at the same time? Fear not, recordings will be available after the conference at https://media.libreplanet.org.

Win a raffle prize!

This year LibrePlanet will be having another awesome raffle. Buy tickets to support free software while also getting a chance to win:

• Hosting, routers, and gift certificates from Vikings GmBH;

• A LulzBot Mini 2 3D printer from Aleph Objects;

• An S3 smartphone with Replicant and a Respects Your Freedom-certified T400s laptop from Technoethical;

• A gift certificate to ThinkPenguin;

• Subscriptions to JMP;

• ChaosKeys from Altus Metrum, LLC; and more!

All attendees get a gratis raffle ticket, FSF associate members get a second gratis ticket, and everyone can buy more chances to win at the GNU Press table during LibrePlanet, as well as at the Friday open house and Saturday evening social events! Buy one ticket for $2, 3 tickets for $5, one arm's length for $20, cash or credit. FSF staff and board members are not eligible to participate in the raffle.

Weather

Keep an eye on the weather and dress accordingly.

Thank you to our sponsors!

LibrePlanet 2019 is supported by several generous sponsors. Big thanks to Red Hat and Private Internet Access!