{% extends "base_compliance.html" %}

{% block subtitle %}Copyleft Compliance Projects - {% endblock %}

{% block submenuselection %}AboutCompliance{% endblock %}

{% block content %}

<h1 id="ourwork">Conservancy's Copyleft Compliance Projects</h1>

  is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity registered in New York, and Conservancy

  helps people take control of their computing by growing the software

  freedom movement, supporting community-driven alternatives to proprietary

  software, and defending free software with practical initiatives.

  Conservancy accomplishes these goals with various initiatives, including

  defending and upholding the rights of software users and consumers under

  copyleft licenses, such as the GPL.</p>

<p>Free and open source software (FOSS) is everywhere and in everything; yet

our software freedom is constantly eroded.  With the help of its

volunteers, <a href="/members/current/">member projects</a>,

and <a href="/about/staff/">staff</a>, Conservancy stands up for users'

software freedom via its copyleft compliance work.</p>

<p>Conservancy's primary work in copyleft compliance currently focuses on

our <a href="/copyleft-compliance/enforcement-strategy.html">Strategic GPL

Enforcement Initiative</a>.  This initiative, <a href="/news/2020/oct/01/new-copyleft-strategy-launched-with-ARDC-grant/">launched in October 2020</a>,

represents the culmination of nearly 15 years of compliance work of

Conservancy spanning ten different fiscally sponsored projects, past lawsuits

against more than a dozen defendants, and hundreds of non-litigation

compliance actions.</p>

<p>For these many years, Conservancy has always given the benefit of the

  doubt to companies who exploited our good nature and ultimately simply

  ignore the rights of users and consumers.  In that time, the compliance

  industrial complex has risen to a multi-million-dollar industry —

  selling (mostly proprietary) products, services, and consulting to

  companies.  Yet, these compliance efforts ignore consistently the most

  essential promise of copyleft — the complete, Corresponding Source

  and "the scripts used to control compilation and installation of the

  executable".</p>

  <a href="/copyleft-compliance/enforcement-strategy.html">read our detailed

  strategic plan for GPL enforcement</a> and its companion

  project, <a href="/copyleft-compliance/firmware-liberation.html">our

    Firmware Liberation Project</a>.</p>

<h2 id="projects">Compliance Relationship to Fiscally Sponsored Projects</h2>

<p>Historically, Conservancy was well-known for its ongoing license

compliance efforts on behalf of its BusyBox member project.  Today,

Conservancy does semi-regular compliance work for its BusyBox, Git, Inkscape,

Mercurial, Samba, QEMU and Wine member projects.  If you are a copyright

holder in any member project of Conservancy, please contact the project's

leadership committtee,

via <a href="mailto:PROJECTNAME@sfconservancy.org">&lt;PROJECTNAME@sfconservancy.org&gt;</a>

for more information on getting involved in compliance efforts in that

project.

</p>

<h2 id="linux">GPL Compliance Project For Linux Developers</h2>

<p>In May

2012, <a href="/news/2012/may/29/compliance/">Conservancy

launched</a> the <cite>GPL

Compliance Project for Linux Developers</cite>, which handles compliance and

enforcement activities on behalf of more than a dozen Linux copyright

holders.</p>

<p>The GPL Compliance Project for Linux Developers is comprised of copyright

holders in the kernel, Linux, who have contributed to Linux under its

license, <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html">the

GPLv2</a>. These copyright holders have formally asked Conservancy to engage

in compliance efforts for their copyrights in the Linux kernel.  In addition,

some developers have directly assigned their copyrights on Linux to Conservancy,

so Conservancy also enforces the GPL on Linux via its own copyrights in Linux.</p>

<p>Linux copyright holders who wish to assign copyright to or sign an enforcement agreement with

Conservancy should

  contact <a href="mailto:linux-services@sfconservancy.org">&lt;linux-services@sfconservancy.org&gt;</a>.

  In 2016,

  Conservancy <a href="/news/2016/nov/03/linux-compliance-agreements/">made

    public the template agreements used as part of this project</a>; both the

  <a href="/docs/blank_linux-enforcement-agreement.pdf">non-anonymous</a> and

  <a href="/docs/blank_anonymous-linux-enforcement-agreement.pdf">anonymous</a>

  versions are available.  However, please <strong>do not</strong> sign these

  unilaterally without contacting and discussing

  with <a href="mailto:linux-services@sfconservancy.org">&lt;linux-services@sfconservancy.org&gt;</a>

  first.</p>

  Conservancy helps distributors of Free Software in a friendly spirit of

  cooperation and participation.  In this spirit, Conservancy has co-published,

  with the Free Software Foundation (FSF), <a href="/copyleft-compliance/principles.html">the principles that both organizations

  follow in their compliance efforts</a>.

  Also in collaboration with the FSF, Conservancy also sponsors

  the <a href="https://copyleft.org/guide/"><cite>Copyleft and the GNU

  General Public License:A Comprehensive Tutorial and Guide</cite></a>,

  which <a href="/news/2014/nov/07/copyleft-org/">formally

  launched in fall 2014</a>.  The Guide includes tutorial materials about

  copyleft and compliance with copyleft licenses,

  including <a href="https://copyleft.org/guide/comprehensive-gpl-guidepa2.html"><cite>A

  Practical Guide to GPL Compliance</cite></a>.  The materials

  on <a href="https://copyleft.org/">copyleft.org</a> have been developed and

  improved since 2002, and are themselves copylefted, and developed

  collaboratively in public.</p>

<p>However, the Guide is admittedly a large document, so for those who are

  interested in a short summary of describing how Conservancy handles GPL

  enforcement and compliance

  work, <a href="/blog/2012/feb/01/gpl-enforcement/">this blog post outlining

  the compliance process</a> is likely the best source.</p>

<h2 id="reporting">Reporting GPL Violations To Us</h2>

<p>If you are aware of a license violation or compliance issue regarding

  Debian, Linux, or any <a href="/members/current/">Conservancy member

  project</a> (&mdash; in particular BusyBox, Git, Inkscape, Mercurial,

  Samba, Sugar Labs, or Wine),

  please <a href="mailto:compliance@sfconservancy.org">contact us by email at

  &lt;compliance@sfconservancy.org&gt;</a>.</p>

<!--- FIXME: bkuhn is rewriting this blog post fresh the weekend of --

      2020-07-18 so we need not link to ebb.org anymore when we roll out

      these changes --> 

<p>If you think you've found a GPL violation, we encourage you to

   read <a href="http://ebb.org/bkuhn/blog/2009/11/08/gpl-enforcement.html">this

   personal blog post by our Policy Fellow, Bradley M. Kuhn</a>, about good

   practices in discovering and reporting GPL violations.  (We'd also like

   someone to convert the text of that blog post into a patch for

   <a href="http://compliance.guide">The Compliance Guide on

   copyleft.org</a>; submit it

   via <a href="https://k.copyleft.org/guide/">k.copyleft.org</a>.)</p>

<h2 id="support">Donate to Support This Work</h2>

<p>Finally, Conservancy welcomes <a href="#donate-box"

  class="donate-now">donations</a> in support of our GPL Compliance Projects,

  Supporter of Software Freedom Conservancy</a>. </p>

</div>

{% endblock %}

{% extends "base_compliance.html" %}

{% block subtitle %}Copyleft Compliance Projects - {% endblock %}

{% block submenuselection %}EnforcementStrategy{% endblock %}

{% block content %}

<h1 id="strategic-gpl-enforcement-initiative">The Strategic GPL Enforcement Initiative</h1>

  is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity registered in New York, and Conservancy

  helps people take control of their computing by growing the software

  freedom movement, supporting community-driven alternatives to proprietary

  software, and defending free software with practical initiatives.

  Conservancy accomplishes these goals with various initiatives, including

  defending and upholding the rights of software users and consumers under

  copyleft licenses, such as the <acronym title="General Public License">GPL</acronym>.</p>

<h2 id="brief-history-of-user-focused-gpl-enforcement">Brief History of

  User-Focused GPL Enforcement</h2>

<p>The spring of 2003 was a watershed moment for software freedom on

  electronic devices. 802.11 wireless technology had finally reached the

  mainstream, and wireless routers for home use had flooded the market

  earlier in the year. By June

  2003, <a href="https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/03/06/08/1749217/is-linksys-violating-the-GPL">the

  general public knew that Linksys (a division of Cisco) was violating the

  GPL</a> on their WRT54G model wireless routers. Hobbyists discovered

  (rather easily) that Linux and BusyBox were included in the router, but

  Linksys and Cisco had failed to provide source code or any offer for source

  code to its customers.</p>

<p>A coalition formed made up of organizations and individuals — including

  Erik Andersen (major contributor to and former leader of the BusyBox

  project) and Harald Welte (major contributor to Linux’s netfilter

  subsystem) — to enforce the

  GPL. <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/about/staff/#bkuhn">Bradley

  M. Kuhn</a>, who is now Conservancy’s Policy Fellow and

  Hacker-in-Residence, led and coordinated that coalition (when he was

  Executive Director of the <acronym title="Free Software Foundation">FSF</acronym>). By early 2004, this coalition, through the

  process of GPL enforcement, compelled Linksys to release an

  almost-GPL-compliant source release for the

  WRT54G. A <a href="https://openwrt.org/about/history">group of volunteers

  quickly built a new project, called OpenWrt</a> based on that source

  release. In the years that have followed, OpenWrt has been ported to almost

  every major wireless router product.  Now, more than 15 years later, the

  OpenWrt project routinely utilizes GPL source releases to build, improve

  and port OpenWrt.  The project has also joined coalitions to fight the FCC

  to ensure that consumers have and deserve rights to install modified

  firmwares on their devices and that such hobbyist improvements are no

  threat to spectrum regulation.</p>

<p>Recently, <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/news/2020/sep/10/openwrt-joins/">OpenWrt joined Conservancy as one its member projects</a>,

  and Conservancy has committed to long-term assistance to this project.</p>

<p>OpenWrt has spurred companies to create better routers and other wireless

  devices than such companies would otherwise have designed because they now need to

  either compete with hobbyists, or (better still) cooperate with those hobbyists to

{% extends "base_compliance.html" %}

{% block subtitle %}Copyleft Compliance Projects - {% endblock %}

{% block submenuselection %}VMwareLawsuitAppeal{% endblock %}

{% block content %}

<h2>The time has come to stand up for the GPL.</h2>

<p><strong>Update 2019-04-02:</strong> Please

  see <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/news/2019/apr/02/vmware-no-appeal/">this

  announcement regarding conclusion of the VMware suit in Germany</a>.  Since the suit has

  concluded, any funds you donate here will support our ongoing compliance efforts.  The

  remaining material below is left as it was before that announcement:</p>

<p><em>In March 2015, Conservancy <a href="/news/2015/mar/05/vmware-lawsuit/">announced Christoph Hellwig's

    lawsuit against VMware in Germany</a>.  In July 2016,

    we <a href="/news/2016/aug/09/vmware-appeal/">announced that Christoph

    would appeal the lower court's ruling</a>.</p>

    Support Conservancy's and Christoph's efforts in this area

    the link on the right</a>.</em></p>

<p>We were told to ask nicely and repeatedly, so we did.</p>

<p>We asked allies to help us make contact in friendly and professional

  ways.</p>

<p>Everyone asked us to give companies as many chances as possible and as

  much help as possible to comply with copyleft, so we did.</p>

<p>We've worked for years to help VMware comply with the GPL, but they

refuse. Negotiations broke down for the last time when they insisted on an 

NDA just to discuss settlement terms!</p>

<p>Christoph is among the most active developers of Linux.  As of Feburary 

19, 2015, Christoph has contributed 279,653 lines of code to the Linux kernel, 

and ranks 20th among the 1,340 developers involved in the latest 3.19 kernel 

release.  Christoph also

ranks 4th among those who have reviewed third-party source code, tirelessly

corrected and commented on other developers' contributions.  Christoph

licenses his code to the public under the terms of the GPL for practical and

ideological reasons.  VMware, a company with net revenue of over $1 billion

and over 14,000 employees, ignored Christoph's choice.  They took Christoph's

code from Linux and modified it to work with their own kernel without releasing

source code of the resulting complete work.  This is precisely the kind of

activity Christoph and other kernel developers seek to prevent by choosing

the GPL.  The GPL was written to prevent this specific scenario!</p>

<h3>This is a matter of principle.</h3>

<p>Free and open source software is everywhere and in everything; yet our

  software freedom is constantly eroded.</p>

<p>We want companies to incorporate our software into new products, but there

are a few simple rules.  Copylefted free software is so prevalent because

there's no way a company can compete without using a significant amount of

free software to bring products to market in reasonable time. They get so

much benefit from our work.  Allowing the whole community to review, use,

improve and work with the code seems very little to ask in return.  Copyleft

also ensures competitors cannot undercut those who contribute.  Without active enforcement, the GPL is

effectively no different from a non-copyleft license.</p>

<p>What point is there for companies to make sure that they're compliant if

there are no consequences when the GPL is violated? Many will continue to

ignore the rules without enforcement.  We know that there are so many

companies that willingly comply and embrace GPL as part of their business.

Some are temporarily out of compliance and need to be brought up to speed,

but willingly comply once they realize there is an issue.  Sadly, VMware sits

in the rare but infamous class of perpetually non-compliant companies. VMware

has been aware of their noncompliance for years but actively refuses to do

the right thing.  Help us do right by those who take the code in the spirit

it was given and comply with copyleft, and stop those don't.</p>

<p>We know that copyleft isn't a favorite licensing strategy for some in our

community.  Even so, this case will help bring clarity on the question of

combined and derivative works, and is essential to the future of all software

freedom.  This case deserves support from copyleft and non-copyleft free

software communities alike.</p>

<h3>Show you care</h3>

<p>Bad actors have become complacent because they think you don't care.  A

  strong show of public support for Conservancy and Christoph's position will

  help our legal case and demonstrate the interpretive context for it.

  Please <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">donate</a> to our campaign to enforce the GPL.  Help Conservancy

  increase its number of individual donors, so we have clear evidence to show

  bad actors that the GPL matters to the individuals in our community.

  </p>

<h3>Isn't the combined works and/or derivative works question a legal grey area?</h3>

<p>We don't think so, but this case will let the court to decide that question.

Either way, it's beneficial to our entire community to find out what the

judges think.  (Check out our <a href="/copyleft-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-faq.html">FAQ to find out more

information</a>.)</p>

<p>Help us pay for this expensive lawsuit and to generally defend software

  freedom and the GPL.  Help us show the world that copyleft matters.  We are excited 

  to announce that we already reached an anonymous match for this campaign, where every dollar donated 

  was matched up to $50,000. However, that $100,000 is just an initial step

  and there is so much GPL enforcement work to do.  So, please

  via <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">donate link on the right</a>.</p>

<h3>Want To Know More?</h3>

<p>Watch the video below of Conservancy Executive Director, Karen Sandler,

  <a href="/news/2015/mar/31/libreplanet/">delivering a keynote on this topic

  at

    LibrePlanet 2015</a>:</p>

<p>

 <video controls

         preload="auto" class="video-js vjs-default-skin"

         data-setup='{"height": 276,

                      "width": 640 }'>

    <source src="https://media.libreplanet.org/mgoblin_media/media_entries/113/karen-sandler-keynote-2015.medium.webm"

              type="video/webm; codecs="vp8, vorbis""

             />

 </video>

</p>

<p>Or, read <a href="/copyleft-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-faq.html">our FAQ about

    the lawsuit</a>.</p>

{% endblock %}

    Conservancy's and Hellwig's actions in this matter.  They include:

    <ul>

        <li><a href="http://www.april.org/en/statement-support-software-freedom-conservancy-and-christoph-hellwig-gpl-enforcement-lawsuit">APRIL</a></li>

        <li><a href="https://fsf.org/news/conservancy-and-christoph-hellwig-gpl-enforcement-lawsuit">Free

            Software Foundation</a></li>

        <li><a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2015/news-20150331-01.en.html">Free

            Software Foundation Europe</a></li>

        <li><a href="https://www.gnome.org/news/2015/03/gnome-supports-gpl-compliance-through-vmware-suit-2/">GNOME Foundation</a></li>

        <li><a href="http://opensource.org/node/739">Open Source Initiative</a></li>

        <li><a href="https://samba.org/samba/news/announcements/2015-03-06_vmware_lawsuit.html">The

            Samba Team</a></li>

        <li><a href="http://sourceforge.net/p/swig/news/2015/03/defending-the-gpl/">The

        SWIG Project</a></li>

        <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170911061201/https://plus.google.com/104877287288155269055/posts/cHgyreA76yY">Dave Airlie, Linux Developer</a></li>

        <li><a href="https://twitter.com/mjg59/status/573530001758294016">Matthew Garrett, Linux Developer</a></li>

        <li><a href="/news/2015/mar/05/vmware-lawsuit/#glikely">Grant Likely, Linux Kernel Engineer</a></li>

        <li><a href="http://mina86.com/2015/03/11/the-time-has-come-to-stand-up-for-the-gpl/">Michal Nazarewicz, Linux Developer</a></li>

        <li><a href="http://lwn.net/Articles/635624/">Luis R. Rodriguez (aka mcgrof), Linux Developer</a></li>

        <li><a href="http://lwn.net/Articles/635855/">Wolfram Sang, Linux Developer</a></li>

        <li><a href="https://twitter.com/josh_triplett/status/573543072929198083">Josh

        Triplett, Linux Developer</a></li>

        <li><a href="https://lwn.net/Articles/635617/">Rik van Riel, Linux Developer</a></li>

    </ul>

  </dd>

<dt>I

see <a href="https://fsf.org/news/conservancy-and-christoph-hellwig-gpl-enforcement-lawsuit">FSF's

statement of support</a>, but why

isn't <a href="https://www.fsf.org/licensing/compliance">FSF enforcing</a> in

this case?</dt>

<dd>While FSF are the authors and license steward of the GNU GPL, it's up to

the copyright holder to enforce GPL.  VMware created an operating system by

combining parts of the kernel named Linux with their own proprietary code,

and then added BusyBox to provide the userspace operating system components.

As such, ESXi is not

a <a href="https://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html">traditional GNU/Linux

system</a>.  FSF has many copyrights of its own, but these are almost

exclusively on various parts of the GNU system, not on the kernel, Linux.  As

such, FSF probably does not have copyright interests available to directly

enforce the GPL regarding the primary issue in this case.</dd>

  <dt><em>I</em> care about copyleft and the GPL.  How can I help?</dt>

  <dd>Conservancy needs <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">your immediate financial

  support to proceed with this litigation</a>.  Litigation costs are

  unpredictable, and this lawsuit may take years to resolve.  Conservancy is

  prepared to fund this case through its conclusion, but we can only do so

  individual who supports copyleft and wants to see it defended, please

  donate now.  And, if you make a public statement of support, please email the

  URL

  to <a href="mailto:info@sfconservancy.org">&lt;info@sfconservancy.org&gt;</a>,

  as we'd like to include representative selection of supportive statements above.</dd>

  <dt>Why is the case in Germany?</dt>

  <dd>Copyright infringement claims can be brought anywhere that distribution

  of the copyrighted works occur.  VMware distributes ESXi throughout the

  world, but Germany is close to Christoph's home and his lawyer was

  available to do the litigation work there.  Finally, historically,

  Mr. Jaeger's cases in Germany have usually achieved worldwide compliance on

  the products at issue in those cases.</dd>

</dl>

{% endblock %}

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<!--  LocalWords:  Toolchain bbc Hypervisor cafc cb fae ToS Airlie mcgrof

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{% extends "base_conservancy.html" %}

{% block subtitle %}Donations - {% endblock %}

{% block category %}donate{% endblock %}

{% block content %}

<h1>Donate to Conservancy!</h1>

<p>As a not-for-profit charity, Conservancy relies on support from the

  public to continue its work.  Please give generously to support

  Conservancy’s work.</p>

<p>The best way to donate to Conservancy is

  year.</p>

<p>But, there are many other great ways to donate to Conservancy as

well, listed below:</p>

<h3>Donate via PayPal (including Visa, Mastercard, AMEX or ACH)</h3>

<p>You can use this method to donate any amount.

  You can donate once or set up a recurring monthly donation.</p>

<form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post">

<input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_s-xclick">

<input type="hidden" name="hosted_button_id" value="ZMQKSPUYQLWZW">

<input type="image" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donateCC_LG.gif" style="border:0" name="submit" alt="Donate via PayPal">

</form>

<h3>Donate by paper check</h3>

<p>Send paper check donations, drawn in US Dollars, to:</p>

<p>Software Freedom Conservancy<br />

137 MONTAGUE ST  STE 380<br/>

Brooklyn, NY 11201-3548<br/>

USA

</p>

<h3>Donate by wire transfer or bank transfer</h3>

<p>Donations are accepted by wire transfer.  Please write to

  &lt;<a href="mailto:donate@sfconservancy.org">donate@sfconservancy.org</a>&gt;

  to let us know what country you’re donating from and what currency you’re

  sending, and we’ll send back the instructions you need.</p>

<p>Conservancy has accounts to receieve US Dollars and Euros. We’ll convert

  other currencies to US Dollars.</p>

<p>This method is called a &ldquo;wire transfer&rdquo; in the United States,

  but it’s usually compatible with most online banking forms that people

  use in Europe and elsewhere to send funds.  Please just contact us if you

  need to donate in native currency from your country and we’ll discuss

  it.</p>

<h3>Donate a portion of your eBay sales</h3>

<p>Through the eBay/PayPal Giving Fund program, you can <a href="http://givingworks.ebay.com/charity-auctions/charity/software-freedom-conservancy-inc/57449/">donate a portion of your eBay sale proceeds to Software Freedom Conservancy</a>.  You can also <a href="https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/search-cause?charityId=57449">donate directly through the PayPal Giving Fund</a>.</p>

<h3>Donate a portion of your Amazon purchases</h3>

{% extends "base_conservancy.html" %}

{% load humanize %}

{% block subtitle %}NPOAcct - {% endblock %}

{% block category %}npoacct{% endblock %}

{% block content %}

<div class="donate-sidebar">

<table style="background-color:#afe478;width:100%;">

<tr><td style="text-align:center;padding:10px;padding-bottom:10px;">

<div id="donate-box" class="toggle-unit"><h1 class="toggle-content">Support

    Now!</h1></div>

<h3>Support NPOAcct Now!</h3>

<p>

  To support our non-profit accounting work,

  please&hellip; </p>

<p><span class="donate-box-highlight">Donate now via PayPal:</span>

</p>

<!-- PayPal start -->

<form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" target="_top">

<input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_s-xclick">

<input type="hidden" name="hosted_button_id" value="3VRTJALJ5PQRW">

<input type="image" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donateCC_LG.gif" style="border:0" name="submit" alt="Donate Now!">

<img alt="" style="border:0" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" height="1">

</form>

<!-- PayPal end -->

      than $120, since you'll get a t-shirt!).</p>

</td></tr></table>

</div>

<div class="content-with-donate-sidebar">

<h2>Non-Profit Accounting Software</h2>

<img src="/img/conservancy-accounting-campaign-logo.png" alt="Conservancy accounting campaign logo" style="float:left;" />

<p>Conservancy has a plan to help all non-profit organizations (NPOs) by

creating an Open Source and Free Software accounting system usable by

non-technical bookkeepers, accountants, and non-profit managers.  You can

help us do it by donating now.

</p>

<h3>News</h3>

<p><b>31 August 2016</b>: We're beginning work on a system for Payment and Reimbursement Requests.  This is a smaller piece of the larger NPO Accounting project.  Because it doesn't require much integration with larger accounting systems, we can help address this specific bookkeeping problem for NPOs sooner, and start building interest in the larger NPO Accounting project.</p>

<p>We haven't started writing code yet, so now's a great time to get in on the ground floor!  Check the <a href="https://npoacct.sfconservancy.org/Reimbursements/Requirements/">Requirements document</a> we're putting together on the wiki.  <a href="https://lists.sfconservancy.org/mailman/listinfo/npo-accounting">Join us on the mailing list</a> to let us know what's missing, and hear first other ways you can contribute as we start building the system.</p>

<h3>What is the Non-Profit Accounting Software Project?</h3>

<p>To keep their books and produce annual government filings, most NPOs rely

on proprietary software, paying exorbitant licensing fees.  This is

fundamentally at cross purposes with their underlying missions of charity,

equality, democracy, and sharing.</p>

<p>This project has the potential to save the non-profit sector

millions in licensing fees every year.  Even non-profits that continue to use proprietary accounting

software will benefit, since the existence of quality Open Source and Free

  Software for a particular task curtails predatory behavior by proprietary

  software companies, and creates a new standard of comparison.</p>

<p>But, more powerfully, this project's realization

will increase the agility and collaborative potential

for the non-profit sector — a boon to funders, boards, and employees —  bringing the Free Software and general NPO communities

into closer collaboration and understanding.</p>

<p><a href="#endorsements">Endorsers of this effort</a> include April, Fractured Atlas, The Free Software

Foundation, Mozilla Foundation, GNOME Foundation, OpenHatch, Open

Source Initiative, QuestionCopyright.org, and Software in the Public

Interest; all encourage you to <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">donate and support it</a>.</p>

<h3>Background</h3>

<p>Like many non-profit organizations (NPOs) in the USA, Conservancy's

{% extends "base_conservancy.html" %}

{% block subtitle %}Privacy Policy - {% endblock %}

{% block content %}

<h1>Privacy Statement for Software Freedom Conservancy</h1>

<h2>Scope of This Notice</h2>

<p>This Privacy Statement is intended to describe the Software Freedom Conservancy&rsquo;s privacy practices and provide information about the choices you have regarding the ways in which information collected by Software Freedom Conservancy is used and disclosed. Software Freedom Conservancy is referred to in this document as &ldquo;Conservancy&rdquo;.</p>

<h2>Our Commitment to Privacy</h2>

<p>Your privacy is important to Conservancy. To better protect your privacy and to comply with various laws and regulations, we have provided this Statement explaining our information practices and the choices you can make about the way your personal information is collected, used and disclosed. To make this Statement easy to find, we have made it available on our homepage and at many of the locations where personally-identifiable information may be requested</p>

<h2>The Information We Collect</h2>

<p>This Privacy Statement applies to all information collected by or submitted to Conservancy, including personal data. &ldquo;Personal data&rdquo; is data that can be used to identify an individual.</p>

<p>Conservancy collects personal data when:</p>

<ul>

<li>you visit any Conservancy web site;</li>

<li>you use one of Conservancy&rsquo;s Mailman sites or lists, hosted at lists.sfconservancy.org or lists.copyleft.org;</li>

<li>you use one of Conservancy&rsquo;s Kallithea sites or repositories, hosted at k.sfconservancy.org or k.copyleft.org;</li>

<li>you use one of Conservancy&rsquo;s Etherpad sites, hosted at pad.sfconservancy.org;</li>

<li>you use one of Conservancy&rsquo;s wiki sites or partner wiki sites, hosted at npoacct.sfconservancy.org or copyleft.org;</li>

<li>you use one of Conservancy&rsquo;s project or partner project IRC channels, #npoacct and #copyleft on the Freenode IRC network;</li>

<li>you participate in surveys and evaluations;</li>

<li>you submit questions or comments to us.</li>

</ul>

<p>When you visit any Conservancy web site (including the specific sites named above), we collect your IP address to maintain our servers, estimate de-identified visitor patterns, and attribute changes to public resources like wikis and Etherpad documents.</p>

<p>When you subscribe or post to a Mailman mailing list, Mailman will collect your email address and (optionally) name. When you post to a list, Mailman will additionally archive all the information in your email, including all headers, which typically include your IP address.</p>

<p>When you create an account on a Kallithea site, it collects your email address for authentication. In may also collect your name (to identify your contributions to others) and your SSH public key (optional - to authenticate you when you push changes to source repositories).</p>

<p>When you push commits to a Kallithea source repository, it collects the name(s) and email address(es) information included in the source commits to identify them for archival purposes.</p>

<p>When you use Conservancy&rsquo;s Etherpad site, you may optionally provide your email address to receive emails about changes to documents you are interested in.</p>

<p>When you use a wiki, you may optionally create and sign in to an account to edit pages on the wiki and have those edits attributed to you publicly.</p>

<p>When you join or send messages to any of the IRC channels listed above, that activity is logged and published publicly for others interested in the project. This logging includes the network identifier assigned to your connection by Freenode.</p>

<p>Conservancy may also collect personal data from individuals (with their consent) at conventions, trade shows and expositions. The types of personal data collected may include (but are not limited to):</p>

<ul>

<li>your first and last name;</li>

<li>your title and your company&rsquo;s name;</li>

<li>your home, billing, or other physical address (including street name, name of a city or town, state/province);</li>

<li>your country code;</li>

<li>your e-mail address;</li>

<li>your telephone number;</li>

<li>any other identifier that permits Conservancy to make physical or online contact with you;</li>

</ul>

<h2>Using (Processing) Your Personal Data</h2>

<p>Conservancy uses the personal data you provide to:</p>

<ul>

<li>create and maintain your accounts;</li>

<li>identify and authenticate you;</li>

<li>attribute data and content you produce directly and indirectly in our public-facing services;</li>

<li>answer your questions;</li>

<li>send you information;</li>

<li>for research activities, including the production of statistical reports (such aggregated information is not used to contact the subjects of the report);</li>

<li>send you surveys;</li>

<li>maintain our servers.</li>

</ul>

<p>We also use this personal data to provide you with information related to your account and the educational materials, software and services you acquire from us, to better understand your needs and interests, to improve what we do for you and the public, to personalize communications, and to comply with or fulfill any contractual obligations to you. It is in Conservancy’s legitimate business interests to provide you with the information, communications, and services you request; to create a public record of the data and content produced by Conservancy’s services; and to maintain the integrity of that data and content for historical, scientific, and research purposes.</p>

<h2>Sharing Your Personal Data</h2>

<p>Unless you consent, Conservancy will never process or share the personal data you provide to us except as described below.</p>

<p>Conservancy may share your personal data with third parties under any of the following circumstances:</p>

<ul>

<li>To attribute your contributions to mailing lists, source repositories, Etherpads, wikis, and IRC channels.</li>

<li>As required to provide service, and for e-mail housing (as a consequence of uses already described in this Privacy Statement). It is in Conservancy’s legitimate business interest to provide all users an accurate record of data and content provided by Conservancy’s services, and to maintain the integrity of that data and content for historical, scientific, and research purposes. This data and content may include but is not limited to email, code changes, comments, and artifacts.</li>

<li>As required by law (such as responding to a valid subpoena, warrant, audit, or agency action, or to prevent fraud).</li>

<li>For research activities, including the production of statistical reports (such aggregated information is used to describe our services and is not used to contact the subjects of the report).</li>

</ul>

<h2>Donations</h2>

<h2>Receiving E-Mail</h2>

<p>Conservancy may send you e-mail to authorize accounts you create on our sites, to inform you of important upcoming Conservancy events, to send occasional solicitations in connection with our donor programs as described above or in response to your questions. For your protection, Conservancy may contact you in the event that we find an issue that requires your immediate attention. Conservancy processes your personal data in these cases to fulfill and comply with its contractual obligations to you, to provide the services you have requested, and to ensure the security of your account.</p>

<h2>Cookies and Other Browser Information</h2>

<p>Conservancy&rsquo;s online services automatically capture IP addresses. We use IP addresses to help diagnose problems with our servers, to administer our website, and to help ensure the security of your interaction with our services.</p>

<p>As part of offering and providing customizable and personalized services, Conservancy uses cookies to store and sometimes track information about you. A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent to your browser from a Web server and stored on your computer&rsquo;s hard drive. All sections of sfconservancy.org where you are prompted to log in or that are customizable require your browser to accept cookies.</p>

<p>Generally, we use cookies to remind us of who you are and to access your account information (stored on our computers) in order to provide a better and more personalized service. This cookie is set when you register or &ldquo;sign in&rdquo; and is modified when you &ldquo;sign out&rdquo; of our services.</p>

<p>If you do not want your personal information to be stored by cookies, you can configure your browser so that it always rejects these cookies or asks you each time if you accept them or not. However, you must understand that the use of cookies may be necessary to provide certain services, and choosing to reject cookies will reduce the performance and functionality of the site. Your browser documentation includes instructions explaining how to enable, disable or delete cookies at the browser level (usually located in the “Help”, “Tools” or “Edit” facility).</p>

<h2>Our Commitment to Data Security</h2>

<p>Conservancy trains its administrators on our privacy policy guidelines and makes our privacy policy available to our partners. Our website uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology, which encrypts your personal data when you send your personal information on our website. In addition, Conservancy and its partners enter into confidentiality agreements which require that care and precautions be taken to prevent loss, misuse, or disclosure of your personal data.</p>

<h2>Public Forums Reminder</h2>

<p>Conservancy often makes mailing lists, source repositories, Etherpads, wikis, and IRC logs available to the public. Please remember that any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information. Please think carefully about your desired level of anonymity before you disclose personal information. Although we value individual ideas and encourage free expression, Conservancy reserves the right to take necessary action to preserve the integrity of these areas, such as removing any posting that is vulgar or inappropriate. It is in Conservancy’s legitimate business interests to provide all users an accurate record of data and content provided in the public forums it maintains and uses; to maintain the integrity of that data and content for historical, scientific, and research purposes; and to provide an environment for the free exchange of ideas relevant and constructive to the development and propagation of software freedom.</p>

<h2>Our Commitment to Children&rsquo;s Online Privacy</h2>

<p>Out of special concern for children&rsquo;s privacy, Conservancy does not knowingly accept online personal information from children under the age of 13. Conservancy does not knowingly allow children under the age of 13 to become registered members of our sites. Conservancy does not knowingly collect or solicit personal information about children under 13.</p>

<p>In the event that Conservancy ever decides to expand its intended site audience to include children under the age of 13, those specific web pages will, in accordance with the requirements of the Children&rsquo;s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), be clearly identified and provide an explicit privacy notice addressed to children under 13. In addition, Conservancy will provide an appropriate mechanism to obtain parental approval, allow parents to subsequently make changes to or request removal of their children&rsquo;s personal information, and provide access to any other information as required by law.</p>

<p>Additionally, EU residents under the age of 16 should not submit their personal data for subscribing to our email solicitations and we will delete any such data if we become aware of it.</p>

<h2>About Links to Other Sites</h2>

<p>This site contains links to other sites. Conservancy does not control the information collection of sites that can be reached through links from sfconservancy.org. If you have questions about the data collection procedures of linked sites, please contact those sites directly.</p>

<h2>Your Rights and Choices in the EEA and Around the World</h2>

<p>Where the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (“GDPR”) applies to the processing of your personal data, especially when you access the website from a country in the European Economic Area (“EEA”), you have the following rights, subject to some limitations, against Conservancy:</p>

<ul>

<li>The right to access your personal data;</li>

<li>The right to rectify the personal data we hold about you;</li>

<li>The right to erase your personal data;</li>

<li>The right to restrict our use of your personal data;</li>

<li>The right to object to our use of your personal data;</li>

<li>The right to receive your personal data in a usable electronic format and transmit it to a third party (also known as the right of data portability); and</li>

<li>The right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.</li>

</ul>

<p>If you would like to exercise any of these rights, you may do so by mailing <a href="&#109;&#97;&#105;&#108;&#116;&#111;&#58;&#112;&#114;&#105;&#118;&#97;&#99;&#121;&#64;&#115;&#102;&#99;&#111;&#110;&#115;&#101;&#114;&#118;&#97;&#110;&#99;&#121;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;">&#112;&#114;&#105;&#118;&#97;&#99;&#121;&#64;&#115;&#102;&#99;&#111;&#110;&#115;&#101;&#114;&#118;&#97;&#110;&#99;&#121;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;</a>. Please understand, however, the rights enumerated above are not absolute in all cases.</p>

<p>Where the GDPR applies, you also have the right to withdraw any consent you have given to uses of your personal data. If you wish to withdraw consent that you have previously provided to Conservancy, you may do so by mailing <a href="&#109;&#97;&#105;&#108;&#116;&#111;&#58;&#112;&#114;&#105;&#118;&#97;&#99;&#121;&#64;&#115;&#102;&#99;&#111;&#110;&#115;&#101;&#114;&#118;&#97;&#110;&#99;&#121;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;">&#112;&#114;&#105;&#118;&#97;&#99;&#121;&#64;&#115;&#102;&#99;&#111;&#110;&#115;&#101;&#114;&#118;&#97;&#110;&#99;&#121;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;</a>. However, the withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.</p>

<p>Conservancy will undertake best efforts to provide these rights to people outside of the EEA as well.</p>

<h2>How to Access, Modify or Update Your Information</h2>

<p>Conservancy gives you the ability to access, modify or update your personal data at any time. On sites where you can create accounts (Mailman, Kallithea, and wikis), you may log in and make changes to your login information (change your password), your contact information, your general preferences and your personalization settings. If necessary, you may also contact us and describe the changes you want made to the personal data you have previously provided by mailing <a href="&#109;&#97;&#105;&#108;&#116;&#111;&#58;&#112;&#114;&#105;&#118;&#97;&#99;&#121;&#64;&#115;&#102;&#99;&#111;&#110;&#115;&#101;&#114;&#118;&#97;&#110;&#99;&#121;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;">&#112;&#114;&#105;&#118;&#97;&#99;&#121;&#64;&#115;&#102;&#99;&#111;&#110;&#115;&#101;&#114;&#118;&#97;&#110;&#99;&#121;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;</a>.</p>

<p>If you wish to remove your personal data from Conservancy, you may contact us at <a href="&#109;&#97;&#105;&#108;&#116;&#111;&#58;&#112;&#114;&#105;&#118;&#97;&#99;&#121;&#64;&#115;&#102;&#99;&#111;&#110;&#115;&#101;&#114;&#118;&#97;&#110;&#99;&#121;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;">&#112;&#114;&#105;&#118;&#97;&#99;&#121;&#64;&#115;&#102;&#99;&#111;&#110;&#115;&#101;&#114;&#118;&#97;&#110;&#99;&#121;&#46;&#111;&#114;&#103;</a> and request that we remove this information from the Conservancy System. Other locations where you may have used your personal data as an identifier (e.g. list postings in the archives, wiki change history, repository changelogs, and IRC logs) will not be altered.</p>

<h2>How to Contact Us</h2>

<p>If you have any questions about any of these practices or Conservancy&rsquo;s use of your personal information, please feel free to contact us by email, or by mail at:</p>

<p>Conservancy Privacy Ombudsperson<br />

Software Freedom Conservancy<br />

137 Montague St, STE 380<br />

Brooklyn, NY 11201</p>

<p>Conservancy will work with you to resolve any concerns you may have about this Statement.</p>

<h2>Changes to this Privacy Statement</h2>

<p>Conservancy reserves the right to change this policy from time to time. If we do make changes, the revised Privacy Statement will be posted on this site. A notice will be posted on our homepage for 30 days whenever this privacy statement is changed in a material way.

This Privacy Statement was last amended on May 25, 2018.</p>

<h2>Attribution and License</h2>

<p>This Privacy Policy is licensed under Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0). It is a derivative work of</p>

<ul>

<li><a href="https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Legal:PrivacyPolicy">Red Hat&rsquo;s Privacy Policy for the Fedora Project</a>, used under CC Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported</li>

<p>All agreements between member projects and Conservancy stipulate

clearly that the member project can leave Conservancy with a few

months' notice.  Federal tax exemption law, though, states that projects

must transfer their assets from Conservancy in a way that is

consistent with Conservancy's not-for-profit tax status —

meaning the assets cannot be transferred to an individual or a for-profit

entity.  Generally, a project would either find another fiscal sponsor or

form their own independent tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit.</p>

<p>We fully expect that some Conservancy projects will ultimately wish to

  form their own non-profit 501(c)(3) organizations; that's why we design

  our agreements with projects to allow them to leave to another 501(c)(3)

  organization.  Typically, projects join Conservancy because the project

  leaders don't want the burdens of running a non-profit themselves.

  Often, as projects grow, leaders get interested in the non-profit

  management and organizational side of the activities and are then

  prepared to take on the additional work themselves.</p>

<h2>How are &ldquo;project leaders&rdquo; defined with respect to Conservancy?</h2>

<p>How leaders are chosen for projects varies greatly from project to

  project.  Our goal is to do our best to embody the “natural”

  leadership structure that evolved in your project into the formal

  agreement with Conservancy.  As part of the agreement drafting, we work

  carefully with you to understand your project's governance and write up

  formally with you the decision-making process you use. Most project

  contributors find this process of formalizing the leadership structure

  helps them clarify in their own minds the governance of their project,

  even though the process can be difficult.  Since it can be a complicated

  process, we suggest that you prepare your project community for this

  discussion once your project is accepted.</p>

<h2>How much does it cost us financially to join Conservancy?</h2>

<p>New Conservancy members are required to pay 10% of their revenue that

  Conservancy processes to Conservancy's general fund, which primarily is

  used to pay staff.  (Details on how Conservancy spends its funds,

  including salaries of key employees, can be found

  in <a href="/about/filings/">Conservancy's

  annual filings</a>.)</p>

<p>Historically, Conservancy allowed projects to give less or nothing at

  all to the general fund, but we unfortunately discovered that without

  this requirement, Conservancy was not able to offer the myriad of

  services to all its projects, particularly to larger projects that

  have more income and therefore need more attention from staff.  Even now,

  the 10% we receive from our project does not fully fund our fiscal

  sponsorship activities; we raise additional funds

  sponsorship work.</p>

<p>We do understand that, particularly for small projects that only receive a

  few small donations, that donating a percentage of your income back to

  Conservancy can be a high burden.  We encourage such small projects to

  consider <a href="https://www.spi-inc.org/">Software in the Public

  Interest</a>, which offers fewer services than Conservancy, but only

  requires 5% of gross revenue.  To our knowledge, SPI is the only fiscal

  sponsor operating in FOSS that requires less than 10%; most FOSS fiscal

  sponsors require at least 10%, or they operate on a fee-for-service model

  whereby projects pay the actual costs of any service they receive (and such

  charges are usually much higher than 10%).  We urge you to very explicitly

  ask about these issues with any fiscal sponsor you consider.</p>

{% endblock %}

<li>we share our expertise across communities. We speak at many

conferences, and publish materials to increase understanding about the

organizational, community and legal issues around free and open source

software. We advocate for free and open source software and provide

education around that mission.  We form partnerships across our

communities to work more effectively.  Check out <a 

href="https://copyleft.org/">copyleft.org</a>

or sign up to join the <a 

href="/news/2014/aug/12/tax-exempt-working-group/">

tax exempt working group</a>.</li>

<li>we seek to solve problems for the public through free and open 

source

software.  We've launched a <a href="https://npoacct.sfconservancy.org/">

nonprofits accounting project</a> to help all

nonprofits (in free software and in other fields) avoid paying millions

of dollars in licensing fees for subpar accounting software.</li>

<li>as part of Conservancy's partnership in the program, we support Karen as

  a co-organizer of the Free and Open Source Software Outreach Program.</li>

<li>we encourage and support our employees to do volunteer work in the

    community.  For example, Bradley and Karen together host an oggcast

    called <cite><a href="http://faif.us">Free as in Freedom</a></cite> which

    discusses important legal and policy issues in open source and free

    software.</li></ul>

<img class="appeal-footer" alt="*" src="/img/conservancy-supporter-heart.png"/>

<p>As an organization, we try to do everything transparently; even 

our

<a 

href="https://gitorious.org/conservancy/policies/source/master:">

internal policies</a> are published and available for scrutiny.</p>

<p>Please <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">join our Supporter program</a> and spread software freedom!</p>

<br clear="left"/>

<div class="supporter-type-selector">

<hr/>

  <strong>Become a Supporter Now:</strong>  <a id="annualSelector" href="#annual">Annual</a> | <a id="monthlySelector" href="#monthly">Monthly</a></div>

<div id="annual" class="supporter-type-selection">

<h3>Join as an Annual Supporter</h3>

<a id="annual"></a>

<form id="annual" class="supporter-form" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" name="supporter">

<div class="supporter-form-inputs">

            <input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_xclick" />

            <input type="hidden" name="business" value="supporter@sfconservancy.org" />

            <input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="Conservancy Supporter, Annual" />

            <input id="no_shipping" type="hidden" name="no_shipping" value="0" />

  <label for="amount"><strong>Amount:</strong> $</label>

  <input id="amount" type="text" name="amount" size="7" minimum="120" value="120" />

  <span id="error" class="form-error-show">$120 is a minimum for Conservancy

  Supporters.  <a href="/donate">Donate smaller amounts here</a>.</span><br/>

                      <label for="wantGift"><strong>Do you want to receive a t-shirt? </strong></label>

                      <input type="radio" name="on0" value="wantGiftYes" />Yes

                      <input type="radio" checked="checked" name="on0" value="wantGiftNo" />No

                      <br />

                      <span class="t-shirt-size-selector">

                      <label for="tShirtSize"><strong>T-shirt size: </strong></label>

                      <select name="os0" id="os0">

                        <option name="os0" id="os0" value="MenS">Men's S</option>

                        <option name="os0" id="os0" value="MenM">Men's M</option>

                        <option name="os0" id="os0" value="MenL">Men's L</option>

                        <option name="os0" id="os0" value="MenXL">Men's XL</option>

                        <option name="os0" id="os0" value="Men2XL">Men's 2XL</option>

                        <option name="os0" id="os0" value="LadiesS">Ladies' S</option>

                        <option name="os0" id="os0" value="LadiesM">Ladies' M</option>

                        <option name="os0" id="os0" value="LadiesL">Ladies' L</option>

                         <option name="os0" id="os0" value="LadiesXL">Ladies' XL</option>