Program Sessions

Welcome to LibrePlanet!

Medical devices are expensive and unavailable in many parts of the world despite being essential to care. In this session, Tarek discusses work on the front lines in Gaza to make medical devices accessible by creating free designs and validating them according to medical industry standards. These efforts have been part of a larger initiative to lay a foundation for a post-liberation Gaza in which FLOSS medical devices must compete against proprietary medical devices.

In late 2018, Redis Labs relicensed a number of GNU AGPL-licensed Redis modules with the "Commons Clause" amendment. This talk outlines the history, background, and response to this style of license, and explains how this is ultimately a short-sighted and retrograde step for the companies that are advocating for these licenses.

Wikimedia offers a plethora of opportunities for newcomers to get involved; however, as with many other free software projects, getting involved with the Wikimedia technical community can be a daunting prospect for newcomers. This talk is a gentle introduction to the Wikimedia ecosystem, and gives pointers on how to get involved as a volunteer. I will delve into the various ways newcomers can make successful contributions in areas ranging from design to documentation, from programming to testing, and much more.

This talk is focused on educating front-end developers and others about those impacted by accessibility, and how to design interfaces with this in mind. This will be a general rundown of the most common accessibility issues, the current technologies that are used to mitigate impairment, and new technologies, with an emphasis on free software, that are seeking to better support people with accessibility issues.

This presentation will introduce and examine several software programs written using GNU Guile. GNU Guile is a programming language, and is the official extension language of the GNU Project. We will explore how these software programs make use of Guile, with examples showing how the software is customizable and extensible.

Free software licenses constrain how software can be used, while providing no limits or guidance on how it can be built. As a result, a wide variety of governance structures are used in free software projects, from "one person, one vote" democracy to "benevolent dictator for life," and beyond.

This presentation provides a survey of existing governance structures used by free software projects such as Python, Debian, and others. Together, we'll explore how governance decisions have affected these projects over time, using the Common Pool Resource framework developed by Nobel Prize-winning economist Elinor Ostrom.

Come learn the history of encryption methods, from hieroglyphics to the Caesar cipher to more advanced methods used in the twentieth century. I will discuss modern efforts to crack international encryption standards, as well as some systematic weaknesses that have been deliberately introduced into encryption algorithms by world superpowers. I will talk in depth about the Dual-EC PRNG algorithm, the back door that was discovered in this algorithm, and the weaknesses it caused across the technology industry. Attendees will get a kick out of the colorful history of encryption methods, learn valuable lessons on maintaining security, and gain insight into some of these methods' potential weaknesses today.

Free software is a requirement for privacy and security. At Yale, we've been teaching cybersecurity, facilitating privacy workshops, and analyzing leaky mobile apps using only free software. We'll talk about a new class at Yale Law School, give a summary of this year's Yale Privacy Lab workshops, and provide insight from our collaborations with local makerspaces, Yale CEID, and MakeHaven. Come find out how we emphasize cybersecurity while keeping free software front and center. This session will include a MITM demonstration with a GNU/Linux minicomputer.

Much hand-wringing appears in the press about the seemingly unstoppable ascendance of a few large corporations in computing. Everything seems to be increasingly centralized in such corporations (a trend popularly called the "cloud," although Richard Stallman has repeatedly criticized the use of that buzzword). This presentation will explain why such centralization and the triumph of first movers is facilitated by three technological factors: the end of Moore's Law, compiling complex algorithms into hardware (which may reach its climax in quantum computing), and the value of aggregating large amounts of data.

Witness this awesome Raspberry Pi-powered chicken door using only free software. You can use this knowledge to create your own automated hardware and software systems. I'll cover features like:

Tor is free software for privacy and freedom online; it protects you from tracking, surveillance, and censorship. Over the past year, with the help of a global team of contributors and one-on-one feedback from users around the world, the Tor Project has made major improvements to its software. A handful of Tor contributors will share what progress Tor teams have made, and what challenges they face. They’ll discuss new releases like Tor Browser for Android, usability improvements to Tor Browser, outreach initiatives, Tor network advancements, Tor’s new anti-censorship team, and what’s to come in the next year.

Over the last decade, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) have acted as the pillars of application development. They provide mechanisms which allow applications to communicate with each other. Developers can integrate various APIs into their code to create entirely new applications.

Unfortunately, users of an API are held hostage to the licensing of its creator. If an API is not free software compliant, then none of its users can build free software off of it. Using the Google Maps API as a case study, we will examine the ethical and technological implications of providing open, but not free, access to an API.

We will discuss the Rancho Electrónico Hackerspace, a space that promotes community and offers an educational alternative to scholastic methodologies, and CoAA TV, which is the product of the joint efforts of members of two collectives, Rancho Electrónico and Laboratorio Popular de Medios Libres (Popular Laboratory of Free Media). CoAA TV is a DIY project that forgoes any type of sponsorship or support from government institutions or private companies alike. The channel focuses on experiences, stories, struggles, debates, and thoughts of oppressed and autonomous groups.

The Internet has made it possible for large, decentralized groups of people from around the world to collaborate with each other, but large-scale collaboration is difficult, and the best practices for effective collaboration are still being worked out by organizers, developers, and collaborators. Free software has provided working examples of large-scale collaborative communities, as well as practical tools for those communities to use. Tools like MediaWiki, Loomio, Discourse, Etherpad, and Git all provide functionality useful for decentralized collaboration. In this panel, organizers, developers, and collaborators will discuss best practices and pitfalls of using these and other tools in real-world collaborations.

GPL enforcement is an integral part of software freedom, but we lack systematic evidence on what kind of benefits successful enforcement can provide us. In this session, I discuss a case in which GPL enforcement led to quantifiable benefits for customers: GPL violations by Cisco/Linksys, and the emergence of OpenWRT. In 2003, Cisco/Linksys was found to be in violation of the GPL by distributing GNU/Linux source code with its WRT54G. Successful negotiations by the FSF led Cisco/Linksys to release source code, creating a wide array of custom firmware projects.

In this talk, I collect data on wireless routers, custom firmware compatibility, and match this to Amazon.com reviews. I show that users value routers compatible with OpenWRT, and that these products have higher reviews and sell more. This talk highlights the importance of measuring the impact of GPL enforcement, and shows how GPL enforcement can benefit customers.

While proprietary software remains one of the biggest threats to personal liberty, democracy, and a free future, one simple reality remains: no one takes us seriously. What can free software advocates learn from the successful social movements and revolutions of the past, and how can we apply it to a technological revolution? An experienced grassroots organizer and software developer guided by the principles of Kingian nonviolence will show you what it takes to mobilize communities and generate a social crisis that can no longer be ignored. No technical knowledge required!

Australia passed a law saying it can order anyone, in broad and vague circumstances, to give secret help to the Australian government in decrypting some information. Even people outside Australia can supposedly be ordered to do this. What should the free software community do to defend itself from this threat?

3D printing is now a household phrase, and has cemented its usefulness in the industry over the last forty years. As 3D printing becomes more and more accessible for hobbyists, it has become increasingly connected to the free software and free hardware communities. This talk will discuss the prevalence of free software and hardware in the 3D-printing community by looking at each stage of the additive-manufacturing rapid-prototyping process, and will analyze the success that other fields can learn from to increase freedom in their industries.

Copying files between computers remains an advanced skill, with many people resorting to proprietary software, services as software substitutes, and Internet connections for a task that should be simpler. I will review existing free software techniques for copying files, present a new free software that is intended to facilitate file-copying by laypeople, and assert that this new software would be superior to the popular proprietary software even if the licensing were not a concern.

Announcement of the 2019 Free Software Award winners.

Welcome to LibrePlanet (take 2)!

The foundation for the immense success of free software was our shared value of enabling and maintaining end user freedom. The licenses we developed lowered the barrier between producers and consumers of software, and enable everyone to pursue their passions in collaboration with others. Participating in any of today's diverse wealth of free software communities can be immensely rewarding... and if we're doing it right, just plain fun!

In this session, Bdale will offer some advice based on his experience having fun working on free software, punctuated with examples from his propensity for eventually turning all of his hobbies into free software projects.

This talk describes the journey from ownCloud to Nextcloud. I will explain the reasons behind the fork, and why a 100 percent free software project and company is superior to an open-core project like ownCloud.

Let's bust the myth around proprietary network appliances (firewall UTMs, routers, access points, etc.) and learn to build typical network equipment and enterprise solutions with free software and hardware that's not locked down, to get around the vendor-controlled usability and upgrade and support restrictions. To address the data-privacy and user-tracking concerns, the equipment can easily replace commercially marketed proprietary home gateways, routers, network-access servers, and access points.

This talk will present DistrictBuilder, a free software redistricting application designed to give the public transparent, accessible, and easy-to-use online mapping tools. The creators' aim is for all citizens to have access to the same information that legislators use when drawing congressional maps -- and use that data to create maps of their own.

The Right to Repair increasingly requires certain types of software and DRM freedom. In this session, representatives of the Right to Repair movement describe its goals and activities, summarize legislative efforts in the US (particularly regarding the DMCA), and discuss opposition theories. We discuss where the goals of the movement align with the free software movement.

OpenStreetMap (OSM) began in 2004 as a reaction to the high cost of geospatial information. Initially data was mostly collected by handheld GPS, so the OSM of 2004 looks very different from the OSM of 2019. OSM is still powered by individual mappers collecting data, but the variety of ways the information is created and the ways it is used and distributed has expanded greatly. This talk will briefly review the history of OSM, why it is so important, how it has changed, and where it might be headed in the future.

I'll be discussing what codes of conduct are intended to protect. No code will be appropriate in all contexts; free software projects' needs and cultures differ enough so that no single code of conduct can cover them all. Groups need to establish their own codes, according to their needs and current culture.

Before arguing what codes of conduct should say, how they should be implemented, and who should enforce them, we need to consider what these codes might protect and why. Then, in the future, any given group might think better about criteria for proposed communication guidelines or codes of conduct.

Founded in 2017, the Library Freedom Institute (LFI) is a partnership between Library Freedom Project and New York University to teach librarians the skills necessary to thrive as privacy advocates, from installing privacy-focused free software to influencing public policy. In this panel, Library Freedom Project director Alison Macrina and Bryan Neil Jones, from the Nashville Public Library, will discuss LFI’s goals, accomplishments, and challenges.

This presentation will review several court cases interpreting the free software licenses. The focus will be on what the courts concluded the licenses meant, and what questions courts have left open. We will also review court cases covering nonfree software licenses, such as a case involving a Creative Commons license, to see what lessons we might learn from them, as well.

Typically people think there is a difference between software users and developers. Users use software, while developers write it. How does one transition between just using software and making it? One easy way to help free software projects is to report bugs and suggest features. This talk will walk you through the step-by-step process of finding a project where your contribution will be useful, downloading the project, compiling the project, running the project, and reporting bugs. No prior programming knowledge is necessary to understand this talk, but prior knowledge of GNU/Linux would be helpful.

I will be discussing the past, present, and future of computing as it relates to digital rights.

Free software will not win by "merely" replacing proprietary software. We need to lead with a vision of how the world could be. A voluntary community, one where people participate by choice, does not have to replicate the power structures, gatekeeping, or casual cruelty of the systems it seeks to replace. We could make free software the most empowering place to build software. Free software tools could enable new ways of crafting user experiences that proprietary software providers seem unwilling to offer. Free software could transform the relationship between users and developers, so that users feel like partners instead of sales metrics. Free software communities should be seeking to outdo proprietary software's methods and social norms in every possible way.

We've made a great start by empowering many technical and semi-technical users, but we can't stop there. (What kind of utopia only has coders in it?) Let's build a kinder and more practical free software movement to empower all kinds of people!

Architectural bugs Spectre and Meltdown have caused major panic and still worry many. Oddly, some proposed mitigations that require installing proprietary blobs have not caused similar worries, despite growing awareness about prevalent data collection, built-in backdoors, and the risks of placing too much trust in software and hardware designers with interests not aligned with those of users. Who can we trust, then? What lessons are there for the free software community? Being suspicious of Web blobs and foggy computing, and not victimizing anyone through them, do we have anything to fear but fear itself?

Five-minute talks by conference attendees. Sign up to give one!

Words like "wizardry" and "incantation" have long been used to describe skillful computational feats. But neither computers nor their users are performing feats of magic; for systems to think, we must tell them how.

Today, users most often follow a carefully choreographed workflow that thinks for them, limited by a narrow set of premeditated possibilities. But there exist concepts that offer virtually no limits on freedom of expression or thought, blurring the distinction between "user" and "programmer."

This session demonstrates a range of practical possibilities when a machine acts as an extension of the user's imagination, for the technical and nontechnical alike.

We had a goal of helping a trauma director utilize surgeons' data to improve patient outcomes and preventative programs. I will discuss how a piece of R script was developed with a group of trauma surgeons to make this possible. This free software is an initial step that could easily be expanded to incorporate EHR data or analysis of historical patient data with an aim to improve patient care and outcomes.

Many people end up using nonfree development environments or remain unhappy with the free options like Eclipse. Emacs and the community around it have created a feature-full IDE that surpasses the other options in so many ways. This talk serves as an overview for the plethora of features offered by Emacs (and specifically the Spacemacs distribution) that can transform the way you work.

Controlling your machines is necessary for software freedom, and vice versa. But amid frequent news of data breaches, security sometimes feels out of reach. There is hope: with security education for hackers, security-enhancing features embedded into free operating systems and application platforms, and a mindful approach to data collection and management, we will prevail.

In this session, I’ll share how hackers can maintain control over their own computing, even in adversarial environments. I'll also share high-impact ways to secure your computing using free software, and how, as a maintainer, distributor, or operator, you can secure your platform for everyone’s benefit.

Our technological prowess can defend democracy or destroy it. In 2016, the world got an indication of the direction in which we are headed. But it’s not too late to change course. The change starts with the Web’s infrastructure. In this session, Danny explains how the modern Web threatens democracy, why we must decentralize the Web using technology like FreedomBox, and what you can do today. In 2010, the FreedomBox project was launched. After nine years, it has arrived to help you save the day. But FreedomBox itself won’t save the day. You will. How? Join this session to learn.

We are living in a society where -- as mere individuals -- it seems out of our control and in the hands of those who have the power to publish and distribute information swiftly and widely, or who can refuse to publish or distribute information. Algorithms now sort us into Global databases like PRISM or ECHELON, and there are devices such as StingRay cell phone trackers used to categorize our every movement. We may build our own profiles online, but we do not have access to the meta-profile built by the corporate entities that our queries traverse as we navigate online, purchasing goods and services as well as logging into sites where we have accounts. The level of intrusion into our most private thoughts should be alarming, yet most fail to heed the call as they feel small, alone, and unable to defy the scrutiny of disapproval from the powers that govern societal norms and their peers. Together, we can change this.

Micky will engage your mind on a journey to open an ongoing discussion to rediscover and reawaken your own creative thought processes. Together, we build a conversation that should never end as it will join us together transparently maintaining our freedoms, with free software as the foundation. Where do we find our personal power, and how do we use it as developers? Do we have a collective goal? Have you checked your social credit rating lately? Others have.