Software Freedom Conservancy

Software Freedom Conservancy | @conservancy@social.sfconservancy.org

Software Freedom Conservancy is a 501(c)(3) public charity that acts as a non-profit home for Free, Libre, and Open Source Software projects.

https://sfconservancy.org

The summary adjudication hearing in Vizio is in about 10 minutes, and the judge has issued her tentative decision in favor of @conservancy saying that Vizio has a duty to provide SFC with complete corresponding source code to its TV! (And rejecting 2 other arguments on procedural grounds). Arguments will happen today to see if the judge makes her tentative ruling final!

https://sfconservancy.org/news/2025/dec/04/tentative-vizio-ruling-in-favor-of-sfc/

You can join via the browser (though it's sadly Zoom):
https://occourtsapp.occourts.org/aci/checkin-results?dept=C33">;

Please note that the Judge has previously required virtual attendees to enable their cameras and may ask them to identify themselves.

Breaking news: the tentative ruling for today's #Vizio hearing just came out in favor of SFC's summary adjudication motion! This isn't a final ruling, but indicates how the judge is leaning in advance of the hearing. The hearing will begin at 10am pacific and will likely begin with other cases scheduled to be heard today.

https://www.occourts.org/sites/default/files/oc/default/tentative-rulings/slealrulings.pdf

It's #GivingTuesday! Please include Software Freedom Conservancy in your giving today.

Our historic impact litigation against Vizio - a case where we seek to confirm rights for users and customers under #GPLv2 - goes to trial in just 35 days!

Support this & our other work now at https://sfconservancy.org/sustainer/.

Today Software Freedom Conservancy is launching our biggest fundraiser match challenge yet! With a whopping $211,927 from our generous matchers, every dollar you donate until January 15th 2026 will be doubled! This has been a huge year for us and we're so thankful to all the individuals who help sustain our organization.

You can become a sustainer and read more about what we've been up to here:

https://sfconservancy.org/sustainer/#YearInReview

In one hour, there will be a hearing in the VIzio law suit!

It's about a motion VIzio made, asking the court to rule (without any discussion at trial) that there is no installation right in . The "tentative" ruling published this morning denies VIzio's request! The parties will discuss further at the hearing to see if the tentative becomes final.

If you're comfortable using proprietary software (zoom via browser), you can watch:

https://occourtsapp.occourts.org/aci/checkin-results?dept=C33

Big hearing today in case re: their violations of .

Vizio requested summary adjudication, arguing users have no right to install their own software onto their devices.Judge has already tentatively DENIED their motion: https://www.occourts.org/sites/default/files/oc/default/tentative-rulings/slealrulings.pdf

The hearing to determine if her tentative ruling is official occurs in 2 hours (10:00 US/Pacific). You can watch¹:
https://occourtsapp.occourts.org/aci/checkin-results?dept=C33

¹ This requires proprietary software, but Zoom for Government terms are less onerous than standard terms.

@karen just keynoted at #SFSCON in Bolzano, Italy. You can find her speaking on local (German) news station in this video: https://on.orf.at/video/14298541/suedtirol-heute-vom-07112025 (segment begins at 3:56)

https://sfc.ngo/diabetes, is an article I wrote last night to coincide with my colleague, @karen's excellent keynote¹ 2025 earlier this morning.

This year I faced an eerily similar medical experience to her story. I now wear a proprietary medical device, but fortunately control it fully w/ .

I was angry though not surprised that (a $200+ billion company) worked with to attempt to take out of Google's store last year.

Juggluco won & it's back for patients!

Director of Compliance Denver Gingerich has recently worked with the @FuluFoundation to announce the bounty program for continuing the Right to (Software) Repair for GPL devices. Denver noted that “Nest chose to use software with a built-in right to repair in its thermostats. But they took those rights away when they locked down the Nest devices and failed to provide the complete source code for Linux"

Read more here: https://fulu-foundation.ghost.io/repair-bounty-program/

@karen keynoted this years #PGConfEU25 and here she is posing with the famous elephant 🐘 If you are around at the conference be sure to say hi!

After a slight hiccup, the BBB link now be working! See you all soon!

https://bbb.sfconservancy.org/b/den-i3x-a5u-vkq

@kingrat @fdroidorg We're working on getting the link back. If it's not back in a bit, we'll provide an alternative!

Join us in ~30 minutes on BigBlueButton for the Q&A regarding sideloading on Android. Come learn about @fdroidorg and hear from our Director of Compliance about what's to come in the future of running your own software on Android.

Friday, Sep 5 (2025), at 15:00 UTC (08:00 US/Pacific, 11:00 US/Eastern, 17:00 CEST)

https://bbb.sfconservancy.org/b/den-i3x-a5u-vkq

With the recent changes announced restricting software installation on Android, @conservancy wants to make sure people know about how to install the software of their choice on their devices. Join us tomorrow for a Q&A with SFC's Director of Compliance to better understand how these changes affect Android and how you can have the final say on what does and doesn't run on your phone.

Join us on BigBlueButton tomorrow Friday September 5th at 15:00 UTC (08:00 US/Pacific, 11:00 US/Eastern, 17:00 CEST)


https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2025/sep/3/sfc-qa-on-how-to-keep-your-sideloading/

Worried about the future of installing your own software on your Android device? @conservancy is hosting a Q&A to update you about sideloading software as well as other tips about how to ensure your phone runs the software you want, without any artificial restrictions. Join us on BigBlueButton this Friday September 5th at 15:00 UTC (08:00 US/Pacific, 11:00 US/Eastern, 17:00 CEST)

https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2025/sep/3/sfc-qa-on-how-to-keep-your-sideloading/

Oh, @bshaurette , thanks for asking. @conservancy *is* still accepting applications for travel grants, but you are quite correct that the trial date has changed. The trial is *not* in September.

The next event in the case is a scheduling hearing one week from today, on Thursday 4 September 2025 at the Santa Ana, CA court house at 13:30 local time. The public is welcome to attend; I'll be there & would be glad to greet supporters, but the hearing is administrative in nature.

… I was quoted quoted in *The Register*:
> “The problems w/ have been growing for some time. We at have always been concerned about the issue of using proprietary software to write . However, the integration w/ so deeply into the platform, and 's flagrant use of content hosted on GitHub to train their own LLMs makes a departure from GitHub urgent for all FOSS developers.”
https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/15/codeberg_beset_by_ai_bots/
I hope it inspires you to ! https://giveupgithub.org

GitHub so-called “Octocat” logo/mascot in one tentacle holds 💰. Six other tentacles form a cage for the words “USER RIGHTS” — which are set in blue stone, but are crumbling under the force of the tentacles. The final tentacle reaches out with an open palm — presuambly to collect even more rights & money from its users.

😲🤬 re: what's happened to @Codeberg today
The AI ballyhoo *is* a real DDoS against one of the few code hosting sites that has taken a stand against slurping code into LLM training sets — in violation of licenses.
This is what lawless & deregulation bring us. ∃ plenty of blame to go around, but & deserve the bulk of it as they trailblazed the idea that FOSS code-hosting sites are lucrative targets.
https://giveupgithub.org

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