SFLC News: 2015 [RSS]

If you missed the SFLC Fall Conference, wanted to share parts with a friend or colleague, or re-watch part of it yourself, you now can here.


On Friday, October 9th, 2015 the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) submitted a comment with the United States Federal Communications Commission, which has proposed a number of revisions to its rules and regulations concerning approval of wireless devices. Notice of Proposed Rule Making, ET Docket No. 15-170. SFLC takes the position that the Commission does not possess the legal authority to adopt a rule that regulates the software running in devices that does not affect the operation of RF transmitters or create interference. SFLC further argues that, even within the scope of the Commission’s regulatory jurisdiction, the Commission must tread carefully to avoid over-regulating radio frequency device software to the detriment of user innovation and after-market software modification. SFLC also urges the Commission to issue a policy statement (1) supporting the use of community developed or free software in networking devices; (2) recognizing the overwhelming social benefits generated from the high-quality software produced by non-profit communities; and (3) stating that preferring proprietary software over software whose source code is publicly available does not meaningfully enhance the security of software.

The comment is available on our site.



Journalist Jim Dwyer profiles Eben Moglen in an article discussing the recent Volkswagen scandal involving fraudulent emissions-reading software, declaring his criticism of proprietary code as prophetic. The article can be found here. An additional NYT article further covering the story can be found here.


After the overwhelmingly positive response to our 10th Anniversary Conference last October, we’ve decided to make the SFLC Conference at Columbia Law School an annual affair. We would therefore like cordially to invite you to attend Software Freedom Law Center’s Fall Conference, “FOSS and Global Entrepreneurialism,” to be held at the law school on Friday, October 30, 2015.





The Software Freedom Law Center is happy to announce that Mark Webbink has been elected the new Chairman of SFLC’s Board of Directors, after having served on the Board since 2007. Mark was before that the General Counsel at Red Hat. He replaces SFLC’s founder, Professor Eben Moglen of Columbia Law School, as Chairman. Professor Moglen remains a member of the Board, and continues his roles as President and Executive Director of SFLC.