Gather around, my friends, for there is another company which thinks we are stupid and we enjoy having our faces spat in. Apollo Federation has announced that they will switch to a non-free license. Let’s find out just how much the Elastic license really is going to “protect the community” like they want you to believe.

Let’s start by asking ourselves, objectively, what practical changes can we expect from a switch from the MIT license to the Elastic License? Both licenses are pretty short, so I recommend quickly reading them yourself before we move on.

• You shouldn’t buy a TPM for Windows 11. Here’s why

  By now, nearly everyone knows you need a Trusted Platform Module 2.0 for Windows 11. But many people still aren’t sure if you have to go out and buy a module to fulfill that requirement.

• The new DRM-breaking exemptions just dropped [sic]

  That means that, every three years, these same volunteers and staffers will have to use their precious time to fight for this commonsense exemption. More importantly, it means they won't be able to use that time to produce cogent, evidence-based cases for more exemptions to benefit people with disabilities, including print-disabled people who aren't blind. Ebook DRM isn't just a problem for visual impairments – people with dyslexia, people who are paralyzed or missing limbs or have coordination and muscular impairments can call struggle with the arbitrary limitations of DRM.

  The triennial exemption hearings are frustrating for all concerned. Many Library of Congress/Copyright Office staffers (even lawyers!) have privately expressed their outrage over the statutory limitations of the triennials to me. Congress should fix this idiotic, symbolic kabuki and replace it with a better system.

  They could start by issuing a blanket exemption for all circumvention that doesn't result in a copyright infringement, and for all the tools needed to effect those circumventions. If you buy a gadget, you should be able to decide how it works, and you should be able to ask other people to help you make it do what you want. You bought it, it's yours. Period.

• US Copyright Office Expands Jailbreaking Exemption to Roku and Apple TV

  The US Copyright Office has published a list of new exemptions to the DMCA's anti-circumvention rules. Several new freedoms were granted this round, including broader right to repair permissions. The right to jailbreak also expanded to include streaming TV devices such as Roku and Apple TV boxes, despite Hollywood fears that this will boost piracy.

• Software Freedom Conservancy's DMCA Exemption Requests Granted for Alternate Router Firmware, Copyleft Compliance Investigation and More
  

  Software Freedom Conservancy is proud to announce that its efforts to stand up for the rights of FOSS developers have been successful and that it has been granted almost all of the exemptions that it requested in the Librarian of Congress' recent rule making, according to the final rule Exemption to Prohibition on Circumvention of Copyright Protection Systems for Access Control Technologies, which was published today. Effective today, the Librarian of Congress ("LoC") granted DMCA exemptions for installing alternate firmwares on routers and for investigating copyleft compliance, and the exemption that Software Freedom Conservancy previously applied for and received on Smart TVs was also expanded. While our formal request to extend the security research exemption to include privacy research was not granted, the Register clarified that privacy research is indeed included in security research. Our executive director, Karen Sandler, also participated as an individual in a request to expand the existing exemption for medical devices which was also successful.

• Software Freedom Conservancy's DMCA Exemption Requests Granted

  Software Freedom Conservancy has had several exemptions granted that it requested to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by the US Library of Congress for activities of interest to free-software developers...

• Complaint (direct link)

• Software Freedom Conservancy files lawsuit against California TV manufacturer Vizio Inc. for GPL violations

  Software Freedom Conservancy announced today it has filed a lawsuit against Vizio Inc. for what it calls repeated failures to fulfill even the basic requirements of the General Public License (GPL).

  The lawsuit alleges that Vizio’s TV products, built on its SmartCast system, contain software that Vizio unfairly appropriated from a community of developers who intended consumers to have very specific rights to modify, improve, share, and reinstall modified versions of the software.

• SFC files suit against Vizio over GPL violations [LWN.net]

  Software Freedom Conservancy has announced that it filed suit against TV maker Vizio over "repeated failures to fulfill even the basic requirements of the General Public License (GPL)". The organization raised the problems with Vizio in August 2018, but the company stopped responding in January 2020, according to the announcement.

• Software Freedom Conservancy sues Vizio for GPL violations

  The SFC is suing Vizio because its SmartCast OS is based on Linux. Linux's source code is protected under the GPL version 2 (GPLv2). Besides the Linux kernel, the other GPL'd and Lesser GPL (LGPL)'d code in SmartCast includes U-Boot, bash, gawk, tar, Glibc, and FFmpeg. In short, Vizio is using the code without permission.

  This can't come as any surprise. Vizio has been made well aware of this problem. The company was first informed that it had violated the GPLv2 for not releasing SmartCast OS's source code by the SFC in August 2018. After over a year of diplomatic attempts to work with the company, the Conservancy declared that not only was the company still refusing to comply, but it had stopped responding to inquiries altogether as of January 2020.

• Learn about Free Software in the Legal Context with FSFE's Legal Education Day [Ed: FSFE has the audacity to profit from the 4 freedoms whose pioneer it has been slandering]

  The FSFE is organizing a Legal Education Day on Saturday, 6 November 2021. This online event is open for all to attend. It will include talks and Q&A sessions on the basics of copyright law, licenses, and other legal topics. The event will help Free Software developers to understand these legal topics so that their software projects can reach their full potential.

  We all love the four freedoms that Free Software grants to users and developers, and how they benefit the individual user as well as digital society as a whole. In order to ensure these freedoms, users of Free Software rely on legal instruments and the legal system to be able to enforce them when other try to take them away from us.

• Virtual Workshop Tuesday: EFF’s Mitch Stoltz Will Discuss Free Software Movement On Panel Examining Ethics and Open Source Software Licensing