The FSF's campaigns target important opportunities for free software adoption and development, empower people against specific threats to their freedom, and move us closer to a free society.
Our successes are driven by the efforts of supporters and activists like you all around the world. Please take a moment today to make a contribution, by joining the FSF as an associate member, making a tax-deductible donation and volunteering your time.
Working together for free software
Free software is simply software that respects our freedom — our freedom to learn and understand the software we are using. Free software is designed to free the user from restrictions put in place by proprietary software, and so using free software lets you join a global community of people who are making the political and ethical choice assertion of our rights to learn and to share what we learn with others.
This is a campaign aimed at getting new users into free software.
The GNU Operating System
The GNU operating system is a complete operating system made entirely of free software. Millions of people are using GNU every day to edit their documents, browse the web, play games, and handle their email, or as part of a GNU/Linux system on their home computer. Even people who have never heard of it use GNU everyday, because it powers many of the sites they visit and services they use. Learn more about GNU, and support progress on fully free operating systems by volunteering or donating to the FSF.
DefectiveByDesign.org
Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) robs us of control over the technology we use and the culture we live in. DRM and the DMCA can make it illegal to share an article, back-up your kids' favorite DVD, or move your music from one player to another. Since DRM is inherently incompatible with free software, it also excludes free software users from equal participation in culture. DefectiveByDesign.org is our anti-DRM campaign, where we mobilize large vocal communities to reject products from businesses that insist on using to DRM to control their customers. Learn more at DefectiveByDesign.org and the campaign wiki.
Windows 7 Sins
Microsoft Windows has hundreds of millions of people locked-in to proprietary software. It exemplifies some of proprietary software's most serious problems, like security and privacy. Windows 7 Sins makes the case against Microsoft and proprietary software, in response to the latest release of Microsoft Windows. Find out more about Windows 7 Sins. More at the campaign wiki. Volunteers needed! Sign up for the mailing list.
PlayOgg
The PlayOgg campaign (playogg.org) promotes the use of free audio and video formats unencumbered by patent restrictions, rather than MP3, QuickTime, Windows Media, and AAC, whose patent problems threaten free software and hinder progress. We also promote the use of the new "video tag" standard as an alternative to Adobe Flash for embedding audio and video in webpages. Find out more about PlayOgg at playogg.org or at the campaign wiki. You can also join the PlayOgg volunteer team to push companies and services to use Ogg by joining the mailing list.
End Software Patents
Software patents create a legal nightmare for all software developers and pose particular problems for the free software movement. So as the FSF campaigns for formats that are free of software patents, we also work on the more fundamental task of ending software patents entirely, through legal and legislative action. Learn more at EndSoftPatents.org, see the wiki, join the action alert mailing list.
Campaign for OpenDocument
Our OpenDocument campaign fights for the use of free formats in government documents, pushing governments to adopt policies requiring that all digital public documents and information be stored and distributed in formats that are standard, open, and royalty-free. OpenDocument Format (ODF) is one such format. Get involved and take action against Microsoft's Open XML.
RIAA Expert Witness Fund
In conjunction with Recording Industry vs. The People, the FSF has established a fund to help provide computer expert witnesses to combat the RIAA's ongoing lawsuits against households that share music, and to defend against the RIAA's attempt to redefine copyright law. Read more about why the FSF is involved.
High Priority Free Software Projects
The FSF's High Priority Projects list serves to foster the development of projects that are important for increasing the adoption and use of free software and free software operating systems. Some of the most important projects on our list are "replacement projects". These projects are important because they address areas where users are continually seduced into using nonfree software by the lack of an adequate free replacement. These are critical projects that need your help.
LibrePlanet
The FSF is just one part of a massive global movement for free software. Recognizing this, the FSF created LibrePlanet (libreplanet.org), a wiki and community site to help free software users, developers and activists around the world connect and share information and resources. Visit LibrePlanet to create a profile, add your organization, or list your activist project. You can also join the mailing list, the IRC channel, or the identi.ca group.
Campaign for Hardware that Supports Free Software
Hardware manufacturers are often negligent in offering support for free software. Our hardware directory helps people identify hardware to buy that works with their free software operating system. It is also an important part of the FSF's ongoing work to persuade hardware vendors to respect free software users. For more information on the FSF's plans, read our whitepaper: The road to hardware free from restriction, or see its most recent revisions on its LibrePlanet wiki page.
Free BIOS Campaign
Our campaign for a Free BIOS protects your rights by giving you freedom at the lowest level (if the BIOS is not free, manufacturers can use it to interfere with your control over the computer you use, for example). One piece of this campaign is Coreboot, a free software project aimed at replacing the proprietary BIOS (firmware) you can find in most of today's computers. Visit coreboot.org to learn more about the development of Coreboot, supported systems, and how you can get started running a free BIOS. For more, join the Coreboot mailing list. The FSF is also pushing for the creation of a laptop with a free BIOS.
Campaign against the ACTA
The FSF opposes the ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) because it is a threat to the distribution and development of free software, and we campaign against this and other international agreements that undermine people's right to control technology. Learn more about our campaign against the ACTA.
The FSF welcomes volunteers in all of its campaigns. You can keep up with the most important happenings in our campaigns by following our news feed, blogs feed, and the #fsf IRC channel.