►
From YouTube: Software Freedom Conservancy - Git Merge 2017
Description
Hear from Karen Sandler, Executive Director, about the work of the Software Freedom Conservancy, and the role of governance in the open source ecosystem.
About GitMerge
Git Merge is the pre-eminent Git-focused conference: a full-day offering technical content and user case studies, plus a day of workshops for Git users of all levels. Git Merge is dedicated to amplifying new voices in the Git community and to showcasing the most thought-provoking projects from contributors, maintainers and community managers around the world. Find out more at git-merge.com
A
Hi,
as
Brendan
was
saying,
my
name
is
Karen
I'm
the
executive
director
of
the
software
freedom
Conservancy,
which
I'm
going
to
tell
you
a
bit
about
today.
I
am
a
lawyer
which
there
isn't
much
to
hide
up
stage,
so
please
don't
throw
any
run
fruit
at
me.
I
hope,
I,
give
I
only
do
legal
work
now
as
a
pro
bono
lawyer
for
charitable
causes,
which
is
really
really
fun.
I'm
super
into
free
and
open
source
software
and
I'm
going
to
tell
you
why
I
am
a
cyborg,
because
I
have
a
big
heart.
A
A
The
medical
term
is
actually
called
sudden
death
and
it's
like
two
to
three
percent
per
year
compounding
and
I
was
diagnosed
at
30,
so
the
chances
of
death
by
40
were
like
25
percent,
so
it
was
quite
stressful,
but
my
cardiologist
said
well.
This
isn't
actually
a
big
deal
because
you
can
get
a
pacemaker,
defibrillator
right
and
it's
like
people
will
like
having
people
follow
you
around
with
paddles
all
the
time,
so
that
if
you
go
and
get
into
trouble,
it's
like
clear.
A
But
the
way
that
this
works
is
that
so
when
I
was
at
my
electrophysiologist-
and
this
is
a
girl
can't
have
too
many
cardiologists
I
have
like
three
or
four
of
em,
and
so
at
the
electrophysiologist
they're,
the
ones
that
actually
implant
this
device.
They
keep
a
bunch
of
them
in
their
drawer
right,
like
they
just
have
samples
of
these
they're
very
expensive
devices.
A
People
who
get
them
call
them
their
internal
bling
because
they're
like
tens
of
thousands
of
dollars,
but
they
keep
them
in
their
drawer
so
that
when
the
patients
are
there
sitting
there,
they
like
to
slide
it
across
desk
and
they
encourage
you
to
pick
it
up
and
hold
it,
and
that's
so
that
you
feel
like
it's
also
scary,
like
you're,
getting
this
device
implanted
in
your
body,
but
look
how
small
it
is.
It's
not
so
bad.
If
you
know
you
think
about
putting
it.
A
You
know
in
your
body
no
not
a
big
deal
right,
so
my
electric
physiologist
slides
it
over
and
as
I
pick
it
up
and
look
at
it
he's
looking
at
me
expectantly
and
I
say
what
does
it
run
and
he
says
run
so
so
I
suggest
I
explain
their
software
on
this
device.
Can
you
tell
me
anything
about
the
software
on
it
and
he
said
software
and
I
said
yeah,
there's
software
on
this
device
and
it's
really
and
I
really
I'm
a
programmer
and
then
a
glare.
A
So
I
really
care
about
these
things,
and
he
said:
oh,
don't
worry
because
today
at
the
in
the
office,
is
this
the
medical
device
rep
from
one
of
the
company
he's
in
he's
here
for
Medtronic.
He
can
come
in
and
tell
you
all
about
it
great,
and
so
it's
like
oh
great,
and
so
he
calls
this
guy.
Tom
and
Tom
tell
her
about
the
software
on
this
device.
Can
you
tell
her
what
it
runs
and
he
says
run
and
I
said?
A
Yes,
there's
software
on
this
device
and
he
says
software
and
apparently
no
one
had
asked
the
cardiologist
or
the
medical
device
breath
about
the
software
on
these
devices
and
their
entire
careers.
This
is
thousands
and
thousands
of
distributors
implanted
and
it
had
never
occurred
to
anyone
to
even
ask
about
the
software
from
these
professionals,
which
was
amazing
and
so
for
me
I.
You
know
this
is
this:
is
a
picture
of
Bill
Gates
as
a
Borg?
A
There's
one
researcher
who
showed
that,
with
an
iPhone
in
a
public
place
like
a
shopping
mall,
you
could
take
control
of
a
conservator
or
an
insulin
pump
and
deliver
a
fatal
shock
or
a
lethal
dose,
and
so
once
you
realize
how
you
know
how
vulnerable
our
medical
devices
are.
It's
only
a
short
walk
to
cars,
where
researchers
have
also
demonstrated
the
cars
are
vulnerable
and
they
they
can
take
control
of
all
kinds
of
different
systems
and
what
they're
doing
is
they're
going
through
not
necessarily
great
straight
for
the
ignition
system
or
acceleration
or
brake
systems.
A
They
are
originally
going
through,
like
the
entertainment
system
or
the
wheel
maintenance
system,
and
so
as
we're
building
this
Internet
of
Things,
where
everything
is
talking
to
everything
else.
We
don't
even
know
what
are
like
what
our
critical
software
is.
So
we,
like
it's
easy
to
say
like
I,
want
to
make
sure
that
my
socks,
we
know
free
and
open
source
software
studies
all
show
it's
better
and
safer
over
time.
A
We
know
that
right
so
for
our
really
critical
software,
like
our
medical
devices
and
our
cars
and
our
voting
machines
and
our
stock
markets
right,
it's
easy
to
to
sort
of
make
the
argument.
That's
that
all
these
Spacey,
these
life
and
society
critical
systems
need
to
be
free
and
open-source
software.
All
security
experts
agree
that
free
and
open
source
software
is
better
and
safer
over
time,
but
but
getting
to.
A
But
when
we
live
in
this
Internet
of
Things,
where
everything's
talking
to
everything
we
don't
even
know
what
our
critical
software
is
right.
It's
the
software
that
were
not
expecting
this
talking
to
other
software.
So
through
this
process,
I
went
from
someone
who
thought
that
open-source
was
cool
and
useful
to
someone
who
thought
that
software
freedom
is
absolutely
essential,
and
so
I've
dedicated
my
career
to
promoting
free
and
open
source
software,
and
that
and
that's
why
I
work
at
the
software
freedom
Conservancy.
A
A
They
are.
They
are
like
analogous
to
a
division
in
a
corporation
and
so
you'll
see
that
that
a
lot
of
the
projects
that
that
we
have
are
very
widely
used
software,
so
so
yeah
there
there
are.
We
are
basically
the
nonprofit
for
the
projects
that
are
within
Conservancy
and
and
they
each
operate
as
part
of
us,
and
we
do
everything
that
they
need
and
I'm
going
to
talk
a
little
bit
about
what
it
is
that
we
do
for
our
member
projects
and
how
that
relationship
works.
A
So
so,
with
our
for
our
project,
we
don't
do
it
alone,
we're
not
imposing
something
on
our
projects
that
that
comes
externally.
Each
of
our
project
has
a
Leadership
Committee
that
is
formed
through
organically
from,
however,
that
project
works.
This
is
the
project
Leadership,
Committee,
I,
don't
know
if
paths
for
Shawn
are
here
but
I
know
juniors
not
here,
but
this
is
our
so
there
stay
for
our
committee
and
they
basically
represent
to
us
a
Conservancy
and
work
with
us.
They
represent
the
needs
of
the
community
and
so
we're
you
know
we
are
sure.
A
That's
a
the
people
who
we're
interfacing
with
with
the
community
are
our
representatives
of
the
community.
Some
of
our
projects
have
that
by
election
that
have
it
more
organically
and
one
of
the
things
that
we
do
when
projects
come
into
Conservancy
is
is
to
work
with
them
to
help
them
figure
out
what
kind
of
governance
that
they
need.
That's
best
for
them,
so
our
projects
are
very
widely
varied.
A
We
are
licensed
agnostic,
so
some
of
our
projects,
projects
have
like
permissive
licenses
and
some
have
copyleft
licenses
and
we
do
a
lot
of
things
for
our
member
projects
and
we
work
with
them
quite
a
lot
and
partner
with
them
as
their
nonprofit
foundation.
One
of
the
major
things
that
we
do
is
handling
donations
and
helping
them
fund
raise
so
the
our
project,
and
so
you
have
any
financial
needs
for
anything.
They'll
come
come
to
us
and
we
basically
provide
all
the
infrastructure
for
them
to
to
handle
money,
which
is
very
helpful.
A
So
we're
not
that
many,
maybe
like
an
eight,
raise
your
hand
if
your
your
face,
so
that's
like
7/8,
maybe
or
we
need
like
reporters
and
raise
your
hand
if
you're
from
from
Asia,
okay,
like
as
many
from
Asia,
is
from
the
US.
That's
really
interesting.
This
for
curiosity,
raise
your
hand
if
you're
also
attending
FOSDEM,
okay,
fewer
people
that
are
here
from
Europe
just
raise
your
hand
if
you've
never
heard
of
Sodom.
A
Okay,
so
like
a
quarter
of
you
haven't
heard
about
the
bottom,
is,
is
a
major
free
software
conference
that
it's
in
Brussels
for
the
weekend?
It's
about
8,000
developers
or
participants
that
come
to
Brussels
for
or
participate
in
fob
them.
It's
a
totally
free
conference.
You
don't
have
to
register
so
I
was
really
excited,
but
the
git
merge
team
decided
to
have
git
merge
here
right
the
day
before
for
them,
because
it's
so
easy
to
attend
both
conferences.
A
So
I
highly
recommend
that,
if
you're
here
for
another
day
or
two,
you
check
out
paws
down
as
well,
if
you
haven't
before,
because
it
is
an
insane
and
amazing
conferences
at
the
University,
and
it
has
like
a
lot
of
different,
they
call
them
dev
rooms,
so
different
tracks,
where
each
room
covers
a
different
topic
and
like
the
hallway
talk,
is
amazing.
It's
just
so
many
people
and
and
if
you're
here
and
interested
in
kit,
then
there's
probably
going
to
be
a
lot
of
stuff.
A
It's
awesome
that
you're
really
interested
in
another
thing
that
we
do
a
Conservancy.
Is
that
we're
asset
stewards
so
which
is
really
like
legalese,
but
it
means
that
we
hold
all
the
any
anything
that
the
project
has
that,
like
any
intellectual
property
or
or
any
other
kind
of
assets
that
a
project
might
have
is
held
by
us,
because
we
are
as
a
nonprofit
identity
for
that
project
and
those
are
can
be
things
like
copyright
or
trademark
forget.
This
has
been
a
really
big
part
of
what
we've
done.
A
A
lot
of
the
things
that
we
do
for
for
the
get
project
in
particular
hospital
there's
been
a
lot
of
many
projects
that
have
started
with
the
name
kit
as
well,
and
it's
been
somewhat
confusing
or
potentially
confusing.
Ask
me
being
a
lawyer
Oh,
potentially
computer,
but
so
what
we
do
is
we
help
the
community
manage
the
trademark
and
an
enter
into
like
trademark
licenses
with
companies
that
that
maybe
have
permission
to
use,
get
in
their
name
like
github,
for
example.
A
So
we
we
do
a
lot
of
this
legal
work
for
a
lot
of
this
trademark
work,
including
like
vetting
the
requests
from
people
who
come
in,
who
want
to
use
the
get
name
for
various
things,
including
like
putting
it
and
all
kinds
of
just
random
stuff
or
wanting
to
use
the
get
name
in
some
other
ways.
We've
drafted
a
trademark
policy
and-
and
we
help
enforce
it-
we've
also
entered
into
an
opposition
proceeding
where
company
was
using
to
get
name
without
permission
and
got
them
to
cease
using
it.
A
There's
a
lot
more
information
on
this
pestis
published
a
email
on
a
get
mailing
list
about
what
why
the
committee
makes
the
decisions
that
they
do
about,
who
can
use
the
trademark
and
who
can't,
and
he
talks
about
some
of
the
history
of
the
use
of
the
name
get
and
how
that
relates
to
who's,
permitted,
to
use
and
who's.
Not.
And
why
and
how
so
I
recommend
checking
it
out
and
a
cool
thing
about
free
and
open
source
software
projects,
and
it's
true
of
Conservancy
and
Institue
of
our
member
projects.
A
We
do
everything
in
a
free
and
open
and
transparent
way,
and
so
pus
is
asked
for
for
feedback
on
some
of
these
points,
though,
I
think
it's
a
really
interesting
read
and
you
should
check
it
out.
We
take
care
of
all
kinds
of
other
legal
stuff
for
our
organization
for
our
projects
like
if
they
have
to
enter
into
any
contract
or
if
they
need
any
legal
stuff,
because
our
projects
are
us
when
our
projects
have
have
legal
work.
We
generally
are
doing
that.
A
We
have
I'm
a
lawyer
but
I
I,
mostly
work
as
executive
director,
and
we
have
general
counsel
named
Tony
c-bro,
who
who
also
works
at
Conservancy,
so
we're
we're
pretty
well
positioned
to
do
that.
Our
legal
work
can
include
enforcement
of
the
license.
So
how
many
people
here
don't
know
what
copyleft
is?
Does
anyone
not
know
what
copyleft
is
so
like?
A
There's
a
license
that
tells
you
that
you
can
you
know
you
can
use
this
software,
you
can
modify
it,
you
can
distribute
it
for
copyleft
copyleft
says
you
can
do
whatever
you
want
with
this
license,
provided
that
if
you
make
changes
and
distribute
them,
you
have
to
do
so
under
the
same
license.
So
detractors
have
called
it
viral,
but
it's
not
something
that
you
can
like
catch
right.
It's
a
I!
A
Think
of
it
as
more
of
being
forever
free
and
there's
a
snowballing
effect,
because
if
you
use
a
copy
less
of
project,
it
snowballs
into
more
and
more
useful
software
that
is
used
widely,
and
so
many
of
our
projects
have
a
copyleft
license
and
they've
asked
us
to
enforce
it
or
if
you
trademark
enforcement.
So
this
is
something
that
I
think
we
are
most
well-known
for
is
not
a
huge
portion
of
our
actual
activities
proportionately,
because
we
spend
most
of
our
time
helping
our
member
projects
out.
A
But
we
we,
we
are
out
there
helping
to
stand
up
for
for
coffee
less
and
what
we,
when
we
do
it.
We
do
it
in
a
very
friendly
and
a
non-confrontational
way.
We've
published
principles
of
community
oriented
enforcement,
and
we
say
that
anyone
who
is
violating
a
license
today
is
tomorrow's
contributor
and
so
having
this
in
a
community
organization
means
that
free
and
open-source
software
stays
friendly
for
business
right.
A
So
we
also
support
conferences
and
other
projects
activities,
and
that
is
runs
the
gamut
for
our
project.
A
lot
of
our
projects,
I
think
for
this
conference.
Github
organizes
it,
but
a
lot
of
our
conferences
organized
a
lot
of
our
projects,
organized
their
own
conferences,
so
like
Foose
and
selenium,
and
an
evergreen
for
example,
and
other
other
of
our
projects,
organize
conferences,
and
we
help
them
do
that
and
we
have
an
organized.
A
Ricci
is
a
diversity
program
and
it
provides
paid
remote
internships
for
four
globally
for
women
and
within
the
United
States,
also
for
people
of
color
to
help
attract
more
underrepresented
people
and
free
and
open-source
software.
We
have
two
rounds
per
year,
one
of
them
syncs
up
with
a
google
Summer
of
Code,
and
so
that
the
timing
is
the
same,
and
we
have
about
40
interns
in
each
round.
So
we're
now
getting
two
coming
up
to
about
500
interns
that
have
come
through
the
program,
we're
starting
to
see
some
really
exciting
metrics.
A
A
Whatever
our
projects
need,
so
for
some
of
our
projects,
it
means
figuring
out
what
they
need
figuring
out,
how
to
keep
their
community
vibrant
sort
of
looking
at
the
short
medium
term
and
long
term
needs
of
the
project
where
their
software
is
going
and
determining
how
to
help
how
to
help
with
diversity,
how
to
help
with
any
kind
of
issues
that
that
face
them.
So
we
do
all
kinds
of
things
whatever
whatever
is
necessary.
A
Sometimes
that
means
that
we
help
our
projects
have
regular
meetings
where
anyone
can
participate
and
whatever
we
do,
we
try
to
do
it
transparently.
So,
with
Conservancy,
all
of
our
materials
are
published
or
public.
All
of
our
are
everything
we
possibly
can
do
we
do
out
in
the
open.
We
we've
become
really
like
nonprofit
nerds,
so
we
know
we
know
like
everything
there
is
to
know
about
filing
us
tax
returns
and
Bradley's
Esopus
and
I.
A
Both
are
going
to
record
an
odd
cast
of
podcast,
but
in
Alec's
format,
where
we
we
talked
about
like
line
by
line
how
these
nineties
work,
and
so
we
encourage
everyone
to
check
out
the
public
filings
of
all
of
the
nonprofit
organizations
that
are
in
the
field
that
are
within
the
u.s.,
because
all
that
material
is
available
like
you
can
see
what
people
make
like
what
salary
is
the
top
people
made.
You
can
see
all
kinds
of
amazing
things
and
I
highly
recommend
it.
A
We
want
to
bring
more
transparency
to
this
to
this
field
and
help,
but
we
also
have
a
non-profit
accounting
project
where
we're
helping
to
create
free
and
open-source
software
that
helps
all
nonprofit
foundations,
with
their
bookkeeping
and
with
their
accounting,
and
the
idea
is
that
we're
trying
to
solve
our
problems
holistically
for
the
nonprofit
space
and
for
free
and
open
source
software
generally.
So
when
we
see
a
problem,
we
try
to
tackle
it
like
in
the
free
and
open
source
software
way.
A
We
keep
our
projects
safe,
like
being
a
part
of
Conservancy
means,
there's
actually
some
legal
liability
protection
for
our
projects.
We
are
a
neutral
ground,
a
truly
neutral
ground
for
any
of
our
projects,
and
we
help
people
participate
in
a
fair
way.
We
help
maintain
the
balance
between
corporate
interests
and
community
interests.
A
We
try
to
do
everything
we
can
to
promote
free
and
open-source
software.
Generally,
as
I
said,
we
try
to
turn
everything
into
an
education
opportunity,
everything
into
materials
that
we
can
publish,
so
we've
published.
We
help
maintain
a
website
called
copyleft
org,
where
we
talk
about
everything
there
is
to
know
about
about
copyleft
and-
and
we
do
a
lot
of
advocacy
as
well
to
make
sure
that
the
interest
of
free
and
open-source
software
are
represented
widely.
So,
for
example,
just
just
a
few
days
ago,
we
published
this
statement
against
Trump's
executive
order
on
the
u.s.
A
immigration
ban.
So
we
are
some
less
us
were
based
in
the
US,
and
so
we
have
a
lot
of
focus
on
the
US,
but
we're
a
global
organization
and
our
our
projects
are
everywhere.
So
while
we're
focused
on
a
lot
of
the
needs
in
the
United
States,
we
we
are
also
focused
on
unease
elsewhere,
and
we've
helped
provide
information
for
for
wide
use
in
all
kinds
of
places
on
multiple
continents,
so
so
we're
sort
of
taking
it
back
to
to
where
I
started.
A
So
as
medical
technology
gets
cheaper
and,
as
you
know,
as
our
diagnostic
tools
and
our
devices
get
cheaper,
more
and
more
people
will
get
implanted
devices,
which
means
that
more
and
more
of
us
will
become
cyborgs
right.
It
means
that
that
over
time,
if
we're
lucky,
probably
all
of
us
will
become
cyborgs
and
the
question
is
what
is
the
technology
that
we
rely
on
our
my
medical
device?
A
When
there's
really
a
problem,
will
we
be
in
control
of
our
destiny,
and
so
I
urge
you
to
think
about
the
issues
around
software
freedom,
in
addition
to
using
free
and
open
source
software,
because
it's
it's
useful
things
like
get
are
so
important
because
it's
our
basic
infrastructure
and
in
some
ways
we're
only
as
free
as
the
tools
that
we
use
and
I'd
really
like
to
thank
as
the
github
team.
Let's
give
them
a
round
of
applause,
because
it's
so
hard
to
organize
a
conference.
A
And
thanks
to
all
of
you,
because
the
donation
that
is
made
to
us
from
your
ticket
sales
makes
a
massive
difference.
As
I
said,
you
could
look
at
all
of
our
financial
information
and
if
you
do
you'll
see
that
we
do
a
lot
with
very
little
and
every
little
bit
really
helps
us
a
lot.
I'd
ask
each
of
you
to
consider
becoming
a
Conservancy
supporter
for
those
of
you
who
are
based
in
the
US.