Denver Gingerich

Join co-op representatives as they swap stories, compare notes, discuss tactics and problems with each other, and answer any questions you have about what it's like to work with free software in a co-op--a relative rarity--in the tech industry.

Other people: Clayton Craft Aaron Wolf Dan Fourie Joel Brock Keegan Rankin Valerie Young Watson

Originally borne out of a desire to use only FOSS, my refusal to carry a smartphone, or a cell phone of any kind in most situations, is perplexing to many. While this decision provides many benefits, including increased ability to focus, quality time with friends and family, and an effective opt-out from real-time location tracking, it is not widely accepted by society. This talk will explore some of the ways that society has evolved over the past two decades that make it much more difficult for people who make certain technology-related choices, and how we can be more accepting of people who make different choices than us, not just with phone usage, but in other FOSS-related areas and beyond.

Join us for an engaging Right to Repair panel discussion with experts in the field! We'll talk with activists Kyle Wiens of iFixit, Juan Muro of Free Geek, Hilary Shohoney of Bonneville Environmental Foundation, and Denver Gingerich of Software Freedom Conservancy about current topics in Right to Repair and how they impact free and open source software communities, from participating in the "1201 process" for Digital Millennium Copyright Act exemptions with the US Copyright Office, to strategies that might work to increase Right to Repair legislation and bringing lawsuits to compel companies to respect consumers' rights."

Other people: Kyle Wiens Hilary Shohoney

We often hear that the main thing FOSS needs to be successful is more money. But what concrete steps would we take if we had money? Who should we give it to and what should they spend it on? Bring your ideas to this Q&A hosted by two FOSS business leaders, who have seen what money can (and can't) do for FOSS. We will briefly describe our experiences, and then open it up for discussion to dive into actionable plans for using money to improve software freedom, through non-profit, worker co-operative, and/or for-profit endeavors.

Other people: Stephen Paul Weber

Starting a business is a big decision, and choosing to share its results with the world is perhaps bigger still. Denver started JMP early last year, and faced this very choice, deciding to release all of JMP's code as free software and to charge money to use the instance he runs. In this session, Denver will describe why he chose to build a free software business, and will discuss the details of the business model he arrived at, alongside other business models for free software companies.

Few contributors are paid to work on free software today, and far fewer are paid by non-profit organizations (or even by small businesses). It is imperative for us to explore how we can sell free software, especially through non-profits and small businesses, so we can bring freedom to more people and, just as importantly, build sustainable futures for our contributors.

DebConf audiences are the more knowledgeable about Free Software licensing than any Open Source and Free Software conference in the world. So, why not have a BoF where we let you ask absolutely anything about copyleft, free software licensing, GPL compliance or just about anything related to such topics? Come with your questions, comments, hypothetical scenarios, concerns, complex, intractable licensing situations, and we'll do our best to field the questions. While this session will be co-presented by a lawyer and a non-lawyer, but this is not legal advice, and we are not your lawyers.

Other people: Karen Sandler

The phone network is one of society's greatest inventions, a vast federated network connecting nearly all of the world's inhabitants. But the tools we commonly use to interact with it are some of the most prone to interfering with our freedom and privacy. Soprani.ca is a collection of free software projects that aims to replace these tools so we can continue use the features of the phone network (such as calls and text and picture messaging to any phone number) without the adverse side effects that plague most phones. In this session, Denver will describe the existing voice, text, and picture messaging functionality of Soprani.ca, as well as plans for creating new distributed physical networks to extend and eventually replace the centralized physical networks of the phone network that exist today. He will also discuss ways you can help build the remaining pieces of Soprani.ca that will bring this vision to reality.

Free software users have been able to use laptops with fully-free software for several years now. However, using a cell phone in the same way is still impossible due to the non-free baseband firmware present in all cellular devices on the market today. But does the cell phone experience even require a baseband? In this session, Denver will describe how to achieve much of the cell phone experience (especially voice and SMS/MMS) using existing free software, as well as strategies for surpassing the range and reach of emergency calling and data on the cellular network.