Sharing knowledge about the GNU family of licenses
Copyright and licensing associate Craig Topham discusses the work done by the Licensing and Compliance Lab to answer licensing questions via articles, the FAQ, and email.
I am truly grateful for the opportunity to serve a community where sharing is at the core of its purpose. It's amazing that we can duplicate software so quickly -- just a few taps on a keyboard or clicks of a mouse -- to such great benefit. In the free software community, there are other elements that can be spread just as easily as computer source code. One of them is knowledge. From helping someone use free software to spreading the understanding of free software, knowledge comes in all shapes and sizes. This includes sharing knowledge of the GNU General Public Licenses (GPL) and free software licensing more generally.
As the copyright and licensing associate at the Free Software Foundation (FSF), one of my tasks is to coordinate with licensing volunteers of the Licensing and Compliance Lab. As a part of the Lab, the licensing volunteers help the FSF share free software licensing knowledge. We do this together through the combined decades of experience and the plethora of licensing materials available on fsf.org and gnu.org. However, the world we live in constantly generates new curiosities and areas to explore, inevitably leaving people with new questions. When this happens, the Licensing and Compliance Lab is here to provide answers. Your support will help us continue to do so heading into the future. As free software licensing is a complex subject, we're proud to provide this service to free software developers and other members of the community.
Much like free software, knowledge requires someone to have it first in order to distribute it. When it comes to free software licensing knowledge, the licensing volunteers have it in abundance. Although a small group, they have answered over 1,300 questions sent in by those hoping to better understand how the family of GNU licenses work since the pandemic started in March 2020. I can honestly say that this work would have been impossible without the licensing volunteers.