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Founded in 1985, the Free Software Foundation defends and promotes computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software.
The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software. Through an array of campaigns, the FSF targets and promotes opportunities for free software expansion and raises awareness about software freedom in the community as a whole. To read more, please visit theCampaigns page.
To learn more about our the FSF, including information about its staff and board, please visit theStaff and Board Members page.
OnGNU'sphilosophy page and its essayspage, there are a number of texts that describe the political,ethical and practical viewpoints of the Free Software Foundation andthe GNU Project. We suggest, in particular, the following articles:
The Free Software Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. For information pertaining to the organization's financial status and investments, please visit theFinancial Information page.
The Free Software Foundation's hours are 10:00 AM until 6:00 PM Eastern Time, Monday through Friday. For press inquiries, please contact:campaigns@fsf.org
Telephone: +1-617-542-5942
Fax: +1-617-542-2652
31 Milk Street, # 960789
Boston, MA 02196
If you would prefer to send an encrypted email, please contact a staff member individually using the keys listed on ourstaff page.
For recent news, please visit theNews page or read ourrecent blog posts. Also, subscribe to the news feed viaRSS.
If you are interested in press-related information about the FSF andthe GNU project, you can subscribe to our press mailing list.
Also check out theFree Software Supporter, a monthly newsletter covering stories of interest to the free software community, or follow the FSF on social media.
Read why GNU social and Mastodon are better than Twitter.
There exists an array of free software available for journalists, including tools for text editing, audio recording, calendaring, organizing, emailing, and web-authoring. Free software tools help protect the anonymity, security, and freedom of journalists across the world. Examples of free tools include:
The FSF is a charity with a worldwide mission to advance software freedom —learn about our history and work.