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Alexandre Oliva joins Free Software Foundation board of directors
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Alexandre Oliva joins Free Software Foundation board of directors
by
Free Software Foundation
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Published on
Aug 28, 2019 12:38 PM
BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA - Wednesday, August 28, 2019 - The Free
Software Foundation (FSF) today announced the addition of Alexandre
Oliva to its board of directors.
The full list of FSF board members can be found at
A longtime free software activist and founder of
FSF Latin
America
, Oliva brings decades of experience in the free software
movement to the FSF board. In the community, he is held in especially
high regard for being the chief developer of the GNU
Linux-libre
project, a version of the kernel Linux that removes all nonfree bits
from the kernel's source code, enabling users around the world to run
fully free versions of the
GNU/Linux operating system
, and is a
program of vital importance in the cause for software freedom. For his
deep commitment and tireless work in free software, Oliva was the
recipient of the
2016 Advancement of Free Software award
given
annually by the FSF.
Aside from being a contributor to the GNU Project since 1993, Oliva is
an accomplished public speaker and author on the importance of
software freedom. He worked as a computer engineer at Red Hat from
2000 to 2019, making large contributions to crucial components of the
GNU toolchain like GCC and the GNU C library. Most recently he has
announced the founding of the
0G
project, a vision for mobile
phones that free users from the constant danger posed by bulk
surveillance.
Upon his nomination to the board, Alexandre stated, "In 2017, I
borrowed from Edward Snowden's 2016's LibrePlanet speech and qualified
the FSF as the lighthouse of the free software movement, the reliable
reference point that lights the path to software freedom. How
exciting, and what a wonderful challenge it is to become part of a
team that has to figure out what the path to be lighted is, and how to
keep the lights shining through such dark times!"
Commenting on Oliva's nomination, FSF executive director John Sullivan
said, "Alex's steadfast commitment to free software principles, along
with his technical contributions aimed at helping others around the
world live free lives, have inspired so many of us at the FSF and in
the free software movement. This is great news for our members and
supporters -- the FSF will benefit enormously from his increased
involvement."
About the Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to
promoting 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, and its Web sites,
located at
and
, are an important
source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's
work can be made at
. Its headquarters are in
Boston, MA, USA.
More information about the FSF, as well as important information for
journalists and publishers, is at
Media Contact
John Sullivan
Executive Director
Free Software Foundation
+1 (617) 542 5942
campaigns@fsf.org
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