[GNU/FSF Press] FSF Compliance Lab announces new web site

[Brett Smith]

BOSTON, November 10, 2006 -- Today the Free Software Foundation (FSF)
Compliance Lab unveiled its updated web site, at
<http://www.fsf.org/licensing/>.  The site aims to help people find the
information they need about licenses published by the FSF, such as the GNU
General Public License (GPL), and to provide more information about the
Lab's work.

The FSF's licensing compliance engineer Brett Smith explained, "As the free
software community looks for authoritative licensing support, they know
they can rely upon the FSF to answer their questions about their particular
situations.  We want them to know we're here to help."

The Compliance Lab has been an informal activity of the FSF since 1992 and
was formalized in December 2001.  It is involved in all licensing-related
issues for the Foundation.  It serves the public and the media by providing
a knowledge infrastructure surrounding the GNU GPL and free software
licensing, whilst it enforces the licenses on its large body of copyrighted
software against distributors that try to restrict users' rights.  It is
run by FSF staff, with the help of several knowledgeable volunteers, and
continues this work while the GPLv3 process is underway.

Smith added, "People are very curious about our enforcement efforts, the
successes we have had and what cases we are working on -- we've always
been able to cooperatively negotiate compliance with violators which
means that we rarely need to take legal action.  But we're looking for
ways to share more details about our work, and this new site is our first
step towards that."

Media contact:
Brett Smith
Licensing Compliance Engineer
Free Software Foundation
617-542-5942
address@hidden

About the FSF

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.  Their Web site, located at www.fsf.org,
is an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to
support their work can be made at http://donate.fsf.org. Their
headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.