Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation Select Crowd Supply as the Preferred Platform for Crowdfunding Free/Libre Hardware and Software Projects
PORTLAND, OR — July 23, 2015 — Crowd Supply, the collaborative commerce platform for new hardware products, has received the endorsement of computer security activist Richard Stallman (rms) and the Free Software Foundation (FSF), a nonprofit with a worldwide mission to promote computer user freedom and to defend the rights of all free software users.
The specifics of the relationship are threefold. First, the Crowd Supply website and eCommerce engine have been completely reengineered to comply with the FSF’s Free Javascript Campaign, an initiative to make Websites work without requiring users to run non-free software. Second, the FSF has selected Crowd Supply as its preferred crowdfunding platform, and will recommend Crowd Supply to hardware and software creators looking to crowdfund, sell or purchase products online. And third, Crowd Supply and the FSF will work together to promote and launch new software and hardware products that adhere to FSF’s guiding principles, with the first project to be announced soon.
“We’re happy to promote Crowd Supply,” said Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation. “Finally there is a crowdfunding site that respects people’s freedom while asking them to donate to projects.”
Corporations behind proprietary software often spy on consumer activities or restrict users from sharing certain types of content. Whether for monetary gain through adware or for far more malicious intentions, this represents considerable danger to the promise for a free society due to the vast amount of personal information online and on computers today. The FSF was created 30 years ago by Richard Stallman to protect freedoms critical to the computer-using public worldwide, and actively promotes the development and use of free software and documentation.
“Joining the Free JavaScript Campaign and collaborating with the FSF are natural steps for Crowd Supply,” said Joshua Lifton, CEO of Crowd Supply. “The same rights the FSF has fought for in software need to be extended and adapted to hardware in order to protect consumers. The lines between hardware and software are blurring, so it only makes sense to consider them jointly rather than separately. Crowd Supply is proud to begin this work with the FSF.”
Crowd Supply was co-founded by Joshua Lifton, a long time advocate for Internet freedom who holds a PhD from MIT Media Lab. The site has already launched several hardware projects that fight to protect and expand user rights, including the Novena laptop by bunnie and xobs, the Librem laptop by Purism, and the USB Armory by Inverse Path, which leveraged Crowd Supply for its crowdfunding, pre-sales, eCommerce, and fulfillment services.
To learn more about Crowd Supply, shop for new hardware products, or launch your own campaign please visit www.crowdsupply.com. To learn more about the Free Software Foundation, visit http://www.fsf.org/.
About Crowd Supply
Crowd Supply is an exclusive crowdfunding and eCommerce platform for the best new hardware projects and highly crafted goods. With a perfect record for product delivery and the highest campaign success rate of any fundraising platform, Crowd Supply ensures the satisfaction of backers by giving engineers, designers and makers the resources, know-how, and network required to scale and sell their product visions. Crowd Supply is backed by Bialla Ventures, Inspiration Ventures, the Portland Seed Fund, Seven Peaks Ventures, SOSVentures and a consortium of angels, including the MIT Media Lab’s Joi Ito. It was founded in 2012 by a team of hardware engineers, designers and entrepreneurs and is based in Portland, OR. For more information, visit www.crowdsupply.com.
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 fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF’s work can be made at https://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.