I attended LibrePlanet 2018 in Boston last week. Thank you to Free Software Foundation & Outreachy, I received a travel grant to attend this event because of my participation in Outreachy last year.
LibrePlanet is an annual conference hosted by the Free Software Foundation for free software enthusiasts and anyone who cares about the intersection of technology and social justice. The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a nonprofit with a worldwide mission to promote computer user freedom.
This year was LibrePlanet’s 10th anniversary and the theme was “Freedom. Embedded.”
The event took place on March 24 – 25, at Stata Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston.
Day 0:
I had signed up to be a volunteer and we had a volunteer briefing session on Friday, 23rd March at the FSF office. My task was to be an IRC monitor for two hours on both the conference days.
Day 1:
The first day was overwhelming.
- Firstly, this was a celebration of free software!
- Secondly, the conference was at MIT! I was extremely happy to visit this place.
- Thirdly, I got to meet Outreachy organisers in person 🙂
My favorite talks from Day 1 were the following:
-
You think you are not a target? A tale of 3 developers by Chris Lamb: As software developers we are vulnerable to attacks like simple malware injection! Through an engaging story, this talk spoke about this growing threat and how reproducible builds can help prevent against it.
- State of the Onion: A handful of Tor contributors were at this panel. They spoke about how they added new features into the Tor browser, made Tor more usable, and growing the community with new outreach initiatives.
Day 2:
The second day’s starting keynote ended on this great piece of advice.
My favorite talks from Day 2 were the following:
- Diversity in Free Software by Marina, Outreachy co-organiser. I have written a more detailed post here.
- Freedom, devices & health. This panel introduced leaders that bridge industry, community, and individual experiences.
A more detailed report on LibrePlanet can be found here.
I had a great time by attending talks, interacting with the community and volunteering.
My laptop got more stickers 🙂
