Welcome to the MIT chapter of the League for Programming Freedom.  The LPF
is opposed to look-and-feel lawsuits, user interface copyrights, and
software patents.

There are no dues for the MIT chapter; we raise money by selling t-shirts
and by requesting funds from the Graduate Student Council.  We can always
use more members, especially those who are willing to take an active part
in the group.

If you're not a member of the national LPF, you should consider joining;
dues are only $10.50 for students, and you'll be helping the national
organization with your dues and your presence on the rolls.  There's a
membership form online.

One of the easiest but most valuable things you can do is to raise the
issue of user interface copyright and software patent with your friends and
colleagues.  Most computer users and programmers agree that software
companies shouldn't be allowed a monopoly on, say, the concept of
overlapping windows or of using XOR to write a cursor to a computer screen.
But most people don't realize to what extents copyright and patent
protection are being taken by the courts.  Only if people realize what is
going on, and that it will affect them soon, will they feel that the issue
is important -- and pressing -- enough to support.  You might wish to see
the League position papers (available online) for examples of arguments to
use.

There are several mailing lists of interest:
  mitlpf@athena.mit.edu goes to all members of the MIT chapter
  league@ai.mit.edu goes to the national organization's "headquarters"
  league-activists-boston@ai.mit.edu goes to activist members of the
national organization in the Boston area.  You may add yourself to this
list (or send mail to league@ai.mit.edu asking to be added).

League electronic files of interest to the public (e.g., position papers)
are available for anonymous ftp on prep.ai.mit.edu in /pub/gnu/lpf.  These
files are shadowed on mintaka.lcs.mit.edu (18.26.0.36) in /common/mitlpf,
in the prep subdirectory.  Other files can be found on the AI Lab machines
in /home/fsf/rms/lpf; some of these are shadowed on mintaka, in the ai
subdirectory of /common/mitlpf.  Files specific to the MIT chapter -- a
roster, a list of activities (some being done and some that need a
volunteer), etc. -- are also found on mintaka, at the top level of
/common/mitlpf.

The mintaka files are available by anonymous ftp, appear under /nfs/common
on many LCS machines, and may be attached from athena (do "attach -r -n -e
lcs:/common" and the directory /lcs/common will appear).  You might not be
able to modify the mintaka files; if so, but you need to change them, tell
Mike Ernst (mernst@theory.lcs.mit.edu).  Likewise, if you need to access
additional of the League files on the AI Lab machines, I can tell you how.

The League also has physical files -- many folders full of court cases,
analyses of the law, patent disclosure forms, clippings about lawsuits,
etc.  An index to these appears on the AI Lab machines, and you're welcome
to browse through the physical files in NE43-427.