In a recent report published by fsf.org, the Free Software Foundation detailed its active presence at the HOPE 2026 conference in New York City, highlighting workshops, volunteer efforts, and a heavily attended member meetup that brought together dozens of free software supporters.
Delegation and Workshop Presentations at HOPE 2026
Five members of the Free Software Foundation staff attended the New York gathering. The delegation included deputy director Sean O’Brien, copyright and licensing associate Craig Topham, campaigns manager Greg Farough, GNU/Linux systems administrator Michael McMahon, and the FSF’s program manager, fsf.org reported.
Each staff member contributed directly to the event’s educational programming through specialized talks and hands-on workshops. Greg Farough and the program manager led a workshop focused on practical email encryption utilizing the organization’s Email Self-Defense Guide. The foundation noted that this specific session will be repeated during the upcoming EncryptFest.
Craig Topham directed two separate workshops during the weekend, including an instructional session designed to help developers and users accurately determine a software program’s free software license. Michael McMahon delivered a presentation addressing the various methodologies the organization employs to counter Distributed Denial-of-Service bots. McMahon has previously documented these defensive tactics, including the use of an internal tool designated as reaction to secure the Savannah project infrastructure. Meanwhile, Sean O’Brien partnered with collaborator Mikalai Birukou to present a technical talk examining methods for routing around conventional application stores.
Member Meetup and Virtual Infrastructure Realities
On the Saturday night of the conference, the foundation hosted a member meetup in collaboration with Freedom Lab NYC, with partial sponsorship provided by CAKE Wallet. Seventy-seven free software supporters attended the gathering, quickly depleting the supplied boxes of pizza while establishing community connections.
For several staff members, the conference provided a rare opportunity for in-person collaboration. Because the foundation operates as a virtual office, staff members who routinely communicate digitally through services like Mumble, Galene, and Gajim—the chosen client for XMPP of the program manager—spent the weekend interacting in a physical environment.
The organization extended formal acknowledgments to the volunteers who assisted in staffing the table and organizing the Saturday meetup, alongside the conference organizers, speakers, and participants. The foundation also recorded numerous new associate memberships, donations, and merchandise sales over the course of the weekend event.
