Bruce Perens

Bruce Perens
Bruce Perens in 2009
Occupation	Computer programmer
Known for	Open Source Initiative, BusyBox
Children	Stanley (son)
Call-sign	K6BP
Website	perens.com

Bruce Perens (born around 1958) is an American computer programmer and advocate in the free software movement. He created The Open Source Definition and published the first formal announcement and manifesto of open source. He co-founded the Open Source Initiative (OSI) with Eric S. Raymond.

In 2005, Perens represented Open Source at the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society, at the invitation of the United Nations Development Programme. He has appeared before national legislatures and is often quoted in the press, advocating for open source and the reform of national and international technology policy.

Perens is also an amateur radio operator, with call sign K6BP. He promotes open radio communications standards and open source hardware.

Perens is currently CEO of two companies: Algoram is a start-up which is creating a 50-1000 MHz software-defined radio transceiver. Legal Engineering is a legal-technical consultancy which specializes in resolving copyright infringement of Open Source software with the least possible pain for the infringing company, other Open Source issues, compliance with telecommunications regulator rules and participation in rule-making, patent-busting, and expert witness services.

Perens grew up in Long Island, New York. He was born with cerebral palsy, which caused him to have slurred speech as a child, a condition that led to a misdiagnosis of him as developmentally disabled in school and led the school to fail to teach him to read. He developed an interest in technology at an early age: besides his interest in amateur radio, he ran a pirate radio station in the town of Lido Beach and briefly engaged in phone phreaking.