= Benigànim signs Open Letter +++ Interview with city of Bühl +++ New Podcast =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-202007.ro.html ]
>From hackathons to apps to public administrations: Read about the recent
successes in Europe regarding Free Software in our July Newsletter. Also
find videos from multiple online events where the FSFE was represented
and read about our diverse community activities.
== When many people do many small things together ==
We just sent out a big thank you to all the people who supported us over
the years and who are supporting us now. With their help we have been
able to build trust and grow expertise in the last decade and to cope
with troubling times introduced with the global spread of the corona
virus and its dramatic effects. With your help we even have been able to
raise attention that we need global solutions to tackle global problems
[1]. And we have been heard.
Members from our community convinced public hackathons to publish their
results under free licenses. International and national political fora
continue to demand that contact tracing apps have to be Free Software.
Many national authorities are complying with these demands. Also in the
last months, administrations in Hamburg, the Netherlands and Spain
committed to use and focus more on Free Software. These are the positive
developments we have seen in the last months - despite the crisis - and
these are the fruits of our long-term commitment and your long-term
support [2].
It's now time to share this good news. Let people know that Free
Software matters even, or especially, in such difficult times introduced
to us by the coronavirus. Use the chance yourself to order our
professional promotion material [3], to talk with your friends,
neighbours, employers or anyone else about the benefits of Free
Software.
Written on the leftovers of the Berlin Wall is an African saying: "Many
small people who in many small places do many small things that can
alter the face of the world." This is exactly what we have been doing
since 2001 and we encourage you to join us today [4]!
== ¿Dinero público? ¡Código Público! ==
"¿Dinero público? ¡Código Público!" - this is the Spanish translation of
"Public Money? Public Code!" [5] and a demand that circulates on and on.
After the city of Barcelona [6] and the Parliament of Asturias [7], the
Municipality of Benigànim is now the third administration in Spain who
signed our open letter demanding public code [8].
This provides good motivation for our new Spanish team, which is
currently finding form with the aim to influence even more
administrations to sign the open letter but also for more than 28.600
individuals who signed our call as well.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The biggest financial impact the FSFE faces in these times of physical
distancing is the cancellation of Free Software conferences, including
our own events. To keep the software freedom movement solid and alive,
please consider donating a part of your conference budget to Free
Software organisations, including the FSFE [9].
--------------------------------------------------------------------
== What have we done? Inside and outside the FSFE ==
- The Municipality of Benigànim in Spain signed our open letter "Public
Money? Public Code!" [10]
- Peter Bittner used the Swiss holiday time to offer "Software
development for girls and boys, with Free Software and Linux" [11] and
to share the FSFE's educational material.
- In our sixth Software Freedom Podcast [12] we invited Miriam
Ballhausen to talk with us about copyright enforcement. Miriam is a
German lawyer who specialises in Free Software copyright questions.
Together we cover the basics about Free Software licensing and discuss
how Free Software copyright can be enforced, what the steps to enforce
it are, and why it is often enforced in Germany. We also explore how
the REUSE project [13] could help with being in compliance with Free
Software licenses.
- The town of Bühl, in the south-west of Germany, started a video
conference platform, called “Palim! Palim!” based on the Free Software
“Jitsi Meet”, to ease the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown for their
citizens. After a striking success, the FSFE conducted an interview
with Eduard Itrich [14], the digitisation officer from the town of
Bühl.
- Unlike many other European countries, Denmark keeps the source code of
their Coronavirus tracing app a secret [15]. This goes directly
against the most recent recommendations from the WHO as well as the EU
eHealth network. We hope that they reconsider and publish the code
under a free license as soon as possible.
- Our Public Policy Manager, Alexander Sander, was invited to "forum
digital: Alles Open - oder was?" [16] in Berlin, Germany ( video [17]
). On stage, Alexander discussed the idea of Open-X and examples such
as Free Software, open standards and interfaces.
- Lucas Lasota, FSFE's Deputy Legal Coordinator, gave a talk at the
online-version of OpenExpo Europe ( video [18] ). Lucas explained how
Free Software is essential for the future of the Internet [19]. In
particular how REUSE [20] can help everybody to have copyright and
licensing information properly displayed.
- At the online version of OW2Con, FSFE's volunteer Vincent Lequertier
talked about the upcoming Challenges in Artificial Intelligence
Research and Development [21] with regard to Free Software ( video
[22] ).
- Also at the online version of OW2Con, our Legal Coordinator, Gabriel
Ku Wei Bin, presented our work with the European Commission's Next
Generation Internet Initiative [23] ( video [24] ).
- Björn Schießle, FSFE's Germany Coordinator, gave a webinar about Free
Software at the HDM Stuttgart [25], Germany.
- Iain R. Learmonth reports how he tracks GPS traces for OpenStreetMap
using a handheld radio [26] and converts the data afterwards.
== Get Active ==
Tell people about our recent successes and the good developments we have
seen regarding Free Software [27] in the last months. Show other people
that Free Software is not a niche phenomenon but at the core of our
global and future development, and that more and more administrations,
institutions and people understand the benefits of Free Software and
demand its usage. If you need some help and inspiration, order our
professional promotion material [28].
== In-memoriam notice ==
With deep mourning we have received knowledge of the death of Andreas
Hilboll. The mathematician became one of our first supporting members in
2006. Andreas regularly told us about his activities or gave us
suggestions for improvement; for example we implemented his suggestion
to switch to fair-trade-products in our online shop and have relied on
these products wherever possible since then.
We will miss Andreas as a person who supported our goal to empower
people to control technology with all his heart and we will continue to
work towards these goals, which were important to Andreas for over 14
years.
Our condolences go out to his family and relatives, his friends and the
people he worked with to spread software freedom.
== Contribute to our newsletter ==
If you would like to share any thoughts, pictures, or news, send them to
us. As always, the address is newsletter(a)fsfe.org. We're looking forward
to hearing from you!
If you also want to support us and our work, join our community and
support us with a donation or a monthly contribution [29].
Thanks to our community, all the volunteers [30], supporters [31] and
donors [32] who make our work possible. And thanks to our translators
[33], who enable you to read this newsletter in your native languages.
Your editor,
Erik Albers
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Support us with your donation [34]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Discuss this [35]
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <https://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <https://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <https://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <https://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <https://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
1: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200408-01.ro.html
2: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200720-01.ro.html
3: https://fsfe.org/contribute/spreadtheword.ro.html
4: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-202007
5: https://publiccode.eu/
6: https://fsfe.org/news/2018/news-20180705-01.ro.html
7: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20190514-01.ro.html
8: https://publiccode.eu/#action
9: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-202007
10: http://www.beniganim.es/noticia/lajuntament-beniganim-utilitzara-programari…
11: https://ferienpass.gitlab.io/blog.html
12: https://fsfe.org/news/podcast/episode-6.ro.html
13: https://reuse.software/
14: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200630-01.ro.html
15: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200629-01.ro.html
16: https://www.kas.de/de/web/analyse-und-beratung/veranstaltungen/detail/-/con…
17: https://peertube.social/videos/watch/12e76c94-45a9-4e00-9bdc-cac8f6f36ab9
18: https://peertube.social/videos/watch/4b1859b9-a96b-4819-b5ca-3ffc80a5b4f0
19: https://www.eventbrite.es/e/registro-openexpo-virtual-experience-innovacion…
20: https://reuse.software/
21: https://www.ow2con.org/view/2020/Program?year=2020&event=OW2con20
22: https://peertube.social/videos/watch/d6fa2ebe-7e2f-4fea-9e9a-bc08a189c27c
23: https://www.ow2con.org/view/2020/?year=2020&event=OW2con20
24: https://peertube.social/videos/watch/4254f307-7298-439e-9cc3-2d877fab12fa
25: https://openup.iuk.hdm-stuttgart.de/programm/
26: https://iain.learmonth.me/blog/2020/2020w285/
27: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200720-01.ro.html
28: https://fsfe.org/contribute/spreadtheword.ro.html
29: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-202007
30: https://fsfe.org/contribute
31: https://my.fsfe.org/support
32: https://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus
33: https://fsfe.org/contribute/translators
34: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-202007
35: https://community.fsfe.org/t/484
= Router Freedom in Europe +++ Hamburg pro Free Software +++ European Parliament =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-202006.ro.html ]
In our June Newsletter read among other things about the FSFE's
achievements regarding Router Freedom in Europe, about a new coalition
agreement in Hamburg that puts a focus on Free Software and about the
European Parliament demanding "Public Money? Public Code!". As always,
also read about our diverse community activities.
== Router Freedom in Europe challenged by new set of rules ==
Since 2013, the FSFE has been advocating for Router Freedom in Europe
with outstanding results in Germany and with positive influence across
Europe. Now, a new set of rules comes into play regarding Router
Freedom, the new Guidelines on the Location of the Network Termination
Point (NTP) [1]. These are the draft results by the Body of European
Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC). In a next step, these
guidelines have to be implemented locally by states' National Regulatory
Agencies (NRAs). We summarised the positive outcomes as well as the
challenges ahead [2].
On the positive side, BEREC acknowledged the contribution brought into
the discussion by the FSFE. Most important, BEREC modified the official
text in order to adopt our position to the extent that Router Freedom
should be the rule when determining the NTP. BEREC also explicitly
recognised a lot of other arguments we brought into the discussion in
favor of real Router Freedom - from net neutrality to end-users' digital
sovereignty to improved innovation and competition. Unfortunately, the
new guidelines from BEREC still grant the different NRAs the
discretionary power to restrict Router Freedom if they decide that there
is an "objective technological necessity" for routers to be part of the
ISP's network.
These vague terms used by the guidelines will probably cause
discrepancies during the national implementations of 27 different
countries. Now help us monitor their implementation. The next six months
will be essential to understanding if the NRAs' approach will benefit or
harm Router Freedom.
== Hamburg focuses more on Free Software ==
Last month we reported about the new coalition agreement in Munich
committing to the principle of "Public Money? Public Code!" [3]. This
month we are happy to announce that the new coalition agreement in
Hamburg goes in a similar direction and sets a focus on Free Software
[4].
In order to strengthen the digital sovereignty of Hamburg, the city
wants to use more Free Software in the future ( see coalition agreement
in German [5] ). The goal is to minimise the dependence on individual
providers and create transparency. Wherever it appears meaningful,
cooperation with other administrations should be established.
Unfortunately, the coalition agreement still contains several loopholes,
for example for procurement procedures and diffuse justifications that
could be used to excuse many protections for proprietary software
vendors.
== Discharge procedure in the European Parliament ==
In the middle of May, the European Parliament voted on the discharge of
several EU institutions. In order to avoid vendor lock-ins, to be more
transparent and to run more secure systems, the European Parliament
recommends in its resolutions ( 1 [6], 2 [7], 3 [8], 4 [9], 5 [10] )
that "software developed for the institution be made publicly available
under free and open-source software licence". At the FSFE we are happy
to see our "Public Money? Public Code!" demands being amplified by the
European Parliament. We will keep an eye on the EU institutions, to see
if they will follow the European Parliaments' recommendations in the
future.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The biggest financial impact the FSFE faces in these times of physical
distancing is the cancellation of Free Software conferences, including
our own events. To keep the software freedom movement solid and alive,
please consider donating a part of your conference budget to Free
Software organisations, including the FSFE [11].
--------------------------------------------------------------------
== What have we done? Inside and outside the FSFE ==
- In the last Newsletter we reported about the Dutch minister for
internal affairs Raymond Knops commiting to a "Free Software by
default" policy [12] and underlining its benefits for society. This
month we are happy to report that the Dutch FSFE team was able to
convince the team behind OperationAIR [13] - an easily producible
emergency ventilator for which parts could mainly be sourced locally -
to provide the software under a Free Software license.
- Etalab is a department of the French public administration in charge
of digital affairs that maintains two lists of Free Software. One is
about the Free Software recommended for the public sector while the
other one links to Free Software repositories created by the public
sector. To find out more about the two lists deployed by Etalab we
conducted an interview with Bastien Guerry from Etalab [14].
- The European Commission has launched an evaluation of some central
concepts of EU competition law. In order to contribute to a fair and
inclusive assessment, the FSFE took part in the public consultation
[15]. Since 2001 the FSFE has strongly advocated in favour of Free
Software technologies because of their benefits to a competitive
market.
- Alexander Sander gave the keynote about "Public Money Public Code –
Global problems need global solutions!" [16] at the online event
Özgürkon.
- A recording of Erik Albers' talk about how to make Free Sofware a
topic in democratic elections that was given in 2017 at Kielux
Linuxtage now has been published (DE) [17].
== Get Active ==
Many of our local groups do online-meetings now, from local group
meetings in Berlin, to regional group meetings in the Rhineland, to
country team meetings in Italy and Spain. Most of these meetings are
open for FSFE friends to participate. Many other organisations who care
about software freedom and digital rights run online-meetings as well.
Reach out to them and get to know some new people, discuss with them
some burning topics around Free Software or related topics. And use Free
Software to participate [18].
== Contribute to our newsletter ==
If you would like to share any thoughts, pictures, or news, send them to
us. As always, the address is newsletter(a)fsfe.org. We're looking forward
to hearing from you!
If you also want to support us and our work, join our community and
support us with a donation or a monthly contribution [19].
Thanks to our community, all the volunteers [20], supporters [21] and
donors [22] who make our work possible. And thanks to our translators
[23], who enable you to read this newsletter in your native languages.
Your editor,
Erik Albers
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Support us with your donation [24]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Discuss this [25]
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <https://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <https://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <https://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <https://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <https://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
1: https://berec.europa.eu/eng/document_register/subject_matter/berec/download…
2: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200601-01.ro.html
3: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200506-01.ro.html
4: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200610-01.ro.html
5: https://www.spd-hamburg.de/fileadmin-hamburg/user_upload/Koalitionsvertrag2…
6: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2020-0084_EN.html
7: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2020-0086_EN.html
8: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2020-0088_EN.html
9: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2020-0087_EN.html
10: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2020-0094_EN.html
11: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-202005
12: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200424-01.ro.html
13: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200514-01.ro.html
14: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200609-01.ro.html
15: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200519-01.ro.html
16: https://ozgurkon.org/sessions/public_money_public_code/
17: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-Zt0bYYd2E
18: https://wiki.fsfe.org/Activities/FreeSoftware4RemoteWorking
19: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-202006
20: https://fsfe.org/contribute
21: https://my.fsfe.org/support
22: https://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus
23: https://fsfe.org/contribute/translators
24: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-202006
25: https://community.fsfe.org/t/476
= Public Hackathons +++ Munich supports Public Code +++ New Podcasts =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-202005.ro.html ]
Read about our demand to publish the results of publicly financed
hackathons as Free Software, about a new coalition-agreement in Munich
that aligns with our principles of "Public Money? Public Code!" and what
happened inside the FSFE and our community. You will also read about the
results of our web-sprint, about our regular podcast and an
extraordinary one.
== COVID-19 Hackathons: Only Free Software creates global solutions ==
In recent weeks we have seen many hackathons that have been organised to
tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. Interestingly, many of them have been
organised by governments and other public bodies who are hosting or
funding these hackathons. As with our "Public Money? Public Code!"
campaign, at the FSFE we demand that software resulting from publicly
funded hackathons can be re-used globally by publishing it under a Free
Software license [1].
Especially in a time when humanity needs to work together to find
solutions for a crisis, we cannot afford to reinvent the wheel again and
again for software that helps us contain the spread of COVID-19. Global
problems need global solutions! It is Free Software that enables global
cooperation for code development. Any proprietary solution will
inevitably lead to countless isolated solutions and will waste energy
and time which we as humanity cannot afford in such a critical
situation.
== Munich commits to "Public Money? Public Code!" ==
Just a few years ago, a Munich government formed by SPD (social
democrats) and CSU (conservatives) decided to abandon the local
administration's migration to Free Software under the project name
"LiMux". Since the election in March a new government has been in place
and the coalition agreement between SPD and Greens in Munich includes a
positive statement on the use of Free Software: the principle "Public
Money? Public Code!" should apply in future [2].
While we welcome that the City of Munich seems to have come back on
track, the agreement leaves room for improvement as it includes some
typical loopholes such as the vague limitation to software whose code
does not contain personal or confidential data. The FSFE will continue
to closely monitor the progress of the implementation of the "Public
Money, Public Code!" policy and how procurement procedures will be
handled in the future.
== Governments publish Corona tracing apps under a Free Software licence ==
In early March the FSFE published its demand [3] that the use of any
tracking technology to break the chains of disease infection may only be
promoted on a voluntary basis, with fundamental rights respected, and
that the software be published under a Free Software license. As a
reaction to this, EU member states, supported by the European
Commission, released a "Common EU Toolbox for Member States" [4]
including "Recommendations for a common approach to mobile tracing apps"
asking to "openly publish the technical specifications and the source
code for the apps, as a way to maximise re-use, interoperability,
auditability and security".
Now more and more governments, like Germany, Austria or the Netherlands,
follow the FSFE's demands and stipulate to publish the code of Corona
tracing apps under a Free Software license. Still, we will closely
monitor the process and want to achieve that the whole development
process happen transparently as we know it from Free Software - and not
to publish the code only after its development.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The biggest financial impact the FSFE faces in these times of physical
distancing is the cancellation of Free Software conferences, including
our own events. To keep the software freedom movement solid and alive,
please consider donating a part of your conference budget to Free
Software organisations, including the FSFE [5].
--------------------------------------------------------------------
== Upcoming events ==
- On 16-17 May will be the online event Özgürkon [6] during which
Alexander Sander will present recent developments in our "Public
Money? Public Code!" campaign. The FSFE is a partner organisation of
the event.
- On 17.-18 June will be OW2online20 during which our legal coordinator
Gabriel Ku Wei Bin will speak about REUSE and the NGI project.
== What have we done? Inside and outside the FSFE ==
- We have a new episode of our regular Software Freedom Podcast, this
time with Professor Lawrence Lessig [7], founder and present board
member of Creative Commons. Together we discuss the different types of
regulation that affect society both online and offline, such as laws,
norms, the market, or architecture.
- We also published a special episode of the Software Freedom Podcast in
which we talk about some of the advantages of GNU Health [8] and how
it can and already does help with the current COVID-19 pandemic. Our
guests are Dr. Luis Falcón who is the author of GNU Health and Dr.
Axel Braun who published the first live CD of GNU Health.
- The FSFE has joined the Advisory Board of NGI Pointer, one of the
projects within the European Commission's Next Generation Internet
(“NGI”) initiative. Within this role, the FSFE will provide license
compliance support to successful applicants. The first call for
applications to join NGI Pointer is now open until 1 June 2020 [9].
- The FSFE co-organised the online event "Forum Bits&Bäume" with the
topic "Sustainable Soft- and Hardware". Erik Albers gave a session
about the role of Free Software regarding sustainability of software.
- We ran a "little web sprint" to improve some major things regarding
our website. Among the visible things are the relaunch of our front
page [10] and the our team site [11]. Many other major improvements
have been happening in the background and are only "visible" in our
issue tracker [12].
- Matthias Kirschner and Max Mehl have been covered in two episodes of
the Librezoom podcast which is done by the FSFE's local group in
Zürich. Max Mehl talks about security and privacy [13] and Matthias
Kirschner about "cloud" and Free Software [14]. Both episodes are in
German.
== Netherlands commits to Free Software by default ==
In an open letter to the Parliament, the Dutch minister for internal
affairs, Raymond Knops, commits to a "Free Software by default" policy
[15] and underlines its benefits for society. A rewording of current
market regulations shall be proposed to allow publishing of Free
Software by the government.
== Stories from the FSFE Planet ==
- Hannes Hauswedell writes about Game-streaming without the "cloud"
[16]: how to stream a native Windows game, "Divinity Original Sin 2",
installed DRM-free from GOG, via Steam Remote Play from his Desktop
running Devuan GNU/Linux in 4K resolution and maximum quality directly
to his TV running Android.
- Dmaphy writes [17] about a new update for the terminal emulator
Terminator 1.92, now supporting Python 3.
== Get Active: Convince hackathons to create global solutions ==
We are still looking for hackathons that are organised by public
entitites and trying to convince them to publish their software under a
Free Software license. If you know such a hackathon, then help us to
gather more of them on our dedicated wiki page [18].
Please ask for others to help you or directly get in contact with the
organisers yourself to make them aware that the results of these
hackathons should be made ready to be used globally and adapted locally
- which is only possible if the software can be used, studied, shared
and improved. You can find help for your communication on the very same
wiki page [19].
== Contribute to our newsletter ==
If you would like to share any thoughts, pictures, or news, send them to
us. As always, the address is newsletter(a)fsfe.org. We're looking forward
to hearing from you!
If you also want to support us and our work, join our community and
support us with a donation or a monthly contribution [20].
Thanks to our community, all the volunteers [21], supporters [22] and
donors [23] who make our work possible. And thanks to our translators
[24], who enable you to read this newsletter in your native languages.
Stay safe,
Erik Albers
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Support us with your donation [25]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Discuss this [26]
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <https://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <https://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <https://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <https://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <https://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
1: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200408-01.ro.html
2: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200506-01.ro.html
3: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200402-02.ro.html
4: https://ec.europa.eu/health/sites/health/files/ehealth/docs/covid-19_apps_e…
5: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-202005
6: https://ozgurkon.org/
7: https://fsfe.org/news/podcast/episode-5.html
8: https://fsfe.org/news/podcast/episode-special-1.html
9: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200427-01.html
10: https://fsfe.org/index.ro.html
11: https://fsfe.org/about/team.ro.html
12: https://git.fsfe.org/FSFE/fsfe-website/issues
13: https://librezoom.net/lz20-paradox/
14: /https://librezoom.net/lz19-die-nexte-bitte/index.ro.html
15: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200424-01.html
16: https://hannes.hauswedell.net/post/2020/04/20/gamestream/
17: http://blog.dmaphy.de/2020/04/terminator-192-released.html
18: https://wiki.fsfe.org/Activities/Hackathons4Freedom
19: https://wiki.fsfe.org/Activities/Hackathons4Freedom
20: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-202005
21: https://fsfe.org/contribute
22: https://my.fsfe.org/support
23: https://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus
24: https://fsfe.org/contribute/translators
25: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-202004
26: https://community.fsfe.org/t/468
= COVID-19 +++ Global cooperation +++ Remote working =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-202004.ro.html ]
With the spreading of COVID-19 we are facing a global pandemic that
requires a lot of coordinated efforts and asks for new global solutions.
Our extraordinary newsletter concentrates on software freedom for global
solutions, on Free Software solutions for remote connections and on how
the FSFE handles the whole situation. As usual, we highlight our
community activities and give tips on what you can do to edutain
yourself while staying home. Enjoy the read, stay healthy, and protect
freedom.
== Global problems need global solutions and local adaption ==
The global spread of the new Corona virus is said to be still in its
beginning and any serious estimations on the impact that countermeasures
will have on our daily lives and social organisation are far too early.
But there are already some conclusions that we can take from the
previous development and current arrangements of our political, social,
and economical life. One is that humanity is facing a global problem and
so we need global solutions.
This can be the time that more people understand the global potential of
Free Software because it is only Free Software that enables global code
development, cooperation, and sharing in any jurisdiction. Solutions
developed in one country can be reused and adapted in another one.
International development agencies and humanitarian movements can help
to contain the spread of COVID-19 in any country around the world with
Free Software solutions. At the same time only Free Software allows them
to adapt a solution to any local needs around the world, for example by
translating it into local languages. Any proprietary and privative
solution instead will inevitably lead to countless isolated solutions,
communication overhead, useless competition about our health desires and
creation of problems in our daily work arising from non-
interoperability.
Not to forget that a majority of investments in the current crisis and a
lot of actors in the medical sector are state-funded. It is a waste of
energy and important time to re-invent the same solutions again and
again instead of cooperating. It is now even more important than ever to
demand, what over 27000 people already ask for [1], that publicly
financed software developed for the public sector must be made publicly
available under Free Software licences [2].
=== COVID19 apps: They should be Free Software ===
Free Software is the only solution to offer full transparency and trust
in its implementation. More and more people ask about the use and
development of apps that aim at helping to contain the corona virus by
tracking new infections and their contact persons. The Free Software
Foundation Europe demands [3] that any such app may only be introduced
on a voluntary basis and the software must be published under a Free
Software / Open Source Software licence. Only Free Software offers
enough transparency to validate a complete data protection and a
compliant use; thus trust can be established.
=== How the FSFE's work is affected ===
As always, we keep our eyes open on the well-being of the Free Sofware
ecosystem and keep running our activities like REUSE [4], Router Freedom
[5] or the Next Generation Internet [6] project. We will even intensify
the communication with the public via established and new channels
online.
But the Corona pandemic also reduces our resources. As you can read in
our cancelled events section [7] below, we and other Free Software
organisations suffer financially from the physical-distance-ordering and
we need your help to get through this phase reasonably well! If you can,
please consider joining us as a supporter [8], by increasing your
contribution or by making a one-time donation [9]. Please help us in
this important time to help others establishing digital infrastructures
based on Free Software. Thank you!
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Support our work with a donation [10]
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== Free Software For Remote Work ==
Since more and more people are working remotely now, we wrote a
checklist on what you should look for when looking for Free Software
[11]. To help people find the right tool for their particular needs that
also respects their freedom we also started to publish the setup that
the staffers of the FSFE have been used to work with [12] for many years
already. Some of our FSFE supporters took the chance to collectively
write up a comprehensive list of freedom respecting tools for remote
working in our wiki [13].
Also a lot of individual FSFE supporters made up their mind in the last
weeks and started sharing their experiences with tools they use for
remote working. Tobias Diekershoff wrote about the experience the Berlin
group had with their first online-meeting [14] comparing Jitsi and Big
Blue Button (DE), Matthias Kirschner wrote about "Jitsi and the power of
shortcuts" [15], Björn Schießle published his introduction to Nextcloud
Talk [16] and Vanitas Vitae explains how to Install Jitsi-Meet alongside
ejabberd [17].
== Cancelled: upcoming events with the FSFE ==
It will be to no surprise to you that our own events and the events we
were supposed to take part in during the next weeks and months [18] have
been cancelled. This puts the Free Software community into difficult
times. Real-life meetings now and then are essential for many people
inside our vibrant community to keep in touch and are a good chance to
breed creativity and inspiring ideas.
For us at the FSFE, booths and talks are among the main channels [19]
over which we inform people about Free Software and the FSFE’s work. Our
European community is creative in putting information booths on street
festivals, hacker camps, vegan gatherings and many occasions more. Now
losing the ability to directly contact people does heavily limit the
visibility of our organisation and our mission, which naturally comes
with a loss in new supporters and donors for our mutual cause. In the
case of our own events - like the annual Legal and Licensing Workshop
[20] or the “Public Money? Public Code!” conference [21], it is an even
more direct financial burden due to already invested work and non-
refundable costs.
If you like to support us and our work and you are saving some costs
this year because you are not going to an event that has been cancelled,
please consider donating a part of your costs to the organisers that
struggle hard and another part to NGOs like the FSFE who struggle as
well. And since we cannot spread our word anymore at various events,
help us to spread the word. The material we used to send [22] out is
also available as downloads. Tell people about Free Software and the
FSFE and why we need your help now.
== What have we done? Inside and Outside the FSFE ==
- Max Mehl and Lucas Lasota moved within Germany and individually wanted
to connect to the Internet through our own routers. They reported
about various hard and soft barriers [23], to share their experience
and help you to take back your rights! Router Freedom [24] concerns
all of us and you can find all necessary information to get active
against the disruption of Router Freedom and to raise awareness among
your community and political representatives on our wiki page [25].
- Our Policy Expert Brochure "Public Money Public Code – Modernising
Public Infrastructure with Free Software" is now available in three
more languages [26]: German, Czech, and Brazilian Portuguese
- Nothing new in the proprietary world: new security issues around
WhatsApp show the need for decentralised messengers and digital
sovereignty [27].
- One of our last meetings before the shutdown was the FSFE's system
hackers meetings. The System Hackers [28] are responsible for the
maintenance and development of a large number of services. From the
fsfe.org website’s deployment to the mail servers and blogs, from Git
to internal services like DNS and so on. The report from Max Mehl
reads as a big success [29] and as if they would have known they
already prepared to switch between real-meetings and virtual online
meetings in the future.
- Back on February 25, our French coordinators organised a debate
between candidates for the municipal elections in Paris about their
digital program at Sciences Po Paris university. This event was co-
organised with student association Espace Numérique and masters
association Innovation and Digital Transformation. We'll come in with
a full report so long you can watch the full debate ( here [30] ).
- Gabriel Ku Wei Bin gave a talk about Making Free Software Licensing
Easier For All with REUSE at foss north ( video [31] ), which happened
to be held as an online event this year.
- At the Winterkongress Digitale Gesellschaft Matthias Kirschner talked
about the ethics of Free Software [32] ( video [33], DE) and Max Mehl
about security and Free Software [34] ( video [35], DE).
- Erik Albers was invited as part of an expert panel to give input on
the current AI strategy of the German government and its impact on
climate change.
- Matthias Kirschner gave a keynote at FOSS Backstage about "The core
values of software freedom" [36] ( video [37] )
== Stories from the Planet ==
- Henri Bergius writes about how to use Free Software for Cruising
sailboat electronics setup with Signal K [38].
- Matija Šukle writes about How and why to properly write copyright
statements in your code [39].
- Vanitas Vitae reports about the OMEMO Specification Sprint [40]
- Evaggelos Balaskas gives insights about Using LibreDNS with dnscrypt-
proxy [41]
== Edutain yourself while staying at home ==
In many countries around the world, people are asked to stay home after
work, over weekends and also during vacation periods. If you are looking
for some edutainment, the FSFE offers a lot for you. Our Software
Freedom Podcast [42] regularly features inspiring people and topics
ranging from political questions to community developments to legal
issues around Free Software. On our Peertube [43] and Youtube [44] video
channels we collect talks by the FSFE and our community members and
otherwise thrilling material for hours of binge watching. Our Planet
[45] is a collection of individual blogs by our community and the "Our
Work" section [46] on the homepage offers hours of reading about
insights and backgrounds on the political side of software freedom.
== Get Active ==
In times like now, in that our lives, work and relationships move more
and more into digital realms, it becomes fundamental to tell others
about software and users' freedom. Try to see a chance in the crisis.
Use the time to help people understand how Free Software can help us to
find global solutions that can help everyone no matter their background
or the jurisdiction they happen to be in. Inspire them about why it is
so important for a free society to build its digital infrastructure on
free and decentralized solutions. Note down your thoughts in a blog post
or write in social media, maybe share and offer your experience or know-
how. Also consider to sharing your thoughts with us [47] so we can
reflect them in the next Newsletter.
== Contribute to our newsletter ==
If you would like to share any thoughts, pictures, or news, send them to
us. As always, the address is newsletter(a)fsfe.org. We're looking forward
to hearing from you!
If you also want to support us and our work, join our community and
support us with a donation or a monthly contribution [48].
Thanks to our community, all the volunteers [49], supporters [50] and
donors [51] who make our work possible. And thanks to our translators
[52], who enable you to read this newsletter in your native languages.
Stay safe,
Erik Albers
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Support us with your donation [53]
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--
Free Software Foundation Europe <https://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <https://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <https://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <https://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <https://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
1: https://publiccode.eu/openletter/
2: https://publiccode.eu/
3: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200402-02.ro.html
4: https://reuse.software/
5: https://fsfe.org/activities/routers/index.ro.html
6: https://fsfe.org/activities/ftf/ngi0.ro.html
7: https://fsfe.org/#Cancelled-upcoming-events-with-the-FSFE
8: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=corona-news
9: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl2004
10: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-202004
11: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200330-01.ro.html#id-checklist-for-your-s…
12: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200327-01.ro.html#id-office-activities-mo…
13: https://wiki.fsfe.org/Activities/FreeSoftware4RemoteWorking
14: https://blogs.fsfe.org/tobiasd/2020/03/31/videokonBferenzen-und-verteiltes-…
15: https://k7r.eu/jitsi-and-the-power-of-shortcuts/
16: https://www.schiessle.org/articles/2020/03/07/real-time-communication-and-c…
17: https://blog.jabberhead.tk/2020/03/16/install-jitsi-mveet-alongside-ejabber…
18: https://fsfe.org/events/index.ro.html
19: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20191022-01.ro.html#events2019
20: https://fsfe.org/activities/ftf/legal-conference.ro.html
21: https://registration.fsfe.org/Digitale-Verwaltung-2020
22: https://fsfe.org/contribute/spreadtheword.ro.html
23: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200302-01.ro.html
24: https://fsfe.org/activities/routers/index.ro.html
25: https://wiki.fsfe.org/Activities/CompulsoryRouters
26: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200310-01.ro.html
27: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200228-01.ro.html
28: https://wiki.fsfe.org/Teams/System-Hackers
29: https://mehl.mx/blog/2020/system-hackers-meeting-lyon-edition/
30: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PCaUFom3ZM
31: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-TWobAsAXE#t=19m24s
32: https://www.digitale-gesellschaft.ch/kongress/2020/talks/die_ethik_freier_s…
33: https://youtu.be/q-XEcVV-fXM
34: https://www.digitale-gesellschaft.ch/kongress/2020/talks/keine_it-sicherhei…
35: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MW9a5fPX-k&feature=youtu.be
36: https://20.foss-backstage.de/session/core-values-software-freedom
37: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXlIRJSEqvc&feature=emb_logo
38: https://bergie.iki.fi/blog/signalk-boat-iot/
39: https://matija.suklje.name/how-and-why-to-properly-write-copyright-statemen…
40: https://blog.jabberhead.tk/2020/03/10/omemo-specification-sprint/
41: https://balaskas.gr/blog/2020/03/21/using-libredns-with-dnscrypt-proxy/
42: https://fsfe.org/news/podcast.ro.html
43: https://peertube.social/accounts/fsfe/video-channels
44: https://www.youtube.com/c/FreeSoftwareFoundationEurope
45: https://planet.fsfe.org/
46: https://fsfe.org/work.ro.html
47: https://fsfe.org/mailto:newsletter@fsfe.org
48: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-202002
49: https://fsfe.org/contribute
50: https://my.fsfe.org/support
51: https://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus
52: https://fsfe.org/contribute/translators
53: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-202004
= (pre-)FOSDEM +++ ILoveFS +++ Community =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-202002.ro.html ]
>From our own pre-FOSDEM event, to the exciting FOSDEM weekend, to I love
Free Software day, February was full of exciting news for the FSFE. We
used these occasions to present our work, as well as to offer
communities around Europe the opportunity to present their own. Read
about our booths and presentations, about love and upcoming events in
our February Newsletter.
== FSFE pre- and post-FOSDEM ==
Every year, at the beginning of February, FOSDEM brings together
thousands of Free Software enthusiasts for one weekend in Brussels to
discuss current topics and developments in the Free Software world. The
FSFE used this occasion to invite key Free Software groups of Europe one
day before the FOSDEM festivities to participate in our "pre-FOSDEM
meeting" [1]. This was an event for everyone to network and get an
overview of the activities of different Free Software groups from all
over Europe.
The event was kicked off by a presentation from Marcel Kolaja, Vice
President of the European Parliament, which was then followed by
insights and presentations from diverse Free Software organisations from
all over Europe, from Portugal to Greece. After the presentations, we
concluded with a dinner and a social meeting.
During FOSDEM itself, our infobooth was in great demand and our highly
motivated team put smiles on many faces. At the same time, we were
present with talks about the latest issues regarding FSFE and software
freedom all over the conference. Lucas Lasota presented "Regaining
sovereignty over your router - Router freedom" [2], Max Mehl showed how
you can "Go REUSE to license your code - Free Software licensing made
simple for everyone" [3], Vincent Lequertier reflected on "Putting
Artificial Intelligence back into people's hands - Toward an accessible,
transparent and fair AI" [4] and Matthias Kirschner talked about "The
core values of software freedom" [5] as well as his lightning talk about
how "Civil society needs Free Software hackers" [6].
We completed our presence with social evenings for our community on
Saturday and Sunday night. A big thanks to everyone who participated in
our events, helped at our booth and passed by for a chat.
== ILoveFS day ==
Love is like Free Software: it multiplies when you share it. So once
every year we square it up by celebrating "I love Free Software" Day
around the globe on 14 February. A day full of positive, creative and
lovely messages for Free Software, individual contributors and
communities.
In 2020 again we have seen massive participation throughout the day in
many countries and languages. This year we saw an extraordinary growth
in the fediverse where JayVii counted an increase from 194 mentions in
2019 to 330 in 2020 [7]. This is an outstanding increase of 70%! Stay
tuned for the upcoming full report and please accept our special thanks
to every one of you who participated in #ILoveFS by sharing or receiving
love.
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Support our work with a donation [8]
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== Do not miss: upcoming events with the FSFE ==
- The FSFE will be present with an information booth at Chemnitzer
Linuxtage. If you happen to be there, meet up with Bonnie Mehring and
her team who are looking forward to speak with you about FSFE and our
current projects. Of course, we will also have the latest promotion
material and merchandise with us.
- On 21 March, The FSFE BNL (Belgium/The Netherlands/Luxemburg) will
meet and be present with a booth at the meeting of the Dutch Linux
User Group (LUG) NLLGG in Utrecht. They will use the occasion to
kickoff regularly organised meetings. If you are interested in Free
Software and the FSFE in BNL, pass by and get to know the people from
the community and our work. If you cannot make it, subscribe to the
mailing list [9].
- Save the date: On 4 May 2020 the FSFE invites you to our event about
"Digital sovereignty and modernising public aministrations" in the
Kalkscheune Berlin (in German). Attendance is gratis but registration
[10] is required.
== What have we done? Inside and Outside the FSFE ==
- In order to defend Router Freedom [11], on 4 February, Lucas Lasota
[12] took part in the workshop organised by BEREC at the IRG
Secretariat in Brussels about the Guidelines on the identification of
the Network Termination Point (NTP). The Guidelines will enter into
force in June 2020 and will have a central role in shaping the Router
Freedom panorama in Europe. The FSFE took part in the public
consultation [13] to push forward the main arguments in defense of
people's freedom to choose their own digital equipment.
- Apart from the many presentations at FOSDEM mentioned above, our legal
experts Gabriel Ku Wei Bin and Lucas Lasota took part in the Meetup
for the Next Generation Internet Initiative [14], for which the FSFE
does consulting regarding Free Software licensing and compliance
issues - as well as the promotion of the REUSE initiative [15]. At the
meetup [16] there were many opportunities to get one-on-one contact
with the various software projects involved and to develop
constructive dialogues with other consortium partners.
- The FSFE is hiring: We are looking for interns and trainees [17]
experienced in legal, policy or technical fields. These persons will
work 35 hours per week with our team in the FSFE's Berlin office.
There will be coordination with remote staff and volunteers, and
depending on the work area an opportunity to participate in events and
meetings throughout Europe.
- At the Chaos Communication Congress 2019, the FSFE was one of the main
organisers of the cluster about:freedom, an association of 12 civil
society organisations and groups. Together with the other
organisations, we focused on digital rights and network policy issues.
Read our report "about:freedom - about:fsfe" [18]
- In 2020's first episode of our monthly Software Freedom Podcast, we
talk with Carmen Bianca Bakker about the REUSE project [19]. The
episode covers the very broad but sometimes complicated topic of
software licensing and the problems there, which REUSE is able to
solve with three simple steps.
For I Love Free Software day Tobias Platen writes in his blog [20] about
serious privacy problems of the Grindr app and why for any sensitive
information he would only use copylefted Free Software. This is in line
with the message that the FSF put out this year for ILoveFS day [21],
where they called for an end to privacy breaches and to develop
copylefted dating apps.
- Evaggelos Balaskas wrote up an interesting story on his blog about his
first ever job in this industry as a junior software engineer [22] and
what it taught him for his career.
- For the ILoveFS-Day the FSFE local group Berlin invited Marcus
Hoffmann to talk about the latest issues and solutions regarding the
Free Software app repository F-Droid. Read the report by Tobias [23]
(DE).
- Alexander Sander gave a talk at DefensiveCon v02 in Berlin, Germany
where he reflected the status quo of "Public Money? Public Code!" and
how it can be changed. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfNyPqvSuLk
[24] )
- The local FSFE group "Nordhessen" organised a GNU/Linux install party
in Witzenhausen, Deutschland.
- The Free Software community in Merano, Italy, had a meeting to discuss
the REUSE project.
- The FSFE will be present with a booth at the NLLGG meeting in Utrecht.
- Two more organisations have signed the PMPC letter: Junge Europäische
Föderalisten Rheinland-Pfalz, an association to promote democratic
values for young people, and the AStA der Justus Liebig Universität,
the student association of the Giessen University in Germany.
== Get Active ==
Our initiative “Public Money? Public Code!” has the purpose that
Software, funded by public money and used in the public administration
shall be Free and Open Source Software. We have an open letter, which
you can sign as an individual or as a NGO. So far we have over 26.000
people and nearly 200 NGOs supporting our goal. Next to this we have
already three administrations who have signed our letter but still we
would like to have more administrations supporting our cause. To achieve
this we need your help: Contact your local administration and ask them
to support public code [25]
== Contribute to our newsletter ==
If you would like to share any thoughts, pictures, or news, send them to
us. As always, the address is newsletter(a)fsfe.org. We're looking forward
to hearing from you!
If you also want to support us and our work, join our community and
support us with a donation or a monthly contribution [26].
Thanks to our community, all the volunteers [27], supporters [28] and
donors [29] who make our work possible. And thanks to our translators
[30], who enable you to read this newsletter in your native languages.
Best Regards,
Erik Albers
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Support our work with a donation [31]
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--
Free Software Foundation Europe <https://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <https://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <https://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <https://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <https://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
1: https://registration.fsfe.org/Pre-FOSDEM-2020
2: https://fosdem.org/2020/schedule/event/router_sovereignty/
3: https://fosdem.org/2020/schedule/event/reuse_code_licensing/
4: https://fosdem.org/2020/schedule/event/ai_in_peoples_hands/
5: https://fosdem.org/2020/schedule/event/software_freedom/
6: https://fosdem.org/2020/schedule/event/free_software_hackers_needed/
7: https://mastodon.social/@JayVii_de/103675049401883155
8: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-202002
9: https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/fsfe-bnl
10: https://registration.fsfe.org/Digitale-Verwaltung-2020
11: https://fsfe.org/activities/routers/index.ro.html
12: https://fsfe.org/about/lasota/lasota.ro.html
13: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20191120-01.ro.html
14: https://fsfe.org/activities/ftf/ngi0.en.html
15: https://reuse.software/
16: https://fosdem.org/2020/schedule/event/bof_ngi_meetup/
17: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200129-01.ro.html
18: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200121-01.ro.html
19: https://fsfe.org/news/podcast/episode-4.ro.html
20: https://blogs.fsfe.org/tobias_platen/2020/02/14/why-i-am-not-using-grindr/
21: https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/on-i-love-free-software-day-swipe-copy-…
22: https://balaskas.gr/blog/2020/01/22/the-story-of-my-first-job-in-tech-indus…
23: https://blogs.fsfe.org/tobiasd/2020/02/15/f-droid-zum-i-love-freesoftware-d…
24: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfNyPqvSuLk
25: https://wiki.fsfe.org/Activities/ContactingAdministrationsForPMPC
26: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-202002
27: https://fsfe.org/contribute
28: https://my.fsfe.org/support
29: https://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus
30: https://fsfe.org/contribute/translators
31: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-202002
= Cory Doctorow +++ (pre-) FOSDEM +++ 36C3 =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-202001.ro.html ]
2020 is not just a new year, it is the dawn of a new decade. With more
and more automated systems run by software, a political representation
of freedom is more needed than ever. Read in our January Newsletter
about why Cory Doctorow supports the FSFE financially and why you should
do so too. Read about our upcoming FOSDEM activities including our pre-
FOSDEM meeting and reflections on our presence at the Chaos
Communication Congress. Also we have a new Software Freedom Podcast with
Harald Welte and reports from our community.
== FSFE needs you ==
2019 was a year full of successes for the FSFE and for Software freedom
in Europe [1] accordingly. The Parliament of Asturias has signed our
open letter demanding public code, the biggest conservative party in
Europe -- the german CDU -- decided to foster Free Software, we managed
to get an exclusion for Free Software in the EU copyright reform, and we
have many more success stories to tell. But while we spent our time
spreading software freedom in such a successful way, we missed one goal
to achieve, that is having enough donations for 2020.
Your financial support is crucial for our work! A secure financial basis
gives us the ability to solely concentrate on our mission to spread
software freedom in Europe - independent, professional and consistent.
Join the FSFE as a supporter [2] or make a one-time donation [3].
Every 1 Euro brings us closer to this momentum! Every 15 Euro allow us
to send a package full of information material to a Free Software
supporter in Europe. Every 50 Euro help us to pay our infrastructure and
every 150 euro enable us to support travel and accommodation costs for a
volunteer from Europe to participate in one of the FSFE community events
like our hack-a-thons.
By the way: Cory Doctorow, author of many digital rights-related books
and co-editor of the blog Boing-Boing put the FSFE on the BoingBoing's
charitable giving guide and explains:
Software has eaten the world, and software freedom is increasingly
synonymous with human freedom. In Europe, far-right parties and
authoritarians are inheriting a constellation of gadgets and devices
that are "defective by design," built to allow corporations spy on and
control their owners -- and those thugs are contemplating how they can
use those companies' extraordinary powers to put whole populations under
their thumbs. Free software in Europe, free software everywhere! Join
Cory Doctorow. Join the FSFE! [4]
== FSFE goes FOSDEM ==
Europeans biggest Free Software conference 'FOSDEM' is taking place on
1-2 February in Brussels. More then 7.000 participants are expected to
come and the FSFE will be present with multiple talks and a booth.
Matthias Kirschner, President of the FSFE, gives a talk about "The core
values of software freedom" [5] and a lightning talk about "Civil
society needs Free Software hackers" [6]. Max Mehl, Programme Manager of
the FSFE, talks about REUSE [7] in "Go REUSE to license your code" [8]
and the FSFE's Deputy Coordinator France, Vincent Lequertier, talks
about "Putting Artificial Intelligence back into people's hands" [9].
As every year we will have a booth at FOSDEM, but unlike in previous
editions, this time you will find us on top level of building K [10] -
just upstairs from where it was in the past years.
Pass by anytime to have a chat with us, give us your feedback on our
latest activities or proposals for further engagement. You can enjoy our
latest merchandise and promotion material, for example our new
multilingual I love Free Software T-Shirts [11].
On Saturday night we invite you to come together after FOSDEM to have a
social evening with our community. The location will be announced at the
booth the very same day. Pass by and find out. Looking forward meeting
you!
And if you arrive early, you might also be interested in joining our
Pre-FOSDEM Community Meeting [12] (see below).
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Support our work with a donation [13]
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== Do not miss: upcoming events with the FSFE ==
- The first self-organised FSFE event in 2020 will be our Pre-FOSDEM
Community Meeting. In this meeting, the FSFE will bring together the
key Free Software groups of Europe on Friday before FOSDEM to get to
know each other and to get an overview about interesting activities of
Free Software groups from all over Europe. The event takes place on 31
January 2020, 13:30 to 19:00 at MundoB, Edinburgh Street 26, in
Brussels. Attendance is gratis but capacities are limited and
registration [14] is required.
- As written above, the FSFE will be prominently represented at FOSDEM
with multiple talks, a full-packed information-booth and social events
in the evening.
- I love Free Software: On 14 February the Free Software community
celebrates again the I love Free Software Day [15]. A day dedicated to
say "Thank you" to all Free Software and their contributors. Save the
date now and stay tuned for more news on the 2020 edition.
- Save the date: On 4 May 2020 the FSFE is inviting for an event about
"Digital sovereignty and modernising public aministrations" in the
Kalkscheune Berlin (in German). Attendance is gratis but registration
[16] is required.
== What have we done? Inside and Outside the FSFE ==
- The FSFE was present at the 36th Chaos Communication Camp (36C3) and
one of the main organisers of the cluster "about:freedom" - a cluster
that brings together civil society organisations with a focus on
digital rights and Free Software advocacy at European's biggest
hacking-related conference. In the four days of the event we had 19
self-organized session by the FSFE assembly, counted hundreds of
visitors at our booth and we have created a cosy space for freedom
activists to come together. On this occasion, Bonnie Mehring and Erik
Albers have been interviewed by Komm:On [17] in their report about the
congress. Read our full report [18] for more details.
- In December we published our Software Freedom Podcast #3 [19] about
Free Software in the mobile phone communication featuring Harald
Welte. Harald discusses with us his current projects regarding mobile
phone communication and the general status of Free Software in this
area.
- 3 new organisations signed our open letter demanding public code [20]:
Association Naga, RevLibre and GEN Europe
- Alexander Sander, the FSFE's Public Policy Manager wrote a comment on
Netzpolitik.org [21] (in German) on the recent decision of Germany's
conservative party CDU to foster Free Software and where to go on from
this decision.
- Alexander Sander was giving a talk about our "Public Money? Public
Code!" at the GNU Health CON [22] in Liege, Belgium and also in
Utrecht (NL) at the "Online Participatie in Actie! Congress" [23]
- The FSFE was present with a booth at the NLLGG meeting in Utrecht.
== Get Active ==
If you are already supporting the FSFE, then let other people know why
you do so. Write a toot or an email, chat with your friends or mention
it in your working group, let them know why software freedom matters to
you and why you decided to support the cause with a donation for the
FSFE. Thank you so much!
== Contribute to our newsletter ==
If you would like to share any thoughts, pictures, or news, send them to
us. As always, the address is newsletter(a)fsfe.org. We're looking forward
to hearing from you!
If you also want to support us and our work, join our community and
support us with a donation or a monthly contribution [24].
Thanks to our community, all the volunteers [25], supporters [26] and
donors [27] who make our work possible. And thanks to our translators
[28], who enable you to read this newsletter in your native languages.
Best Regards,
Erik Albers
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Support our work with a donation [29]
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--
Free Software Foundation Europe <https://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <https://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <https://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <https://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <https://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
1: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20191022-01.html
2: https://my.fsfe.org/support
3: https://my.fsfe.org/donate
4: https://my.fsfe.org/support
5: https://fosdem.org/2020/schedule/event/software_freedom/
6: https://fosdem.org/2020/schedule/event/free_software_hackers_needed/
7: https://reuse.software/
8: https://fosdem.org/2020/schedule/event/reuse_code_licensing/
9: https://fosdem.org/2020/schedule/event/ai_in_peoples_hands/
10: https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=50.8147&mlon=4.3819#map=16/50.8147/4.38…
11: https://fsfe.org/order/index.en.html#tshirt-multilingual-black
12: https://registration.fsfe.org/Pre-FOSDEM-2020
13: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-202001
14: https://registration.fsfe.org/Pre-FOSDEM-2020
15: https://fsfe.org/campaigns/ilovefs/
16: https://registration.fsfe.org/Digitale-Verwaltung-2020
17: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhfLazPO7C4
18: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200121-01
19: https://fsfe.org/news/podcast/episode-3.en.html
20: https://publiccode.eu/openletter/
21: https://netzpolitik.org/2020/was-bedeutet-der-cdu-beschluss-zum-einsatz-fre…
22: https://www.gnuhealthcon.org/2019-liege/program.html
23: https://vng.azavista.com/event_website_pages/view/5d9c68d2-41a0-4ebc-9857-0…
24: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-202001
25: https://fsfe.org/contribute
26: https://my.fsfe.org/support
27: https://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus
28: https://fsfe.org/contribute/translators
29: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-202001
= CDU wants public code +++ Community Meeting +++ 36C3 =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201912.ro.html ]
The last Newsletter of the year ends with exciting news for software
freedom: the biggest conservative party in Europe, the German CDU,
endorsed the principle that software developed with public money should
be under a Free Software License. We further invite you to to read about
the FSFE has done and achieved during the last 12 months and to dig into
Florian Snow's report of our Annual Community Meeting 2019. Also you
find an outlook on our participation at the biggest hacking related
conference in Europe, the 36C3 and a call for your support and help to
continue our mission towards empowering users to control technology.
== Biggest conservative party in Europe aligns with our demand for public code ==
During the last week of November, Germany's conservative party "CDU" had
their 32nd Annual Conference in Leipzig. As part of the event, the party
updated their convention and included a tribute towards Free Software in
their Chapter for Digital Innovation. With this update, the CDU resolved
to join the FSFE in demanding that software developed with public money
should be publicly available as Free Software [1].
The CDU's party convention resolution states: "[...] This is why the
following will apply to all (public) digitalisation projects in Germany
in the future: the awarding of contracts and funding will be subject to
compliance with the principles of open source and open standards.
Software financed by public funds should serve all citizens. In
addition, free and open APIs should facilitate access for independent
developments." (Translation provided by the FSFE)
We are happy to see that the good energy and resources the FSFE
community dedicates on creating, translating and promoting the
campaign's objectives keeps increasing support from major public
stakeholders. "We now expect the CDU to immediately work within the
government to create the legal basis for publicly funded software to be
released under a Free- and Open-Source Software license." says Matthias
Kirschner, President of the FSFE.
== End of the Year Retrospective ==
At the end of this Year, we are inviting you to take a moment to read
about the important things the FSFE has done and achieved during the
last 12 months. In our recently published Annual Report [2] we cover the
biggest and most important activities of the FSFE in 2019. You will find
insights about our campaigns and projects, about our policy work, our
community and its members.
Read for example about the first Parliament in Europe who joined our
demand for public code or about how we aim at bringing together
environmental communities and digital rights communities to discover the
sustainability of Free Software. Maybe you are interested in our write-
up of the updated set of best practices within our REUSE project or you
like to discover the diverse community who form the FSFE ... Whatever
you are most into, enjoy the read [3], discover your personal favourites
and be assured that we keep on advocating for software freedom in Europe
throughout 2020!
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Support our work with a donation [4]
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== Do not miss: upcoming events with the FSFE ==
- The FSFE will be present at the annual Chaos Communication Congress,
the 36C3, happening from 27 to 30 December in Leipzig. We will host
our own assembly [5] and organize the cluster "about:freedom" [6]. A
cluster that brings together like-minded organizations from the
digital-rights hemisphere and also from the environmental communities
within our child-cluster "about:future" [7]. As usual the FSFE is
running its own track with many sessions and workshops, covering
various topics regarding Free Software. Find more info in our event
announcement [8] and If you are going to 36C3, check out the regularly
updated wiki page [9].
- As every year, the FSFE will be present at FOSDEM, Europeans biggest
Free Software conference with a booth and talks. More details about
our participation at FOSDEM will follow in January.
== What have we done? Inside and Outside the FSFE ==
- On November 28, the Local Group of FSFE in Zurich organised a workshop
[10] under the name "There is no cloud, just other people's
computers". The participants were shown how to run "their own cloud"
where they can store and share files, photos, contacts, calendars and
more. All attendies were given the opportunity to try different cloud
services.
- From November 15 to 16 we have been inviting to this year's FSFE
Community Meeting that was composed of social meetups, breakout-
sessions, future-plannings and an official track organised by the FSFE
as part of the SFSCon. If you like to get a feeling of the good vibe
we had, read the report by Florian Snow [11]. But also if you like to
catch up on the talks and presentations we had, you find slides and
videos of most of the presentations linked from the same report.
- We have a new multilingual t-shirt [12] in our shop: Now you can show
your love for Free Software in 24 languages! Get one for Christmas or
at least before the next "I love Free Software"-Day [13] : )
- Surprise your friends, families or colleagues with our special edition
of Christmas cards [14] dedicated to the 4 freedoms to use, study,
share, and improve.
== Get Active ==
2019 was a year with a lot of challenges and we have seen quite some
changes within the Free Software environment. On one hand Free Software
usage is as widespread as never before and our "Public Money? Public
Code!" campaign receives a lot of endorsement - on the other hand Free
Software is constantly under threat. Big economic players buy into Free
Software and politicians create laws that directly endanger software
freedom. Not to forget that with every proprietary app developed by a
public authority or solely offered on a proprietary platform, more
citizens are forced every day to expel their freedom. And with every app
more, the threshold gets higher for everyone to break free from the
proprietary world and from vendor lock-ins.
Since 2001, the FSFE promotes software freedom and on this road we have
achieved many things - but protecting freedom never ends. Help us
mastering the upcoming challenges and support software freedom in Europe
by donating to us now: https://my.fsfe.org/donate [15]
== Contribute to our newsletter ==
If you would like to share any thoughts, pictures, or news, send them to
us. As always, the address is newsletter(a)fsfe.org. We're looking forward
to hearing from you!
If you also want to support us and our work, join our community and
support us with a donation or a monthly contribution:
https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-201911 [16]
Thanks to our community, all the volunteers [17], supporters [18] and
donors [19] who make our work possible. And thanks to our translators
[20], who enable you to read this newsletter in your native languages.
Best Regards,
Erik Albers
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Support our work with a donation [21]
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--
Free Software Foundation Europe <https://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <https://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <https://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <https://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <https://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
1: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20191125-01.ro.html
2: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20191022-01.ro.html
3: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20191022-01.ro.html
4: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-201912
5: https://events.ccc.de/congress/2019/wiki/index.php/Assembly:Free_Software_F…
6: https://events.ccc.de/congress/2019/wiki/index.php/Assembly:About:freedom
7: https://events.ccc.de/congress/2019/wiki/index.php/Assembly:About:future
8: https://fsfe.org/events/index.ro.html#id-the-fsfe-assembly-at-the-chaos-com…
9: https://events.ccc.de/congress/2019/wiki/index.php/Assembly:About:freedom
10: https://www.digicomp.ch/events/it-professionals-events/referat-free-softwar…
11: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20191205-01.ro.html
12: https://fsfe.org/order/index.ro.html#tshirt-multilingual-black
13: https://fsfe.org/campaigns/ilovefs/index.ro.html
14: https://fsfe.org/order/#card-christmas-blue
15: https://my.fsfe.org/donate
16: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-201911
17: https://fsfe.org/contribute
18: https://my.fsfe.org/support
19: https://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus
20: https://fsfe.org/contribute/translators
21: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-201912
= FSFE Newsletter November 2019 =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201911.ro.html ]
This month, we present our Portuguese friends from ANSOL and their
success story on solving the problems DRM creates in their country and
gives tips on how you can take similar actions in your country. Episode
2 of the FSFE's Software Freedom Podcast is out and we dedicate it to
the KDE Community and the transformations and updates they are currently
undertaking. You can discover upcoming events and interesting stories
with visuals from the events where our community promoted Free Software
across Europe. We offer a sneak peak into this year's FSFE Annual
Community Meeting in Bolzano, Italy before the official report. In the
Get Active section, we ask for your help with the new "Public Money?
Public Code!" initiative. We need more municipalities and public sector
bodies to embrace the principles and become part of the signatories.
== How DRM was fixed in Portugal ==
DRM technologies restrict individuals from doing things with their media
that are otherwise perfectly legal. For example we might not be able to
put together a mix of music files we bought legally or to lend an e-book
to a friend. Even backups can be restricted. Following up with the Day
against DRM, in November we published a guest article [1] by our friends
from the Portuguese Association for Free Software (ANSOL), Paula Simões
and Marcos Marado. Together with the Portuguese Association for Free
Education (AEL) they were working towards resolving the DRM policies in
Portugal for 15 years. They finally accomplished the solution they
sought and in their article they shared with you the insights of that
success. ANSOL and AEL have been able to show policy makers what was
wrong with DRM and how its implementation hinders citizens and other
actors from exercising their rights and take advantage of the legally
foreseen copyright exceptions. Their story may inspire you to do the
same in your country or simply learn insights on how policy-making can
be influenced for the better.
== Podcast Episode 2 - A closer look at the KDE community with Lydia Pintscher ==
The November episode of the newly launched Software Freedom Podcast is
dedicated to the international Free Software Community KDE. At the FSFE
we have some history of working together with KDE, whereof one of the
biggest projects was the Fiduciary License Agreement (FLA) [2], a topic
that we also discuss in this Podcast. Our guest Lydia Pintscher is KDE's
Vice President, and in this episode she shares how the KDE community
developed and changed throughout time and how their team managed solving
some of the most pressing social and generational challenges the KDE
community is facing.
In addition, Lydia Pintscher talks about KDE's priorities. For example,
their work on making their applications more consistent, so they run
smoothly on your machines. Listen to the second Episode of the Software
Freedom Podcast [3] to learn how KDE sees their involvement with
relation to Android and the mobile area. You will also hear how KDE
places themselves in terms of technological sustainability or scenarios
where the connected device is no longer a phone, tablet or desktop.
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Support our work with a donation:
https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-201911 [4]
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== Do not miss: upcoming events with the FSFE ==
As with every month, we are trying to spread the word and help
individuals and organisations understand what Free Software is and how
Free Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-
determination. If you are interested in seeing us in action and to join
our cause, keep in mind the following dates and locations in the coming
weeks:
- On November 28th, the Local Group of FSFE in Zurich will host a
workshop [5] under the name "There is no cloud, just other people's
computers". People who decide to participate will learn how to run
their own cloud to store and share files, photos, contacts, calendars
and more, and have the opportunity to try different cloud services.
The session is free of charge, but it requires a pre-registration.
== What have we done? Inside and Outside the FSFE ==
Since the last newsletter we have been active in promoting the Free
Software cause by helping individuals and organisations have a better
understanding of what Free Software is and encouraging them to develop
and implement it in their lives. We want to share with you the events we
have photos, videos or other recordings below:
- Between October 11th and 12th, the Greek FSFE Community joined the
annual Free and Open Source Software Conference - FOSSCOM. This year
the Greek town of Lamia took turn in hosting it and attracted Free
Software enthusiasts from the area. The FSFE's booth attracted people
interested in what Free Software technology could offer in comparison
to the proprietary. Most questions were addressing the conversion into
a more privacy-oriented use of cloud solutions and asked about Free
Software alternatives to famous apps and services for their Android
phones.
- On 18 October the FSFE Local Group from Zurich was present with an
infobooth at the 3rd Dinacon conference in Bern. People were visiting
the FSFE stand to discuss and ask questions on Free Software Licensing
and taking informative leaflets and stickers.
- The FSFE Community in The Netherlands hosted an information booth and
gave a presentation at the LocHal Open Source event in Tilburg on 2
November. The Dutch FSFE coordinator Nico Rikken also gave a talk
about the four freedoms we hold so dearly. He explained the concepts
of each freedom, each illustrated with a cooking recipe analogy ,a
software user example, and a business example.
- This year, the FSFE's Community Meeting joined the SFScon - one of
Europe's most established annual conferences dedicated to Free
Software. The FSFE ran a fully dedicated track on Saturday, 16
November, that covered various topics:The policy activities FSFE works
on and is developing further, such as the new action item part of the
“Public Money? Public Code!” campaign. As part of this session we shed
a light on how we contact mayors and municipalities across Europe. The
Router Freedom session discussed the consultation we responded to,
where we explain to Regulators why it is important for the users to be
able to fully control their own routers. More practically oriented
talks also gave insights to new knowledge about the use and benefits
of Free Software and Open Standards in tourism, legal basics for Free
Software Licenses and many more. The presentations from the talks are
already available for downloading at the event's wiki page [6]. We are
publishing a full report with pictures from our Annual Meeting soon,
so long stay tuned.
- Lucas Lasota prepared an activity package for people and organisations
interested in Router Freedom, so they can advocate their own freedom
of choice. To learn more about it, read his article Router Freedom:
getting back the control over your own router [7].
- The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications(BEREC)
wrote guidelines for the National Regulators across EU on Router
Freedom. The FSFE provided them with a feedback on their public
consultation [8], telling them why it is essential for users to have
control over their own Routers.
== Editor's choice ==
- "New challenges for Free Software business models" [9] is an article
by Björn Schiessle, who gives useful information to people who want to
make money with Free Software and build sustainable and strong Free
Software companies.
- In their last newsletter [10], The Open Source Observatory (OSOR)
explains how France and Italy work on linking their source code
repositories with others and provides a picture of the current state
of the Federation of EU repositories - a project launched and promoted
by OSOR and the EU Commission.
== Get Active ==
The "Public Money? Public Code!" campaign launched an initiative [11]
looking for more publicly funded bodies (administrations, schools,
hospitals and etc) to sign our open letter [12]. This month, we kindly
ask you to join the cause by sending emails and letters to mayors,
municipalities, or any other head of administrations across cities in
your country. You can use the example letter [13] as a template, calling
public sector administrations to sign in the campaign.
== Contribute to our newsletter ==
If you would like to share any thoughts, pictures, or news, send them to
us. As always, the address is newsletter(a)fsfe.org. We're looking forward
to hearing from you!
If you also want to support us and our work, join our community and
support us with a donation or a monthly contribution:
https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-201911 [14]
Thanks to our community, all the volunteers [15], supporters [16] and
donors [17] who make our work possible. And thanks to our translators
[18], who enable you to read this newsletter in your native languages.
Best Regards,
Galia Mancheva
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Support our work with a donation:
https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-201911 [19]
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--
Free Software Foundation Europe <https://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <https://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <https://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <https://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <https://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
1: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20191113-01.ro.html
2: https://fsfe.org/activities/ftf/fla.ro.html
3: https://fsfe.org/news/podcast/episode-2.ro.html
4: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-201911
5: https://www.digicomp.ch/events/it-professionals-events/referat-free-softwar…
6: https://wiki.fsfe.org/Events/FSFECommunityMeeting2019#Agenda
7: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20191028-01.ro.html
8: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20191120-01.ro.html
9: https://www.schiessle.org/articles/2019/11/17/new-challenges-for-free-softw…
10: https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/joinup/newsletter-specific-archive-issue.cfm?…
11: http://wiki.fsfe.org/Activities/ContactingAdministrationsForPMPC
12: https://publiccode.eu/openletter/
13: http://wiki.fsfe.org/Activities/ContactingAdministrationsForPMPC#Example_le…
14: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-201911
15: https://fsfe.org/contribute
16: https://my.fsfe.org/support
17: https://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus
18: https://fsfe.org/contribute/translators
19: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-201911
= FSFE Newsletter October 2019 =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201910.ro.html ]
This month, we focus our attention on digital restrictions and the
International Day against them. To this end, we launched our first
episode of the monthly Software Freedom Podcast, this time starring Cory
Doctorow talking about DRM. We have published our yearly report, summing
up our activities of the past 12 months and shining light on the
community we build our success on. As usual, you will also discover
upcoming events with the FSFE, including our Annual Community meeting,
as well as recordings and information from events we participated in.
== Software Freedom Podcast: 100% DRM-free ==
On October 12, on the International Day Against DRM [1], we launched our
first Episode of the FSFE's new Software Freedom Podcast [2] starring
Cory Doctorow - author and activist in favour of liberalising copyright
laws and extended usage of Creative Commons licenses. Doctorow's long
time advocacy makes him an interesting person to address different
issues included in Digital Restrictions Management (DRM). We discuss the
differences between books and e-books with DRM and see how DRM changes
our entire experience of reading and how that reverberates into our
relationship with books and readings. Further, we dive into the economic
and security aspects related to DRM and regulations of the so called
Internet of Things. Listen or download our first podcast [3] absolutely
DRM-free and explore with us some burning issues on digital restrictions
and freedoms. Also be aware that starting with this episode, we will
broadcast a monthly Software Freedom Podcast series [4] in which we
invite diverse people to speak with inspirational ideas related to
software freedom.
In addition, we used the International Day Against DRM again to explain
the dangers of DRM in relation to Free Software [5]: While Free Software
is software that puts users in control of their own devices, DRM in
contrast is technology that puts the user under the control of a third
party. These two goals are fundamentally incompatible. DRM contradicts
the FSFE's mission to empower people to control technology.
You can find further information about this topic on our campaign
website drm.info [6] and our printed leaflet [7].
== Software Freedom in Europe 2019 ==
"Software Freedom in Europe" [8] is our yearly report that gives you a
breakdown of the important things the FSFE has done and achieved during
the last 12 months. You will read about our ongoing work for router
freedom in Europe, about the first Parliament in Europe to join our
"Public Money? Public Code!" campaign, about our new version of REUSE
tools to help Free Software developers with easy license compliance and
about much more of our multi-faceted policy work - all together aiming
to create a world in which users are in control of technology!
Besides our policy work and projects, we also shine light on our
community and its members; because it is only through working together
that the FSFE is able to form a movement across Europe to build a
society based on users' and software freedom. To this end we also report
about the events that we organised and participated in, from policy
meetings to our web-a-thons.
Enjoy the read [9] and discover your personal favourite of the FSFE's
activities in 2019!
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Join our community: https://fsfe.org/join/nl2019-10 [10]
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== Do not miss: upcoming events with the FSFE ==
As with every month, we are trying to spread the word and help
individuals and organisations understand what Free Software is and how
Free Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-
determination. If you are interested in seeing us in action and joining
our cause, keep in mind the following dates and locations in the coming
weeks:
- Between November 8 and 11, the FSFE programme manager Erik Albers will
attend the digital rights dedicated event Freedom Not Fear [11] where
he will lead a workshop on European campaigns regarding digital
sustainablity.
- Between November 15 and 16 the FSFE Community Meeting will unite
forces with the South Tyrol Free Software Conference (SFScon) [12] in
Bolzano, Italy. The FSFE will have its own track and you are kindly
invited to join the expert and community talks, as well as the social
activities. You can find detailed information about the agenda and
logistics on our wiki page [13]
== What have we done? Inside and Outside the FSFE ==
Since the last newsletter we have been active in promoting the Free
Software cause, by helping individuals and organisations have a better
understanding of what Free Software is and encouraging them to develop
and implement it in their lives. We want to share with you the events,
that we have photos, videos or other recordings of below:
- On October 3, the FSFE Rhein-Main Local Group participated at the
MouseOpener Day "Maustüröffner-Tag" [14] happening all over Germany.
At this annual event, local organizations and companies open their
doors to give kids insights into a broad range of topics. In
Frankfurt, the FSFE local group Rhein-Main [15] supported the local
Linux user group with organizing the event and giving kids the
opportunity to explore computers using Free Software. About 20 young
"hackers" joined the event and got to know LibreOffice, LeoCAD and
Scratch. To not forget their parents, there was an info corner to
explain Free Software to them.
- On October 4, the FSFE Policy Manager Alexander Sander was at the
"Open Source Lisbon" conference where he spoke [16] about our "Public
Money? Public Code" campaign and also was part of the discussion panel
on Free and Open Source Software as a business model [17].
- On October 6, the FSFE Local Group in Vienna, hosted an information
booth at the annual Animal Welfare Run. The booth enjoyed a great
share of attention, since it was a rather unexpected participation and
runners and their friends and families were curious to find out more
about Free Software. You can read more details about the event and the
booth on the blog of FSFE supporters Vienna [18].
- Just in time for the elections, the Swiss Freedomvote campaign [19]
was back again this year [20] - an initiative run and maintained with
the support by the Local FSFE Group in Zurich [21]. The aim of the
campaign is to give voters guidance about the candidates who are
running for election.
- The FSFE's General Assembly took place between October 11th and 13th
in Essen. One part of the meeting was the re-election [22] of the
FSFE's president Matthias Kirschner, vice-president Heiki Löhmus and
financial officer Patrick Ohnewein for another 2 years-term by its
members.
- Our initative “Public Money? Public Code!” attracted the attention of
the City Council of Kassel, Germany. They will discuss it as the
guiding principle for any new software purchases. The proposal [23]
will be discussed on November 27 by the Municipality's Financial
Committee, and final decisions on implementation are expected to be
made on December 9. To help implementing “Public Money? Public Code!”
in the city of Kassel , we kindly ask you to send an e-mail to the
members of the local Parliament and ask them to support this proposal.
Their contact details can be found on Kassel's municipality page [24]
under the "City Council fractions" section. If a member does not have
a clear contact details, you can call the Parliament and ask for it.
== Get Active ==
Beginning this month we broadcast our monthly Software Freedom Podcast.
Make sure you do not miss any by subscribing [25] with your podcast
player.
== Contribute to our newsletter ==
If you would like to share any thoughts, pictures, or news, send them to
us. As always, the address is newsletter(a)fsfe.org [26]. We're looking
forward to hearing from you!
If you also want to support us and our work, join our community and
support us with a donation or a monthly contribution:
https://my.fsfe.org/support [27]
Thanks to our community, all the volunteers [28], supporters [29] and
donors [30] who make our work possible. And thanks to our translators
[31], who enable you to read this newsletter in your native languages.
Best Regards,
The FSFE
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Free Software Foundation Europe <https://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <https://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <https://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <https://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <https://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
1: https://www.defectivebydesign.org/
2: https://fsfe.org/news/podcast/episode-1.en.html
3: https://fsfe.org/news/podcast/episode-1.en.html
4: https://fsfe.org/news/podcast.html
5: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20191012-01.ro.html
6: https://drm.info/
7: https://fsfe.org/contribute/spreadtheword#drm-leaflet
8: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20191022-01.html
9: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20191022-01.html
10: https://fsfe.org/join/nl2019-09
11: https://www.freedomnotfear.org/
12: https://www.sfscon.it/
13: https://wiki.fsfe.org/Events/FSFECommunityMeeting2019
14: https://www.wdrmaus.de/tuer_oeffner_tag/2019/
15: https://wiki.fsfe.org/LocalGroups/RheinMain
16: https://peertube.social/videos/watch/a9f8fb42-fa9f-4736-b6f0-55bf803d5acd
17: https://peertube.social/videos/watch/983582a4-c190-446c-b8ec-080b953e5cc3
18: https://blogs.fsfe.org/franz.gratzer/
19: https://ch19.freedomvote.ch/
20: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20191007-01.en.html
21: https://wiki.fsfe.org/LocalGroups/Zurich
22: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20191014-01.en.html
23: https://wwwsvc1.stadt-kassel.de/sdnet4/sdnetrim/UGhVM0hpd2NXNFdFcExjZdVAqtD…
24: https://wwwsvc1.stadt-kassel.de/sdnet4/fraktionen
25: https://fsfe.org/news/podcast.html
26: https://fsfe.org/mailto:newsletter@fsfe.org
27: https://my.fsfe.org/support
28: https://fsfe.org/contribute
29: https://my.fsfe.org/support
30: https://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus
31: https://fsfe.org/contribute/translators
32: https://fsfe.org/join/nl2019-09
= FSFE Newsletter September 2019 =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201909.ro.html ]
In this month's newsletter, we focus our attention on the impact of Free
Software on competition, in a piece written by our guest expert, Prof.
Dr. Simon Schlauri. We also take the chance to announce the awesome
progress we have made in the REUSE project towards making copyright and
licensing easier for developers. Further down, you can discover upcoming
events and information about the FSFE Annual Community meeting, as well
as see some photos and video recordings from events where our community
promoted Free Software across Europe. We also make some recommendations
for articles you may find useful.
== Free Software and its impact on competition ==
Our guest writer Prof. Dr. Simon Schlauri shared his expert knowledge on
what the impact of Free Software on competition is. Elaborating on the
legal and economic arguments on whether the release of software under a
Free Software license distorts the market, this article was originally
written for our "Public Money? Public Code" brochure. If you missed it,
please take a look and learn more about [1] the impact that Free
Software has on competition.
== REUSE makes copyright and licensing easier than ever ==
As you most likely already know, the FSFE is running a project called
REUSE [2]. Its main goal is to help developers display copyright and
licensing information of their projects according to the recommended
best practices. Just recently, the project released version 3.0 of their
specification. The new edition is accompanied by a helper tool that
makes adopting these best practices easier than ever. If you are curious
for more details on the topic, we welcome you to visit the dedicated
article [3].
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== Do not miss: upcoming events with the FSFE ==
As with every month, we are trying to spread the word and help
individuals and organisations understand what Free Software is and how
Free Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-
determination. If you are interested in seeing us in action and to join
our cause, keep in mind the following dates and locations in the coming
months:
- The Open Source Summit Europe [5] in Lyon, France is happening between
28-30 October and the FSFE's Programme Manager Max Mehl will talk
about the REUSE project and Free Software licensing compliance.
- Between 15-16 November the FSFE Community Meeting will unite forces
with the South Tyrol Free Software Conference (SFScon) [6] in Bolzano,
Italy. The FSFE will have its own track and you are kindly invited to
join the expert and community talks, as well as the social activites.
You can read more about this on our wiki page [7].
== What have we done? Inside and Outside the FSFE ==
Since the last newsletter, we have been very active in promoting the
Free Software cause, by helping individuals and organisations have a
better understanding of what Free Software is and encouraging them to
develop and implement it in their lives. We want to share with you the
events we have photos and videos for, below:
- The FSFE Policy Manager Alexander Sander went to the FrOSCon [8] and
gave a talk about the current state of the "Public Money? Public
Code!" initiative, the full recording of which is available online
[9]. Thanks to the FSFE's local group in Bonn, we were also present
with a booth. It turned out that many of the visitors were truly
interested in what happens at a local level, as well as how they can
help and support the cause with specific actions. It was a great
opportunity to have such substantial discussions and exchange of ideas
and best practices.
- The most frequently asked question our Viennese FSFE Group faced
during the local Veganmania Summer Festival in August was why a
Software organisation like the FSFE participates in a vegan festival.
Their answer? The same ethical considerations that lead people to
adopt a vegan life style can be applied analogously to information
technologies and the use of Free Software. For more interesting
insights, read their blog entry [10].
- At the Chaos Communication Camp in Mildenberg, Germany that happened
between 21-25 August, the FSFE hosted its own assembly in the
about:freedom [11] cluster. This cluster organised more than 50 talks,
workshops and panels about the Sustainability of Software,
Argumentation Trainings for Data Protection, Copyright, workshops on
Free Your Android and Crypto, and measuring Internet censorship. A
recording of Erik Albers' talk about the sustainability of software is
also available on our channel [12] (German). Also some great photos
from the Village settings are accessible online [13].
- During the NextCloud Conference in Berlin that took place on 14
September at the premises of the Technical University of Berlin, our
Policy Manager Alexander Sander was part of a panel discussion
dedicated on "Public Money? Public Code!". He debated on behalf of the
FSFE with people representing NextCloud, the Working Group of Youth
Organisations and Regional Youth Council in Germany, and the Open
Knowledge Foundation Germany. The full video of the debate and what
was said can be seen on our video channel [14].
- As a result of our participation at events and efforts promoting the
"Public Money? Public Code!" initiative during the summer, the Open
Letter received 6 new supportive signatures from organisations over
the last 2 months. The following organisations from around Europe and
the world endorsed these principles and joined the actions on local
ground:
1. OpenSaar [15] is an initiative based in the SaarLorLux region.
They have dedicated their efforts to promoting Free Software in
their region.
2. FOSS Bangladesh [16] is the most prominent Free Software
organisation in the South Asian nation of Bangladesh and has
worked with FSF [17] some time ago.
3. Peercoin Foundation [18] is an international NGO working towards
the development of a Free Software blockchain.
4. Computertruhe [19] is a German NGO that repairs old computers and
donates them to people in need.
5. Idealiste.cz [20] is a Czech NGO advocating for better quality
public services that are accessible to the general public,
especially when it comes to schools, hospitals, public transport
or housing.
6. Liquid Democracy [21] is a Berlin based "Think and Do Tank".
Their work revolves around the development of a Free Software and
digital participation tool called Adhocracy, providing users with
various civic participation tools.
- On 16 September, one of our independent sister organisations, the US-
based Free Software Foundation (FSF), announced the resignation of
Richard M. Stallman [22] as its president.
== From FSFE's planet ==
In the months since the last newsletter and during the summer break,
many things have happened. Some of them have been shared on the FSFE's
Planet [23] and are directly related to the organisation while others
are more into the general direction of our mission:
- In his article [24], Frank Karlitschek reminds us of the bigger
picture of Free Software and why the differences with proprietary
solutions are not only a matter of software licenses;
- On a more technical note, if you had problems installing the
WackoWiki, Evaggelos Balaskas has created a helpful walkthrough [25].
- "Blocking Untrusted USB devices" [26] is a good read by Nikos Roussos,
especially if you are concerned about digital security.
== Get Active ==
The Internet Freedom Fund is Open Tech Fund's primary way to support
projects and people working on open and accessible technology-centric
projects. These are supposed to promote human rights, internet freedom,
open societies, and help advance inclusive and safe access to global
communications networks for at-risk users including journalists, human
rights defenders, civil society activists, and every-day people living
within repressive environments who wish to speak freely online. You can
apply for this fund [27] until 01.11.2019.
== Contribute to our newsletter ==
If you would like to share any thoughts, pictures, or news, send them to
us. As always, the address is newsletter(a)fsfe.org [28]. We're looking
forward to hearing from you!
If you also want to support us and our work, join our community and
support us with a donation or a monthly contribution:
https://my.fsfe.org/support [29]
Thanks to our community, all the volunteers [30], supporters [31] and
donors [32] who make our work possible. And thanks to our translators
[33], who enable you to read this newsletter in your native languages.
Best Regards,
The FSFE
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Free Software Foundation Europe <https://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <https://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <https://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <https://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <https://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
1: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20190806-01.ro.html
2: https://reuse.software/
3: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20190807-01.ro.html
4: https://fsfe.org/join/nl2019-09
5: https://osseu19.sched.com/event/05a3272287d3def1bcb0a62ace00b730
6: https://www.sfscon.it/
7: https://wiki.fsfe.org/Events/FSFECommunityMeeting2019
8: https://programm.froscon.de/2019/events/2326.html
9: https://peertube.social/videos/watch/702cb495-7a04-472c-95af-ca249816f1d4
10: http://blogs.fsfe.org/franz.gratzer/2019/08/27/fsfe-booth-donauinsel/
11: https://events.ccc.de/camp/2019/wiki/Village:About:freedom
12: https://peertube.social/videos/watch/02f2666a-452a-47c9-a4b9-7c1d3a4b627b
13: https://pixelfed.social/c/73939228374994944
14: https://peertube.social/videos/watch/00577775-29d2-4064-968a-09960d48cba4
15: https://opensaar.de/en/
16: https://www.fossbd.org/
17: https://www.fsf.org/bulletin/2013/spring/foss-bangladesh
18: https://peercoin.net/
19: https://computertruhe.de/
20: https://www.idealiste.cz/
21: https://liqd.net/en/about/
22: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20190917-01.ro.html
23: https://planet.fsfe.org/
24: https://karlitschek.de/2019/08/open-source-if-more-than-licenses/
25: https://balaskas.gr/blog/2019/08/24/walkthrough-installation-of-wackowiki-v…
26: https://www.roussos.cc/2019/08/19/usbguard/
27: https://www.opentech.fund/funds/internet-freedom-fund/
28: https://fsfe.org/mailto:newsletter@fsfe.org
29: https://my.fsfe.org/support
30: https://fsfe.org/contribute
31: https://my.fsfe.org/support
32: https://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus
33: https://fsfe.org/contribute/translators
34: https://fsfe.org/join/nl2019-09