= FSFE Newsletter - March 2017 =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201703.ru.html ]
== The Chronicles of LiMux ==
In February, the news about LiMux shook the world. LiMux, a project run
by the city of Munich and completed in 2013, constitutes one of the
finest examples of vendor-neutral administration based on Free Software;
during its execution phase, 15,000 personal computers and laptops used
by public administrations were migrated to Free Software.
In a surprise move, a coalition of parties filed a motion with minimal
lead time before the city council, asking for the abolishment of the
project and the return into proprietary solutions.
The response by the community was immediate and formidable. FSFE's
Deputy Coordinator for Germany, Björn Schießle, describes what followed
[1]. An ad-hoc coalition was formed by the FSFE, the Document
Foundation, KDE and OSBA, collecting questions around the motion and its
related processes. Members of the city council were contacted prior to
the public hearing and FSFE supporters in Germany and Austria were
invited to engage, contacting politicians on the issue. Media coverage
in multiple languages [2] was additionally created.
During the public hearing, participating parties quoted some of our
questions, and admitted they had never before received so much input
from the public. The result of the hearing was a modified motion passed
on February 15, calling the administration to propose a strategy for the
unification of the city's client-side IT architecture by the end of
2020, building on a yet-to-be-developed proprietary client and
guaranteeing maximal compatibility with the existing solutions.
The FSFE does not claim LiMux has solved all the problems. However, we
do claim these problems are mostly of organisational nature, and as such
must be disconnected from the technical side. Public infrastructure must
remain independent of single software vendors, and invest into common
assets, which are provided by Free Software.
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Help us grow and make a difference in 2017 https://fsfe.org/join [3]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
== What else have we done? Inside and Outside the FSFE ==
- For #IloveFS, André translated [4] the Free Software song.
- After last year's successful pre-FOSDEM meeting, the FSFE and
OpenForum Europe continued the tradition of bringing together active
Free Software stakeholders during a prior to FOSDEM public policy
related event. This year's meeting [5] offered the opportunity to
individual citizens and decision-makers to exchange their views on the
basis of practical first-hand information concerning Free Software in
public policy.
- For 16 years, FSFE has been present at FOSDEM with a booth, numerous
volunteers and staff. Reinhard Müller, FOSDEM booth coordinator,
describes in his report [6] the great atmosphere among the booth
volunteers and how an outstanding amount of merchandise and
promotional material was distributed during the 2 days of the event.
- In 2016, Europe welcomed three new umbrella organizations [7] for Free
Software (and hardware) projects: Public Software CIC, The Commons
Conservancy, and the Center for the Cultivation of Technology.
Standing by the needs of the community, the brand-new organisations
provide a legal entity for projects to join, with regards to
donations, accounting, grants, legal compliance, or even sophisticated
governance. These administrative services allow projects to focus on
technical and community matters.
== Get active ==
We're still able to accept additional student interns for 2017. If
you're currently studying and are required to do an internship as part
of your studies, or if you've not yet graduated and want to do a
voluntary internship, you should apply now [8].
== Help us to improve our newsletter ==
If you see some news you think should be included, forward it to us. If
you'd like to share any thoughts, send them to us. The address is as
always newsletter(a)fsfe.org. We're looking forward to hearing from you!
Thanks to all volunteers [9], supporters [10] and donors [11] who make
our work possible.
your editors Olga Gkotsopoulou and Jonas Öberg FSFE
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Help us grow and make a difference in 2017 https://fsfe.org/join [12]
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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/2017/news-20170301-01
2: https://wiki.fsfe.org/Activities/LiMux
3: https://fsfe.org/join/nl2017-03
4: https://blogs.fsfe.org/ao/2017/02/14/ilovefs-2017-vrije-software-lied/
5: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20170214-02
6: https://blogs.fsfe.org/reinhard/2017/02/fosdem-2017/
7: https://lwn.net/Articles/713073/
8: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20170116-01
9: https://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.en.html
10: http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join/nltr17
11: https://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus.en.html
12: https://fsfe.org/join/nl2017-03
= FSFE Newsletter - February 2017 =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201702.ru.html ]
== Why Open Science matters and the FSFE's position on Horizon 2020 ==
"Open Science" is an emerging movement that asks to transfer the four
freedoms that we practice in Free Software into science. Although it is
still emerging, Open Science receives more and more strategic importance
for decision-makers. In the eyes of financial ministers of the European
Union, Open Science produces and uses a lot of Open Data, which in turn
has the potential for big economic benefits. The "European Cloud
Initiative", for example, is part of the European Commission's strategy
for Open Science, intended for building a "competitive data and
knowledge economy in Europe" [1]. It aims at strengthening Europe's
position in data-driven innovation and is thus considered to become an
important part of the European Digital Single Market. Or, as the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development puts it:
"Encouraging the sharing and re-use of research data could generate more
value for public money" [2].
With this in mind, the FSFE targets Free Software to be part of this
emerging field of European Open Science from the beginning. As all
research, data processing and archiving nowadays heavily depends on
software, it is a chance to jump on the bandwagon and define Free
Software as a precondition of Open Science. As one course of action, we
wrote a position paper for the interim evaluation of Horizon 2020 [3],
the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever with nearly €80
billion of funding available.
The FSFE's position paper explains how Free Software and Open Standards
are fundamental to Open Science [4] and we therefore ask for all
publicly-funded research in Europe to mandatorily use and develop Free
Software and Open Standards. With the "European Cloud Initiative" in
mind, we explicitly ask that "Data and software repositories and Data
Management Plans (DMPs) must employ Free Software in order to ensure
unfettered access to their contents and long term preservation" [5].
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Help us now to grow bigger and make a difference in 2017
https://fsfe.org/join [6]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
== What else have we done? Inside and Outside the FSFE ==
- To underpin the demands of the position paper we wrote for the interim
evaluation of Horizon 2020 (see above), we filed a Freedom of
Information request to the European Commission’s Directorate-General
for Research and Innovation [7] to ask about the use, development and
release of (Free) software under Horizon2020. We will keep you updated
about any response.
- We published our annual report [8] with insights about our policy
work, campaigns and events in 2016 as well as a preview for 2017.
- In August 2016, the FSFE joined the Advisory Board of The Document
Foundation [9]. Now, The Document Foundation opens up the LibreOffice
Certification for Migrations and Trainings [10] to members of not-for-
profit organisations on their Advisory Board, including the FSFE.
- We published a report of the first ever FSFE summit [11] that happened
in September 2016. The report includes reflections, impressions,
pictures and the full schedule with links to the abstract, slides and
video recordings of each talk, if available. If you missed the summit,
this report is your chance to catch up on it.
- The FSFE's assembly during the 33rd edition of the Chaos Communication
Congress (33C3) [12] was a big success thanks to our highly motivated
team behind the booth and the high quality of 21 sessions in three
days that have been realized by our session hosts. Read Erik's report
and see the pictures for more insights [13].
- Like every year, FSFE staff and many team members will be at FOSDEM
and we have a big booth in the K building [14]. If you come to FOSDEM
take the chance to meet the FSFE or individual members.
- "Barcelona Free Software" [15] is a local group in Barcelona and an
open space for coders and users who love Free Software. Following a
team decision at the end of 2016, Barcelona Free Software now is an
associated organisation of the FSFE [16].
- Would you like to work with us in the FSFE or you know somehow who
would like to? In 2017, we are looking for new student interns [17] to
join our team and who like to get to know a world full of Free
Software.
== Get active ==
February 14 is "I love Free Software day", the day to say thank you to
all the people behind Free Software. Use this day to show your love for
your favorite Free Software and check out our campaign page in advance
to get some ideas and inspiration: http://www.ilovefs.org [18]
== Good Free Software News ==
The Paris Declaration on Open Government [19], introduced during the OGP
Paris Summit last December, aims at establishing cooperation between
countries and civil societies throughout 2017. The Declaration is
composed of 21 collective action items with the accomplishment of open
public procurement and formation of effective Free Software policies
listed among them [20].
== Help us to improve our newsletter ==
Do you think we have missed some news, or you'd like specific news to
appear in the next newsletter? Please share this and any other feedback
by writing to newsletter(a)fsfe.org
Thanks to all the volunteers [21], Fellows [22] and corporate donors
[23] who enable our work,
your editors Erik Albers, Olga Gkotsopoulou and Fernando Sanjurjo, FSFE
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Help us now to grow bigger and make a difference in 2017
https://fsfe.org/join [24]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
--
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://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/open-science
2: https://www.oecd.org/sti/oecd-science-technology-and-innovation-outlook-251…
3: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20170105-01
4: https://fsfe.org/activities/policy/eu/Horizon2020-Position-Paper
5: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20170105-01
6: https://fsfe.org/join/nl2017-02
7: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20170110-01
8: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20170109-01.en.html
9: https://fsfe.org/news/2016/news-20160817-01
10: https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2016/12/27/the-document-foundation…
11: https://fsfe.org/community/events/2016/summit/backsight
12: https://events.ccc.de/congress/2016/wiki/Assembly:Free_Software_Foundation_…
13: http://blog.3rik.cc/2017/01/worked-for-us-thank-you-33c3/
14: https://fosdem.org/2017/practical/transportation/
15: http://bcnfs.org/
16: https://fsfe.org/associates/associates
17: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20170116-01
18: http://www.ilovefs.org
19: https://en.ogpsummit.org/paris-declaration/
20: https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/opengov/news/paris-declaration-promot…
21: https://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.en.html
22: http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join/nltr16
23: https://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus.en.html
24: https://fsfe.org/join/nl2017-02
= FSFE Newsletter - February 2017 =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201702.ru.html ]
== Why Open Science matters and the FSFE's position on Horizon 2020 ==
"Open Science" is an emerging movement that asks to transfer the four
freedoms that we practice in Free Software into science. Although it is
still emerging, Open Science receives more and more strategic importance
for decision-makers. In the eyes of financial ministers of the European
Union, Open Science produces and uses a lot of Open Data, which in turn
has the potential for big economic benefits. The "European Cloud
Initiative", for example, is part of the European Commission's strategy
for Open Science, intended for building a "competitive data and
knowledge economy in Europe" [1]. It aims at strengthening Europe's
position in data-driven innovation and is thus considered to become an
important part of the European Digital Single Market. Or, as the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development puts it:
"Encouraging the sharing and re-use of research data could generate more
value for public money" [2].
With this in mind, the FSFE targets Free Software to be part of this
emerging field of European Open Science from the beginning. As all
research, data processing and archiving nowadays heavily depends on
software, it is a chance to jump on the bandwagon and define Free
Software as a precondition of Open Science. As one course of action, we
wrote a position paper for the interim evaluation of Horizon 2020 [3],
the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever with nearly €80
billion of funding available.
The FSFE's position paper explains how Free Software and Open Standards
are fundamental to Open Science [4] and we therefore ask for all
publicly-funded research in Europe to mandatorily use and develop Free
Software and Open Standards. With the "European Cloud Initiative" in
mind, we explicitly ask that "Data and software repositories and Data
Management Plans (DMPs) must employ Free Software in order to ensure
unfettered access to their contents and long term preservation" [5].
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Help us now to grow bigger and make a difference in 2017
https://fsfe.org/join [6]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
== What else have we done? Inside and Outside the FSFE ==
- To underpin the demands of the position paper we wrote for the interim
evaluation of Horizon 2020 (see above), we filed a Freedom of
Information request to the European Commission’s Directorate-General
for Research and Innovation [7] to ask about the use, development and
release of (Free) software under Horizon2020. We will keep you updated
about any response.
- We published our annual report [8] with insights about our policy
work, campaigns and events in 2016 as well as a preview for 2017.
- In August 2016, the FSFE joined the Advisory Board of The Document
Foundation [9]. Now, The Document Foundation opens up the LibreOffice
Certification for Migrations and Trainings [10] to members of not-for-
profit organisations on their Advisory Board, including the FSFE.
- We published a report of the first ever FSFE summit [11] that happened
in September 2016. The report includes reflections, impressions,
pictures and the full schedule with links to the abstract, slides and
video recordings of each talk, if available. If you missed the summit,
this report is your chance to catch up on it.
- The FSFE's assembly during the 33rd edition of the Chaos Communication
Congress (33C3) [12] was a big success thanks to our highly motivated
team behind the booth and the high quality of 21 sessions in three
days that have been realized by our session hosts. Read Erik's report
and see the pictures for more insights [13].
- Like every year, FSFE staff and many team members will be at FOSDEM
and we have a big booth in the K building [14]. If you come to FOSDEM
take the chance to meet the FSFE or individual members.
- "Barcelona Free Software" [15] is a local group in Barcelona and an
open space for coders and users who love Free Software. Following a
team decision at the end of 2016, Barcelona Free Software now is an
associated organisation of the FSFE [16].
- Would you like to work with us in the FSFE or you know somehow who
would like to? In 2017, we are looking for new student interns [17] to
join our team and who like to get to know a world full of Free
Software.
== Get active ==
February 14 is "I love Free Software day", the day to say thank you to
all the people behind Free Software. Use this day to show your love for
your favorite Free Software and check out our campaign page in advance
to get some ideas and inspiration: http://www.ilovefs.org [18]
== Good Free Software News ==
The Paris Declaration on Open Government [19], introduced during the OGP
Paris Summit last December, aims at establishing cooperation between
countries and civil societies throughout 2017. The Declaration is
composed of 21 collective action items with the accomplishment of open
public procurement and formation of effective Free Software policies
listed among them [20].
== Help us to improve our newsletter ==
Do you think we have missed some news, or you'd like specific news to
appear in the next newsletter? Please share this and any other feedback
by writing to newsletter(a)fsfe.org
Thanks to all the volunteers [21], Fellows [22] and corporate donors
[23] who enable our work,
your editors Erik Albers, Olga Gkotsopoulou and Fernando Sanjurjo, FSFE
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Help us now to grow bigger and make a difference in 2017
https://fsfe.org/join [24]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
--
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://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/open-science
2: https://www.oecd.org/sti/oecd-science-technology-and-innovation-outlook-251…
3: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20170105-01
4: https://fsfe.org/activities/policy/eu/Horizon2020-Position-Paper
5: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20170105-01
6: https://fsfe.org/join/nl2017-02
7: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20170110-01
8: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20170109-01.en.html
9: https://fsfe.org/news/2016/news-20160817-01
10: https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2016/12/27/the-document-foundation…
11: https://fsfe.org/community/events/2016/summit/backsight
12: https://events.ccc.de/congress/2016/wiki/Assembly:Free_Software_Foundation_…
13: http://blog.3rik.cc/2017/01/worked-for-us-thank-you-33c3/
14: https://fosdem.org/2017/practical/transportation/
15: http://bcnfs.org/
16: https://fsfe.org/associates/associates
17: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20170116-01
18: http://www.ilovefs.org
19: https://en.ogpsummit.org/paris-declaration/
20: https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/opengov/news/paris-declaration-promot…
21: https://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.en.html
22: http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join/nltr16
23: https://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus.en.html
24: https://fsfe.org/join/nl2017-02
= FSFE Annual Report 2016 =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20170109-01.ru.html ]
It has been a busy year for the FSFE. Upholding the principles of Free
Software and protecting citizens' from being exploited are ongoing
challenges we tackled from a variety of angles. We (and by "we", we mean
the staff and volunteers at the FSFE) pored over hundreds of pages of
policies and legislations, looking for loopholes through which Free
Software could be attacked.
We travelled to events all over Europe, often carrying with us dozens of
heavy boxes of merchandising, to explain what Free Software is all about
as speakers and attendees. We have organised our own events too
including our first international summit.
And we have dreamt up and executed campaigns to spread awareness of the
threats to Free Software and users' freedoms. This has entailed
mobilising dozens of staff members and volunteers, contacting the media,
and designing and ordering T-shirts, squishy stress balls/hearts, and
balloons, lots of balloons.
What follows are just a few of the highlights from 2016.
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Help us to grow bigger and make a difference in 2017:
https://fsfe.org/join [1]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
== Policies and Legislation ==
We have been carefully monitoring policies and legislation in Europe and
intervened when citizens' rights were in peril. We have formulated
several proposals to EU institutions and EU member states containing
concrete steps to solve the issues with the EU Radio Directive [2].
This Directive threatens software freedom with its ambiguous phrasing
that all but forbids users from installing unapproved software (read
"Free operating systems") on radio-enabled devices. These devices
include all modern laptops, wireless routers and every single smartphone
in existence. Over 40 European organisations and enterprises support our
concerns and demands.Max Mehl and Polina Malaja will be doing follow-up
on this with along with our volunteers and other organisations to make
sure you can still install Free Software on those devices.
Another threat to Free Software is the EC's stance on the Digital Single
Market strategy. We have patiently explained several times why FRAND
licensing [3], the licensing favoured by the Commission in its "ICT
Standardisation Priorities for the Digital Single Market", is
incompatible with Free Software and why a more liberal model should be
used. This is still an ongoing battle.
Staying with the EC, we tried to help out on the "Free and Open Source
Security Audit" (FOSSA) [4] project, commissioned jointly by the
European Parliament. The project should have helped evaluate the
suitability of the Free Software used in public administrations. A
professional audit of Free Software tools and frameworks would seem a
good thing at first glance, an excellent way to test run software and
improve it when bugs and vulnerabilities pop up. At the very least it
would help protect citizens' data stored on public servers.
However, after reading the results, it was not clear the time and money
invested into the study had been well-spent. The conclusions were
sometimes vague and some parts directly wrong. Despite our best efforts,
the company employed to do the survey did not seem to know much about
Free Software at all.
That said, the EC and MEPs in charge of the project, were always open to
our comments and able to push for improvements, although they were bound
to a contract with consultants who were not too knowledgeable about Free
Software matters. Viewed as a pilot, it helped everybody see where the
pitfalls were. With a bigger budget and the lessons learnt, the EU is
planning to follow our advice and improve the project in future
iterations.
We even put the law to the test, and our colleague Max Mehl, the FSFE
coordinator for Germany, sent out "alternative" routers to testers [5]
so they could try them with their Internet provider. We published the
results on our Wiki [6] to help others who are thinking of changing
their devices.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Join the FSFE to support our policy work in 2017: https://fsfe.org/join
[7]
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== Campaigns ==
But not all our campaigns have been so serious. We have also carried out
a campaigns to raise awareness about Free Software amongst the general
public, and here "light-hearted" is literally the keyword. We launched
our 6th "I love FS" campaign [8] on Valentine's day. During this
campaign, we encouraged all our friends to make a display of love
towards Free Software by telling the world, online with posts to social
media, or offline, with public demonstrations of FS love.
Online, we got tweets and blog posts from users, volunteers and
sympathizers explaining what they loved most about their favourite Free
Software project. Offline, we had at least one cake baked by the
WikiMedia Foundation, gifs of people squeezing our #ilovefs stress
heart, and pictures of people from all over Europe waving our "<3 Free
Software" balloons.
In a similar vein, we wanted to help the general media, local
newspapers, radios and TV stations, to know more about Free Software. To
this end we started our "Meet a Free Software Hero" campaign. Part of
our larger 15th Anniversary celebration campaign [9], we encouraged
volunteers and media outlets to get in touch with each other so that the
"heroes" could explain what software freedom was all about, and bust a
few myths at the same time.
Thanks to the campaign, we managed to increase our profile with the
media and it has now become much more usual for journalists to get in
touch with us to comment on stories. This gives us more visibility and
influence to affect changes in favour of Free Software.
== Events ==
Another way of reaching a wider audience was through events. Apart from
participating in Free Software-specific conferences like FOSDEM,
LinuxCon and different Linuxtage (we took the FSFE booth to all of
these), we also participated in the Wear Fair and more [10]. This event
is Austria's largest textile fair for sustainable clothing and
lifestyle, and covers from organic food, to DIY electronic repairs. The
themes of sustainability, individual personal freedom and alternative
economic models helped our Foundation fit right in and we sold plenty of
T-shirts, bags and baby vests. We also collected contact information of
people interested in our cause.
But we are prouder of the two big events we organised ourselves. In
April we held our annual Legal and Licensing Workshop [11]. This
Workshop is set up by and for members of the FSFE's Legal Network. Legal
experts from all sectors of the industry got together to discuss
licenses, compliance and what constitutes derivative work for three days
in balmy Barcelona.
Speakers included Harald Welte of gpl-violations.org fame; Miriam
Ballhausen from JBB; and Eben Moglen, chairman of the Software Freedom
Law Center.
Our Legal Coordinator Polina Malaja together with our trainee Olga
Gkotsopoulou are already busy planning next years conference which we
expect to be at least as successful as 2016's.
Similarly exciting was our first ever FSFE Summit held in Berlin [12] in
September, in which, Erik Albers, our community builder, commandeered a
veritable army of volunteers and interns to make sure that everything
run smoothly.
Part celebration of FSFE's 15th anniversary, and everything we have
achieved over the years; part event to talk about the non-technical
aspects of Free Software [13], we covered the topics of Free Software in
business, the public sector and as a force for social advancement in
more than 50 talks. We also had our 15th birthday party.
Speakers included, among many others, the two prior presidents and the
one current president of the FSFE, that is, Georg Greve, Karsten
Gerloff, and Matthias Kirschner; Sonia Montegiove and Italo Vignoli, the
architects behind the migration to LibreOffice of the Italian Armed
Forces; and Roberto di Cosmo, co-founder along with Stefano "Zach"
Zacchiroli of SoftwareHeritage.org.
Julia Reda, MEP for the Pirate Party, closed the event [14] with a
keynote on copyright reform and made the case for Free Software on
machines critical in modern democracies. She explained, for example, why
using inauditable proprietary software on voting machines was
unacceptable.
== Strengthening the Free Software Network ==
Which brings us to the subject of how we used events to make the network
of Free Software organisations stronger. The Software Heritage mentioned
above, for example, collects programs, applications and snippets of code
distributed under free license from several sources. It aims to preserve
an encyclopedia of free code for posterity. It was clear from the start
that the FSFE and SH had a lot in common, so we supported the initiative
early on, helping them get coverage in the media and offering them a
platform to spread the word about what they do.
We also strengthened our ties with the Document Foundation by joining
its Advisory Board [15]. At the same time, The Document Foundation
became an associated organisation of the FSFE. This means that we will
be offering advice, support and suggestions on one of the most
successful Free Software projects out there: LibreOffice and all its
ecosystem. With the Document Foundation as an associated organisation,
we created official channels for the exchange of ideas, coordinate
efforts, motivate each other, and find opportunities to work together on
specific projects.
Another thing we did was to hand over the running of the FSFE's Document
Freedom Day to Document Freedom Foundation [16]. The DFD already
organises the Software Freedom Day (SFD) campaign, the Education Freedom
Day, and the Hardware Freedom Day. It seemed logical that they also
organise the Document Freedom Day. Like that they widened the range of
events of related events they offer, and it allows us to concentrate on
core Free Software topics.
== Coming up in 2017 ==
But there is still a lot of work to do and 2017 is shaping up to be an
interesting year. Although we have managed to get the ban on compulsory
routers into law, we expect that ISPs will fight back, so we will have
to be on guard for that. The threat of FRAND licensing and software
patents is never far off and we will have to continue advising lawmakers
on why these are dangerous for Free Software and the European software
industry in general. Katharina Nucon, policy coordinator of the German
Pirate Party, will be helping us with this campaign.
Most of our efforts, however, will most likely be spent pushing for
getting more public institutions to publish their software under a free
license. We want public money to pay for public code, and only public
code. Software used by public institutions is acquired, deployed and/or
developed with taxpayers' money. Making it available under a Free
license to all citizens is just the right thing to do. Furthermore, we
hope we will raise awareness amongst politicians of the importance of
using Free Software when they see its advantages.
There are several important national and regional elections scheduled
throughout Europe in 2017. Politicians are supposedly more receptive
during campaigns, so we will do our best to make candidates and parties
commit to Free Software and openness in their administrations.
We need governments to commit to improving policies that favour Free
Software across the board. It is not admissible any more that the
administration pilfer taxpayers money on proprietary software.
We need policies that help the European IT sector become much more
competitive and sustainable. There is no better way to achieve this than
incentivising the use and development of Free Software and Open
Standards.
Finally we need better policies to help promote Free Software amongst
the general public. Every European citizen must be allowed to regain
control over the technology they use once and for all.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Join the FSFE to support our work in 2017: https://fsfe.org/join [17]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
== TL;DR ==
This has been a long report, but if you need a summary, here goes:
Free Software improves everybody's life and the world. It is clear that
everybody have been handed the short end of the IT stick for too long.
SMEs need a level playing ground to prosper and create employment.
Private citizens and business owners must be allowed to own and control
the devices they pay for. Governments must be at the service of the
people, as must the software they pay for with people's taxes. Free
Software, Free Hardware and Open Standards solve all of the above.
All of these things should be self-evident, but apparently are not. That
is why we at the FSFE do what we do. Throughout this report we have
mentioned some of the people that work to turn these things into
reality. However, and it may sound cliché, but it doesn't make it less
true, without the continued support from you, the volunteer, the fellow,
the occasional donor, and the moral supporter, none of our staff would
be able to do anything. We rely heavily on you, your activities and your
donations to stay independent and fight for your rights when they are
threatened, regardless as to where the threat comes from.
Please help us make next year's report is as long as this one, and do
consider joining the FSFE. [18]
Best Regards,
Jonas Oberg (Executive Director) and Matthias Kirschner (President)
1: https://fsfe.org/join/an116
2: https://fsfe.org/activities/radiodirective/
3: https://fsfe.org/news/2016/news-20160428-02.en.html
4: http://k7r.eu/fossa-now-we-need-feedback-by-the-real-experts/
5: https://blog.mehl.mx/2016/erste-testgeraete-fuer-routerfreiheit-versendet/
6: https://wiki.fsfe.org/Activities/CompulsoryRouters/Implementation/Germany
7: https://fsfe.org/join/an216
8: https://fsfe.org/news/2016/news-20160222-01.en.html
9: https://fsfe.org/campaigns/15years/15years
10: https://blog.widerstroem.com/#res:ner-page=4om/weblog/10/wear-fair-2016
11: https://fsfe.org/activities/ftf/legal-conference.en.html
12: https://fsfe.org/community/events/2016/summit/backsight.en.html
13: https://fsfe.org/community/events/2016/summit/frontpage
14: https://fsfe.org/news/2016/news-20160907-01.en.html
15: https://fsfe.org/news/2016/news-20160817-01.en.html
16: https://fsfe.org/news/2016/news-20160126-01.en.html
17: https://fsfe.org/join/an316
18: https://fsfe.org/join/an316
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology. Software is deeply involved in all aspects of our
lives; and it is important that this technology empowers rather than
restricts us. Free Software gives everybody the rights to use,
understand, adapt and share software. These rights help support other
fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how Free
Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination.
It enhances users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software
adoption, encourage people to use and develop Free Software, and
provide resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software
in Europe.
http://fsfe.org
= FSFE Newsletter - November 2016 =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201611.ru.html ]
== Public consultation on our Fellowship ==
Since 2005, the FSFE has maintained two distinct brands: the FSFE and
our Fellowship. While this made sense initially, we've grown
increasingly uncomfortable with the way this created a separation
between the Fellows and the FSFE as two separate entities, despite the
fact that we're all working together! Accordingly, we've reduced our
activities promoting the "Fellowship" as something distinct from the
FSFE, and now talk more about "FSFE Groups" rather than "Fellowship
Groups", for our local groups.
We now need to come to a decision on how to develop these brands in the
future. Based on an initial discussion between our coordinators and in
our core team, we've developed a proposal which you will find below: it
essentially means that we would deprecate the Fellowship, and bring
everything under the umbrella of the FSFE. As an important part of our
community, your feedback is valuable to us. For this public
consultation, we would be happy to hear your thoughts on the matter by
the 30th of November 2016, after which we will provide a summary of the
feedback received on which we will base our decision.
Any changes that stem from this proposal, in its current form or in the
way we will shape it based on the feedback provided, will be put into
practice during 2017. You can provide your feedback to contact(a)fsfe.org.
Please note that in the proposal below we use a term "Supporter" as a
new alternative to "Fellow". We would very much like to hear your
thoughts on this too. Other options suggested include "Patron",
"Supporter", "Contributor", "Donor", and possibly other names you may
think of too. There is also the option to keep the name "Fellow" as a
term, and only deprecate "Fellowship".
=== PROPOSAL ===
The "Fellowship" and "Fellow" names are deprecated. Activities done in
local groups or which were otherwise named in conjunction with the brand
"Fellowship" shall be brought under the name of the "FSFE": an FSFE
event, an FSFE local group, and so on.
Our "Community" is anyone who identifies as being a part of the FSFE, be
that by supporting and encouraging our activities, contributing
financially, or participating in the work. We want everyone to be a part
of our community, regardless of their level of engagement.
Anyone who contributes financially with the intent of contributing
regularly is a "Supporter" of the FSFE. The Council may set a minimum
threshold for a regular contribution to account for transaction costs.
Financially, our Supporters provide the solid foundation on which the
FSFE stands: their regular financial contributions give stability to the
organisation. We call our one-time contributors "Donors".
We encourage everyone who wants to be part of our activities to join one
of our teams: either a topical team (as a translator, webmaster, or
similar) or a geographical team (the Berlin team, the Nordic team, and
so on). By joining one of our teams they become a "Team Member" of that
team (system-hackers team member, translation team member).
== EIF v.3 – citizens demand more Free Software, while businesses seek to promote true Open Standards ==
The European Commission (EC) has finally published the summary of the
contributions received for its public consultation on the revision of
the European Interoperability Framework[1] (EIF), a set of guidelines
for public administrations to deliver their e-government services. The
FSFE has previously submitted its comments and recommendations on the
proposed draft[2]. According to the results of the public consulation,
the majority of respondents amongst citizens asked for more Free
Software and Open Standards when revising the EIF, whilst respondents
amongst businesses and private organisations asked the EC to "promote
the use of (true) open standards and support of standards in new
technologies". We hope the EC will follow the wishes of EU citizens and
implement these recommendations in the revised EIF.
== From the community ==
André Ockers wrote about his participation in the first FSFE Summit and
15th anniversary celebration[3], as well as Guido Arnold, who also
blogged about his experience at the FSFE summit.[4]
-
Björn Schießle blogs about the History and Future of Cloud Federation[5]
where he explains the concept of server-to-server sharing in
Owncloud/Nextcloud and its development to a "federated cloud ID", which
looks similar to an email address. Like email, "federated cloud" refers
to a user on a specific server.
-
Are you interested in real-time communications? Daniel Pocock encourages
you to become a speaker and participate at FOSDEM 2017[6], one of the
world's biggest conferences addressing Free Software developers in
particular.
-
Iain R. Learmonth presents PATHspider 1.0.0 and highlights the changes
that have been incorporated to the latest version[7] of this framework
for performing and analysing existing network impairments.
-
David Boddie gives you a step-by-step explanation on how to build disk
images for the operating system Inferno[8].
-
== What else have we done? ==
The FSFE's current Vice-president Alessandro Rubini stepped down to
focus on his work with the Free Software community in Italy. Taking over
from Alessandro is Heiki Lõhmus, a student of aeronautical engineering
from Estonia[9]. Alessandro Rubini is a long time advocate of Free
Software: as the FSFE's Vice-president, he has contributed with
invaluable efforts to push for Free Software, not only in Italy but all
over Europe. Heiki Lõhmus has actively lobbied the Estonian government
to publish the software used for the Estonian elections as Free Software
and now receives the baton for Vice-president of FSFE to carry on
Alessandro’s excellent work.
-
The FSFE sent three recommendations for actions to foster the use and
implementation of Free Software[10] (in German) to the new government
that is currently being formed in the state of Berlin.
-
The local FSFE group in Rhein/Main was present at a street festival
(Rotlintstraßenfest) in Frankfurt[11] to promote the FSFE and explain
and inform the people about Free Software.
-
The system hackers have decided to decommission our (very) old pad
service[12]. They invite anyone who's interested in the FSFE offering a
pad service to get in touch to setup a new team which can create a new
pad service.
-
>From October 24 to 27, the FSFE's President Matthias Kirschner and the
FSFE's Policy analyst Polina Malaja participated in several community
events in Greece. They gave talks in the National Technical University
of Athens[13], in the Athens Hackerspace[14] (in Greek) and in the
National Hellenic Reseach Foundation[15] (in Greek).
-
On October 4-6, the FSFE participated with a booth in the LinuxCon +
ContainerCon Europe 2016[16], which took place in Berlin.
-
The "FreieSoftwareOG" represented the FSFE with a booth in Offenburg[17]
(in German).
-
== Take action! ==
Please read the proposal for the Fellowship brand above and send your
comments or thoughts to contact(a)fsfe.org.
== Good Free Software News ==
The public procurement authority of the French state renewed its two
contracts for free software support services provided for ministries and
other governmental agencies[18]. Both contracts were awarded to the
French free software services provider Linagora and were originally
initiated in 2012. More good news from France and the city of Nantes,
where the switch to LibreOffice last April has lowered the IT costs by
EUR 1.6 million[19] and will keep saving the public administration EUR
260 000 per year.
== The FSFE in the Press ==
- netzpolitik.org [DE] Berliner Koalitionsverhandlungen als Chance für
Freie Software[20].
- netzpolitik.org [DE] Urheberrecht: USA erlaubt Tüfteln an eigenen
Geräten[21].
- PCMAG [EL], The President of the FSFE in Athens[22].
- Business news [EL], GFOSS: Talks about Free Software[23].
- Greek Union of Computer Engineers [EL], Free Software Day with the
FSFE President Matthias Kirschner[24].
- epixeiro.gr [EL], Free Software, Open Access and Enterpreuneship
Day[25].
== Help us to improve our newsletter ==
Do you think we have missed some news, or you'd like specific news to
appear in the next newsletter? You have been reading about the FSFE in
the press and would like to share this with us? For this and any other
feedback, please share it by writing to newsletter(a)fsfeurope.org
Thanks to all the volunteers[26], Fellows[27] and corporate donors[28]
who enable our work,
your editors Erik Albers, Olga Gkotsopoulou, Jonas Öberg and Polina
Malaja, FSFE[29]
--
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. http://blogs.fsfe.org/polina/2016/10/31/eif-v-3-citizens-demand-for-more-fr…
2. https://fsfe.org/activities/os/eif-v3.en.html
3. https://blogs.fsfe.org/ao/2016/10/18/my-participation-in-the-first-fsfe-sum…
4. https://blogs.fsfe.org/guido/2016/10/my-fsfe-summitqtcon/
5. http://blog.schiessle.org/2016/07/04/history-and-future-of-cloud-federation/
6. https://danielpocock.com/fosdem-2017-rtc-cfp
7. https://iain.learmonth.me/post/2016/pathspider-stable/
8. http://www.boddie.org.uk/david/www-repo/Personal/Updates/2016/2016-10-16.ht…
9. https://fsfe.org/news/2016/news-20161031-01.en.html
10. https://fsfe.org/campaigns/askyourcandidates/201610-germany-berlin-handlung…
11. http://blogs.fsfe.org/guido/2016/10/fsfe-booth-at-street-festival-in-frankf…
12. https://wiki.fsfe.org/Teams/System-Hackers/Decommissioning-Pad
13. https://foss.ntua.gr/wiki/index.php/%CE%91%CF%81%CF%87%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AE_%C…
14. https://www.hackerspace.gr/#/updates/967244
15. https://opensource.ellak.gr/2016/10/27/apologismos-imeridas-elefthero-anikt…
16. http://events.linuxfoundation.org/events/linuxcon-europe
17. http://blogs.fsfe.org/fast_edi/?p=502
18. https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/osor/news/france-renews-its-two-free-…
19. https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/osor/news/nantes-open-source-cuts-rec…
20. https://netzpolitik.org/2016/berliner-koalitionsverhandlungen-als-chance-fu…
21. https://netzpolitik.org/2016/urheberrecht-usa-erlaubt-tuefteln-an-eigenen-g…
22. https://gr.pcmag.com/eleuthero-logismiko/23652/news/o-proedros-tou-free-sof…
23. http://www.businessnews.gr/article/53076/eellak-imerida-gia-eleythero-logis…
24. http://bit.ly/2ep13c1
25. http://bit.ly/2eoYmqW
26. https://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.en.html
27. http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join
28. https://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus.en.html
29. https://fsfe.org
= FSFE Newsletter - October 2016 =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201610.ru.html ]
== Words from your editors ==
After some changes to the FSFE's internship program in early September,
we're happy to be able to announce an opening for a technical intern[1]
with the FSFE. We're seeking an intern who can work with us for three
months in our Berlin office, learning about Free Software and the FSFE,
while at the same time contributing to rewriting parts of our technical
infrastructure.
In the coming months, we'll announce more internship opportunities and a
good way to get to know about them is to read this newsletter regularly.
Be sure to check out our section on taking action below for some news
about our merchandise sale and information material (we'd love to send
you more, if you've run out!).
== The Summit ==
We're still not over how cool it was to see so many from our community
join the FSFE Summit in September. It was a good experience and we're
keen to repeat it. One of the highlights was the ending keynote where
Julia Reda called out proprietary software as a threat to democracy[2].
Be sure to view the keynote and some of the other talks from the Summit,
either on our YouTube channel[3], or from our download server[4] where
you can get the available videos in webm format.
We also celebrated the FSFE's 15th birthday in C-Base with a ceremony
where we honored many of our local heroes from around Europe. C-Base has
kindly provided a recording of the ceremony[5] if you're interested in
hearing the story of some of our heroes, all of whom you can find
working in one of the FSFE's teams today.
== Are you our next technical intern? ==
As mentioned, we are looking for a technical intern to join our team for
three months, taking part in rewriting and implementing a new account
management system. This internship is based in Berlin, starting the 1st
of January 2017 or as otherwise agreed. It's compensated with a basic
salary, the details of which you can read together with other
information in our call for a technical intern[6]. We look forward to
seeing your application!
== From the community ==
David Boddie described the experiences he had exploring alternative
operating systems and in particular, Inferno[7].
-
Michał ‘mina86’ Nazarewicz offered a handful of useful Python tricks and
tips[8]
-
Jonas Öberg blogged about code availability, or code contributions[9]
and introduced the changes to the FSFE internship program[10]. Subscribe
to our newsletter, if you haven't done already, in order to receive the
latest news about all the open internship vacancies in the FSFE!
-
Elena "of Valhalla" explains the differences between accepting candy
from strangers and using gratis software from random sources[11].
-
Polina Malaja blogged about the challenges of the EU Copyright
reform[12].
-
Florian Snow shared his memories from the 3 days of the FSFE Summit[13]
in Berlin, inside and outside the BCC.
-
== Other news ==
Matthew Garrett, board member of the FSF, wrote an article[14] stressing
the necessity of full user control over Internet-connected devices,
outlining some necessary practices for IoT.
== What else have we done? ==
Polina Malaja, FSFE's policy analyst and legal coordinator, together
with the FSFE's legal counsel Carlo Piana, participated in a workshop on
the interactions of Free Software and standardisation, organised by the
European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) in Sophia-
Antipolis, France. During the workshop, they worked to push for adoption
of strong copyleft licenses and to resolve some of the tensions around
patents.
-
Continuing the practice of being present in events organised by other
communities, the FSFE was present with an Info-booth at the
Rotlintstraßenfest in Frankfurt am Main. A big thanks to the Fellowship
group Rhine/Main for making this possible!
-
== Take action! ==
- We have recently collected, sorted and taken stock of some leftovers
of the merchandise we had in previous years, and we've put these items
online[15]. For most of the older items, we only have a few available,
so this is your chance to order some vintage FSFE merchandise at a
reduced price (look out for the red numbers!)
- If you're starting to run out of informational material about free
software, now may also be a good opportunity to get some more. Order
some stickers, posters and flyers from our promotional material
page[16] and we'll get them to you as soon as possible so you can help
us spread them around your company, your school, the local library, at
events, or anywhere else where you feel people should know about free
software.
- If you're not already a Fellow of the FSFE, you should consider
joining[17]. Our work wouldn't be possible without the contribution of
our Fellows and volunteers!
== The FSFE in the Press ==
- [DE] by Patrick Beuth, Zeit Online, HP sabotages its own customers[18]
- [DE] by Stefan Krempl, Heise, Free Software Summit: Campaign for
"Public Software" in Public Administrations[19]
Thanks to all the volunteers[20], Fellows[21] and corporate donors[22]
who enable our work,
Your editors, Jonas Öberg and Olga Gkotsopoulou FSFE[23]
--
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. http://fsfe.org/news/2016/news-20160930-01.html
2. https://fsfe.org/news/2016/news-20160907-01.html
3. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC68ldbHwL_-5qzETqOaAMWQ
4. https://download.fsfe.org/videos/summit2016/
5. https://vimeo.com/181328339
6. http://fsfe.org/news/2016/news-20160930-01.html
7. http://www.boddie.org.uk/david/www-repo/Personal/Updates/2016/2016-09-01.ht…
8. https://mina86.com/2016/python-tricks/
9. http://blog.jonasoberg.net/code-availability-or-code-contributions/
10. http://blog.jonasoberg.net/internship-changes-in-the-fsfe/
11. http://social.gl-como.it/display/3e3ce0df3657cf0f075f102119218743
12. https://blogs.fsfe.org/polina/2016/09/14/copyright-reform-mo-money-to-publi…
13. https://blogs.fsfe.org/floriansnow/
14. http://www.fsf.org/news/free-software-foundation-stresses-necessity-of-full…
15. https://fsfe.org/order/
16. https://fsfe.org/contribute/spreadtheword
17. http://fsfe.org/join
18. http://www.zeit.de/digital/internet/2016-09/digitales-rechtemanagement-drm-…
19. http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Free-Software-Summit-Kampagne-fuer-o…
20. https://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.en.html
21. http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join
22. https://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus.en.html
23. https://fsfe.org
= FSFE Newsletter - September 2016 =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201609.ru.html ]
== Words from your editors ==
Thank you for contributing to making the FSFE Summit this past weekend a
huge success! We were excited to see so many familiar faces and we're
eager to meet again soon. Of course, the FSFE Summit was not the only
thing going on in the past month. In this newsletter you can read about
our community's other activities. In the October newsletter, we will
share more of what happened at the Summit. Stay tuned for more!
== The FSFE's 15 years ==
This year we are celebrating our 15th anniversary[1] and the culmination
of the official celebration took place during the FSFE Summit from the
2nd to the 4th of September. But this celebration should continue
throughout the year: let us use the coming weeks and months to highlight
15 years of our existence, and use this opportunity to spread the word
about free software and our work. Let us highlight our biggest
achievements, recall personal stories and share them through blog posts,
social media, mailing lists, chats and in other ways.
In order to get some inspiration about how you can contribute, you are
welcome to visit our wiki page[2] in which you will find examples and
help to contribute. Some of the work we have carried out in the last 15
years is also available on the revised FSFE timeline[3].
One of our recent accomplishments has been the creation of our FSFE
video[4] to commemorate our birthday. This video has subtitles in no
less than 12 languages, thanks to our amazing volunteer translators.
Check out our new 15th anniversary sticker, which you can order from us
to help spread the word[5], not only for yourself.
== From the community ==
- Thanks to our translators (mentioned now for the second time in this
newsletter!), we are able to reach a wide multilingual audience! The
help of our translators is crucial to our outreach. French translator
Julien Pivotto has improved the existing translation process to be
more efficient and accessible. He has written a proposal to change the
principal concept behind the process[6]. Cryptie and André Ockers held
a session about this during the summit[7].
- Paul Boddie blogged about the EOMA68 Campaign and some of its
criticisms[8]. The EOMA68 campaign later succeeded in its fundraising
and will now be put in production.
- André Ockers also convinced Dutch authorities to remove ads for a non-
free PDF reader[9] from the official website Digid.nl used to access
most of the public services in Netherlands.
- Matthias Kirschner blogged about a way to set up a slightly more
secure solution for home banking[10], letting the browser you use for
banking run separately from your other browser. In a separate post, he
also wrote an overview of the positive aspects[11] of Free Software
included in parties' positions, for the forthcoming Berlin elections.
- Jonas Öberg wrote about the FSFE's group registration with IRC network
Freenode, which makes it possible to request FSFE affiliated
cloaks[12]. He also wrote about his experience getting subtitles to
work with our FSFE video using WebVTT[13].
== What else have we done? ==
- The FSFE joined the Advisory board of the Document Foundation, whilst
the Document Foundation became an associated organisation of the
FSFE[14]. With this mutual expression of support, both organisations
will strengthen one another in their common goal to keep the general
public in the technological driver's seat.
- Erik Grun and Erik Albers aligned in the name of the FSFE with several
other organisations to run a Ask your candidates campaign[15] called
"Wahlprüfsteine". Questions have been sent to most parties in the
upcoming elections in Mecklenburg Vorpommern[16] and Berlin[17]. Their
responses have been analysed and published for the voting public.
- Since August 1st, thanks to a new German law[18], if you are the
client of a German internet provider, you have the right to use an
alternative router, ideally one running Free Software. Please provide
us feedback whether you had any issues running a new router and help
us to collect it in our wiki page[19]. In case you don't have an
alternative device at hand, the FSFE's German Coordinator Max Mehl has
already sent the first Free Software routers to volunteers[20] for
testing and we can provide more.
- The FSFE was present at FrOSCon 2016 in Sankt Augustin, where our
Policy Analyst and Legal Coordinator Polina Malaja gave a talk about
"DSM, EIF, RED: Acronyms on the EU level and why they matter for
software freedom"[21] (in English), and the German Coordinator Max
Mehl gave talk about "Routerzwang und Funkabschottung – Was Aktivisten
davon lernen können"[22] (in German). Max blogged about his conference
experience and included links to recordings of both talks[23].
== Take action! ==
== For our 15 year anniversary (there's a lot of this this month, as you can tell), we are organising the "Get to know your Local Free Software Hero" campaign[24]. The idea is to bring our community members in touch with the local press in the region where they live. Our local heroes explain how the Free Software community affects the people in their region, its benefits for education, health system, local economy and the daily life of the citizens. If you are a journalist, blogger, vlogger, podcaster, or anyone else who can help us to get in touch with a media outlet, please contact us and we will tell you who your local heroes are and how to meet them. Other Free Software news ==
== The Lithuanian police migrated over 8000 workstations from Microsoft Office to LibreOffice[25]. The Dutch government in its Digital Agenda for 2016-2017 is considering making the use of Open Standards mandatory for public administrations[26], within the aim of providing businesses and citizens with easier access to eGovernment services. The city of Valencia (Spain) is reusing Epoptes[27], a software for managing school PC labs, developed as free software in Greece since 2008. The software is improved by staff members of the city’s IT department, who share their code publicly. The FSFE in the Press ==
- In light of its 15th anniversary, the FSFE received press coverage
concerning a number of topics. Here are some of these articles for
further reading: [EN] by William New, Matthias was quoted by an
Intellectual Property Watch article about how the New US Government
Source Code Policy Could Provide Model For Europe[28].
- [IT] [EN] by Sonia Montegiove, Tech Economy, Support to the digital
freedom with FSFE: a double interview with Matthias Kirschner and
Alessandro Rubini[29].
- [DE] [AT] by Patrick Dax, Future zone, Concerns regarding the
limitation of alternative router software[30]. In the article, there
is a reference to the FSFE's campaign against compulsory routers.
- [EN] by Paul Brown, opensource.com, First ever FSFE Summit celebrates
free software successes[31].
- [DE] by Hans-Joachim Baader, pro-linux.de, The FSFE compares the
positions of the parties regarding Free Software for the elections in
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern[32].
- [DE] by Mirko Lindner, pro-linux.de, FSFE und TDF arbeiten enger
zusammen[33].
- [EN] by Paul Brown, LiNUX.com, First FSFE Summit Will Focus on Social
Issues and Strategies[34].
- [DE] by Jan Raehm, Deutschlandfunk, Computer programs without
constraints - the battle for free software[35].
Thanks to all the volunteers[36], Fellows[37] and corporate donors[38]
who enable our work,
your editors Polina Malaja, Erik Albers, Olga Gkotsopoulou and Jonas
Öberg, FSFE[39]
--
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/campaigns/15years/index.ru.html
2. https://wiki.fsfe.org/Events/2016/FSFE-15years-birthday/spread-the-word
3. https://fsfe.org/timeline/timeline
4. https://fsfe.org/campaigns/15years/15years
5. https://fsfe.org/contribute/spreadtheword
6. https://wiki.fsfe.org/TechDocs/Translations
7. https://conf.qtcon.org/en/qtcon/public/events/757
8. https://blogs.fsfe.org/pboddie/?p=1314
9. http://blogs.fsfe.org/ao/2016/08/13/free-software-pdf-campaign-it-isnt-over…
10. https://k7r.eu/setting-up-a-slightly-more-secure-solution-for-home-banking
11. https://k7r.eu/free-software-in-the-berlin-election-programs/
12. http://blog.jonasoberg.net/irc-cloaks-on-freenode-available/
13. http://blog.jonasoberg.net/the-woes-of-webvtt/
14. https://fsfe.org/news/2016/news-20160817-01
15. https://fsfe.org/campaigns/ayc
16. https://fsfe.org/news/2016/news-20160823-01
17. https://fsfe.org/news/2016/news-20160831-01
18. https://fsfe.org/news/2016/news-20160725-01
19. https://wiki.fsfe.org/Activities/CompulsoryRouters/Implementation/Germany
20. https://blog.mehl.mx/2016/erste-testgeraete-fuer-routerfreiheit-versendet/
21. https://programm.froscon.de/2016/events/1797.html
22. https://programm.froscon.de/2016/events/1738.html
23. https://blog.mehl.mx/2016/froscon-2016-ein-rueckblick/
24. https://fsfe.org/campaigns/15years/15years
25. https://itsfoss.com/lithuanian-police-switches-libreoffice/
26. https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/epractice/news/dutch-consider-mandato…
27. https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/osor/news/spain%E2%80%99s-valencia-re…
28. http://www.ip-watch.org/2016/08/22/new-us-government-source-code-policy-cou…
29. http://www.techeconomy.it/2016/08/18/sostegno-alla-liberta-digitale-fsfe-in…
30. https://futurezone.at/netzpolitik/bedenken-gegen-einschraenkung-alternative…
31. https://opensource.com/life/16/8/fsfe-summit-europe-2016?sc_cid=70160000001…
32. http://www.pro-linux.de/news/1/23900/fsfe-vergleicht-parteipositionen-zu-fr…
33. http://www.pro-linux.de/news/1/23878/fsfe-und-tdf-arbeiten-enger-zusammen.h…
34. https://www.linux.com/news/first-fsfe-summit-will-focus-social-issues-and-s…
35. http://www.deutschlandfunk.de/computer-programme-ohne-zwaenge-kampf-um-frei…
36. https://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.en.html
37. http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join
38. https://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus.en.html
39. https://fsfe.org
= FSFE Newsletter - August 2016 =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201608.ru.html ]
== "Free and Open Source Security Audit" in the EU needs feedback from Free Software communities ==
The goal of the "Free and Open Source Security Audit" (FOSSA) pilot
project is to increase the security of Free Software used by European
institutions. The FSFE has been following the project since early 2014.
Recently, the European Commission published the first round of
deliverables based on their interviews with stakeholders[1]. While the
FSFE is in full support of this European initiative, the implementation
of the project leaves us concerned. FOSSA's first analysis lacks an
understanding of Free Software; it includes several factual errors; and
it was based on poorly conducted general interviews. FSFE President
Matthias Kirschner[2] and FSFE Fellowship Representative Mirko Böehm[3],
who were both interviewed for the project, have summarised the most
evident shortcomings in the recent FOSSA publications. However, looking
from another perspective: FOSSA is still in its first stages and with
the help of more Free Software experts, we can get FOSSA going in the
right direction. The FSFE will continue to closely follow FOSSA's
upcoming implementations. In case you have any comments or feedback
concerning the initiative, please do not hesitate to share your thoughts
with us on our discussion list[4] or directly to the attention of
Matthias Kirschner. This way, we will make sure that all relevant
concerns will be communicated to the EU.
== Italy plans to stop its explicit support for Free Software in e-Government ==
The government of Italy is planning to revise the provision in the
Digital Administration Law that requires public administrations to
prioritise reusable, Free Software-based software solutions[5]. The
changes also concern the publication and maintenance of a list of open
ICT standards that are used by public administrations. Following this
proposal would mean the government will no longer require the national
agency for the Digitisation of the Public Sector (AGID) to issue binding
opinions on interoperability, or to prioritise Free Software. Members of
the Italian Parliament have raised their concerns in regard to the
proposed changes. FSFE's General Counsel Carlo Piana has previously
advised Italian authorities on the guidelines of implementation of
Digital Administration Law[6], and contested the government's plans in
his letter to Tech Economy[7] (in Italian).
== From the community ==
- Daniel Pocock explains security problems with SMS and phone
verification, and asks how many mobile phone accounts will be hijacked
this summer[8].
- Hannes Hauswedell explains how you can retroactively replace git
subtree with git submodule[9].
- Polina Malaja sums up the creation of the European Cyber Security
Organisation (ECSO) and explains why many security concerns can be
significantly decreased by using Free Software as much as
possible[10].
- Daniel Pocock explains how you can help with monitoring packages in
Debian and Ubuntu.[11]
- Wolfgang Romey writes about the sustainability of technical devices
and their need for Free Software[12] (German).
== What else have we done? ==
- Early this summer, the FSFE co-signed a letter in support of strong
net neutrality together with 72 other organisations. The European
Commission, however, seems to endorse the weak net neutrality demands
proposed by the coalition of 17 biggest EU Internet Service Providers
(ISP) in the so-called '5G manifesto'. Our policy analyst Polina
Malaja blogged about the worrisome direction of watering down strong
net neutrality in the name of 'innovation'[13].
- Matthias gave a talk at the Technical University of Berlin about the
importance of Free Software and presented some of the highlights of
FSFE's work.
- FSFE's Italian team was present with a booth at Wikimania 2016 in
Esino Larino, Italy.
== Take action! ==
>From August 1st, a new German law will allow users to freely choose
their router device. The FSFE wants to ensure everybody knows about
their new rights and is asking users to report cases in which internet
service providers (ISP) try to avoid the new regulation[14]. The new
regulation was designed to eliminate previous ambiguity around the
practice of "compulsory routers" imposed on the users by ISPs. However,
it is necessary to ensure that the new law is implemented.
If you are a client of a German internet provider, we ask you to
exercise your new right and start using an alternative device, ideally
one that runs Free Software. Please provide us feedback whether you had
any issues about running a new router and help us to collect it in our
wiki page[15]. In case you don't have an alternative device at hand, the
FSFE can also provide some testing devices. Please refer to our wiki
page for more information on this.
== Good Free Software news ==
The European Commission will reward existing IT solutions that have been
developed and shared by public administrations, and that can be further
reused across Europe due to the use of Free Software licenses[16].
Adullact, the French organisation for public administrations using free
software, set up Comptoir-du-Libre.org, a website that aims to help
public administrations’ IT decision-makers to switch to Free
Software[17]. The city council of the Spanish city of Ciudad Real voted
in favor of a resolution to switch all 400 workstations of the city's
administration to Free Software[18] (Spanish). The Open Knowledge
Foundation Germany, in cooperation with the German Federal Ministry of
Education and Research, started the Prototype fund[19], which supports
Free Software projects with a grant of up to €30.000, available for
anyone with primary residence in Germany.
Thanks to all the volunteers[20], Fellows[21] and corporate donors[22]
who enable our work,
your editors Polina Malaja and Erik Albers, FSFE[23]
--
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://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/eu-fossa/og_page/project-deliveries
2. https://k7r.eu/fossa-now-we-need-feedback-by-the-real-experts/
3. https://creative-destruction.me/2016/07/11/eu-fossa-needs-your-help-a-free-…
4. https://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/discussion
5. http://www.funzionepubblica.gov.it/articolo/riforma-della-pa/10-02-2016/cod…
6. https://fsfe.org/news/2014/news-20140116-01.en.html
7. http://www.techeconomy.it/2016/07/07/bulgaria-open-italia-qualche-passo-die…
8. https://danielpocock.com/how-many-mobile-phone-accounts-will-be-hijacked-th…
9. http://blogs.fsfe.org/h2/2016/07/27/retroactively-replacing-git-subtree-wit…
10. https://blogs.fsfe.org/polina/2016/07/11/ec-free-software-to-enhance-cybers…
11. https://danielpocock.com/help-monitoring-packages-in-debian-and-ubuntu
12. https://blogs.fsfe.org/wromey/2016/07/16/anschlussfrage-warum-sind-nachhalt…
13. https://blogs.fsfe.org/polina/2016/07/15/on-carrots-and-sticks-5g-manifesto/
14. https://fsfe.org/news/2016/news-20160725-01.en.html
15. https://wiki.fsfe.org/Activities/CompulsoryRouters/Implementation/Germany
16. https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/news/new-european-contest-promote-it-reuse
17. https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/osor/news/new-site-promote-proven-ope…
18. http://www.miciudadreal.es/2016/05/25/el-pleno-acuerda-caminar-hacia-el-sof…
19. https://prototypefund.de/en/
20. https://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.en.html
21. http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join
22. https://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus.en.html
23. https://fsfe.org
= FSFE Newsletter - June 2016 =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201606.ru.html ]
== FSFE co-signed letter on net neutrality ==
FSFE together with 72 organisations signed a letter to the EU telecom
regulators in support of strong net neutrality rules[1] in the on-going
negotiations for the guidelines on the implementation of the recently
adopted EU Regulation 2015/2120. The Regulation creates a basis for
strong net neutrality, and FSFE together with other organisations from
all over the world asks the Body of European Regulators of Electronic
Communication (BEREC) and the 28 national telecom regulators to uphold
these rules and to establish strong net neutrality guidelines around
Europe.
== From Free Software misunderstandings to software at CERN - FSFE busy at events ==
The past month was full of events and talks, with FSFE staff and team
members being present on several occasions. Talks and presentations make
a large part of our work to reach out and communicate our message to
people from different backgrounds.
FSFE's president Matthias Kirschner gave a short talk during Re:publica
TEN[2] about how to counter Free Software misunderstandings. He also
participated as a speaker at the Croatian Linux Users' Conference DORS /
CLUC[3] in Zagreb, Croatia, where he gave a keynote about "The long way
to empower people to control technology".
During the foss-north conference in Gothenburg, Sweden, FSFE's vice
president Alessandro Rubini gave a talk on "Time in Software and
Hardware - how time is handled in the Linux kernel and in the White
Rabbit network at CERN", and FSFE's executive director, Jonas Öberg,
presented a talk about the "State of Free Software in Europe (and
elsewhere)".
German Coordinator Max Mehl gave a talk about Radio 'Lockdown' Directive
during the Wireless Battle of the Mesh v9, in Porto, Portugal, and your
co-editor Polina Malaja gave an overview on the same topic during the
Wireless Community Weekend 2016in Berlin, Germany.
Last but not least, FSFE's Austrian coordinator Peter Bubestinger gave a
talk about Free Software in schools[4] at the Open Source Conference
Albania OSCAL.
== From the community ==
Torsten Grote gives an overview of recent security innovations in
instant messaging in his blogpost about "Briar - Next Step of The Crypto
Messenger Evolution"[5]. Briar is aiming at becoming a peer-to-peer
messenger which is entirely Free Software: it utilises end-to-end
encryption with forward secrecy and does not require its users to
disclose their metadata (i.e. the content of their address-books and how
frequently they talk to their contacts). These criteria will help in
offering a secure and privacy-friendly messenger that is available for
everyone to use freely.
-
Elena Grandi described her experience with OpenPandora[6], a handheld
game console and a mobile personal computer. On this occasion, Elena
also anticipated the pros and cons of the successor device Pyra.
-
Diderik van Wingerden blogged about his perception of future innovations
and the role of Free Software in it by compiling a list of sources that
helped him in "Shaping a vision of the future"[7].
-
Our executive director Jonas Öberg wrote about the Videorooter project
and its automated testing of algorithms[8]. The code is now connected to
Github repositories and automated tests of algorithms are run every time
someone improves the code.
-
Björn Schießle read the coalition contract of the new government in
Baden-Württemberg, a state of Germany, and analysed how they promise to
promote Free Software[9] (German).
-
Christian Widerström made an overview of the upcoming activities and
events that the Austrian FSFE team will be participating in[10]
(German).
-
The project "Sustainable use of older laptops with Linux and Free
Software", mainly run by Fellow Wolf-Dieter Zimmermann, has been given
the RWE Sustainability Award[11]. The project helps people to migrate to
Free Software and to make use of their old hardware with a proper
GNU/Linux installation (German).
-
== What else have we done? ==
How to successfully campaign for Free Software in a way that is
appealing both for the general public and politicians? FSFE teamed up
with the Peng! Collective[12] and learned from the latter's experience
in campaigning during a weekend-long workshop. FSFE's Fellowship
Representative Mirko Boehm summarised the outcome of the workshop in his
blogpost[13].
-
FSFE's Austrian team did a great job by being present with booths at
Linuxwochen Wien and Grazer Linuxtage (German)[14] and the local group
in Berlin was present at the OpenTechSummit in Berlin, Germany.
-
Wolf-Dieter Zimmermann gave an interview about the importance of Free
Software in Open Educational Resources[15] (German).
-
Getting active for Free Software and doing this by working for the FSFE
is increasingly attractive and we receive a lot of applications for our
internship program each month. However, most of the applications we get
do not make the cut. In his blogpost, our executive director Jonas Öberg
gave a few hints about how to succeed with your internship
application[16] and make it to the FSFE team as an intern.
-
== Take Action ==
Become a volunteer to maintain our blog platform! If you are interested
in devops or system administration, we now offer an opportunity to
polish your skills and learn new tricks by hosting a blog platform for
thousands of our volunteers!
FSFE's blog platform is a service we provide to our volunteers to give
them a place to write about their explorations of Free Software and
their work in the FSFE. For a while, the service has been in dire
straits and in need of an upgrade[17]. Thanks to our wonderful
volunteers who already stepped up and proposed their help in maintaining
the platform, the service will be kept alive.
If you are interested in joining our blog platform team, get in touch
with our blog team at blog-hackers (at) lists.fsfe.org.
== Good Free Software news ==
The Hungarian government published a decree promoting the use of Free
Software and Open Standards in public administrations[18]. The country's
Ministry of Interior is bound to start a central licence registry for
software used by the public sector and report yearly on the progress
made in use of Free Software and Open Standards. Meanwhile, France
revised its interoperability guidelines which from now on recommend ODF
as a standard communication format between public administrations and
citizens[19]. Sweden's Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan) is
determined to adhere to its Free Software strategy and to sustain the
Free Software solutions it uses[20], according to the planned updates of
the strategy to be published in June. As stated by the Social Insurance
Agency, Free Software maximises value of IT by allowing its efficient
use.
Thanks to all the volunteers[21] , Fellows[22] and corporate donors[23]
who enable our work,
your editors Polina Malaja and Erik Albers, FSFE[24]
--
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://akvorrat.at/sites/default/files/20160502_nn_berec_civilsocietylette…
2. https://re-publica.de/16/session/freie-software-missverstandnisse-gekonnt-a…
3. http://2016.dorscluc.org/activity/29/#activity
4. http://blogs.fsfe.org/pb/?p=165
5. https://blog.grobox.de/2016/briar-next-step-of-the-crypto-messenger-evoluti…
6. http://social.gl-como.it/display/3e3ce0df12572dd2557bdda693148259
7. http://think-innovation.com/blog/shaping-a-vision-of-the-future/
8. http://blog.jonasoberg.net/automated-testing-of-algorithms/
9. http://blog.schiessle.org/2016/05/10/freie-software-im-koalitionsvertrag-ba…
10. https://blog.widerstroem.com/weblog/4/veranstaltungen-oesterreich-2016-part…
11. https://blogs.fsfe.org/wromey/2016/05/06/projekt-nachhaltige-nutzung-auch-a…
12. https://www.pen.gg/
13. https://creative-destruction.me/2016/05/04/how-to-campaign-for-the-cause-of…
14. https://blog.widerstroem.com/weblog/2/linuxwochen-wien-grazer-linuxtage
15. http://open-educational-resources.de/podlove/file/502/s/download/c/select-s…
16. http://blog.jonasoberg.net/are-you-the-fsfes-next-intern/
17. http://blog.jonasoberg.net/blogs-and-other-infrastructures/
18. https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/osor/news/hungary-increase-use-open-s…
19. https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/osor/news/france%E2%80%99s-rgi-v2-rec…
20. https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/osor/news/sweden%E2%80%99s-insurer-op…
21. https://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.ru.html
22. http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join
23. https://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus.ru.html
24. https://fsfe.org/index.ru.html