(Hjälp oss att nå ut till människor på deras modersmål. Gå med i vårt
svenska översättningsteam: http://fsfe.org/contribute/translators/.)
= FSFE Newsletter - June 2012 =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201206.sv.html ]
== Free Software, Open Source, FOSS, FLOSS – Same same but different
==
There are two major terms connected to software that can be freely used,
studied, shared and improved: Free Software and Open Source. You can
also find different combinations and translations of those terms like
FOSS, Libre Software, FLOSS and so on. Reading articles about Free
Software or listening to people involved in Free Software often raises
the question: Why do they use one term or another and how they differ
from each other?
Long time FSFE volunteer Björn Schiessle wrote a good article[1]about
this topic, how to deal with the different terminology.
1.
http://blog.schiessle.org/2012/05/11/free-software-open-source-foss-floss-s…
== State neglected web standards, company now faces EUR 5600 in fines ==
In Slovakia, the state has mandated electronic means as the only way of
fulfilling certain statutory obligations. However the dedicated web
solution excludes some citizens from participating as it is not
interoperable and runs only on the non-free software from one vendor. In
absence of any non-electronic option, this means that the state mandates
the use of a certain product from a certain vendor. People who did not
own the copy, had to buy one. A Slovak textile importer deemed that the
state should not force him to use a certain software for its business
and fulfilled its legal obligation by paper. Now the company faces EUR
5600 in fines.
Current FSFE intern Martin Husovec decided this is not just and made it
his internship project to change it: he is working on the case, reading
court files, wrote FSFE's press release[2], and an executive summary of
the EURA case[3]. He is motivated to ensure that no one is forced to use
certain non-free software in Slovakia just to fulfil the law, and will
keep you updated[4].
2. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120509-01.sv.html
3. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120509-02.sv.html
4. http://fsfe.org/news/news.sv.html
== Will the UK be lobbied into the FRAND trap? ==
Free Software could be blocked from the UK's public sector use if the
new policy allow"FRAND" terms[5]within British standards. As recently
revealed by Freedom of Information Requests[6]: Intensive lobbying
efforts have focused on pressuring the Cabinet Office to back down on a
strong definition of Open Standards over the past few months.
5. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/why-frand-is-bad-for-free-software.sv.html
6. http://www.freedomofinformationrequests.co.uk/
FSFE is trying to counter this development. In May the FSFE asked North-
West UK businesses to tell Government that Open Standards matter[7], and
we will continue to work on the case.
7. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120528-01.sv.html
== Democratic elections with non-free software? ==
In France, the FSFE has raised its concerns (French)[8]on the online
voting process implemented for French electors registered abroad. FSFE
strongly criticised the complete lack of precautions, the opacity of the
voting process, and the request to use proprietary software to vote.
8. https://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120525-01.html
== Something completely different ==
- "My cooking can't be a copy of your cooking." Richard Stallman wrote a
new article"Network Services Aren't Free or Nonfree; They Raise Other
Issues"[9].
- This month's Fellowship interview[10]is with Giacomo Poderi, member of
FSFE's general assembly, has worked as a translator and editor for
FSFE, as well as completing a masters degree in Philosophy. Currently
he is working on a Ph.D in sociology, which looks at the user
experience in Free Software Projects, focusing on the turn-based
strategy game "The Battle for Wesnoth".
- According to joinup[11], software written by or for public authorities
and public organisations in the Basque Country will by default be made
available to others as Free Software starting this July.
- What happens with licenses when the licensor gets insolvent? IfrOSS
wrote a proposal (German)[12]about insolvency questions with Free
Software Licenses, which FSFE also supports.
- Open Standards: "How did we get to a point where we will pay for the
'privilege' of having a vendor take our data and lock it up such that
we have to pay them, again and again, to access it?" asks Jake Edge
from LWN in his article"Who owns your data?"[13]. Will you "rebel" at
next year's Document Freedom Day[14]?
- In the lawsuit Oracle vs. Google FSFE's Carlo Piana[15]and FSF's John
Sullivan[16]published articles covering the topic.
- A selection from the Fellowship blog aggregation[17]:Fellowship
representative Nikos Roussos gave a speech[18]about Free Software
solutions that can be used for self-hosted web services.
- Georg Greve does "not believe that Windows is the future of the Free
Software desktop." Sounds obvious? Is it? Here is his blog article"A
bridge leading nowhere: Outlook-centric groupware"[19].
- Clean, playful, wide use in Free Software, out-of-the-boxiness. Fellow
Karl Beecher argues why to choose Python for teaching[20].
- FSFE's vice-president is hacking on Searduino[21], a software to make
it easy to program C/C++ for Arduino. It is also a simulator for
source level Arduino API so it is possible to directly test executable
code without the Arduino board present, and it can even do more.
- Or are you looking for a good configuration for your tiling window
manager? Fellows shared their configuration files for Awesome[22], and
xmonad[23].
- Beside that Hannes Hauswedell wrote about improving e-mail
privacy[24]by removing header information when using GnuPG and
Thunderbird, and
- Isabel Drost explains how to ruin software projects fast and rapidly.
E.g. by referring developers as resources, not not investing in
tooling, or by other suggestions[25].
- Finally, if you have the problem that one of your presentations is
still too long, she also has suggestions how to shorten it[26].
9.
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/network-services-arent-free-or-nonfree.html
10. http://blogs.fsfe.org/fellowship-interviews/?p=590
11.
https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/news/spains-basque-countrys-administration-shar…
12.
http://www.ifross.org/artikel/vorschlag-des-ifross-insolvenzrechtlichen-fra…
13. https://lwn.net/Articles/496418/
14. http://documentfreedom.org
15. http://piana.eu/java-verdict
16.
https://www.fsf.org/news/fsf-statement-on-jurys-partial-verdict-in-oracle-v…
17. http://planet.fsfe.org
18. http://roussos.cc/2012/05/14/liberate-your-cloud-data/
19. http://blogs.fsfe.org/greve/?p=505
20. http://computerfloss.com/2012/05/why-choose-python-for-teaching/
21.
https://sandklef.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/examples-in-manuals-how-to-verify…
22. http://blogs.fsfe.org/h2/2012/05/05/my-awesome-wm-config/
23. http://blogs.fsfe.org/thomaslocke/2012/05/05/my-xmonad-wm-config/
24. http://blogs.fsfe.org/h2/2012/05/12/improving-e-mail-privacy/
25.
http://blog.isabel-drost.de/index.php/archives/389/geecon-failing-software-…
26.
http://blog.isabel-drost.de/index.php/archives/385/presentation-shortening
-
== Get Active: PDFReaders 2.0 – Your help is needed! ==
Our petition[27]is signed by 72 organisations, 57 businesses, and 2327
individuals. The Green party filed an oral request in the European
Parliament[28](5 questions) , and in the German Parliament[29](18
questions with introduction). The German agency for IT security is
recommending pdfreaders.org[30]in their new migration guide and
highlights that you should not advertise for non-free software readers.
And 539 public administrations removed the advertisement for non-free
software, which is a success rate of 25%.
27. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/petition.sv.html
28. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/parliamentary-questions-eu.sv.html
29.
http://gruen-digital.de/2012/03/document-freedom-day-kleine-anfrage-laesst-…
30. http://pdfreaders.org
After long discussions and considerations the PDF readers team is now
preparing a major update to PDFReaders.org, adding: a more appealing and
cleaner front-page, with one recommendation for the auto-detected
platform; free pdf reader recommendations for mobile platforms; and free
pdf browser plugin recommendations.
Please have a look at the current reader overview and the TODOs
there[31], and tell us[32]if you know any other free PDF reader that we
have not listed, and which Android reader you would recommend.
31. https://wiki.fsfe.org/PDFreaders/todo2012/Overview-Page
32. mailto:feedback@pdfreaders.org
Thanks to all the Fellows[33]and donors[34]who enable our work,
33. http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join
34. donate/thankgnus.sv.html
Matthias Kirschner- FSFE
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <http://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <http://fsfe.org/news/news.sv.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <http://fsfe.org/events/events.sv.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <http://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <http://fsfe.org/contact/community.sv.html>
(Hjälp oss att nå ut till människor på deras modersmål. Gå med i vårt
svenska översättningsteam: http://fsfe.org/contribute/translators/.)
= FSFE Newsletter - May 2012 =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201205.sv.html ]
== 54 DFD events and FSFE handcuffed EU Commissioner ==
As you can read and see in this years report[1], Document Freedom Day
2012 was celebrated with 54 events in 23 countries and in 19 world
languages. It was the biggest DFD in history with over 26 talks, over 6
awards for Open Standards, lots of other events and the press coverage
counted almost one hundred articles. FSFE coordinated between all the
different events, awarded several organisation, and in Germany mailed
over 370 and called over 170 politicians about Open Standards[2].
Several of these politicians, from a range of political parties, did
activities for DFD[3]. FSFE also send out 100 information packages
including handcuffs[4]to suggested people including several politicians,
CEOs, and the Pope. EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes used our handcuffs in a
public speech, which resulted in a lot of additional press
coverage[5]including the front page of the Guardian Online. FSFE is
eager to hear more reports of what recipients of the package did with
the handcuffs.
1. http://documentfreedom.org/news/2012/news-20120403-01.html
2. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/def.sv.html
3. http://documentfreedom.org/events/events.html
4. http://documentfreedom.org/handcuffs/index.html
5. http://documentfreedom.org/news/2012/news-20120420-01.html
== May 4th: Day against DRM. Is it their "good right" to restrict us? ==
Last week your editor gave an interview about Digital Restriction
Management (DRM)[6](German). It was about the questions of what DRM is,
why companies introduce DRM, why you have to treat your customer as an
enemy to make DRM work, and which other possibilities exist. When
discussing Free Software, DRM, Antifeatures and other topics you might
often hear from intelligent critical people that it is "the good right"
of producers to control their products. Why do so many people think so?
Would they also accept those restrictions in "the analogue world"? Is it
the good right of a publisher to prohibit that you can read a book out
loud, lend it friends, or sell it? Several times your editor abused
books: last week he used three of them to fix his broken sofa. Would it
be acceptable that the publisher or the author can forbid such use
cases? Do more people accept such restrictions with software and data,
and if so, why? Has the industry with the term "Digital Rights
Management" successfully implied that they have this right, and a lot of
people accept this?
6. http://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=929
The 4th of May is the Day against DRM[7]. While DRM has largely been
defeated in music, it is a growing problem in the area of ebooks. So it
is good news that due to pressure from their readers, Tor/Forge will
drop DRM from ebooks[8]. Discuss the topic with your friends or
colleagues, e.g. send them Richard Stallman's short story"The Right to
Read"[9], and tell us your experience on our public discussion lists
<http://fsfe.org/contact/community.sv.html>or send it directly to your
editor[10].
7. http://dayagainstdrm.org/
8. http://www.defectivebydesign.org/tor-to-drop-drm-on-ebooks
9. https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
10. http://fsfe.org/about/kirschner/kirschner.sv.html
== Free Software topic in the French Presidential elections ==
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that 15 percent[11]of the State's
IT budget is spent on Free Software programming, support, and
maintenance. In future this budget will increase by 30 percent per year.
He said this policy is "strategic for the development of the French IT
sector". His challenger François Hollande even said this policy has to
be intensified.
11.
https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/news/sarkozy-administration-open-source-spendin…
grows-30-percent-annually
Besides that, the French Free Software advocacy group April asked all of
the candidates in the French presidential elections[12]about their
positions on Free Software, software patents[13], DRM[14]and more.
12.
https://www.april.org/en/presidential-elections-2012-and-free-software-some-
answers-some-non-answers-some-dont-answer
13. http://fsfe.org/projects/swpat/swapt.sv.html
14. http://drm.info
It is important to raise awareness for Free Software with your
politicians, and sending them questions is a good start. FSFE is
gathering all such effort in our"Ask Your Candidate" campaign[15]. FSFE
would like to thank April[16]for their good work in France, and
encourages other Free Software supporters in Europe to get in contact
with their politicians. If you have questions how to start such
activities in your country, region, or municipality, please get in
contact with us. By next month you will also have the political parties'
replies to the questions from FSFE for two federal state elections in
Germany.
15. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/askyourcandidates/askyourcandidtes.sv.html
16. http://april.org
== Vendor lock-in costing Helsinki 3.4 million Euros per year? ==
A report on the City of Helsinki's pilot project for the use of
OpenOffice in the public administrations leaves the public with more
questions than answers. The city trialled the Free Software productivity
suite on the laptops of council members for ten months in 2011. The
suite enjoyed high approval rates among its users. When the pilot was
finished, the City produced a report stating that the costs of migrating
the entire administration to OpenOffice would be very high. Read more
about it in the press release[17]and if you are interested in details of
the City of Helsinki's OpenOffice pilot project, and in lessons that may
be drawn from this project, we have published an analysis of the
report[18].
17. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120412-02.sv.html
18. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120412-02.sv.html
== Something completely different ==
- "Replace 'ICT' with 'Sex'": 42 minutes before the deadline our
education team[19]submitted FSFE's position for a consultation on ICT
education[20]to the UK Department of Education. Besides other points
we highlighted the importance of "ICT education", instead of "ICT
training".
- Fellowship Interview: Operating Free Software based servers and
workstations in a pro-privacy web hosting and IT service company,
advocating Free Software since 2001, volunteering for the Freedroidz
project, and more: this months's interview is Bernd Wurst[21].
- The Czech municipality Grygov uses Free Software[22]for nearly
everything in their public administration.
- On the 31st of March, FSFE's UK Fellows have set up a link between the
Green Light (Manchester) and Chorlton's Big Green (Leicester)
festivals. There was a Free Software talk and booth at both events,
and a live link-up which brought environmentalists together via Free
Software.
- Our web team met in Manchester for a web sprint[23]. A variety of
international volunteers worked together to improve website features
and infrastructure. Interested in fixing bugs, or implementing new
functionality to improve our information about Free Software in web
work? Join our web team[24]!
- Computerworld UK published a a good article on software patents[25].
- A selection from the Fellowship blog aggregation[26]:
- Affiliate Userscripts to support FSFE: If you already spend money on
Amazon or libri, you can install a userscript[27]developed by Hannes
Hauswedell and 5% of the money you spend there goes to FSFE to the
struggle for Software Freedom! The userscripts are tested for
Chromium, Firefox, and Iceweasel[28].
- Distributed Free Software: Thomas Jensch wrote an article on how to
setup OwnCould on Hiawatha[29], and Sam Tuke also looked into setting
up a local web development server[30].
- Different experiences than Wikipedia: Hannes Hauswedell from the
PDFreaders[31]team is currently living in China, and wrote about his
technical experiences with the Chinese firewall[32].
- After his hard disk died Patrik Willard wrote about git and
rsync[33]and Isabel Drost also dedicated a blog article to git[34].
19. http://fsfe.org/projects/education/education.sv.html
20. http://blogs.fsfe.org/riepernet/?p=149
21. http://blogs.fsfe.org/fellowship-interviews/?p=573
22.
https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/news/czech-municipality-uses-open-source-nearly-
everything
23. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120402-01.sv.html
24. http://fsfe.org/contribute/web/web.sv.html
25.
http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2012/03/open-standards-
licensing-apples-key-evidence/index.htm
26. http://planet.fsfe.org
27. http://wiki.fsfe.org/SupportPrograms
28. http://blogs.fsfe.org/h2/userscripts/
29. http://blogs.fsfe.org/riepernet/?p=155
30. http://blogs.fsfe.org/samtuke/?p=359
31. http://pdfreaders.org
32.
http://blogs.fsfe.org/h2/2012/04/20/an-inside-view-on-the-great-chinese-fir…
/
33. http://blog.padowi.se/2012/04/22/2012w16/
34. http://blog.isabel-drost.de/index.php/archives/377/second-steps-with-git
== Get Active: FRAND is FRAUD - Participate in UK consultation ==
Busy times in the UK. Besides the consultation on education (see above)
the UK government is holding another one until the 4th of June about
what sort of patent licenses an Open Standard[35]should require. FSFE
and our sister organisation the FSF published a joint statement[36]on
the UK Open Standard consultation, explaining why FRAND conditions for
Open Standards discriminate against Free Software (regular readers might
realise this is an ongoing debate), and recommending the UK government
to abolish software patents to prevent damage to the UK's economy. We
also informed UK Free Software businesses, organisations, and Fellows
about the consultation, prepared draft answers to some of the questions
in the survey[37], held a Summit Meeting of Open Standard experts[38],
and also published a joint statement together with other Open Standard
groups[39].
35. http://fsfe.org/project/os/def.sv.html
36. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120426-01.sv.html
37. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/uk-standards-consultation.sv.html
38. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120425-02.sv.html
39. https://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120425-01.html
There is a website explaining how to participate in the
consultation[40]. Please do so to support the requirement for royalty-
free licenses for Open Standards.
40. http://consultation.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/openstandards/how-to-respond
Thanks to all the Fellows[41]and donors[42]who enable our work,
41. http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join
42. donate/thankgnus.sv.html
Matthias Kirschner- FSFE
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <http://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <http://fsfe.org/news/news.sv.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <http://fsfe.org/events/events.sv.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <http://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <http://fsfe.org/contact/community.sv.html>
= Report of Document Freedom Day 2012 =
[Read online:
http://www.documentfreedom.org/news/2012/news-20120403-01.sv.html]
Document Freedom Day 2012 was a great success! America, Asia, Africa
and Europe celebrated together Open Standards at 54 events. It is
no doubt that DFD is growing and we believe that it will be even more
successful next year. So what about having look at what happened
around the world on 28th of March? And what has the Pope to do with
Open Standards? Read our detailed report to find out.
This year was the most powerful DFD day in the history! And we are
proud to say that. Our DFD team and amazing volunteers managed to
get on board more than 50 local organisers all around the world. One
of the most active countries that deserves our respect is Venezuela
with 10 events in a single country. The Document Freedom Day 2012 was
celebrated in 22 countries and in 19 world languages. Our fifth year
of organising this event got considerable press coverage with
almost one hundred articles. All this was possible thanks to the
support of our two main sponsors, Google and Oracle, and help of
hundreds of volunteers and 38 partners spread in all the corners of
the world.
Full report with additional information and pictures:
http://www.documentfreedom.org/news/2012/news-20120403-01.sv.html
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit
non-governmental organisation active in many European countries and
involved in many global activities. Access to software determines
participation in a digital society. To secure equal participation in
the information age, as well as freedom of competition, the Free
Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is dedicated to the
furthering of Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use, study,
modify and copy. Founded in 2001, creating awareness for these issues,
securing Free Software politically and legally, and giving people
Freedom by supporting development of Free Software are central issues
of the FSFE.
http://fsfe.org/
== About Document Freedom Day ==
Document Freedom Day (DFD) campaigns to celebrate information
accessibility and introduce non-technical audiences to Open Standards.
Open Standards are a basic condition for freedom and choice in
software; ensuring the freedom to access data, and the freedom to
build Free Software to read and write information. Started in 2008,
the campaign has resulted in hundreds of
events worldwide, and this year will take place on March 28th. This
year 28 partners are supporting DFD.
http://documentfreedom.org
Contact: Matthias Kirschner, Free Software Foundation Europe,
Linienstr. 141, 10115 Berlin, t +49-30-27595290, m +49-1577-1780003
= FSFE Newsletter - April 2012 =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201204.sv.html ]
== Let us end all Free Software "projects" quickly! ==
A "project" is always temporary, in the narrow sense of the term. Some
Free Software people use "project" to refer to long lasting initiatives
instead. Your editor also did this, until Bernhard Reiter convinced him
to use different terms for people, the result they create, and temporary
concerted actions. After several people in FSFE encouraged Bernhard to
write down his thoughts, he now published an article arguing[1]: By
adopting the more widespread use of the term project, Free Software
initiatives will be more successful. "Free Software is here to stay,
prepare your mind for this situation.", writes Bernhard.
1.
http://blogs.fsfe.org/bernhard/2012/03/lets-end-all-free-software-projects-…
== Corporate perk or monopolist bribery? ==
Staff in the European Parliament are facing a challenge to their ethics.
A company is offering all of them a gift which could compromise their
independence. The company in question is Microsoft, and the gift is a
bunch of proprietary programs. Through the Parliament's administration,
Microsoft is offering staff (though probably not MEPs) gratis licenses
to Microsoft Office, Project, and Visio. This happens under the so-
called "Home Use Program".
The staff is working on regulations that also effect Microsoft, who is
now making a gift to them. Staff is usually the one who does all the
legwork. They are the one who control access to our MEPs. FSFE asks the
MEPs to tell their staff, and the staff in their groups, not to accept
Microsoft's gift. On the contrary, they should push the administration
into making Free Software tools available that staffers can use to do
their work, and urge the Parliament itself to migrate to Free Software.
Karsten Gerloff wrote about this in his blog[2]and will closeley monitor
how the MEPs and their staff in the European Parliament will react. We
will keep you posted.
2.
http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2012/03/23/corporate-perk-or-monopolist-bribe…
== Help for FSFE from Greece ==
The election period for this year's Fellowship GA seat has ended on
February 29th. To summarise the detailed election results[3]: Our new
Fellowship representative is Nikos Roussos from Greece. He will meet
with other members of FSFE's general assembly[4]in Lisboa at the end of
April, to work on strategic questions for the coming years. Thanks to
Albert Dengg and Gert Seidl who also stood for the Fellowship GA seat,
and who want to continue their great work for FSFE in their area.
3. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120303-01.sv.html
4. http://fsfe.org/about/members.sv.html
== Something completely different ==
- Digital Restriction Management: In his article"Like candy from a baby:
PS Vita takes freedom from new generation"[5], Sam takes the Sony PS
Vita, as an example how owners of devices are restricted in what they
can do with their computers.
- Guido Günther joined the Debian Project while completing his degree
in physics at the University of Konstanz. He helped with development
of Debian for new processor architectures, and co-initiated Debian’s
Groupware Meetings. He also enjoys contributing to the GNOME project,
and advanced Free Software virtualisation technologies. Read more in
the last Fellowship interview[6].
- Ask Your Candidates:[7]in Germany, we asked the usual set of
questions[8]and published the analysis[9]. Compared with the positive
replies in the Berlin election[10], the Saarland election was a
disappointment. Our press release also resulted in discussions[11]if
it is "the good right" of companies to restrict the users.
- Fellow Anna Morris was interviewed by the BBC(Audio, starting at
17:13)[12]about a conference that she is organising in London for
women in Free Software. In just a few minutes she discusses what Free
Software is, what it is like being a woman in the Free Software
movement, and how she first got involved.
- FSFE's volunteers and staff have been quite busy with Document Freedom
Day[13]in the last weeks. We will send out the handcuffs[14]and write
a report what happend all over the world. In the preperation we have
published an article by FSFE co-founder Bernhard Reiter[15]. He
discusses what makes a good data format, and argues that Open
Standards are good, but that we need to push further still. His
central question to data formats is "Can we make it simpler?" The
article is in German, and we are looking for translations[16].
- FSF announced the Free Software Awards[17]. Big thanks from FSFE to
Free Software hacker Yukihiro Matsumoto and GNU Health[18].
- Iceland launched a project[19]to encourage migration of the public
administration to Free Software. Your editor is already looking
forward to a report about this at FSCONS[20]in Gothenburg.
- A selection from the Fellowship planet aggregation[21]:Free Software,
nothing for marketing? And which is the most powerful brand in Free
Software? Timo Jyrinki writes about brands, marketing and technical
details[22].
- Hugo Roy is organising an event at Sciences Po on 6th April[23](in
French). Beside others Lawrence Lessig, author of "Code and other laws
of Cyberspace" will talk about "The Character of Cyberlaw Battles".
- Birgit Hüsken explains how to knit the Fellowship plussy[24].
- Fellow Number 1, Mario Fux, wants to set up a local association[25]in
Randa, Switzerland to keep the local Free Software activities running.
- And Mirko Böhm writes about about managing trust in mixed commercial
and volunteer Free Software communities[26].
5. http://blogs.fsfe.org/samtuke/?p=325
6. http://blogs.fsfe.org/fellowship-interviews/?p=547
7. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/askyourcandidates/askyourcandidates.sv.html
8. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/askyourcandidates/example-questions.sv.html
9. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120322-01.sv.html
10. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120322-01.sv.html
11.
http://netzpolitik.org/2012/saarlandische-piraten-abhangigkeit-und-restrikt…
12. http://download.fsfe.org/audio/20120320-bbc5-interview-anna-morris.ogg
13. http://documentfreedom.org
14. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120321-01.sv.html
15. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/minimalisticstandards.sv.html
16. http://fsfe.org/contribute/translators/translators.sv.html
17. https://www.fsf.org/news/2011-free-software-awards-announced
18. http://health.gnu.org/
19.
https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/news/all-icelands-public-administrations-moving…
20. http://fscons.org
21. http://planet.fsfe.org
22. http://losca.blogspot.de/2012/03/on-brands-marketing-and-technical.html
23. http://blog.hugoroy.eu/2012/03/28/cyberlawconf-avec-lawrence-lessig/
24. http://blogs.fsfe.org/birgit.huesken/?p=122
25. http://blogs.fsfe.org/mario/?p=179
26.
http://www.agile-workers.com/web/2012/03/managing-trust-in-mixed-commercial…
-
== Get Active: Leaflets to free others mobile! ==
Our Free Your Android[27]campaign, got a lot of attention. Beside
preparing his exams, Torsten Grote gave interviews for the German
newspaper"Die Tageszeitung"[28], radio interviews[29], and held a first
installation party for FoeBud e.V.[30]. Also at our booth at Cebit[31],
Chemnitzer Linux-Tage[32], as well as Augsburger Linuxinfotage[33]a lot
of people showed interest in this campaign. We would like to get more
people involved in this campaign. We ask you to promote the campaign
with leaflets and posters in your local Free Software user group, your
hackerspace, company, university, school, or your favourite bar. Please
write an e-mail with a postal address to fellowship[34]
fsfeurope.org[35], and we send you some leaflets and posters to promote
it.
27. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/android/android.sv.html
28. https://www.taz.de/Kampagne-fuer-offene-Mobilsysteme/!90036/
29.
http://on3.de/element/13543/freie-software-fuer-android-handys-weg-mit-den-…
30. http://foebud.de
31. http://blog.romal.de/2012/03/fsfe-cebit-stand-uberlebt.html
32. http://blogs.fsfe.org/birgit.huesken/?p=105
33.
http://blog.schiessle.org/2012/03/26/ruckblick-auf-den-augsburger-linux-inf…
34. mailto:fellowship@fsfeurope.org
35. mailto:fellowship@fsfeurope.org
Thanks to all the Fellows[36]and donors[37]who enable our work,
36. http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join
37. http://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus.sv.html
Matthias Kirschner- FSFE
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <http://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <http://fsfe.org/news/news.sv.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <http://fsfe.org/events/events.sv.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <http://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <http://fsfe.org/contact/community.sv.html>
= Document Freedom Day 2012: Activists around the world celebrate Open Standards =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120328-02.sv.html ]
Free Software advocates worldwide are today celebrating information
accessibility and Open Standards. 48 events in 17 countries are using
demonstrations, talks and workshops to explain why Open Standards[1]and
Free Software are crucial to a free and competitive information society.
1. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/os.sv.html
A network of 34 international partner organisations[2]are carrying this
message to new audiences, from Cairo to Argentina, Poland to Taiwan, and
the European Parliament[3]to Aberystwyth University.
2. http://documentfreedom.org/partners.html
3. http://erikjosefsson.eu/sites/default/files/global_dfd_invite.html
"The growth of support for Document Freedom Day[4]shows growing demand
for accessible formats and unprejudiced standards" says Campaign
Coordinator Matthias Kirschner. "Citizens, businesses, and politicians
alike are calling for adoption of fairer and more compatible
international standards". Prizes are being awarded this year by Document
Freedom Day teams in Germany[5], Italy[6], Slovakia and Poland[7], to
businesses and government offices which have recently adopted Open
Standards within their organisations.
4. http://documentfreedom.org
5. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120328-01.sv.html
6. http://www.dfd-arezzo.tk/
7. http://www.linux.org.pl/news/kontener-na-newsy-i-eventy/document-freedom-%2…
Open Standards are a common language, publicly documented, that computer
programs can speak. They are central to interoperability and freedom of
choice in technology. Open Standards allow Free Software developers to
create programs that can interoperate with other solutions, so users can
migrate away from proprietary solutions.
"Fresh support from celebrities like Stephen Fry[8], and major community
groups such as Open Rights Group have introduced Open Standards to new
groups this year" said Deputy Campaign Coordinator, Sam Tuke. "We are
delighted by the response we have received, and the additional political
impact Document Freedom Day has achieved".
8. http://documentfreedom.org/testimonials.html#quote-fry
Document Freedom Day 2012 is facilitated by the Free Software Foundation
Europe, and supported by campaign patrons[9]Google and Oracle.
9. http://documentfreedom.org/sponsors.en.html
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit
non-governmental organisation active in many European countries and
involved in many global activities. Access to software determines
participation in a digital society. To secure equal participation in
the information age, as well as freedom of competition, the Free
Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is dedicated to the
furthering of Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use, study,
modify and copy. Founded in 2001, creating awareness for these issues,
securing Free Software politically and legally, and giving people
Freedom by supporting development of Free Software are central issues
of the FSFE.
http://fsfe.org/
== About Document Freedom Day ==
Document Freedom Day (DFD) campaigns to celebrate information accessibility
and introduce non-technical audiences to Open Standards. Open Standards are a
basic condition for freedom and choice in software; ensuring the freedom to
access data, and the freedom to build Free Software to read and write
information. Started in 2008, the campaign has resulted in hundreds of events
worldwide, and this year will take place on March 28th. This year 28 partners
are supporting DFD.
http://documentfreedom.org
Contact: Matthias Kirschner, Free Software Foundation Europe,
Linienstr. 141, 10115 Berlin, t +49-30-27595290, m +49-1577-1780003
=== Nortel/Rockstar, Google/Motorola deals create balance of terror on
software patents===
[Read Online: http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120214.01.en.html]
On Monday, the US Department of Justice approved the sale of Nortel's
patent portfolio to a consortium led by Apple and Microsoft. At the same
time, the DOJ and the European Commission allowed Google to buy Motorola
Mobility, thus giving the search company a sizable patent portfolio.
"We appreciate that competition authorities in the US and Europe
continue to take software patents seriously as a risk to competition,"
says Karsten Gerloff, President of the Free Software Foundation Europe.
"However, we believe that the commitments made by Google, Microsoft and
Apple regarding their patent licensing policies are not sufficient to
allow everyone to compete on equal terms."
The terms of those commitments do nothing to ensure that the software
patents in the portfolios in question can be implemented in Free Software.
While Microsoft has said that it will not seek injunctions against
companies using its standard-essential patents, this policy merely
restates the commitments Microsoft has already made to standards
organisations. Microsoft will only license its patents on so-called
"RAND" terms (short for "reasonable and non-discriminatory"). These
typically require the company that implements the patents to pay a
licensing fee per unit.
Despite their name, such conditions are largely incompatible with Free
Software based on Open Standards [1], standards which can be implemented
by anyone in any business or software model. This means that Microsoft
remains free to use its patents to block or harm some of its most
important Free Software competitors, such as the GNU/Linux operating
system and the LibreOffice productivity suite.
"By greenlighting both the Google and Nortel transactions, the DOJ has
merely created a balance of terror where patents are concerned," says
Gerloff. "Small companies and individual software developers don't have
the deep pockets required to play the patent litigation game. They will
suffer as a result of this deal, along with the shareholders of Google,
Microsoft and Apple. When elephants dance, the smaller wildlife gets
crushed."
FSFE submitted a comprehensive statement of concern to the US Department
of Justice in September 2011. [2]
Links:
[1] http://fsfe.org/projects/os/def.html
[2] http://fsfe.org/projects/swpat/nortel.en.html
== Contact: ==
Karsten Gerloff
President of the Free Software Foundation Europe
E-Mail: gerloff AT fsfe DOT org
Phone: +49 176 9690 4298
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit
non-governmental organisation active in many European countries and
involved in many global activities. Access to software determines
participation in a digital society. To secure equal participation in
the information age, as well as freedom of competition, the Free
Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is dedicated to the
furthering of Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use, study,
modify and copy. Founded in 2001, creating awareness for these issues,
securing Free Software politically and legally, and giving people
Freedom by supporting development of Free Software are central issues
of the FSFE.
http://fsfe.org/
FSFE Newsletter - February 2012
Reclaim your smartphone!
Smartphones are small computers that we carry around all the time.
Unfortunately, most smartphones are not controlled by us, the users,
but by the manufacturers and the operators. Even Android phones are
being shipped with non-free software and proprietary add-ons that
usually do not work in the full interest of us. Software updates will
only keep to be available if the manufacturer still has a commercial
interest in your device. The applications available from the official
market are most of the time non-free. Nobody is allowed to study how
they work and what they really do on your phone. Sometimes they do
not work exactly as you want, but sometimes they might even contain
malicious features.
Running only Free Software on your device puts you in full control.
Even though you might not be able to directly exercise all of your
freedoms, you will benefit from a vibrant community that can do it
together.
FSFE [1]is collecting information about running an Android system as
free as possible. We try to coordinate the different efforts, but we
need your help with it. Join our mailing list, update the wiki and
thereby enable more people to use Free Software on their everyday
computers.
Lesson 1: Learn how to programme!
Our [2]education team has done [3]solid work in 2011, including our
[4]NL edu campaign. Free Software permits children to learn how
software works and thus to understand the concepts underlying a whole
category or type of software. They are then prepared to adapt to any
environment, which is a key skill nowadays. In addition, we believe
that the possibility to tinker does motivate children easily to learn
autonomously. Finally, Free Software allows them to understand
computers in a more depth.
Sam Tuke was [5]asked by the BBC to comment about suggestions that the
British Government may add basic programming skills to the national
curriculum, and whether this would have a political impact on society
in terms of how we interact with technology. The education team will
have a brief meeting at the upcoming FOSDEM, at the 4th and 5th of
February. You are welcome to join.
Already plans for 28th of March?
Open Standards make it easier for individuals, companies and the public
administration to switch to Free Software. The goal of the[6]Document
Freedom Day is to raise awareness for Open Standards so people have
more freedom. This year your editor is in charge of DFD and he will
bluntly promote it in this and upcoming newsletters. At the moment,
please save the date 28th of March, [7]send our country teams
nominations for the Document Freedom Award, help us to gather
information for our [8]Standards Quartet, find [9]street artists to
promote the idea of Open Standards, and [10]contact the DFD team if you
want to [11]become a supporting organisation.
Something completely different
* Time to vote: The [12]2012 Fellowship election is running until the
end of February. As Fellow you can decide between [13]Albert Dengg,
Gert Seidl, and Nikos Roussos. On 22nd February we plan to have a
chat meeting with the candidates.
* Slovak Copyright Act: [14]FSFE intern Martin Husovec [15]sent
letters to four members of Slovak Parliament that proposed a highly
awaited amendment, but later faced its dismissal due to preliminary
elections.
* Heiki Ojasild joined the Free Software Foundation Europe in 2011,
undertaking the task of translating fsfe.org into Estonian. He is
currently developing an XChat add-on, a website for free SVG and
JavaScript games, and asked [16]Estonian politicians questions
about Free Software. Read more in [17]this month's Fellowship
interview about copyright, Digital Restrictions Management,
kopimism, and activism.
* Richard Stallman's new article [18]"Measures Governments Can Use to
Promote Free Software" is out.
* Two new editions of the [19]legal news cover the US Supreme Court
decision on copyright extension, patent inflation, the[20]release
of the Mozilla Public License version 2.0 which is GNU
GPL-compatible, and more.
* During the January 18th protest against SOPA, we blacked out our
website joining other organisations to protect the Internet.
* Here a selection from the [21]Fellowship planet aggregation:
+ The new FSFE Fellowship blog theme — a name, a first
version. [22]Presenting: Pome 1.0.
+ Interested why Thomas Koch suggests you should [23]stop coding
for money?
+ You should demand Free Software in a business context became
it [24]makes sense and saves a lot of money, says Jelle
Hermsen.
+ [25]Fellow No1 tells us how much 57 persons in Rwanda can eat
while hacking on Free Software
+ What is the "web trap"? [26]Heiki Ojasild argued to treat
HTML, SVG and CSS as tools that should be as accessible to
everyone as software in general should be.
+ And a nice hardware hack: [27]Computer startup aid using a
LEGO train.
Get active: More love reports instead of bug reports!
Let us admit it, the Free Software community is often very critical. We
write bug reports, tell others how they can improve the software, ask
them for new features, and to not spare with criticism. Sometimes we
forget to say "thank you, for all your work". As in the last years, we
want to change this, at least for one day. So on Tuesday the 14th of
February we will celebrate the [28]"I love Free Software" - Day.
Get active, buy your favourite developer a drink or give them a hug
(ask for permission first), write an [29]e-mail/letter expressing your
feelings, create nice pictures, donate to a Free Software initiative,
use another [30]of our suggestions or be create yourself to show how
you appreciate people, working hard to enlarge or defend our freedom.
Beside that help us to promote the activity with [31]our banners, by
e-mail, (micro)blog or in your (distributed?) social networks.
New this year is a [32]whole day event in the Unperfekthaus in Essen
(Germany) and that all our Fellows automatically get an
login(a)ilovefs.org e-mail alias.
Thanks to all the [33]Fellows and [34]donors who enable our work,
[35]Matthias Kirschner - [36]FSFE
References
1. http://wiki.fsfe.org/Android
2. http://fsfe.org/projects/education/education.html
3. http://blogs.fsfe.org/guido/2012/01/edu-team-2011-summary/
4. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/nledu/nledu.html
5. http://blogs.fsfe.org/samtuke/?p=255
6. http://documentfreedom.org/
7. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120110-02.html
8. http://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=881
9. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120130-01.html
10. http://documentfreedom.org/contact.html
11. http://documentfreedom.org/news/2012/news-20120127-01.html
12. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120131-01.html
13. http://wiki.fsfe.org/FellowshipElection_2012
14. http://fsfe.org/contribute/internship.html
15. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120110-01.html
16.
http://blogs.fsfe.org/repentinus/english/2012/01/10/estonian-political-land…
17. http://blogs.fsfe.org/fellowship-interviews/?p=521
18. http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/government-free-software.html
19. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120126-01.html
20. http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/mpl-2.0-release
21. http://planet.fsfe.org/
22.
http://blogs.fsfe.org/marklindhout/2012/01/the-fsfe-blog-theme-%E2%80%94-a-…
23.
http://koch.ro/blog/index.php?/archives/154-Stop-coding-for-money.html
24.
http://blogs.fsfe.org/jelle/2012/01/09/demanding-free-software-in-a-busines…
25. http://blogs.fsfe.org/mario/?p=167
26. http://blogs.fsfe.org/repentinus/english/2012/01/04/the-web-trap/
27.
http://fl0rian.wordpress.com/2012/01/06/computer-startup-aid-using-a-lego-t…
28. http://ilovefs.org/
29.
http://blogs.fsfe.org/thomaslocke/2012/01/18/why-i-love-free-and-open-sourc…
30. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/ilovefs/2012/ilovefs.html
31. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/ilovefs/2012/banners.html
32. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/ilovefs/2012/unperfekthaus.html
33. http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join
34. http://fsfe.org/home/alessandro/Documents/donate/thankgnus.html
35. http://fsfe.org/about/kirschner
36. http://www.fsfe.org/
37. http://fsfe.org/index.html
38. http://fsfe.org/news/news.rss
39. http://fsfe.org/events/events.rss
40. http://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml
41. http://fsfe.org/contact/community.html
= Svensk aktivist erhåller Nordic Free Software Award 2011 =
[ http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20111114-01.sv.html ]
Erik Josefsson är mottagare av the Nordic Free Software Award 2011. Med
utmärkelsen uppmärksammar Föreningen Fri Kultur och Programvara (FFKP)
Josefsson för hans insatser i kampanjen för frihet i
infomationssamhället.
"Det är en glädje för oss att få uppmärksamma Erik för det oerhört
viktiga arbete han har utfört under de senaste 10 åren", säger FFKP:s
vice direktör Jonas Öberg. "Erik har en exceptionell förmåga att förstå
och förklara sambandet mellan teknik och politik. Vi är oerhört
tacksamma för hans insats. Hans arbete inspirerar oss alla."
Från en karriär som professionell basviolinist har Josefsson gradvis
gått över till att bli heltidsaktivist för frihet i
informationssamhället. Han grundade den svenska grenen av Föreningen för
en Fri Informationsinfrastruktur (FFII) år 2004. Året därefter listades
han som en av Sveriges 30 främsta makthavare inom teknik, i samband med
den stora debatten om patent på mjukvara inom EU. Josefsson räknas som
en av de främsta försvararna av fri programvara i Europa.
Som aktivist i Bryssel 2005, hade Josefsson en nyckelroll i att få
EU-parlamentet att förkasta förslaget till direktiv om patent på
programvara. I fjol hade han en lika viktig roll i att förhindra
lagstiftning som skulle stänga av människor från Internet utan
föregående juridisk prövning. För närvarande bekämpar han en
ratificering av ACTA-fördraget. [1]
Josefsson är för närvarande anställd av den Gröna gruppen i
EU-parlamentet, som rådgivare i internetfrågor. Han arbetar på att bygga
upp verktyg, som t.ex. ParlTrack [2], som gör parlamentets arbete mer
transparent för unionens medborgare. "Det är en källa till verklig
makt", says Henrik Sandklef, vice ordförande i Free Software Foundation
Europe (FSFE) [3]. "Att förstå hur parlamentet arbetar och kunna påverka
vid rätt tid i processen är oerhört viktigt om rörelsen för fri
programvara ska få något inflytande alls. Erik är oerhört duktig på att
förklara filosofin bakom fri programvara för politiker, och på att
hjälpa frihetsaktivister att förstå maktstrukturen inom EU."
Varje år sedan 2007 har FFKP [4] delat ut Nordic Free Software Award för att
uppmärksamma och belöna personer, projekt och organisationer i de
Nordiska länderna, som har gjort betydande bidrag till framsteg inom Fri
Programvara. Tidigare mottagre har varit Bjarní Runar Einarsson (2010),
Simon Josefsson och Daniel Stenberg (2009), Mats Östling (2008), samt
Skolelinuxprojektet (2007).
1. http://en.act-on-acta.eu/
2. http://parltrack.euwiki.org/
3. http://fsfe.org
4. http://ffkp.se
== Press contact ==
Jonas Öberg
Executive Director, FFKP
Email: jonas(a)ffkp.se
Phone: +46 31 780 21 61
= Om Free Software Europe =
Free Software Foundation Europe (FSF Europe) är en icke-statligt
organisation hängiven alla aspekter inom Fri Programvara i Europa.
Tillgång till programvara bestämmer vem som får delta i ett digitalt
samhälle. Friheterna att använda, kopiera, modifiera och
vidaredistribuera programvara - som beskrivs i definitionen av Fri
Programvara - gör att all kan deltaga på lika villkor i
informationsåldern. Att skapa medvetenhet kring dessa frågor, att
säkerställa Fri Programvara politiskt och juridiskt samt att ge
människor frihet genom att stödja utvecklingen av Fri Programvara är
centrala frågor för FSF Europe, vilken grundades 2001 som den
europeiska systerorganisationen till Free Software Foundation i USA.
http://www.fsfe.org/
= Swedish activist receives Nordic Free Software Award 2011 =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20111114-01.en.html ]
Erik Josefsson is the winner of the Nordic Free Software Award 2011.
With the award, the Swedish Foundation for Free Culture and Free
Software (FFKP) honours Josefsson for his achievements as a campaigner
for freedom in the information society.
"We are proud to honour Erik for the tremendously important work he has
done over the past ten years", says FFKP [1] Executive Director Jonas
Öberg. "Erik has an exceptional ability to understand and explain the
link between policy and technology. We are hugely grateful for his work.
He is an inspiration to all of us."
From a career as a professional double-bass player, Josefsson gradually
moved to full-time activism for freedom in the information society. He
founded the Swedish Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure
(FFII Sweden) in 2004. Listed among Sweden's 30 most influential people
during the European debate about software patents in 2005, Josefsson is
among Europe's foremost defenders of software freedom.
As an activist in Brussels, Josefsson was instrumental in getting the
European Parliament to reject the Software Patent Directive in 2005.
More recently, he prevented the EU from passing a law to cut off
people's Internet access without due process, and is currently
campaigning against ACTA. [1]
Josefsson currently works as an adviser on Internet policies for the
Green/EFA Group in the European Parliament. He is busy building tools
such as ParlTrack [2] that make the Parliament's processes transparent
to citizens. "This information holds real power", says Henrik Sandklef,
Vice President of the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE). [3]
"Understanding how the Parliament works is very important for the Free
Software movement. Erik does a great job of explaining software freedom
to politicians, and helping freedom campaigners to understand Europe's
power structure."
Every year since 2007, FFKP [4] has used the Nordic Free Software Award
to honour people, projects and organisations in the Nordic countries
that have made a prominent contribution to the advancement of Free
Software. Previous winners of the award are Bjarní Runar Einarsson
(2010), Simon Josefsson and Daniel Stenberg (2009), Mats Östling (2008),
and the Skolelinux project (2007).
1. http://en.act-on-acta.eu/
2. http://parltrack.euwiki.org/
3. http://fsfe.org
4. http://ffkp.se
== Press contact ==
Jonas Öberg
Executive Director, FFKP
Email: jonas(a)ffkp.se
Phone: +46 31 780 21 61
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit
non-governmental organisation active in many European countries and
involved in many global activities. Access to software determines
participation in a digital society. To secure equal participation in
the information age, as well as freedom of competition, the Free
Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is dedicated to the
furthering of Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use, study,
modify and copy. Founded in 2001, creating awareness for these issues,
securing Free Software politically and legally, and giving people
Freedom by supporting development of Free Software are central issues
of the FSFE.
http://fsfe.org/