(Hjälp oss att nå ut till människor på deras modersmål. Gå med i vårt
svenska
översättningsteam: http://fsfe.org/contribute/translators/.)
= FSFE Newsletter - March 2011 =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201103.sv.html ]
== Revolution failed: Facebook not available in Egypt ==
"On 27th January facebook was shut down in Egypt. For the moment this
stopped the protests. Media assumes that this is due to the influence of
Mubarak's granddaughter who is Mark Zuckerberg's girl-friend." Of course
this is not true. But with software which is controlled by one company,
something like this can happen. What if the owner of the social network
would have been an Egypt company? Would this company have been able to
resist state pressure?
For a long time dedicated people have been working on decentralised Free
Software solutions, to make sure there is no vulnerable single point of
control. We as citiziens should be in control of our tools, and as most of
those tools today are comprised of software we do need decentralised
software. That's why FSFE organised a related track at FSCONS[1] , and
our staff as well as dedicated volunteers like Torsten Grote gather
information[2] , give talks[3] or interviews[4] .
1. http://www.fscons.org/divide
2. http://wiki.fsfe.org/CloudComputing
3. http://wiki.fsfe.org/CloudComputing#Video
4. http://wiki.fsfe.org/CloudComputing#Audio
Karsten Gerloff gave a talk on "Power Software Freedom"[5] (there is a
good summary by Brian Gough[6] ) at FOSDEM this month, and one of the
event's keynotes "Why Political Liberty Depends on Software Freedom More
Than Ever"[7] by Eben Moglen targetted this topic as well, especially the
so-called "Freedom Box"[8] which started to receive good media coverage
in turn, and will hopefully push this topic even further.
5.
http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2011/02/05/fosdem-talk-on-power-software-free…
6.
http://blogs.fsfe.org/bjg/2011/02/decentralised-systems-and-the-tendency-to…
7. http://mirrors.dotsrc.org/fosdem/2011/maintracks/political.xvid.avi
8. http://wiki.fsfe.org/CloudComputing#Freedom_Boxes
== Lawyered! - FSFE's legal workshop ==
More than 75 lawyers, for 2 days, in 1 room -- and all of this organised
by the FSFE. What is it about? We do this to ensure that the best possible
legal knowledge about Free Software is shared between everyone, no matter
whether individuals, businesses or initiatives.
As part of this, FSFE facilitates an annual event called European Legal
Network Conference[9] to allow legal experts to discuss the future of
Free Software law and governance. This has become the world's premier
event for debating, discussing and sharing knowledge around Free Software
legal affairs.
9. http://fsfe.org/projects/ftf/legal-conference.sv.html
This year it will be held at the NH Barbizon Palace, Amsterdam, between
the 7th and 8th of April, and will feature speakers like Carlo Piana from
FSFE, Mark Shuttleworth from Canonical, Eben Moglen from SFLC, and Harald
Welte from gpl-violations.org.
== Something completely different ==
- Leaked documents highlight Germany's Foreign Office move back to non-
free software: This move is intransparent, and the more we find out the
more questions we have. See
- Foreign Office: Will it switch off the Free Software beacon?[10]
- Leaked Documents: Change of strategy in the Foreign Office against
recommodations.[11]
- "One study after the other"[12] . Interview from the German Newspaper TAZ
with your editor
- Without Free Software in the Foreign Office[13] - Dradio interview with
Bernhard Reiter.
10. http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110202-02.sv.html
11. http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release-de/2011q1/000182.html
12.
http://www.taz.de/1/netz/netzoekonomie/artikel/1/eine-studie-nach-der-ander…
13.
http://ondemand-mp3.dradio.de/file/dradio/2011/02/28/drw_201102281034_netzp…
- "Love love love": The Beatles sing about it, we wanted to have some for
Free Software activists at Valentine's Day. As last year we run a
campaign animating people to show their love for Free Software[14] . See
Maëlle's blog post for this years summary[15] and mark February 14th for
2012.
- Fellowship Interview with Italy's PDFreaders heart[16] : While your
editor can inform more people about our our pdfreaders campaign[17] like
in a FOSDEM talk[18] this campaign would not be such successfull without
many dedicated volunteers. This month Fellowship interview is with
Massimo Babieri, IT manager at the Earth Science Department, of the
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, leader of the band The
Radiostars, and "Mr PDFreader" in Italy.
- What happens with your code "when you’re no longer coding. When your
uplink is permanently disconnected. When you’re dead." Armijn Hemmel
wrote an article why the Fiduciary Licence Agreement is an important
tool][19] .
- New editions of Matija Suklje's "Free Software and law related links"
are available for 29.1.-4.2.2011[20] , 5.2.-11.2.2011[21] , and
12.2.-18.2.2011[22] .
- At GoOpen 2011[23] the 22-23rd of March in Oslo, Norway, the Swedish
FSFE team is helping to organise a special FSCONS[24] track. The track
takes some inspiration from previous FSCONS conferences in Sweden and
introduces speakers on Free Software and Free Society.
14. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/valentine/2011/valentine-2011.sv.html
15. http://blogs.fsfe.org/maelle/?p=228
16. http://blogs.fsfe.org/fellowship-interviews/?p=257
17. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/pdfreaders.sv.html
18. http://blog.isabel-drost.de/index.php/archives/310/fosdem-saturday
19. http://blogs.fsfe.org/adridg/?p=1094
20. http://matija.suklje.name/?q=node/226
21. http://matija.suklje.name/?q=node/228
22. http://matija.suklje.name/?q=node/230
23. http://www.goopen.no/program/
24. http://www.fscons.org
== Get active - Activities for Document Freedom ==
Document Freedom Day (DFD)[25] is a global day for document liberation.
March 30th will be a day of grassroots effort to educate the public about
the importance of Free Document Formats and Open Standards[26] in general.
This is how you can help:
25. http://www.documentfreedom.org
26. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/os.sv.html
- Join and help a team![27]
- Blog about it, and link to our campaign!
- Donate money to DFD![28]
- Sponsor the campaign![29]
- Put a banner on your website with our Artwork"[30]
- Use !dfd group on Identi.ca and #dfd2011 tag on Identi.ca and Twitter
27. http://documentfreedom.org/2011/teams.en.html
28. http://documentfreedom.org/2011/support.en.html
29. http://documentfreedom.org/2011/sponsors.en.html
30. http://documentfreedom.org/2011/artwork.en.html
Regards,
Matthias Kirschner - FSFE
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <http://www.fsfe.org>
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Upcoming FSFE Events <http://fsfe.org/events/events.sv.rss>
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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/.)
= Declare your love for Free Software! =
[Permanent URL: http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110214-01.sv.html ]
Why not make this February 14th a very special Valentine's Day? On
Valentine's Day, FSFE calls on Free Software users everywhere to show
their love for Free Software[1] . It is the perfect occasion to show our
love for Free Software and the possibility to use computers in freedom.
On its campaign page[2] , FSFE suggests what users can do to show that
they appreciate Free Software. Simply sending a developer a mail to say
“Thank you”, taking a picture illustrating one's love for Free
Software, declaring your love by microblog[3] with the tag #ilovefs or
donating to a Free Software project[4] is all among the options.
Behind every Free Software initiative and organisation are real,
passionate hard-working people. Just for one day, on Valentine's Day, FSFE
invites all Free Software advocates around the world to send a thank you
message to the people that work to make Free Software happen.
"Without Free Software, there would be no KDE. Free Software gives KDE
life. KDE loves Free Software" declared Cornelius Schumacher, President of
the KDE e.V. "No Free Culture project would be able to enjoy the full
freedoms without the infrastructure created by Free Software
projects[…]. To everyone engaged in supporting this infrastructure:
thank you! We love you!", adds Jonas Öberg of the Society for Free
Culture and Software (Föreningen fri kultur och programvara)[5]
You can see what people have posted so far: http://identi.ca/ilovefs[6].
Add your own declaration there !
1. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/valentine/2011/valentine-2011.html
2. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/valentine/2011/valentine-2011.html
3. http://identi.ca/
4. https://wiki.fsfe.org/DonateToFreeSoftwareProjects
5. http://www.ffkp.se/
6. http://identi.ca/tag/ilovefs
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <http://www.fsfe.org>
FSFE News <http://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <http://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
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Free Software Discussions <http://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
(Hjälp oss att nå ut till människor på deras modersmål. Gå med i vårt
svenska
översättningsteam: http://fsfe.org/contribute/translators/.)
= European Patent: FSFE urges European Parliament to wait for legal advice =
[Permanent URL: http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110209-01.sv.html ]
Free Software Foundation Europe is asking the Members of the European
Parliament to wait for legal advice before voting on a unitary patent for
Europe. While a proposal is on the Parliament's agenda for the coming
week, a legal opinion by the European Court of Justice is expected later
this month.
"Software patents hurt innovation and are an unnecessary burden on
European software developers," says Karsten Gerloff, President of the Free
Software Foundation Europe. "Legislators need to take charge and make sure
the patent system contributes to the public good. As the European Patent
Organisation has acknowledged, this is a decision that cannot be left to
bureaucrats and the judiciary."
FSFE is concerned that the European Parliament will lose legislative
competence regarding patents, which will then be controlled by the
European Patent Organisation. This clearly creates a conflict of interest,
as the EPO will be responsible both for awarding patents and for defining
what is patentable. The EPO's expansionist record in this regard gives
cause to worry that this will lead to software patents being validated.
The European Court of Justice is expected to publish its opinion about the
proposed "enhanced cooperation" of EU member states towards creating a
single patent system for Europe. Documents published so far indicate that
the Court will find the proposal in conflict with the EU treaties.
Resolving these will require fundamental changes to the proposal. The
Parliament's vote should take place after these changes so that the
Parliament can review the actual proposal.
FSFE hopes that the vote will be delayed until the Parliament can read the
Court of Justice's opinion and has had time to analyse this proposal.
== Contacts ==
Free Software Foundation Europe
E-Mail: press at fsfeurope.org
Karsten Gerloff, President
+49-176-96904298
More contact information[1]
1. http://fsfe.org/contact/
== 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 issue of the FSFE.
Regards,
Karsten Gerloff - FSFE
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <http://www.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/sv/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <http://fsfe.org/contact/community.sv.html>
(Hjälp oss att nå ut till människor i deras modersmål. Gå med i vårt svenska
översättningsteam: http://fsfe.org/contribute/translators/.)
= Frihet att läsa, frihet att skriva: fira Document Freedom Day 2011 =
[Permanent URL: http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110202-01.sv.html ]
Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) bjuder in individer,
intressegrupper och institutioner att fira Document Freedom Day (DFD) den
30 mars. DFD är en internationell dag tillägnad firandet av Öppna
Standarder, öppna dokumentformat och deras betydelse. Öppna Standarder
garanterar dig tillgång till din data. De ger dig också friheten att
utveckla Fri Programvara som kan skriva och läsa data i specifika format.
Du kan delta genom att organisera aktiviteter i din hemstad. Dela ut
flygblad, ordna föreläsningar, lägga till en banner på din blogg,
donera pengar: det finns många sätt för dig att hjälpa till med att
sprida kunskap om Öppna Standarder.
Vår önskan är att åtminstone 25 städer ska delta i Document Freedom
Day 2011. Hjälp oss göra detta evenemang till en internationell succé!
För mer information om Document Freedom Day, kan du gå hit:
documentfreedom.org[1] .
1. http://documentfreedom.org
Här kan du läsa om hur du kan engagera dig[2] .
2. http://documentfreedom.org/2011/getinvolved.en.html
== Varför behöver vi Document Freedom Day? ==
En ständigt växande del av vår kommunikation flyttas över till den
digitala världen. I det digitala samhället är det Öppna Standarder och
öppna dokumentformat som ger oss friheten att läsa och skriva. De är
nödvändiga för att vi ska ha möjligheten att utväxla information,
förbli oberoende gentemot programvaruleverantörer och för att
försäkra oss om långsiktig tillgång till vår egen data. Öppna
Standarder försäkrar oss också om möjligheten att kommunicera och
arbeta med hjälp av Fri Programvara.
== Vad är Öppna Standarder? ==
Öppna Standarder är ett gemensamt språk som alla datorer kan tala. De
gör det möjligt för oss att arbeta och kommunicera med hjälp av Fri
Programvara. Öppna Standarder gör det möjligt för utvecklare att
skriva Fri Programvaru-applikationer som är kompatibla med andra
lösningar och låter användare migrera till Fri Programvaru-lösningar
utan att förlora tillgång till sin data.
== Vad är evenemangets mål? ==
Meningen med evenemanget är att föra ut budskapet om Öppna Standarder
och dokumentformat till de grupper i samhället som saknar fördjupad
teknisk kunskap. Öppna Standarder är en grundläggande förutsättning
för valfrihet bland programvara. Document Freedom Days syfte är att
verka för ökad medvetenhet om Öppna Standarder och att ge oss alla
möjligheten att medverka till ett bättre informationssamhälle. Det är
lätt och roligt att delta i firandet av Document Freedom Day, både som
grupp och som individ.
Document Freedom Day koordineras av Free Software Foundation Europe[3] .
3. http://fsfe.org
== Kontakter ==
Fernanda Weiden
DFD Campaign Coordinator
Vice President, Free
Software Foundation Europe
Email: weiden - at - fsfeurope - dot -
org
Tel. +41 76 402 1866
Loimar Vianna
DFD Campaign PR Coordinator
Email: vianna - at -
fsfeurope - dot - org
Tel. +353 86 234 1911
Karsten Gerloff
President, Free Software Foundation Europe
Email: gerloff - at - fsfeurope - dot – org
Tel. +49 176 9690
4298
Regards,
Fernanda Weiden - FSFE
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <http://www.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.sv.rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <http://fsfe.org/contact/community.sv.html>
(Hjälp oss att nå ut till människor i deras modersmål. Gå med i vårt
svenska
översättningsteam: http://fsfe.org/contribute/translators/.)
= FSFE Newsletter - January 2011 =
[Permanent URL: http://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201101.sv.html ]
== Robots, Football, and Education ==
Their mission is to bring Free Software into schools and universities.
Their new task is to gather information about [1]their stakeholders,
and [2]create targeted leaflets. And I am sure the favourite colour of
the coordinators [3]Thomas Jensch and [4]Guido Arnold is [5]Fellowship
green. That's [6]our education team.
Can robots help with that? We think they can. Our education team had
[7]a first meeting to get trained in giving programming workshops
using freedroidz robots. We want to teach pupils how to program, show
them that it's good to share and co-operate, and explain Free Software
to their teachers, parents, and politicians.
And what about football? Regular readers might remember that Guido
Arnold is running a parallel tournament to the football championship
in Europe 2012 where the discipline is Free Software usage in
government. So every time there is a football match, Guido starts a
Free Software match between them, while a huge part is of course the
government's education policy. Read [8]Guido's blog to find out why
Russia is a hot candidate for the European champion, but why we need
more information on Eastern European countries.
== Public institutions - hares or snails? ==
Already, 203 public institutions have removed advertisements for
proprietary PDF readers from their websites. Particularly outstanding
were the responses from Croatia, Russia and Slovenia. In Croatia all
except one reported institution deleted the advertisement. Half of
those contacted in Russia and Slovenia fulfilled FSFE's request.
Amongst the public institutions are ministries, parliaments, law
enforcement agencies, local governments, and other administrations.
With [9]our PDFreaders campaign we will continue to follow-up with the
[10]reported institutions and you can still encourage friends [11]to
sign the corresponding petition.
== Something completely different ==
- You think your old C64 was slow? Working on the United Nations
level will change your mind. Karsten Gerloff wrote an article
about FSFE's UN work: [12]"WIPO CDIP/6: Moving the glacier".
- Open Standards in Europe: The European Commission published the
new version of the European Interoperability Framework (EIF). We
at FSFE have been [13]working on this document for a long time.
Read [14]our press release and an [15]article by Karsten assessing
the new EIF.
- Current developments at Nokia, the transformative power of Free
Software, and the potential dangers posed by the use of Free
Software by large organisations. Those are the topics of the
[16]current Fellowship interview with Alexander Kahl, Fedora
packager, Lisp, JavaScript and Perl programmer, and active FSFE
volunteer.
- While Torsten Grote [17]gave a radio interview (German) about
risks of cloud computing and chances of distributed Free Software,
Björn Schiessle [18]writes about how he wants to install
distributed software at home.
== Get active: Help with Euro 2012 championship ==
Help us gathering information about government's Free Software usage.
This information helps us to evaluate the current situation and of
course it will decide who will be the European Free Software champion
in 2012. [19]Add the information on our website before March 25 and it
will influence the next matches, add information continuously and it
will help Free Software activists all over the world.
Regards,
Matthias Kirschner - FSFE
1. http://wiki.fsfe.org/Education#stakeholders
2. http://fsfe.org/about/printable/printable.sv.html
3. http://blogs.fsfe.org/riepernet/
4. http://blogs.fsfe.org/guido
5. http://fellowship.fsfe.org/
6. http://fsfe.org/projects/education/education.sv.html
7. http://blogs.fsfe.org/guido/2010/12/freedroidz-workshop-with-tarent/
8. http://blogs.fsfe.org/guido/category/euro2012/
9. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/pdfreaders.sv.html
10. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/buglist.sv.html
11. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/petition.sv.html
12. http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/?p=434
13. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/eifv2.sv.html
14. http://fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20101216-01.sv.html
15.
http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2010/12/17/assessing-the-new-european-interop…
16. http://blogs.fsfe.org/fellowship-interviews/?p=198
17. http://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=698
18. http://blog.schiessle.org/2010/12/19/a-new-toy-arrived/
19. http://wiki.fsfe.org/Free_Software_usage_in_public_administration
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Free Software Discussions <http://fsfe.org/contact/community.sv.html>
= 172 public institutions removed non-free advertisement =
[permanent URL: www.fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20101217-01.en.html]
Only one month after the letters for the PDFreaders campaign of FSFE
were sent, 172 public institutions have removed advertisements for
proprietary PDF readers from their websites. Particularly outstanding
were the responses from Croatia [1], Russia [2] and Slovenia [3]. In
Croatia almost all reported institutions deleted the advertisement. Half
of those contacted in Russia and Slovenia fulfilled FSFE's
request.
"Several institutions replied stating that they agree with our concerns
[4], and that they will modify their websites", said campaign manager
Matthias Kirschner. Amongst those are a number of ministries,
parliaments, law enforcement agencies, and the Belgian Prime Minister's
chancellery.
Campaigns like this are made possible by a community of volunteers [5],
and financial supporters [6]. FSFE is following-up with the remaining
organisations [7] in order to get the remaining advertisements
removed.
1. http://www.fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/buglist.html#HR
2. http://www.fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/buglist.html#RU
3. http://www.fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/buglist.html#SI
4. http://www.fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/letter.html
5. http://www.fsfe.org/contribute/index.html
6. http://www.fsfe.org/donate/donate.html
7. http://www.fsfe.or/campaigns/pdfreaders/buglist.html
= About the PDFreaders campaign =
What would you think about a sign on the highway saying “You need a
Volkswagen to drive on this road. Contact your Volkswagen dealer for
a gratis test drive – Your Government”? When it comes to software
that opens PDF files, many public sector organisations do this every
day. With the pdfreaders.org campaign FSFE has turned the spotlight
on government organisations who behave in this way, exposing how
frequent such advertisements for non-free software are. With the help
of activists across Europe, FSFE is contacting these organisations to
explain them how to improve their websites so that they respect our
freedom.
http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/pdfreaders.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/
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <http://www.fsfe.org>
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Upcoming FSFE Events <http://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <http://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <http://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
= FSFE welcomes revised European Interoperability Framework =
[permanent URL: www.fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20101216-01.en.html]
The European Commission today published its long-awaited revision of
the European Interoperability Framework [1]. This document aims at
promoting interoperability in the European public sector. The document
is the result of a prolonged and hard-fought process. Free Software
Foundation Europe accompanied this process and offered input to the
European Commission at various stages [2].
"During the history of the EIF, we had reason to worry that Free
Software would effectively be shut out of the European public sector.
FSFE has worked hard to prevent this, and we have succeeded," says
Karsten Gerloff, FSFE's President. "With this document, the Commission
shows that it is willing to lead. We will support and accompany the EC
in this effort."
We are happy that the effort which FSFE has invested in the EIF revision
process has brought results. The document has improved markedly over
previous versions [4] from a Free Software point of view:
- The document explicitly states that Open Standards [5] (called "open
specifications") must be implementable in Free Software.
- The document states that public administrations should prefer Open
Standards.
- The document calls on public administrations to reuse and share
solutions. Free Software is by far the most practical way to achieve this.
Some points of the document could be improved. There is considerable
wriggle room for public bodies to avoid making changes to inefficient IT
systems and practices.
The document's definition of "open specifications" demands that such
standards must be implementable in Free Software, but allows the patents
in those standards to be licensed under so-called FRAND conditions. Such
FRAND conditions normally make it impossible to implement a standard in
Free Software [6]. FSFE will closely accompany the European Commission
in reconciling this apparent conflict.
"While FSFE would have wished for a more forceful push for Open
Standards and Free Software, we congratulate the EC on producing a
useful document out of a heated debate", says Gerloff.
This document ties in with the Commission's eGovernment Action Plan,
announced yesterday, which makes Open Standards a political priority for
European Member States and defines clear actions and deadlines. As a key
action, national governments are expected to align their national
interoperability frameworks with the EIF by 2013.
FSFE has visualised the changes among the various versions of the
document [4]. This has been a key tool for many people's work on EIFv2.
The table is currently being updated to reflect the final version of the
document.
1.
http://ec.europa.eu/isa/strategy/doc/20101216_iop_communication_annex_eis.p…
2. http://www.fsfe.org/news/2009/news-20091127-01.en.html
3. http://www.fsfe.org/projects/os/bsa-letter-analysis.en.html
4. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/eifv2.en.html
5. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/def.en.html
6. http://www.fsfe.org/projects/os/bsa-letter-analysis.en.html#3
== 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/
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <http://www.fsfe.org>
FSFE News <http://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <http://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <http://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <http://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
= European Commission's software contract is a rough deal for Europe =
[permanent URL : http://www.fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20101207-01.en.html]
The European Commission will spend EUR 189 million on proprietary
software over the next six years, in direct contradiction to its own
decisions and guidelines. The Commission last week announced a
six-year framework contract to acquire a wide range of mostly
proprietary software and related services [1].
"This is a rough deal for Europe", says Karsten Gerloff, President of
Free Software Foundation Europe. "Instead of coming up with a strategy
to take advantage of Free Software and become independent from
vendors, the Commission is digging itself deeper into the vendor
lock-in hole."
Last week's contract goes against the stated intentions of several
Commission documents. European procurement rules say that public
sector buying practices should "avoid discrimination and open up
public procurement to competition."
The Digital Agenda, published in May 2010, calls for "ICT products and
services" to be "open and interoperable" [2]. A guideline issued by the
EC's OSOR project cites European procurement rules to say that "calls
for tender [...] should be based on functional requirements, not on
specific products or vendors" [3], while last week's contract comes with
a long list of specific products which the Commission wants to buy.
In the Malmö and Granada declarations of 2009 and 2010, the European
Union's member states called on the EC to "pay particular attention to
the benefits resulting from the use of open specifications in order to
deliver services in the most cost-effective manner", and to "[e]mbed
innovation and cost effectiveness into eGovernment through the
systematic promotion of open standards and interoperable systems" [4].
The procurement process was conducted by the Directorate General for
Informatics (DIGIT). This department is also leading the process to
revise the European Interoperability Framework. FSFE has strongly
criticised [5] previous drafts [6] for falling behind the original
version in their support of Open Standards [7] and Free Software [8].
"European citizens expect the Commission to keep its costs low, to
spend their tax money in ways that promote Europe's development, and
to stick to its own policies," comments Gerloff. "This behaviour by
DIGIT fails Europeans on all three counts. It damages the Commission's
credibility."
== Links ==
[1]
http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2010/12/03/244307/European-Commissio…
[2] Digital Agenda for Europe:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52010DC0245%280…
[3] OSOR Procurement Guideline:
http://www.osor.eu/idabc-studies/OSS-procurement-guideline%20-final.pdf
[4] Malmö declaration : http://www.epractice.eu/en/library/299149 and
Granada declaration http://www.epractice.eu/en/news/316468
[5] http://fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20100330-01.en.html
[6] Comparison of different EIF versions:
http://www.fsfe.org/projects/os/eifv2.en.html
[7] Definition of Open Standards: http://www.fsfe.org/projects/os/def.html
[8] What is Free Software?
http://www.fsfe.org/about/basics/freesoftware.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/
= Icelandic developer receives Nordic Free Software Award =
[Permanent URL: http://fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20101108-01 ]
Bjarni Rúnar Einarsson, Free Software developer and community
builder from Iceland, has received the Nordic Free Software Award.
This annual prize was awarded on Saturday by Föreningen för Fri Kultur
och Programvara and Free Software Foundation Europe at the Free
Software Conference and Nordic Summit (FSCONS) which took place in
Gothenburg, Sweden this weekend.
Einarsson has been a leading figure in Iceland's Free Software
movement for more than a decade. He has been driving the country's
Free Software and free culture community, founding and participating
in various groups such as Vinix, contributing to the KDE project, and
starting netverjar.is, an organisation fighting for civil rights on
the Internet.
"Without Bjarni, Iceland's Free Software community wouldn't be what it
is today," says Karsten Gerloff, President of the Free Software
Foundation Europe. "People like Bjarni are the lifeblood of our
community. I'm very glad to see his work recognised in this way."
Bjarni has advocated the use of Free Software by maintaining and
distributing CDs with a free operating system, both translating and
developing Free Software for several years.
"The Nordic Free Software Award is special because it's a recognition
from your peers," comments 2009 award recipient, the Swedish Free
Software developer Daniel Stehnberg. "It means having your work
appreciated by people who understand what you have achieved."
== Links ==
Föreningen för Fri Kultur och Programvara
http://ffkp.se
Free Software Foundation Europe
http://fsfe.org
== Media contacts ==
Iceland:
Smári McCarthy - smari(a)immi.is +354 662 2701
Denmark:
Anne Østergaard - anne(a)ostergaard.nu +45 35 42 88 73
Sweden:
Daniel Stenberg - daniel(a)haxx.se +46 705 44 31 77
Norway:
Anders Kringstad - akai(a)underworld.no +47 932 82 137
Finland:
Otto Kekäläinen - otto(a)fsfe.org +358 44 566 2204
Rest of Europe:
Karsten Gerloff - gerloff(a)fsfeurope.org +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/
(Hjälp oss att nå ut till människor i deras modersmål. Gå med i vårt
svenska översättningsteam: http://fsfe.org/contribute/translators/.)
= FSFE Newsletter - November 2010 =
[Permanent URL: http://www.fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201011.en.html]
This edition explains how we counter the lobby work of proprietary
organisations at the European level, what we do at the United Nations
level to inform more people about the dangers of software patents,
what we are doing to get rid of non-free software advertisement on
public websites, and what you can do to make a change.
Beside that the Document Foundation was formed to take care of the
development of Libre Office. More and more organisations raise
awareness about government spendings on non-free software, like the
[1]parlamentarian group Digital Sustainability in Switzerland and our
associated organisation [2]ANSOL in [3]Portugal (Portuguese). The
Austrian Fellows asked the political parties in Vienna about their
[4]stance on Free Software related issues, the Fellowship interviews
started again with a [5]new interview with Leena Simon, Karsten gave a
talk about "Power and Freedom" at Tedx [6]which was recorded
(bittorent), and I (Matthias) informed the listeners of Dradio Wissen
about [7]Free Software licenses (German).
== Facts against BSA's fictions on Open Standards ==
Open Standards are always a hot topic in Brussels. Where Open
Standards go, Free Software can easily follow. That's why [8]we're
pushing for Open Standards in the rules and recommendations that the
European Commission makes for public bodies across Europe. For example
we document the changes of EU's new interoperability recommendations (
[9]European Interoperability Framework), we [10]publish analysis, and
with [11]Document Freedom Day we raise awareness for the topic in a
wider public.
But not everyone out there likes Open Standards. The Business Software
Alliance (BSA), a lobby group for proprietary software, is pressuring
the European Commission to remove the last traces of support for Open
Standards from the latest version of the European Interoperability
Framework (EIF).
We obtained a [12]copy of a letter sent to the Commission by the BSA.
We [13]analysed their arguments and explained why their claims are
false, and why Open Standards are key to interoperability and
competition in the European software market. In short we dealt with
the following points:
- Restriction-free patent licensing opens up participation and
promotes innovation
- The example standards cited by the BSA are irrelevant to the
software field
- (F)RAND licensing in software standards is unfair and
discriminatory
- The BSA's letter to the Commission isn't supported by its own
- membership, much less by the software industry as a whole
- (F)RAND is incompatible with the most widely used Free Software
licenses
- Restriction-free specifications will promote standardisation,
competition and interoperability
We sent a [14]letter with those arguments to the European Commission
to support Open Standards and interoperability, and [15]informed the
press about it. Although this topic is quite complex, several media
outlets picked it up. You might especially be interested in an article
by Glyn Moody about [16]"A (Final) Few Words on FRAND Licensing".
== WIPO - Fighting software patents at WIPO ==
But why wait until we have to deal with topics at the European level?
We always try to fix them at the root, so we work in some committees
of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). From October
11-15, WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) had its
15th session. We participate there because the committee discusses
questions related to patents and standards.
Our main goals in the committee are to convince WIPO member states and
WIPO staff why software should not be patentable, explain to them the
relation between standards and patents from the perspective of Free
Software, and make them understand how rules must be shaped so that
their countries can get the most out of Free Software.
In our most important statement [17]"Statement on the relation between
standards and patents at WIPO SCP/15" we explain why software
standards must be implementable in any software or business model,
including those based on Free Software. We argued that when patents
are included in software standards, they need to be licensed in a
manner that does not restrict their implementation in any way. Besides
the absence of any other restriction, that means royalty-free
licensing to any party implementing the standard.
== PDFreaders: 2162 public websites advertise non-free software ==
One month, one campaign, one goal: getting rid of non-free software
advertisements on public websites. In four weeks, we received reports
concerning [18]2162 European institutions who advertise non free
PDFreaders. Apart from the 305 activists who participated to the
search, 1500 individuals, 46 businesses and 38 organisations signed
our [19]Petition For The Removal Of Proprietary Software Advertising
On Public Websites. Now that the hunt is over, it's time to chase up
those websites which encourage visitors to jeopardise their freedom.
It's time to stamp out the ads!
Highly motivated volunteers searched the internet for public websites
that advertise for non-free software and reported [20]2162
institutions. Some of them, like Massimo Barbieri and Lucas Bickel
individually reported more than 350! Alessandro Albini, Rainer
Schmitz, and Павел Харитонов (Pavel Kharitonov) also made a remarkable
contribution in reporting around 50 institutions each.
But we will not stop with a list of institutions. In the coming weeks,
we will [21]send letters to the institutions to draw their attention
to their unfair advertising. In the name of the signatories of the
[22]petition, we will ask the institutions to either remove any
recommendation for non-free software from their website, or give a
choice of several programs.
== Get active: stamp out the ads! ==
Wherever you are, whatever time you have, you can contribute to the
removal of non-free software adverts on public website. The amazing
work of the ads hunters and [23]our translators has laid a firm
foundation for the next phase. Now it is up to you to enable us to get
things done. You can make a difference! Help us to [24]translate the
letter into missing languages or [25]donate to the PDF readers
campaign fund to help cover the 1600 EUR for postage and the extra
costs of administration to deliver the messages throughout Europe.
Help us stamp out the ads!
Hope to see you at [26]FSCONS,
Regards,
Matthias Kirschner- FSFE
1.
http://www.digitale-nachhaltigkeit.ch/2010/10/beschwerde-ans-bundesgericht/
2. http://ansol.org/
3.
http://listas.ansol.org/pipermail/ansol-imprensa/2010-September/000085.html
4. http://wiki.fsfe.org/groups/vienna/Wahl2010
5. http://blogs.fsfe.org/fellowship-interviews/?p=119
6.
http://download.fsfe.org/torrents/TEDxEutropolis-Karsten_Gerloff-Power_and_…
7. http://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=679
8. http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/?p=408
9. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/eifv2.en.html
10. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/ps.en.html
11. http://www.documentfreedom.org/
12. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/bsa-letter-ec.pdf
13. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/bsa-letter-analysis.en.html
14. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/bsa-eif-letter-fsfe-response.pdf
15. http://fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20101016-01.en.html
16.
http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2010/10/a-final-few-words-…
17. http://fsfe.org/projects/wipo/statement-20101013.en.html
18. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/buglist.en.html
19. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/petition.en.html
20. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/buglist.en.html
21. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/letter.en.html
22. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/petition.en.html
23. http://fsfe.org/contribute/translators/translators.en.html
24. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/letter.en.html
25. http://fsfe.org/donate/donate.en.html
26. http://www.fscons.org/
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