= Input about Free Software for German OGP action plan published =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20170328-01.sv.html ]
Today the civil society "working group OGP (Open Government Partnership)
Germany" (Arbeitskreis OGP Deutschland) published its input for a German
OGP action plan [1]. The goal of the Open Government actions is to
increase transparency, citizen friendlyness, reporting, and
effectiveness of governments and administrations. The input, which was
already handed over to the German Government on 20 March, consists of 30
Open Government topics, including a section about Free Software.
In December 2016 Germany joined the Open Government Partnership. Until
June 2017 a German action plan is to be developed and decided by the
German government.
To achieve this, on 17 February 2017 the German government invited
representatives from the civil society to a workshop to develop input
for a German action plan for the upcoming two years. After the workshop
members of civil society groups further developed the suggestions
published today. In the weeks to come the German federal ministries will
examine the different suggestions, debate internally, and draft a
national action plan with concrete goals. There will also be another
workshop to discuss the goals between administrations and the civil
society (see the German timetable for the action plan by the German
Government [2] ).
The OGP action plan will not just address the federal government but
should also affect administrations in the German federal states and
municipalities.
== Input from the civil society about Free/Open Source Software ==
The Free Software Foundation Europe worked together with other German
Free Software organisations and the "working group OGP Germany" to
summarise the topic of Free Software in the Open Government context and
develop concrete action items for the government.
By publishing the input we hope to enable civil society actors around
the world to learn about the OGP discussion in Germany, adapt
suggestions to other countries' contexts, and to enable people to give
further input to the German debate.
Below a rough translation of our input originally written in German.
(The full submission is available in German at the website for the
workgroup OGP [3].)
=== Introduction into the topic ===
Open Government offers the possibility to make the activities of the
state more persistent and plausible for its citizens. Open software
achieves this with its open/free licensing which is proved as an
international standard. The "Open Government Toolbox" sums up 1928
IT projects from 523 organisations to help in the transition to Open
Government. The spectrum of this stunning collection shows the
potential of Open Government software. From data visualisation to
participation tools and on up to tools for local urban initiatives,
numerous projects for administration and civil society are already
freely accessible.
- *Recycling*: Open Software can be used for various purposes and can be
re-used. Once it is developed in the scope of a governmental tender,
the software code can then be used by other administrations for
similar problems. A good example is "Fix My Street": originally
developed as a reporting tool for damage on roads in the United
Kingdom, it is now also being used in Switzerland, Ireland, Malaysia,
Norway, Sweden, Uganda and Uruguay. As additionally developed
extensions to the software and user experiences are shared between
nations, all users benefit from the increasing use.
- *Independence*: The use of Open Software offers more opportunities for
procurement and selection of partners. A strategic "lock-in", a
dependency on certain vendors, is avoided as the code can be
maintained by other market competitors as well.
- *Neutrality of platforms*: With open standards the public authorities
can achieve more platform neutrality. Thereby they are no longer
dependent on certain vendors and can choose a new one at any time.
- *Transparency*: While conventional government software is a blackbox
and is a proprietary secret, the source code of Open Government
software is basically always available.
- *Participation*: The Open Source code combined with a free license
allows synergies of government agencies (with civil society),
enterprises and citizens. Software provided by the state can be
maintained and used by external users - and vice versa. Open
Government software projects initiated by the state give an impetus
for collaborative projects where various perspectives from
administration, civil society, enterprises and citizens come together.
For the implementation of the Open Government road map, new software
will be developed. Open Government software should be accessible
under a suitable Free/Open license [1] to enable re-use and sharing
of solutions between authorities, companies and citizens.
=== Our vision until 2030: ===
Federal, regional and local administrations share their solutions
with other administrations, companies and civil society. For new
solutions, the participants can refer to a collection of pre-
existing solutions, re-use and improve these and share them with
everyone. All solutions guarantee use independent of the used
platform. Neither citizens, companies nor administrations should be
technically discriminated against. These German software solutions
enjoy an excellent reputation in administrations, civil society, and
commercial enterprises around the world. People enjoy using them and
they are further developed by other programming groups. Therefore
this results in investment protection and a higher sustainability
for the public sector, which will be developed further by third-
parties, even if individual German administrative authorities opt
for other solutions.
=== Further information sources and links: ===
- [1] Free/Open Source licensing model: See also the list of the Free
Software Foundation [4] and of the Open Source Initiative [5]
- OGP Toolbox [6]
- EU Joinup solutions [7]
- USA Portal Code.Gov [8]
- UK: Proof of concept [9]
- Fixmystreet UK [10] - Fixmystreet OGS [11]
- EUPL [12]
- Introduction into "Software Freedom" by FSFE [13]
=== Suggestions for commitments by the workshop for a NAP two-pager ===
- Level 1: Suggestions for organising the process Establishment of an
expert group, containing members of federal, state and municipal
administrations for re-use and sharing of open software for the state
and the administration (Re-use and Share OSS). Therefore, at least
twice a year, an internal dialogue can take place. There, the group
can tap into the topic of Open Source software and understand it in
terms of overlapping administrative needs. Due to this overlap,
employees from all levels of the public administrations should be
utilised as contributors and architects, and encouraged to integrate,
share, and promote more re-use of the administration's software.
- Establishment of a workgroup with members from administration, civil
society and companies for re-use and sharing of Free Software for the
state and the administration. The workshop should take place at least
twice a year to enable an exchange to listen to each other and receive
feedback by the civil society for further conceptional development.
There should be a strong link between the workgroup and the referring
expert group (see paragraph above) in the administration. Thereby a
transfer of knowledge into the public administration, and indirectly
into politics, is ensured.
- Commissioning of a study running until December 2018 to do basic
research about the cooperation in public administrations in usage of
free/open software. It should consider both users and
business/development associations so that national and international
knowledge and practical experience from study and usage are taken into
account. The full potential, with the help of workshops (Collaborative
Design), should be outlined. With this approach, all relevant
perspectives and proposals for implementation are available for the
second National Action Plan.
- Conducting two "Plug Fest" [14] events in Germany until 2018 as Open
Collaborative Workshops, where special departments of local
authorities can be brought into technical dialogue with providers of
document editing solutions. With those multi stakeholder events many
countries in Europe have made positive experiences for increasing
interoperability.
- Commission of a scientific study about open standards and open
interfaces in public administrations (including open document formats)
by June of 2018. With this the national and international knowledge
and practical experience (Germany: SAGA 5.1.0, EU, Austria,
Switzerland, France, Italy, Netherlands) will be taken into account.
The full potential with the help of workshops (Collaborative Design)
should be outlined so all relevant possibilities and proposals should
be available for the second National Action Plan.
- Commission of an evaluation study about the accessibility and platform
neutrality of public web interfaces by the federal authorities until
January 2018. Through this we can achieve transparency about how
certain user groups are technically discriminated against by the
websites of the authorities and how these sites are accessible
regardless of used devices. Based on this evaluation, best practices
will be introduced simultaneously. Also, basic principles acting as
suggestions for creating accessible and vendor-neutral websites for
authorities as well as for public institutions will be presented.
- Level 2: Precise legislative steps and regulation requirements
Establishment of the EU ISA2 law regarding the platform neutrality in
the acquisition of web service until 2019, so that citizens can use
public sector services regardless of the technology used by the
citizens (Operating systems: Mac OS, Linux, Windows, Android /
Browser: Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer.../ Hardware: Tablet,
Desktop-PC, Smartphone, Thin Internet Client).
- Proposal for a law to set up a national software archive by 2019 which
clarifies where German authorities and suppliers should deposit and
store (long-term-archive) the source code, documentation, interface
specifications and database schemes of their software solutions. This
enables security checks and the preservation of our digital cultural
heritage.
- Level 3: Minimal measures (Mandatory programme) Software, which is
being commissioned or developed in the course of realising the OGP
action plan, should re-use free/open software components and should be
made accessible on the EU software platform joinup [15] and in the
"OGP Toolbox" [16] for other governments, companies and the civil
society.
- Capacity-generating measures for the participation of Germany in the
further development of the Free/Open Source Software Contributor
Policy Template in the OGP [17] (Bulgaria, France, the United Kingdom
and the United States of America have already pledged to do this).
- Until mid 2018 evaluation of which software, of those created during
the implementation of the IT-planning council's action plan for 2017,
can be made available in the OGP Toolbox under a free/open license by
2019. (See Action Plan [18] )
- Federal government, federal states, and municipalities should
communicate information about the cooperation between the authorities
and other participants regarding software solutions to the EU portal
Joinup for publication. This will make this kind of cooperation more
popular and persuades other entities to participate.
1: https://opengovpartnership.de/2017/03/2069/
2: http://www.verwaltung-innovativ.de/DE/Internationales/OGP/zeitlicher_ablauf…
3: https://opengovpartnership.de/files/2017/03/170323_Zivilgesellschaftliche_E…
4: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.en.html
5: https://opensource.org/licenses/category
6: https://ogptoolbox.org/en/
7: https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/interoperability/search
8: http:///code.gov
9: https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/technology/making-source-code-open-and-re…
10: http://fixmystreet.com/
11: http://fixmystreet.org/
12: https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/eupl/og_page/european-union-public-li…
13: https://fsfe.org/about/basics/freesoftware.html
14: http://plugfest.opendocumentformat.org/
15: https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/
16: https://ogptoolbox.org/de/
17: https://github.com/DISIC/foss-contrib-policy-template
18: http://www.it-planungsrat.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Entscheidungen/21_Sitz…
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology. Software is deeply involved in all aspects of our
lives; and it is important that this technology empowers rather than
restricts us. Free Software gives everybody the rights to use,
understand, adapt and share software. These rights help support other
fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how Free
Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination.
It enhances users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software
adoption, encourage people to use and develop Free Software, and
provide resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software
in Europe.
http://fsfe.org
= Berlin sends a message for "I love Free Software" day =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20170214-01.sv.html ]
In celebration of the "I love Free Software" day on February 14, the
Berlin Reichtag has been illuminated with the message "Give Free
Software A Chance" last weekend. On numerous buildings and symbolic
places in Berlin other messages have been projected. "Build Free
Software - Not Walls" could have been read on the Berlin Wall, and the
Federal Ministry of Finances has been decorated by the slogan "Public
Money, Public Code". Thereby, activists draw attention to the importance
of larger appreciation of Free Software.
FSFE representatives also delivered an open letter together with a rose
to all members of German parliament in which they demand a higher
political support of Free Software and the a higher recognition of
voluntary Free Software development.
Max Mehl, program manager of FSFE, comments: "Free Software enables
everyone to use, study, share, and improve programs for any purpose.
These rights help support other fundamental rights like freedom of
speech, freedom of press and privacy. Therefore, we ask politics and
administration to put publicly financed software under a free
license. Software funded by public money should be a common good and
available to all people so that the whole society can benefit from
it."
The "I love Free Software" day is being celebrated on every Valentine's
Day and is dedicated to the countless voluntary contributors of Free
Software.
Further information:
- Pictures of the activity under a free license [1]
- Letter to the members of German parliament [2] (German)
- About "I love Free Software" day [3]
1: https://fsfe.org/campaigns/ilovefs/2017/berlin.sv.html
2: https://fsfe.org/campaigns/ilovefs/2017/ilovefs-OpenLetter.pdf
3: https://ilovefs.org
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology. Software is deeply involved in all aspects of our
lives; and it is important that this technology empowers rather than
restricts us. Free Software gives everybody the rights to use,
understand, adapt and share software. These rights help support other
fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how Free
Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination.
It enhances users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software
adoption, encourage people to use and develop Free Software, and
provide resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software
in Europe.
http://fsfe.org
= Heiki Lõhmus takes over FSFE vice-presidency from Alessandro Rubini =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2016/news-20161031-01.sv.html ]
Alessandro Rubini has stepped down as Vice-president of the FSFE.
Alessandro, an electronic engineer with Ph. D. in a computer science,
brought invaluable insight to the internal discussions within the FSFE
and has worked tirelessly to push the Free Software envelope in Italy
and the rest of Europe.
Alessandro has left the vice-presidency to concentrate on his work with
the Free Software community in Italy, but he remains an active member of
the FSFE and continues contributing his time generously to the
organisation.
Taking over from Alessandro is Heiki Lõhmus, a student of aeronautical
engineering from Estonia. Heiki started collaborating with the FSFE when
he "discovered some Estonian-language gibberish on fsfe.org purporting
to be a translation of an English original, which it definitely was
not". He quickly became involved in the translation process and became
the translation coordinator.
He also represented the FSFE community in its board from 2013 to 2015.
During his time in the post, he managed the transition to a new way of
valuing contributions, ensuring volunteers and paying members of the
organisation enjoy the same benefits for their contributions.
Beyond his work at the FSFE, Heiki has actively lobbied the Estonian
government to publish the software used for the Estonian elections as
Free Software. "Estonia is the only country in the world where it is
possible to vote over the Internet" says Heiki, and relying on
proprietary software to do so is a security risk and does not inspire
much trust. Heiki works along with other activists to get the software
published under a free license.
Heiki is an enthusiastic member of the FSFE and we are sure he will
carry on Alessandro's excellent work.
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <https://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <https://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <https://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <https://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <https://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology. Software is deeply involved in all aspects of our
lives; and it is important that this technology empowers rather than
restricts us. Free Software gives everybody the rights to use,
understand, adapt and share software. These rights help support other
fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how Free
Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination.
It enhances users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software
adoption, encourage people to use and develop Free Software, and
provide resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software
in Europe.
http://fsfe.org/
= Julia Reda, MEP: "Proprietary Software threatens Democracy" =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2016/news-20160907-01.sv.html ]
Julia Reda ended the QtCon, a conference for the Free Software
community, with a closing keynote on, among other things, Free Software
in the European Public Sector.
Ms Reda, a member of the EU Parliament for the Pirate Party, explained
how proprietary software, software that forbids users from studying and
modifying it, has often left regulators in the dark, becoming a
liability for and often a threat to the well-being and health of
citizens.
An example of this, she said, is the recent Dieselgate scandal, in which
auto-mobile manufacturers installed software that cheated instruments
that measured fumes in test environments, only to spew illegal amounts
of toxic exhaust into the atmosphere the moment they went on the road.
Ms Reda also explained how medical devices running proprietary software
posed a health hazard for patients. She gave the example of a woman with
a pacemaker who collapsed while climbing some stairs due to a bug in her
device. Doctors and technicians had no way of diagnosing and correcting
the problem as they did not have access to the code.
Also worrying is the threat software with restrictive licenses pose to
democracy itself. The trend of substituting traditional voting ballots
with voting machines is especially worrying, because, as these machines
are not considered a threat to national security, their software also
goes unaudited and is, in fact, unauditable in most cases.
And, although voting machines are built and programmed by private
companies, they are commissioned by public entities and paid for with
public money, money taken from citizens' taxes. However, there are no
universal EU regulations that force companies, or, indeed, public
organisations, to make the source code available to the citizens that
have paid for it, said Ms Reda.
Furthermore, she noted that, despite the fact Free Software technologies
(web servers, CMSs, email servers, and so on) are used extensively
throughout the public administration, the public sector assumes very
little responsibility in the way of giving back to the community via
patches or even bug reports.
Ms Reda said that the solution to this very dismal state of affairs is a
multi-pronged one. She commended the Free Software Foundation Europe for
its work in advocating for all software commissioned by public entities
and paid with public money, be made available under free/libre licenses
for everyone. She also noted that to get governments on the side of Free
Software it is essential to make them see its merits.
Only like this, she said, would it be possible to make legislators
regulate coherently in favour of free/libre technologies.
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <https://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <https://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <https://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <https://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <https://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology. Software is deeply involved in all aspects of our
lives; and it is important that this technology empowers rather than
restricts us. Free Software gives everybody the rights to use,
understand, adapt and share software. These rights help support other
fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how Free
Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination.
It enhances users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software
adoption, encourage people to use and develop Free Software, and
provide resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software
in Europe.
http://fsfe.org/
= The Document Foundation and the FSFE strengthen their relationship =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2016/news-20160817-01.sv.html ]
The Free Software Foundation (FSFE) is joining the Advisory Board of The
Document Foundation[1]. At the same time, The Document Foundation is
becoming an associated organisation of the FSFE[2].
The Free Software Foundation Europe's aim is to help people control
technology instead of the other way around. However, this is a goal
which no single organisation can achieve on its own. Associated
organisations are entities that share the FSFE's vision and support the
foundation and Free Software in general by encouraging people to use and
develop Free Software, by helping organisations understand how Free
Software contributes to freedom, transparency and self-determination,
and by removing barriers to Free Software adoption.
With this mutual expression of support, both organisations strengthen
one another in their fight to keep the general public in the
technological driver's seat. While the FSFE embodies the principles of
the community movement working in support of the adoption of Free
Software in companies, public administrations and for private citizens,
the Document Foundation turns principles and ethics into actual
products, putting a first class, fully-featured, and completely free
productivity suite in the hands of users.
"We are happy to welcome the Free Software Foundation Europe as a member
of our Advisory Board. Together, we will able to further develop the
adoption of Free Software in Europe, amongst public administrations and
enterprises", said Eike Rathke, a Director of The Document Foundation[3]
and a long time Free Software advocate and hacker.
"We believe it is important to join forces with all the organisations
active in Free Software around Europe," said Matthias Kirschner[4],
President of the Free Software Foundation Europe, "and work together to
reach our common goals. With our associated organisations we want to
show that we are a strong and cohesive movement, and we work to achieve
common objectives. To do this, we exchange ideas, coordinate efforts,
motivate each other, and find opportunities to work together on specific
projects. This is the case with The Document Foundation, steward of one
of the most successful Free Software projects: LibreOffice".
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <https://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <https://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <https://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <https://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <https://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
1. https://www.documentfoundation.org/governance/advisory-board/
2. https://fsfe.org/associates/associates.sv.html
3. https://www.documentfoundation.org/governance/board/
4. https://fsfe.org/about/kirschner/kirschner.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/
= Free Software Foundation Europe Summit 2016 – Not a tech conference =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2016/news-20160804-01.sv.html ]
Free Software advocates from all over Europe will be meeting in Berlin
from the 2nd to the 4th of September at the FSFE Summit 2016. Apart from
working on furthering the adoption of Free Software in Europe, we will
also be celebrating the FSFE's 15th anniversary.
One of the main missions of the Free Software community in general, and
the FSFE in particular, is to put users back into the driver's seat, and
have the people control technology and not the other way around.
So, even though this conference has the word "software" in its name,
this is not a tech conference 1[1] as such. It is more a conference on
how we are going to shape the world of tech, indeed, how we are going to
try and shape the lives of computer, smartphone, and Internet users
everywhere.
This may seem like a lofty goal, but during its 15 years of existence,
the FSFE has been instrumental in a successful antitrust case against a
big software corporation[2] that intended to dominate the market of
personal computers; we have managed to keep software from being
patentable in Europe[3], avoiding a veritable apocalypse for small and
medium-sized tech companies; and we have worked alongside gpl-
violations.org to get free licenses enforced in German courts of law[4],
setting a ground-breaking precedent for the whole of the EU.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the FSFE has transformed the
foundations of IT and that we have had a deep, positive impact on
anybody who has sat in front of a computer, used a phone, or played on a
tablet in the last decade or so.
Each year, the number of members in our community grows, as does our
influence. We now reach not only developers, but also academics,
aficionados, lawyers, artists, marketers, businesspeople, and
journalists.
So, if you missed our prior events, we would like to invite you to
attend the FSFE Summit 2016[5]. We look forward to welcoming you and
remain at your disposal to help you organise your visit to our event.
As part of our pre-event awareness campaign, we are also mobilising our
community in your area. If you would like to talk to the people that run
the local/national teams in your country/region/city and see how they
have made a difference, contact us so we can help you get in touch with
them.
1. Note that if you are also interested in bleeding edge high technology
development, the FSFE Summit will be held as a part of QtCon[6]. This
event brings together developers from several Free Software
communities who are hard at work re-shaping human-facing interfaces.
As a member of the press, you will also have free access to the whole
of QtCon. ↩[7]
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <https://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <https://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <https://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <https://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <https://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
1. https://fsfe.org/#fn1
2. https://fsfe.org/activities/ms-vs-eu/ms-vs-eu.sv.html
3. https://fsfe.org/campaigns/swpat/swpat.sv.html
4. https://fsfe.org/activities/ftf/activities.sv.html
5. https://fsfe.org/community/events/2016/summit/frontpage.en.html
6. https://qtcon.org/
7. https://fsfe.org/#fnref1
== 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/
= Compulsory Routers: what customers have to take care of now =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2016/news-20160725-01.sv.html ]
Up until now, Internet service providers (ISPs) in Germany determined
the router users had to use to connect to the Internet. The user had no
say in this decision. This changes on August 1. A new law will allow
users choose the device that gets installed in their homes. The FSFE
wants to ensure everybody knows about their new rights and is asking
users to report cases in which ISPs try to avoid the new regulation.
"Compulsory Routers" are what we call the devices imposed on users,
forbidding them from using any other appliance to access the Internet.
Compulsory routers are often the subject of critical security flaws
which users can't legally or technically fix themselves. They are also
known to be incompatible with certain network devices and standards,
like IPv6, or to support only a small number of important features.
However, the legal situation was ambiguous and ISPs defined the first
router or modem after the wall socket as part of their network. They
could thus bar users from controlling the technology installed within
their own homes, despite the fact that the users were even paying for
the electricity that run the devices.
The Free Software Foundation Europe took up the fight to outlaw
Compulsory Routers in 2013, and we have finally won a major landmark
victory[1]: from August 1 onwards, clients of German internet providers
are allowed by law to use any terminal device they choose. Regardless of
whether it is a DSL or cable connection, the ISP will have to supply the
information you need to connect an alternative router to use the
Internet and telephone network.
== Help us track the implementation ==
The law is very clear with regard to your new rights, but, based on past
behaviours of ISPs, the FSFE must assume many providers will ignore the
regulation and will continue to try and force their clients to use their
default router.
ISPs will probably make the argument that the law only applies to new
customers, or that a connection to the Internet with alternative devices
will be unstable, or denying support to clients with devices other than
the ones they provide.
We want to make sure that these misbehaviours are made public and we
need your help for that. If you are a client of a German internet
provider, we ask you exercise your new right and start using an
alternative device, ideally one that runs Free Software.
Once your new device is up and running, we need you to provide us with
feedback on whether you had any issues while running your new router. We
will collect this data and confront providers that are not in compliance
with the new law. We have also created a wiki page[2] where we report
information, testing procedures, results, and user experiences.
== Further information ==
For more information on Compulsory Routers and why they are bad, please
visit our campaign page[3]. Also see the timeline of the most important
events[4] related to this campaign. To contribute to this and other FSFE
campaigns that defend your freedom, you can support us with a
donation[5] or by becoming a sustaining member[6].
== FSFE Summit 2016 ==
If you're interested in knowing more about how Free Software helps
defend other important rights, we will be holding the FSFE yearly summit
at the beginning of September in Berlin[7]. Come along and discover how
you can also help return the control over technology to people.
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <https://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <https://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <https://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <https://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <https://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
1. https://fsfe.org/news/2015/news-20151105-01.sv.html
2. https://wiki.fsfe.org/Activities/CompulsoryRouters/Implementation/Germany
3. https://fsfe.org/activities/routers/index.sv.html
4. https://fsfe.org/activities/routers/timeline.sv.html
5. https://fsfe.org/donate/index.sv.html
6. https://fsfe.org/join
7. https://fsfe.org/summit16
== 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/
= Software Heritage initiative to create an archive of Free Software code =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2016/news-20160629-01.sv.html ]
The Free Software Foundation Europe supports the creation of the
Software Heritage initiative, a platform for the distribution,
advancement, and, especially, long-term preservation and archiving of
Free Software code. The Software Heritage initiative collects and
collates vast amounts of free licensed code to protect it for future
generations.
The importance of software in the modern world cannot be overstated.
Software is at the crux of all contemporary technological development
and has become essential for all areas of scientific research. Software
plays a pivotal role in our daily lives, our industries and our society.
Software has become the reflection of our technological, scientific and
cultural progress.
However, software is prone to disappear, either because it stops being
profitable, or projects get cancelled, or the code is deemed obsolete
and gets erased, or is left to fade on storage that physically degrades
over time.
The Software Heritage[1] initiative is created and funded by Inria[2].
It collects programs, applications and snippets of code distributed
under free licenses from a wide variety of active and defunct sources,
its aim being to protect code from sinking into oblivion. The
distributed and redundant back-end hardens the system against a
potentially disastrous losses of data and guarantees its availability
for users.
Users can check if a certain file exists within the system and propose
new sources the Software Heritage engine can explore in search of more
code to store. Soon users will also be able to find out where the code
originated from using the Provenance information feature, browse the
stored code, run full-text searches on all files, and download the
content.
The Heritage stores only Free Software, in other words, software that
can be used, studied, adapted and shared freely with others; and this is
because the Software Heritage initiative relies on being able to share
the software it stores. The Software Heritage website is designed to be
a useful tool for professionals, scientists, educators and end-users.
Users must be allowed to re-use the code in other products, cutting
development time and costs; engineers should be able to discover how
others solved certain problems; or compare the efficiency of different
solutions to the same problem. And, of course, researchers must have
explicit permission to study the evolution of code over time. This is
only possible if the code is distributed under a Free and Open Source
license.
Matthias Kirschner, President of the Free Software Foundation Europe,
says: "Software is the most important cultural technology of today's
society; it frames what we can and what we cannot do. Software shapes
our communication and culture, our economy, education and research, as
well as politics. It is important to preserve our collective knowledge
about how software has influenced humankind. Collecting source code
makes Software Heritage a valuable resource to understand how our
society worked at any given time, and to build upon knowledge from
humankind." The Software Heritage intiative ensures today's code will
be around for everybody in the future.
=== About Inria ===
Inria[3], the French National Institute for computer science and applied
mathematics, promotes "scientific excellence for technology transfer and
society". Graduates from the world's top universities, Inria's 2,700
employees rise to the challenges of digital sciences. With this open,
agile model, Inria is able to explore original approaches with its
partners in industry and academia and provide an efficient response to
the multidisciplinary and application challenges of the digital
transformation. Inria transfers expertise and research results to
companies (startups, SMEs and major groups) in fields as diverse as
healthcare, transport, energy, communications, security and privacy
protection, smart cities and the factory of the future.
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <https://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <https://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <https://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <https://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <https://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
1. https://www.softwareheritage.org/
2. http://www.inria.fr/en/
3. http://www.inria.fr/en/
== 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/
= EU jeopardises its own goals in standardisation with FRAND licensing =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2016/news-20160428-02.sv.html ]
On 19 April, the European Commission published a communication on "ICT
Standardisation Priorities for the Digital Single Market"[1]
(hereinafter 'the Communication'). The Digital Single Market (DSM)
strategy[2] intends to digitise industries with several legislative and
political initiatives, and the Communication is a part of it covering
standardisation. In general, the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE)
welcomes the Communication's plausible approach for integrating Free
Software and Open Standards[3] into standardisation but expresses its
concerns about the lack of understanding of necessary prerequisites to
pursue that direction.
== Acknowledging the importance of Free Software ==
The Communication starts with acknowledging the importance of Open
Standards for interoperability, innovation and access to media, cultural
and educational content, and promotes "community building, attracting
new sectors, promoting open standards and platforms where needed,
strengthening the link between research and standardisation". The latter
is closely linked to the "cloud", where the Communication states that
the "proprietary solutions, purely national approaches and standards
that limit interoperability can severely hamper the potential of the
Digital Single Market", and highlights that "common open standards will
help users access new innovative services".
As a result, the Commission concludes that by the end of 2016 it intends
to make more use of Free Software elements by better integrating Free
Software communities into standard setting processes in the standards
developing organisations.
In the Internet of Things (IoT) domain, the Communication acknowledges
the EU need for "an open platform approach that supports multiple
application domains ... to create competitive IoT ecosystems". In this
regard, the Commission states that "this requires open standards that
support the entire value chain, integrating multiple technologies ...
based on streamlined international cooperation that build on an IPR
["intellectual property rights"] framework enabling easy and fair access
to standard essential patents (SEPs)".
FSFE welcomes this direction taken in the Communication, as well as the
Commissioner Günther Oettinger's position, highlighted in his keynote at
the Net Futures 2016[4], that "easy reuse of standard and open
components accelerates digitisation of any business or any industry
sector." Furthermore, according to the Commissioner Oettinger, Free
Software standards "enable transparency and build trust."
== EC putting good efforts at risk ==
However, the attempts of the Commission to promote Open Standards and a
more balanced approach towards "intellectual property rights" policies
in standardisation may be seriously hampered by the Commission's stance
towards FRAND licensing. In particular, the Commission sets the goal to
"clarify core elements of an equitable, effective and enforceable
licensing methodology around FRAND principles" which is seen as striking
the right balance in standardisation and ensuring the "fair and non-
discriminatory" access to standards. Furthermore, it is a well-known
fact that FRAND licensing terms that in theory stand for "fair,
reasonable, and non-discriminatory" terms, in practice are incompatible
with most of Free Software[5].
In conclusion, whilst the Communication sets a positive direction
towards the promotion of Open Standards and the inclusion of Free
Software communities into the standardisation, this direction may be
seriously limited if the Commission fails to acknowledge the
incompatibility of FRAND licensing terms with Free Software licenses.
This in return can in practice make a proper Free Software
implementation of the standard impossible. As a result, the attempts of
the Commission to achieve truly "digital single market" based on
interoperability, openness and innovation will not be achieved as the
significant part of innovative potential found in Free Software will be
in practice excluded from standardisation.
In line with our recommendations on the DSM initiative[6] that got well
received by the Commission, FSFE believes that in order to achieve the
adequate integration of Free Software communities, and the overall
plausible approach towards appropriate use of Open Standards the
Commission needs to avoid the harmful consequences of FRAND licensing to
Free Software, and instead pursue the promotion of standards that are
open, minimalistic and implementable with Free Software. These standards
will give the substance to the Commission's promises to encourage Free
Software communities to participate in standardisation.
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <https://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <https://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <https://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <https://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <https://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
1. https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/communication-ict-standa…
2. https://fsfe.org/activities/policy/eu/digital-single-market-comments.en.html
3. https://fsfe.org/activities/os/index.sv.html
4. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/2014-2019/oettinger/announcements/keynote-s…
5. https://fsfe.org/activities/os/why-frand-is-bad-for-free-software.en.html
6. https://fsfe.org/activities/policy/eu/digital-single-market-comments.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/
= Joint Statement on the Radio Lockdown Directive =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2016/news-20160411-01.sv.html ]
23 organisations including the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE)
joined up in proposing measures[1] to EU institutions and EU member
states to avoid negative implications on users' rights and Free Software
imposed by the EU Radio Equipment Directive 2014/53/EU.
The ‘ Radio Lockdown Directive[2] ’ that will be applicable in the EU
since 13 June 2016 threatens software freedom, users' rights, fair
competition, innovation, environment, and volunteering – without
comparable benefits for security. It introduces disproportionate
‘essential requirement’ in the form of forcing device manufacturers to
prove radio regulatory compliance for every possible software able to
run on every product using the radio frequency spectrum. In practice,
this means that in the future only particular software authorised by the
manufacturers can be installed on any device connecting through wireless
and mobile networks or GPS: e.g. routers, mobile phones, WiFi cards and
the laptops they are built in, or almost all devices including network
functionality.
This requirement will lock users to hardware manufacturers, and will
also disadvantage businesses based on Free Software or any other
alternative software not installed by default by the manufacturer of the
device. Thereby it will have negative implications on fair competition
and freedom to conduct business. The requirement to assess every
possible hardware and software combination to be compliant with the RED
– which is envisaged to enhance security of radio devices – disables
users and businesses to choose software whose security problems can be
fixed by everybody without having to relay on the vendor.
The FSFE and the other signatories, therefore, ask the EU institutions
and the EU member states to safeguard rights of users and businesses to
use and install Free Software and any other alternative third-party
software on their devices; to avoid the lockdown of the devices to the
software provided by the hardware manufacturer; and refrain from
shifting the responsibility for the software's regulatory compliance
from the users to the manufacturers when making changes to the default
configuration. Software and hardware should not be treated differently
in that respect. The EU Commission has been entitled to adopt delegated
acts which can make these vitally needed adjustments.
The joint statement on the Radio Lockdown Directive is open to more
signatures. Whether a user, a charity project, or a business, the Radio
Lockdown Directive affects everyone. We ask other organisations and
companies to support our statement and make sure that the Radio Lockdown
Directive will not place blanket, unnecessary and disproportionate
restrictions on the rights of consumers and businesses when implementing
the Directive into national legislations.
Please also read our detailed analysis[3], and feel free to contact us
if you have any questions.
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <https://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <https://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <https://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <https://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <https://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
1. https://fsfe.org/activities/radiodirective/statement.sv.html
2. https://fsfe.org/activities/radiodirective/radiodirective.sv.html
3. https://fsfe.org/activities/radiodirective/radiodirective.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/