Background information by the Free Software Foundation Europe
"FSF Europe presented Free Software at OECD workshop in Tokyo on invitation of the German Ministry of Economics and Technology"
(Tokyo, Japan) September 12th and 13th 2001, the FSF Europe presented the advantages of Free Software regarding "Information security in a networked world" at a OECD conference. Bernhard Reiter, German chancellor of the FSF Europe, represented the FSF Europe and other German groups related to Free Software on invitation of the German Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi).
The 15 minute talk titled "Free Software as standard and basis for a secure Information Technology" took place in the track about "Role of technical standards" on Thursday morning. It outlined the four fundamental freedoms for software to be Free Software, stressed the importance of Free Software for the internet and closed with examples for Free Software solutions like the GNU Privacy Guard (GPG).
"This successful collaboration between the FSF Europe and the BMWi shows that the Free Software community is being heard." says Georg Greve, President of the FSF Europe, "Free Software is a global phenomenon of international importance, it has to be treated as such. We will continue strengthening the internation cooperation and networking."
About the FSF Europe:
The Free Software Foundation Europe is the European sister organization of the Free Software Foundation created 1985 by Richard M. Stallman in the United States of America.
Principal goals of the FSF Europe are coordination of Free Software initiatives throughout Europe, providing a Free Software competence-center for politicians and journalists and infrastructure for Free Software projects, especially the GNU Project.
Further information about the FSF Europe can be found at
Contact: Europe Georg C. F. Greve greve@gnu.org Tel: +49-40-23809080 Fax: +49-40-23809081 France Frederic Couchet fcouchet@april.org Tel: +33 6 60 68 89 31 Germany Bernhard Reiter bernhard@intevation.de Tel: +49-541 - 335 08 - 33 Italy Alessandro Rubini rubini@gnu.org Tel: +39-0382-529.554 (o .424) Fax: +39-0382-529.424 Sweden Jonas Öberg jonas@gnu.org Tel: +46-21-144831
Further press contact information is available at