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De retour des célébrations du FSFE25 avec des nouvelles du EIF et du DMA

mardi 11 août 2026 à 01:00

De retour des célébrations du FSFE25 avec des nouvelles du EIF et du DMA

Le mois d'août est là ! Et après la célébration des 25 ans de la FSFE, nous sommes déjà au travail sur nos prochains projets ! Bien que nous nous remettons encore de l'après-coup de nos journées passées à Cracovie, nous avons quand même de bonnes nouvelles concernant le DMA et le litige avec Apple, notre proposition au "new EIF" et plus encore !

Il y a 25 ans, nos fondateurs affirmaient :

"Les logiciels imprègnent de plus en plus notre quotidien et deviennent un facteur déterminant. Tout comme les autres avancées dans l'histoire de l'humanité, les logiciels ont évolué d'une propriété économique vers une propriété culturelle avec une présence grandissante dans la vie quotidienne. [...] Il est essentiel pour le futur de l'humanité que les logiciels, en tant que propriété culturelle, restent accessibles par tous et qu'ils soient préservés dans des bibliothèques comme nos autres savoirs."

Un quart de siècle plus tard, au milieu du personnel, des bénévoles et des sympathisants qui on façonné ce mouvementn ce message est plus urgent que jamais. Nos 25 ans ont été l'occasion de faire le point sur les grandes étapes franchies, tout en nous tournant vers notre "Vision 2048".

Cette vision a été mise en oeuvre de belle manière en juillet dernier quand la Cour de justice de l'Union européenne a offert une victoire décisive à la liberté des logiciels. Dans l'affaire Apple v. European Commission, dans laquelle la FSFE est intervenue en tant que seule organisation a but non lucratif défendant les droits des utilisateurs, la Cour a rejeté les recours d'Apple relatifs à sa désignation comme contrôleur d’accès sous le "Digital Market Act"(DMA ou règlement sur les marchés numériques). La décision confirme que les contrôleurs d'accès ne peuvent pas contourner les obligations d'interopérabilité ou fragmenter leurs programmes pour échapper à toute responsabilité. Cette avancée nous rapproche un peu plus d'une véritable impartialité matérielle, en veillant à ce que développeurs comme utilisateurs aient la liberté de créer, d'installer et d'exécuter des logiciels comme ils le souhaitent. Si vous souhaitez en apprendre plus, nous y avons consacré notre dernier article de L'Angle Droit.

Sur le même sujet, nous avons publié en juillet une analyse pour Tech Policy Press sur l'arrêt historique rendu par la Cour de justice de l'Union européenne contre le pourvoi de Google concernant Android. Nous estimons que le véritable combat à venir ne portera pas sur les contrats mais sur le contrôle de la confiance au sein de l'écosystème Android, alors que le futur dispositif de validation des développeurs Android de Google rendra beaucoup plus difficile la distribution d'applications en dehors des systèmes d'agréés par celui-ci. Une dernière recommandation de lecture ! Notre collègue Dr Lucas Lasota, qui travaille aussi à l'université Martin Luther de Halle-Wittenberg, vient de publier un article (en anglais uniquement) étudiant comment les réglementations sur l'interopérabilité au sein de l'UE, au Japon, au Royaume-Uni et au Brésil peuvent permettre au Logiciel Libre d'accéder à des fonctionnalités contrôlées par des plateformes propriétaires dominantes et de contribuer à instaurer une concurrence équitable pour les petites communautés et les petits développeurs.

Dans le même temps, nous suivons de près la mise à jour du Cadre européen d'interopérabilité (EIF). Nous exhortons vivement les décideurs européens à adopter un modèle de "Logiciel Libre par défaut" pour l'ensemble des services publics numériques. Partout en Europe, les administrations publiques sont plus que jamais préoccupées par la souveraineté numérique. Et nous militons en faveur de formats ouverts obligatoires, des directives plus claires concernant les marchés publics afin d'éviter l'"Openwashing" (ouvertisation) et un financement durable pour les communs numériques.

Depuis les podiums

Le mois d'août est aussi l'occasion de parler de Logiciel Libre avec notre communauté allemande. Comme à l'accoutumée, nous participerons à la FrOSCon ! Nous y serons les 15 et 16 août avec un guichet et plusieurs conférences : à propos du CRA, de l'Ouvertisation et de ce que la Fédération des Planètes Unies et la FSFE ont en commun.

Youth Hacking 4 Freedom

Notre compétition de programmation destinée aux jeunes Européens entre dans sa phase suivante ! La phase de programmation de cette édition de YH4F s'est achevée fin juin. Au cours du mois de juillet, notre jury d'experts a examiné chaque projet et a établi une liste de candidats retenus pour les entretiens. Avec cette liste, les jurés sélectionneront les six projets lauréats de cette année.

Si vous ou un jeune de votre entourage avez manqué cette édition, pas d'inquiétude : les inscriptions pour la prochaine édition de YH4F sont ouvertes ! Restez à l'écoute pour d'autres annonces.

Votre soutien contribue à notre travail

Nous sommes peut-être au volant, mais c'est grâce à vous que nous continuons d'avancer. Vous pouvez nous soutenir, contribuer à notre action ou rejoindre notre communauté. Vous êtes sur les réseaux sociaux ? Nous oui ! Alors n'oubliez pas de nous suivre sur les différentes platformes. Sinon vous pouvez aussi suivre l'actualité de la FSFE via notre flux RSS.

Votre éditrice, Ana

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A quarter-century of Software Freedom: the FSFE turns 25

lundi 3 août 2026 à 01:00

A quarter-century of Software Freedom: the FSFE turns 25

The FSFE was founded in 2001 by a group of European Free Software advocates. 25 years later, this European charity has grown into one of the most respected organisations defending Software Freedom in Europe.

“Software already transcends daily life in an increasing manner and becomes a deciding factor. Just as other developments in the past of mankind, software developed from being an economic to a cultural property with increasing presence in everyday life. […] It is essential for the future of mankind that software as a cultural property will remain accessible for everyone and is preserved in libraries like other knowledge.” Founders of the FSFE, 2001

In 2001, a group of European Free Software advocates put their heads together to come up with ways to protect Free Software in Europe. Together they founded the Free Software Foundation Europe… and the rest is history.

The FSFE's 25-year story is the story not only of the staff, but also that of our volunteers and supporters, who contribute to our daily work. For a quarter-century, we have been educating current and future generations about the importance of the Four Freedoms. We have been helping developers understand licensing and legal terminology so they can keep doing what they do best. As FSFE we have been standing up to those who want to take control away from the people.

This July, at EuropPython 2026 in Kraków, our community came together to celebrate its 25th anniversary! FSFE staff, volunteers, donors, and founders gathered for a full weekend of talks, a booth, long evenings of networking, and ice-cream! All capped off with a proper birthday celebration: cake, a photo booth, and 25 years of stories swapped between old supporters and newcomers alike.

These 25 years have been possible thanks to our donors and supporters! At the FSFE25 we heard first hand why some of our donors support us. It was inspiring to see how much trust is placed into our work. For this we want to say thank you: to all of you!

Looking ahead: our Vision 2048

Turning 25 is also a moment to look forward. As the FSFE looks to the next chapter, we are guided by our vision for 2048, a world where Software Freedom is no longer a niche concern, but the norm:

If the first 25 years were about proving that Software Freedom matters, the next 25 are about making it the norm.

Participants of the FSFE25 celebrations, who at some point, have been FSFE interns

What started as a small organisation in 2001 is now a Europe-wide charity with active volunteers across European countries, legal experts, a podcast, a children's book turned movie, a programming competition for teenagers, and court victories against some of the world's largest tech companies to its name. The Four Freedoms (to use, study, share, and improve software) are, if anything, more urgent today than they were back then.

Kudos to all of you who have been there supporting us and Software Freedom! Here's to the next 25 years!

25 years of milestones

To mark this milestone, the FSFE has published a timeline, tracing 25 years of policy wins, legal work, campaigns, and community milestones across its core focus areas.

Over 25 years, the FSFE has chalked up wins that reshaped how Europe thinks about software:

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The FSFE calls for Free Software as the model for digital public services

jeudi 30 juillet 2026 à 01:00

The FSFE calls for Free Software as the model for digital public services

In its feedback regarding the review of the European Interoperability Framework, the FSFE is calling for Free Software and Open Standards to be the default when procuring and creating interoperable digital public services.

© European Union, 2026, licensed under CC BY 4.0

Digital public services are becoming an increasingly important component of our daily lives, with around 85% of services available digitally for both businesses and citizens according to data from the European Commission. Transparency and control over these processes have become more important than ever for citizens and public administrations alike. The European Interoperability Framework (EIF) has been setting the guidelines for providing digital services since its creation. Under the Interoperable Europe Act, the EIF’s role has been strengthened. It needs to be taken into account when introducing new digital public services, substantially updating existing ones, and when developing new regulations and guidance.

The status quo and next steps

For the EIF currently in force, the Free Software Foundation Europe's contributions helped establish a model of "active and fair consideration" of Free Software solutions and the recommendation to contribute changes upstream whenever possible, contributing to level the playing field for Free Software solutions. Nevertheless, shortcomings such as deeming so-called "fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory" (F/RAND) terms an appropriate licensing model, negatively impact the creation and deployment of Free Software solutions.

Nine years later, a revision of the current EIF is underway. Members of the Interoperable Europe Board and respondents to the call for evidence have raised concerns regarding control over public administrations' services and data and gaps between guidance and concrete implementation.

“Today, public administrations are more concerned than ever about their digital autonomy – as we saw recently in the European Commission’s Tech Sovereignty Package. Free Software and Open Standards are prerequisites for technological sovereignty and need to be in the spotlight of the upcoming EIF. The involvement of civil society actors in the process and secure long-term funding for the Free Software ecosystem are key for the success of the Interoperable Europe Act and digital public services.” – explains Sofía Aritz, Policy Consultant.

In its position, the FSFE addresses these problems by calling for, among other measures:

Free Software and the Interoperable Europe Act

The European Interoperability Framework provides recommendations for legal, organisational, semantic and technical interoperability, first created in 2004. Since the adoption of the Interoperable Europe Act, it is going to be developed by the Interoperable Europe Board. This new legislative framework and new digital challenges have raised the need of reviewing the current EIF, which was last updated in 2017.

The revised EIF Conceptual Model. Infographic from the European Commission

The FSFE considers that the Interoperable Europe Board should seize this opportunity and use the EIF as a practical reference for the rest of Interoperable Europe instruments. The FSFE is calling for the inclusion of additional criteria to existing guidelines and the "Interoperable Europe solution" label. Such criteria needs to take into account whether proposed solutions are Free Software, make use of Open Standards, implement them adequately, and follow a collaboration-first model.

The FSFE has called for the development of legal and financial instruments that secure long-term funding for Free Software solutions while reducing fragmentation between existing Union funding programmes, European Digital Infrastructure Consortia (EDICs), and other cross-border initiatives.

The inclusion of civil society into the wider Interoperable Europe governance, especially the Interoperable Europe Board and the "Interoperable Europe solution" process, remains fundamental to the implementation of the Interoperable Europe Act and the fostering of a market of interoperability solutions. The FSFE will closely follow the next steps towards the new EIF, sharing upcoming developments with our community.

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Legal Corner: How Apple’s attack on interoperability failed

vendredi 24 juillet 2026 à 01:00

Legal Corner: How Apple’s attack on interoperability failed

8 July 2026 marks a significant milestone in the fight for interoperability and software freedom, for both developers and users: the Court of Justice of the European Union dismissed Apple’s challenge against its designation under the Digital Markets Act. This judgement confirms that Apple remains subject to the DMA.

CC-BY-SA 4.0. by Rahak for FSFE

Apple’s designation as a gatekeeper

As one of the largest technology companies in the world, Apple's power spans key aspects of software distribution, operating systems, and devices. This power distorts digital markets and negatively affects not only fair competition, but also software freedom and an open internet. For this reason, in September 2023 and under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the European Commission designated Apple as a “gatekeeper”. In that decision, Apple was designated in relation to the App Store, its operating systems iOS and iPadOS, and its browser Safari.

The DMA imposes obligations that include rules on uninstalling apps and changing defaults, enabling alternative app stores and software distribution, and granting effective interoperability with key software and hardware features controlled by gatekeepers. Besides Apple, designated gatekeepers currently include Alphabet, Amazon, Booking, ByteDance, Meta, and Microsoft.

Apple’s answer to the DMA: an attack against interoperability

After being designated as a gatekeeper, Apple challenged the European Commission’s decision before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). One of Apple’s central arguments was that the interoperability obligations of the law were disproportionate under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and interfered with its "right to property".

Article 6(7) DMA requires gatekeepers to allow third-party hardware and software providers effective interoperability, free of charge, with the same hardware and software features available to the gatekeeper’s own services or products.

In November 2023, Apple brought an action against the European Commission. It asked the Court to declare Article 6(7) DMA inapplicable and to annul the decision to designate Apple as being subject to the interoperability obligation for iOS.

Several key parties intervened in the case brought by Apple against the Commission (T-1080/23) including the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, France, and the industry representative Coalition for App Fairness. All of these parties threw their weight behind the Commission. The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) was the only charitable organisation permitted to intervene and joined forces against Apple.

The goal of the FSFE was to hold Apple accountable under the DMA in a way that protects developer rights. In its intervention, the FSFE highlighted that Apple is being regulated in the public interest, asserting that the company should compete on trustworthiness. Both developers and users should have the option of using alternative services and products rather than being locked into those offered by Apple. The FSFE urged that the case be dismissed entirely.

In October 2025, the FSFE’s lawyer, Dr. Martin Husovec, stressed, at the hearings of the CJEU, that innovation does not exempt a company from regulation. Apple's products form an ecosystem in which value is created not only by the company itself, but also by independent external developers and consumers who own the devices. Therefore it is entirely legitimate and necessary to coerce selected gatekeepers’ products into interoperability.

The verdict: Apple’s obligations remain intact and procedural circumvention around interoperability not allowed

In July 2026, in its judgment, the CJEU dismissed Apple’s challenges against its designation under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) for the App Store and iOS. The Cupertino company remains subject to the DMA, and its attempt to use this case to attack the law’s interoperability framework was rejected. The Court ensured that Apple’s obligations as a designated gatekeeper remain fully intact.

In this case, however, the Court did not rule on the substance of Article 6(7). Instead, it clarified that Apple could not use a case concerning its gatekeeper status to challenge interoperability rules applicable only after designation. The Court held that Article 6(7) DMA "does not govern the conditions for designating an undertaking as a gatekeeper", but "merely defines the interoperability obligations" that apply once a company has been designated.

This is a matter that extends far beyond Apple. Whether a company meets the legal criteria to be considered a gatekeeper is not the issue here; the obligations that follow from that status are. For the DMA to work, gatekeepers must not be able to delay or weaken enforcement through procedural detours.

Device Neutrality applies to alternative app stores

The judgment also dealt with a central aspect of software distribution: how Apple’s App Stores are governed under the DMA. Apple argued that rather than as a single ecosystem, its App Stores should be treated as separate distribution entities depending on the type of device: one for smartphones, one for tablets, one for desktop computers, one for watches, and one for TVs. If this argument had succeeded, the scope of the App Store designation could have been narrowed.

The Court rejected this approach and stressed that a software application store "allows business users to offer software applications to end users". It also pointed out that Apple’s App Stores are used for the same basic purpose: distributing software applications between developers and users.

Finally, the Court supported a technology-neutral reading of the DMA. It held that the classification of a software application store does not depend "either on the device on which that store operates or on the operating system on which the software applications offered within that store run". The Court stated that the DMA’s core platform service definitions should be "technology neutral" and should not vary according to the "technological choices made by the gatekeeper". By establishing this, the Court also agreed with the arguments of the FSFE and the Commission that the DMA is device-agnostic and should not depend on the specific form factors dictated by a gatekeeper.

A step forward for Software Freedom

This judgement brings us one step closer to one of the key pillars of the FSFE's vision for 2048: Device Neutrality. Or in other words: everyone should have the right to install and uninstall any software on their own devices.

The DMA approaches Device Neutrality through several connected obligations:

These rules, along with others, contribute to ensure that third-party software not only reach users, but also function effectively on gatekeeper controlled devices.

However, there is still a lot of work to be done. This particular case may be closed (Apple can still appeal), but it is not the only one. Apple has opened a second legal case against the European Commission’s interoperability specification decision.This decision includes measures aimed at improving transparency and access for developers. These measures include clearer procedures for interoperability requests, improved access to technical information and communication channels, and rules for software and hardware interoperability. The FSFE has also been permitted to intervene in this new case.

Moreover, a gap persists between the law on paper and the reality faced by developers. A recent report from the FSFE shows how Apple’s request-based approach has left developers without effective access to its mobile operating system functionalities. Despite the European Commission’s detailed procedures on software and hardware interoperability, developers still face uncertainty, delays, and refusals when seeking access to Apple-controlled features.

Developers: send your feedback

The participation of the FSFE in these two interventions shows that equal and fair access for developers should not depend solely on the discretionary control of gatekeepers. The Free Software tradition, built on open standards and community oversight, shows that interoperability can be governed as a digital commons, not only as a private platform privilege. Effective interoperability should serve users and developers, not only platform owners.

The FSFE invites developers who have requested access to either software or hardware features under Article 6(7) of the DMA, or who considered doing so but were discouraged by the process, to get in touch. Your experiences can help us document how interoperability works in practice. They can also support better DMA enforcement for Free Software developers and computer users.

Timeline of the case

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SFP#53: FSFE is turning 25! Come and celebrate with us!

vendredi 10 juillet 2026 à 01:00

SFP#53: FSFE is turning 25! Come and celebrate with us!

Times goes by… Did you know the FSFE was founded in 2001, 25 years ago? Of course, we have planned something for our silver anniversary! We are dedicating a full episode of the Software Freedom Podcast to talk about the celebrations and to invite, all of you, our listeners, to celebrate with us. Find out more in our 53rd episode!

Ana Galán, who is the one in charge of the FSFE’s communication and one of the event organizers, took a moment out of her busy schedule to talk with Bonnie Mehring about the FSFE's 25th anniversary and upcoming celebrations. Take a moment to find out how and when the FSFE will be holding their summer meeting and marking this milestone.

For 25 year the FSFE works to safeguard Software Freedom. You can support our work by donating today!

Show notes

We are happy to receive your feedback on the Software Freedom Podcast and especially on the transcript of the episode. Please, email us to: podcast@fsfe.org. If you liked this episode and want to support our continuous work for software freedom, please help us with a donation.

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