FOSDEM 2024 was a blast!

At the beginning of February, FSFE volunteers and staffers went back to Brussels to take part in FOSDEM 2024 with a booth and talks. While for some of us this has become an awesome yearly experience, it was the first time for others. Thanks to everyone who came to FOSDEM, visited our booth for a nice chat, and joined us during our social events!

For many members of our community, FOSDEM marks the beginning of the annual Free Software conferences. It is also one of the largest conferences on Software Freedom, so as a Free Software enthusiast it is one of the places to be.

While most of our staff and volunteers have marked the first weekend of February in their calendars for years, some FSFE members attended for the first time. We asked one of them, Tommi, a Free Software enthusiast and FSFE intern, about his first FOSDEM experience.

“When I was asked to go to FOSDEM, my answer was of course! So, a couple of weeks ago, I caught a train to Brussels and took part in the first FOSDEM of my life. It won’t be the last one.

It is hard to explain how incredible an experience it was to attend the conference. What struck me the most was to finally give a face and an identity to usernames contributing to Free Software. Up to FOSDEM, I personally met only a few people directly involved in the universe of open technologies that I have been following in the past few years. FOSDEM gave me the opportunity to finally have a face-to-face conversation with a lot of developers and members of the Free Software community, and I expressed my gratitude to them.

Both by standing at our booth and by wandering around, I could not help but feel surrounded by like-minded people who believe in the importance of Software Freedom, and more broadly in technology developed by the people for the people. I chatted face-to-face with developers and maintainers of projects whose existence literally changed my life, and all this happened in a self-organized and volunteer-led environment, making it even more interesting and captivating. Of course, there was also time to attend really interesting talks, and I had the chance to listen to my colleagues in front of an audience. It was also great to have the chance to meet a lot of FSFE volunteers and engage in interesting discussions with them during our social events.”

For this year, we had a booth at FOSDEM with promotion material and merchandising. Thanks to everyone who gave us a hand there!

If you missed FOSDEM or didn’t have time to attend all of our sessions, don’t worry! Have a look at the devrooms we co-organized this year and took part in, so that you can learn something new, deepen your knowledge, and improve your Free Software skills.

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"I Love Free Software Day" 2024: Forging the future with Free Software

Together with hundreds of people and several organisations, we have celebrated another "I Love Free Software Day" on 14 February! On this day, we reached out to Free Software contributors to say Thank you! To all who joined us this time: Thank you for participating in this 14th edition of the "I Love Free Software Day" ❤️❤️❤️!

The "I Love Free Software Day" 2024 focused on younger generations and how to introduce them into the Free Software community. Therefore, several of our local groups celebrated this day with a meeting focused on younger people. The rest just focused on the main "I Love Free Software Day" idea: to acknowledge the amazing Free Software community, thanking Free Software projects and sharing their love for Free Software. And while several FSFE local groups - in Italy, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain, England, Germany, and Switzerland - got together and celebrated their love for software freedom in person, we were happy to see how other other members of the Free Software community joined our call and organised meetings, like the one in Portugal.

I Love Free Software Day celebrations 2024

For this year the FSFE planned a special gift for several organisations and long-term volunteers to get them ready for 'I Love Free Software' day. We gave them an acrylglas heart and an LED strip, plus a microcontroller and some jump wires. The challenge? To tinker around with these things and to upload a picture of the heart on 14 February. It turned out to be quite a challenge, but a lot of fun!

For the celebrations in 2024, over a hundred people came together in 13 local meetings organised by either FSFE local groups or other Free Software groups in seven different countries. The celebrations were as different as the groups. The local group in Aarhus, Denmark, organised a reading of the children's book "Ada & Zangemann", while the Portuguese organisation esop organised a translation of this book into Portuguese.

There are many more thank you messages and blogposts out there highlighting the work of Free Software contributors. It is touching to see so many people, companies, and organisations joining us for this special day and reaching out to the people who work for software freedom. For a longer read we recommend the full "I Love Free Software Day: Forging the future" report.

Thank you for joining this year's “I Love Free Software” celebrations ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

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SFP#24: The status of Free Software with Karen Sandler and Alexander Sander

Have there been any changes for Free Software in Europe or the USA in the last year? How is Free Software viewed by legislators? What can we do to support software freedom? Karen Sandler and Alexander Sander are active in the Free Software movement and share their views on the current status of Free Software in our society.

Karen Sandler is the executive director of the Software Freedom Conservancy and has a background in law and engineering. Our second guest for this episode is the FSFE's Senior Policy Consultant, Alexander Sander. In his work, Alex focuses on policy topics, always raising the status of Free Software within Europe. Over the past year, he has met with many decision-makers in Europe such as Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) or officials from the European Commission and Council, to talk about Free Software, for example in relation to the AI Act, the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), or the Product Liability Directive (PLD).

At the same time, across the ocean, the Software Freedom Conservancy has been working with a broad alliance to advocate for the right to repair.

In short a lot has happened in the past year. Luckily, Alex and Karen are here to talk with our host Bonnie about the current situation and what we still need to do for software freedom. Learn more about the state of Free Software with Alex and Karen and find out how you can support software freedom.

This is the perfect episode for everybody who needs a quick summary of the past year. Let's start software freedom!

Show notes

https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/small/13/04/1eca3b91f7d5d338f8f2c6876d6c.png
• Software Freedom Conservancy
• "Amicus curiae brief": SFC joins amicus curiae in Green v. Department of Justice
• Use the source
• Software Freedom Conservancy Podcast with Karen Sandler
• Liability, Interoperability and Free Software in EU: what we are expecting
• EU Declaration of Digital Rights and Principles falls short of its ambitions
• "Public Money? Public Code!"
• "Public Money? Public Code!": contact your local public bodies
• FSFE's activities and how you can join our work for software freedom
• FOSDEM Legal and Policy Issues devroom
• Valetudo: liberate your vacuum robot
• Dédalo: Managing Cultural Heritage Archives
• Mujer y memoria

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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Celebrate I Love Free Software Day +++ Interoperable Europe Act adopted

Once again, FOSDEM did not disappoint! Meeting the Free Software community in Brussels is always one of the best moments of the year! And just before we meet again to celebrate I Love Free Software Day with the great news of the Interoperable Europe Act being adopted! This newsletter also includes our first interviews with 2023 Youth Hacking 4 Freedom participants… and more!

Table of contents:

• I Love Free Software Day 2024: Join an event!
• Interoperable Europe Act adopted, close monitoring vital
• Meet Jannes and Aaron, YH4F 2023 participants
• The FSFE partners with the Edulife Foundation to introduce Italian students to Free Software
• NGI: € 21.6 million in grants for Free Software
• Take action: Help us spread the word about Router Freedom!
• Quote of the Month
• Contribute to our Newsletter

I Love Free Software Day 2024: Join an event!

On 14 February Free Software communities around the world gather to celebrate developers, maintainers, and contributors of Free Software projects. Take part in one of the many events across Europe that celebrate the contributors to our favorite type of software: Free Software!

On this day we reach out to those people behind Free Software and say “Thank you” for their work and help throughout the year.

Visit the activity’s website to learn more about “I Love Free Software Day 2024: Forging the Future with Free Software”.

Interoperable Europe Act adopted, close monitoring vital

The Interoperable Europe Act has been adopted, on 6 February, in plenary with 524 votes in favour, 18 against, and 97 abstentions. Although some of the potential of the regulation got undermined, the Act as a whole is an important opportunity for Free Software and its community to contribute to an interoperable Europe. The FSFE will closely monitor its implementation.

Meet Jannes and Aaron, YH4F 2023 participants

Find out more about the Youth Hacking 4 Freedom participants in the 2023 edition! We are starting this series of interviews talking with Jannes and Aaron: both worked on projects related to school education, and it is particularly interesting to see how these two projects approached different aspects with a similar spirit.

The FSFE partners with the Edulife Foundation to introduce Italian students to Free Software

In the framework of the ITS Academy LAST project, the Free Software Foundation Europe and the Edulife Foundation, the operational partner of ITS Academy LAST, have developed a two-year agreement to deliver educational content to students about Free Software legal aspects, policy, and public awareness.

NGI: € 21.6 million in grants for Free Software

The Next Generation Internet (NGI) Zero consortium, of which the FSFE is a partner, has just unveiled the NGI0 Commons Fund. This new public fund will award 21.6 million euro to small and medium R&D projects developing Free Software technologies that can improve the Internet.

Take action: Help us spread the word about Router Freedom!

Since several countries have officially introduced the possibility for users to use their own routers, we want to encourage people to try out and enjoy this freedom. We need your help to design, publish, and print materials that can be used on booths and at other in-person events, so people can talk about and collectively learn about using their own routers.

• Leaflet: If we raise 3,000 euros, we can cover the costs for the design and printing of a new leaflet with a nice and intuitive design for the decision tree, as well as with basic information about Router Freedom. As are all our information materials, it will also be available under a free license on our website.
• Sticker: As a thank you for your help, did you know that you can order our Router Freedom sticker for free to show off on your liberated router/modem?

Quote of the month

I believe Free Software needs a voice at the national as well as the EU level in politics: Software does not exist in an isolated bubble, it’s heavily dependent on the ecosystem that it lives in. In my opinion Free Software as well as open standards are key to creating a society that provides equal access.

Isabel Drost-Fromm (Software Engineer and Member of the Apache Software Foundation)

Contribute to our Newsletter

We would love to hear from you. If you have any thoughts, pictures, or news to share, please send them to us at newsletter@fsfe.org. You can also support us, contribute to our work, and join our community. We would like to thank our community and all the volunteers, supporters, and donors who make our work possible, with a special mention to our translators who make it possible for you to read this newsletter in your mother tongue.

Your editors, Ana and Tommi

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Less than one week to I Love Free Software Day 2024!

On 14 February Free Software communities around the world gather to celebrate developers, maintainers, and contributors of Free Software projects. Take part in one of the many events across Europe that celebrate this day!

Just less than one week until many Free Software enthusiasts from all the world meet to celebrate “I Love Free Software Day”, an occasion to share gratitude and appreciation to those who make Free Software come true. This year, the focus of the celebration is on young generations, that’s why we are calling it “I Love Free Software Day 2024 – Forging the Future with Free Software”! In Italy, UK, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Switzerland, and Netherlands, the FSFE local groups, as well as other Free Software communities and enthusiasts, are going to make this day special.

In Bergamo, Italy, with Kenobit and Dario!

This year, a very big event is taking place in Bergamo, Italy: together with Bergamo Linux User Group (BgLUG), we are hosting a workshop and discussion about the critical relevance Free Software has for music production. Our host for that night, Kenobit, is a chiptune music producer, a Fediverse administrator, and an exceptional creative mind! For I Love Free Software Day he is going to host a workshop about the use of Free Software for music production. This year’s I Love Free Software Day is focusing on young people, who are the next generation for Free Software. Kenobit is a well known DJ in Italy, and many young people can connect with his music. Moreover, FSFE’s project manager Dario Presutti is participating to moderate the conversation. The Bergamo event starts at 18:00 (CET) at Spazio Polaresco. The event is open for everybody, come and join the BgLUG for an evening full of Free Software!

If you are not in the Milan/Bergamo area, don’t worry! People are meeting in so many places it is likely that you can find an event near you!

Other gatherings in Europe!

In Italy, the Linux User Group of Bolzano/Bozen is taking I Love Free Software Day as an opportunity to start a series of weekly meetings, the “Free Software Wednesdays”! Check out their website to learn more. In Bologna, the Tech Workers Coalition Italia is using this day to begin the “Free Software Syndacates” study group!

In the UK, the FSFE Potteries (Staffordshire) local group is planning to host a cozy and welcoming evening at the KPA Clubhouse, join them to have a great time!

In Germany, if you are around Wiesbaden, join the local Chaos Computer Club for a series of lightning talks and a final round table. In Berlin, the local FSFE group is going to be meeting at xHain, to share ideas and love about Free Software projects, while having a great time together.

In Spain two local groups are organising an event. There will be a meeting in Barcelona, with a fun introduction to Free Software. While in Madrid a meeting will be organised in the local Makespace.

The Danish friends of FSFE are meeting in Aarhus. In Switzerland, the FSFE local group is meeting in Zurich.

Spread the word, share the love!

Can’t join a celebration in person? Please do not let this prevent you from sharing the love and saying “Thank you” to Free Software developers and contributors! Here are some options:

• create a short video with a “Thank You” message to your favourite Free Software project. You can then share it via your preferred social media channel with the hashtag #ilovefs.
• With our Sharepic Generator, create a Sharepic of yourself and include a personal “Thank You” message. Then you can share it on social media using the hashtag #ilovefs.

Any other information is on the I Love Free Software page. Feel free to reach out to contact@fsfe.org if you have any questions, we hope to be seeing you soon!

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