I Love Free Software +++ Public authorities in Fediverse

In this issue we invite public institutions to join free, decentralised social networks. Watch our info-session on German municipalities using Free Software. An FSFE volunteer doubts the reliability of AI-generated text. I Love Free Software Day is just around the corner. Celebrate with us!

I Love Free Software Day

We know you love Free Software. We do too. Think of the program that means the most for you, or one that positively surprised you this year. Share a ‘thank you’ message on the 14th of February with #ilovefs to show your appreciation to its contributors. We celebrate ‘I Love Free Software Day’ with events too. Join us here:

• 🇩🇪 Germany - Berlin, Frankfurt a.M., Bonn, Hamburg
• 🇬🇷 Greece - Thessaloniki
• 🇮🇹 Italy - online, Merano
• 🇳🇱 Netherlands - Arnhem
• 🇨🇭 Switzerland - Zurich

Invite public bodies to the Fediverse

If public bodies are on social networks they should also talk with Fediverse users. FediGov, the campaign of the FSFE’s Swiss country team and GNU/Linux.ch, asks public bodies to use Mastodon, Pixelfeld and Peertube. Join the campaign and demand that your public institutions use ethical communication channels. The European Commission and several EU public institutions are already on Mastodon.

Video and mailing list on German municipalities

Dortmund is opening a new chapter in Free Software governance and inspiring municipalities across Germany. The recording of the dedicated event we hosted on 11 January 2023 is now online. Are you interested in Free Software and working in a municipal administration or in politics? Join our new mailing list to exchange information about Free Software in local institutions!

A word from the Planet

Watermarks that can verify whether a text was produced using AI, the provision of sources that led to the output of the text, or the count of back-references to a page can increase trust in AI- generated texts, according to FSFE suporter Vincent Lequertier. You can follow the thoughts of members of the FSFE community in our Planet.

Past events

• Last weekend we were at FOSDEM 2023 with a booth and various talks.
• We have held several Upcycling Android workshops and now it is your turn! Do you want to organise a workshop and teach others how to flash phones? Check out our train the trainers workshop. Marvin, one of the speakers, said in a recent interview that despite the imperfections so far, GNU/Linux systems on phones have the highest potential to extend the life of devices without running into security problems.
• Raul Masu presented ‘Public Money? Public Code!’ at LibreItalia Conference in Empoli in December 2022.

Groups

Germany: The FSFE local group in Bonn met online on 9 January. The group discussed how to make large amounts of data (JSONs) searchable in a browser and how to integrate Free Software Text-To-Speech into a blog. The question of coding without a 'real' computer led to a brief look at Android IDEs for mobile app development. Kilux and Chemnitzer Linux Tage might be good opportunities to meet besides FrOScon. The group is also interested in free musical instruments, this time featuring an opentheremin. Meanwhile, the FSFE local group in Berlin was discussing with the youth Free Software in schools and the benefits of the AlekSIS system.

Greece: In January the group discussed practices about translating Free Software into Greek. The group shared collaborative translation platforms and glossaries.

Netherlands: The government released the code of DigiD, the identity verification app. This great news comes after some months of advocacy by the team. This victory was therefore the main topic of the last monthly meeting, in January.

Switzerland: After a successful launch of the FediGov campaign, the Zurich group discussed next steps. Creating a Mastodon instance for public institutions in Switzerland or contacting data protection officers are ongoing ideas.

Women: In January the FSFE Women group discussed the Python tools Conda, Poetry, and mypy.

Translators: 337 FSFE translations in 2022! Our exceptional translators team has created 337 new files in 2022. The leader is Italian with 120 new pages, followed by Dutch, German, Spanish, and Portuguese. Get involved by proofreading or translating our material.

Contribute to our Newsletter

If you would like to share any thoughts, pictures, or news, please send them to us. As always, the address is newsletter@fsfe.org. We're looking forward to hearing from you! If you also want to support us and our work, join our community and support us with a donation or a monthly contribution. Thanks to our community and all the volunteers, supporters, and donors who make our work possible. And thanks to our translators, who enable you to read this newsletter in your native languages.

Your editor, Fani Partsafyllidou

Support FSFE

FSFE local groups celebrate ‘I Love Free Software Day’

On the14th of February the FSFE community meets up in diverse cities around Europe to celebrate ‘I Love Free Software Day’. Join our events in Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Greece, Switzerland and Spain.

This year we celebrate the 13th edition of ‘I Love Free Software Day’. Over the past decade the ‘I Love Free Software Day’ has become a tradition for the Free Software community. On this day Free Software enthusiasts, users, and contributors share their appreciation for each other. A series of gatherings in different cities, scattered around Europe, is coming up. On February 14 , people will meet to discuss Free Software topics and thank contributors of their favourite programs.

Find an event organised by an FSFE group near you and join!

Party at C-base in Berlin

It is not a venue. It is the remains of a 4.5 billion year old space station were discovered under Berlin-Mitte: c-base. It is where the FSFE throws a party. Come and join us!

🇩🇪📍 Rungestraße 20, 10179 Berlin

⏰ 16:30-00:00

📋 Please register here.

• 16:30-19:00 Upcycling Android Workshop: Learn how to flash phones with Free Software and why it is a sustainable practice
• 19:30 Party, music, snacks, drinks!
• 20:00 I Love Free Software open mic: 1 minute lightning talks featuring favourite projects and saying thank you
• Until 00:00 music by DJ Tasmo

Meetups in Bonn and Hamburg

More German cities love Free Software. A community meeting in Bonn will celebrate this day probably online some hours earlier, on Monday 13 February, while the FSFE local group Hamburg is organising a meeting on 14 February.

🇩🇪📍 Bonn, Hamburg

⏰ TBA

Pizza party in Frankfurt Chaos Computer Club

Webathon in Frankfurt, 2019

During the public evening at the Chaos Computer Club in Frankfurt, we celebrate the "I Love Free Software Day". Stop by and join us! In addition to a small program of a few 📢 Lightning Talks (5' lectures) and a 🍕 Pizza Party, the evening is dedicated to discussions about Free Software.

19:00 – 19:30 👋 Arrive

19:30 – 20:00 📢 Lightning Talks I

20:00 – 20:30 🍕 Pizza party

20:30 – 21:00 📢 Lightning Talks II

from 21:00 Happy get-together

📋 Please register by sending an email to mweimann@fsfe.org and keep in mind that an FFP-2 mask is required during the event.

Free Software and privacy in Thessaloniki, Greece

We love both Free Software and privacy. In this meetup ‘I Love Free Software Day’ will be presented along with short talks on privacy. Of course, there is also going to be time to say thank you to our favourite Free Software programs. We meet and connect with friends from GFOSS and GreekLUG.

🇬🇷📍 Ypsilon first floor, Edessis 5, 546 25

📋 Places are limited, please register.

18:30 – 19:00 👋 Arrive

19:00 – 19:10 🔹 FSFE intro

19:10 – 19:20 📢 “I Love Free Software Day”

19:20 – 19:30 🔹 GFOSS intro

19:30 – 19:40 📢 Mastodon: Social media back in the hands on people

19:40 – 19:50 🎤 Q&A

19:50 – 20:00 🔹 GreekLUG intro

20:00 – 20:10 📢 OpenPGP in Thunderbird for encrypted and/or signed emails

20:10 – 20:20 🎤 Q&A

20:20 – 20:30 📢 Community activities: ‘Public Money? Public Code!’, FediGov

20:30 – 20:50 🎤 ‘A Free Software program I would like to thank is…’ round

from 21:00 🍻 Beers in Ypsilon

Netherlands team meets in Arnhem

Strategically placed at the centre of the country, the meeting in Arnhem can accommodate people from all of the Netherlands. The team has planned a cosy dinner and a drink.

🇳🇱 📍 Momento Oude Oeverstraat 98 6811 JZ Arnhem, Nederland

⏰ 19:00

📋 Please confirm your attendance through the Dutch mailing list.

Italian community meets online

A group call that welcomes all Italian-speaking members interested in Free Software is coming up. After the success of the Italian community meeting at SFScon with more than 20 participants online and in person the team wanted to meet again. What better occasion than the ‘I Love Free Software Day’? We will celebrate our love for Free software and discuss the future of Free Software in Italy.

🇮🇹 💻 Online here

⏰ 17:30

Meetup in Swiss hackerspace

The local groups Zurich, Basel, and St. Gallen invite other hacker groups for drinks and food after work to celebrate ‘I Love Free Software Day’. At 18:00 they take a group picture!

🇨🇭📍Bitwäscherei, restaurant on the ground floor, Zurich

⏰ 17:00

Spanish groups’ meetups

Free Software advocates celebrating the ‘I Love Free Software Day’ in Barcelona, 2019.

Local group members are trying to organize meetings in Madrid and in Barcelona to celebrate ‘I Love Free Software Day’. Contact the groups to stay up to date with their plans!

🇪🇸 📍Madrid and Barcelona

⏰ TBA

Your city?

Join us in celebrating our love for Free Software on the 14th of February. For more meetings and information have a look at our event page. Or reach out to us at contact@fsfe.org, if you would like to organise a meeting in your area. Let’s connect with each other and show our appreciation for Free Software and the freedoms it guarantees for us.

Support FSFE

Ready for FOSDEM 2023?

FOSDEM 2023 is taking place in Brussels the first weekend of February. The FSFE team will be participating at the main Free Software convention in Europe with a booth and giving some keynotes. Are you going to be there? Come to our booth and do not miss our talks!

After two years without the chance to meet in person and spend time talking with other Free Software friends -- and newcomers -- around our booth, we are almost there: FOSDEM is back as an “in situ” event.

FOSDEM brings together thousands of Free Software enthusiasts for one weekend in Brussels to discuss current topics and developments in the Free Software world. This year we are back at the Université Libre de Bruxelles with our booth and several talks to encourage and raise awareness on wider issues that impact our movement. Networking is equally important. We have prepared social gatherings to get to know each other a bit better during the evenings in some informal venues.

Join the chat

Your first step if you are coming to FOSDEM is to join our Matrix FOSDEM 2023 room.Stay up to date and tell us if you want to join our social gatherings and join the FSFE booth team.

FOSDEM BOOTH SET UP- Friday 3 February

If you are already in Brussels on Friday and have time, help us set up our booth! Then we will have a small social gathering. Let’s catch up! 19.00 h. Dinner at Positano restaurant: Rue De Pascale 20, 1050 Ixelles. See in OpenStreet Map.

FSFE FOSDEM Legal & Policy DevRoom, TEDective - Saturday 4 February

The Legal and Policy Issues Devroom is taking place during the first day of the conference. Together with our co-organisers Karen Sandler and Bradley Kuhn from Software Freedom Conservancy, Richard Fontana from Red Hat, and Tom Marble from Informatique, Inc., the FSFE’s Alexander Sander and Matthias Kirschner will be addressing legal and policy topic.

Also on Saturday morning we have a talk about TEDective, our Free Software solution that makes European public procurement data explorable for non-experts and after it a talk about thr Windows and Office “tax” refund. Between these talks and other interesting ones that you might attend, do not forget to stop by at our booth to get some promo material and to buy some new merchandise, such as a t-shirt so you can show everyone your support.

Finally, we will come to the end of this long but worthwhile first day with a meetup to get to know the members of our community better, sharing a beer with a passionate debate on some of the topics we have learned about during the day!

Saturday

• 10:00 - 18:30 h. - FSFE BoothBuilding K level 1. Group A- Community advocacy, 5.
• 10:30 - 18:50 h. - Legal & Policy Devroom Room: UB5.132
• 10:30 - 10:55 h. - TEDective Room: UB5.132
• 11:00 - 11:25 h. - Windows and Office "tax" refund Room: UB5.132
• 19.00 h. Drinks in Zonneklop pub. You can bring food from other places. Rue de la Paix 29, 1050 Ixelles, Belgium. See in OpenStreet Map

FSFE FOSDEM Public Money, Public Code!, REUSE - Sunday 5 February

Our second day will start with a talk in the morning about our campaign ‘Public Money? Public Code!’, in which we will provide a policy brief of the state of play of Free Software in the European Union. If you are interested in this topic, you should attend another of our talks about this issue to learn how to effectively push for Free Software all over Europe. That one will take place in the afternoon under the title ‘If it’s public money, make it public code!’.

Also in the afternoon you can learn about REUSE, our tool to communicate licensing and copyright information, which makes developing, using,and re-using Free Software easier.

Of course, we have more activities, campaigns and topics that our team can discuss with you. So stop at our booth! We will be willing to answer your questions and show you some of the initiatives that we have going on.

Sunday

• 09:00 - 17:00 h. - FSFE BoothBuilding K level 1. Group A- Community advocacy, 5.
• 10:00 - 10:30 h. - Public Money? Public Code! in Europe Room: AW1.125
• 13:30 - 13:45 h. - REUSE Room: UB3. 136
• 14:05 - 14:25 h. - If it’s public money, make it public code! Room: UB5. 132

Give us a hand!

Bringing and taking back our merchandise and promotional material all the way to Brussels is no easy task and we need extra hands to help building and tearing down the booth. Contact our Community Coordinator Fani fani@fsfe.org if you can join us!

• Friday ~15:00 - 17:00 h. - Moving boxes to booth
• Sunday 17:00 - 17:30 h. - Booth tear-down

Support FSFE

Municipalities need Free Software: Recording and new mailing list

Dortmund is opening a new chapter in Free Software Governance and inspiring municipalities all over Germany. The recording of our event on 11 January 2023 is now online. Are you interested in Free Software and working in a municipal administration or in politics? Join our new mailing list to exchange information on Free Software in municipalities!

In December 2022, the City of Dortmund raised its profile as a pioneer of Free Software and decided to set up a “Coordination Office for Digital Sovereignty and Open Source”. On 11 January 2023, more than 160 interested representatives from municipalities all over the country informed themselves in an online event about the developments leading to this step, about the guiding principle “Public Money? Public Code!”, about Free Software Governance as the key to digital sovereignty and about new perspectives for municipalities throughout the country.

The recording of the joint event of the the Do-FOSS initiative, the Offene Kommunen.NRW association, the Kommunale Gemeinschaftsstelle für Verwaltungsmanagement and the Free Software Foundation Europe can now be viewed online.

For further discussion about Free Software in municipalities there is now a new mailing list fs-kommunen (at) lists.fsfe.org. We invite interested parties from municipal administrations, politics and IT companies as well as interested private individuals to use this list for exchange of information and for networking on the topic of municipal Free Software Governance. Also, Free Software related jobs can be shared here.

Free Software and “Public Money? Public Code!”

Free Software gives everyone the right to use, study, share and improve applications for any purpose. These freedoms ensure that similar applications do not have to be programmed from scratch every time and, thanks to transparent processes, others do not have to reinvent the wheel. In large projects, expertise and costs can be shared and applications paid for by the general public are available to all. This promotes innovation and saves tax payers money in the medium to long term. Dependencies on vendors are minimised and security issues can be fixed more easily. The Free Software Foundation Europe, together with over 200 organisations and administrations, is therefore calling for “Public Money? Public Code!” - If it is public money, it should be public code as well. More information on the initiative on the “Public Money? Public Code!” website.

Support FSFE

Join our team as an intern!

Are you a motivated person who wants to support FSFE's activities as an intern? If your background is in computer science, law, political science or another social science field, apply to become part of our team in our Berlin office, working 35 hours per week for a period of 6 months. Join us in empowering people to take control of technology!. 10:37

About the FSFE

The 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 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, encourages people to use and develop Free Software, and provides resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software in Europe.

We are involved in many activities in the legal, economic, political and technical areas around Free Software. Our work is made possible by a community of volunteers, supporters, donors, and staff.

We are looking for an intern

We are looking for a reliable and driven intern to join our team. You will support the FSFE's activities and work closely with our team. Our internships are of great value to us, therefore we make sure to offer our interns the opportunity to learn about Free Software and to meet and work with our vibrant community across Europe. The person will work 35 hours per week with our team in the FSFE Berlin office for a six months period.

Read more about our internships and what former interns say about it.

Main responsibilities

• Support FSFE’s oingoing projects depending on your background and interests;
• Communicate with different members of the FSFE community, NGOs, industry, and public administrations;
• Depending on the work area, you will participate and help organising events around Europe,
• Work together with our staff and volunteers on various projects;
• General office tasks.

Qualifications

• Your field of study doesn't matter, but you should be able to relate it to our work. Traditionally, a lot of interns in the FSFE have a legal or political science background, but we've also had excellent interns working with us with a more technical or other social science background.
• Excellent spoken and written English, other European languages are considered an asset;
• Very reliable, well-organised, and supportive of colleagues.

How to apply

To apply, please send a maximum one-page cover letter and a maximum two-page CV by email to jobs@fsfe.org, with the subject "Intern position 2023". Please do not include pictures of yourself in the application. There is no immediate closing date for submitting applications, but we recommend to apply as early as possible as applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Please indicate your possible starting date.

The position is for a period of 6 months, full time - 35 hours per week, starting as agreed. The location of the internship is Berlin, Germany, therefore you will be required to show that you can legally work in Germany; either by being an EU citizen, or by having a residence and work permit for the duration. This internship is compensated according to the German minimum wage. Your personal data will be deleted 3 months after we have made our decision.

Free Software is meant to serve everyone regardless of their age, ability or disability, gender identity, sex, race, nationality, religion or sexual orientation. Hence, we encourage applications from all backgrounds and promise to judge all applications on merit, without reference to any of the characteristics listed. To promote diversity and equality in the Free Software community, we shall give preference between applications of equal strength to applicants who identify as part of a traditionally marginalised demographic in technology.

# You might be interested in

A thank you note to past FSFE interns

An internship in the FSFE can be an intensive yet enriching experience. We have asked eight of our former interns about their time at the FSFE. Get a glimpse of what to expect from this position in our interview with past interns.

Support FSFE