# articles

feed_id: news-20230301-01
title: "I Love Free Software Day" 2023: Meet & Connect
uri: I-Love-Free-Software-Day-2023-Meet-Connect
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230301-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>"I Love Free Software Day" 2023: Meet &amp; Connect</h1><p>On the 14th of February Free Software enthusiasts celebrated the 13th edition of the “I ❤️ Fee Software Day”! Hundreds of people and numerous organisations shared their love for Free Software and reached out to the ones behind these projects. Thank you for taking part in the celebration of our favourite type of software: Free Software.</p><p>For this years’ celebration of “I Love Free Software Day”, the Free Software Foundation Europe has organised <a href="activities/ilovefs/report/report_2023.fr.html">several meetups and events all across Europe</a>. The FSFE local groups in Spain, England, Portugal, Greece, Germany, and Switzerland have taken up the call of the FSFE to get together and celebrate their love for software freedom in person. Even Free Software contributors from outside the FSFE have joined the call and organised a meeting, like the one in Austria and Barcelona.</p>
  <img src=" https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/4a/25/f139d8deb3e79d18885489a0ac8a.jpeg"/>
  Celebrating "I Love Free Software Day" in Madrid (Spain), Berlin (Germany), and Thessaloniki (Greece)
<p>Apart from the visible presence on Twitter and in the Fediverse, the FSFE has also said <strong>thank you</strong>, in a more old-school way, to numerous projects with our <a href="">newly designed postcards</a>.</p>
<img src="media/aa061986.fce9f6fead03f20870cbc61090bb.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/d5/28/fce9f6fead03f20870cbc61090bb.png"/>
Thank you postcards sent by the FSFE to Free Software projects
<p>This activity has been well received and it was awesome to see how much joy a thank you can spread. The Free Software project DAVx⁵, who was among the recipients of the postcards, shared their happiness about the postcards in the Fediverse and thanked the FSFE for such a kind gesture.</p>
<img src="media/620e92f4.adb1427b3b25444ab8e688da843f.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/d7/89/adb1427b3b25444ab8e688da843f.png"/>
<p>Those are just some of the actions that took place for this years “I Love Free Software Day”. For all of you who want to continue sharing your their love for Free Software take a look at our <a href="https://sharepic.fsfe.org/#ilovefs">share-pic generator</a> or watch the new thank you messages on our <a href="https://media.fsfe.org/w/p/u3Ep8hRP5vFdbgUE9LKScW?playlistPosition=1">Peertube-instance</a>.</p>
	  	
	  
	   Amandine “Cryptie” Jambert saying thank you to <a href="https://nextcloud.com/">nextcloud</a> and <a href="https://www.davx5.com/">DAVx⁵</a>
	  
	<p>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 the longer read we recommend reading the full <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/ilovefs/report/report_2023.html">"I Love Free Software Day: Meet &amp; Connect" report</a>.</p><p>Thank you for joining this years “I Love Free Software” celebrations ❤️ ❤️ ❤️</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: nl-202303
title: Medical Devices Should Use Free Software +++ 25 New Videos
uri: Medical-Devices-Should-Use-Free-Software-25-New-Videos
url: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-202303.fr.html
content:
<h1>Medical Devices Should Use Free Software +++ 25 New Videos</h1><p>
  In this issue we have a podcast episode about the need that medical 
  devices have Free Software. Watch our talks from FOSDEM and videos 
  about legal issues when developing. Participants of YH4F are already 
  coding. Thanks to all your contributions, our fundraising ended 
  successfully. We bring community news from 9 countries.
</p>
  <img src="media/87bd2b4b.99231801b6f091ffe8e9544a006d.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/8c/0e/99231801b6f091ffe8e9544a006d.png"/>
<h3>My Medical Device, My Software</h3>
  <img src="media/81d81a3a.caf4943205e50fcf43dd13cb748e.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/7f/65/caf4943205e50fcf43dd13cb748e.jpg"/>
<p>
  Karen Sandler relies on a medical device to keep her heart pumping. 
  She had a critical moment when her defibrillator misread her 
  condition and she had no access to tweak the device. Since then, 
  Karen has been on an odyssey to persuade doctors and manufacturers to 
  embrace software freedom in medical devices. She recalls a case of a 
  neurotechnology company that ended its support of retina implants. 
  Despite such cases, things can improve in healthcare as more tech 
  savvy people need medical devices. <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/podcast/episode-19.html">Listen to 
  Karen’s interview in our Software Freedom Podcast</a>
</p><h3>Binge-watch our videos</h3><p>We have published 25 videos this month!</p><ul>
  <li>
    What is copyright? Can I copy someone else’s work? Read and watch 
    our explanatory videos on <a href="https://fsfe.org/freesoftware/legal/faq.html">Frequently 
    asked legal questions</a>.
  </li>
  <li>
    ‘Refund of Payments for Pre-Installed Software’, ‘De-Monopolizing 
    Access to EU Applications’ and many more <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230227-01.html">hot topics 
    from FOSDEM 2023</a>.
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="https://media.fsfe.org/my-library/video-playlists/e31f08b8-e1bd-4fd2-9390-1849562adeb4">10 
    new ‘Thank you!’ videos</a> to Free Software programs from our I 
    Love Free Software Day.
  </li>
</ul>
  <a href="https://media.fsfe.org/w/2xcEsbec7YAkoNUTuDAVQ7">
  </a>
  
    Niharika thanks Big Blue Button.
  
<p>
  In our own Peertube instance you can always find our <a href="https://media.fsfe.org/videos/recently-added">latest videos</a> 
  and leave comments! So, how to do it? If you have an account on any 
  ActivityPub-compatible instance, e.g. PeerTube, Mastodon, or Pleroma, 
  copy the URL of the video and paste it into the "Search" 
  box of for example your Mastodon’s web interface. Comment from there! 
</p><h3>Updates</h3><ul>
  <li>
    The coding period of the second <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230220-01.html">Youth 
    Hacking 4 Freedom competition is on! </a> Our 70 participants are 
    meeting online regularly and engaging in discussions while helping 
    each other and networking in a Matrix chat until the end of the 
    coding period.
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230215-01.html">Thanks 
    to your valuable contributions, we have reached our fundraising 
    target</a>. Thank you for your confidence and support, even in 
    these difficult times.
  </li>
  <li>
    Check out the <a href="https://iheartsteam.com/free-software-for-all-let-a-childrens-book-explain-the-concept/">iheartsteam 
    teachers’ podcast series which hosted Matthias Kirschner for the 
    book Ada &amp; Zangemann</a>.
  </li>
  <li>
    Our community loves Free Hardware too! This <a href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/tobias_platen/2023/02/14/i-love-free-fs-2023/">‘thank 
    you’ note to the Libre-SOC project</a> is one of the latest 
    articles you can find in our <a href="https://planet.fsfe.org/">Planet</a>.
  </li>
</ul>
  <img src="media/6617c8c6.e548e360c8eb436c75110ea7b9a7.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/dd/ae/e548e360c8eb436c75110ea7b9a7.jpg"/>
<h3>Events</h3><ul>
  <li>
    <p>
      Online &amp; 🇩🇪 Germany: On 10 March 2023 Johannes Näder, FSFE 
      Policy Project Manager, will participate in the workshop 
      "Free and Open Software as a central component of diverse, 
      sustainable digital ecosystems" in the German Bundestag 
      [DE]. <a href="https://www.gruene-bundestag.de/digitalkonferenz">You need 
      to register in order to watch it livestreamed.</a>.
    </p>
  </li>
  <li>
    <p>
      🇩🇪 Germany:  An author reading of “Ada &amp; Zangemann – A fairy 
      tale about software, skateboards and raspberry ice cream” will 
      take place in the German city of Traunstein. <a href="https://www.chiemgauer-medienwochen.de/veranstaltung/bilderbuchkino/">Kulturforum 
      Klosterkirche Traunstein on March 14</a>.
    </p>
  </li>
<li>
  <p>
    🇸🇪 Sweden: On 24-25 April the FSFE invites you to join the <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230222-01.html">foss-north 
    conference</a>.
  </p>
</li>
  <li>
    <p>
      🇺🇸 USA: An author reading of “Ada &amp; Zangemann” will take place 
      in Boston at the <a href="https://libreplanet.org/2023/speakers/#6055">Convention and 
      Exhibition Center on March 18</a>.
    </p>
  </li>
</ul><h3>FSFE community</h3>
  <img src="media/c480afd1.875fdb52b9d020ee5735f57cd13e.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/2a/d7/875fdb52b9d020ee5735f57cd13e.png"/>
  
    Group picture from Madrid
  
<p>
  <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/ilovefs/report/report_2023.html">Our 
  community celebrated ‘I Love Free Software Day’ all around 
  Europe</a>. The FSFE local groups in Spain, England, Portugal, 
  Greece, Germany, and Switzerland took up the call of the FSFE to get 
  together and celebrate their love for software freedom in person. The 
  Italian community organized an online event and even Free Software 
  contributors from outside the FSFE joined the call and organised 
  meetings like the ones in Austria and Barcelona.
</p>
  <img src="media/a4b46cb8.0342c56512b3690c423d65d7eb78.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/1e/ee/0342c56512b3690c423d65d7eb78.jpg"/>
  
    Special kudos to the FSFE Greece local group that celebrated this 
    day in Thessaloniki, their first time organizing an event in this 
    Greek city.
  
<p>
  🇩🇰 <strong>Denmark</strong>: The <a href="https://wiki.fsfe.org/LocalGroups/Aarhus">FSFE local group in 
  Aarhus</a> gave <a href="https://riversouldiers.dk/skyen/s/ymeBCPG3fy7HRXa?path=%2Fpermaopl%C3%A6g">a 
  presentation about "Free Software and Permaculture"</a> at 
  <a href="https://hoejskolenmors.dk/en/permakultur/">Højskolen 
  Mors</a> discussing the importance of sustainability through 
  refurbishment and resource-saving Free Software.
</p><p>
  In other news, one hot topic for the Aarhus FSFE local group is the 
  current discussion by the Danish Data Protection Authority about 
  whether the use of Chromebooks and Google Workspace for Education in 
  schools is legal.
</p>
  <img src="media/37809868.a367241963959ffb986748e5f301.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/73/81/a367241963959ffb986748e5f301.jpg"/>
  
    Øjvind Fritjof Arnfred from FSFE local group Aarhus. Denmark, 
    February 2023
  
<p>
  🇩🇪 <strong>Germany</strong>: The <a href="https://wiki.fsfe.org/LocalGroups/Berlin">local group 
  Berlin</a> and the LinuxWorks LUG discussed Berlin elections, 
  addressed server configuration problems of private servers, and 
  noticed that old accounts in the Fediverse revived after the recent 
  changes at Twitter.
</p>
  <img src="media/30172a6e.2050b96081f973ee4745c2f3df27.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/f9/57/2050b96081f973ee4745c2f3df27.jpg"/>
  
    On Stage! In Berlin
  
<p>
  🇮🇹 <strong>Italy</strong>: <a href="https://wiki.fsfe.org/LocalGroups/Merano">The Merano group 
  created its own wiki</a>.
</p><p>
  🇳🇱 <strong>Netherlands</strong>: The <a href="https://wiki.fsfe.org/LocalGroups/BNL#FSFE_Nederland_.2F_Niederlande_.2F_Pays-Bas_.2F_Netherlands">FSFE 
  country team Netherlands</a> had a core meeting to discuss its 
  strategy and will meet again on 15 March.
</p><p>
  🇨🇭<strong>Switzerland</strong>: The next meeting is on <a href="https://wiki.fsfe.org/Events/Zurich/2023-03-09">9 
  March</a>.
</p>
  <img src="media/bee80f2d.811f9330f00e94777d1350e99062.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/05/e8/811f9330f00e94777d1350e99062.jpg"/>
  
    Cool vibes in Zurich
  
<p>
  👩🏽‍🔧 <strong>Women</strong>: The <a href="https://wiki.fsfe.org/Teams/Women">FSFE Women team</a> 
  discussed wiki software: Gollum, a git-based Wiki, and PmWiki, a 
  wiki-based content-management system (CMS) for collaborative creation 
  and maintenance of websites.
</p><h2>Contribute to our Newsletter</h2><p>
  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 <a href="https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=newsletter">donation or a 
  monthly contribution</a>. 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.
</p><p>Your editor, Fani Partsafyllidou</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230308-01
title: Happy Women’s Day!
uri: Happy-Women-s-Day
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230308-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>Happy Women’s Day!</h1><p>
  Today we are celebrating Women’s Day. Thank you to everyone who is 
  making the tech sector more inclusive! Let’s continue working 
  together to achieve gender parity and embrace equity. There  might be 
  problems coming our way, but we also have each other. Join us and 
  meet the FSFE Women team.
</p><h3>Women’s Day</h3>
  <img src="media/b6bf2705.c23a50316a979c49cce70d6db61c.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/a4/cf/c23a50316a979c49cce70d6db61c.png"/>

  <p>
    “Women's freedom is the sign of social freedom.”
  </p>
  Rosa Luxemburg, philosopher and socialist
<p>
  Many women (as well as other under-represented groups) still have to 
  ask for security and equal opportunities in the workplace and in 
  other areas of their lives. Women and diversity bring different 
  skills, viewpoints, and experiences to the workforce. To thrive we 
  need women in technology and in Free Software, both as developers and 
  as part of our movement. In 2018, women made up <a href="media/67f3df2f.WEF_GGGR_2018.pdf" data-original-source="https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2018.pdf">only 22% of AI 
  professionals worldwide</a>, and in 2021 they made up only <a href="https://www.zippia.com/computer-systems-manager-jobs/demographics/">16% 
  of computer systems managers in the US</a>.
</p><p>
  Women should be involved in shaping our digital infrastructure, 
  bringing their own ideas to solve collective problems. It is 
  paramount to harness women’s talent while building technology that 
  addresses their needs. They should also have a voice in key 
  decisions. We invite everyone to join us in making technology an 
  inclusive space that improves our society.
</p>
  <img src="media/6a36684a.9c822f53fb86874ed6ba87a2ad62.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/6a/bb/9c822f53fb86874ed6ba87a2ad62.png"/>

  <p>
    "Diversity drives innovation – when we limit who can 
    contribute, we in turn limit what problems we can solve."
  </p>
  
    Telly Whitney, computer scientist and former CEO &amp; President of 
    the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology
  
<h3>Join FSFE’s Women group</h3><p>
  The <a href="https://wiki.fsfe.org/Teams/Women/">FSFE Women group</a> 
  was created to help women -and everyone who identifies as female-  to 
  make connections and go deeper into technological issues. FSFE Women 
  meets online every month to discuss different topics  related to Free 
  Software. The group is women-focused and open to inter, trans and 
  non-binary people as well. You can join the group:
</p><ul>
  <li>through its <a href="https://matrix.to/#/#women:fsfe.org">Matrix chat room</a>, </li>
  <li>join the FSFE Women <a href="https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/fsfe-women">mailing list</a>,</li>
  <li>drop by the FSFE Women’s next team meeting Monday the 20th of March 2023 <a href="https://conf.fsfe.org/b/women">starting at 8 pm CET</a>, or</li>
  <li>contact the FSFE <a href="https://fsfe.org/about/people/partsafyllidou/">community coordinator</a>.</li>
</ul><p>
  One of the activities of this group has been compiling a <a href="https://wiki.fsfe.org/Teams/Women/Groups">list of Women groups 
  in Free Software</a> to increase networking and lead those who want 
  to code to existing Free Software programs.
</p>
  <img src="media/1bfc4801.e8c3bcd0903940199ff13616aec7.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/c1/f2/e8c3bcd0903940199ff13616aec7.png"/>

  <p>
    "Coding is today's language of creativity. All our 
    children deserve a chance to become creators instead consumers of 
    computer science."
  </p>
  Maria Klawe, Harvey Mudd College President, Computer Scientist
<p>
  Moreover, the Women group has contributed to the FSFE wiki page with 
  resources on <a href="https://wiki.fsfe.org/action/edit/Activities/ProgrammingForChildren">programming 
  for children</a>. Let’s get more girls to code too!
</p><h3>Technology can empower users to achieve equality</h3>
  <img src="media/9ea1cf2e.2e6d646ffef1671a3f401214da5c.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/38/bb/2e6d646ffef1671a3f401214da5c.png"/>

  <p>
    "If we want technology to serve society rather than enslave 
    it, we have to build systems accessible to all people -be they male 
    or female, young, old, disabled, computer wizards or 
    technophobes."
  </p>
  
    Anita Borg, computer scientist, founder of the Institute for Women 
    and Technology and the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in 
    Computing.
  
<p>
  Access to technology is a crucial aspect of achieving gender equality 
  and creating a more democratic society. Technology must be at the 
  service of everyone. And Free Software can respond directly to 
  people's needs. Because it allows users to adapt it to their 
  needs, it is a powerful tool to develop and bring technology to 
  populations that lack coding skills.
</p><p>
  Free Software can help close the gender gap. The use and development 
  of Free Software, by providing accessible digital tools, supports the 
  process of digital transformation and provides women and other 
  under-represented groups with digital skills and the opportunity to 
  develop their own software according to their needs.
</p><p>
  For all the amazing potential of technology to be useful <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/deviceneutrality/index#gatekeeper-control-monopoly-devices">it 
  must be unrestricted</a>. We need <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/deviceneutrality/index.html#device-neutrality-free-software">Device 
  Neutrality</a>, for example, so that users can install and uninstall 
  any software they want.
</p>
  <img src="media/5d0e7042.fcdc257ee82854bcabc5988b2962.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/dc/a8/fcdc257ee82854bcabc5988b2962.png"/>

  <p>
    “We encourage women to crash computers and to put it all back 
    together again. Preferably with an improved installation.”
  </p>
  Genderchangers, a network for women, technology and freedom of information
<p>
  We need software that does not restrict the users. With Free Software 
  we can use a program fully without restrictions or trials, and we can 
  understand, adapt, and share its code. We need software freedom.
</p><h3>Did you know?</h3><p>
  The FSFE has implemented a <a href="https://fsfe.org/about/codeofconduct">code of conduct</a> 
  clarifying that in our communication channels people are expected to 
  behave excellently towards each other. We formed a <a href="https://fsfe.org/about/codeofconduct">Care Team</a> so that if 
  you have experienced or become aware of behaviour contrary to the 
  principles enshrined in this Code of Conduct, you can report it 
  there. We have also taken <a href="https://wiki.fsfe.org/KnowHow/FSFELife/DiversityMeasures">measures 
  to improve diversity</a> within the FSFE.
</p><h3>Join us</h3>
  <img src="media/1365b124.ad006caf00989de37089c1d8b6d7.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/10/f0/ad006caf00989de37089c1d8b6d7.png"/>

  <p>
    “Political work should also be pleasurable, sociable, fun. If we 
    can’t create organizations and enterprises and cultures like that, 
    we’re not going to succeed.”
  </p>
  Barbara Ehrenreich, American author, activist
<p>
  In the Free Software movement we try to combine our work for software 
  freedom with fun times. Stay strong and restless, but do not hesitate 
  to chat with our community if you are just interested to meet 
  like-minded people.
</p><h3>Sources</h3><p>
  In this article we brought together quotes and artwork from women and 
  non-binary people. Special thanks to Gwenn Seemel for sharing their 
  art.
</p><ol>
  <li>Rosa Luxemburg <a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/draper/1976/women/4-luxemburg.html">text</a>, <a href="https://gwennseemel.com/artwork/2019/csg-archer/">picture</a></li>
  <li>Telly Whitney <a href="https://www.azquotes.com/author/50499-Telle_Whitney">text</a>, <a href="https://gwennseemel.com/artwork/empathetic-magic/evelyn/">picture</a></li>
  <li>Maria Klawe: <a href="https://www.azquotes.com/author/35617-Maria_Klawe">text</a>, <a href="https://gwennseemel.com/artwork/2013/duggy/">picture</a></li>
  <li>Anita Borg <a href="https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/anita_borg_673357">text</a>, <a href="https://gwennseemel.com/artwork/empathetic-magic/caitlin/">picture</a></li>
  <li>Genderchangers via Aileen Derieg: <a href="https://transversal.at/transversal/0707/derieg/en">text</a>, <a href="https://gwennseemel.com/artwork/2020/advent-tool/">picture</a></li>
  <li>Barbara Ehrenreich: <a href="https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/my-revolutionary-inspiration-barbara-ehrenreich/">text</a>, <a href="Francesca https://share.fsfe.org/index.php/f/597602">picture</a></li>
</ol><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230313-01
title: Greece adopts news rules on Router Freedom
uri: Greece-adopts-news-rules-on-Router-Freedom
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230313-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>  Greece adopts new rules on Router Freedom</h1><p>The Greek regulator has adopted new rules introducing Router Freedom 
in the country. Since 2021, the FSFE has been working with policymakers 
to protect the interests of end-users. Supporting civil society and 
industry organisations backed the FSFE and contributed positively to 
this new law.</p>
      <img src="media/185eb742.adc66b468aa1eebfdf4f5ae146b8.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/82/fc/adc66b468aa1eebfdf4f5ae146b8.png"/> 
Greece is now among the countries regulating Router Freedom. <a href="https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/router-freedom-monitoring-tool_581123"> 
Click on the picture to check the status of other countries.</a>
<p>Routers and modems are gateways to the Internet. As with any other 
<a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/deviceneutrality/#general-purpose-computer-free-software">digital 
devices</a>, consumers should be able to choose such an important 
piece of equipment. In order to make this right happen, 
telecommunications law in the EU has been passing through complex 
legislative reforms since 2018. The process has been <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200601-01">slow and marked by 
nuances</a>. <a href="https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/router-freedom-monitoring-tool_581123">Not 
all EU countries</a> have taken Router Freedom as a priority. 
Greece, on the other hand, has been working on the issue for several 
years and is now among the European countries regulating how 
end-users can  use their own routers and modems to connect to the 
Internet.</p><h2>Two years of engagement and a lot of teamwork</h2><p>At the end of 2020, the Greek telecom regulator (Hellenic 
Telecommunications and Post Commission - EETT) started the reform of 
the telecommunications law and launched the process to set new 
standards for Router Freedom. In April 2021, the FSFE <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2021/news-20210505-01">coordinated an 
alliance</a> with several civil society organisations and industry 
representatives to provide input  to EETT’s public consultation on the 
new regulation.  At that time, we backed the regulator’s preliminary 
conclusion that Router Freedom would be fully compatible with Greek 
legislation, and would not cause market restrictions or 
interoperability issues.</p><p>In April 2022, EETT published the first draft 
of the regulation. However, in the proposal, the regulator <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2022/news-20220628-01">excluded 
fiber connections (FTTH)</a>, a decision that has the potential to 
negatively impact end-user rights. The FSFE submitted a 
comprehensive analysis on why Router Freedom should encompass fiber and 
why it is essential to strike a balance between the rights of ISPs and 
those of end-users. FSFE’s arguments were supported by the same 
alliance of organisations and group of volunteers. </p><p>In March 2023, EETT adopted the final version of the 
regulation (<a href="media/50d4b282.AP1058-011-020.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.eett.gr/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/AP1058-011-020.pdf">EL</a>) 
regulating Router Freedom in the country. The new rule confirms the 
freedom of terminal equipment for all network topologies other than 
fiber. The regulator has taken a stricter approach for FTTH and decided 
to keep the optical network equipment (ONT) within the domain of the 
ISPs. Although the regulator allows end-users to require a separation 
of the ONT and routers, this restricts users from plugging their fiber router 
directly into the network.</p><h2>The future: room for improvement and pushing against violations</h2><p>We acknowledge the efforts the Greek regulator has put over the last few 
years in the regulatory process. The national regulatory agency has involved different 
stakeholders and communicated well with them. These are good practices 
for a transparent and inclusive process for norm setting.</p><p>We regret, however, that EETT has decided to exclude fiber networks  as a default 
for Router Freedom. Although the regulator allows end-users to separate 
the router from the ONT, other European countries, such as <a href="media/50d4b282.AP1058-011-020.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.eett.gr/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/AP1058-011-020.pdf">Finland</a>,
<a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2021/news-20210805-01">the Netherlands</a>, 
and most probably <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2022/news-20221215-01">Belgium</a>, have set higher standards by 
allowing consumers to plug the fiber router directly to the public 
network.</p>
    <img src="media/31698fa1.48324e598fb3d81f1b72e387d1cc459f.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/big/48324e598fb3d81f1b72e387d1cc459f.png"/>
      Even with Router Freedom established in the legislation, ISPs can still violate the rules.
  <p>Notwithstanding this compromise, Greek consumers are better 
served by a clear framework for Router Freedom. Legal uncertainty plays 
against consumers, who now have clear rules to demand their rights from 
ISPs. </p><p>We encourage the regulator to make the new rules effective.  More 
than only a technical issue, freedom of terminal equipment represents a 
policy demand and requires constant monitoring of ISPs’ commercial 
practices. Even in countries with clear-cut rules, ISPs can still 
violate them, especially when:</p><ul>
<li>
Customers are contractually prohibited from using their equipment or 
ISPs impose disproportional disadvantages upon users with private routers;
</li>
<li>
ISPs do not inform customers of their rights regarding terminal 
equipment or manipulate users through their customer service in favour 
of the ISP’s routers;
</li>
<li>
ISPs advertise their routers as the only ones compatible with the 
network, or use non-standard plugs or proprietary protocols;
</li>
<li>ISPs do not provide users the login data to the public network or make no support available to customers. </li>
<li>
ISPs do not offer the same level of service (e.g. IPv6, bandwidth, etc) 
for customers using their own router.
</li>
</ul><h2>Community work paid off</h2><p>FSFE’s work has been empowered by an amazing network of supporters, volunteers, and partner organisations. 
We would like to thank the Free Software organisations <a href="https://gfoss.eu/">GFOSS</a> and 
<a href="https://www.greeklug.gr/el/">GreekLUG</a>, the digital rights 
group <a href="https://www.homodigitalis.gr/">Homo Digitalis</a>, the 
network 
association <a href="https://www.sarantaporo.gr/">Sarantoporo.gr</a>, 
the Greek consumer organisations <a href="http://www.kepka.org/">KEPKA</a>; and 
<a href="https://ekpizo.gr/">EKPIZO</a>, the industry representative 
<a href="https://vtke.eu/">VTKE</a>, and all our <a href="https://wiki.fsfe.org/LocalGroups/Greece">Greek volunteers</a> 
for their commitment and engagement in these years for making a change 
in favour of end-users in Greece.</p>
    <img src="media/87b2acd6.2c6491a82b7267d5c2d3bea8775c.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/44/29/2c6491a82b7267d5c2d3bea8775c.jpg"/>
  There is no Router Freedom without Free Software. You are 
  invited to join our volunteer groups and support software freedom!

  <h2>Router Freedom and Device Neutrality</h2><p><a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/routers/routers">Router Freedom</a> is the 
right of consumers of any Internet Service Provider to choose 
and use 
a private modem and router instead of equipment provided by the ISP. 
<a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/deviceneutrality/index">Device Neutrality</a> 
protects end-users against discriminatory 
restrictions on Free Software on their devices. With Router Freedom, 
end-users can install a customized operating system on their equipment 
and exercise control over the technology. <a href="https://fsfe.org/my.fsfe.org/donate">Please consider becoming a 
FSFE donor</a>; you will help make possible our long-term commitment and 
professional dedication to defending people’s rights to control 
technology.</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230321-01
title: Meet Andrei and David, two first edition YH4F participants
uri: Meet-Andrei-and-David-two-first-edition-YH4F-participants
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230321-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>Meet Andrei and David, two first edition YH4F participants</h1><p>
  The coding period of the Youth Hacking 4 Freedom hacking contest has 
  been running for almost three months now. The
  competition continues to be a fun contest for young hackers to 
  test and develop their skills. The previous edition 
  ended with 35 great projects submitted with inspiring stories 
  behind them. Read about Andrei's and David's projects.
  </p><p>The rules for the contest are simple: the projects must be Free Software. There are 
 no limits to the possibilities on the kinds of projects that can be 
 submitted. Any technical idea is welcome. This gives each
 participant the chance to create a project according to their wishes, 
 skills, and interests. At the end of the first 
 edition of the <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/yh4f/">Youth Hacking 4 Freedom</a> 
 competition, 35 amazing projects had been submitted. Each of these 
 projects has an inspiring story behind it. Let us introduce you to two of these amazing 
 projects. 
 Take a look at Andrei's handy tool for dmenu and David's <a href="https://github.com/david-0609/OpenCV-Hand-Gesture-Control">"OpenCV 
 Hand Gesture Control"</a> project.
 </p><p>
 Before joining YH4F, Andrei was already involved in the Free Software world. He 
 has not only used various GNU/Linux distributions as his main operating 
 system, but also made sure it stays fun with games 
 available for everybody. He recently helped port <a href="https://www.minetest.net/">Minetest (a Free Software game)</a> to 
 the cross-platform library <a href="https://www.libsdl.org/">"Simple 
 DirectMedia Layer" (SDL)</a>, which helps developers to make sure their 
 games are working on different types of operating systems. But instead of 
 sticking to only a technical world Andrei channels his artistic 
 energy into both shell and film scripts. 
</p><p>
The mind behind "OpenCV Hand Gesture Control" is David. David has a 
passion for Free Software and software development. He
 learned the basics of Scratch programming in Grade 3. Since then he has 
 improved his skills and widened his knowledge of programming. David 
 started writing scripts in Python and Bash and has now moved on to 
 learning Rust. After the YH4F contest David has also continued to work on 
 projects such as the <a href="https://gitlab.com/david-0609/matrix-modbot">Matrix-Modbot</a>, 
 which is a bot that automatically moderates Matrix rooms.
</p><p><strong> FSFE</strong>: Hello 
    Andrei and David. Thank you for joining us.</p><p>
   <strong>FSFE</strong>: How did you 
   come into contact with programming and how did you learn to program?
   </p><p>
    <strong>David</strong>: When I 
    was in China, in grade 3 I was introduced to Scratch programming and 
    immediately became fond of it. Then I learned through experimenting 
    with the program to create simple animations and games. When I got 
    my first computer, I started to learn Python from a video series for 
    beginners. After learning the basics, I began to write some small 
    scripts in Python and Bash for myself. And last year, I managed to 
    secure an internship position at a software company. There I learned 
    a lot and this experience also led me to learning about python OOP 
    design and software design in general. Now I am learning Rust and 
    working on a project called <a href="https://gitlab.com/david-0609/matrix-modbot">Matrix-Modbot</a>, 
    which is an automated bot for Matrix.
  </p><p>
     <strong>Andrei</strong>: I used 
     to go to a programming club a friend of mine invited me to. We were 
     writing C++ to solve some mathematical problems (things like 
     greatest common factor, factorial etc.) though we (unofficially) 
     spent too much time playing games there as well.
     </p><p>
     
    <strong>FSFE</strong>: Andrei, can 
    you tell us what was your first contact with Free Software?</p><p><strong>Andrei</strong>: When I was 
	 going through The Odin Project they required at some point to install a
	  derivative of Ubuntu (they said nearly half of software engineers use 
	  it and it’s easier to install software and so on). I was convinced my 
	  computer would stop booting but went along with it. Xubuntu installed 
	  fine! Later on I learned all about the parts of the free GNU/Linux 
	  operating system and how they work together so now I have started 
	  writing package files (PKGBUILDs) on Arch so that I may too try and 
	  contribute to this freeing ecosystem.</p><p><strong>FSFE</strong>: Andrei, you have already 
     coded before and used Free Software in your daily life. What motivated you
    to participate in the YH4F contest?</p><p><strong>Andrei</strong>: I did not 
    know the FSF had an European sister organisation before and I was really 
    happy to get involved! I really liked the way the contest gives an 
    opportunity to choose a concrete, practical task and go through with it. 
    (Too often I get stuck halfway on coding a cool thing, and that’s not great.)</p><p><strong>FSFE</strong>: David, what motivated you 
    to join the YH4F contest?</p><p>
    <strong>David</strong>: I saw the 
    advertisement on Mastodon and became interested in the competition, 
    so I joined and used my free time to work on the project.</p><p>
    <strong>FSFE</strong>: David, how 
    did you come up with your project idea to use your hand motion for 
    executing commands?
    </p><p>
  	<strong>David</strong>: It 
  	actually started while I was trying to read novels or to watch movies 
  	on my laptop. When I read, I am usually in a relaxed position and I 
  	find it cumbersome to reach for the mouse or the keyboard to turn 
  	pages, so I thought: What if I can turn pages or pause the video with 
  	the wave of my hand? And that is how I got my idea for the project.
  	</p>
		  	
		  
		  David demonstrating his "OpenCV Hand Gesture Control" project.
		  
		<p>
	<strong>FSFE</strong>: Andrei, could 
	you also give us an overview of your project
	</p><p>
	 <strong>Andrei</strong>: I added 
	 clipboard functionality to a dynamic menu program called bemenu. 
	 Pressing ctrl-Y inserts the system clipboard into the command's 
	 command buffer now.
	 </p><p>
	 <strong>FSFE</strong>: What 
	 motivated you to work on your project?
	 </p><p>
    <strong>David</strong>: It was 
    mainly to solve my own problem, and my program could also be used on 
    smart TVs or other devices with a camera to control the device 
    without using a keyboard or a controller.</p><p>
    	 <strong>Andrei</strong>: The bemenu project 
    	 is written in C, and it sounded nice to maybe learn to do some advanced tasks in 
    	 C like programmatically copying and pasting. That it would solve a practical 
    	 problem for me was a nice bonus too.</p><p>
	 <strong>FSFE</strong>: Andrei, could you 
	 briefly explain what a dynamic menu like bemenu is?
	 </p><p><strong>Andrei</strong>: A dynamic 
	menu takes in a list of things, for example some URLs, or some commands, 
	or usernames, and allows matching and selecting one of them. For example, 
	typing in fire or fox will match firefox but still allow selecting fire 
	or fox by itself. This means, for example, that finding and running a 
	command is made much easier. Think of it as a start menu, except one 
	that can be programmed to be taken into other programs, like for example 
	using it as a password prompt or a confirmation box. This works because 
	it always gives back the thing that was selected, and that can be used
	by a different program.</p><p><strong>FSFE</strong>: Did any of you encounter 
any problems during the coding period or the building period?
</p><p>
<strong>David</strong>: I did 
encounter many issues, and they were mostly some design flaws that I did 
not anticipate. At that time I had little knowledge about software 
design and was struggling to make the code clean and cohesive.
</p><p>
 <strong>Andrei</strong>: It turns out 
 getting clipboard data is not the same everywhere! It is one thing on X11, and 
 a different thing on Wayland. At first, writing a clipboard manager myself 
 sounded fine (a likely story!), though eventually I decided on using 
 wl-clipboard and xclip. I am glad I learned to not be excessively afraid of 
 pulling in dependencies where it really solves a complex problem that writing 
 by hand would make little sense.
</p><p>
<strong>FSFE</strong>: David, can 
every user define the shortcuts themself and do you have an example on 
how your program works?
</p><p>
<strong>David</strong>: Yes, and 
there is an example config file in the git repo of the <a href="https://edugit.org/david-0609/OpenCV-Hand-Gesture-Control">OpenCV-Hand-Gesutre-Control</a>. 
For example three fingers to the right open a terminal window.
</p><p>
<strong>FSFE</strong>: How did you 
train your tool to recognise your hand movements?
</p><p>
<strong>David</strong>: The hand 
movement recognition is based off OpenCV, however I used a 3rd party 
library to provide a trained model as implementing the same model myself 
would be “reinventing the wheel”, but this time the wheel would probably 
not spin as well.
</p><p>
 <strong>FSFE</strong>: Andrei and David do you think you will
  continue working on your project and what would be some next steps you would 
  like to realize?
</p><p>
 <strong>Andrei</strong>: I think I am happy 
 with how the project is right now! They may say code never stops changing, but 
 when something is really finished that is great feeling. I’m sure I’ll be back 
 at it if something feels like it needs improvement though! My confidence is 
 certainly there now. 
</p><p>
<strong>David</strong>: I think I 
will work on the project in the future and re-factor the code as it is 
currently quite messy and somewhat buggy. To make the detection more 
accurate, I could use the power of python’s data science libraries to 
make better sense of the input data.
</p><p>
 <strong>FSFE</strong>: Thank you for 
 your time and we wish you both good luck with your next steps.</p><p>
The coding period for the second edition of YH4F is still ongoing. 
For more information about the contest please visit <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/yh4f">yh4f.org</a>.
</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230323-01
title: EU: Proposed liability rules will harm Free Software
uri: EU-Proposed-liability-rules-will-harm-Free-Software
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230323-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>EU: Proposed liability rules will harm Free Software </h1><p>
The EU is currently debating the introduction of liability rules for 
software, including Free Software. The relevant proposals are the AI 
Act, Product Liability Directive (PLD), and Cyber Resilience Act 
(CRA). The way they are, all proposals will harm the Free Software 
ecosystem and thus the society and the economy.
</p>
  <img src="media/e5662509.d1b7eb0ca6ec38c89967dab6d3dd920b.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/big/d1b7eb0ca6ec38c89967dab6d3dd920b.png"/>
<p>
The main debate happens around the Cyber Resilience Act. We will 
therefore discuss the risks and solutions using this Act as an example. 
</p><p>
While we welcome the discussion on more cyber security we doubt that the 
introduction of liability alone will lead to more cyber security. 
Especially in Free Software, far-reaching security measures are already 
in place.  Those measures differ from those of proprietary software.
</p><p>
The proposal to exclude Free Software “outside the course of a 
commercial activity” would fail to address a large part of software that 
will not be covered  but is deployed. At the same time smaller and 
non-profit projects would be harmed as they would have to bear major 
costs. 
</p><p>
We, therefore, propose a solution that will lead to more security while 
safeguarding the Free Software ecosystem:
</p><ol>
<li>Liability should be shifted to those deploying Free Software instead of those developing Free Software and</li>
<li>
Those who significantly financially benefit from this deployment should 
make sure the software becomes CE-compliant
</li>
</ol><p>
Free Software with its four freedoms to use, study, share, and improve 
the code makes it easy for anyone to develop and improve the code while 
making it available to everyone. In cases of security incidents, 
developers - who might only get micro or small payments, are non-profit, 
or even do not earn a single Euro for their work - might be 
liable. To make them liable could lead to large burdens that 
projects could not handle alone. Free Software is everywhere nowadays, 
and those deploying Free Software, especially Free Software from small projects, must take on more 
responsibility, if only out of their own interest. 
</p><p>
Putting the burden of liability on these small or non-profit 
entities would harm the Free Software ecosystem and thus society and 
business equally, because due to the lack of funding and resources to go 
through these procedures, some of these projects might have to stop 
completely, but also it won't necessarily lead to more security. 
Moreover, many small Free Software projects already have well-working security assessments in 
place. Introducing new workflows or even consulting third parties 
would have financial consequences that would be almost impossible to 
bear. Ways to address the funding problem could be a dedicated fund to 
support these projects, or the introduction of a scoring system that 
shows how much a company invests in the security of the Free Software 
projects it uses. However, neither of these proposals can be implemented 
quickly, so the problem will persist. Therefore, transferring liability 
to those who deploy the software and try to profit significantly from it seems 
to be a better solution.
</p><p>
To address this, the current wording needs to be improved. The concept 
of “commercial activity” should be replaced with an approach that 
focuses on deployment rather than on development. And the responsibility to 
fulfill these requirements should be on the entity that benefits in the 
market. Likewise, exemptions for non-profit entities and micro 
enterprises should be introduced. In other words, liability should be 
moved towards those deploying these solutions that are substantial 
profit-oriented companies.
</p><p>
This will ensure that all Free Software solutions that are used on a 
significant level are assessed under the liability rules in the CRA, PLD, 
and AI Act, but the financial burden will be shifted to those who 
try to make a profit from these solutions. So they will be 
the ones having to make sure that someone runs through the procedures needed for 
their software to get the CE label. Deployers could collaborate and 
ensure that they fund projects they use or could run through the 
procedures themselves.  They ought to make sure that modifications are fed back 
into the projects.
</p><p>We presented this position also in a public hearing in the European Parliament.</p>
  
<p>
It is a complex debate with far-reaching implications and changing 
positions every day. We will continue to work on this issue in the 
upcoming month. If you are interested in getting involved or joining our 
activities, please contact us via email.
</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230323-02
title: The Interoperable Europe Act needs a “Free Software first” approach
uri: The-Interoperable-Europe-Act-needs-a-Free-Software-first-approac
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230323-02.fr.html
content:
<h1>The Interoperable Europe Act needs a “Free Software first” approach</h1><p>The Interoperable Europe Act (IEA) aims to assist public administration to share, reuse and integrate information technology and data across borders. Clear rules with concrete activities and budget are missing. The role of civil society is overlooked, and there is not yet clear definitions of Free Software and Open Standards.
	</p>
	  <img src="media/273c8246.c38fa292722234d8cd67fea7f624.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/ec/9f/c38fa292722234d8cd67fea7f624.jpg"/>
	<p>
	With the IEA, the EU is aiming to create a dedicated legal framework on interoperability that until now has been non-binding. Interoperability is a core element of the ongoing digitalisation, also of public services. Hence, the interplay among public administration, private sector, and civil society has to be acknowledged as a crucial component to lead Europe into an interoperable ecosystem. 
	</p><p>
	Although we welcome that the European Commission already acknowledges the importance of Free Software (also known as “Open Source”) and Open Standards for interoperability, they are not clearly defined. Moreover, the current text falls short into recognising the role of other stakeholders in the proposed governance approach, such as the case of civil society not only as an expertise provider but also as a decision-making actor. Lastly, the text remains unclear with regard to concrete activities to promote interoperability, and a dedicated budget for such.
	</p><h2>Let’s make things clearer</h2><p>
	Free Software and Open Standards create the conditions for interoperability. Free Software is crucial when building public services that are accessible for everybody across borders and sectors. Open Standards allow the conditions needed for those systems to be able to communicate with each other enabling the freely sharing of data. These two prevent lock-in and other artificial barriers to interoperability, and promote choice between vendors and technology solutions. 
	</p><p>
	At the moment Free Software and Open Standards are indicated as factors to enhance interoperability, however clear definitions of such are not given. Until now, the lack of definitions and clear actions has led to loopholes not only in the interpretation but also in the implementation of previous digital initiatives. We therefore call upon the legislator to clearly define these two key drivers in this legislation, and take the opportunity to proposed specific actions to promote interoperability by making use of them.
	</p><p>
	Furthermore, Free Software solutions and Open Standards should be considered the default when it comes to interoperable digital solutions, even more so when those are funded by public money. In line with the proposed text, the“Interoperability assessment”can come in hand when a public administrations aims to procure a new digital solution. The default should be a digital solution that enhances such interoperability based on Free Software. If this is not the case, public bodies must justify, based on this assessment, the reasons to not arrive to such decision. Court of Auditors can play an important role when monitoring such decisions and publishing reports on publicly funded digital systems on a steady basis. 
	</p><h2>The more the merrier: stakeholder involvement</h2><p>
	The main purpose of the public sector is to provide public services that are necessary for the well-being of the society. The involvement of different stakeholders in the IEA should not come into question. The interoperability of the public sector involves the sharing of data and information among different public bodies which can raise concerns among the public. Involving others, specially civil society in the decision making process will not only help to build trust from the public but also to ensure that this regulation is guided by democratic and participatory principles. 
	</p><p>
	When it comes to innovation, it is important to bear in mind that numerous non-governmental organisations are often at the forefront of innovation and can offer new ideas and approaches. Innovation doesn’t only happen in the public sector. Therefore, a larger variety of stakeholders must be included as part of this governance workflow, specially civil society actors. 
	</p><p>
	At the moment the engagement of other stakeholders is reduced to the so called “Interoperable Community”, which aims to provide with expertise and input the actual decision making body, the “Interoperable Board”. We therefore highlight the importance of including others in this board, specially civil society. By allowing a wide community to flourish, the EU could achieve its most ambitious goal of building human-centred digital public services.  
	</p> 
	<p><em> “The Interoperable Europe Act is the potential chance the EU has to make a major change in how procurement of digital services is handled. By going on the direction of Free Software first, the EU can assure that tax’s payers money is spent in the most efficient way, while it will create the collaborative ecosystem that is needed to achieve interoperability in Europe” explains Lina Ceballos, FSFE Policy Project Manager.
	</em></p>
	<h2>Network of public administrations for re-using solutions</h2><p>The IEA can be more ambitious in setting up the proper assistance and the network that public administrations need in the digital implementation of such legislation. Currently, proposals such as trainings are included. However, the text fails to address the scope of such trainings, as well as to highlight the dedicated budget needed for such. There is hereof a clear importance of training - with a proper budget allocation - for civil servants on Free Software technologies, workflows and its impact in transparency and trustworthy interoperable digital infrastructure.
	</p><p>
	Bringing together best practices is also part of this initiative, and it is included as one of the features that the “Interoperable Europe portal” might offer. However, the promotion of the path leading to those good practices is absent. In this regard, more emphasis on the creation, use, and re-use of Free Software solutions could strengthen the collaborative ecosystem that is needed while bringing public administrations closer and enhancing cross-border collaboration.
	</p><h2>Monitoring and evaluation</h2><p>Monitoring plays a fundamental role within this proposal, specially when it comes to different member states approaching these guidelines. The EU must enable the coordination and knowledge exchange for innovative public procurement procedures among member states along with proper monitoring and evaluation strategies. 
	</p><p>In order to implement a proper monitoring and evaluation, the EU needs to make sure to gather and make use of proper indicators and statistics that show first how many of the new digital solutions procured, or in-house developed, have been released under a Free Software licence, and second, how many of the existing digital solutions have migrated into a Free Software solution in order to proceed with the “Interpretability Assessment”. 
	</p><p>
	It is not possible to properly evaluate and monitor, if one does not have a clear understanding of the state of play and its fluctuation over time. This will enable an accurate oversee of the way public funds are being used. Combining this monitoring with the respective reports from the Code of Auditors both in Member States as well as at the EU level will only enrich the procedure. 
	</p><h2>Conclusion</h2><p>An open and interoperable digital public sector is critical to addressing the social, economic and political challenges of democratic nations.  
	</p><p>
	The proposed Interoperable Europe Act has the potential to be a game changer in allowing the EU guide with example in the digitalisation path without having to reinvent the wheel over and over again. However, concrete activities, along with a dedicated budget, are needed to support member states, and local administration all over Europe. Much clearer definitions of the key elements of this digital ecosystem must also be included. If  the interoperability of digital public services is to keep the interest of people at its centre, their involvement and agency in such processes must guide these efforts. 
	</p><p>
	This legislation is a potential opportunity to close the existing loopholes as well as define clear monitoring and evaluation indicators while laying the ground for the proper budget allocation needed for these efforts. This is, indeed, the legislation where Free Software and Open Standards must lead the way in the design and delivery of accessible and open public digital services. 
	</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: nl-202304
title: EU: Liability, Interoperable Europe Act +++ Partial Router Freedom in Greece
uri: EU-Liability-Interoperable-Europe-Act-Partial-Router-Freedom-in
url: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-202304.fr.html
content:
<h1>EU: Liability, Interoperable Europe Act +++ Partial Router Freedom in Greece</h1><p>In April’s newsletter we discuss EU proposals affecting Free Software: the introduction of liability rules for software and the Interoperable Europe Act. Greece secures Router Freedom but excludes fiber connections.</p>
  <img src="media/331f0d29.bffac1854b240007eb4c579374a0.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/ef/73/bffac1854b240007eb4c579374a0.png"/>
<h3>EU: Proposed liability rules will harm Free Software</h3><p>The EU is currently debating the introduction of liability rules for software, including Free Software. The relevant proposals are the AI Act, Product Liability Directive (PLD), and Cyber Resilience Act (CRA). The way they are, all proposals will harm the Free Software ecosystem and thus the society and the economy.</p><p>We, therefore, propose a solution that will lead to more security while safeguarding the Free Software ecosystem. <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230323-01.html">Liability should be shifted to those deploying Free Software instead of those developing Free Software</a>, and those who significantly financially benefit from this deployment should make sure the software becomes CE-compliant.</p>
  <a href="https://media.fsfe.org/w/7X2vSXubdrbTPFTqjmT5Nm">
  
  </a>
  
    Alexander Sander, FSFE Policy Consultant, presenting the FSFE position on liability in a public hearing in the European Parliament.
  
<h3>The Interoperable Europe Act needs a “Free Software first” approach</h3><p>The Interoperable Europe Act (IEA) aims to assist public administration to share, reuse, and integrate information technology and data across borders. Although the proposed IEA has the potential to be a game changer in allowing the EU to guide with example in the digitalisation path without having to reinvent the wheel, <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230323-02.html">several problematic aspects stand in the way, including the following</a>:</p><ul>
<li><strong>Clear rules with concrete activities and budget are missing.</strong> There is clear importance of training - with a proper budget allocation - for civil servants on Free Software technologies, workflows, and their impact on transparency and trustworthy interoperable digital infrastructure.</li>
<li><strong>The role of civil society is overlooked.</strong> If the interoperability of digital public services is to keep the interest of people at its centre, their involvement and agency in such processes must guide these efforts.</li>
<li><strong>There are not yet clear definitions of Free Software and Open Standards.</strong> Until now, the lack of definitions and clear actions has led to loopholes not only in the interpretation but also in the implementation of previous digital initiatives.</li>
</ul><h3>Greece secures Router Freedom but excludes fiber connections</h3>
  <a href="https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/router-freedom-tracker_581123#4/53.12/18.37"> 
   
  </a>
  Check here the status of Router Freedom in your country
<p>Routers and modems are gateways to the Internet. As with any other digital devices, consumers should be able to choose such an important piece of equipment. <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230313-01.html">The Greek regulator, EETT, has adopted new rules introducing Router Freedom in the country</a>. Since 2021, the FSFE has been working with policymakers to protect the interests of end-users. Civil society and industry organisations backed the FSFE and contributed positively to this new law.</p><p>We regret that EETT excluded fiber networks as a default for Router Freedom. Although end-users can require a separation of the optical network equipment and routers, this restricts users from plugging their fiber router directly into the network. Even so, Greek consumers are better served by a clear framework for Router Freedom. We encourage the regulator to make the new rules effective; freedom of terminal equipment requires constant monitoring of internet service providers’ commercial practices.</p><h3>Young Hackers' Fixes</h3><p>While reading novels and watching movies on his laptop, David thought how convenient it would be to turn pages or pause the video with a wave of the hand and made it happen. Andrei added clipboard functionality to ‘bemenu’, a dynamic menu program.<a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230321-01.html"> Meet Andrei and David</a> who both participated in the first edition of the Youth Hacking 4 Freedom competition.
</p><h3>Women’s Day tribute</h3><p>
<a href="news/2023/news-20230308-01.fr.html">Thank you to everyone who is making the tech sector more inclusive!</a> Let’s continue working together to achieve gender parity and embrace equity. Moreover, Free Software can help close the gender gap. The use and development of Free Software, by providing accessible digital tools, support the process of digital transformation and provide women and other under-represented groups with digital skills and the opportunity to develop their own software according to their needs.</p><h3>Ada &amp; Zangemann book</h3>
  <img src="media/3033cdc6.ee6217359ddd3df59299a601c3b1.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/b6/f2/ee6217359ddd3df59299a601c3b1.jpg"/>
  
    Author reading in Somerville MA, USA, a few weeks ago
  
<p>Several weeks ago, Matthias Kirschner, Ada &amp; Zangemann’s writer and FSFE president, <a href="https://puri.sm/posts/kyle-and-matthias/">talked about the inspiration behind this book</a> and the need to raise awareness about Free Software. The <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/childrensbook/">English version</a> is already available in the US and it can be pre-ordered in Europe. The book is under a Creative Commons license. Feel free to <a href="https://git.fsfe.org/FSFE/ada-zangemann/src/branch/main">check if our volunteers are already translating it into your native language</a>. You can even join them!</p><h3>Upcoming events</h3><ul> 
<li> 🇸🇪 Sweden: <a href="https://foss-north.se/2023/index.html">Join us in FOSS-North</a> 
on 24 and 25 April, following a <a href="https://foss-north.se/2023/communityday.html">community day on 23 
April</a>. Lina Ceballos, FSFE Policy Project Manager, is giving a 
keynote talk <a href="https://foss-north.se/2023/speakers-and-talks.html#lceballos">‘Interoperable 
Europe Act: A real game changer?'</a>.</li> 

<li> 🇭🇷 Croatia: Lina 
Ceballos is giving a keynote talk ‘EU Policy topics the whole Free 
Software community should know about’ for <a href="https://www.dorscluc.org/speakers/">DORS/CLUC23</a> that will 
take place in Zagreb Croatia on 11-12 May.</li>
</ul><h2>Contribute to our Newsletter</h2><p>
  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 <a href="https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=newsletter">donation or a 
  monthly contribution</a>. 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.
</p><p>Your editor, Fani Partsafyllidou</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230412-01
title: Ready for foss-north 2023?
uri: Ready-for-foss-north-2023
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230412-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>Ready for foss-north 2023?</h1><p>The FSFE is organising a track covering political and legal aspects 
of Free Software at foss-north; the conference in Gothenburg that 
brings together Nordic Free Software communities. It will take place on 
April 24 and 25 followed by the community day that will take place on 
April 23. It is time to register and get your tickets!
</p>
  <img src="media/b05fac67.e98e9cf19e89b0425ebf53ad122b.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/1c/9d/e98e9cf19e89b0425ebf53ad122b.jpg"/>
<p>This year's <a href="https://foss-north.se/#">foss-north</a> will take place on April 24 and 25, following 
a community day on April 23. It will be a local, face-to-face event. 
While the past foss-north has focused on the technical aspects of Free 
Software, this year there will also be room for presenting political, 
legal, and social issues related to software freedom.
</p><h3>Join the Conversation</h3><p>The FSFE is co-organising a track on political, social and legal issues around Free Software in the Palmstedt Room.
</p><p>It will be two days full of interesting topics such as license 
compliance with AI assisted coding, municipal collaboration on Free 
Software, enabling Free Software through procurement projects, the role 
of Free Software for citizen participation and more. Lina Ceballos, 
Policy Project Manager at the FSFE, will present our position on the 
Interoperable Europe Act in a keynote.
</p><p>If you want to know more about the speakers and the talks, you can check the <a href="https://foss-north.se/2023/schedule.html">whole schedule here</a>.
</p><h3>Community Day and Social Event</h3><p>The <a href="https://foss-north.se/2023/communityday.html">Communitiy Day</a> is taking place on Sunday April 23. This is a day 
of communities activities taking place around various locations in 
Gothenburg. Do you want to know how to get creative with Free Software 
or want to join us for a chat during our social dinner? Join us and 
please <a href="https://www.meetup.com/foss-gbg/events/292810825">register your attendance</a>.
</p><p>Do you want to join us sharing your Free Software projects with the 
community? It can be a workshop, a development sprint, an install-fest 
or something completely different - you decide. Simply get in touch 
with johan (at) foss-north.se for more details. All the organising 
participants will get a ticket discount for the Conference on April 24 
and 25.
</p><h3>Don’t forget to register and to get your tickets!</h3><p>Please remember that you need to <a href="https://foss-north.se/2023/communityday.html">register to take part in the 
activities of the Community Day</a>. If you want to take part in the 
conference, don’t forget to <a href="https://foss-north.se/2023/tickets.html#">get your tickets here</a>!
</p><p><strong>See you in Gothenburg!</strong>
</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230413-01
title: Check these cool 'Youth Hacking 4 Freedom' projects
uri: Check-these-cool-Youth-Hacking-4-Freedom-projects
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230413-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>Check these cool 'Youth Hacking 4 Freedom' projects </h1><p>
  While we wait for the projects developed by the participants of the 2nd edition of the Youth Hacking 4 Freedom contest, let's go back to last year's edition to know two of the projects submitted Projects.
  </p><p>Deniss and n0toose are two participants from the first round of the competition. Both have worked on completely different projects, which shows the variety of ideas our participants can come up with. Let's take a look at <a href="https://biscuit.edugit.org/3starblaze/star-vibe-lab">"StarVibeLab"</a> and <a href="https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/gettor-project/OnionSproutsBot">OnionSproutsBot</a>, the projects of Deniss and n0toose respectively.
 </p><p>
 Deniss is currently studying Computer Engineering at the University of 
 Latvia. He loves to learn new things and has already tried a few 
 hobbies like 3D modelling, drawing, UX design, music production, DJing 
 and of course programming. His first contact with coding was when he 
 was about 13 years old, also he struggled at first, but later he became 
 quite good at it. For the first edition of the YH4F contest, Deniss 
 worked on his project StarVibeLab, combining his coding skills with 
 his love for music.
</p><p>
Our second guest is n0toose. He submitted a handy tool to help people download the <a href="https://www.torproject.org/">"Tor Browser"</a>, 
 a browser that helps users to stay anonymous while surfing the web. To 
 make it easier for people to download the "Tor Browser" ,
 n0toose developed an Telegram bot. This bot guides people to the process 
 of downloading and installing the "Tor Browser". This tool is 
 especially useful for people coming from countries with a strong surveillance 
 apparatus. 
</p><p><strong> FSFE</strong>: Hello 
    n0tosse and Deniss. Thank you for joining us.</p><p>
   <strong>FSFE</strong>: How did you 
   come into contact with programming and how did you learn to program?
   </p><p>
    <strong>Deniss</strong>: To be 
    honest I'm not sure how exactly it all started. But I think it 
    started when I was like 13 years old. Back then I thought 
    programming was cool and I tried to learn it somehow but at first I 
    didn't succeed. I ended up trying again later and now I'm doing 
    fairly well.
  </p><p>
     <strong>n0toose</strong>: My 
     exposure to technology begun when I was very, very young. I would 
     say that I am essentially self-taught. I don't come from a family 
     of tech workers and my country's school system didn't really help 
     with the practical aspects of programming, so I really had to 
     depend on the Internet.
     </p><p> 
    <strong>FSFE</strong>: And what 
    was you first contact with Free Software?</p><p>
 <strong>Deniss</strong>: I am not 
    sure if that's the first encounter but I think it was when I started 
    using Emacs. I've been doing some research and found out about this 
    editor and once I got used to the keybindings, I fell in love with 
    it. I love the customizability and hackability of it, so that I can 
    customize the editor acording to my needs. To be honest, I'm rarely 
    doing any sorts of customization at the moment but it's good to know 
    that it's an option and I'm sure that without this ability there 
    wouldn't be so many packages for Emacs.
  </p><p><strong>FSFE</strong>: How did you both found out about the contest?</p><p>
    <strong>n0toose</strong>: I tend 
    to follow the FSFE's work and found out about the competition 
    through the organization itself. I used the competition as a vehicle 
    to finish a very important project that I just never had enough time 
    for.
    </p><p>
    <strong>Deniss</strong>: I first 
    heard about YH4F in another hackathon I participated. And I loved 
    the idea about this contest being done over a longer period of time 
    instead of the usual "do as much as you can in 24h".
  </p><p>
    <strong>FSFE</strong>: Deniss, 
    how did you come up wiht your project idea "StarVibeLab"?
    </p><p>
    <strong>Deniss</strong>: Before I 
    started making StarVibeLab, I was getting my feet wet in music 
    production and was in process of learning music theory in order to 
    gather some "tricks" to build better music. I then decided it would 
    be neat to make something interactive that would facilitate the 
    learning of music.</p>
	  <img src="media/3db07ed4.f4ab9495a3d1983ccc88c9dfd4ee.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/5a/d6/f4ab9495a3d1983ccc88c9dfd4ee.png"/>
	  
	  "<a href="https://3starblaze.edugit.io/star-vibe-lab/">The 
	  StarVibeLab tool"</a> a web Piano with information about the C major 
	  chord"
	  
  <p>
    <strong>FSFE</strong>: When did you learn to play music?
    </p><p>
  	<strong>Deniss</strong>: About 
  	half a year before I started making StarVibeLab. I bought a midi 
  	keyboard around that time and also started learning music theory.
  	</p><p>
	<strong>FSFE</strong>: n0tosse, how 
	did you come up with your project idea?
	</p><p>
	 <strong>n0toose</strong>: There 
	 were already some applications that distributed links to different 
	 places that a person can download the Tor Browser from. For example, 
	 you could send an email or send a Twitter DM, and you'd get a set of 
	 URLs containing a download link. This is useful if you 
	 can't access torproject.org.
	 </p>
	  <img src="media/fcc0e585.182a54867eb38a6c424102b85571.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/small/40/fb/182a54867eb38a6c424102b85571.png"/>
	<p>
	 <strong>FSFE</strong>: Was Telegram 
	 your first choice? And why did you choose Telegram?
	 </p><p>
    	 <strong>n0toose</strong>: If I were to 
    	 recommend a secure communications app to someone, I'd probably 
    	 choose Signal or Matrix. However, pragmatically speaking, Telegram 
    	 is used by half a billion users everyday, allows bots to show 
    	 buttons to users and you can also send large files reliably. It's 
    	 very ideal if you want to reach as many people as possible, 
    	 regardless of where they come from or what they do.
      </p><p>
	 <strong>FSFE</strong>: What 
	 motivated you to keep working on your projects?
	 </p><p>
  	<strong>Deniss</strong>: Perhaps 
  	the fact that I was participating in a contest. I've also set some 
  	milestones which helped me tracking my progress and motivated me to 
  	keep going. Oh, and I also got to work with Clojure(Script) -- a 
  	language that I learned fairly recently and which I really adore 
  	because it doesn't get in a way and lets me to focus on the problem I 
  	want to solve.
  	</p><p><strong>FSFE</strong>: Did any of you encounter 
 any problems during the coding period or the building period?
 </p><p>
  <strong>Deniss</strong>: I did 
  encounter problems but they weren't huge ones. I just had to stitch 
  things together, while also making sure that I don't end up in an 
  unmanageable mess of a code. A lot of small problems.
 </p><p>
  <strong>n0toose</strong>: I had 
  actually worked on several proofs of concept before the competition, so 
  I used the competition as an opportunity to turn it into something 
  usable. The code wasn't very clean, and certain core features, such as 
  being able to use other languages, were implemented with the help of 
  other contributors later down the line. But, at the time, the basic 
  concept finally worked.
 </p><p>
  <strong>FSFE</strong>: Will you continue to work on your projects?
 </p><p>
  <strong>Deniss</strong>: 
  Perhaps in the future but not right now. I have studies, am 
  participating in faculty's student council, have a part-time programmer 
  job and also would like to explore the world of embedded programming. 
  StarVibeLab is a way for me to intertwine music learning with 
  programming and since I've set music production aside (for now), the 
  StarVibeLab gets pushed aside as well.
 </p><p>
 Nonetheless I have several features and milestones written down which I 
 could start tackling once I get back to the project. Finding better 
 sound files instead of synthesizing my own and including more theory are 
 the tasks that I feel are the most important to solve.
 </p><p>
  <strong>FSFE</strong>: Thank you both for 
 your time and we wish you both good luck with your next steps.
 </p><p>
 The coding period for the second edition of YH4F is still ongoing. This 
 competition offers young people between 14 and 18 the opportunity 
 to challenge themselves, meet like-minded people and win cash 
 prizes.
 </p><p>
 Launched by the FSFE, YH4F aims to inspire young people 
 by giving them the chance to hack a software project in a 
 fair and fun way, while meeting other young developers from all over 
 Europe.
 </p><p>
 You can find more information at the <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/yh4f/">YH4F website</a>.
</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230418-01
title: Lithuania: Students stop university from using only proprietary authentication
uri: Lithuania-Students-stop-university-from-using-only-proprietary-authen
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230418-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>Lithuania: Students stop university from using only proprietary authentication</h1><p>Vilnius Tech officials attempted to enforce the use of proprietary 
	two factor identification (2FA) methods. Some students were concerned 
	the methods would compromise privacy and could not be  run in their 
	devices, and proposed an alternative way to get the authentication. 
	Finally, the university reversed its decision.</p>
	  <img src="media/3e11ec27.d5b9fdb1b49c66b8f6e972194473.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/dd/63/d5b9fdb1b49c66b8f6e972194473.png"/>
	<p>Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VGTU), a public university 
	in Lithuania, recently attempted to make 2FA methods mandatory for 
	access to its platforms. The problem came when some students noticed 
	that the available methods would make the platforms inaccessible to 
	those who did not wish to use proprietary tools. Students using phones 
	run by Free Software would lose access to their university tools, such 
	as email. So they demanded open standards and Free Software. After 
	weeks of student complaints, and with no official explanation, the 
	measure was reversed. In a symbolic act, one student even hacked the 
	university’s GitLab instance and reported it to the IT department. 
	</p><h3>University attempted to lock out students who use Free Software phones</h3><p>On 14th February an email was sent out to all students and staff, 
	instructing them to configure 2FA within two weeks, or they would not 
	be able to access university services. What raised concerns was that 
	the system set up by VGTU only allowed two options for 2FA, Microsoft 
	Authenticator (app notifications) and SMS.</p><p>While there is nothing wrong with enforcing 2FA, the methods mandated by VGTU are proprietary and 
	privacy-compromising. Microsoft Authenticator is proprietary software, 
	meaning that users are not allowed to study, share, and improve the 
	code without restriction. In addition, the app was only available on 
	two platforms: Android with Google Play services or iOS, meaning that 
	people using alternative Free Software App stores were locked out. The 
	alternative SMS option required users to share their phone number and 
	personal information with Microsoft, which also made students 
	uncomfortable. 
	</p>
	  <img src="media/a0ad58bb.d8183a4c190838db48c34b73f60a.jpeg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/a5/7e/d8183a4c190838db48c34b73f60a.jpeg"/>
	<h3>No way to evade it</h3><p>Several students demanded that VGTU also allow open standards and Free 
	Software. The “app passwords” option, which is normally built into 
	Microsoft Authenticator, was not available. This would have allowed 
	students to access their university email from other clients without 
	2FA. The “Configure app without notifications” option, which would have 
	allowed the use of other password managers/authenticators, was also 
	unavailable. Since the university disabled alternatives, the only 
	option for the university community was reliance upon Microsoft.</p><p>Some students contacted the IT Helpdesk requesting that the TOTP (time-based 
	one-time password) option be enabled. However, the IT department 
	claimed that their systems were not designed to support such 
	authentication. The department stated that two-factor authentication 
	options were currently available, SMS and the Microsoft app, and that 
	the use of TOTP could be considered in the future. In short, the IT 
	department did not listen to these students’ demands. 
	</p>
	  <p><em>"This university has a bad habit of enforcing proprietary software and doing 
	  little research on the free alternatives. Free software has always been 
	  better and easier to use. It's hard to study when you can't agree with 
	  invasive EULAs," states Zehra Irem Kuyucu, one of the affected students.</em>
	  </p>
	<h3>Raising the anti-discrimination argument to the university 
	community</h3><p>The students then went on to raise their concerns to 
	other members of the university community, including the Deputy 
	Manager, the Students Office, and the Department of Information 
	Technologies. They pointed out that the study agreement did not require 
	them to have a working phone running Google Play services or iOS. 
	According to Lithuanian law, educational institutions  cannot 
	discriminate against students on the basis of their social status or 
	beliefs, and the University's 2FA restrictions could discriminate 
	against students who refuse or are unable to install a proprietary 
	application on their personal devices. 
	</p><h3>Silent victory: access to services, student GitLab hack</h3><p>After students who could not configure 2FA had been blocked for 
	about a week, the university community was able to access their email 
	again on 27 March. No one was notified of the change. The university 
	didn’t offer a one-time password option for 2FA.
	</p>
		  <img src="media/e630efd2.674b05f8a41d2c82bf72ed7f8977.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/8f/84/674b05f8a41d2c82bf72ed7f8977.jpg"/>
		  Zehra, one of the frontrunners in demanding alternative access without Microsoft services.
	<p>
	A few days later, one of the students, Zehra Irem Kuyucu, even went one step 
	further. She resorted to drastic measures by <a href="https://gitlab.digilol.net/Siren/vgtu-article/-/blob/master/vgtu.md">hacking 
	the university's GitLab instance</a>. She explained that she wanted to “teach what 
	their infrastructure is worth, as another bad habit they have is poor 
	security, despite authoring articles about it”. Then she sent an email to the IT department with security advice. She has, on other occasions, also reported problems regarding 
	other parts of their infrastructure, such as HTTP plain-text 
	authentication or poor wireless network security. 
	</p><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>The use of two factor identification methods 
	helps to secure devices and data but it should be implemented in a way 
	that is not locking anyone out. VGTU's mandate for 2FA only gave the 
	option of using proprietary software, raising concerns to some students 
	who did not want to compromise their privacy. The university's decision 
	to disable options that would have allowed students to access their 
	university email using other clients without 2FA was unfair, as it left 
	students with no options but to use Microsoft Authenticator or to share 
	their phone number and personal information with Microsoft. The IT 
	department's refusal to enable TOTP as an option was also not 
	satisfactory, as it meant that students who did not have devices 
	compatible with Microsoft Authenticator were discriminated against. 
	While the university claimed that TOTP use would be considered in the 
	future, there was no timeline for when this would happen.
	</p><p>After students who could not configure 2FA had been blocked for about a week, 
	the university silently retreated. The university community was able to 
	access their email again on 27 March.
	</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: episode-20
title: SFP#20: All about Device Neutrality with Lucas Lasota
uri: SFP-20-All-about-Device-Neutrality-with-Lucas-Lasota
url: https://fsfe.org/news/podcast/episode-20.fr.html
content:
<h1>SFP#20: All about Device Neutrality with Lucas Lasota</h1><p>
Join us for the 20th episode of the Software Freedom Podcast, where 
Bonnie Mehring and Lucas Lasota discuss Device Neutrality and Router 
Freedom. They cover the concepts and fundamentals of these 
initiatives and explain why end-users should have control over their 
devices.
</p><p>
Lucas Lasota, FSFE Senior Project Manager, has been with the 
organisation since 2019. In this episode, he discusses the Device 
Neutrality and Router Freedom initiatives, which aim to empower users to
 control their digital equipment with free software and end-user control
 over data.  Router Freedom specifically means the right for 
 end-users to deploy their own router/modem to access the internet, 
 making it a key element for open internet.Lucas explains the 
 historic background of these initiatives,
 the issues that arise without these standards, and how individuals can 
 best support them. Join Bonnie and Lucas as they
 break down these concepts.
</p><p>
This is the perfect episode for everybody interested in controlling 
their devices and access to the internet.
</p><p>Read more:</p><ul>
<li><a href="https://survey.fsfe.org/index.php/628449">Survey for Router Freedom in Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/routers/">Router Freedom</a></li>
<li><a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/deviceneutrality/">Device Neutrality</a></li>
<li><a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230313-01.html/">Greece adopts Router Freedom</a></li>

</ul><p>
If you liked this episode and want to support our continuous work for 
software freedom, please help us with a 
donation.
</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230425-01
title: The FSFE is helping to build an “Internet of Humans”
uri: The-FSFE-is-helping-to-build-an-Internet-of-Humans
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230425-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>The FSFE is helping to build an “Internet of Humans”</h1><p>The Free Software Foundation Europe is a partner of the Next Generation 
Internet Zero consortium, which aims to build a more resilient, 
trustworthy and open Internet that empowers end users to control 
technology. The FSFE team provides support to NGI0 grantee projects on 
legal and licensing issues, as well as helping them to become REUSE 
compliant.
</p>
  <img src="media/49e1f081.325974227b58fa1b835bb13e406d.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/aa/f8/325974227b58fa1b835bb13e406d.jpg"/>
  <p>
How are emerging technological innovations shaping our future?
What will the Internet of the future look like? The Free Software 
Foundation Europe (FSFE) believes that Free Software is the key to an 
Internet that is accessible, open, transparent and diverse and respects <a href="https://media.fsfe.org/w/cTKew4p4MMaCMgwftM6v19">human rights in 
digital spaces</a>. Therefore, since 2018, FSFE has been a partner of 
diverse projects that are part of the European Commission's Next 
Generation Internet (NGI) initiative to make this dream become a living 
reality.
</p><h3>Transforming the Internet, one software project at a time</h3><p>
Since the beginning of 2023, the FSFE has been involved in two NGI Zero grant 
programmes, namely <a href="https://nlnet.nl/entrust">Entrust</a> and 
<a href="https://nlnet.nl/core/">Core</a>. Both these programmes aim to 
create an "Internet of Humans", a virtuous circle of innovation through 
Free Software, open hardware and open standards. These programmes 
award grants through calls for proposals for software projects that 
work to improve privacy, trustworthiness and data sovereignty on the 
Internet. Submitted projects are judged on their technical merit, 
strategic relevance to the Next Generation Internet and overall value 
for money. The main objective is to deliver potential breakthrough 
contributions to the Open Internet, fostering Free Software 
alternatives to key elements of the <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/deviceneutrality/index">Internet value chain and 
devices</a>. 
All scientific results must be published as open access, and all 
software and hardware must be published in their entirety under a 
recognised free software or hardware licence. 
</p><p>The FSFE's team provides guidance to successful grantee 
projects on legal and licensing issues and helping them to become REUSE 
compliant. Through individual assessments and direct assistance, we aim 
to promote the display of unambiguous and perfectly human- and 
machine-readable licence and copyright information. Other consortium 
partners provide support for other issues that can improve each grantee 
software project, such as security, accessibility and translations, 
just to name a few. 
</p>
  <p>
    "We have been partners of different Next 
    Generation Internet Zero projects for the last five years as we want to 
    empower users to control technology and for that, we need an open 
    internet built on strong and transparent technologies. This will foster 
    innovation and equality and will benefit everyone."
 </p>
  
    Gabriel Ku Wei Bin, FSFE Legal Senior Project Manager. 
  

  <img src="media/c1a5811f.242d6f42ae3fa2c362800b7897b8.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/a3/4e/242d6f42ae3fa2c362800b7897b8.png"/>
<h3>Free Software licensing compliance is paramount</h3><p>
During our previous projects under the <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/ngi/ngi-past.html">NGI Zero framework</a>, the FSFE  
provided 
support to 296 participating software projects to help them with their 
legal and licensing issues, for example providing guidance to them on 
how to display copyright and licensing information in their 
repositories using our REUSE specification. 
</p><p>
By encouraging the grantee 
software projects in the NGI Zero programmes to adopt our REUSE 
specification, the FSFE intends to facilitate management of their 
licensing and copyright information, by making how this information is 
added to the source code more consistent, and in ways which allow for 
automating many of the processes involved. 
</p><p>
The <a href="https://reuse.software/">REUSE specification</a> is 
key to making the communication of licensing and copyright information 
of Free Software projects easier for everyone. With a set of best 
practices and the <a href="https://reuse.software/">REUSE helper tool</a>, adding this legal information in 
every single file of the project becomes a simple process. 
</p><h3>Get funded!</h3><p>
If you are currently working on a software project that you feel fits 
the aims of the Next Generation Internet, we encourage you to <a href="https://nlnet.nl/">apply to obtain funding and technical 
support</a> from not just the FSFE, but also from our NGI Zero 
consortium partners. Calls for proposals take place on a rolling basis, 
and the deadline for the current call for proposals is on <strong>1st August 
2023, at 12:00 CEST</strong>.
</p>
<img src="media/3ff46743.1f7e047e034ba822c84fa5c3c3dcfd69.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/big/1f7e047e034ba822c84fa5c3c3dcfd69.png"/>
 <h3>The Next Generation Internet initiative</h3><p>
The <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/ngi/ngi.html">Next Generation Internet 
(NGI)</a> is a European Commission initiative that aims 
to shape the development and evolution of the Internet into an Internet 
of Humans. An Internet that responds to people’s fundamental needs, 
including trust, security, and inclusion, while reflecting the values 
and the norms all citizens enjoy in Europe. It aims to put in place the 
key technological building blocks of tomorrow’s Internet and to shape 
the future Internet as an interoperable platform ecosystem that 
embodies the values that Europe holds dear: openness, inclusivity, 
transparency, privacy, cooperation, and protection of data. The goal is 
to empower users with the freedom of choice among a range of Free 
Software decentralised digital solutions for the Internet and <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/deviceneutrality/index">devices</a>. 
</p><p><strong>Please consider <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/deviceneutrality/index.html">becoming 
a FSFE donor</a>. You enable our long-term engagement and professional 
commitment in defending people's rights to control technology.</strong>
</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230428-01
title: LLW 2023: learning and exchanging legal knowledge
uri: LLW-2023-learning-and-exchanging-legal-knowledge
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230428-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>LLW 2023: learning and exchanging legal knowledge</h1><p>The Swedish city of Gothenburg hosted the 2023 edition of the Free 
Software Legal &amp; Licensing Workshop (LLW), the annual conference for 
the Legal Network community. It was great to see so many old and new 
faces in person after two years online, and to learn, share and network 
about the legal and licensing issues facing current technology 
developments. 
</p>
  <img src="media/d964fc52.61cb6009a4693e909d4b14f88dd7.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/78/ce/61cb6009a4693e909d4b14f88dd7.jpg"/>
  <p>Two and a half days of talks and discussions about 
licensing and other legal issues surrounding Free Software in the 
beautiful Swedish city of Gothenburg. Two and a half days in which <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/ln/">the 
Legal Network</a> community finally got together in person to share legal 
expertise during the official sessions, but also during the coffee 
breaks and social gatherings. After a long hiatus due to the COVID-19 
pandemic, during which the FSFE had to organise the LLW as an online 
conference for two years, we are grateful to be able to provide a 
productive platform for such discussions. 
</p><p>A healthy licensing ecosystem allows Free Software to flourish. Discussion and knowledge sharing 
contribute to this, which is why this conference was so valuable for 
the professionals who attended. One of the key discussions this year, 
with an entire track dedicated to it, was Artificial Intelligence and 
Machine Learning, discussing its ethical and responsible use, as well 
as the implications on Free Software licensing. But of course, there 
were also time to engage in other issues that have been around for 
years and that are also important for the Free Software community, such 
as Open Data, the legal implications of cryptocurrencies on Free 
Software, or the practices of “Open Source Program Offices” (OSPOs) in 
different international companies.</p><p>Enabling newcomers to the community to be able to productively engage in sharing expertise and knowledge is 
also important to the Legal Network. To that end, the FSFE organises a 
mentoring programme at the LLW to support young professionals in the 
Free Software legal field, and mentors were able to help their 
mentorees build community connections and integrate them into the Free 
Software legal community smoothly during the LLW 2023. 
</p><p>In short, the initial feedback from the 2023 edition of LLW has been very positive, 
with interesting talks and exchanges of ideas, as well as time to 
socialise and have a coffee with new and old faces.  We are 
appreciative for all Legal Network members who took the time to 
participate in person, and hope to see them again next year. It is 
extremely heartening for us to see the Free Software legal community 
grow in strength and knowledge with regular meetings like the LLW. 
</p><h3>The Legal Network</h3><p><a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/ln/">the 
Legal Network</a>is a neutral, non-partisan, group of experts in different fields involved in 
Free Software legal issues. Currently the Legal Network has over 400 
participants from different legal systems, academic backgrounds and 
affiliations.
</p><p>The aim of the Legal Network is to promote discussion and 
foster better knowledge of the legal constructs that back Free 
Software. The conversations on the Legal Network are intended to be 
dynamic, thought-provoking and up to speed with the most recent 
developments.
</p><p><a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/ln/application.html">Admission to the Legal Network</a> is restricted, and the 
discussions held there are confidential. Nevertheless, this does not 
mean that the content of the mailing list is contained away from the 
larger Free Software community. The <a href="https://www.chathamhouse.org/about-us/chatham-house-rule">Chatham House Rule</a> applies to all 
discussions on the Legal Network mailing list and at Legal Network 
events, which enables members to use the information received, but not 
to reveal the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker or any of the 
participants involved in the discussion.
</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: nl-202305
title: FOSS-North & LLW+++Device Neutrality+++NGI Zero
uri: FOSS-North-LLW-Device-Neutrality-NGI-Zero
url: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-202305.fr.html
content:
<h1>FOSS-North &amp; LLW+++Device Neutrality+++NGI Zero</h1><p> In this issue, you can read about the EU project NGI Zero, LLW, the 
FOSS-North conference, and the struggle of Lithuanian students to avoid 
using proprietary 2FA. Don't miss our new SFP episode on Device 
Neutrality; deepen your knowledge with two interesting articles; enjoy 
the latest ‘Ada &amp; Zangemann’ readings; and discover two YH4F projects.
</p>
  <img src="media/3076da13.b9cb26e2fb272f99b990309795ec.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/ed/c6/b9cb26e2fb272f99b990309795ec.png"/>
<h3>FOSS-North and LLW in Gothenburg</h3><p>The Swedish city of Gothenburg hosted the <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230428-01.html">2023 edition of the Free 
Software Legal &amp; Licensing Workshop (LLW)</a>, the annual conference for 
the Legal Network community. A few days later, FOSS-North took place, 
the conference in Gothenburg that brings together the Nordic Free 
Software communities. The FSFE organised a track on political and legal 
aspects of Free Software and also participated in the community day 
that preceded the conference.
</p><p>During FOSS-North, over 180 participants took the opportunity to 
learn about and discuss Free Software in more than 20 sessions. FSFE's 
Policy Project Manager Lina Ceballos gave a keynote speech about the 
Interoperable Europe Act and its possible impact on the Free Software 
community. </p><p>📺 The recordings of the sessions will be available on 
<a href="ttps://media.fsfe.org ">the FSFE Peertube channel</a> soon, so stay tuned!
</p>
  <img src="media/385d92ac.a508f3c7432600b5c0caf5e31baa.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/02/42/a508f3c7432600b5c0caf5e31baa.jpg"/>
<h3>The FSFE is 
helping to build an “Internet of Humans”</h3><p>The Free Software Foundation Europe is a partner of the Next Generation Internet Zero 
consortium, which aims to build a more resilient, trustworthy, and open 
Internet that empowers end users to control technology. The FSFE team 
provides support to NGI0 grantee projects on legal and licensing 
issues. In addition, the FSFE helps them become REUSE compliant. 
</p><p>📰 <a href="news/2023/news-20230425-01.fr.html">Find more about our work in this project</a> 
</p><h3>Lithuania: 
Students stop university from using only proprietary 
authentication</h3><p>Vilnius Tech officials attempted to enforce the use of 
proprietary two factor identification (2FA) methods. Some students were 
concerned the methods would compromise privacy and could not be run in 
their devices, so they proposed an alternative authentication method. 
Eventually, the university reversed its decision. 
</p><p>📰 <a href="news/2023/news-20230418-01.fr.html">Read the full story</a></p><h3>SFP#20: 
All about Device Neutrality with Lucas Lasota</h3><p>Although digital devices are all around us, the number of devices 
that cannot run Free Software is growing, with smartphones, PCs, and 
routers being particularly problematic. In this episode, Lucas Lasota 
joins Bonnie Mehring to discuss Device Neutrality and Router Freedom. 
Lucas explains how software freedom, the absence of vendor lock-in, and 
end-user control over data are crucial to breaking monopolies in 
digital markets, promoting an open Internet, and ensuring access to 
Free Software in devices. </p><p>📻 <a href="news/podcast/episode-20.fr.html">Listen to the podcast!</a></p>
  <img src="media/627d6159.1a6271a666605db6a0dbb0f01483.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/e7/56/1a6271a666605db6a0dbb0f01483.png"/>
  <h3>Two 
reading proposals: REUSE specs for the scientific community &amp; Free 
Software to control technology</h3><p>Last year, the FSFE presented the REUSE initiative at the Weizenbaum 
Conference 2022 “Practicing Sovereignty – Interventions for Open 
Digital Futures”. The presentation resulted in an <a href="media/cfdf5659.Proceedings_Weizenbaum_Conference_2022.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.weizenbaum-institut.de/media/Publikationen/Weizenbaum_Proceedings/Proceedings_Weizenbaum_Conference_2022.pdf">academic 
article</a> (EN, page 66-71) explaining how REUSE specifications 
facilitate and improve management policies for the digital commons by 
improving data and metadata communication for individuals, communities, 
governments, and businesses.</p><p>Check out also our article on <a href="media/47058531.CCP_DigitalCivilSociety_Access-OpenTech.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.ifa.de/fileadmin/Content/docs/foerderungen/CCP_Programm/CCP_DigitalCivilSociety_Access-OpenTech.pdf">Free Software to control 
technology</a> in the Publication "Access OpenTech" for the CrossCulture 
Programme (CCP) by ifa (EN, pages 11-12[18-21]) 
</p><h3>Listen or watch - Ada 
&amp; Zangemann book</h3><p> You can now get your copy of Ada &amp; 
Zangemann in English or German. While you can simply order the German 
edition <a href="https://oreilly.de/produkt/ada-und-zangemann/?ref=10022">online 
or at your favourite book store</a>, the English version is currently 
available in the US from the publisher and at the FSF online store and can 
be pre-ordered in the rest of the world. One more reason to pre-order 
it? It helps to support a book under a Creative Commons Share-alike 
license. </p>
  <img src="media/75391c03.9454311d4871e60d58e2f4f62850.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/ec/44/9454311d4871e60d58e2f4f62850.jpg"/>
  <p>If you would also like to listen to it, we are giving 
you two options: the reading of the book at the <a href="https://www-tracey.archive.org/details/LI_S01E82_Ada_and_Zangemann_a_childrens_book_about_FLOSS__3D61">last episode 
of the Linux Inlaws podcast</a> and the video of the <a href="https://media.libreplanet.org/u/libreplanet/m/book-reading-ada-zangemann-a-tale-of-software-skateboards-and-raspberry-ice-cream/">reading 
at LibrePlanet</a>, the annual conference of the FSF, our sister 
organisation. </p><p>And do not forget the rest of the videos of LibrePlanet 2023, that took place in Boston last March.</p><h3>'Youth Hacking 4 Freedom' 
projects</h3><p>While we wait for the projects developed by the participants of the 
second edition of the Youth Hacking 4 Freedom contest, let's go back to 
last year's edition to learn about two of the projects submitted: <a href="https://biscuit.edugit.org/3starblaze/star-vibe-lab">StarVibeLab</a> 
and <a href="https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/gettor-project/OnionSproutsBot">OnionSproutsBot</a>.</p><p>📰 <a href="news/2023/news-20230413-01.html ">Learn more 
about the projects</a>
</p><h3>Don’t forget to check our Events page</h3><p>Our team and our community participate in many Free Software 
events. <a href="https://fsfe.org/events/events.html">Check our events page</a> to be 
up to date about what is going on. Subscribe to our feeds to stay 
current about events and do not forget to sign up for our local group 
and country mailings to receive updates about what is going on in your 
region. 
</p><h3>Get 
Involved! Contact your administrations</h3><p> Code paid for by the people should be available to the people! Publicly financed software developed 
for the public sector should be available under a Free- and Open Source 
Software license. Therefore, we created the activity <a href="https://wiki.fsfe.org/Activities/ContactingAdministrationsForPMPC">Contact 
your administrations</a> under the initiative <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/publiccode/publiccode.html">Public Money, Public 
Code</a>. On this wiki page, you will find all the necessary 
information and arguments that you need when getting in touch with your 
public administrations. Do not forget to leave a comment about it in 
your favourite social network… and tag us!
</p><h3>Quote of the Month</h3>
  <p>
    "I'm a Free Software supporter for a long time, I fought against software patents in 
Brussels, co-organised the system theme at the Libre Software Meeting 
(RMLL) and run a Free Software company. Free Software is an essential 
part of our global freedom, so it was natural to become a supporter of 
the FSFE."
 </p>
  
   Benoit Mortier
  
<h3>Contribute to our Newsletter</h3><p>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 <a href="donate?referrer=/index.fr.html">support 
us</a>, <a href="https://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.html">contribute to our 
work</a>, <a href="https://fsfe.org/about/groups.html">and join our community</a>. 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. </p><p/><p>Your editor, Ana Galán</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230508-01
title: Chaos Communication Camp: Call for Participation
uri: Chaos-Communication-Camp-Call-for-Participation
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230508-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>Chaos Communication Camp: Call for Participation</h1><p>
	After four years of waiting and many online conferences – probably too 
	many –, the Chaos Communication Camp is finally back! Come and camp 
	with us in the 'Bits &amp; Bäume' village from 15th to 19th August 2023. 
	The Free Software Foundation Europe is part of this year's 'Bits &amp; 
	Bäume' village. 
	</p> <img src="media/62999703.c515b3ebe5da0e07bac7c24209d3bcd5.jpeg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/c515b3ebe5da0e07bac7c24209d3bcd5.jpeg"/>
<p>
	Together with many different groups, the FSFE is organising the 'Bits 
	&amp; Bäume' village. This is a space for all CCCamp participants to 
	come together, talk about Free Software and sustainability, connect 
	with others, or simply visit the FSFE booth. The 'Bits 
	&amp; Bäume' village is not just a meeting place
 but also a space for input sessions and listening to new ideas, as it 
 is involved in organising one of the five 
 central stages.
	</p><h2>Call for Participation: Let's Boost Our Resilience</h2><p>
	As a village, we focus on connecting environmental issues with 
	technology. Together, we find solutions for sustainable technology that 
	respects nature and digital human rights. Let's rethink our 
	technological world and increase our resilience.
	</p><p>
	Do you have insights, thoughts, and experiences to share? Are you 
	interested in Free Software and the sustainable use and provision of 
	technology, such as hacking or upgrading old devices? We are looking 
	for inspiring talks, hands-on workshops, community/developer/strategy 
	meetings, or any other public, informative, or collaborative 
	activities.
	</p><p>
	Together with 'Bits &amp; Bäume', the Free Software Foundation Europe 
	will provide a stage and a workshop area. <strong>If you're interested in 
	applying, please submit your talk or workshop 
	proposal to <a href="https://pretalx.c3voc.de/chaos-communication-camp-2023/cfp">the 
	official Call for Participation</a> for the Chaos 
	Communication Camp by 9. June 2023.</strong> Please choose the 'Bits &amp; Bäume' channel.
	Session slots range from 20 to 45 minutes. Please indicate your preferred length in your 
	submission.
	</p><p>
	As the climate crisis mostly affects people in the Global South, we 
	would particularly encourage those individuals to share their ideas for 
	a resilient technological world. We look forward to your proposals. We 
	actively encourage FLINTA* and Queer* people, BIPOC, and people from 
	the Global South to apply.
	</p><p/><p>
	Note: The acceptance of your talk will not provide you with a ticket. A 
	ticket is necessary for attending the conference and holding a 
	talk or giving a workshop. Ticket information will be available on 
	<a href="https://events.ccc.de/category/camp-2023/">events.ccc.de</a> once the pre-sale begins.
	</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230509-01
title: Tack foss-north 2023!
uri: Tack-foss-north-2023
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230509-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>Tack foss-north 2023!</h1><p>
  The 2023 edition of foss-north took place in Gothenburg on 24 and 25 April 2023. It was a great occasion to meet again in person with the Nordic Free Software community. Over 180 participants had the opportunity to learn about and discuss Free Software in more than 20 sessions.
</p>
    <img src="media/42b35bcf.263bc030879541784ebe8a9c0a18.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/32/4f/263bc030879541784ebe8a9c0a18.jpg"/>
<p>
  This year, for the first time, the FSFE co-organised a track on political, social, and legal issues around Free Software. It was two days full of enlightening discussions. The topics addressed were many, and in case you missed the event, here it is a short overview of some of them. There are more interesting talks that took place during these two days. The recordings of the sessions will be available on the FSFE Peertube channel soon, so stay tuned!
</p><h3>Interoperability and Free Software</h3><p>
 Lina Ceballos, Policy Project Manager at the FSFE, gave a keynote on the Interoperable Europe Act (IEA), a proposal with which the EU is aiming to create a dedicated legal framework on interoperability.
 </p><p>Our position was stated clearly: the IEA needs a “Free Software First” approach. Free Software indeed creates the conditions for interoperability. This kind of solutions should be considered the default when it comes to interoperable digital solutions. Similarly, concerning innovation, numerous NGOs are at the forefront of the process, and that is why we stress the fact that the engagement of stakeholders – especially civil society and the Free Software Community – should be taken into consideration when it comes to the governance of the proposed legislation.
</p>
  <img src="media/2d071796.72ede5c859b4ff877e2a4efdfc0c.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/b2/25/72ede5c859b4ff877e2a4efdfc0c.jpg"/>
  <h3>Public Procurement and Free Software</h3><p>Björn Lundell illustrated how current practices in public sector organisations discriminate against the use of Free Software. Public administrations often express mandatory requirements in the public procurement process which inhibit the use of Free Software solutions.
</p><p>Professor Lundell highlighted the issues concerning lawfulness and appropriateness related to public procurement and the use of services without having identified all applicable Free Software solutions before. The talk gave a brief overview and illustrative examples concerning how current practice amongst public sector organisations discriminate against FOSS usage and the fundamental challenges concerning how to avoid it.
</p>
  <img src="media/d1091a4c.c634c0da62f7af6b7f49ce86b9f4.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/24/40/c634c0da62f7af6b7f49ce86b9f4.jpg"/>
  <h3>Public Administrations and Free Software</h3><p>Jonas Södergren and Johan Linåker discussed the challenges and the possibilities that Free Software can bring to public administrations, especially smaller ones – like municipalities – that often do not have enough expertise or resources when it comes to building their digital infrastructure. There are challenges, but Free Software offers the potential for shared and standardised platforms and infrastructure, which can be tailored to specific needs in a modular structure.
</p><p>The experience of the Swedish Public Employment Service demonstrates this. Together with JobTech and Free Software, 400 different source code repositories have been shared over the past few years. This highlighted the possibilities of Free Software to improve operations and deliverables through open data APIs in Public Administrations.
</p><p>If you are interested in Free Software and its use in Public Administrations, we suggest you to have a look on our <a href="https://publiccode.eu/en/">Public Money? Public Code!</a> campaign and to sign our <a href="https://publiccode.eu/en/openletter/">Open Letter!</a></p>
  <img src="media/885c62aa.7dfa5860f483f4d637f66274ff21.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/7d/fd/7dfa5860f483f4d637f66274ff21.jpg"/>
  <h3>Empowering Users</h3><p>Petter Joelson and Martin Raspaud gave two examples of how Free Software can empower users. The Free Software platform Decidim has enabled participatory budgets and citizen involvement for millions of people. Petter Joelson, the founder of Digidem Lab,  shared experiences of working with the platform Decidim together with the city of New York, the European Commission, and small cities in Sweden.</p><p>Similarly, Martin Raspaud showed how a specific Free Software program can become leading in its field: The Python framework Pytroll has successfully competed with proprietary software, leading multiple weather institutes internationally to adopt it as their main tool for processing satellite imagery, and it is now thriving around a community of dedicated users, developers, and researchers.</p>
  <img src="media/e605d120.9aaf75e0e8c3c895ca44ab810c2b.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/1c/a5/9aaf75e0e8c3c895ca44ab810c2b.jpg"/>
  <h3>The first 10 years of reproducible builds</h3><p>Holger Levsen took us on the journey of reproducible builds; a journey from being a Debian effort to something many projects work on together, and even to be mentioned in an executive order of the president of the United States back in 2021. He also discussed where we are today and where we still need to go until Debian stable will be 100% reproducible and verified by many.</p>
  <img src="media/5114154a.d119c1a31cddc5e9b9f928c4078e.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/43/49/d119c1a31cddc5e9b9f928c4078e.jpg"/>
  <h3>Community Day</h3><p>The conference was preceded by a Community Day on 23 April 2023. It was an opportunity to meet and learn about Free Software and share knowledge. On this occasion, the drawing program Inkscape celebrated its 20th anniversary and the people behind it organised an exciting workshop on graphic production and stitching with Free Software. The Community also had the possibility to join the kick-off of the translation of The Standard for Public Code into Swedish, together with the NOSAD team.</p><p>It was also time again to sit all together around a table and share some food. The community dinner was the perfect occasion for this!</p>
  <img src="media/9553d687.8ef454876dda85de4f0db9b7e169.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/b4/f6/8ef454876dda85de4f0db9b7e169.jpg"/>
  <p>During foss-north, our booth was full of visitors asking us questions about our work, <a href="https://fsfe.org/contribute/spreadtheword">taking stickers</a>, and <a href="https://fsfe.org/contribute/spreadtheword">buying shirts</a>. If you like our work you can take your contribution one step further: become a supporter. <strong>The FSFE would be nothing without our supporters. And it would be so much more with you!</strong> Each financial donation multiplies our strength in public awareness, policy advocacy, legal, and technical expertise. <a href="https://fsfe.org/donate">Support software freedom, support the FSFE</a>.</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230511-01
title: Le Parlement européen veut protéger les logiciels libres dans le règlement sur l'IA
uri: Le-Parlement-européen-veut-protéger-les-logiciels-libres-dans-le-rè
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230511-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>Le Parlement européen veut protéger les logiciels libres dans le règlement sur l'IA</h1><p>
Today the European Parliament's responsible committees voted by a large majority to protect Free Software in the AI regulation. The plenary is called upon to uphold the idea. Likewise, this principle must be anchored in the ongoing Cyber Resilience Act and  Product Liability Directive and their upcoming votes.
</p>
<img src="media/5bbbb9b1.3af0c42c3b6a4d16077e8d3b9772.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/31/97/3af0c42c3b6a4d16077e8d3b9772.jpg"/>
<p>
Les deux commissions compétentes pour la législation sur l'IA, la commission du marché intérieur et de la protection des consommateurs (IMCO) et la commission des libertés civiles, de la justice et des affaires intérieures (LIBE), ont voté aujourd'hui à une large majorité en faveur de la protection des logiciels libres dans cette législation. Les organisations à but non lucratif et les petits projets de logiciels libres, jusqu'à la taille des micro-entreprises, seront largement exemptés des réglementations à l'avenir.
</p><p><em> 
Alexander Sander, Consultant Politique Sénior de la FSFE, explique : "Au lieu de faire porter la responsabilité sur les développeurs de logiciels libres, il faudrait la faire porter sur les entreprises qui en tirent profit sur le marché. Les petites organisations et les activités à but non lucratif, par exemple les fondations, doivent être exclues. Par ce vote, les députés européens reconnaissent ainsi la réalité du développement des logiciels libres et tentent de la protéger. Le principe du transfert de la responsabilité à ceux qui profitent du marché au lieu de se concentrer sur les développeurs doit également être ancré dans la loi sur la cyber-résilience et la directive sur la responsabilité du fait des produits. C'est la seule façon de protéger non seulement les logiciels libres et leurs contributeurs, mais aussi les consommateurs et les clients.”
</em></p><p>
Le vote final de la loi sur l'IA est attendu dans les prochaines semaines, après le trilogue entre le Parlement, le Conseil et la Commission sur le texte final. En ce qui concerne la loi sur la cyber-résilience et la directive sur la responsabilité du fait des produits, le Parlement européen discute actuellement des amendements récemment soumis. <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230323-01.html">Plus d'informations</a>.
</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230511-02
title: Look back with us on Konrad's amazing 'Youth Hacking 4 Freedom' project
uri: Look-back-with-us-on-Konrad-s-amazing-Youth-Hacking-4-Freedom-projec
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230511-02.fr.html
content:
<h1>Look back with us on Konrad's amazing 'Youth Hacking 4 Freedom' project</h1><p>Youth Hacking 4 Freedom inspires European youth to use their skills for 
change. Konrad's learning platform for the amateur radio service exam is 
one example. Let's break down his project and see how YH4F helped him 
bring his vision to life. Join us in the exciting world of YH4F!
</p><p>The second edition of the "Youth Hacking 4 Freedom" contest is currently
 underway, with participants hard at work on their projects. To keep you
 motivated and showcase the amazing ideas being developed, we have been 
 speaking to some of the first edition contestants over the past few 
 months. One of them is Konrad, who developed a learning platform to help
 people study for the "Amateur Radio Service" exam, which is a 
 requirement for using the "Amateur Radio Service". Let's hear from 
 Konrad about his experience in the contest, his project, and the 
 inspiration behind it! Did you know that he is also participating in 
 this second edition?
</p><p>
 Konrad has been programming for a while now and still enjoys it very 
 much. In addition to programming, he also likes to build practical 
 projects that make a real impact and help others.
 </p><p><strong> FSFE</strong>: Hello 
  Konrad. Thank you for your time.</p><p>
   <strong>FSFE</strong>: What was 
   your first experience with programming, and how did you start 
   learning to program?
   </p><p><strong>Konrad</strong>:
        Back in 2017, I got my first laptop that was able to browse the 
        internet. The creative possibilities seemed endless back then, so I 
        started tinkering around with lots of different programs and tools. I 
        used the pre-installed music software a lot and created short films of 
        my village.</p><p>After a while, I discovered Minecraft, and a whole universe opened up to
 me. I was now able to create whatever I wanted, and secretly, I was 
 learning the core concepts of programming by using command blocks in the
 game.</p><p>After some time, I realized that the platform was inaccessible for most 
    people and started looking into web development. At the time, HTML, CSS,
 and JavaScript overwhelmed me, and it took a whole year until I became 
 fluent in using HTML. My first programming project was a small weather 
 station that I built with a Raspberry Pi, which saved the data to a 
 MySQL database. At that point, I also got in touch with Linux for the 
 first time while using the Raspberry Pi. The simplicity was completely 
 new to me, and I was astounded by the flexibility the whole system 
 offered.
    </p><p> 
    <strong>FSFE</strong>: Can you 
    remember your first contact with Free Software?</p><p>
 <strong>Konrad</strong>: Before I 
 used the Raspberry Pi, I had no clue what Free Software meant 
 or what positive aspects it offered. But as I delved further into the 
 matter, I noticed that most of the tools I used and loved were Free 
 Software. At that point, I also installed Linux as the main operating 
 system on my first computer and started wondering how it all worked in 
 the background. I discovered a whole new world of software and 
 communities passionate about their beliefs.</p><p>
  <strong>FSFE</strong>: What led you 
  to participate in the first edition of YH4F, and why did you decide to 
  join the second edition as well?
  </p><p>
    <strong>Konrad</strong>: Since I 
    had some experience in developing software and using versioning 
    tools like Git, I took the opportunity to practice and improve my skills
 even further. During the first round, I gained a lot of insight into 
 the background of the Free Software Foundation and learned why not every
 software that appears to be open actually is. I also learned a lot 
 about decentralization and how to write good documentation. Lastly, I 
 was interested in meeting other like-minded people, so I joined the 
 Matrix channel and had a lot of fun discussing topics related to Free Software.</p><p>
    <strong>FSFE</strong>: What do 
    you enjoy most about the contest?
    </p><p>
    <strong>Konrad</strong>: 
    Honestly, I mostly enjoyed the company and talking to other people and 
    getting to know their project, their beliefs and values when it 
    comes to software development.
    </p><p>
    <strong>FSFE</strong>: Your 
    project from the first round was connected to amateur radio 
    services. Could you briefly explain where your interest for amateur 
    radio services comes from and how it works?
    </p><p><strong>Konrad</strong>: Amateur 
  	radio, also known as ham radio (which is not actually related to
 the food), is a strictly non-commercial radio service that is available
 throughout the world and supports international understanding. Usage of
 encryption or proprietary standards is heavily prohibited in amateur 
 radio worldwide.</p><p>
 So you can imagine amateur radio as an Free Software radio service that is
 used for talking, exchanging information, or scientific experiments. I 
 was always interested in the technical aspects of networks, and ham 
 radio is a very practical hobby where you can build your own networks 
 from scratch and experiment a lot.
 </p> <img src="media/8b16e449.bb369aad4dc7f01fcea3ca8e9701.jpeg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/3a/db/bb369aad4dc7f01fcea3ca8e9701.jpeg"/>
Konrad's amateur radio setup: The picture is licensed under CC-BY-SA and the license holder is Konrad.
<p>There are, for example, projects throughout Europe where a 
	non-commercial alternative to the internet is being built up. So I see a
 deep connection between the things I liked when playing around with my 
 computer and the things that are done in amateur radio. But I can only 
 scratch the surface here; there is so much more to it than you might 
 think at first. There is even a radio station on board the International
 Space Station, and if you are lucky, you might catch the astronauts in 
 their free time and chat with them for the duration of the overpass.
	</p><p>
	<strong>FSFE</strong>: Are there any 
	requirements for people to join a conversation via radio services?
	</p><p><strong>Konrad</strong>: Radio, in 
  	general, is heavily regulated around the world because the 
  	frequency of a radio wave can only be used once by a person or company. 
  	As a result, amateur radio is in constant rivalry with big companies 
  	that would rather use the frequencies commercially, considering them as 
  	valuable resources.
  	</p><p>
  	Amateur Radio, however, sets itself apart by being open to anyone with a
 license that can be obtained in a month of learning. But even without a
 license, there are still many ways to participate. For example, you can
 build antennas and listen to amateur radio stations from all over the 
 world using only a single wire. It's easier than it might seem at first.
  	</p><p>
  <strong>FSFE</strong>: Could you 
  explain a bit more about your project?
  	 </p><p>
  	<strong>Konrad</strong>: My 
  	project from the first round was also related to amateur radio, as I 
  	was studying for the exam at that time. The exam is built up by 
  	multiple-choice questions here in Germany, which are available as a PDF 
  	download on the website of the federal agency.</p><p>I started looking for ways to study the questions but only found 
  	software developed for Windows or costly proprietary software. So, I 
  	searched for the question data that was used in those apps and found a 
  	modified version that was slightly more convenient to work with. I 
  	wanted to assist people who were in the same situation as me by 
  	developing a learning platform for the exam.
  	</p><p>
  	I chose Flutter as the development tool because it can be used on all 
  	major platforms such as Linux, Android, or iOS. Since this was my 
  	first project written in Flutter, I learned a lot on my way to the 
  	finished platform. I was most proud of the user progress tracking 
  	feature that helps users identify how much they still need to learn.
  	</p><p>
	 <strong>FSFE</strong>: What motivated you to free this kind of data?
	 </p><p>
  	<strong>Konrad</strong>: As I 
  	mentioned before, the apps I saw were either outdated, proprietary,
 or difficult to use. My project aimed to motivate more people to get 
 into amateur radio by lowering the entry barrier. I believe this data 
 should also be available in a machine-readable format, such as JSON or 
 at least CSV. That's why I thought FSFE might be interested in my 
 project since I saw their campaign <a href="https://publiccode.eu/">"Public Money? Public Code!"</a>.
  	</p><p>
 <strong>FSFE</strong>: Did you 
 encounter any problems during the coding period?</p><p>
  <strong>Konrad</strong>: Especially 
  the data processing was difficult at first because the 
  dataset was huge and the conversions were often challenging. 
  Additionally, implementing the database feature for progress tracking 
  was also a challenge. Overall, getting used to Flutter and Dart as new 
  tools was difficult but rewarding, and I had a lot of fun learning both.
 </p><p>
  <strong>FSFE</strong>: And last but 
  not least, what is your current project for the second round of YH4F</p><p>
  <strong>Konrad</strong>: This year 
  I am pretty busy, but nevertheless I am working on converting a 
  weather probe that is launched by weather services to observe the 
  atmosphere and can be recovered by anyone.</p><p> I already recovered two of 
  them because one landed in the neighbouring village. Now, I am trying on 
  flashing and building a new firmware for me to use the probe as a 
  weather station. So back to the roots.
 </p><p>
  <strong>FSFE</strong>: Thank you, 
  Konrad, for your time, and we wish you good luck in this year's 
  competition.
 </p><p>
 The second edition of YH4F is currently in its coding period, offering 
 teenagers between 14 and 18 the opportunity to challenge themselves, 
 connect with like-minded peers, and compete for cash prizes. This 
 contest, run by the Free Software Foundation Europe, aims to inspire young people by 
 providing them with a fair and enjoyable platform to hack software 
 projects and interact with fellow young developers from various parts 
 of Europe. 
 </p><p>
 You can find more information at the <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/yh4f/">YH4F website</a>.
</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230515-01
title: European citizens demand Router Freedom
uri: European-citizens-demand-Router-Freedom
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230515-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>European citizens demand Router Freedom</h1><p> A pan-European survey, run by the Free Software Foundation Europe, 
has collected information from more than 1600 end-users and highlighted 
several obstacles to Router Freedom, such as lack of freedom of choice, 
provider lock-in and promotion of equipment running exclusively 
proprietary software. </p>
<img src="media/ca04dd32.6a74ab703ca9297fa8bd6b564be3.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/85/86/6a74ab703ca9297fa8bd6b564be3.png"/>
This chart demonstrates the participants’ level of agreement on Router Freedom principles. More than a simple technical issue, Router Freedom is a policy demand"
<p> More than a thousand consumers from across Europe have shared their 
experience of the commercial practices of Internet Service Providers 
(ISPs) in the <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230515-02.html">most comprehensive end-user survey regarding freedom of 
terminal equipment to date</a>, resulting in a 
call for Router Freedom. The responses from end-users all over Europe 
demonstrate how network operators still hamper consumer freedom of 
choice, exercise lock-in over internet equipment and promote 
proprietary devices, negatively affecting consumer welfare, security, 
privacy and data protection. </p><p>Router Freedom is the right that customers of any internet service 
provider have to be able to choose and use a private modem and router 
instead of equipment provided by the ISP. Freedom of choice for routers 
and modems has been regulated in the EU since 2015 (Net Neutrality 
Regulation) but national implementation has led to fragmentation of the 
digital markets, negatively impacting end-users’ rights. <a href="media/52b256f3.rf-survey-report-2023.pdf" data-original-source="https://download.fsfe.org/routers/rf-survey-report-2023.pdf">The survey 
demonstrated that Router Freedom is not only a technical issue, but 
also a policy demand</a>. More than 90% of the survey participants agreed 
that freedom of terminal equipment is key for net neutrality and open 
internet, security and data protection, fair competition and digital 
sustainability.</p><p>
</p>
 <em> “The outcome of this survey serves as key insight for 
 policy makers regulating Router Freedom and consumer organisations 
 protecting and promoting the rights of end-users.  Critically important 
 are the reported practices that could be considered infringements 
 against Router Freedom. Limitation to freedom of choice, ISP’s lock-in, 
 provision of proprietary devices, security issues and unlawful 
 practices are some of the threats reported against end-users”, states 
 Lucas Lasota, FSFE’s senior project manager.
 </em>
<p/><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230515-02
title: Report: The end-user perspective on Router Freedom
uri: Report-The-end-user-perspective-on-Router-Freedom
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230515-02.fr.html
content:
<h1>Report: The end-user perspective on Router Freedom</h1><p>
In a comprehensive survey, end-users from all over Europe shared their experience about ISPs’ commercial 
practices regarding terminal equipment and how Router Freedom is affected.
</p>
       <img src="media/0e45d452.6e5ec53d9b88f672793e39358dae.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/bf/0f/6e5ec53d9b88f672793e39358dae.jpg"/>
       This chart illustrates the participants’ background knowledge on topics related to Router Freedom
     <p>
<a href="media/52b256f3.rf-survey-report-2023.pdf" data-original-source="https://download.fsfe.org/routers/rf-survey-report-2023.pdf">With more than 1600 responses, this overarching survey (EN)</a> shows how Internet Service 
Providers (ISPs) still hamper consumer freedom of choice, exercise 
lock-in over internet equipment and promote proprietary devices, 
negatively affecting consumer welfare, security, privacy and data 
protection. Besides, participants showed decisive support for Router 
Freedom. The wealth of information brought by them provided deep 
insights on limitations against users trying to connect their own 
legitimate equipment to the internet. 
</p><h3>The telecom sector and end-users</h3><p>
“Is there Router Freedom in Europe?” This question was the starting point for the <a href="media/52b256f3.rf-survey-report-2023.pdf" data-original-source="https://download.fsfe.org/routers/rf-survey-report-2023.pdf">Router 
Freedom Survey</a>. The interests of end-users reflect the necessity to 
enable freedom of terminal equipment in Europe. Since 2013, the Free 
Software Foundation Europe has been working to make this right a 
reality in Europe. Router Freedom is understood in a broader context as 
<a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/deviceneutrality/index">a crucial element of Device Neutrality</a>, and it requires that network 
operators should allow end-users to run Free Software on their devices. 
The Router Freedom survey was part of an initiative for civil society 
engagement during the national implementation processes of the EU 
reform of telecommunications law. 
</p><p>
The lack of comprehensive research on end-user perspective regarding 
terminal equipment motivated this two-year project. By 22 March 2023, 
the survey had gathered 1652 responses from consumers from all over 
Europe. The survey shed light on how end-users feel towards Router 
Freedom, their understanding of the importance of this right in the 
context of Net Neutrality principles, privacy, fair competition and 
digital sustainability. The survey also collected information about the 
issues and problems faced by end-users when trying to use their private 
routers for internet connection. 
</p><h3>Router Freedom faces challenges in Europe</h3><p>
This survey 
serves not only civil society and consumer organisations with primary 
data on end-user experience, but also regulators and policy makers in 
their regulatory efforts. Participants’ comments were crucial to 
understand the hurdles and challenges faced by anyone trying to use 
their own equipment for internet connection. The main findings of the 
survey include:
</p><ul> 

<li>
<strong>Limitations to freedom of choice</strong>. Some ISPs restrict end-users 
from connecting their routers, modems and fiber terminal equipment (ONT) to 
the public network. This is observed more intensively in countries 
where the position of the Network Termination Point (NTP) is not regulated in 
a configuration favourable to end-users.
</li> 

<li>
<strong>ISP’s lock-in</strong>. Besides limiting freedom of choice, some ISPs impose other restrictions 
that increase switching costs by end-users, charge for the provided 
equipment and impose fines when end-users use their own equipment. 
Lock-in is significantly more notable on fiber networks (FTTH)  
contracts and in countries where Router Freedom is not 
regulated.
</li>

<li>
<strong>Provision of proprietary devices</strong>. The routers, modems and optical 
fiber  devices (ONT) provided by ISPs are 
generally proprietary. End-users cannot inspect their firmware or 
install an alternative operating system. This is especially problematic 
with FTTH connections, since in the majority of 
contracts end-users cannot change the ONT imposed by ISPs.
</li>

<li>
<strong>Security issues</strong>. The lack of Router Freedom generates negative 
consequences for network security. Some ISPs do not provide security 
updates for their devices. When end-users cannot manage their own 
routers, they become more exposed to security flaws.
</li>

<li>
<strong>Unlawful commercial and technical practices</strong>. Even where Router 
Freedom has been established by legislation, ISPs can still hamper 
end-users’ ability to choose and use their own routers and modems. Some 
ISPs make it cumbersome to replace the ISP's equipment, take a long 
time to provide login data or other access credentials, fail to offer 
technical support for the network or threaten end-users who use 
personal routers with contract termination or fines. 
</li>

</ul>
       <img src="media/b69b325c.235dee8c53a5540177804372ae33.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/df/e7/235dee8c53a5540177804372ae33.jpg"/>
In this chart of types of connection and router usage can be seen that, although the majority of DSL subscribers use their own routers, those on fiber and coaxial connections are still dependent on ISPs’ equipment
     <h3>Router Freedom as a policy demand</h3><p>
More than a technical issue, <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/routers/routers.html">freedom of terminal equipment is also a policy demand</a>. All over 
Europe, end-users have manifested their support for regulatory policies 
safeguarding the right to choose and use routers and modems. More than 
90% of participants agreed Router Freedom  is key for net neutrality 
and open internet, security and data protection, fair competition and 
digital sustainability. Therefore, the outcome of this survey serves as 
key insight for policy makers regulating Router Freedom and consumer 
organisations protecting and promoting the rights of end-users. 
</p>
<img src="media/0fa55a7f.b3eeb6363c93efb45456a6aa8e11.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/f7/ba/b3eeb6363c93efb45456a6aa8e11.jpg"/>
This chart demonstrates the participants’ level of agreement on Router Freedom principles. More than a simple technical issue, Router Freedom is a policy demand
<h3>Router Freedom and Device Neutrality</h3><p>Router Freedom is the 
right of consumers of any Internet Service Provider to choose and use a 
private modem and router instead of equipment provided by the Internet 
Service Provider. <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/deviceneutrality/index">Device Neutrality protects end-users</a> against 
discriminatory restrictions on Free Software on their devices. With 
Router Freedom, end-users can install a customized operating system on 
their equipment and exercise control over the technology. Please 
consider <a href="https://my.fsfe.org/donate">becoming a FSFE donor</a>; you will help make possible our 
long-term commitment and professional dedication to defending people’s 
rights to control technology.
</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230524-01
title: Interoperable Europe Act: Committee of the Regions fails to substantially promote Free Software
uri: Interoperable-Europe-Act-Committee-of-the-Regions-fails-to-substantia
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230524-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>Interoperable Europe Act: Committee of the Regions fails to substantially promote Free Software</h1><p>
The Committee of the Regions approved its opinion on the 
Interoperable Europe Act. The EU representative body has failed to recognise 
the importance that Free Software has for interoperability and thus for 
digitalisation and innovation.  This underlines the relevance of Free 
Software Community's participation in the planned 
Interoperable Board.
</p>
     <img src="media/332ec96f.d9f6548eef03da7fac8ba80496bc.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/78/94/d9f6548eef03da7fac8ba80496bc.png"/>
       <p>
With the EU's objective of establishing a legal framework on 
interoperability through the Interoperable Europe Act, today the 
Committee of the Regions has adopted its opinion in plenary. While the 
opinion has feebly mentioned the role of Free Software in achieving 
cross-border interoperability and avoiding vendor lock-in in its policy 
recommendations, the Committee of the Regions has failed in 
substantially improving the original text and bringing up more solid 
and necessary measures. It lacks to introduce a  “Free Software first” 
approach and the involvement of stakeholders in the Interoperable 
Europe Board, an intended body that shall decide on upcoming steps 
arising from this legislation.
</p><p>
</p>
 <em> "It is incomprehensible that the institution who has the responsibility 
 to bring up the demands of thousands of local and regional 
 administrations fails in featuring the importance of Free Software for 
 interoperability. Hence, this decision only reaffirms the importance of 
 the involvement of stakeholder, who have actual competence, in this 
 decision making processes . We, therefore, urge the European Parliament 
 to include the Free Software community in the Interoperable Europe 
 Board to guarantee sustainability and innovation in digitalisation. 
 Furthermore a 'Free Software first' approach still needs to be 
 introduced", explains Lina Ceballos, FSFE Policy Project Manager.
 </em>
<p/><p>
The role that Free Software plays in the digitalisation of local and 
regional administrations has shown to be of the great importance, 
especially  during the corona pandemic. Among other, it strengthens 
digital sovereignty allowing administrations to have control over the 
software they are using, while it enables that public funds are spent 
in the most efficient way. For these reasons, over the last years the 
FSFE has been demanding with its <a href="https://publiccode.eu/">'Public Money? Public 
Code!' initiative</a> that publicly financed 
software should be made publicly available under a Free Software 
licence. It is now up to the European Parliament to ensure 
interoperability is introduced by a “Free Software first”  approach 
while including the Free Software community on the path to digitalise 
European public administrations. First Amendments in this direction 
have been introduced already, however, the position has to be further 
improved. <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230323-02.html">Further read</a>. 
</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: nl-202306
title: FOSS-North & LLW+++Device Neutrality+++NGI Zero
uri: 2023-06-06-FOSS-North-LLW-Device-Neutrality-NGI-Zero
url: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-202306.fr.html
content:
<h1>AI Act and Interoperability+++Router Freedom Survey+++Podcasts, YH4F &amp; Ada </h1><p> The June issue brings updates on the Interoperable Europe Act and 
the AI Regulation, and the publication of the conclusions of our 
European Router Freedom survey. We were invited to two podcast episodes 
and were the focus of Edri's 'Member of the spotlight'. Check out a 
study on net neutrality regulation and read a lovely story about Ada 
arriving in rural India.</p>
  <img src="media/82b9bfac.7db6a9acddc371d26a80f1a8dfaa.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/b3/c7/7db6a9acddc371d26a80f1a8dfaa.png"/>

  <p>Table of contents</p>
  <ol>
    <li><a href="#EU-Policy-Interoperable-Europe-Act">EU Policy: Interoperable Europe Act</a></li>
    <li><a href="#EU-Parliament-wants-to-protect-Free-Software-in-AI-regulation">EU Parliament wants to protect Free Software in AI regulation</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Survey-European-citizens-demand-Router-Freedom"> Survey: European citizens demand Router Freedom</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Router-Freedom-as-priority-for-the-future-of-Net-Neutrality-regulation">Router Freedom as priority for the future of Net Neutrality regulation</a></li>
    <li><a href="Making-the-telecom-sector-more-sustainable-with-Free-Software">Making the telecom sector more sustainable with Free Software</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Two podcast-episodes-to-listen-to">Two podcast episodes to listen to</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Youth-Hacking-4-Freedom-projects">'Youth Hacking 4 Freedom' projects</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Ada-and-Zangemann-travels-to-rural-Rajasthan"> ‘Ada &amp; Zangemann' travels to rural Rajasthan</a></li>
    <li><a href="#EDRI's-Member-in-the-Spotlight">EDRI’s Member in the Spotlight</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Chaos-Communication-Camp-and-more-events">Chaos Communication Camp and more events</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Get-Involved-Join-our-local-groups">Get Involved - Join our local groups!</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Quote-of-the-month">Quote of the month</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Follow-us-in-the-Fediverse-and-elsewhere">Follow us in the Fediverse... and elsewhere</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Contribute-to-our-Newsletter">Contribute to our Newsletter</a></li>
    </ol>
<h3>EU Policy: 
InteroperableEurope Act </h3><p>In May, the Committee of the Regions 
failed to recognise the importance that Free Software has for 
interoperability and thus for digitalisation and innovation while the 
European Parliament's responsible committees voted by a large majority 
to protect Free Software in the AI regulation. The Committee of the 
Regions adopted its opinion on interoperability through the 
Interoperable Europe Act, failing to substantially improve the original 
text and bring up more solid and necessary measures on the role of Free 
Software, forgetting a ’Free Software first’ approach.</p><p><a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230524-01.html">Read more about this</a>
</p>
     <img src="media/332ec96f.d9f6548eef03da7fac8ba80496bc.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/78/94/d9f6548eef03da7fac8ba80496bc.png"/>
       <h3> 
EU Parliament wants to protect Free Software in AI regulation </h3><p>
The European Parliament's lead committees on AI legislation, the 
Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) and the 
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), voted by 
a large majority in favour of protecting Free Software in the AI 
Regulation. Non-profit organisations and small Free Software projects 
up to the size of micro-enterprises will be largely exempted from this 
regulation. 
</p><p>
<a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230511-01.html">Read more about this</a>
</p><h3>Survey: 
European citizens demand Router Freedom </h3><p> 
In the <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230515-02.html">most comprehensive survey to 
date</a>, end-users from all over Europe shared their experience about 
ISPs’ commercial practices regarding terminal equipment and how Router 
Freedom is affected. The responses have highlighted several obstacles 
to Router Freedom, such as lack of freedom of choice, provider lock-in 
and promotion of equipment running exclusively proprietary software. 
<a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230515-01.html">Read more about it</a> 
</p><h3>Router 
Freedom as priority for the future of Net Neutrality regulation </h3><p>The EU Commission has published a <a href="https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/e1f1154f-ee2f-11ed-a05c-01aa75ed71a1/language-en/format-PDF/source-285823692">study 
on the future of Net Neutrality regulation</a>, confirming Router 
Freedom as a priority for the future implementation of Open Internet in 
Europe. (Recommendation 2, p. 91). The study referred to work done by 
the FSFE (p.11), supporting the conclusions we at the FSFE have been 
advocating in recent years. In particular, national regulators should 
prioritize end-users’ rights and safeguard freedom of terminal 
equipment for all network types, including fiber (FTTH).
</p> <img src="media/947aff7c.793a6fe304069f010b976babaafcb0c7.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/big/793a6fe304069f010b976babaafcb0c7.png"/> <h3>Making the telecom sector more sustainable with Free Software</h3><p>As part of the book <a href="https://publication2023.bits-und-baeume.org/">‘Shaping Digital Transformation for a sustainable 
society’</a>, that puts together 28 contributions from the second Bits &amp; 
Bäume conference on digitization and sustainability, Lucas Lasota and 
Erik Albers explain how Free Software is key for a more sustainable 
telecom sector by empowering end-users to have more control over 
devices, especially regarding software and hardware artificial 
obsolescence.</p><h3>Two podcast episodes to 
listen to </h3><ul>
<li>
<p>Learn about the Public Money, Public Code! 
Initiative. Johannes Näder was invited to explain it and why Free 
Software is important for our digital sovereignty at the eGovernment 
Podcast. 
</p>
<p>🎧 <a href="https://egovernment-podcast.com/egov139-fsfe-pmpc/">Listen to it</a>
</p>
</li>

<li>
<p>In ’Episode 510: Thinking in Decades’ of the LinuxUnplugged 
podcast, Matthias Kirschner talks about  Free Software, the FSFE and 
the ‘Ada &amp; Zangemann’ book.</p>
<p>🎧<a href="https://linuxunplugged.com/510">Listen to it</a>
</p>
</li> 
</ul><h3>'Youth Hacking 4 Freedom' 
projects </h3><p>
The second edition of the Youth Hacking 4 Freedom 
contest is in its last weeks. We cannot wait to see what the 
participants have developed. Meanwhile, this month we talk with <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230511-02.html">Konrad, who created a learning platform for the amateur radio service 
exam.</a> </p><p><a href="https://fsfe.org/tags/tagged-yh4f-project.html">Check out the rest of the 
projects from the first edition</a>. Want to know more about this cool 
competition? <a href="https://media.fsfe.org/w/ibNDS7ojB7eHpenrXS835d ">Watch Bonnie Mehring explaining it in German at LIT 2023</a>
</p>
     <img src="media/47027603.9594f30fb15a8edf5082d60baac594bd.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/9594f30fb15a8edf5082d60baac594bd.png"/>
       <h3>'Ada &amp; Zangemann’ travels to rural Rajasthan </h3><p>The story <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/childrensbook/">'Ada &amp; Zangemann'</a> 
has travelled from LibrePlanet in Boston to India! Check out this blog 
post explaining <a href="https://unstructured.studio/blog/a-storytelling-session-about-software-and-ice-cream-in-rural-rajasthan/">a 
storytelling session about software and ice cream in rural 
Rajasthan</a>.
</p><p>
Get your own copy in German, <a href="https://oreilly.de/produkt/ada-und-zangemann/?ref=10022">online or at your 
favourite book store</a>. The English version is currently available in the 
US from the publisher and at the FSF online store and can be 
pre-ordered in the rest of the world.
</p><h3>'EDRI’s Member in the 
Spotlight interview</h3><p>
Since 2018 the FSFE has been part of the EDRi, the European network defending rights and freedoms online. In 
their May newsletter we had the chance to present ourselves and our work. <a href="https://edri.org/our-work/member-in-the-spotlight-series/ ">Read the interview</a>. 
</p><h3>Chaos Communication Camp and more events</h3><p><a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230508-01.html">Come and camp with us in the Chaos Communication Camp</a>, from 15 to 19 August 2023. The Free Software Foundation Europe is part of this year's 'Bits &amp; Bäume' village. And if you're interested in applying, please submit your talk or workshop proposal to <a href="https://pretalx.c3voc.de/chaos-communication-camp-2023/cfp">the official Call for Participation</a> by June 9. 
</p><p>Over 180 participants had the opportunity to learn about and discuss 
Free Software in more than 20 sessions during the last edition of 
FOSS-North. In case you missed the event, <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230509-01.html  ">here is a short overview of some of the topics that were discussed</a> 
</p><p>Our team and our community participate in many Free Software events. Check our events 
page to be up to date about what is going on. Subscribe to our feeds to 
stay current about events and do not forget to sign up for our local 
group and country mailings to receive updates about what is going on in 
your region.
</p><h3>'Get Involved - Join our local groups!</h3><p>Connect with our community by joining the local group meetings! Our 
community is organised in local groups, country teams, and thematic 
groups. Some of these are casual and have ongoing discussions in chats. 
Others are task-oriented and plan their own campaigns. Some meet 
face-to-face and others meet online. Whether you are a long-time Free 
Software enthusiast or a newcomer, <a href="https://fsfe.org/about/groups.html ">our groups are waiting for you!</a></p><h3>Quote of the Month</h3>
  <p>
   "I believe that Free Software can help us change our society 
   fundamentally for the better and I believe the best way to do so is 
   together with other volunteers from all over Europe! 
 </p>
  
Alexandra Busch, IT specialist
  
<h3>Follow us in the Fediverse… and elsewhere</h3><p> We want to reach to our whole society and get our messages and 
demands heard by those who are not part of the Free Software Community. 
That is why you can find us both in federated and decentralized social 
networks but also in proprietary ones. You can find us in <a href="https://mastodon.social/@fsfe">Mastodon</a> and 
<a href="https://twitter.com/fsfe">Twitter</a>, in <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/fsfe/">LinkedIn</a> and in <a href="https://media.fsfe.org/">PeerTube</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@FreeSoftwareFoundationEurope">Youtube</a>. In this last one we 
have reached 1000 followers, hopefully <a href="https://media.fsfe.org/w/p/9gYSyoEYggsqBExLWjRejL">helping people to learn more about software freedom</a> who have not heard about it before. 
</p><h3>Contribute to our Newsletter</h3><p>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 <a href="donate?referrer=/index.fr.html">support 
us</a>, <a href="https://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.html">contribute to our 
work</a>, <a href="https://fsfe.org/about/groups.html">and join our community</a>. 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. </p><p>Your editor, Ana Galán</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230606-01
title: Germany: dPhoenix on the road to failure?
uri: Germany-dPhoenix-on-the-road-to-failure
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230606-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>Germany: dPhoenix on the road to failure?</h1><p>
A Free Software office and collaboration suite for the public sector is 
one of the projects with which the German government aims to fulfil the 
goals of the coalition agreement. But a closer look at the project 
raises questions: Where is the source code? Who is responsible? What 
happens to the public money involved? We asked the relevant ministry.
</p><p>
Back in 2020, the north German IT service provider Dataport started the 
first pilots of its dPhoenixSuite as an alternative to Microsoft’s 
proprietary office and collaboration suite. The dPhoenixSuite integrates 
Free Software components such as Nextcloud, Matrix, Jitsi, Collabora, 
and UCS. The suite is already being offered on a small scale as a cloud 
service to German adminstrations, taking a stand where the German IT 
Planning Council is calling for a sovereign working environment for 
administrations, with Free Software solutions as a priority. But 
Dataport seems to fall short of this expectation.
</p><p>
The current issue 07/23 of Linux Magazin comes with a <a href="https://www.linux-magazin.de/ausgaben/2023/07/dataport-phoenix/">detailed 
and critical analysis</a> by Markus Feilner, which covers both the 
history and the problems of Dataport’s “Projekt Phoenix” and its 
relation to the “Sovereign Workplace” (“Souveräner Arbeitsplatz”), a 
long promised reference implementation under the responsibility of the 
German Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community (BMI), coordinated 
by the recently founded Centre for Digital Sovereignty of Public 
Administration (ZenDiS). Some of the major problems Feilner reveals are 
the missing dPhoenixSuite source code, a lack of understanding of Free 
Software and of collaboration within the Free Software community, a 
tendency to open-wash by claiming to be “based on open source”, unclear 
responsibilities, and an opaque relationship to the BMI’s “Sovereign 
Workplace” project.
</p><p>
We have been promoting the concept of <a href="https://publiccode.eu">“Public Money? Public Code!”</a> since 
2017, and we welcome and encourage every step towards Free Software in 
public administrations. However, the recent news developments around 
Dataport and the Sovereign Workplace are reason to be wary, especially 
of any attempts to open-wash.
</p><p>
Therefore, we have today sent a list of questions to the BMI, expecting 
that the answers will make the situation around the dPhoenixSuite and 
the Souvereign Workplace transparent.
</p><h2>Questions for the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community (BMI):</h2><ol>
<li><p>Dataport advertises its dPhoenixSuite as an “open source solution”. 
So far, however, only the source code of the underlying Free Software 
(also known as Open Source) components is available under Free Software 
licences. The code of the complete, integrated suite cannot be obtained 
from Dataport upon request.</p> <ol> <li>When will the full 
source code of the Sovereign Workplace be published on OpenCoDE?</li> 
<li>Will the code be published under a Free Software license, and if 
yes, under which one?</li> <li>Is the Sovereign Workplace based on the 
same code stack as the dPhoenixSuite?</li> <li>What part of the 
Sovereign Workplace code comes from dPhoenixSuite? In which parts do 
they differ and why?</li> <li>Will it be possible for everyone to 
compile the Sovereign Workplace from the source code and run it on one’s 
own infrastructure as soon as it is published on OpenCoDE? Will an 
elaborate documentation to the code be available</li> <li>Are there 
plans do further develop the Sovereign Workplace in collaboration with 
the community of the underlying Free Software projects after the code 
has been published?</li> <li>Will further development using OpenCoDE 
take place openly according to the tried and tested principles of 
“coding in the open” and “release early, release often”, establishing 
and involving a community?</li> </ol></li>
<li><p>According to public news and information from Dataport, the 
dPhoenixSuite is based on the Sovereign Workplace, which is to be 
published on OpenCoDE before the end of 2023. According to the BMI, the 
Sovereign Workplace is based on dPhoenixSuite.</p> <ol> 
<li>Which of the two statements is correct? How do the two different 
statements come about?</li> <li>Which contracts with reference to the 
Sovereign Workplace exist between the BMI or ZenDiS on the one hand and 
Dataport on the other?</li> <li>Is the Sovereign Workplace rather a fork 
of dPhoenixSuite or a reference implementation? Once the source code has 
been published on OpenCoDE, will the Sovereign Workplace be further 
developed independently of dPhoenixSuite or will it remain coupled to 
dPhoenixSuite?</li> <li>Can you provide us with an organisation chart of 
the Sovereign Workplace project with all the authorities, offices, 
public bodies and responsible persons involved? If this is not possible: 
Which authorities, offices, public bodies and responsible persons are 
involved in the Sovereign Workplace project (in each case with details 
of their role and responsibility within the project)?</li> <li>Who is 
responsible for the Sovereign Workplace project in the BMI?</li> 
<li>What competences does the CIO have in coordinating the project and 
in coordinating with Dataport?</li> <li>Where and by whom is the 
cooperation between Dataport and BMI/ZenDiS on the Sovereign Workplace 
and the Phoenix project controlled and coordinated?</li> <li>Where and 
under whose leadership are the components of the Sovereign Workplace 
that are not adopted from the Free Software community (for example 
gluecode and integration scripts) developed?</li> <li>How many people 
develop code for the Sovereign Workplace at the BMI or ZenDiS? Is this 
code also made available to Dataport for the dPhoenixSuite?</li> <li>Are 
there any requirements from BMI/ZenDiS to Dataport for the development 
of the dPhoenixSuite? If yes: Are these fulfilled?</li> <li>Has the BMI 
exerted any influence on Dataport to publish the complete dPhoenixSuite 
as Free Software</li> </ol></li>
<li><p>Funding</p>
<ol>
<li>What public funding has been spent on the Sovereign Workplace so far?</li>
<li>What funding is available for the project for the current year?</li>
<li>What annual funding is needed until 2025 to further develop the Sovereign Workplace?</li>
<li>Did Dataport receive any funding from the BMI/ZenDiS for the 
development of dPhoenixSuite or contributions to the Sovereign 
Workplace?</li>
</ol></li>
</ol><p>
We expect that the BMI’s response will give the public a better 
understanding of what is going on around the Sovereign Workplace and the 
dPhoenixSuite. We will stay tuned to this issue and report back as soon 
as we receive a response.
</p><h2>Free Software and “Public Money? Public Code!”</h2><p>
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 <a href="https://publiccode.eu">“Public Money? Public Code!” website</a>.
</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230614-01
title: EU: Majority for AI Act – and safeguards for Free Software
uri: EU-Majority-for-AI-Act-and-safeguards-for-Free-Software
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230614-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>EU: Majority for AI Act – and safeguards for Free Software</h1><p> The European Parliament today voted in favour of the AI Act with 499 
votes in favour, 28 against, and 93 abstentions. Free Software is given 
safeguards, these rules  must now be defended in the trilogue and 
transferred to the Cyber Resilience Act and the Product Liability 
Directive.</p>
<img src="media/d55b34c7.94aa5b295f62e4cefb03bc1ad1ed.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/a3/7c/94aa5b295f62e4cefb03bc1ad1ed.png"/>
<p> With a large majority, the plenary of the EU Parliament today 
confirmed the  <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230511-01.html">compromises</a> of the lead 
committees from May. The AI Act contains a far-reaching exemption from 
this regulation for non-profit organisations as well as small Free 
Software projects up to the size of micro-enterprises. The position of 
the EU Parliament must now be defended in the upcoming trilogue, in 
which the final text will be negotiated together with the Council and 
the Commission.</p><p><em> "With today's decision, the EU Parliament has 
demonstrated how Free Software can be regulated in a meaningful way. 
Developers must be protected, but at the same time those who 
significantly benefit on the market with the use of Free Software must 
also be responsible. This principle must now also be anchored in the 
Cyber Resilience Act and the Product Liability Directive", explains 
Alexander Sander, Senior Policy Consultant of the Free Software 
Foundation Europe (FSFE)</em></p><p> More information on the negotiations on the Cyber Resilience Act 
and the Product Liability Directive can be found <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230323-01.html">here</a>.
</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230623-01
title: Council to exclude relevant stakeholders from contributing to an Interoperable Europe
uri: Council-to-exclude-relevant-stakeholders-from-contributing-to-an-Inter
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230623-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>Council to exclude relevant stakeholders from contributing to an Interoperable Europe</h1><p> The current draft from the Council on the Interoperable Europe Act 
is limiting the Interoperable Europe Board, and with this excluding 
relevant stakeholders from contributing to a more interoperable and 
innovative Europe.  There is also a lack of improved wording in the 
area of monitoring and budgeting.</p>
     <img src="media/761fceb2.6254c3286c9ade71e1b1d6b3868c.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/67/b6/6254c3286c9ade71e1b1d6b3868c.jpg"/>
       <p> The Interoperable Europe Act is aiming to enhance cross-border 
digital public services across the European Union. This proposal is 
currently discussed in the European Parliament and the Council. Through 
a Freedom of Information request, the FSFE caused access to the <a href="https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-8907-2023-INIT/en/pdf">latest 
compromise text (.pdf) </a> of the Council. </p><p>From this draft, it gets clear that the Council is seeking to limit 
the overall participation in the Interoperable Europe Board by 
hindering the possibility to include experts and other stakeholders 
with observer status in such board.  This not only goes in the 
completely opposite direction of our demand for more inclusion of 
different stakeholders – <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230323-02.html">especially the Free Software 
community</a> – but it also undermines the position of the Expert Group 
on Interoperability of European Public Services. </p><p>This Expert Group consists exclusively of representatives of public 
authorities and <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/expert-groups-register/core/api/front/expertGroupAddtitionalInfo/43164/download">they demanded 
(.pdf)</a> back in 2021 to work “closely with different stakeholders. Some 
of them “private partners; local entities (e.g involving regions, 
municipalities), EU standardisation and other international 
organistations (OECD, UN, international standardisation bodies, etc.) 
as well as citizens’ representatives depending on the subjects to be 
handled”. With the current proposal, none of these stakeholders could 
even be invited to a board meeting nor be an observer, <a href="media/a5c90395.COM_COM20220720_EN.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/docs_autres_institutions/commission_europeenne/com/2022/0720/COM_COM(2022)0720_EN.pdf">
as proposed by the European Commission (.pdf).</a></p><p>The European Parliament would also not be part of the Interoperable 
Europe Board, which the Parliament's rapporteur, Ivars Ijabs -Renew 
Europe member- understandably changes in <a href="media/17e0d2e6.ITRE-PR-745497_EN.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/ITRE-PR-745497_EN.pdf">his draft report (.pdf) by suggesting to give the Institution a 
seat</a>. Members of the European Parliament, like Jordi Solé on behalf 
of the Verts/ALE Group, also call for the inclusion of Free Software 
communities, which is mostly  in line with <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230323-02.html">our demands.</a> 
</p><p>Furthermore, the Council has failed in defining Open Standards, 
while doing very little to improve the way monitoring will be carried 
out after such legislation comes into force. The Council has also not 
taken note of the need for a proper budget allocation that will assist 
public administrations in executing the activities that will follow 
with this Act. At least a definition of ‘Open Source licence’ includes 
the four freedoms has been introduced [Art. 2 (8b)].This underlines the 
strong link between Free Software and interoprability. </p><p> As the European Parliament will agree on its draft position on the 
Interoperable Europe Act in the coming weeks, we urge EU lawmakers to 
address this matter by improving the Commission’s proposal, in order to 
ensure a robust and inclusive governance structure in which different 
stakeholders, including the Free Software community, can be part of the 
Interoperable Europe Board. A proper monitoring workflow and evaluation 
together with a dedicated budget are also very much needed to move 
forward. Right now, Europe has the chance to pave the way for a 
legislation that allows efficient, innovative cross-border 
administration by recognising the crucial role that Free Software and 
its community play in interoperability. </p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230629-01
title: Cyber Resilience Act: First committee backs FSFE demand to protect Free Software
uri: Cyber-Resilience-Act-First-committee-backs-FSFE-demand-to-protect-Fre
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230629-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>Cyber Resilience Act: First committee backs FSFE demand to protect Free Software</h1><p>The Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) today launched a landmark decision to protect Free Software developers in the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA).</p>
     <img src="media/e5662509.d1b7eb0ca6ec38c89967dab6d3dd920b.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/big/d1b7eb0ca6ec38c89967dab6d3dd920b.png"/>
       <p>

The Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) today 
launched a landmark decision to protect Free Software developers in the 
Cyber Resilience Act (CRA). In September last year, the EU Commission 
presented the CRA. The proposal to exclude Free Software “outside the 
course of a commercial activity” would fail to address a large part of 
software that will not be covered but is deployed. Furthermore, smaller 
and non-profit projects would be harmed as they would have to bear 
major costs. We, therefore, <a href="news/2023/news-20230323-01.fr.html">proposed a solution</a> 
that will lead to more security while safeguarding the Free Software ecosystem:</p><ol>
<li>Liability should be shifted to those deploying Free Software instead of those developing Free Software and</li>
<li>Those who significantly financially benefit from this deployment should make sure the software becomes CE-compliant</li>
</ol>
 <em>Alexander Sander, FSFE Senior Policy Consultant explains: 
 "The Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee, a 
 committee for opinion in CRA, has backed our demand and voted for the 
 protection of Free Software developers in the Cyber Resilience Act. We 
 are particularly delighted with the transfer of those protections into 
 an article and the precise description of how Free Software should be 
 protected in the future. The lead committee is now called upon to 
 follow this vote".
</em> 
<p>Shortly, the leading committee, Committee on Industry, Research and 
Energy (ITRE), will define its position and submit it to the plenary 
for a vote. After that, the trialogue with Parliament, Council and 
Commission will begin in order to reach a final agreement. At the same 
time, similar rules are being negotiated in the Product Liability 
Directive (PLD). Here, too, FSFE is calling for <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230323-01.html)">the protection of 
developers of Free Software</a>. We thank all those organisations and individuals contributing to this position and making sure to safeguard Free Software in those files.
</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230629-02
title: IEA: EU Parliament advances in stengthenting the role of Free Software, yet needs more to improve
uri: IEA-EU-Parliament-advances-in-stengthenting-the-role-of-Free-Software
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230629-02.fr.html
content:
<h1>IEA: EU Parliament advances in stengthenting the role of Free Software, yet needs more to improve</h1><p>The two EP Committees for opinion, IMCO and LIBE, have today 
adopted their texts on the Interoperable Europe Act. While both 
recognise the importance of Free Software for this regulation, the 
inclusion of the Free Software community in the Board remains 
uncertain. The wording on proper monitoring and evaluation goes in the 
right direction.</p>
     <img src="media/dbb32f54.fd4cdcfc9469a641626b5eb71aa4.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/b0/1a/fd4cdcfc9469a641626b5eb71aa4.jpg"/>
       <p>The Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) 
and the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) 
have today adopted   by a large majority their opinions on the 
Interoperable Europe Act.</p><p>The IMCO Committee, following some of <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230323-02.html">our demands</a>, has highlighted 
the need for public bodies and institutions to prioritise the use of 
Free Software in order to support the creation of reusable solutions. 
Furthermore, it has also recognised our demand for clearer objectives 
and indicators to assest its achievement. Moreover, it has included 
measures to report and monitor the number of Free Software solutions 
developed and adopted by the public sector within the scope of the 
Regulation.</p><p>Unfortunately, no amendments to include more stakeholders in the 
Interoperable Europe Board were adopted, apart from the proposal to 
include the European Parliament as an observer. Therefore, it is now up 
to the lead Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) to take  
further steps forward in the direction of enriching the Board.</p><p>On the other hand, the LIBE Committee has briefly included the wording to 
encourage Free Software solutions when it comes to enhancing 
transparency in the processing of personal data within the scope of 
this regulation. However, this wording still needs to be improved by 
more firmly prioritising the use of Free Software for such purpose.
</p>
 <em>Lina Ceballos, FSFE Project Manager states: “We welcome 
 that the European Parliament has taken notice of some of our demands, 
 especially when it comes to proper monitoring and evaluation. However, 
 there is yet the need to include more stakeholders in the governance. 
 Thus we urge decision makers to recognise the role that the Free 
 Software community could play in the Interoperable 
 Board".</em>
<p>In the coming weeks, the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy 
(ITRE) will agree on its text, which will most likely be voted in 
plenary after the summer break, and then enter into the 
inter-institutional negotiations. We call upon the decision makers to 
not only anchor the progress that IMCO and LIBE have achieved with their 
opinion but also to undertake the actions needed for a more inclusive 
governance approach by including the Free Software community as part of 
the Interoperable Europe Board. This is also true for the Council, that 
<a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230623-01.html">wants to exclude relevant 
stakeholders from contributing to an Interoperable Europe</a>. </p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: nl-202307
title: Interoperable Europe +++ Cyber Resilience Act +++ AI Act
uri: Interoperable-Europe-Cyber-Resilience-Act-AI-Act
url: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-202307.fr.html
content:
<h1>Interoperable Europe +++ Cyber Resilience Act +++ AI Act</h1><p>July is here and so is our newsletter! In this issue we have some 
updates on the latest status of the Interoperable Europe Act, the Cyber 
Resilience Act, and the Artificial Intelligence Act. The competition 
YH4F has just ended.</p>
  <img src="media/adcbb893.7cfc0d435f9825a8c72b5f1a3582.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/21/6b/7cfc0d435f9825a8c72b5f1a3582.png"/>

  <p>Table of contents</p>
  <ol>
    <li><a href="#Cyber-Resilience-Act-First-committee-backs-FSFE-demand-to-protect-Free-Software">Cyber Resilience Act: First committee backs FSFE demand to protect Free Software</a></li>
    <li><a href="#IEA-EU-Parliament-advances-in-strengthening-the-role-of-Free-Software-yet-needs-more-to-improve">IEA: EU Parliament advances in strengthening the role of Free Software, yet needs to improve...</a></li>
    <li><a href="#and-Council-to-exclude-relevant-stakeholders-from-contributing-to-an-Interoperable-Europe">… and Council to exclude relevant stakeholders from contributing to an Interoperable Europe</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Artificial-Intelligence-EU-Majority-for-AI-Act-and-safeguards-for-Free-Software">Artificial Intelligence: EU: Majority for AI Act – and safeguards for Free Software</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Germany-questions-about-the-status-of-dPhoenix">Germany: questions about the status of dPhoenix</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Youth-Hacking-4-Freedom-second-edition-ended">'Youth Hacking 4 Freedom': second edition ended</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Planet-FSFE-check-out-latest-community-news">Planet FSFE:  check out latest community news</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Get-Involved-Become-a-translator">Get Involved - Become a translator</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Take-Action-Add-our-email-addresses-to-your-contacts">Take Action! Add our email addresses to your contacts</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Quote-of-the-month">Quote of the month</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Contribute-to-our-Newsletter">Contribute to our Newsletter</a></li>
    </ol>
<h3>Cyber Resilience Act: First committee backs FSFE demand to protect Free Software</h3><p>The Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO)
launched a landmark decision to protect Free Software developers in the 
Cyber Resilience Act (CRA).</p><p><a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230629-01.html">Read more about this</a>
</p><h3>IEA: EU Parliament advances in strengthening the role of Free Software, yet needs to improve...</h3><p> The two EP Committees for opinion, IMCO and LIBE, <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230629-02.html">have adopted 
their texts on the Interoperable Europe Act</a>. While both recognise the 
importance of Free Software for this regulation, the inclusion of the 
Free Software community in the Board remains uncertain. The wording on 
proper monitoring and evaluation goes in the right direction.</p><h3>...and Council to exclude relevant stakeholders from contributing to an Interoperable Europe</h3><p> The current draft from the Council on the Interoperable Europe Act 
is limiting the Interoperable Europe Board, and with this excluding 
relevant stakeholders from contributing to a 
more interoperable and innovative Europe. There is also a lack of 
improved wording in the area of monitoring and budgeting. 
</p><p> <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230623-01.html">More info about this</a></p>
     <img src="media/dbb32f54.fd4cdcfc9469a641626b5eb71aa4.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/b0/1a/fd4cdcfc9469a641626b5eb71aa4.jpg"/>
       <h3>Artificial Intelligence: EU: Majority for AI Act – and safeguards for Free Software</h3><p>The European Parliament voted in favour of the AI Act with 499 votes 
in favour, 28 against, and 93 abstentions. Free Software is given 
safeguards; these rules must now be defended in the inter-institutional 
negotiations (also known as trialogue in which representatives of the 
Parliament, the Council and the Commission agree on an final text) and 
transferred to the Cyber Resilience Act and the Product Liability 
Directive.</p><p><a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230614-01.html">Read more about this</a>
</p><h3>Germany: questions 
about status of dPhoenix</h3><p>A Free Software office and collaboration suite for the public sector is one of the projects with 
which the German government aims to fulfil the goals of the coalition 
agreement in relation to Free Software. But a closer look at the 
project <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230606-01.html">raises the question 
whether our long-term demands for 'Public Money? 
Public Code!' are actually met</a>.
</p><h3>'Youth Hacking 4 
Freedom' second edition ended</h3><p> The second edition of the Youth 
Hacking 4 Freedom contest has just ended. Almost 70 teenagers from all 
over Europe registered for this second edition that will have its award 
ceremony in October.</p><p>Check out <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/yh4f/">the YH4F website</a> for the latest updates about this 
competition!</p><h3>Planet FSFE: check out latest community news</h3><p>The FSFE planet is a aggregation of blog posts and thoughts of the 
Free Software community. Check out the latest posts about the FSFE booth 
in Veganmania in Vienna or the latest news from the KDE community.</p><a href="https://planet.fsfe.org/">Check out the latest posts</a>
     <img src="media/3aa3b4b4.031febcf508227ac7184773fd753.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/a4/b5/031febcf508227ac7184773fd753.jpg"/>
       <h3>Get Involved - Become a translator!</h3><p>Help us reach people in your country! Join our amazing group of 
volunteers who help translate our messages into their native languages. 
The Spanish translation team will also need an extra hand in the coming 
months as Spain holds the EU presidency for the second half of the 
year.</p><p>Check out <a href="https://fsfe.org/contribute/translators">how to contribute here</a>
</p><h3>Take action! Add our email addresses to your contacts</h3><p>Please remember to add contact@fsfe.org (and similarly with 
the rest of @fsfe.org email addresses) to your address book to ensure that our messages reach you 
and not your spam box.
</p><h3>Quote of the Month</h3>
<p>
   "The FSFE does great work to further software freedom locally, 
   nationally and in the EU and I enjoy the podcast and the News RSS so 
   it felt natural to become a supporter. I also want to be more 
   involved with the free software community." 
   </p>
  
  Einar Mostad; English teacher, musician, IT student
<h3>Contribute to our Newsletter</h3><p>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 <a href="https://fsfe.org/donate/donate.html">support 
us</a>, <a href="https://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.html">contribute to our 
work</a>, <a href="https://fsfe.org/about/groups.html">and join our community</a>. 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. </p><p>Your editor, Ana Galán</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230712-01
title: "The world after Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. A new generation of the Internet?"
uri: The-world-after-Facebook-Twitter-and-YouTube-A-new-generation-of-th
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230712-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>"The world after Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. A new generation of the Internet?"</h1><p>
Join our symposium in Cologne on September 22 to discuss the role of decentralised social media platforms in our society!
</p>
     <img src="media/fcfd8a9c.1e119e24e0babd6863638cb9e6b5.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/2d/ab/1e119e24e0babd6863638cb9e6b5.jpg"/>
       <p> More and more people are turning away from social media platforms 
like Facebook and YouTube to alternatives like Mastodon and PeerTube. 
Why are they different? How are they changing the web? And how can you 
get involved in the Fediverse? Join our symposium and get an insight 
into these decentralised social networks through our talks and 
workshops on 22.09.2023!</p><p>The Free Software Foundation Europe, the Centre for Civic Education 
of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Adult Education Centre 
Cologne are organising this free event. It is aimed at multipliers in 
political education, teachers, representatives of public institutions 
and educational establishments, as well as all interested parties. 
Prior knowledge and experience of decentralised social networks is not 
necessary, as the programme will include an overview of various 
decentralised services, often referred to as "Fediverse". Other topics 
include the potential and problems of decentralised services and their 
role for a democratic society. Three workshops will deal with the 
practical use of Fediverse services, the operation of own instances and 
the transfer of knowledge about decentralised social networks in an 
educational context.
</p><p><em><strong>The event will be held in German</strong></em>. Participation is free of charge, but online registration is required. We look forward to your participation!
</p>
<h4><strong>Event dates and registration</strong></h4>

<em>Date:</em><strong> 22.09.2023</strong>
<em>Time:</em><strong> 10:00 - 16:00</strong>
<em>Location:</em><strong> FORUM Volkshochschule im Museum am Neumarkt</strong>, Cäcilienstraße 29-33, 50667 Cologne, Germany
<em>Registration:</em> <a href="https://registration.fsfe.org/FediverseFachtag">https://registration.fsfe.org/FediverseFachtag</a>


<h4><strong>Programme</strong></h4>
 
  10:00 - 12:00: Definition and fundamentals (plenary)
  <strong>Keynote:</strong><em> The infrastructure of the open society in the digital age</em> - Katharina Nocun (publicist)
  <strong>Input:</strong><em> What is the Fediverse? Overview and delimitation</em> - Tobias Diekershoff (friendica developer)
  <strong>Input:</strong><em> Potentials and problems of centralised and decentralised services</em> - Stephanie Henkel (moderator at dresden.network)
  <strong>Discussion and Q&amp;A session</strong>
 
  12:00: Break for exchange and lunch snack
  
  13:00 - 16:00: Practice and parallel workshops
  <strong>Practical input:</strong> From the everyday life of a Fediverse administrator - N.N.
  <strong>Workshop 1:</strong><em> Decentralised networks as a subject of political and school education</em> - Björn Friedrich (Studio im Netz e.V.)
  <strong>Workshop 2:</strong><em> Using decentralised services for individuals and institutions</em> - Katharina Nocun and Tobias Diekershoff
  <strong>Workshop 3:</strong><em> Running your own Fediverse instance</em> - N.N.
  <strong>Closing panel:</strong><em> The future of the Fediverse</em> - Katharina Nocun, Björn Friedrich, Tobias Diekershoff, Stephanie Henkel
 
<p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230719-01
title: Cyber Resilience Act & Free Software: Parliament waters down its own position
uri: Cyber-Resilience-Act-Free-Software-Parliament-waters-down-its-own-p
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230719-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>Cyber Resilience Act &amp; Free Software: Parliament waters down its own position</h1><p>The European Parliament today voted on its position on the Cyber 
Resilience Act (CRA). While the position improves on the Commission's 
exemption to protect Free Software, it fails to introduce 
a proper protection . We call on the institutions to put the burden of 
liability only on those who  significantly financially benefit from the 
market, while protecting developers and non-profit work.</p>
     <img src="media/bf6ff47b.a96f8ded8b44f6e7de3097c14d04.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/89/bf/a96f8ded8b44f6e7de3097c14d04.jpg"/>
       <p>The Commission’s proposal to exclude Free Software “outside the 
course of a commercial activity” would fail to address a large part of 
software that will not be covered but is deployed. At the same time, 
smaller and non-profit projects would be harmed as they would have to 
bear major costs.</p><p>Therefore we have already proposed a solution that will lead to more security while safeguarding Free Software:</p><ol>
<li>Liability should be shifted to those <strong>deploying</strong> Free Software instead of those <strong>developing</strong> Free Software and</li>
<li>Those who significantly financially benefit from this deployment should make sure the software becomes CE-compliant</li>
</ol><p>While the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO), 
a committee for opinion in CRA,  backed our demand and voted for the 
protection of Free Software developers in the Cyber Resilience Act, the 
Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) introduced less far 
reaching protections with today's vote. Regular corporate donations or contributions by corporate employees to a project could turn 
non-profit work into a “commercial activity”, and thus lead to 
liability.</p>
 <em>Alexander Sander, FSFE Senior Policy Consultant explains: 
 "With today's vote, the EU Parliament has watered down its 
 own position. Placing the burden of liability on small or non-profit 
 entities that rely on regular donations would harm the Free Software  
 and thus society and business alike. Due to the lack of funding and 
 resources to go through the proposed procedures to become CE 
 compliant, some of these projects might have to stop completely. We 
 call on the institutions to find a compromise that safeguards the Free 
 Software ecosystem while shifting liability to those who significantly 
 financially benefit from the deployment”.</em> 
<p>Interinstitutional negotiations will start start soon and should be concluded this year if possible. You can <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230323-01.html">read more here</a>.
</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230719-02
title: EU Parliament intends to widen participation in the Interoperable Europe Board
uri: EU-Parliament-intends-to-widen-participation-in-the-Interoperable-Euro
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230719-02.fr.html
content:
<h1>EU Parliament intends to widen participation in the Interoperable Europe Board</h1><p>Today the EU Parliament’s Committee responsible for the 
Interoperable Europe Act has adopted its final position. It is a step 
forward towards a more inclusive Interoperable Europe Board while it 
introduces clearer indicators and statistics to monitor the progress of 
the Act. This position must now be upheld during the upcoming 
trialogue.</p>
     <img src="media/705f50e3.d4703ab70fffd88c6bedf3a838b8.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/5a/a0/d4703ab70fffd88c6bedf3a838b8.jpg"/>
       <p>Today the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) has 
voted on its final text of the Interoperable Europe Act which is an 
improvement of the Commission proposal. The EU Parliament has 
introduced the possibility for relevant stakeholders to participate 
with observer status in the Interoperable Europe Board meetings and 
activities, including within those, the Free Software community.</p><p>Furthermore, <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230323-02.html">the EU Parliament has also followed our demand</a> 
suggesting the introduction of clearer objectives and statistics, that will allow to 
evaluate and properly measure the progress of the activities that will 
fall under this Act. Especially, when it comes to monitoring the use 
and uptake of Free Software solutions among public administrations.</p>
“The inclusion of relevant stakeholders and experts, such as the Free 
 Software community, in the Interoperable Europe Board must be part of 
 the final text of the Interoperable Europe Act. Likewise, proper 
 monitoring and evaluation procedures need to be set up to improve and 
 adapt the interoperability of Europe in the long run. We, therefore, 
 call upon the EU Parliament, especially the rapporteur Ivars Ijabs, to 
 safeguard its position during the upcoming trialogue and to not allow 
 any backwards step”, <em> mentions Lina Ceballos, FSFE Policy Project 
 Manager.</em>
<p>The ITRE Committee has also voted with a large majority to enter the 
inter-institutional negotiations. This means that the European 
Parliament must now defend its position and anchor it to the final text 
which will be negotiated together with the Council and Commission in 
the coming weeks. This is of high importance bearing in mind that <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230623-01.html">the 
latest compromise text of the Council is hindering the inclusion of 
relevant stakeholders</a> in the governance structure of this Act. 
</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230724-01
title: YH4F: Coding is over!
uri: YH4F-Coding-is-over
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230724-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>YH4F: Coding is over!</h1><p>The second edition of Youth Hacking 4 Freedom, the hacking 
competition for young Europeans has just ended. For the last six 
months, the participants have worked on developing their own personal 
Free Software projects.</p>
     <img src="media/fb9ca9e1.898d5df0d133996094da93e2472e.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/3f/12/898d5df0d133996094da93e2472e.jpg"/>
       <p>Nearly 70 young people from across Europe signed up for the new 
edition of <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/yh4f/index.html">Youth Hacking 4 Freedom</a>, a competition for European 
teenagers to develop their coding skills and win great cash prizes. 
</p><p>This second edition, <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230220-01.html">which started last January</a>, was accompanied by 
a new activity: a monthly meeting where participants had the 
opportunity to discuss their technical problems and learn some tips 
from different Free Software experts. These meetings have also been a 
way to keep in touch during the last months, and a way to support each 
other, promoting one of the principles of Free Software, the creation 
of community. These open and voluntary meetings allowed those attending 
to talk and connect with each other in smaller groups.</p> "The monthly meetings provide an opportunity to talk and 
connect with other participants and have helped to form friendships 
throughout the contest. It has been great to see how well these
meetings have been received by the participants. And it is a really rewarding experience to be able to help young people 
from all over Europe to meet other Free Software enthusiasts!", <em> says Bonnie Mehring, YH4F project 
manager.</em>
<p>After six hard working months of coding, it is now the turn of <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/yh4f/jury.html">the 
YH4F jury </a> to evaluate the participants’ 
submitted projects. The jury is composed by Free Software professionals 
with different background and technological skills, that will review 
the projects within the next weeks taking into consideration different 
criteria such as the originality of the idea, the creativity of the 
project or the quality of the code. </p><p>After the first round of voting the jury will decide which of the 
submitted projects could be considered for one of the cash prizes. 
Then, the owners of those projects will be invited to an online 
interview to present it and answer the jury questions. Afterwards the 
jury will decide on the prizes.</p><h3>Brussels is awaiting!</h3><p>In the coming weeks, the winners will 
be announced based on the judges' scores, and prizes will be awarded at 
the YH4F Awards ceremony in Brussels in mid October, to which all 
participants will be invited for an all-expenses-paid weekend.</p><p>Six winners will receive cash prizes ranging from €4,096 to €1,024 each, at 
a ceremony featuring top Free Software speakers.</p><p><strong>Keep up to date to our next news to learn about this year amazing projects and the winners!</strong></p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: episode-21
title: SFP#21: Exploring Software Freedom in European Politics with Lina Ceballos
uri: SFP-21-Exploring-Software-Freedom-in-European-Politics-with-Lina-Ceba
url: https://fsfe.org/news/podcast/episode-21.fr.html
content:
<h1>SFP#21: Exploring Software Freedom in European Politics with Lina Ceballos</h1><p>
Listen to our new Software Freedom Podcast episode with Lina Ceballos. Lina and Bonnie talk about everything related to Free Software in European Politics. Learn more about Lina's work at the Free Software Foundation Europe and how political decisions come to pass in the EU. Discover how best to advocate for Free Software, and especially, what the Interoperable Europe Act is all about and why the Free Software communities need to be on the lookout for the protection of software freedom.
</p><p>
<a href="https://fsfe.org/about/people/ceballos/ceballos.html">Lina</a> is part of the team working for software freedom at the Free Software Foundation Europe. In her work, she advocates for software freedom at a European level, ensuring that Free Software is considered and protected in new laws. Listen to our 21st episode in which Bonnie Mehring and Lina Ceballos chat about Lina's work for the FSFE. Find out what the Interoperable Europe Act is trying to achieve, how and why Free Software should be considered the first option within it. Learn about the intended Interoperable Europe Board and how you can best help advocate for Free Software.
</p><p>Read more:</p><ul>
<li><a href="https://fsfe.org/about/people/ceballos/ceballos.html">Lina Ceballos</a></li>
<li><a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230719-02.html">EU Parliament intends to widen participation in the Interoperable Europe Board</a></li>
<li><a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230629-02.html">IEA: EU Parliament advances in strengthening the role of Free Software, yet needs more to improve</a></li>
<li><a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230623-01.html">Council to exclude relevant stakeholders from contributing to an Interoperable Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="https://bloodyhealth.gitlab.io/">drip.</a></li>
</ul><p>If you liked this episode and want to support our continuous work for software freedom, please help us with a donation.</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: nl-202308
title: CRA & IEA +++ SFP episode +++ Summer Meeting
uri: CRA-IEA-SFP-episode-Summer-Meeting
url: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-202308.fr.html
content:
<h1>CRA &amp; IEA +++ SFP episode +++ Summer Meeting</h1><p>Our August issue comes with the latest updates of the CRA and the 
IAE, a new episode of our Software Freedom podcast exploring Software 
Freedom in EU policy, and the announcement of our symposium about 
decentralised social networks. YH4F participants -and we too- are 
waiting for the jury feedback on their projects.</p>
  <img src="media/13152130.91076bdfd02e249cf250255894eb.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/58/df/91076bdfd02e249cf250255894eb.png"/>

  <p>Table of contents</p>
  <ol>
    <li><a href="#SFP21-Software-Freedom-Podcast">SFP#21 - Software Freedom Podcast</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Cyber-Resilience-Act-and-Free-Software-Parliament-waters-down-its-own-position">Cyber Resilience Act &amp; Free Software: Parliament waters down its own position</a></li>
    <li><a href="#EU-Parliament-intends-to-widen-participation-in-the-Interoperable-Europe-Board">EU Parliament intends to widen participation in the Interoperable Europe Board</a></li>
    <li><a href="#YH4F-Coding-is-over">YH4F: Coding is over!</a></li>
    <li><a href="#The-world-after-Facebook-Twitter,-and-YouTube-A-new-generation-of-the-Internet">"The world after Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. A new generation of the Internet?"</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Summer-Meeting-FrOScon,-and-CCC-2023">Summer Meeting, FrOScon, and CCC 2023</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Take-Action-Add-our-email-addresses-to-your-contacts">Take Action! Add our email addresses to your contacts</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Quote-of-the-month">Quote of the month</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Contribute-to-our-Newsletter">Contribute to our Newsletter</a></li>
    </ol>
<h3>SFP#21 - Software Freedom Podcast</h3><p>In this episode Bonnie Mehring talks with Lina Ceballos about EU 
policy topics and Software Freedom. Get a deep understanding of the 
Interoperable European Act and listen to Lina explain why Free Software 
should be considered and safeguarded in such EU legislation.</p><p><a href="https://fsfe.org/news/podcast/episode-21.html">Listen to the latest episode</a>
</p><h3>Cyber Resilience Act &amp; Free Software: Parliament waters down its own position</h3><p>The European Parliament voted this month on <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230719-01.html">its position on the 
Cyber Resilience Act (CRA)</a>. While the position improves on the 
Commission's exemption to protect Free Software, it fails to introduce 
a proper protection. We call on the institutions to put the burden of 
liability only on those who significantly financially benefit from the 
market, while protecting developers and non-profit work.</p><h3>EU Parliament intends to widen participation in the Interoperable Europe Board</h3><p>In July the EU Parliament’s Committee responsible for the 
Interoperable Europe Act adopted its final position. It is a step 
forward towards a more inclusive Interoperable Europe Board while it 
introduces clearer indicators and statistics to monitor the progress of 
the Act. This position must now be upheld during the upcoming trilogue. 
</p><p><a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230719-02.html">More info about 
this</a></p>
     <img src="media/705f50e3.d4703ab70fffd88c6bedf3a838b8.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/5a/a0/d4703ab70fffd88c6bedf3a838b8.jpg"/>
       <h3>YH4F: Coding is over!</h3><p>The second edition of Youth Hacking 4 Freedom, the hacking 
competition for young Europeans, has just ended. For the last six 
months, the participants have worked on developing their own personal 
Free Software projects. It is now the turn of the YH4F jury to evaluate 
the participants’ submitted projects, taking into consideration 
different criteria such as the originality of the idea, the creativity 
of the project, and the quality of the code.</p><p><a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230724-01.html">Read more about this</a>
</p><h3>"The world after Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. A new generation of the Internet?"</h3><p>More and more people are turning away 
from social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube to alternatives 
like Mastodon and PeerTube. Why are they different? How are they 
changing the web? And how can you get involved in the Fediverse? Join 
our symposium and get an insight into these decentralised social 
networks through our talks and workshops! </p><p><a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230712-01.html">Join us in Cologne on September 22</a>
</p><h3>Summer Meeting, FrOScon, and CCC 2023</h3><p>On July 7-9 FSFE volunteers and staffers met at Linux Hotel, in Essen. From Friday 
evening until Sunday afternoon, we spent time together discussing our current activities, acquiring new knowledge about Free Software 
topics, engaging in fruitful conversations, and of course having a lot 
of fun together.</p>
     <img src="media/427d76e1.d84dde7ea01ff22a2f7f4239e472.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/2e/db/d84dde7ea01ff22a2f7f4239e472.png"/>
       <p>At the beginning of this month, we will be in FrOScon with a talk, a reading of 'Ada &amp; Zangemann', and a booth. Join is if you are in the area!</p><p>After that, we will be camping in the Chaos Communication Camp 2023! We 
cannot wait to meet you, once again in person, at the 'Bits &amp; Bäume' 
village from 15th to 19th August 2023.</p><p>And of course, <a href="https://fsfe.org/events/events.html">check out our website</a> to be up to date with all our events!
</p><h3>Take action! Add our email addresses to your contacts</h3><p>Please remember to add contact@fsfe.org (and similarly with 
the rest of @fsfe.org email addresses) to your address book to ensure that our messages reach you 
and not your spam box.
</p><h3>Quote of the Month</h3>
  <p>"Introduce readers young and old to the power and peril of software. 
   Behind it all is a backdrop of ethics of knowledge sharing upon 
   which the arc of human history rides." - Vint Cerf, computer 
   scientist and one of the inventors of the Internet, talking about the 
   book 'Ada &amp; Zangemann'</p>
<h3>Contribute to our Newsletter</h3><p>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 <a href="https://fsfe.org/donate/donate.html">support 
us</a>, <a href="https://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.html">contribute to our 
work</a>, <a href="https://fsfe.org/about/groups.html">and join our community</a>. 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. </p><p>Your editor, Ana Galán</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230807-01
title: Unleash the potential of your phone: Rooting your device does not void its warranty
uri: Unleash-the-potential-of-your-phone-Rooting-your-device-does-not-void
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230807-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>Unleash the potential of your phone: Rooting your device does not void its warranty</h1><p>As users we sometimes face the issue of rooting our devices. We may 
want to <a href="https://fsfe.org/fsfe.org/activities/android/">regain control of our 
device</a> or we may want to <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/upcyclingandroid/upcyclingandroid.html">keep using a 
device with an outdated operating system</a>. But we are afraid of losing 
our legal warranty. Let’s be clear: Just rooting your device and 
installing new software will not void the statutory warranty.</p>
     <img src="media/f2f221c9.dbab450c6284ac9ec94d85fbafce.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/53/e1/dbab450c6284ac9ec94d85fbafce.jpg"/>
     CC-BY-NC-SA BY <a href="http://rahak.net/work.html">Rahak</a>
       <p>EU law stipulates that consumers should have a minimum 2-year 
guarantee (statutory warranty)  when acquiring a new device. However, 
in the past few years, vendors have tended to include specific clauses 
stating that if the consumer changes the device, the warranty will be 
void. That is why the question of whether rooting or flashing a device 
voids the statutory warranty is quite recurrent. <strong>The answer is no</strong>.</p><p>The FSFE has previously addressed this <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/android/flashingdevices.html">issue</a>. In short, if 
you 
acquire a device as a consumer in the European Union, the mere fact 
that you have modified or changed the software of your device by 
rooting or flashing it is not a sufficient reason to void your 
statutory warranty. </p><p>Since our previous discussion of this topic, the <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32019L0771">Sale 
of Goods 
Directive 2019/771 (the SGD)</a> was enacted, repealing the previous 
1999/44/CE Directive, which provided the original statutory warranty. 
The SGD deals with the contract of sale between a consumer and a 
seller, and it entered into force on June 11, 2019, applying its 
provisions to any contract concluded after January 1, 2022.<a href="#section1">[1]</a> </p><h3>Reasons to root your device</h3><p>Rooting the phone and installing Free Software <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/upcyclingandroid/upcyclingandroid.html">extends the 
lifespan of the device</a>. Most phone devices are not controlled by the users, but by the manufacturer 
and the operator of the telephone network. The software that runs on them is not entirely Free Software. 
Even Android phones ship with non-free software and proprietary add-ons 
that often work <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/android/android.html">against the full interest of the user</a>.
</p><p>
Through rooting or flashing a device, the user can take complete 
control over it. When consumers buy a phone they buy the physical 
aspects of the phone. They should be free to choose which 
software  should be on their phone without having the fear of losing 
the warranty. Monopolies hurt fair competition and consumers. 
Companies/vendors regulating operating systems which provide critical online 
services, results in limiting user choice and freedom. <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/deviceneutrality/index.html">The devices 
should therefore be neutral</a> so as to enable the users to freely choose 
any software on their phones without any conditions.
</p><h3>The SGD is on your side</h3><p>At the FSFE we have already analyzed <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/upcyclingandroid/is-flashing-legal.html">the 
changes brought in by the SGD</a> and how they impact rooting and 
the statutory warranty.</p><p>The SGD covers goods with digital content, including smartphones, 
smart TVs, smart watches, and fitness trackers<a href="#section2">[2]</a>. All such goods covered 
under the SGD must have a <strong>mandatory two-year warranty</strong><a href="#section3">[3]</a> from the seller 
that the product will meet the purposes for which products of the same 
type would normally be used. One of the main changes enacted by the SGD 
is the reverse burden of proof. This means that if your device becomes 
defective <strong>within one year</strong><a href="#section4">[4]</a>, 
it is presumed that the defect was present 
all along, and you do not need to prove anything; instead, it is the 
seller who has to prove that this is not the case. This period was six 
months under the previous 1999/44/CE Directive. </p><p>There are currently no instances of litigated cases about warranty 
issues when rooting, flashing, or jailbreaking smartphones in Europe, 
nor has there been a rule or provision on this issue. This makes the 
legality of such acts unclear. So, you can root your phone, but if you 
wish to keep the warranty intact without any problems, then reverse the 
root to the stock operating system and check if everything was undone. 
If the stock OS functions as it should, then you do not have an issue. 
</p><h3>Future Updates to Keep An Eye On</h3><p>Lastly, you should know that the SGD is relatively new as it came 
into effect in January 2022. The European Commission, under the 
Sustainable Consumption of Goods-Promoting Repair and Reuse Programme, 
has already introduced a proposal for a directive to make some changes 
to the SGD to accommodate repairing obligations on the producers and to 
encourage consumers to choose repair over replacement if there is a 
possibility. This can also have an impact on the subject matter of this 
article.</p><p>The FSFE will keep you updated on this issue as and when there are more developments.</p>


<p>[1] Article 23 of Directive 2019\771</p>
<p>[2] Recitals 12, 13, 14, 15 and Article 2 of Directive 2019\771</p>
<p>[3] Article 10 of Directive 2019\771</p>
<p>[4] Article 11 of Directive 2019\771</p>

<p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230815-01
title: Join us as an intern and make the difference!
uri: Join-us-as-an-intern-and-make-the-difference
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230815-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>Join us as an intern and make the difference!</h1><p> Have you heard about Free Software and you want to know more about 
it? Are you already a Free Software advocate and do you want to help to bring 
software freedom to our society? Then our paid internships are for you! 
Learn by doing and gain knowledge and technical skills through an 
internship with us.</p>
     <img src="media/a526556c.8f0a2256648d6548fcaaa1e827b8.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/6d/2d/8f0a2256648d6548fcaaa1e827b8.jpg"/>
       <p>At the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE), we strongly believe 
in the power of internships to teach about software freedom and their 
importance for both the intern and the organisation. That is 
the reason why we have supported them since our earliest years. Over 
more than 20 years of our organisation's existence, <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2022/news-20220121-01.html">many interns have 
come to learn about our work</a> and help us achieve our goal of empowering 
people to control technology. Some of them have stayed with us and are 
now part of our staff. Others are still associated with us in other 
ways, and we are delighted to cross paths with those who have 
continued their careers in this or other  related fields.
</p><p><strong>We have talked with some of our latest interns about their experience 
with us!</strong>
</p><h3>Free Software is easy to use and important for our society</h3><p>A paid  interniship in the FSFE can be an intensive yet enriching 
experience. It familiarises people with the use of Free Software and it 
helps them to strengthen relationships  with the Free Software community 
worldwide.
</p><p>Some of our interns are already using Free Software, but 
there are others like Elif, who was an intern in the legal area and knew 
about it, but never used it because she had the impression that "Free 
Software is hard to use". This changed after her months at the FSFE. 
“During my internship at FSFE, I saw that there is so much Free 
Software that is user friendly. Now I use it every day”, states Elif. 
But Free Software is not only about using it in your daily life. Even 
as an active Free Software user, being part of our team helps to get a 
better understanding of its importance in our society, as Sergio, an 
intern in the policy area explains: “After this internship I was able 
to better comprehend the importance of Free Software, and to understand 
how the policy and legislative processes take place in the European 
Union, but also in regional and local levels in Europe”.	
</p>
          <p>
            "I use Free Software whenever I can and really enjoy it!”
          </p>
          Marlene, former FSFE intern
<h3>Get your hands on</h3><p> "As an intern, you get to make a 
difference in real-life situations by working for software 
freedom", says Evelyn, who worked in the policy area, but like 
the other interns, had the chance to work on different tasks and 
projects, such as helping at the FSFE booth during several conferences. 
Or helping in workshops, like the one on <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/upcyclingandroid/upcyclingandroid.html">Upcycling Android</a> in 
Bolzano, which Marlene said was "one of my favourite days of my 
internship. It was a pleasure to meet other people who also enjoy Free 
Software, and I learned a lot at the workshop".
</p>
      <p>"My favourite task was things I have done for 
the Ukrainian refugee kids project. Because I believe the story of Ada 
&amp; Zangemann gives them hope and courage to start a new chapter in 
their life.”
     </p>
     Elif, former FSFE intern
<h3>Become part of an international community</h3><p> 
Being an intern at the FSFE is not only  a step in your career in which 
you can enhance relevant skills for your professional path such as 
technical ones, but it is also a community experience. You acquire 
personal skills and get to know different people from all over the 
world  while giving something back to society. “Doing meaningful work 
that has a real value”, is how Vincent describes it.  He is a 
former intern who is currently an active member of our community.
</p>
     <img src="media/fa080064.c26d9014ae898a0688c90acfc4a5.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/06/78/c26d9014ae898a0688c90acfc4a5.jpg"/>
       
	<p>“A bonus tip, you get to work in an intellectually stimulating environment while 
having a lot of fun”</p>
Evelyn, former FSFE intern
<p>Interested? Have a look at our <a href="https://fsfe.org/about/jobs/internship.html">internships and traineeships</a> page to 
find out more about what we have to offer, and check out our <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/newsletter.html">newsletter</a> 
and <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/news.html">news section</a> to find out about our vacancies.
</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230824-01
title: Liability, Interoperability & Free Software in EU: what we are expecting
uri: Liability-Interoperability-Free-Software-in-EU-what-we-are-expecti
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230824-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>Liability, Interoperability &amp; Free Software in EU: what we are expecting</h1><p>After the summer recess,  EU institutions are resuming their 
activities at the end of August. In the coming months, we expect to see 
the adoption of legislation that could have an impact on Free 
Software: the Cyber Resilience Act, the Product Liability Directive, the AI 
Act, and the Interoperable Europe Act. What does all this legislation 
mean for Free Software and its community?</p>
     <img src="media/7f7f9685.278c7c68effc3bb373e271be722e93ee.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/big/278c7c68effc3bb373e271be722e93ee.jpg"/>
      <h3>Liability and Free Software</h3><p>The EU is currently aiming to 
introduce liability rules for software, including Free Software. 
Although the main debate  revolves around the Cyber Resilience Act 
(CRA), the Product Liability Directive (PLD) is just as important. 
Similar rules  are being introduced in the AI Act.</p><p>With regard to the 
CRA and the PLD, the Commission’s proposal to exclude Free Software 
“outside the course of a commercial activity” would fail to address a 
large part of the software that would not be covered but would be 
deployed. At the same time, smaller and non-profit projects would be 
harmed as they would have to bear major costs.</p><p>For this reason, the FSFE has <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230323-01.html">proposed a solution</a> that will lead to more security while safeguarding the Free Software ecosystem:</p><ol>
<li>Liability should be shifted to those deploying Free Software instead of those developing Free Software and</li>
<li>Those who significantly financially benefit from this deployment should make sure the software becomes CE-compliant</li>
</ol><p>Before the EU Parliament went into summer recess, we shared the 
latest news on the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA). The adoption of  the 
Parliament’s position leaves a situation where <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230719-01.html">Free Software developers 
are left with less far-reaching protections</a>. Regular corporate 
donations or contributions by company employees to a project could turn 
non-profit work into a “commercial activity”, and therefore lead to 
liability. The three EU institutions will now negotiate a final text, 
which is likely to be concluded this year. We call on the EU 
institutions to find a compromise that safeguards the Free Software 
ecosystem while shifting liability to those who significantly benefit 
financially from its deployment. <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230323-01.html">Read more</a>.</p><p>Similar rules are being negotiated in the Product Liability Directive (PLD), where the 
FSFE is also demanding protection for Free Software developers. 
However, the Parliament has yet to adopt its position.</p><p>Regarding the AI Act, the EU Parliament has also adopted its final text 
by a large majority. It includes a <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230614-01.html">far-reaching exemption for 
non-profit organisations and small Free Software projects up to the 
size of micro-enterprises</a>. 
Negotiations on the final text between the three institutions (also 
known as trialogue, where representatives of the Parliament, the 
Council, and the Commission meet to agree on a final text) are already 
taking place. Here the FSFE calls on the EU Parliament to defend 
its position to ensure that this regulation protects not only Free Software and 
its contributors but also consumers and customers.</p><h3>Interoperability and Free Software</h3><p>With the proposed Interoperable Europe Act, the EU aims to create a dedicated legal framework on 
interoperability that will enhance cross-border digital public services 
across the Union. Since the beginning of the year, the FSFE has been 
advocating for a more inclusive governance structure in this 
legislation, where different stakeholders, including the Free Software 
community, can be part of the Interoperable Europe Board. A <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230323-02.html">proper 
monitoring and evaluation process together with a dedicated budget</a> are 
also part of our demands.</p><p>With the adoption of its final position, the EU Parliament 
has taken a step forward towards <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230719-02.html">a more inclusive Board</a>, while at the 
same time introducing clearer indicators and statistics to monitor the 
progress of this legislation. This is particularly important given that 
the Council's recent compromise text still moves in the opposite 
direction by hindering the inclusion of relevant stakeholders in the 
governance structure, as we have <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230623-01.html">previously highlighted</a>. Now the European 
Parliament, the Council, and the Commission will have to agree on a 
final text. The FSFE, therefore, calls on the European Parliament to 
maintain its position and not to allow any step backwards.</p><strong>If you want a more thorough understanding of how the EU legislative 
process works, you can <a href="media/b18f83d9.Activistguide_V3_web.pdf" data-original-source="https://edri.org/files/Activistguide_V3_web.pdf">check out this complete guide 
(pdf)</a> produced by the EDRi network, of which FSFE is a member.</strong><h4>Help us continue to make our demands heard in EU policy!</h4><p>At FSFE, we work to be an essential stakeholder when talking about Software Freedom 
at the EU legislative level. Our daily work contributes to 
strengthening our political advocacy and getting our demands taken into 
account. And your support makes it possible!</p><p>The FSFE would be nothing without our supporters. Every financial donation helps us to continue 
our daily work in public awareness, policy advocacy, and legal and 
technical work, and  to strengthen our community. <a href="https://fsfe.org/donate/donate.html">Support Software 
Freedom, support the FSFE</a>.</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230825-01
title: Chaos Communication Camp 2023: back to the grounds!
uri: Chaos-Communication-Camp-2023-back-to-the-grounds
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230825-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>Chaos Communication Camp 2023: back to the grounds!</h1><p>
One of our favourite events was back this summer: Chaos Communication 
Camp 2023! This popular quadrennial event brings together technologists, 
activists and enthusiasts from around the world to discuss, share and 
celebrate technology, privacy and freedom in Brandenburg, Germany. This 
year, the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) joined the campers as 
part of the 'Bits und Bäume' village.
</p><p>
For five days, from the 15th to the 19th of August, this open-air event 
in Zehdenick brought together 6000 people from all over the world to 
exchange technical, social and political ideas. In the Bits und Bäume 
village, the FSFE crew set up a booth with comfortable air cushions for 
people to talk, read and discuss Free Software. This relaxed and 
welcoming environment encouraged participants to network and interact 
within the Free Software community.
</p>
<img src="media/86e20add.9e3c6ede8e2b44b742d5f8006180.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/small/dc/24/9e3c6ede8e2b44b742d5f8006180.jpg"/>
"The Free Software Foundation Europe's booth at the Bits und Bäume village"
	<p>
As well as taking part in fruitful discussions and listening to 
interesting presentations, our team at the camp also took to the stage 
to share some of our initiatives with the participants.
</p><h2>FSFE talks, workshops, book reading ...</h2><p>
Under the title "Sharing the Power of Appreciation: I Love Free Software 
Day", Bonnie Mehring gave an in-depth explanation of FSFE's <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/ilovefs">I Love Free Software Day</a>, highlighting 
the importance of this event to raise awareness and gratitude for Free 
Software contributors. Although this initiative has been going on for 
over a decade, this was the first time there had been a public talk 
about its history, the importance of the day, past activities, and 
future activities.
</p>
  
   
   Bonnie Mehring, FSFE's Project Manager, presenting about <a href="https://fsfe.org/activites/ilovefs/">I Love Free Software Day</a>
   
  <p>
<a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/yh4f">Youth Hacking 4 Freedom</a>, FSFE's coding 
contest for young Europeans, was also presented at CCCamp, in this case 
on the Youth Hackt stage. This presentation showed the importance of 
involving young people in Free Software, encouraging them to be part of 
the movement, and helping them to meet like-minded people and make 
friends during the competition. The second round of the contest is <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230724-01.html"> currently underway</a>, while 
the third round will be announced by the end of the year. To stay tuned, 
please subscribe to the <a href="https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/yh4f-info">yh4f-info 
mailing list</a>.
</p><p>
At the Bits und Bäume workshop tent, Tobias Diekershoff explained the <a href="https://reuse.software/">REUSE tool</a>. This interactive session 
showed attendees how to use this set of tools as well as its benefits 
for managing and sharing Free Software projects. REUSE allows defines a 
standardized method for declaring copyright and licensing for software 
projects, emphasising the importance of proper licensing and 
documentation.
</p><p>Last but not least, we also have an event with the little "campers". A 
captivating book reading session of the book<a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/ada-zangemann/">" Ada and Zangemann"</a> in the Family 
Village. This heartwarming story introduced young and not-so-young 
readers into the world of technology, tinkering, and software freedom 
through the adventures of Ada, a young hacker who learns to control and 
understand technology.</p>
	  <img src="media/508a1a37.b2b23d22357bfc0c568a472b45a56dd3.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/b2b23d22357bfc0c568a472b45a56dd3.png"/>
          The children book <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/ada-zangemann/">Ada and Zangemann</a>
	<h2>...and Free Software Sing-along</h2><p>
 True to our tradition, we organised the Free Software Sing-along, a 
 delightful and fun activity that served as an easy entry point for 
 newcomers to learn about and engage with the Free Software Foundation 
 Europe. Three sessions were held, each with musical accompaniment. 
 Participants enjoyed singing along while connecting with like-minded 
 people.
 </p><h2>The FSFE at the Chaos Communication Camp</h2><p>
FSFE's active participation in Chaos Communication Camp 2023 as part of 
the 'Bits und Bäume' village, village left an indelible mark. The 
engaging talks, workshops, book readings and singalongs helped raise 
awareness and educate participants about the importance of software 
freedom by promoting the values of Free Software at the Chaos 
Communication Camp.
</p>
     <img src="media/0ac1e523.26a7a0f02347889a321a96d89d82.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/small/3f/eb/26a7a0f02347889a321a96d89d82.jpg"/>
      <p>
The event was a lot of fun and wouldn't have been possible without the dedication and
commitment of our volunteers. Thank you for joining us at the Chaos 
Communication Camp 2023! ❤️❤️❤️
</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230829-01
title: Halftime for the German government: Thank you for the fine words, now let the deeds speak!
uri: Halftime-for-the-German-government-Thank-you-for-the-fine-words-now
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230829-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>Halftime for the German government: Thank you for the fine words, now let the deeds speak!</h1><p>The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE), together with an 
alliance of civil society and the Free Software industry, calls on the 
German government to implement a sustainable digital policy and to 
provide the necessary funds in the federal budget now.</p>
     <img src="media/f3723bc5.e415e6a4db764efd495f9072714b.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/ca/96/e415e6a4db764efd495f9072714b.jpg"/>
 <p>FSFE draws a negative mid-term balance for the digital policy of the 
German government. Together with 20 actors from civil society and the 
Free Software industry, the FSFE demands: The Federal Government and 
the coalition parties in the Bundestag must now urgently implement 
their digital policy promises from the coalition agreement. They must 
provide sufficient funding for this in the 2024 budget. Civil society 
must also be more closely involved in the decision-making process. It 
is high time to put Germany on a sustainable, inclusive digital policy 
course. The government must not squander its last chance to do so in 
this parliamentary term.</p><p>Two years ago, the German government launched a good and widely 
praised digital policy programme, promising a change of course and a 
more successful, sustainable and inclusive digitisation. Unfortunately, 
halfway through the legislative period, this change of course is still 
a long way off. So far, the government has launched only a few projects 
and is planning to make painful cuts in next year's budget. This 
threatens to lead to a failure of digital policy at the end of the 
legislative period, and to long-term damage to society and the 
economy.</p><h3>FSFE calls for Free Software in German administrations</h3><p>Halfway through its term in office, the German government has failed 
to live up to its promise in the coalition agreement to prioritise Free 
Software (also known as Open Source) and open standards in the 
digitisation of the administration. Isolated steps in the right 
direction, such as the establishment of the Centre for Digital 
Sovereignty (ZenDiS), are to be thwarted in the 2024 budget. Public 
procurement law has not been modernised to facilitate the tendering and 
procurement of Free Software. There are still no public statistics on 
the procurement of Free Software by administrations.</p><p>Instead, the federal government continues to rely largely on 
proprietary software. More than three billion euros of budget funds are 
earmarked for the proprietary “Oracle cloud”, while the already too 
small funds for digital sovereignty of currently 48 million euros are 
to be cut by almost half in the new budget. At the same time, the 
government seems to regard Free Software as expendable in ensuring 
digital sovereignty. The proprietary Federal Client (Bundesclient) 
developed on the government’s behalf by the ITZ Bund is in blatant 
contradiction to the government's declared goal of strengthening Free 
Software and thus true digital sovereignty.</p><p> Johannes Näder, FSFE’s Senior Policy Project Manager, explains: "The 
German government must stand by its promises in the coalition agreement 
and decide that Free Software will be procured and developed as a 
priority for the administration in the future. The principle 'Public 
Money? Public Code!' must become the guiding principle of German 
digital policy: Publicly financed software developed for the public 
sector must be Free Software. This is the only way the government can 
achieve a sustainable, innovative digitisation of Germany that benefits 
everyone and empowers citizens to control technology.".</p><p>Under the slogan "Public Money? Public Code!", the Free Software 
Foundation Europe has long been calling for the sustainable 
digitisation of the German administration through the use of Free 
Software. The fact that the corresponding plans from the coalition 
agreement have not yet been implemented has recently also been 
criticised within the government parties.</p><p>"Within the next two years, important steps need to be taken to 
digitise the German administration. The German Government has only two 
years left to fulfil the promises made in the coalition agreement. 
Digital sovereignty can only be guaranteed through Free Software. The 
government must therefore modernise public procurement law in line with 
‘Public Money? Public Code!’ and finally publish statistics on the 
share of Free Software in development and procurement in the 
administration. Last but not least, a fully-fledged Free Software 
working environment should be made available to public authorities in a 
timely manner. For this to succeed, the budget for digital sovereignty 
must be increased and consistently used for Free Software,"  demands 
Johannes Näder.</p><h3>Free Software and "Public Money"?</h3><p>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 taxpayers 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 is available on the <a href="https://publiccode.eu/">“Public Money? 
Public Code!” website</a>.</p><h3>A broad alliance</h3><p>The following organisations from civil 
society and the Free Software industry published press releases on 
29.08.2023 with their respective analyses and digital policy demands to 
the German government:</p><ul>
<li>AWO Bundesverband</li>
<li>betterplace lab</li>
<li><a href="https://bits-und-baeume.org/pressemitteilung-halbzeit-fuer-die-ampel/">Bits &amp; Bäume</a></li>
	<ul>
		<li>FifF</li>
		<li>BUND</li>
		<li><a href="https://www.germanwatch.org/de/89123">Germanwatch</a></li>
		<li>Wikimedia Deutschland</li>
		<li><a href="https://www.ccc.de/de/updates/2023/updates/2023/halbzeit">Chao Computer Club e.V.</a></li>
		<li>Deutscher Naturschutzring</li>
		<li>Institut für Ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung</li>
	</ul>
<li><a href="https://d-64.org/ampel-halbzeit">D64 Zentrum für Digitalen Fortschritt</a></li>
<li>DAASI International</li>
<li>Do-FOSS</li>
<li>Free Software Foundation Europe</li>
<li>future_s</li>
<li><a href="https://www.inoeg.de/veroeffentlichungen.html">Innovationsverbund Öffentliche Gesundheit e.V.</a></li>
<li>Open Knowledge Foundation Deutschland</li>
<li><a href="https://osb-alliance.de/featured/offener-brief-halbzeit-fuer-die-ampel-danke-fuer-die-schoenen-worte-lasst-endlich-taten-sprechen">Open Source Business Alliance</a></li>
	<ul>
	<li>#cnetz</li>
	<li>German Unix User Group</li>
	<li>Gesellschaft für Informatik</li>
	<li>VITAKO</li>
	</ul>
<li>Rat für Digitale Ökologie</li>
</ul><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230831-01
title: The story of Ada, available now in English worldwide
uri: The-story-of-Ada-available-now-in-English-worldwide
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230831-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>The story of Ada, available now in English worldwide</h1><p>From 29 August the English version of the book "Ada &amp; Zangemann - A 
Tale of Software, Skateboards, and Raspberry Ice Cream" is available 
internationally. The book tells the story of the famous inventor 
Zangemann and the girl Ada, a curious tinkerer. Ada begins to 
experiment with hardware and software and realises how important it is 
for her and others to control technology.</p>
     <img src="media/182b5a70.aec90b9dfe2e0f5073003fca5d05.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/94/f4/aec90b9dfe2e0f5073003fca5d05.png"/>
       <p>“Ada &amp; Zangemann" not only inspires children to tinker and create, 
but the tale also helps adults understand the importance of controlling 
the technology on which our society depends. Aimed at readers aged 6 to 
106, the book, written by <a href="https://k7r.eu/">Matthias Kirschner</a> and illustrated by <a href="http://sandra-brandstaetter.com/">Sandra 
Brandstätter</a>, is published under a Creative Commons By Share Alike 
licence, making it a great gift for our loved ones, as well as a 
donation to libraries and schools!
</p><p>"What a fun read! I recognize myself in Ada at many moments."</p> 
<p> - Isabela Fernandes, Executive Director, The Tor project</p><p>"Such a powerful message on what a community can achieve."</p> 
<p> - Nikos Roussos, Tech Lead, Greenpeace International</p><p>You can make a big difference by helping us to reach more people 
about software freedom with the book. For example:
</p><ul>
<li><strong>Suggest</strong> the book to your public library. Often you can recommend new books to 
libraries. </li> 
<li><strong>Donate</strong> the book to a public library. This is a 
good option for cases when a library does not have the budget to buy 
the book, but you can afford it. Your copy will make many people 
happy.</li> 
<li>Give your <strong>feedback</strong> to book-stores about the book, so 
they recommend it to others.</li>
<li>Write a <strong>review</strong> if you bought the 
book online so you help to reach a wider audience.</li>
<li>Offer 
schools, youth clubs, your hackerspace, or your family and friends to 
<strong>read the book</strong> there. The tale is a good way to talk about software 
freedom. <a href="https://git.fsfe.org/FSFE/ada-zangemann/src/branch/main/Presentations">These slides</a> can be used as a background while you read with a 
projector.</li>
</ul><p>"An uplifting parable for our greed- and power-infused times."</p> 
<p> - Dan Gillmor, Director of News Co/Lab, Arizona State University</p><p>The book is currently available by the following publishers:</p><ul>
<li><strong>in English</strong> by <a href="https://nostarch.com/ada-zangemann">No Starch Press</a> can be ordered from your preferred book store world-wide with the ISBN 978-1-718-50320-5.</li>
<li><strong>in German</strong> by <a href="https://oreilly.de/produkt/ada-und-zangemann/?ref=10022">O'Reilly Germany / Dpunkt Verlag</a> (affiliate link - the FSFE gets 12%) and can be ordered from your preferred book store with the ISBN 978-3-96009-190-5.</li>
</ul><p>This book is licensed under the free cultural license Creative Commons 
CC-BY-SA. You can share, copy, and redistribute the material in any 
medium or format. You can adapt, remix, transform, and build upon the 
material for any purpose, even commercially. Several volunteers from 
the FSFE and other organisations started with community translations of 
the book which can be found in the <a href="https://git.fsfe.org/FSFE/ada-zangemann">book's git repository</a>.</p><p>"I love this book and I love that it can be shared and translated and adapted easily because licensed freely under a Creative Commons license (BY-SA)."</p> 
<p> - Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School, Founder Creative Commmons</p><p><em>Join the first reading of Ada &amp; Zangemann in Italian! Celebrate with us on September 16th Software Freedom Day listening to the story of Ada while eating homemade ice cream.</em>
</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: nl-202309
title: "Back to school" for EU and German policy+++Ada available worldwide
uri: Back-to-school-for-EU-and-German-policy-Ada-available-worldwide
url: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-202309.fr.html
content:
<h1>"Back to school" for EU and German policy+++Ada available worldwide</h1><p>
September brings the resumption of EU politics and the mid-term of the 
current German government, and we look at them from a Free Software 
perspective. ‘Ada &amp; Zangemann' can now be ordered internationally, 
and you can help us translate our 'What is Free Software' video into 
more EU languages. And remember - rooting your device does not void its 
warranty.
</p>
  <img src="media/8d3c31a4.8cd1ae3e01effddfd79c961d7c32.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/b0/f0/8cd1ae3e01effddfd79c961d7c32.png"/>

  <p>Table of contents</p>
  <ol>
    <li><a href="#Halftime-for-the-German-government-Thank-you-for-the-fine-words-now-let-the-deeds-speak">Halftime for the German government: Thank you for the fine words, now let the deeds speak!</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Liability-Interoperability-&amp;-Free-Software-in-EU-what-we-are-expecting">Liability, Interoperability &amp; Free Software in EU: what we are expectingstrong&gt;</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Ada-&amp;-Zangemann-available now in English worldwide">‘Ada &amp; Zangemann’ - available now in English worldwide</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Unleash-the-potential-of-your-phone-Rooting-your-device-does-not-void-its-warranty">Unleash the potential of your phone: Rooting your device does not void its warranty</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Take-Action-Contribute-to-translate-our-What-is-Free-Software-video">"Take Action! Contribute to translate our ‘What is Free Software’ video"</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Chaos-Communication-Camp-2023-back-to-the-grounds">Chaos Communication Camp 2023: back to the grounds!</a></li>
    <li><a href="#foss-north-videos-and-more-conferences-on-the-way">foss-north videos and more conferences on the way!</a></li>
	<li><a href="#Join-us-as-an-intern-and-make-the-difference">Join us as an intern and make the difference!</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Quote-of-the-month">Quote of the month</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Contribute-to-our-Newsletter">Contribute to our Newsletter</a></li>
    </ol>
<h3>Halftime for the German government: Thank you for the fine words, now let the deeds speak!</h3><p>The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE), together with an 
alliance of civil society and the Free Software industry, calls on the 
German government to <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230829-01.html">implement a sustainable digital policy</a> 
and to provide the necessary funds in the federal budget now.</p><h3>Liability, Interoperability &amp; Free Software in EU: what we are expecting</h3><p>After the summer recess, EU institutions are resuming their 
activities at the end of August. In the coming months, we expect to see 
the adoption of legislation that could have an impact on Free Software: 
the Cyber Resilience Act, the Product Liability Directive, the AI Act, 
and the Interoperable Europe Act. <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230824-01.html">What does all this legislation 
mean 
for Free Software and its community?</a>.</p><h3>‘Ada 
&amp; Zangemann’ – available now in English worldwide</h3><p>From 29 August the English version of the book <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/ada-zangemann/index.html">"Ada &amp; Zangemann - A 
Tale of 
Software, Skateboards, and Raspberry Ice Cream"</a> is  <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230831-01.html">available 
internationally</a>. The book tells the story of the famous inventor 
Zangemann and the girl Ada, a curious tinkerer. Ada begins to 
experiment with hardware and software and realises how important it is 
for her and others to control technology.</p><h3>Unleash the potential of your phone: Rooting your device does not void its warranty</h3><p>As users we sometimes face the issue of rooting our devices. We may 
 want to regain control of our device or we may want to keep using a 
 device with an outdated operating system. But we are afraid of losing 
 our legal warranty. Let’s be clear: Just rooting your device and 
 installing new software <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230807-01.html">will not void the statutory warranty</a>.</p>
     <img src="media/90307687.a9669e241527f1769e2fe67418a77f0d.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/a9669e241527f1769e2fe67418a77f0d.jpg"/>
       <h3>Take Action! Contribute to translate our ‘What is Free Software’ video</h3><p>If you read our email, you already know this. We want to translate 
our video <a href="https://media.fsfe.org/w/p/9gYSyoEYggsqBExLWjRejL">"What is Free 
Software"</a> into more European languages! This 
video explains in less than 3 minutes why Free Software is important, 
and each translation costs about 250 Euros. Therefore, all 
contributions until the end of September will be used to help our 
community in Europe to get the video in their native language. Help us 
spreading this message or <a href="https://fsfe.org/donate/donate.html">making a small contribution</a> to support this 
campaign!</p><h3>"Chaos 
Communication Camp 2023: back to the grounds!"</h3><p>One of our most favourite events was back this summer: Chaos Communication Camp 2023! 
This event brings together technologists, activists, and enthusiasts to 
discuss, share, and celebrate technology, privacy, and freedom in 
Brandenburg, Germany. This year, the Free Software Foundation Europe 
joined the campers as part of the 'Bits und Bäume' village.</p><p><a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230825-01.html">Take a look at our talks</a> 
from the event and see what else we did.</p><h3>foss-north videos and more conferences on the way!</h3><p>🇸🇪 Last April we attended foss-north (link!!), where FSFE co-organised 
a track on political, social and legal issues around Free Software,. 
Among other great speakers, there was a keynote by Lina Ceballos, on 
the Interoperable Europe Act. It took some time, but finally we have 
the videos of this event! <a href="https://conf.tube/w/p/dSNeqFG9b73YmxkfdVozsZ">Watch all the 
interesting talks</a> from the 
comfort of your own home! And we hope to see you there next year (as a 
speaker or as a participant 😉)</p><p>🇷🇸 You can also join us in our next events! We will be participating in the Balkan Computer 
Congress - BalCCon2k23 in Novi Sad, Serbia, talking about Device 
Neutrality and NGI (8-10 September). 🇵🇹 The NGI innitiative will be also 
explained in Festa do Software Livre" in Aveiro, Portugal, where we 
will also talk about Router Freedom (16-17 September) and also there 
but a few days later (30 Sept) we will discuss Device neutrality at the 
"Encontro Nacional de Estudantes de Informatica”.</p><p>🇮🇹 On September 16, we will be celebrating Software Freedom Day in Nembro (Italy) with the 
first reading in Italian of the book ‘Ada &amp; Zangemann’, and in Cologne 
(Germany) we will discuss  the role of decentralised social media 
platforms in our society (22 Sept).</p><p>🇩🇪 In Germany, we will be at PITS 2023- Public-IT-Security (21 Sept), in Berlin and then at Bitkom ( Sept 
27) with a talk about the Cyber Resilience Act.</p><p><strong>🇨🇭 And if you are around, celebrate with us the 40th Anniversary of GNU! On September 27, at the 
Volkshaus in Biel/Bienne (Switzerland)  join the GNU community to 
celebrate this occasion, and help build a future where users' computing 
freedom extends further than ever.</strong></p><p>
Remember that you can find all the information about these and other 
events in <a href="https://fsfe.org/events/events.html">fsfe.org/events</a>.
</p>
     <img src="media/cd4b3adb.630abac3c6cb3e2d1fe8533395eb.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/f1/35/630abac3c6cb3e2d1fe8533395eb.png"/>
       <h3>Join us as an intern and make the difference!</h3><p>Have you heard about Free Software and you want to know more 
  about it? Are you already a Free Software advocate and do you want to 
  help to bring software freedom to our society? Then <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230815-01.html">our paid 
  internships are for you!</a>. Learn by doing and gain knowledge an0 
  technical skills through an internship with us.</p><h3>Quote of the Month</h3>
  <p>"It's a hit -- in the first week my kid has read this book 3 
  or 4 times already, and says this book explains my work on software 
  freedom finally in a way that's easily understandable".Karen 
  Sandler, Executive Director of the Software Freedom Conservancy, 
  talking about the book Ada &amp; Zangemann:a tale of software, 
  skateboards, and raspberry ice cream.</p>
<h3>Contribute to our Newsletter</h3><p>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 <a href="https://fsfe.org/donate/donate.html">support 
us</a>, <a href="https://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.html">contribute to our 
work</a>, <a href="https://fsfe.org/about/groups.html">and join our community</a>. 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. </p><p>Your editor, Ana Galán</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230906-01
title: The Netherlands: Important points for the election
uri: The-Netherlands-Important-points-for-the-election
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230906-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>The Netherlands: Important points for the election</h1><p>The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is committed to empower 
users to control technolgy to digital civil rights, transparency and 
control over technology. It does this by promoting Free Software (also 
known as Open Source Software). In addition, Free Software promotes 
innovation and prevents vendor lock-in. Digital sovereignty is only 
possible with Free Software.</p><p>Our society is becoming increasingly digital, so it is crucial that public values are also safeguarded in 
the digital domain. The upcoming elections and term of office are an 
opportunity to take important steps on current themes such as 
<strong>artificial intelligence (AI)</strong> and <strong>digital commons</strong>.</p>
  <img src="media/f325e092.6c8d43ffc1013f647affa17d8f0929d5.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/6c8d43ffc1013f647affa17d8f0929d5.jpg"/>
<p>FSFE asks parties to work on the following action points:</p><ul> 
<li>Strengthen the 'open, unless' policy that requires government to 
choose Free Software by default This is crucial for transparency and 
digital sovereignty, so embed this policy in legislation. Support 
governments in selecting and developing Free Software with a central 
expertise center. Identify government tasks where control and 
explainability is necessary and ensure this by applying the principle 
of <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/publiccode/publiccode.html">‘Public Money? Public Code!’</a>.</li> 
<li>Encourage wise reuse of software by investing in <strong>digital commons</strong> to 
make sure others can benefit from the improvements. Support the 
adaptation and development of these joint Free Software solutions with 
knowledge and financial resources. Use the European knowledge network 
and the space of European digitization funds for this.</li>
<li>Improve the oversight and transparency of <strong>algorithms</strong> in government use. The 
further filling of the national <strong>algorithm register</strong> is a first step in 
this respect. In addition, increase transparency by publishing the 
<strong>training data</strong> and <strong>source code</strong> of those algorithms under a Free license, 
<a href="news/2022/news-20220330-01.fr.html">as we have argued before</a>.</li> 
<li>Pupils and parents should not be forced to use proprietry software that often even 
spies on them. Place additional requirements on IT solutions for 
<strong>knowledge and educational institutions</strong> to help them maintain 
sovereignty in a digital world. Support institutions in the use of Free 
Software to prevent vendor-lock in and to promote independent digital 
skills.</li>
<li>Stop wasting energy and strategically important raw materials by 
<strong>extending the life of electronics</strong>. Make sure that the end of support 
does not mean the end of the service life. To this end, empower 
consumers and businesses to <strong>repair</strong> hardware and replace software with 
Free Software that they control themselves. This call has been 
supported by the signatories of <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/upcyclingandroid/openletter.html ">our open letter 'The universal right to 
install any software on any device'</a>.</li> 
</ul><p>The FSFE is happy to elaborate on these points.</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230907-01
title: Ada goes to Italy - ice cream included!
uri: Ada-goes-to-Italy-ice-cream-included
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230907-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>Ada goes to Italy - ice cream included!</h1><p>Join the first reading of the book 'Ada &amp; Zangemann' in Italian! Celebrate with 
us the Software Freedom Day 16 September listening to  the story of Ada 
while eating homemade ice cream.</p>
  <img src="media/5ef103f4.61c6e99d3d29d4da9c727b6ec0a6.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/c8/42/61c6e99d3d29d4da9c727b6ec0a6.jpg"/>
<p>Together with the <a href="https://bglug.it/">Bergamo Linux User Group</a>, the FSFE is celebrating 
the Software Freedom Day with the Italian Free Software community. On 
September 16th, we will be celebrating this occasion with the first 
Italian reading of the book ‘Ada &amp; Zangemann – A tale of software, 
skateboards, and raspberry ice cream’, a reading for people from 6 to 
106 years old.  Moreover, there will be a workshop afterwards for the 
little ones and free home-made ice cream, courtesy of a FSFE 
volunteer.</p>
<p><strong>Event date</strong></p>
<p>Date: 16.09.2023</p>
<p>Time: 14:45 - 18:00 </p> 
<p>Location: Biblioteca Centro Cultura Tullio Carrara, Piazza Italia, 24027 Nembro, Italy</p>

<p><strong>Programme</strong></p>
<p>14:45 – 16:15 - Reading of the book</p>
<p>From 16:15 onwards -  Workshop for kids</p> 
<h3>Ada &amp; Zangeman – A tale of software, skateboards, and raspberry ice cream</h3><p>The illustrated book 'Ada &amp; Zangemann - a tale of software, 
skateboards, and raspberry ice cream', written by <a href="https://k7r.eu/">Matthias Kirschner</a> and illustrated by <a href="http://sandra-brandstaetter.com/">Sandra 
Brandstätter</a>, tells the story of the famous inventor Zangemann 
and the girl Ada, a curious tinkerer. Ada begins to experiment with 
hardware and software, and in the process realises how crucial it is 
for her and others to control technology.</p> <p>"Ada &amp; Zangemann proves that the argument for 
software and hardware freedom is simple: We should be able to do what 
we want with our stuff... Electronics freedom means more learning and 
less waste, as Ada shows. Kids and adults alike will be entertained by 
this book, charmed by its illustrations, and inspired by Ada’s 
engineering spirit and impassioned activism."</p> <p> - 
Elizabeth Chamberlain, Director of Sustainability, 
iFixit</p> 
<p>"Ada &amp; Zangemann is not only a utopian and charming 
story about Free Software and computers, but it is one about 
self-empowerment and also about joy in technology... it may well be 
an eye-opener for adults, too."</p> <p> - Dr. Constanze 
Kurz, Spokesperson, Chaos Computer Club (CCC)</p> 
<p>The book is currently available by the following publishers:</p><ul>
<li><strong>in English</strong> by <a href="https://nostarch.com/ada-zangemann">No Starch Press</a> can be 
ordered from your preferred book store world-wide with the ISBN 
978-1-718-50320-5.</li>

<li><strong>in German</strong> by <a href="https://oreilly.de/produkt/ada-und-zangemann/?ref=10022">O'Reilly 
Germany / Dpunkt Verlag</a> (affiliate link - the FSFE gets 12%) and can 
be ordered from your preferred book store with the ISBN 
978-3-96009-190-5.</li>
</ul><p> The book is published under a Creative Commons By Share Alike 
licence, and we are working on making the story of Ada available in 
other languages. As this process takes time and a lot of work, it would 
be great if you could <a href="https://share.fsfe.org/apps/forms/s/9MozK3FsYxjiKdWQ33bmCpRL">fill 
in this short survey</a> to check which languages you are interested 
in, so that we can  better prioritise.</p><p> The book is also a great gift for our loved ones, as well as a 
donation to libraries and schools to arouse more people's interest in 
tinkering with hardware and software, and encourage them to shape their 
own technology!</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230915-01
title: Router Freedom: German telcos want to exclude fiber
uri: Router-Freedom-German-telcos-want-to-exclude-fiber
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230915-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>Router Freedom: German telcos want to exclude fiber</h1><p>German network operators have requested the national regulator 
Bundesnetzagentur to start procedures to exclude Router Freedom from 
fiber networks. In a consultation, the FSFE picks apart all the telcos’ 
arguments and calls on the regulator to respect consumer rights.</p>
  <img src="media/2ace7857.5a92ce4766c686c21f06f0fec28618e1.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/5a92ce4766c686c21f06f0fec28618e1.jpg"/>
<p>The German telecommunications regulator Bundesnetzagentur,<a href="https://www.bundesnetzagentur.de/DE/Fachthemen/Telekommunikation/Unternehmenspflichten/Schnittstelle_netzabschluss/start.html"> has opened 
procedures</a> to analyse a request made by fiber network operators 
requesting to exclude Router Freedom from fiber networks. The request 
contains the fiber operators’ arguments, including security of the 
network, cost of support, quality of service and interoperability 
issues.</p><p>In the <a href="media/054cf4b1.fsfe-bnetza-fiber-de-2023.pdf" data-original-source="https://download.fsfe.org/routers/fsfe-bnetza-fiber-de-2023.pdf">public consultation (in German)</a> the FSFE has called on the regulator 
to dismiss the request since it goes against the German law and the EU 
regulatory framework of net neutrality, which has clearly set rules 
safeguarding freedom of terminal equipment for end-users. Although the 
network operators have tried to pose fiber networks as a special case, 
we have demonstrated that there is no objective technological necessity 
to abolish Router Freedom. On the contrary, Router Freedom represents 
also for fiber freedom of choice, security, consumer welfare, fair 
competition and sustainability.</p><p>The FSFE’s arguments were also 
supported by empirical data collected in the comprehensive Router 
Freedom survey, where more than 1.600 participants have stated their 
problems with ISPs hampering their rights to use their own routers and 
modems.</p>
  <img src="media/1326f576.6a74ab703ca9297fa8bd6b564be3.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/85/86/6a74ab703ca9297fa8bd6b564be3.png"/>
  Router Freedom is key for a neutral, fair and secure Internet access
 <p>"German fiber networks are pushing the boundaries 
against Router Freedom. However, telcos were not able to prove the 
necessity to revisit the law, making their request void. We call on the 
Bundesnetzagentur to consider end-users rights and interests and 
safeguard Router Freedom in fiber networks".</p> <p> - Alexander Sander, FSFE’s Senior Policy Consultant.</p>
<p><strong>You can download the FSFE’s consultation paper <a href="media/054cf4b1.fsfe-bnetza-fiber-de-2023.pdf" data-original-source="https://download.fsfe.org/routers/fsfe-bnetza-fiber-de-2023.pdf">here (in German)</a></strong></p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230920-01
title: EU: Digital sovereignty & Interoperability. What about the role of Free Software?
uri: EU-Digital-sovereignty-Interoperability-What-about-the-role-of-Fre
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230920-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>EU: Digital sovereignty &amp; Interoperability. What about the role of Free Software?</h1><p>Speaking about Digital Public Infrastructures last week, EU 
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pointed out that "the trick 
is to build public digital infrastructure that is interoperable, open 
to all and trusted". What exactly does this mean? What is required to 
achieve such an accessible digital infrastructure that can help foster 
innovation and allow cooperation on a global scale? What role does Free 
Software play in such ambition?</p>
  <img src="media/83f261be.cafe70a1f15a50273e5ce6e053cc.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/3c/b8/cafe70a1f15a50273e5ce6e053cc.jpg"/>
<p>At the G20 summit 2023 in New Delhi, EU Commission President Ursula 
von der Leyen has called the attention of the world to <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/statement_23_4424">recognise the 
importance of building a digital public infrastructure that is open to 
everybody, that is interoperable and that connects us with one 
another</a>. However, in order to understand what is behind this statement, it is 
important to take a look at how the values of openness, digital 
sovereignty and interoperability have guided the latest EU digital 
policies.</p><p>Over the last years, the EU has witnessed the emergence of an EU 
discourse that highlights the need to strengthen the EU digital 
sovereignty. Since the beginning of her candidature, EU Commission 
President Ursula von der Leyen has pledged “technological sovereignty” 
as one of her key priorities in the <a href="media/dba71e38.IP_19_5542_EN.pdf" data-original-source="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/api/files/document/print/en/ip_19_5542/IP_19_5542_EN.pdf">ongoing 
digital strategy of Europe(pdf)</a>. This has guided the EU in its 
ambition <a href="media/d150f8e4.communication-shaping-europes-digital-future-feb2020_en_4.pdf" data-original-source="https://commission.europa.eu/system/files/2020-02/communication-shaping-europes-digital-future-feb2020_en_4.pdf">to 
reduce dependencies on technology and to assure that such technology 
empowers people (pdf)</a>.</p><p>With a common vision of the EU in 2030 – <a href="media/d30a80d8.2030-Digital-Compass-the-European-way-for-the-Digital-Decade.pdf" data-original-source="https://eufordigital.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2030-Digital-Compass-the-European-way-for-the-Digital-Decade.pdf">the 
2030 Digital compass</a> has started to move Europe forward towards 
more digital sovereignty “in an interconnected world by building and 
deploying technological capabilities in a way that empowers people and 
businesses to seize the potential of the digital transformation, and 
helps build a healthier and greener society".</p><h3>Digital sovereignty and Free Software</h3><p>In an era of increasing digitalisation, the core values of openness, accessibility, and 
trustworthiness must lead the way. A crucial aspect of the 
modernisation of our digital infrastructure is to ensure digital 
sovereignty.</p><p>As stated by the European Commission in its Communication <a href="media/d150f8e4.communication-shaping-europes-digital-future-feb2020_en_4.pdf" data-original-source="https://commission.europa.eu/system/files/2020-02/communication-shaping-europes-digital-future-feb2020_en_4.pdf">“Shaping 
Europe Digital Future”(pdf)</a>: “European technological Sovereignty 
starts from ensuring the integrity and resilience of our data 
infrastructure, networks and communications. It requires creating the 
right conditions for Europe to develop and deploy its own key 
capacities, thereby reducing our dependency on other parts of the globe 
for the most crucial technologies. Europe's ability to define its own 
rules and values in the digital age will be reinforced by such 
capacities.”</p><p>In this regard, Free Software serves as an enhancer for governments and public 
institutions to build and maintain their digital systems without vendor 
lock-in, ensuring long-term control, cost-efficiency, and digital 
sovereignty. Moreover, it fosters innovation by allowing collaborative 
contributions resulting in robust and secure software that can be 
customized to meet specific public needs. By embracing Free Software, 
potential vulnerabilities in such digital public infrastructure can be 
easier identified and fixed while it promotes equitable access to 
technology, and reinforces the fundamental democratic principles of 
accountability and citizen engagement.</p><p>This promotes a self-reliant approach to technology, empowering the EU to shape its digital future 
in alignment with its values, regulations, and strategic interests, 
while fostering a more competitive and technologically independent 
European digital landscape.</p><p>As EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn has clearly stated “digitalisation cannot be seen in isolation” and “the 
force of good” - Free Software - has also the potential to ensure the 
proper use of public money, promote freedom of choice while guiding the 
EU and the world in the efforts of <a href="https://youtu.be/h3SK96jLTSU?feature=shared">achieving a sovereign digital 
infrastructure</a>.</p><h3>Interoperability and Free Software</h3><p>Interoperability has 
also played an important role in the digital efforts of an EU more 
interconnected, open and sovereign. In order to be able to have 
information systems and devices that work seamlessly together, a 
critical infrastructure is needed, and Free Software together with Open 
Standards play a fundamental role in these efforts.</p><p>With projects such as <a href="https://commission.europa.eu/about-european-commission/departments-and-executive-agencies/informatics/eu-fossa-2-free-and-open-source-software-auditing_en">“FOSSA” and “FOSSA2”</a> 
with the goal to increase the security and integrity of the Free 
Software used by European Institutions, <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/isa2/awards_en">“ISA”and “ISA2”</a>
aiming to strengthening 
interoperability across borders and sectors, as well as <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20201023-01.html">the latest EU 
Open Source Strategy</a> and the further <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/documents-register/detail?ref=C(2021)8759">“Commission decision on the Open Source licensing and reuse of 
Commission software”</a>, Europe has slowly and ambitiously laying the foundation for a digitalisation that realises the role of Free Software. However, ahead, 
there is still <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB9Wga-AaHk">a long way to effectively bring such efforts into 
practice</a>, so that this can be translated into solutions to real-life problems.</p><p>As EU Commission President von der Leyen has highlighted during her 
statement at the G20 summit, the success of the <a href="https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/coronavirus-response/safe-covid-19-vaccines-europeans/eu-digital-covid-certificate_en">COVID19 digital 
certificate in the EU</a> is a clear and practical example of what it is needed to tackle a 
global crisis in the most efficient way: Free Software. Free Software 
allowed a secure and transparent solution and also laid the groundwork 
for the interoperability that was needed in such global crisis by 
showing how collaboration can thrive a global solution.</p><h3>EU about to take a landmark decision</h3><p>With the current 
Interoperable Europe Act, the EU has already noted upon the need to 
create a dedicated legal framework that can pave the way of an 
interoperable digital landscape and is about <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230323-02.html">to take a step ahead 
towards a more sovereign and interoperable Europe</a>. Once finalised, the 
proper implementation of this Act within member states is of paramount 
importance to attain its full potential in fostering a unified and 
harmonised digital environment across the European Union as well as to 
amend the shortcomings that the final text might have when it comes to 
realising the potential that Free Software has to offer for a more 
interoperable Europe.</p><p>Ahead, there is the opportunity to assure a proper implementation of 
this and other digital policies which will help to more clearly define 
what Europe means with digital sovereignty and interoperability. It is 
time to underlying the fundamental role that Free Software and its 
community can play in the digitalisation of Europe.</p><h3>Summary </h3><p>The EU has started to recognise the important role that Free 
Software can play in the ambitious efforts of a more sovereign and 
interoperable digital infrastructure in Europe. It has started to come 
clear that Free Software can be a cornerstone of the EU's digital 
policies aimed at enhancing digital sovereignty and interoperability.  
By embracing Free Software, the EU can assert greater control over its 
digital infrastructure, promote interoperability, spend taxpayers money 
efficiently, improve security and privacy, foster innovation, and 
collaborate with partners globally, ultimately leading to a more 
self-reliant and digitally resilient European Union.</p><p>Yet a decisive period ahead is the implementation in Member States of the some of 
these digital policies that have come as a result of the ongoing 
digital agenda and which will be decisive to ensure that Europe 
achieves a sovereign and interoperable digital landscape.</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230921-01
title: Sovereign workspace openDesk: German Ministry of the Interior provides answers
uri: Sovereign-workspace-openDesk-German-Ministry-of-the-Interior-provides
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230921-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>Sovereign workspace openDesk: German Ministry of the Interior provides answers</h1><p>The German Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) and the public IT 
service provider Dataport are working on administrative workspaces to 
enable digital sovereignty. But are both products Free Software? How 
are they related? We asked the BMI and publish the answers here.</p>
  <img src="media/edee9b07.3fc43813d932a3a95f7a233e2f76.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/80/55/3fc43813d932a3a95f7a233e2f76.png"/>
<p>In June, the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) sent a catalogue 
of questions to the BMI about its “Sovereign Workspace” project. <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230606-01.html">Our 
questions</a> covered the relationship between the BMI workspace and Dataport's 
dPhoenixSuite, the funding of both projects, and the availability of 
their respective source code.</p><h3>New developments: openDesk code available, dPhoenixSuite still 
proprietary</h3><p>Some weeks later, the BMI released the first source 
code of its workspace suite as Free Software on openCoDE, the code 
repository for public administration. According to extensive 
documentation, the release is an alpha version, with the first 
operational release planned for later this year. The documentation 
states that the suite will be released entirely under Free Software 
licences and will include modules such as Univention Corporate Server, 
Collabora Online, Nextcloud, OpenProject, XWiki, Jitsi and the Matrix 
client Element. Extensibility through new and alternative modules is 
planned. The suite was renamed "openDesk" a few weeks ago. As of 2024, 
the coordination and management of openDesk will be completely handed 
over to the Centre for Digital Sovereignty (ZenDiS GmbH). ZenDiS was 
founded at the end of 2022 to bundle the German government's digital 
sovereignty initiatives, and is fully state-owned.</p><p>In contrast, Dataport has not yet released the source code for its 
workspace suite. The dPhoenixSuite contains numerous Free Software 
components and is advertised as "open source", "based on open source" 
and "digitally sovereign". This gives the false impression that 
dPhoenixSuite is Free Software. Dataport has not yet taken any steps to 
correct this impression or to actually make the suite available as Free 
Software.</p><h3>BMI: Dataport collaborates intensively on openDesk</h3><p>Meanwhile, [FSFE has received the BMI's response to our 
questions](LINK TO ANSWERS PDF). The answers clarify that Dataport 
plays an important role in the development of openDesk, especially in 
the architectural design and operational development of the product, 
and receives public funding from the BMI for this. For 2023 alone, the 
BMI has earmarked 21.6 million euros for openDesk. However, it remains 
unclear what proportion of this funding is passed on to Dataport. There 
is also a lack of transparency about how much of the funding will 
actually go to the companies driving the development and integration of 
the modules used in openDesk.</p><p>According to the BMI, there are overlaps between openDesk and the 
older dPhoenixSuite, which has mainly influenced the architecture of 
openDesk. However, the Ministry emphasises the independence of its 
openDesk suite: "The Sovereign Workspace is building its own 
architecture. [...] The Sovereign Workspace is an independent project. 
[…] To what extent Dataport aligns its dPhoenixSuite with it is up to 
Dataport". The BMI does not disclose to what extent dPhoenix code has 
been incorporated into openDesk. The Ministry states that it did not 
influence Dataport to make the dPhoenixSuite available as Free 
Software.</p><p><a href="media/fb682197.Dataport_BMI_answers.pdf" data-original-source="https://download.fsfe.org/policy/Dataport_BMI_answers.pdf">The full BMI response can be found here</a>.</p><h3>Dataport must take a stand</h3><p>So far, when asked about the dPhoenixSuite code, Dataport has referred to the source code of the 
included modules and to the BMI's openDesk project. The BMI's answers 
make it clear once again: Despite some similarities and organisational 
entanglements, dPhoenixSuite and openDesk are two different products. 
Dataport can no longer shift the responsibility for releasing its own 
source code onto the BMI, but must take a stand: if the dPhoenixSuite 
is to be a digitally sovereign workspace for public administrations, 
then Dataport should finally make the complete dPhoenix code available 
under a Free Software licence, ideally compliant with the openDesk 
reference implementation and not as a competing product.</p><p>However, BMI's response also contains a reference to possible 
proprietary components of the dPhoenixSuite. If Dataport continues with 
its proprietary strategy, and if the suite does contain proprietary 
code, it should no longer be advertised with the misleading terms 
"digitally sovereign" and "open source". In this case, Dataport should 
also correct the previous misleading communication by stating on its 
website that the suite is not Free Software to avoid any impression of 
open-washing.</p><h3>openDesk needs transparency and efficiency</h3><p>Regarding the openDesk workspace, its funding and its links to the dPhoenixSuite, the 
BMI's answers only partially provide the necessary transparency. 
However, the publication of the openDesk code and its open development 
on openCoDE are important steps in the right direction. The 
documentation and announcements about the future of the openDesk 
project also give reason for cautious optimism that a fully-fledged 
Free Software workspace for administrations might soon be 
available.</p><p>In the future, the BMI and ZenDiS should not only manage the 
development of openDesk transparently, but also make the governance of 
the project transparent and understandable to the public – a 
prerequisite for openDesk to gain trust and acceptance in public 
administrations.</p><p>Transparency is also the only way to ensure that public funds for 
openDesk are used efficiently and actually contribute to the 
development of Free Software. The FSFE has recently <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230829-01.html">called on the 
German government to increase funding for Free Software instead of 
cutting it</a>, as is 
currently planned in the 2024 budget. Since openDesk is a major digital 
sovereignty project of this legislative period, there should be more 
budget for it, and that money should be used for actual Free Software 
development, feature implementation, maintenance, and integration of 
the modules. The BMI must finally make the organisational development 
of ZenDiS a priority and thereby secure Free Software projects for 
public administration in the long term.</p><p>The FSFE will continue to monitor developments around openDesk and 
the dPhoenixSuite. If you have any relevant information, you're welcome 
to <a href="https://fsfe.org/about/contact.html">share it with us</a>.</p><h3>Free Software and "Public Money? Public Code!”</h3><p>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 taxpayers 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 is available on 
the <a href="https://publiccode.eu/">“Public Money? Public Code!” website</a>.</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20230926-01
title: Happy 40th Anniversary of Software Freedom!
uri: Happy-40th-Anniversary-of-Software-Freedom
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230926-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>Happy 40th Anniversary of Software Freedom!</h1><p>For four decades the Free Software community has been working to empower users to
control technology and to help our society understand how Free Software contributes to
freedom, transparency and self-determination.</p>
  <img src="media/cd4b3adb.630abac3c6cb3e2d1fe8533395eb.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/f1/35/630abac3c6cb3e2d1fe8533395eb.png"/>
  Did you know that the most powerful supercomputers run with Free Software? 
  <p>Four decades ago, technology began to shape our lives: it was the early 1980s, computers
did not yet fit into our pockets but filled large rooms. and we started to swap from tapes
and floppies to CDs to listen to music. In 1982, the Time magazine named the computer
"Person of the Year". At that point, some people already started pointing out the need to
give users control over this technology. So in 1983 the <a href="https://www.gnu.org/gnu/the-gnu-project.html">GNU Project</a> was announced by
Richard M. Stallman. The goal: to create an operating system consisting entirely of Free
Software to allow people to use, understand, adapt, and share software. Two years later
the FSF, <a href="https://fsfe.org/about/fsfnetwork.html">a sister organisation of the FSFE</a>, was founded as the legal backbone for the
GNU project.</p><p>That was the beginning of the software freedom movement! Today it is a global and broad
movement that includes small local companies, large global corporations, civil society
organisations and thousands of professionals. All are working towards a world where the
<a href="https://fsfe.org/freesoftware/index.html#freedoms">four freedoms</a> are guaranteed: users are free to use software and adapt it to their needs,
and are able to understand and share it. These rights support other fundamental rights
such as freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and privacy.</p><p>It is a movement that nowadays <a href="https://fsfe.org/freesoftware/democracy.html">safeguards democracy</a>. Free Software contributes to the
interaction and participation of interested stakeholders and our society. In general, it
empowers people to use software to create solutions to their problems, it contributes to
creating trustworthy systems, and it enables technology that serves us instead of
technology that controls us.</p><h3>Software Freedom and the GNU GPL</h3><p>In 1992, the essential components of the GNU operating system were complete, except
for one, the kernel. When in 1992 the Linux kernel was re-released under the GNU GPL,
the combination of GNU and Linux formed a complete free operating system. This
combination is the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html.">GNU/Linux system</a>.</p><p>Usually combined with the kernel Linux, GNU forms the backbone of the Internet and
powers millions of servers, desktops, and embedded computing devices. Aside from its
technical advancements, GNU pioneered the concept of “copyleft,” which is best
exemplified by the <a href="https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html">GNU General Public License (GPL)</a>.</p><p>Copyleft gives permission for a user to enjoy the four freedoms of Free Software, under
the condition that those freedoms remain intact in further distribution of the software or
derivative works. In practical terms, a copyleft license would generally mean that the
derivative has to be licensed under the same license as the original work. As a result, this
ensures that users of copylefted Free Software benefit from the four rights to use,
understand, share, and improve it, and those rights cannot be withheld from the users.</p><p>This does not exclude Free Software from being sold, so long as the buyers are not
restricted from exercising those four rights after their purchase. Free Software can also be
commercialized in other ways, such as by selling support, services, or certification. <a href="https://fsfe.org/freesoftware/legal/faq.html">(Learn
more about Free Software Licensing)</a>.</p><p>Forty years later, GNU and Free Software are even more relevant. Software has become
an indispensable resource for our societies, but users do not have full control over it.
Device manufacturers, vendors, and Internet platforms have restricted software freedom
by exercising control over end-user devices, threatening individual autonomy, consumer
welfare, and digital sovereignty. End users must take ownership of their devices with Free
Software.</p><p>Device Neutrality can restore end-user control over devices, and fair competition in digital
markets requires ensuring software freedom for devices, protecting end-users from lock-
in, and promoting end-user control over data.</p><h3>Celebration and Hacker Meeting</h3><p>The GNU Project is celebrating with a <a href="https://www.gnu.org/gnu40/">40th anniversary hacker meeting</a> on <strong>27 September
at the Volkshaus in Biel/Bienne</strong>, Switzerland. Organized by GNUnet e.V, the event is open
to all who want to celebrate, work on, or learn about Free Software.</p><p>In Boston, the Free Software Foundation, which sponsors GNU, is organizing a hack day
for families, students, and anyone interested in celebrating GNU’s anniversary. It will be
held at the <strong>FSF’s offices in Boston (USA), on October 1</strong>.</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: nl-202310
title: GNU turns 40 +++ Router Freedom, Fediverse & Ada
uri: GNU-turns-40-Router-Freedom-Fediverse-Ada
url: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-202310.fr.html
content:
<h1>GNU turns 40 +++ Router Freedom, Fediverse &amp; Ada</h1><p>October starts after celebrating the 40th anniversary of the GNU 
project, that marked the beginning of our Free Software movement. The 
new political season has started, both at the EU and the national 
levels. Thanks for contributing to make our What is Free Software video 
available in more languages… and we had the first Ada reading in 
Italian!
</p>
  <img src="media/00f0cb2a.24fbaea61a994d4202544b8ebdd3.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/46/5a/24fbaea61a994d4202544b8ebdd3.png"/>

  <p>Table of contents</p>
  <ol>
    <li><a href="#Happy-40th-Anniversary-of-Software-Freedom!">Happy 40th Anniversary of Software Freedom!</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Router-Freedom-German-telcos-want-to-exclude-fiber">Router Freedom: German telcos want to exclude fiber</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Sovereign-workspace-openDesk-German-Ministry-of-the-Interior-provides-answers">Sovereign workspace openDesk: German Ministry of the Interior provides answers</a></li>
    <li><a href="#EU-Digital-sovereignty-&amp;-Interoperability-What-about-the-role-of-Free-Software">EU: Digital sovereignty &amp; Interoperability. What about the role of Free Software?</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Fediverse-Symposium-&amp;-FediGov">Fediverse Symposium &amp; FediGov</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Software-Freedom-Day-Ada-goes-to-Italy-ice-cream-and-inclusiveness-included!">Software Freedom Day: Ada goes to Italy - ice cream and inclusiveness included!</a></li>
	<li><a href="#The-Netherlands-Important-points-for-the-election">The Netherlands: Important points for the election</a></li>
	<li><a href="#What-is-Free-Software-video-Thanks-for-a-successful-campaign">What is #FreeSoftware video - Thanks for a successful campaign!</a></li>
	<li><a href="#Take-action-Ada-Lovelace-Day">Take action! Ada Lovelace Day</a></li>
	<li><a href="#Save-the-date-SFScon">Save the date! SFScon</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Quote-of-the-month">Quote of the month</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Contribute-to-our-Newsletter">Contribute to our Newsletter</a></li>
</ol>
<h3>Happy 40th Anniversary of Software Freedom!</h3><p>For four decades <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-2020926-01.html">the Free 
Software community has been working to empower users to control 
technology</a> and to help our society understand how Free Software 
contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination.</p><p>On 27 September, the Free Software community celebrated the fortieth 
anniversary of the announcement of the GNU Project with a hacker 
gathering in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland, which brought together many of 
our movement's key players of the past decades.</p><h3>Router Freedom: German telcos want to exclude fiber</h3><p>German network operators have requested the national regulator 
Bundesnetzagentur to start procedures to exclude Router Freedom from 
fiber networks. In a consultation, <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230915-01.html">the FSFE picks apart all the 
telcos’ arguments and calls on the regulator to respect consumer 
rights</a>.</p><h3>Sovereign workspace openDesk: German Ministry of the Interior provides answers</h3><p>The German Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) and the public IT 
service provider Dataport are working on administrative workspaces to 
enable digital sovereignty. But are both products Free Software? How are 
they related? <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230920-01.html">We asked the BMI and publish the answers</a>.</p><h3>EU: Digital sovereignty &amp; Interoperability. What about the role of Free Software?</h3><p>Speaking about Digital Public Infrastructures at the G20 Summit, EU 
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pointed out that "the trick is 
to build public digital infrastructure that is interoperable, open to 
all, and trusted". <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230920-02.html">What 
exactly does this mean? What is required to achieve such an accessible 
digital infrastructure that can help foster innovation and allow 
cooperation on a global scale? What role does Free Software play in this 
ambition?</a></p>
     <img src="media/2d17278a.cc0eeb9f37091ed1fca96f0426eb.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/0c/ce/cc0eeb9f37091ed1fca96f0426eb.jpg"/>
       <h3>Fediverse Symposium &amp; FediGov</h3><p>On 22 September, more than 70 Fediverse experts, activists, 
representatives of educational and public institutions, and individuals 
attended our Fediverse Symposium to discuss decentralised social 
networks and the future of the internet.</p><p>The Fediverse Symposium was hosted by FSFE together with the Centre for Civic Education of the 
	State of North Rhine-Westphalia (LpB NRW) and the Adult Education 
	Centre Cologne (VHS Köln). We will publish the recording of the event 
	soon. In the meantime, check out our <a href="https://fedigov.eu">FediGov 
	campaign</a> and follow us on <a href="https://mastodon.social/@fsfe">Mastodon</a> and <a href="https://media.fsfe.org">PeerTube</a>!</p><p>Moreover, we have great news to share about our FediGov campaign! The Swiss Federal Chancellery has 
	opened a Mastodon instance as a pilot project, which you can follow at 
	@BK_KOMM@social.admin.ch. <a href="https://gnulinux.ch/die-fedigov-initiative-zeigt-erfolg">Read 
	more about it (in German)</a>.</p><p>An important impulse for a free internet at the right time, the 
	#fediversefachtag at the VHS Forum in Cologne. Many thanks for the great 
	commitment of the organisers! This is a wonderful impulse for us in 
	#mediaeducation. – 	@thowelsch@bonn.social</p><h3>Software Freedom Day: Ada goes to Italy - ice cream and inclusiveness included!</h3><p>We celebrated Software Freedom Day in Italy with the <a href="news/2023/news-20230907-01.fr.html">first reading of the story of Ada 
in Italian</a>. The reading, co-organised with the Bergamo Linux User 
Group, took place in Nembro. After that, there was a workshop for the 
children, and everyone enjoyed homemade ice cream thanks to one of our 
volunteers!</p><p>Have you realized that one of the characters in the 
book has a 3D leg? (I am sure you are currently looking for it - I did 
too 😉-). <a href="https://k7r.eu/importance-of-more-inclusive-illustrations">Some 
kids at an impairment hospital in the Middle East noticed 
it and were really happy about it</a>. Another example of how 
inclusiveness is important in tech… and in illustrations.</p><p>Our local group in Berlin also celebrated Software Freedom Day with a 
meeting. How did it go? <a href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/tobiasd/2023/09/17/software-freedom-day-2023-in-berli">Read 
about it (in 
German)</a>.</p><h3>The Netherlands: Important points for the election</h3><p>The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is committed to empower users 
to control technology to digital civil rights, transparency and control 
over technology. It does this by promoting Free Software (also known as 
Open Source Software). In addition, Free Software promotes innovation 
and prevents vendor lock-in. <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230906-01.html">Digital sovereignty is only 
possible with 
Free Software</a>.</p><h3>What is #FreeSoftware video - Thanks for a successful campaign!</h3><p>Thanks!! Your support for this initiative helped us to be able to 
 translate this video into more languages. Thanks to your contribution 
 we have the video currently in Albanian, Danish, Dutch, English, 
 French, German, Greek, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and 
 Swedish. <a href="https://media.fsfe.org/w/p/9gYSyoEYggsqBExLWjRejL">You can find all of them here</a>.</p><p>Our campaign has just ended but if you still want to contribute to have the video 
 translated into even more languages, you can still <a href="https://fsfe.org/donate?mtm_campaign=video">support us with a 
 contribution</a>. </p><h3>Take action! Ada Lovelace 
Day</h3>
     <img src="media/3033cdc6.ee6217359ddd3df59299a601c3b1.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/b6/f2/ee6217359ddd3df59299a601c3b1.jpg"/>
       <p>Ada Lovelace Day is an international celebration of the 
achievements of women in STEM, held every year on the second Tuesday of 
October. A perfect way to celebrate it is with an ‘Ada &amp; Zangemann’ 
reading! We will be having one  at a school in Berlin so if you want 
to celebrate it, take action and organise one (and let us know).</p><p>"I really like 'Ada &amp; Zangemann'. At FrOSCon 2023 on short notice I got 
the chance to do a reading. I went for an interactive format with the 
audience helping to read the book. It was a wonderful collaborative 
experience. The slides are great and one for each picture in the book 
is a dead easy approach to understand. My daughter joined me on stage 
and she had a great time too! In case you are wondering if you should 
do a reading too: Grab the book, get the slides - it really is easy and 
a rewarding experience no less." Isabel Drost-Fromm, member of the 
Apache Software Foundation, co-founder and board member of the 
InnerSource Commons Foundation.</p><p>Plus, this day is a perfect occasion to 
get the book and give it to any girl you know to encourage her to 
study and work in STEM!</p><h3>Save the date! SFScon</h3><p>We are warming up for SFScon! The South Tyrol Free Software Conference in Bolzano will 
be this year on 10-11 November. We will be there with a booth and 
several talks so if you are planning to go, come and say hi!</p><p>The European SFS Award ceremony will take centre stage on the 
first day of the SFSCON conference. <a href="https://sfscon.it/eu-sfs-award-nomination/">Nominate the Free 
Software Contributor of 2023 for the European SFS Award!</a> Help us to 
find great 
Free Software contributors by telling us who should receive this award!</p><p>Until SFScon we will have more events! For example, in October we 
are having the Award Ceremony for the second edition of YH4F and a booth at 
an additional Veganmania edition in Vienna as this year it is 
celebrating its 25th Anniversary. <a href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/franz.gratzer/">(Read how it went this 
summer there)</a>.Stay tuned at <a href="https://fsfe.org/events/events.html">fsfe.org/events</a>!</p><h3>Quote of the Month</h3>
  <p>“40 years ago, a group of hackers came together to do what seemed 
	impossible -- write a fully free operating system that gave users 
	full control over their computers. They proved that it could be 
	done, by doing it. Everyone feeling hopelessness about the state of 
	modern computing -- mobile surveillance devices in our pockets, 
	black-box AI threatening the fabric of society, streaming and 
	publishing companies trying to claim all human culture and 
	knowledge as their own by virtue of their control over the digital 
	distribution platforms -- should look to the example of GNU's 
	origin to know that we *can* actually get out from under this, if 
	we come together in support of each other and do our best to reject 
	what's being forced on us.“ John Sullivan, Alliterative Advising 
	LLC, former Free Software Foundation Executive Director</p>
<p><a href="https://fsfe.org/about/softwarefreedom/testimonials.html">Check out more quotes about GNU's 40th anniversary</a></p><h3>Contribute to our Newsletter</h3><p>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 <a href="https://fsfe.org/donate/donate.html">support 
us</a>, <a href="https://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.html">contribute to our 
work</a>, <a href="https://fsfe.org/about/groups.html">and join our community</a>. 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. </p><p>Your editor, Ana Galán</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20231011-01
uri: Joint-Statement-by-Free-Software-Foundation-Europe-and-Software-Freedo
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20231011-01.fr.html
title:
Joint Statement by Free Software Foundation Europe and Software Freedom Conservancy Regarding Eben Moglen and Software Freedom Law Center

content:
<h1>Joint Statement by Free Software Foundation Europe and Software Freedom Conservancy Regarding Eben Moglen and Software Freedom Law Center</h1><p>Both Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) and <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/news/2023/oct/11/joint-statement-fsfe/">Software Freedom
Conservancy (SFC)</a> are committed to defending and expanding software freedom
and the rights to use, understand, share and improve their software.</p>
  <img src="media/6e8b37b4.2f17ef7aadf4fe570b22e3a6fb50.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/03/69/2f17ef7aadf4fe570b22e3a6fb50.png"/>
  <p>As part of this work, both FSFE and SFC strive to create a software freedom community that is egalitarian, fair, kind, and welcoming to everyone.
  Sadly, though, we are also aware that toxic behavior, bullying, and other violations of
  Codes of Conduct do occur throughout our community. As such, both
  organizations make substantial efforts to protect our volunteers and staff
  from bad behavior.</p><p>Historically, both FSFE and SFC collaborated and coordinated with a third organization &amp;
Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC), and specifically with SFLC's founder/President/Executive Director, Eben Moglen.
However, some time ago, both our organizations ended our collaborations and affiliations with SFLC.
Furthermore, both FSFE and SFC now have internal policies to avoid any situations where our employees or volunteers might work directly with Moglen.</p><p>We arrived at these decisions through our organizational 
processes. After years of reported abusive behavior by Moglen 
toward members of the staff and volunteers of both organizations, each 
organization independently made a categorical rule that we would avoid 
Eben Moglen and not invite him to our events and fora. (Examples of reports of his behavior &amp; towards <a href="https://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v/ttabvue-92066968-CAN-109.pdf#page=8">SFC 
staff (page 8)</a>, <a href="https://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v/ttabvue-92066968-CAN-109.pdf#page=51">FSFE 
staff (page 51)</a>, and <a href="https://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v/ttabvue-92066968-CAN-122.pdf#page=28">others 
(page 28)</a> &amp; have been (with reluctance) documented publicly 
in the proceedings of the ongoing <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2017/nov/03/sflc-legal-action/">trademark 
cancellation petition that SFLC filed against SFC</a> in the <a href="https://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?pno=92066968">United States 
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board</a>).</p><p>Today, we share &amp; with the community at large &amp; our 
policy to not work with Moglen or SFLC. We have chosen to speak publicly 
on this matter because we feel we have an obligation to warn volunteers 
and activists in software freedom that this pattern of reported behavior exists. Of course, everyone should read the 
publicly available source materials and make their own decisions 
regarding these matters. While we loathe to publicly speak of these 
unfortunate events, the decades of ongoing reports of abusive 
behavior &amp; and the risk that behavior creates for unknowing 
members of the Free Software community ultimately requires that we no 
longer remain quiet on this issue.</p><p>Abusive behavior is a distraction from the mission of any activist 
organization. We urge everyone to separate themselves as best they can 
from such behavior (and from those who tolerate and/or employ it), and 
focus on the important work of increasing software freedom.</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20231017-01
title: Find out our YH4F second edition winners!
uri: Find-out-our-YH4F-second-edition-winners
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20231017-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>Find out our YH4F second edition winners!</h1><p>
A real-time plotter for microcontrollers; a classroom quiz platform; a 
radio tool; a device that provides bags to pick up your dog's poo; a game 
engine to help non-programmers develop their ideas; and a program to 
search for a file on your computer by its hash. These are the six 
projects that won the 2023 edition of Youth Hacking 4 Freedom.
</p>
  <img src="media/409a6d03.b6fa63ad71ff1514b06dbdbe2434.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/8c/66/b6fa63ad71ff1514b06dbdbe2434.jpg"/>
  <p>
If you are into coding, whatever your level is, you want to meet other 
Europeans teenagers, you want to develop a project, and you want to win 
a cash prize, <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/yh4f/">Youth Hacking 4 Freedom</a> is 
for you! This coding contest for young Europeans, organized by the Free 
Software Foundation Europe, has just closed its second edition with the 
Award Ceremony weekend in Brussels where the six winners had the chance 
to  present their projects in front of their families, jury members, and after this 
weekend, new friends.
</p><p>
The winners' journey began almost a year ago, when they signed up to 
take part in the 2023 edition, which kicked off with six months of 
coding. The goal? To present a Free Software project that they had 
developed or improved. During this time, they met online regularly  and 
received advice not only from experts but also from their peers. Afterwars
a broad group of technology experts, <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/yh4f/jury.html">the YH4F jury</a>, got to evaluate the 
project.
</p><p>
After a tough judging process due to the high quality of the 
projects submitted, the six winners, who will receive cash prizes 
ranging from €4,096 to €1,024 each, are the following:
</p><ol>
<li><strong>Ultimate Hacker Award:</strong> Davide Rorato for ArduPlot</li>  
<li><strong>Elite Hacker Award:</strong> Marlon Wolff for ClassQuiz</li>
<li><strong>Awesome Award:</strong> Simon Sommer for OpenRadio</li>  
<li><strong>Best Maker Award:</strong> Oriol Villegas Martin for DogBag4City</li>
<li><strong>Best Freedom Project Award:</strong> Marius Angermann for Artix Engine</li> 
<li><strong>Best Power User Tool Award:</strong> Matthias Kaak for hashfindutils</li>
</ol>
  <img src="media/146ba488.09c1b2c58f3969b007f06f8e40dd.JPG" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/b9/e5/09c1b2c58f3969b007f06f8e40dd.JPG"/>
  
<p>"Like last year, we were really impressed by the projects submitted, 
and even more so considering that we had a lot of submissions from 
really young teenagers. The jury had a hard time evaluating the 
projects, which not only includes considering if the idea can be useful 
for the community but also how the process was and its code quality. 
After this successful edition, and a really joyful weekend with the 
winners, their families and the jury, we cannot wait to announce the new edition 
soon", stated Alexander Sander, FSFE policy consultant and YH4F project 
manager.</p>
<p>Check out 2022 <a href="https://fsfe.org/tags/tagged-yh4f-project.html">YH4F projects</a>, <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2022/news-20221004-01.html">winners</a> and a <a href="https://media.fsfe.org/w/wWUP7M5fJg2FcvG2Fv12sN">video about the 2022 Award Ceremony weekend</a>.</p><h2>2023 Youth Hacking 4 Freedom winners’ projects</h2><h3>Get a good understanding of your data with this plotter displaying it in different graphs</h3>
<p>“I participated in the first edition and I didn’t win, so this year  I tried again”</p>
Davide, Ultimate Hacker Award winner
 <p><a href="https://github.com/Dave879/MicroPlot">ArduPlot</a> is a 
real-time plotter for microcontrollers that uses a custom protocol to 
send data to be displayed in different graphs. Normally it acts as a 
traditional serial console, but when a specially formatted packet is 
received, it is parsed and converted into different visualisations, such 
as heat maps or line graphs. This allows the microcontroller to choose 
how best to display the data it has access to. It can also specify 
whether or not the data should be aggregated into the same graph, giving 
the user more flexibility.
</p>
  <img src="media/b7e53686.3fd471428caca234f3821998ecbd.JPG" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/fe/55/3fd471428caca234f3821998ecbd.JPG"/>
<h3>An interactive quiz platforms for the classroom</h3>
<p>“I wanted to create a privacy friendly version of Kahoot! so students 
do not get tracked while using it, which I think it is really 
important!"</p>
Marlon, Elite Hacker winner
<p>
<a href="https://github.com/mawoka-myblock/ClassQuiz/">ClassQuiz</a> 
serves as an alternative to Kahoot!, offering an interactive quiz 
platform for educators and presenters to create and host quizzes. 
Participants can compete by answering questions on their own devices, 
similar to the Kahoot! experience, while maintaining their privacy, 
which is especially important for an application intended to be used at 
schools.
</p>
  <img src="media/b237c74d.677c3dd11090d97aaf5ea791ca81.JPG" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/76/32/677c3dd11090d97aaf5ea791ca81.JPG"/>
  <h3>Listen to any radio stream from around the world! Clock alarm included ;)</h3>
<p>"This is my first big project that I have worked on alone. I had 
never done anything like this before and it was also a good opportunity 
to meet people and see other people's ideas!</p> 
Simon, Awesome Hacker winner
<p>
<a href="https://gitlab.com/1337Misom/OpenRadio">OpenRadio</a> is a 
Desktop app combining Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), internet radio 
and alarm into one single app. It is written in Python and Gtk3 is used 
for the GUI. The code is licensed under GPL-3. Unfortunately it can’t 
bring you breakfast in the morning.
</p>
  <img src="media/1c5fc3a1.8df2c7422c7bc16ef1193fd39962.JPG" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/fd/88/8df2c7422c7bc16ef1193fd39962.JPG"/>
  <h3>Get a free bag for your dog’s poo, exactly when you need it!</h3>
<p>"My IT teacher told me about this contests and as I had an idea I 
went ahead! As a participant, you have  nothing to lose and a lot to 
gain”</p>
Oriol, Best Maker winner
<p>
<a href="https://sites.google.com/iessitges.cat/oriolvillegasmartin/">DogBag4City</a> 
is an intelligent device that provides dog owners with small bags to 
collect their dogs' excrements. The user has a key that releases a bag 
at no cost to the user. No more “I forgot my bag excuse!”
</p>
  <img src="media/5de5d5bd.56c3a5494647d59556bb4554b9d4.JPG" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/3e/fc/56c3a5494647d59556bb4554b9d4.JPG"/>
  <h3>Make your game idea a reality without coding!</h3>
<p>"My father found out about the contest by reading news on the 
internet and encouraged me to participate. I wanted to understand how a 
game engine works, so I decided to try to start one myself.</p>
Marius, Best Freedom Project winner
<p>
<a href="https://www.github.com/MariusAngermann08/Artix-Engine">Artix 
Engine</a> is a user-friendly 2D game engine written in Python, designed 
to empower non-programmers in bringing their game ideas to life. Through 
a visual programming system, it enables users to visually define game 
logic.
</p>
  <img src="media/e96b39d5.ea4d144613f78060fde87dc0341d.JPG" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/58/c3/ea4d144613f78060fde87dc0341d.JPG"/>
  <h3>Need to find a file? Do it using its hash!</h3>
<p>I thought it could be fun for me to participate so I submitted a project</p>  
Matthias, Best Power User Tool winner
<p>
<a href="https://codeberg.org/zvavybir/hashfindutils">hashfindutils</a> is a program to efficiently search on your 
computer for a file whose hash you somehow already know. It helps you 
for example, to know if you have already downloaded a file or to find 
out duplicate and delete duplicated ones.
</p>
  <img src="media/2bcd72e9.602965150bc4ea1bb15e23aa1a60.JPG" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/06/5e/602965150bc4ea1bb15e23aa1a60.JPG"/>
  <h2>2023 Youth Hacking 4 Freedom: the competition</h2><p>
The second award edition started in January 2023 with almost 70 
registered young people from all over Europe who spent six months 
working on their own projects. Throughout the process, they had the 
opportunity to discuss their progress and solve their doubts in a 
monthly online meeting with experts and their peers. They also had a 
dedicated Youth Hacking 4 Freedom Matrix room where they could share 
progress, problems and success and also the FSFE team was available to 
answer their questions.
</p><p>
Once the projects had been submitted, the jury, made up of a wide range 
of experts in different technical areas, evaluated the projects. They 
did this first in an individual round and then, after choosing the final 
projects, through an online interview with the participants, who had to 
present their projects and answer the experts’ questions.
</p><p>
Finally, the six winners came to Brussels for the award ceremony, where 
they and one of their relatives enjoyed an invited weekend, which was 
possible thanks to the financial support of our donor Reinhard 
Wiesemann, full of activities and fun with the other winners and jury 
members, culminating in the award ceremony where the names of the 
winners were announced and the winners had the opportunity to present 
their projects.
</p><h2>YH4F 2024</h2><p>If you want to join YH4F 2024 edition <a href="https://survey.fsfe.org/index.php/658534">you can already sign up 
by registering here</a>. The coding period is expected to be from 
01.01.2024 to 30.06.2024. Details for the next edition will be shared 
soon.</p><h2>Sponsorship 2024</h2><p>
We are looking for Sponsors for our YH4F 2024 edition. We will share 
information on sponsorship levels soon. Meanwhile, you can check out our <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/yh4f/media.html">media kit</a>
</p><p>
If you are interested you, please send an email to 
contact@fsfe.org with “YH4F sponsorship” in the subject.
</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20231020-01
title: Software Freedom in Europe 2023
uri: Software-Freedom-in-Europe-2023
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20231020-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>Software Freedom in Europe 2023</h1><p>In 2023, Software Freedom has been back on stage, while we have boosted 
our activities for the coming generations with our children's book and 
the coding competition for young Europeans. We have also continued to 
bring our demands to lawmakers, helped projects to become REUSE 
compliant and we have shared many great moments with our community.</p>
  <img src="media/91515354.859c3e5ca2979bdc7082617790b8.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/5e/5b/859c3e5ca2979bdc7082617790b8.png"/>
  
<p/>
<p><strong>40 Years of Software Freedom!</strong> The 40th anniversary of the launch of the 
GNU Project, which marked the beginning of the software 
freedom movement, has led us to look back at all that we have achieved over 
the past four decades, but also at the challenges that lie ahead in the 
years to come.</p><p>Since the 1980s, technology has become an increasingly 
important part of our lives: we use devices at home to make our daily 
tasks easier, most of us use a laptop at work, we use technology in our 
leisure time (playing, travelling...). And this year, Artificial 
Intelligence has jumped in in a lot of our debates, as it has become a hot 
topic in the public sphere.</p><p>Our movement has become global and broad encompassing 
small local companies, large global corporations, civil society 
organisations and thousands of professionals. We are all working 
towards a world where the <a href="https://fsfe.org/freesoftware/index.html#freedoms">four freedoms</a> are 
guaranteed: users are free 
to use software , to adapt it to their needs, and are able to understand 
it, and to share it. These rights support other fundamental rights such as 
freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and privacy.</p><p>However, just like 40 years ago, we still need trustworthy systems that put the end 
user in control. Recent technological developments show that this 
is more important than ever: in the era of the Artificial Intelligence 
we need remember to put people's rights first. In a 
world that communicates through social media, we need decentralised and 
federated networks that are not controlled by an autocratic individual. 
In a time in which we are surrounded by devices, we need not only to be 
able to use them, but also to understand them and to improve them, 
adapting them to our necessities and needs.</p><p>In this scenario, we need to empower new generations. They are the first 
generation, many of whom have had 24/7 access to the internet, connected 
devices and social media networks since birth. As a result, their 
comfort level with technology is quite high. However, in order to build 
a democratic, transparent and trustworthy society that relies more and 
more on our technological developments, our children also need to 
understand, tinker and experiment with technology.</p><p>The history of humanity has been written through creativity, diversity and collaboration. 
Tinkering, first with our hands and now additionally with computer technology, has helped us 
to evolve, to learn from our mistakes and from the experience and 
knowledge of others.  Let's give our current and future generations the 
right to do the same. Let's give them the power to shape our 
technology and make it their own. Why show them that there is only vanilla when we 
have endless flavours?</p><p>
  Our Software Freedom in Europe 2023 report covers the FSFE's activities from 
  November 2022 to August 2023. We hope it gives you a better 
  understanding of our daily work and that you enjoy reading it!</p><p/>
  <p>Table of contents</p>
  <ol>
    <li><a href="#ada-zangemann">Ada &amp; Zangemann: a story that travels the world</a></li>
    <li><a href="#yh4f">Youth Hacking 4 Freedom: A coding competition</a></li>
    <li><a href="#pmpc">Public Money, Public Code!: simple, right?</a></li>
    <li><a href="#eu-policy">Liability, Interoperability and Free Software </a><a href="https://webpreview.fsfe.org/cgi/fsfe.pl#pmpc">in the EU</a><strong> </strong></li>
    <li><a href="#legal">Legal Support: helping projects and individuals</a></li>
		<ol>
		<li><a href="">REUSE: making licensing easier</a></li>
		<li><a href="">Legal Education Day 2022</a></li>
		<li><a href="">Legal support, research, innovation and standardization: participation in EU projects</a></li>
		<li><a href="">Legal Network and LLW 23</a></li>
		</ol>
    <li><a href="#tedective">TEDective: making European public procurement data explorable</a></li>
    <li><a href="#device-neutrality">Device Neutrality: taking control of devices</a></li>
		<ol>
		<li><a href="">Upcycling Android: free your device and “become greener”</a></li>
		<li><a href="">Router Freedom: a EU demand</a></li>
		</ol>
    <li><a href="#public-awareness">Our work on public awareness</a></li>
		<ol>
			<li><a href="">I Love Free Software Day: Meet &amp; Connect</a></li>
			<li><a href="">Software Freedom Podcast: giving a voice to our community</a></li>
			<li><a href="">Free Software and Federated social networks</a></li>
			<li><a href="">‘What is Free Software’ Video</a></li>
			<li><a href="">Back to the stages, the booths, and “the hugs”!</a></li>
		</ol>
    <li><a href="#movement">Join the movement</a></li>
  </ol>
<h2>Ada &amp; Zangemann: a story that travels the world</h2>
  <p>
	“I loved the book; I found the theme very important and 
	interesting, and the message delighted me (first the 
	resourcefulness of Ada, then the demonstration which unites the 
	whole city, and finally the Parliament which learns from its 
	mistakes). This book is exactly what I want to pass on to my 
	children!”
  </p>
  Canelle A., 18-year-old student translator in a Parisian high school
<p>The illustrated book <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/ada-zangemann/index.html">'Ada 
&amp; Zangemann - A Tale of Software, 
Skateboards, and Raspberry Ice Cream'</a> by the FSFE, tells the story of 
the famous inventor Zangemann and the girl Ada, a curious tinkerer. Ada 
begins to experiment with hardware and software, and in the process 
realises how crucial it is for her and others to control technology.</p><p>The book is currently available in German and now also <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230831-01.html">
in English</a>. However, thanks to many volunteers, Ada &amp; Zangemann is also being translated into other 
languages such as French, Italian, Danish or Valencian. These community 
translations and and other resources can be 
found in the <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/ada-zangemann/index.html">book's git 
repository</a>.</p>
  <p>
  "The youth at the Elizabeth Peabody House enjoyed the reading of 
  Ada &amp; Zangemann. It was a fun and engaging read; vivid illustrations, 
  colors, and details on each page kept them excited for what came next. 
  The youth could relate to Ada, as they are full of great, creative 
  ideas; that they hope to bring to life too" 
  </p>
  Matthew Caughey, Executive Director, The Elizabeth Peabody House
<p>Over the past few months, the story of Ada &amp; Zangemann has also been spread through readings. More 
than 900 people have already attended in one of these events in 
Germany, Italy, Belgium, and the USA.  Started by the author, Matthias 
Kirschner, the readings are currently being carried out by other 
FSFE staff and volunteers! For example, Bonnie Mehring read it at 
CCCamp, Dario Presutti read it in Italy to celebrate the Software Freedom Day 
and the volunteer Isabel Dross-Fromm read it, with the help of her 
child, at FrOSCon.</p>
  <img src="media/714995bd.8292cd02453d853aa4b72036385d7940.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/8292cd02453d853aa4b72036385d7940.jpg"/>
  <p>Ada also went overseas to <a href="https://media.fsfe.org/w/6brjbMKJMKkQ5f1jktkhaa">LibrePlanet, the 
FSF's annual conference</a>, and we found out that she made it to <a href="https://unstructured.studio/blog/a-storytelling-session-about-software-and-ice-cream-in-rural-rajasthan/">
rural Rajasthan</a>, and to a hospital school in the Middle East, where 
impaired children from that region realised a small detail that most 
readers may have missed: <a href="https://k7r.eu/importance-of-more-inclusive-illustrations/">Ada 
&amp; Zangemann is also about inclusivity</a>. In the book there is a 
girl with a 3D printed leg. Did you notice 
it?</p>
  <p>
  "I read this book to my 6-year old child who was drawn by the beautiful illustrations and couldn’t 
  wait to hear the story. It’s been the start of a much-needed 
  conversation on out-of-the-box thinking, digital freedom, and 
  contesting power in the age of surveillance." 
  </p>
  Claire Fernandez, Executive Director, European Digital Rights (EDRi)
<p>Moreover Matthias Kirschner was invited to participate in different 
podcasts, to talk about the book and Free Software:</p><ul>
  <li>
  iheartSTEAM - <a href="https://iheartsteam.com/free-software-for-all-let-a-childrens-book-explain-the-concept/">Free 
  Software for All? Let a Children’s Book Explain the Concept!</a>
  </li>
  <li>
  Linux Inlaws - <a href="https://www-tracey.archive.org/details/LI_S01E82_Ada_and_Zangemann_a_childrens_book_about_FLOSS__3D61">Ada 
  &amp; Zangemann: a children’s book about FLOSS</a> (book reading)
  </li>
  <li>LinuxUnplugged - <a href="https://linuxunplugged.com/510">Episode 510: Thinking in Decades’</a></li>
  <li>
  The Fight to RepaiR – <a href="https://fighttorepair.substack.com/p/ep-16-matthias-kirschner-wrote-a#details">Episode 
  17</a>
  </li>
</ul><h2>Youth Hacking 4 Freedom: A coding competition </h2>
  <img src="media/ac73b3a7.0b5182d1811b20495b4b2820d55b24da.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/0b5182d1811b20495b4b2820d55b24da.jpg"/>
  <p>Two years ago the FSFE launched the first round of the <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/yh4f/index.html">Youth Hacking 
4 Freedom (YH4F)</a> coding contest. YH4F is an initiative aiming to raise 
awareness for Free Software among the younger generation. The
competition encourages teenagers to tinker and experiment with 
technology. It gives participants the opportunity to discuss and network 
with important people in the field of computer science and Free 
Software. The winners are rewarded with a trip to Brussels and a cash 
prize, which could be an investment for their own project. Have a look 
at Bonnie Mehring’s <a href="https://media.fsfe.org/w/ibNDS7ojB7eHpenrXS835d%20">talk about the YH4F competition at the 
Augsburger Linux-Infotag 2023</a> (in German).</p><p>After the successful conclusion of the first round in 2022, the FSFE 
organised the second round, which launched at the beginning of this year.</p><p><strong>First edition:</strong> The winners of the first edition had 
the chance to spend a joyful time in Brussels, where the awards 
ceremony took place. The weekend was summarised in a <a href="https://media.fsfe.org/w/wWUP7M5fJg2FcvG2Fv12sN ">short video</a> and this year we have published <a href="https://fsfe.org/tags/tagged-yh4f-project.html">interviews with the 
participants</a> to learn 
more about their backgrounds and the projects they developed.</p>
  
  
    Watch the video of the two day trip to Brussels where the winners 
    met, explored the city, and received their awards. For subtitles, 
    watch it in our <a href="https://media.fsfe.org/w/wWUP7M5fJg2FcvG2Fv12sN">Peertube 
    instance</a>
  
<p><strong>Second edition:</strong> the winners of the 2023 edition 
were announced at the Awards Ceremony, held in Brussels in mid-October. 
Over the coming months, we will be publishing interviews with 
the participants about their projects. So <strong>stay tuned</strong>!</p><h2>‘Public Money? Public Code!: simple, right?</h2><p><a href="https://publiccode.eu/">Software made with public money should 
be released as Free Software</a>. Simple and clear, right? Over the past 
few months, we have continued our activities to raise awareness of this 
initiative and to explain why it is important.</p>
  <img src="media/0ca18767.5dae5dc7f959958de47d01ea151264b1.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/big/5dae5dc7f959958de47d01ea151264b1.jpg"/>
  <p><strong>Free Software in German municipalities:</strong> In January, we hosted an 
online event on Free Software in Dortmund, Germany, with the 
participation of the local government and more than 160 other community 
representatives. Under the title <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2022/news-20221215-02.html">"Municipalities need Free 
Software"</a> 
the participants were informed about the developments leading to a 
newly founded OSPO in Dortmund, about "Public Money? Public Code!", 
Free Software as the key to digital sovereignty, and new perspectives 
for municipalities that want to use Free Software. The event, <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230119-01.html">that was 
recorded</a>, was organised in cooperation with Do-FOSS and OK.NRW.</p><p>As a result of the event, the FSFE invited all participants and others from 
municipal administrations to join our <a href="mailto:fs-kommunen@lists.fsfe.org">new mailing list </a>on Free 
Software in German municipalities, which currently has more than 200 
subscribers.</p><p>
<strong>A German “Sovereign Workplace” for public 
administrations:</strong> The current German government is working on a 
sovereign workplace, a Free Software office and collaboration suite for 
the public sector, as one of the projects to fulfil the goals of the 
coalition agreement. However, <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230606-01.html">a closer look at the project 
raises 
questions</a> such as: Where is the source code? Who is responsible for it? 
What happens to the public money involved? We asked the German Federal 
Ministry of the Interior and Community (BMI) <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230920-01.html">and publicly analysed the 
answers</a>, criticising the German state-owned enterprise Dataport for 
open-washing its pseudo-sovereign product dPhoenixSuite.
</p><p>If you are 
interested in this topic, check out Johannes Näder's talk about it at 
FrOSCon: <a href="https://app.media.ccc.de/v/froscon2023-2886-freie_software_fur_deutschlands_verwaltungen">“Free 
Software for German administrations? Mysteries around 
the Souvereign Workplace”</a> (in German).</p><p>
<strong>Midterm evaluation of the German government: </strong>In 
addition, the FSFE, together with an alliance of civil society, scientific 
institutions and the Free Software industry, published a call to the 
German government to <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230829-01.html">implement a sustainable digital 
policy and to 
provide the necessary funds in the federal budget</a>. We draw a negative 
mid-term balance for the digital policy of the German government and 
demand a change towards Free Software and Public Money? Public 
Code!
</p><p>
<strong>PMPC in Italy:</strong> <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2022/news-20220531-01.html">Six  Public Money, Public Code! 
events were held in Italy</a>, in six different cities: from the 
extreme north to the extreme south: Trento, Bologna, Caltanissetta, 
Milan, Bolzano, and Empoli. The events were run entirely by volunteers.
</p><p><strong>Public Awareness:</strong> In this context, we got an 
article on <a href="media/47058531.CCP_DigitalCivilSociety_Access-OpenTech.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.ifa.de/fileadmin/Content/docs/foerderungen/CCP_Programm/CCP_DigitalCivilSociety_Access-OpenTech.pdf">Free 
Software to control technology</a> published (pages 
11-12[18-21]) (pdf) in “Access OpenTech" for the CrossCulture Programme 
(CCP) by ifa. You can also listen (in German) to Johannes Näder 
explaining in the <a href="https://egovernment-podcast.com/egov139-fsfe-pmpc/">eGovernment-Podcast 
our initiative Public Money? 
Public Code!</a> initiative and why Free Software is important for administrations and 
their digital sovereignty. One episode of our Software Freedom Podcast also covers this topic with 
Petter Joelson, the director of Digidem Lab, discussing <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/podcast/episode-17.html">citizen participation and the 
Decidm tool</a>.</p><p>Do not forget to support the Public Money, Public Code! initiative 
by <a href="https://publiccode.eu/openletter/">signing the Open 
Letter</a>, <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2022/news-20220823-01.html">sharing your 
picture</a> on your social 
networks and talking about to your local authorities.</p><h2>Liability, Interoperability and Free Software in the EU</h2><p>Political decisions and policies have a major impact on Free Software, 
its ecosystems and its communities. The FSFE has long-standing 
experience of working with policy makers and public bodies in Europe, 
from local administrations to high level decision makers. The FSFE aims 
to strength the rights of Free Software users and developers, and works 
to abolish barriers to the adoption of Free Software.</p><p>In the coming months, we expect the following legislation to be adopted in the EU: <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230824-01.html">Liability Act, AI Act, CRA and 
Interoperability 
Act</a>.</p>
     <img src="media/7f7f9685.278c7c68effc3bb373e271be722e93ee.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/big/278c7c68effc3bb373e271be722e93ee.jpg"/>
      <p>
<strong>Liability / AI Act</strong>: The EU is debating
the introduction of liability rules for software, including Free 
Software. The relevant proposals are the AI Act, the Product Liability 
	Directive (PLD), and the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA). As currently 
	proposed, all of these proposals would harm the Free Software ecosystem 
	and hence society and the economy. Therefore, we first
	proposed changes to the AI Act to safeguard Free Software 
	developers, and also presented a similar position on the proposed 
	liability rules in the CRA and PLD during a hearing in the European 
	Parliament. In light of the CRA, we propose <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230719-01.html">a solution that 
	will lead to more security while safeguarding the Free Software 
	ecosystem</a>:
</p><ol> 
    <li>
    Liability should be shifted to those deploying Free Software instead 
    of those  developing Free Software and
    </li> 
	<li>
	Those who significantly financially benefit from this deployment should 
	make sure the software becomes CE-compliant.
	</li> 
	</ol><p>
<strong>Interoperable Europe Act</strong>: With the 
proposed Interoperable Europe Act, the EU aims to 
	create a dedicated legal framework for interoperability that will 
	enhance cross-border digital public services across the Union. 
	During the past year, <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230323-02.html">the FSFE has been advocating for a more 
	inclusive governance structure in this legislation</a>, where different 
	stakeholders, including the Free Software community, can be part of 
	the Interoperable Europe Board. A proper monitoring workflow and 
	evaluation process together with a dedicated budget are also part of our 
	demands.
</p><p>The EU Parliament has followed some of our demands by taking a 
	step forward towards a more inclusive board while introducing 
	clearer indicators and statistics to monitor the progress of the 
	Act. On the other hand, the Council is moving in the opposite 
	direction by hindering <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230623-01.html">the 
	inclusion of relevant stakeholders in the 
	governance structure</a>. A final agreement between the three EU 
	institutions is expected to be reached by the end of this year, and the 
	FSFE calls on the European Parliament to maintain
	its position and not allow any backsliding.</p><p>You can get a deeper understanding of the Interoperable European Act by 
	listening to Lina Ceballos explaining <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/podcast/episode-21.html">why Free Software should be 
	considered and safeguarded in such EU legislation</a> in an episode of 
	our Software Freedom Podcast.</p>
     <img src="media/dbb32f54.fd4cdcfc9469a641626b5eb71aa4.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/b0/1a/fd4cdcfc9469a641626b5eb71aa4.jpg"/>
       <p/><p><strong>EU Declaration of Digital Rights: </strong>Member States, the 
	European Parliament and the Commission have 
	reached a consensus on <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2022/news-20221206-01.html">the Declaration of Digital Rights and 
	Principles</a>. Although it is intended to serve as a reference point 
	for Europe's digital transformation, it instead dives into murky 
	waters, causing ambiguity. Its wording is unclear and it overlooks 
	existing good proposals. The EU Parliament's proposal had a clear 
	reference to Free Software as a way to ensure transparency in the 
	use of algorithms and artificial intelligence, as well as the 
	importance of Open Standards. Unfortunately, this wording was not 
	retained during the inter-institutional negotiations, and the 
	final text ended up being rather unclear.</p><p>The FSFE has also been working on the protection of open standards. 
	While Alexander Sander participated as a panellist in the Open 
	Standards and Industrial Use of Open Source workshop, part of the 
	<a href="https://swforum.eu/os-standards">SWForum</a>, a few months 
	ago we responded to <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/13109-Intellectual-property-new-framework-for-standard-essential-patents/F3434433_en">the 
	EC Intellectual Property Consultation on a new framework for 
	standard-essential patents</a>.</p><p>Furthermore, the FSFE’s co-founder and programmer Bernhard E. Reiter 
	explained <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2022/news-20221026-02.html">why Free Software 
	supporters should join the protest against 
	the EU Chat control</a>, that deprives citizens of the privacy of digital 
	correspondence. And related to  AI, this year our volunteer Vincent 
	Lequertier published several interesting articles on 
	<a href="https://vl8r.eu/">ethics, Free Software, and AI</a> in Planet FSFE.</p><h2>Legal Support: helping projects and individuals</h2><p>At the Free Software Foundation Europe we help answer licensing questions, provide 
technical support to make licensing easier (among others, with REUSE), 
provide legal education materials on Free Software, such as the videos 
from the Legal Education Day, and organise an annual conference for the 
FSFE's legal network, the Free Software Legal and Licensing Workshop 
(LLW). We are also part of several EU-funded projects, helping with 
legal concepts and issues.</p><h3>REUSE: making licensing easier</h3><p>The FSFE's <a href="https://reuse.software/">REUSE project</a> aims to 
make licensing easy for people and machines alike. It solves one of the 
most common Free Software licensing problems: what kind of licence a 
file is licensed under, and who owns the copyright. REUSE provides 
simple recommendations in three steps to help users, developers, and 
legal professionals.</p><p><strong>Reuse 3.0:</strong> In 2023 we release the REUSE Specification 3.0. This specification defines a 
standardized method for declaring copyright and licensing for software 
projects. The goal of the specification is to have unambiguous, human- 
and machine-readable copyright and licensing information for each 
individual file in a project. Ideally this information is embedded into 
every file, so that the information is preserved when the file is 
copied and reused by third parties.</p><p>Several projects have adopted REUSE, <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2022/news-20221219-01.html">being GNU Health one of them</a>. Since then, 
users and re-users of GNU Health have been able to have a clear 
overview of the copyright notices and licence terms thanks to the 
standardised way of displaying them by following the REUSE 
specification.</p>
  <img src="media/42c1f1d5.4eb56261d494ee21ff1f40c43aea.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/3d/ca/4eb56261d494ee21ff1f40c43aea.png"/>
  <p>At the end of 2022, and during this present year, we have presented the REUSE 
initiative at diverse conferences throughout Europe, such as SFSCON or 
FOSDEM. Our talk at the Weizenbaum Conference 2022 “Practicing 
Sovereignty – Interventions for Open Digital Futures” <a href="media/cfdf5659.Proceedings_Weizenbaum_Conference_2022.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.weizenbaum-institut.de/media/Publikationen/Weizenbaum_Proceedings/Proceedings_Weizenbaum_Conference_2022.pdf">resulted 
in an 
academic article</a> (page 66-71) (pdf)  explaining how REUSE specifications 
facilitate and improve management policies for the digital commons by 
improving data and metadata communication for individuals, communities, 
governments, and businesses.</p><h3>Legal Education Day 2022</h3><p>The FSFE organised a Legal 
 Education Day as part of the South Tyrol Free Software Conference 
 (SFSCON), which featured talks on legal topics relating to Free 
 Software, as well as a workshop to facilitate a better understanding of 
 these legal framework and compliances. Throughout the day, we explained 
 basic legal concepts such as copyright law, licensing, and their 
 practical applications into Free Software projects with the REUSE 
 specification.</p>
  <img src="media/da9e0235.4c121b91d55d5c6f48ced678930ede47.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/big/4c121b91d55d5c6f48ced678930ede47.png"/>
  <p>As part of the conference, our talks at the Legal Education Day were 
also filmed, and we have added these videos to our <a href="https://fsfe.org/freesoftware/legal/faq.html">legal FAQs page</a>, where you can 
watch 
them at your own pace or include them in other places.</p><h3>Legal support, research, innovation and standardization: participation in EU projects</h3><p><strong>The ZOOOM Project:</strong> Since late 2022, the FSFE has been a 
part of the <a href="https://zooom4u.eu/">ZOOOM Initiative</a>, a project financed 
by the European Commission. The primary goal of ZOOOM is to raise 
awareness among the academic, business, industry, and innovation 
communities of the importance of rights and obligations related to Free 
Software, Open Data, and Open Hardware.</p><p>To accomplish this goal, the ZOOOM Initiative will develop a series 
of reports, white papers, training materials, and web portals to 
promote a solid understanding of licensing requirements and business 
needs aiming to reach the three key groups of actors in innovation 
ecosystems: namely knowledge generators, innovation support 
organisations, and key stakeholders.</p><p>As one out of ten organisations comprising the consortium that makes 
up the ZOOOM Initiative, the FSFE is responsible for the promotion of our 
<a href="https://reuse.software">REUSE specification</a> as well as producing 
educational materials on the fundamental legal concepts of Free 
Software and licensing.</p>
  <img src="media/acaaca21.310c7cab00c2e138ba401048580e.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/5e/67/310c7cab00c2e138ba401048580e.png"/>
  <p>Our work on ZOOOM has been progressing 
well, and we have contributed with chapters to the various papers explaining 
the basics of Free Software, including elementary Free Software legal 
and licensing issues. In particular, we have also compiled a chapter on 
Free Software licensing issues related specifically to Artificial 
Intelligence (AI).</p><p>We will keep you updated on when we will publicly 
share these materials as we are currently awaiting their final 
publication, so stay tuned!</p><p><strong>Next Generation Internet Zero:</strong> Since 2018, the FSFE has 
been involved in the <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/ngi/ngi.html">Next Generation 
Internet Zero (NGI0) initiative</a> as a consortium member. Funded by 
the European Commission, the <a href="https://www.ngi.eu/ngi-projects/ngi-zero/">NGI0 initiative</a> 
hopes to support the 
development of the internet into <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/nl/news/2023/news-20230425-01.html">a platform that is 
accessible and 
diverse, and that respects fundamental rights</a>, including values such as 
privacy, which is also referred to as the Next Generation Internet. At 
the FSFE, we believe that Free Software is key to accomplish this goal, 
so that all users are able to use the internet as an effective tool to 
achieve their full potential.</p><p>NGI0 projects provide financial grants and technical support to 
researchers and developers who are working on Free Software solutions 
that contribute to the establishment of the vision of the Next 
Generation Internet.</p>
  <img src="media/15e11686.1f7e047e034ba822c84fa5c3c3dcfd69.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/1f7e047e034ba822c84fa5c3c3dcfd69.png"/>
  <p>After completing <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/ngi/ngi-past.tml">our previous 
NGI0 projects in 2022</a>, we have for the past year been working on our 
current NGI0 projects: <a href="https://nlnet.nl/entrust">NGI0 
Entrust</a>, <a href="https://nlnet.nl/core">NGI0 Core</a>, and <a href="https://nlnet.nl/NGI0/review/">NGI0 Review</a>.</p><p>As we’ve always done with our previous NGI0 projects, we have been 
assisting the software projects receiving grants from these various 
NGI0 projects with their legal and licensing needs, as well as helping 
them in their transitions when adopting our <a href="https://reuse.software">REUSE specification</a>.</p><p>We continued our work with NGI0 this year by helping many developers 
working on Free Software solutions solve a diverse range of problems, 
as well as helping them have a better understanding of Free Software 
licenses, compliance issues, and how they can avoid some of these 
pitfalls by adopting our REUSE specification.</p><h3>Legal Network and LLW 23</h3><p>In 2023, the FSFE successfully organised our first Free Software Legal and Licensing Workshop (LLW) as 
an in-person event again, after a 3-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 
pandemic.</p>
  <img src="media/d964fc52.61cb6009a4693e909d4b14f88dd7.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/78/ce/61cb6009a4693e909d4b14f88dd7.jpg"/>
  <p>The LLW is organised every year by the FSFE to allow legal experts 
in the <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/ln/ln.html">FSFE’s Legal Network</a> to 
discuss legal issues and best practices surrounding Free Software 
licenses. This event has become one of the foremost gathering  of 
lawyers, technologists, and thought leaders on Free Software legal and 
licensing topics. This event is usually an important opportunity that 
the FSFE provides to the legal community to share knowledge and updates 
on the topics that they are working on, in order to foster a better 
license compliance ecosystem by spreading best practices in the legal 
sphere. Additionally, the LLW provides a forum for legal professionals 
to better understand one another, which reduces overall friction in the 
sector. This year’s LLW was held in April in Gothenburg, Sweden. Over 
the course of three days, our 100 guests discussed software licensing 
issues relating to AI, process issues in license curation at the Open 
Source Initiative (OSI), and updates on legal cases involving Free 
Software licenses.</p><p>The last weeks of 2022 also left us some good news! Copyleft-licensed 
chess engine <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2022/news-20221212-01.html">won legal case 
against proprietary counterpart</a>.</p><h2>TEDective: making European public procurement data explorable</h2><p><a href="https://tedective.org/">TEDective</a> is making European public procurement 
data explorable for non-experts. Using open data this Free Software 
program empowers citizens by making EU tendering data accessible to 
anyone who wants to consult and use it. For example, it will allow a 
journalist to find out how much money the government spends on 
Microsoft licenses and products, but also to compare that spending with 
other regions in similar cases or even in comparison with other 
countries.</p>
  <img src="media/cb976ec9.0f60722f78421784a184d34f515d.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/18/0b/0f60722f78421784a184d34f515d.png"/>
  <p>‘TEDective’ <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2022/news-20221026-01.html">won last year the 
first prize</a> in ‘transparency in public procurement’ challenge in the 
EU Datathon.</p><p>Developed with the help of our volunteer Michael Weimann, and released as a 
REUSE-compliant project under a Free Software (also known as Open 
Source) license, TEDective improves access to the data published by 
Tenders Electronic Daily (TED), by fulfilling all of the following 
requirements for the provision of TED data: it is available free of 
charge for both commercial and non-commercial use; it is 
up-to-date (updated at least monthly), cleaned and both 
buyers and suppliers are adequately deduplicated; and it can be 
downloaded in bulk, making it available as an Open Contracting Data 
Standard (OCDS) to enable interoperability. Besides, it will be 
designed, developed, maintained and monitored transparently and in close 
collaboration with all relevant stakeholders and user groups.</p><p>Over the next few months, we will be working to develop this tool further and we are 
looking for contributors who would like to get involved or fund the project. Get in touch via 
tedective@fsfe.org if you are interested!</p><h2>Device Neutrality: taking control of devices</h2><p>We started the Device Neutrality initiative to raise awareness about 
the increasing loss of end-user control over technology. In our 
increasingly technology-dependent societies, <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/deviceneutrality/index">Device Neutrality</a> aims to 
put control back in the hands of end users, allowing them to bypass 
gatekeepers and use Free Software on their devices in a 
non-discriminatory way.</p><p>2022 ended with the important step of <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2022/news-20221206-01.html">the adoption of the Digital 
Markets Act</a> by the European Parliament. This legislation introduces the 
principle of Device Neutrality, although it does not set
open standards as the default for defining interoperability.</p><p>In 2023 we have continued our efforts to bring Device Neutrality into 
the European legislation. We have also deepened this concept with in a 
<a href="https://fsfe.org/news/podcast/episode-20.html">podcast episode</a> and worked 
on the creation of a dedicated landing page on
this topic, which will be online soon, and of course, we have continued to try to achieve Router 
Freedom in Europe and with our Upcycling Android campaign.</p><h3>Router Freedom: a EU demand</h3><p>Router Freedom is the right of customers of an Internet 
Service Provider (ISP) to choose and use a private router instead of a 
router that the ISP forces them to use. But some Internet service 
providers in Europe dishonour this principle by dictating which device 
their customers have to use in order to connect to the Internet, or by 
discriminating against the owners of alternative devices. This 
undermining of our basic freedom of choice is strongly opposed by the 
Free Software Foundation Europe and many other organisations, projects, 
and individuals. <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/routers/routers.html">Router 
Freedom</a> is not merely a topic for experts. It 
affects us all.</p><ul>
	<li>EU Survey: More than a thousand consumers from across Europe have 
	shared their experiences of ISPs' commercial practices in <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230515-02.html">our pan- European survey</a> 
	regarding freedom of terminal equipment, resulting in <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230515-01.html">a call for 
	Router Freedom</a>.</li>
	
	<li>Router Freedom as priority for the future 
	of Net Neutrality regulation: The EU Commission has published <a href="https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/e1f1154f-ee2f-11ed-a05c-01aa75ed71a1/language-en/format-PDF/source-285823692">a 
	study on the future of Net Neutrality regulation</a>, confirming Router 
	Freedom as a priority for the future implementation of Open 
	Internet in Europe. (Recommendation 2, p. 91). The study refers to the
	FSFE's work (p.11) and supports the conclusions we at the FSFE have been 
	advocating for the last few years. In particular, national regulators 
	should prioritise end-user rights and ensure terminal freedom for all 
	network types, including fibre (FTTH).</li>
	
	<li>Our staff and volunteers have been working to bring Router Freedom to the national level.  Thanks to 
	their efforts, <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2022/news-20221215-01.html">Belgium is 
	working to ensure Router Freedom</a> and 
	<a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2022/news-20221215-01.html">Greece is also ensuring
	Router Freedom</a> although it excludes fibre connections. However 
	there is still a long way to go as <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230915-01.html">in Germany, for example, telcos 
	want to exclude fibre from Router 
	Freedom</a>, which goes against the German law and the EU regulatory 
	framework of net neutrality.</li>
</ul><h3>Upcyling Android: free your device and “become greener”</h3>
  <img src="media/75905ff9.a0da43aac80cf4d611b0a45e2e6a925f.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/a0da43aac80cf4d611b0a45e2e6a925f.jpg"/>
  <p>“Upcycling Android" is the name of an initiative that the FSFE has 
been running for the last few years and that was officially ended in March 
2023. Launched in November 2021, <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/upcyclingandroid/">Upcycling Android</a> initiative helps people to flash 
their phones with Free Software operating systems and promotes the 
right for every user to install any software on any device. Moreover, 
upcycling our devices is an important step to rethinking our short-term, 
linear consumption of electronic devices in favour of a circular 
economy.</p><p>The initiative held workshops, developed policy recommendations, 
and received a lot of attention:</p><ul>
	<li> <p><strong>Workshops:</strong> A total of 12 workshops were 
	organised by the FSFE, consisting of a short introduction, a joint 
	flashing of phones with a question and answer session, followed by 
	individual flashing of phones, and ending with tips and tricks for 
	further using Free Software on mobile phones with F-Droid and 
	microG.</p> 
	<p>Some of the workshops were held at international 
	conferences (Bolzano), others in public spaces and libraries (Bonn, 
	Berlin), in a university environment (HAW Hamburg), in a local 
	hackerspace (Frankfurt, Berlin) or a repair café 
	(Korschenbroich-Herrenshoff), and even at the Federal Environment 
	Agency.</p> 
	<p>An online <a href="https://media.fsfe.org/w/uZZYCA31SzTT5bMpNaDzz3">“Train the Trainers” workshop</a> was 
	also held to teach people about how to organise their own workshops.</p>
     </li>  
    

  <img src="media/9ea4aff5.02fd306457bc64d885a52caa79db10e0.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/02fd306457bc64d885a52caa79db10e0.png"/>
  
    
	<li><p><strong>Information and background material:</strong> Throughout the 
	campaign, <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/upcyclingandroid/informationmaterial.html">the FSFE has created various resources</a> (posters, infographics, 
	stickers, flyers, brochures, video...), published under 
	Creative Commons licences and in digital form on the initiative's 
	website. Thus, even after the project has ended, this material can be 
	freely used by others who want to continue promoting the use of Free 
	Software, while overcoming software obsolescence and extending the life 
	of our hardware.</p> <p>In addition, technical documentation, including 
	<a href="https://media.fsfe.org/w/p/u4Ki6gTKu4dr2FKs7yiu14">videos showing how to flash different terminals</a>, has been created to 
	enable the workshops offered to be reproduced independently during and 
	after the end of the project.</p>
	</li>
     
	<li>
	<p><strong>Open Letter:</strong> to European Union legislators on <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/upcyclingandroid/openletter.html">"The 
	universal right to install any software on any device"</a>. As part of this 
	initiative, this Open Letter sets out four key demands to enable a more 
	sustainable use of electronic products and devices in the European 
	Union. It has already been signed by more than 150 civil society 
	organisations, many of them not previously involved in Free Software, 
	from different sectors, as well as more than 3000 individuals. In 
	particular, the signatory organisations ensure further virality of the 
	campaign within their own target groups.</p> 
     </li> 
   
                

  <img src="media/65fdaee6.0cf3e67059dd1549b6646434a5b09a40.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/0cf3e67059dd1549b6646434a5b09a40.png"/>
  
    
	<li> 
	<p><strong>Outreach:</strong> Throughout the initiative, outreach was 
	done through press releases, news articles, social media posts using 
	the hashtag #UpcyclingAndroid, podcasts and various presentations at 
	various international conferences. The materials we produced helped us 
	reach different audiences, and our volunteers and civil society 
	organisations also picked up on our messages. Thank you for spreading 
	the word.</p> 
	
	<p>The book <a href="https://publication2023.bits-und-baeume.org/">‘Shaping Digital Transformation 
	for a sustainable society’</a>, published this year, is a collection of 
	28 papers from the second Bits &amp; Trees conference on digitalisation 
	and sustainability. In a chapter entitled 'Making the telecom 
	sector more sustainable with Free Software', Lucas Lasota and Erik 
	Albers explain how Free Software is key to a more sustainable 
	telecom sector by giving end-users more control over devices, 
	especially with regard to artificial obsolescence of software and 
	hardware.</p> 
	</li>
</ul><p>This initiative has officially ended, but there is still work to be 
done. You can continue to demonstrate the benefits of unlocking your 
devices by organising a workshop, signing the Open Letter... All the 
documentation, information and materials are there. And remember, <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230807-01.html">rooting your device 
does not void its warranty</a>.</p><h2>Our work on public awareness</h2><h3>I Love Free Software Day: Meet &amp; Connect</h3><p>Once again, the FSFE has celebrated our devotion to Free Software on the 
annual "I Love Free Software Day" on 14 February 2023.</p><p>This year, we celebrated it with Free Software enthusiasts through <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/ilovefs/report/report_2023.html">various events 
across Europe</a> (Berlin, Madrid, Thessaloniki, 
Potteries, Zurich, Frankfurt, Barcelona, online in Italy). For the 
first time, the FSFE's women's group participated by organising a meeting.  
Besides the FSFE, many other organisations and individuals joined us to 
publicly show their love for Free Software and their appreciation for 
all 
the wonderful contributors without whom Free Software would not be 
possible. ❤️ Thank you!</p>
  <img src="media/fa370d65.f0b8eb281494abbb75cebe9472ad.gif" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/e6/2c/f0b8eb281494abbb75cebe9472ad.gif"/>
     <p>Apart from all the events and activities on the day itself, we also have <a href="https://fsfe.org/contribute/spreadtheword.html#ilovefs">
new postcards and stickers</a>. Many Free Software projects have 
received a hand-written thank-you postcard, thanking them for their 
continued and wonderful work for software freedom.</p><p>And we are already working on next years’ celebration so save the 
date: 'I Love Free Software Day 2024: start software freedom' will take 
place on 14 February 2024.</p><h3>Software Freedom Podcast</h3><p>The FSFE’s Software Freedom Podcast has continued throughout the year, with  6 new episodes.</p><p>This year, the podcast covered topics such as European politics, 
Device Neutrality, the importance of Free Software in medical devices, 
cryptography and privacy and Free Software in France.</p>
  <img src="media/2af20465.83fe97d8351ec5d698d31ab74790.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/43/cf/83fe97d8351ec5d698d31ab74790.png"/>
   <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/podcast.html">Listen to all the Software Freedom Podcast episodes</a>
  
  <h3>Free Software and Federated social networks</h3><p>The FSFE is active on Peertube and Mastodon. We created our own 
Peertube instance, media.fsfe.org, to share our videos on a Free 
Software platform and we currently have about 776  subscribers. Remember 
to subscribe if you want to be informed about our latest videos.</p><p>Our presence on Mastodon has also grown, and we currently have more than 
12,700 followers! It is also great to see how more and more people and 
organisations are joining these and other decentralised social networks.</p><p><strong>FediGov:</strong> The FSFE Swiss local group launched, with GNU/Linux.ch, an 
initiative to encourage public institutions to use federated Free 
Software solutions to communicate with their people. <a href="https://fedigov.eu/">FediGov</a> is the 
name of this campaign, which also encourages people to ask their governments to adopt ethical communication.</p><p><strong>Fediverse Education Day:</strong> The FSFE, the Centre for 
Civic Education of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Adult 
Education Centre Cologne organised a public symposium on the Fediverse, 
its functionalities, its potentials and ways to use it for public 
institutions and administrations. More than 70 guests attended the event 
and we will publish the videos of the presentations soon.</p><h3>‘What is Free Software’ Video</h3><p>We continued to spread the word with our 'What is Free Software'
video.  The video was released last year so we focused on spreading the 
word about it and translating it into more languages. Thanks to 
our translators and a fundraising campaign, we now have the video currently 
in several European languages: Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, 
Greek, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish:</p>
  
  
    Watch and share our 'What is Free Software' video. In our <a href="https://media.fsfe.org/w/p/9gYSyoEYggsqBExLWjRejL">playlist 
    our Peertube channel</a> you can find it in all the translated 
    languages:
<h2>Back to the stages, the booths, and “the hugs”!</h2><p>The last few months of 2022 have brought us back to the stage after 
years of online conferences. We couldn't be happier to see old friends 
and meet new ones in person. Our team took part in a wide variety of 
conferences, giving talks and running stands.</p><p>Our “season” started with SFSCON in Bolzano, where we enjoyed not 
only a fruitful conference with our second Legal Education Day, the 
first Italian community  meeting, and many interesting talks, but also 
some fun and networking time, such as our well-known Pizza Evening.</p><p>At the beginning of February, we travelled to Brussels for FOSDEM!  
We were really pleased to see so many of you there! Our booth was really 
busy with people wanting to know a bit more about us, participants who 
heard our colleagues talked and wanted more information, and lots of 
old friends just stopping by to say hello. Check out  <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230227-01.html">our talks at 
FOSDEM 2023</a> and the videos from the Legal &amp; Policy Devroom, 
which we co-hosted together with Software Freedom Conservancy.</p><p>The spring found us attending foss-north, where we co-organised a <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230509-01.html">track on 
political, social, and legal issues</a> around 
Free Software</p>
  <img src="media/1c0e5e78.120a671e31385d81e2d68d442cd7.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/8f/c5/120a671e31385d81e2d68d442cd7.png"/>
   Map showing the different events that we have around Europe
  <p>None of these events would have been possible without the help of our 
community! The backbone of the Free Software Foundation Europe's work is 
its active network of Free Software advocates and volunteers who help 
promote and spread the benefits of Free Software across Europe. Their 
contribution and dedication allows us to continue our campaigns, lend a 
hand to our team during our events, and help set up a booth.</p><p>
Our local groups have been meeting throughout these months: some have 
returned to face-to-face meetings, others have continued with online 
meetings, and 
others are mixing it up, and we even have new communication channels... Each
option is good to engage in fruitful discussions, to deepen some 
concepts and ideas, to meet others with the same interests and even to 
get active in developing new activities.
</p><p>Our team of translators has done an extraordinary job. In the last 
twelve months, we have added <strong>340 new translations</strong> to 
our website! And we have around 318 new pages in English!</p>
  <img src="media/470ae70e.888c917afd44f616aaa34407e1c1.JPG" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/a2/fa/888c917afd44f616aaa34407e1c1.JPG"/>
  <p>This year we also started online coordinators' meetings. The aim of 
these meetings is to discuss different topics with our coordinators and 
to learn from each other's experiences. The meetings are also a tool to 
network with coordinators from other countries.</p><p>But this year we also wanted to spend time with our volunteers in a more 
relaxed environment and thank you in person for all your contributions. 
The Linux Hotel hosted us for a summer meeting weekend where we shared 
information about our current activities and campaigns, learned from the 
experience and knowledge of our volunteers, and had a really good time!</p>
  <img src="media/d1f29065.0ffb688dc63ec23f0857616f5de5.jpeg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/fb/27/0ffb688dc63ec23f0857616f5de5.jpeg"/>
  As an e.V. association, the General Assembly of the 
 FSFE met for its annual meeting at the end of last October.
 <h2>Join the movement</h2><p><strong>Become a supporter:</strong> Your support and contribution for the promotion of Free 
Software are important for securing our continuous work, ensuring our 
independence, strengthening our democratic society, promoting and 
implementing concrete steps towards software freedom, and making it 
easier to use and develop Free Software.</p><p>
Advocating for freedom costs money and we depend on people like you to <a href="https://fsfe.org/donate/donate.html">
support us</a>. We guarantee that all support is used to foster software 
freedom in Europe a little more each day, step by step, bit by bit for 
the next decades.
</p><p>With your help we can keep on defending software freedom. Thank you for your trust, your support, and 
your ideas to continue bringing Free Software to our society!</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20231025-01
title: Fediverse Symposium: Recordings are now online
uri: Fediverse-Symposium-Recordings-are-now-online
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20231025-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>Fediverse Symposium: Recordings are now online</h1><p>More than 70 people came together, in Cologne on 22 September, to 
get an insight into the Fediverse and to discuss the importance of 
decentralised social networks for our society.  If you  were not able to 
join our Fediverse Symposium or want to re-watch 
the talks, we now have the German-language recordings on our PeerTube 
instance for you! </p>
     <img src="media/2d17278a.cc0eeb9f37091ed1fca96f0426eb.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/0c/ce/cc0eeb9f37091ed1fca96f0426eb.jpg"/>
       <p>We, the FSFE, organised the Fediverse symposium “The world after 
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. A new generation of the Internet?”  
together with the Landeszentrale für politische Bildung 
Nordrhein-Westfalen (Centre for Civic Education of North 
Rhine-Westphalia) and the VHS Köln (Adult Education Centre Cologne). It 
was one of the first symposiums dedicated to the Fediverse in Germany, 
aimed at multipliers in political education, teachers, representatives 
of public institutions and educational establishments, as well as all 
interested stakeholders.</p><p>In the first part of the symposium, several long-time Fediverse 
power useres activists gave an overview of decentralised social 
networks, available federated services, their relevance for democratic 
societies and their strengths and weaknesses. This was followed by a 
practical insight from the perspective of a Fediverse instance 
moderator, before the guests had the opportunity to participate in 
several workshops on the practical use of Fediverse services, the 
operation of own instances and the transfer of knowledge about 
decentralised social networks in an educational context.</p><h2>Watch the talks now!</h2><p>As keynote speaker, publicist Katharina Nocun placed the 
decentralised social networks known as Fediverse in the larger social 
context, referring to the current situation around centralised "walled 
gardens" and the dangers they pose to the democratic public sphere.</p>
  
  
  “Keynote: Die Infrastruktur der offenen Gesellschaft im digitalen 
  Zeitalter - Katharina Nocun (Publizistin)”
  
<p>The participants were able to gain an overview of the Fediverse 
concept, the various services and the underlying ActivityPub protocol 
in the input of Friendica developer and FSFE staff member Tobias 
Diekershoff. <a href="media/546fd0cb.2023_FediverseFachtag_Input1_TobiasDiekershoff_DasFediverse.pdf" data-original-source="https://download.fsfe.org/videos/fediverse2023/2023_FediverseFachtag_Input1_TobiasDiekershoff_DasFediverse.pdf">Find 
his presentation 
here</a>.</p>
  
  ““Input: Was ist das Fediverse? Überblick und Abgrenzung - Tobias Diekershoff (friendica-Entwickler)”
<p>Stephanie Henkel aka Ückück, one of the moderators of the 
dresden.network Mastodon instance, brought a constructive-critical 
perspective on the Fediverse to the symposium. She spoke about the 
questions and decisions that arise when entering the Fediverse, about 
the tension between freedom of expression and the need for protected 
spaces, about moderation and as well as the growth of the Fediverse - 
not without also suggesting solutions. <a href="media/7d21111b.FediverseFachtag_Input2_StephanieHenkel_Zentral_vs_dezentral.pdf" data-original-source="https://download.fsfe.org/videos/fediverse2023/2023_FediverseFachtag_Input2_StephanieHenkel_Zentral_vs_dezentral.pdf">Download 
her presentation 
here</a>.</p>
  
  
  “Input: Potenziale und Probleme zentralisierter und dezentraler 
  Dienste - Stephanie Henkel (Moderatorin bei dresden.network)”
  
<p>Sascha Foerster, co-founder and moderator of the bonn.social 
Mastodon instance, gave a refreshing practical insight into the 
challenges of setting up and running a Fediverse instance, including 
some examples highlighting the importance of rules, moderation and 
backups. <a href="https://docs.bonn.digital/p/GoXJlbpKT#/">You can 
watch his presentation here</a>.</p>
  
  “Input:"Praxisinput: Aus dem Alltag eines Fediverse-Admins - Sascha Foerster (Bonn.digital)"
<p>
The workshops were not recorded for technical and data protection 
reasons. However, the workshop leaders shared a summary of the workshop 
results with the audience.
</p>
  
  
  “Input:"Zusammenfassung der Workshops (Björn Friedrich, Katharina 
  Nocun, Tobias Diekershoff, padeluun, moderation: Friederike von 
  Franqué)"
  
<p>Material from the workshops is also available for download:</p><ul> 
<li><a href="media/b6aba41d.2023_FediverseFachtag_Workshop1_BjoernFriedrich.pdf" data-original-source="https://download.fsfe.org/videos/fediverse2023/2023_FediverseFachtag_Workshop1_BjoernFriedrich.pdf">Presentation 
from workshop 1 "Decentralised Networks as a Subject of Political and 
School Education"</a> (Björn Friedrich from SIN - Studio im Netz e.V)</li> 

<li><a href="media/c600757d.2023_FediverseFachtag_Workshop1_Arbeitsgruppen.pdf" data-original-source="https://download.fsfe.org/videos/fediverse2023/2023_FediverseFachtag_Workshop1_Arbeitsgruppen.pdf">Minutes 
of three working groups within workshop 1</a>.</li> 

<li><a href="media/19cc1571.seFachtag_Workshop2_Nocun_Diekershoff_AllerAnfangIstSpannend.pdf" data-original-source="https://download.fsfe.org/videos/fediverse2023/2023_FediverseFachtag_Workshop2_Nocun_Diekershoff_AllerAnfangIstSpannend.pdf">Presentation 
from workshop 2 “Using decentralised services for individuals and 
institutions”</a> (Katharina Nocun, Tobias Diekershoff)</li>

<li><a href="media/b50c0125.2023_FediverseFachtag_Workshop3_padeluun.pdf" data-original-source="https://download.fsfe.org/videos/fediverse2023/2023_FediverseFachtag_Workshop3_padeluun.pdf">Presentation 
from workshop 3 “Running your own Fediverse instance”</a> (padeluun, 
Digitalcourage e.V.)</li>
</ul><p>The closing panel brought all the speakers together once again on 
stage, in conversation with moderator Friederike von Franqué (Wikimedia 
Deutschland e.V.). The discussion revolved around future perspectives 
for the Fediverse, including the question of how institutions and 
associations can be supported on their way into the Fediverse and at 
what point a clear break with the centralised platform services will be 
necessary.</p>
  
  
  “Abschlusspodium: Wie sieht die Zukunft des Fediverse aus? - Björn 
  Friedrich, Katharina Nocun, padeluun, Sascha Foerster, Stephanie 
  Henkel, Tobias Diekershoff, moderation: Friederike von Franqué"
  
<p>We would like to thank all participants of the symposium, especially 
our speakers and the moderator Friederike von Franqué. as well as the 
Landeszentrale NRW and the VHS Cologne for making this event possible, 
providing funds and the venue, but also contributing to conceptual 
planning.</p><h2>Your donation helps us to advance software freedom across 
Europe!</h2><p>In particular, we would like to thank everyone who 
donates to help us organise events like this and others to promote Free 
Software, for example, through <a href="https://fedigov.eu/">our Fedivgov 
campaign</a>, which encourages public institutions 
across Europe to step into the Fediverse.</p><p>If you would like to support our work for software freedom, please 
consider making <a href="https://fsfe.org/donate/donate.html">a regular or one-time donation</a> to 
FSFE. It is your donations that make our work 
possible!</p><h2>About the FSFE</h2><p>Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity 
that empowers users to control technology. Software is deeply involved 
in all aspects of our lives. It is important that this technology 
empowers rather than restricts us. Free Software gives everybody the 
rights to use, study, share, and improve software. These rights help 
support other fundamental rights like freedom of speech, freedom of 
press, and privacy.</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20231102-01
title: REUSE goes to space!
uri: REUSE-goes-to-space
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20231102-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>REUSE goes to space!</h1><p>The German Aerospace Center (DLR) has adopted the REUSE 
specification in some of its projects. We have talked to Tobias 
Schlauch, research software engineer at the DLR, about the role of Free 
Software for research, innovation, and the importance of a clear 
understanding and displaying of the legal information of software 
projects. He highlights the special contributions that REUSE has to 
offer for software development but also for research.</p>
     <img src="media/ad299058.b94e6d8c749b721ac275a80b48b9.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/29/40/b94e6d8c749b721ac275a80b48b9.jpg"/>
       <p>The <a href="https://reuse.software/">REUSE</a> initiative, started 
by the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) makes licensing easy for 
humans and machines alike. With REUSE, we solve a fundamental issue 
that Free Software licensing has at the very source: what license is a 
file licensed under, and who owns the copyright? A set of best 
practices and the helper tool make the task of adding this legal 
information in every single file of the project a simple practice.</p><p>The number of projects implementing REUSE in their workflows is 
steadily increasing. This is the case for some projects of the German 
Aerospace Center (<em>Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt 
e.V</em> - DLR), which are now REUSE compliant. To learn more about the 
state of Free Software at the DLR, the implementation of the FSFE’s 
REUSE, and how research and software freedom intertwine, we interviewed 
Tobias Schlauch. </p><p>Tobias is a research software engineer at the 
<a href="https://www.dlr.de/sc/en/">Institute for Software 
Technology</a> at DLR since 2005. He currently serves as the 
representative of the <a href="https://rse.dlr.de/">DLR 
Software Engineering Initiative</a>. In this position, he 
organises the DLR research software community and coordinates the 
DLR-wide application of software engineering methods, processes and 
tools.</p><p><strong>FSFE: Welcome Tobias, and thank you for taking 
the time to let us know more about the work carried by DLR, especially 
when it comes to Free Software and a proper licensing and copyright 
displaying of such projects. Let’s start from the beginning, why is 
software a core activity of the research carried out by 
DLR?</strong></p><p><strong>Tobias Schlauch: </strong>DLR is a large 
research organization in Germany with more than 10,000 employees which 
are organized in 54 research institutes and facilities. Aeronautics, 
space, energy, transport, and digitalisation are currently its main 
research domains. Software development plays an important role in all 
of them and is a driver of innovation.</p><p>Overall, you can find a 
wide variety of developed software at DLR in terms of application 
domain and required maturity level. For example, software is developed 
to help investigating specific phenomena such as simulation of air flow 
around flight configurations. Another typical use case is the 
processing, analysis and visualization of scientific data. Moreover, 
there are also teams developing software for critical space missions 
such as control software of satellites.</p>
     <img src="media/3dac870c.557841b5f2c810d4e230ea689d33.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/af/24/557841b5f2c810d4e230ea689d33.jpg"/>
       <p>FSFE: What role does 
Free Software play within the research ecosystem at DLR? And what do 
you think are the benefits that Free Software offers to such a 
community?</p><p><strong>Tobias Schlauch: </strong>Free Software is an 
important basis for DLR’s software development efforts. There is likely 
no software project which does not rely on at least one Free Software 
library or uses a Free Software tool to aid in the process of software 
development. Thus, Free Software helps us to rapidly try out new things 
because we do not have to develop them from scratch. Besides these more 
efficiency-related aspects, publishing Free Software in the research 
domain helps to exchange knowledge inside a research community and 
between different research communities. In this way, Free Software can 
be a driver for innovation in research. </p><p> "Free Software is an important basis for DLR’s software development efforts. 
There is likely no software project which does not rely on at least one 
Free Software library or uses a Free Software tool to aid in the 
process of software development".</p><p>FSFE: In research, reusability 
is at the heart of the scientific process, yet it is still one of the 
challenges in software development research. Why do you think this is 
an issue at the moment, and what kind of measures is DLR taking to 
tackle it? How can a tool like REUSE help with these efforts?</p><p><strong>Tobias Schlauch: </strong>The use and reuse of software in 
research has its specific challenges. Generally, a core aspect of 
research is that you can validate and build upon the results of other 
research groups. For example, you want to be able to take the 
“ingredients” described in a scientific paper, such as data sets and 
software, and get to the same results as the authors of the paper. This 
kind of validation and reproduction of scientific results is a core 
aspect of research. However, reproducibility has become more and more 
challenging with the rise of computational research and has led to the 
so-called <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/533452a">reproducibility 
crisis</a>. For example, still too often it is not clear 
which concrete version of a software has been used to achieve a 
specific result or, even worse, the used data sets and software are not 
available at all.</p>
  
<p>The movement towards <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fdata.2019.00043">Open 
Science</a> tries to address this problem by establishing 
principles and practices to make research products such as software 
openly available. In this context, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2016.18">FAIR 
principles</a> provide guidance how to share research 
products to enable reuse and reproducibility. Initially, the Open 
Science community focused a lot on data but nowadays also software has 
been more and more established as a research product. Thus, there is 
also an interpretation of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.15497/RDA00068">FAIR principles for 
software</a>.</p><p>An important aspect of code reuse is 
that you have a clear understanding about the licenses under which code 
is provided. In this context, <a href="https://reuse.software/">REUSE</a> makes a 
unique contribution by providing a practical standard for documenting 
such information in a code repository while not reinventing the wheel. 
In particular, REUSE addresses the problem of multiple licenses and 
different copyright holders as it allows to precisely express such 
information on a per-file level. Finally, REUSE offers <a href="https://reuse.software/dev/">really good tool 
support</a> which helps during the initial documentation 
phase and the further development by offering a linting 
functionality.</p><p>At DLR, we need to transfer these Open Science 
related practices into the DLR context. This requires DLR-specific 
policies and support activities to effectively enable our researchers 
to publish research openly. The DLR software engineering initiative 
provides this practical support in context of software development. 
I.e., we foster the establishment of required tool infrastructure, 
offer guidelines, training and consulting. For example, in context of 
software publication, we offer a help desk which DLR researchers can 
approach to ask questions with regard to Free Software and software 
licenses. In addition, we also provide <a href="media/6b796640.opensource-software_dlr_2022.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.dlr.de/de/medien/publikationen/broschueren/opensource-software_dlr_2022.pdf">Free 
Software guidelines</a> to answer common questions with 
regard to these topics.</p><p><strong>FSFE: The DLR project - 
</strong><a href="https://github.com/cosmoscout/cosmoscout-vr">CosmoScout 
VR</a><strong> - has recently implemented the REUSE 
specification. How did they arrive at that decision? </strong></p><p><strong>Tobias Schlauch:</strong> I approached them with the idea 
and I did not have to be too convincing. They already recognized the 
point that one single license for the whole repository does not feel 
right. REUSE allows them to be precise and to make sure that they do 
not accidentally miss an important aspect.</p><p>FSFE: Do you see the 
potential of more DLR projects joining CosmoScout VR in becoming REUSE 
compliant?</p><p><strong>Tobias Schlauch: </strong>Yes, I think so. 
Actually, there are already much more compliant code repositories out 
there. But they do not necessarily use the current REUSE badge feature. 
For example, we also provide our learning materials in Git repositories 
which we made REUSE compliant. In addition, in the DLR institute I work 
for, the Institute for Software Technology, we currently rebuild our 
software publication process and REUSE is to become a standard tool in 
it. However, I think that there is more room for adoption of REUSE on 
the wider DLR level.</p><p>Bloque quote: “An approach such as REUSE 
makes it much easier to follow an established good practice… I do not 
have to think where to put a specific information such as the license 
files as REUSE gives me clear advice. In addition, REUSE helps me to 
check whether I accidentally missed something. Such tools are really, 
really important because they bring a standard into practice.”</p><p>FSFE: One of your efforts within DLR has been educating and guiding 
the DLR research software development community on how to properly 
declare licensing and copyright information for their work. What would 
you say to someone working in this field to encourage them to use Free 
Software?</p><p><strong>Tobias Schlauch: </strong>I think that many 
researchers at DLR are already aware of Free Software and their 
benefits. However, another part of our educational efforts is to ensure 
that they are using them the “right” way. Thus, license compliance is 
an important aspect here which also starts with raising awareness. For 
example, by providing researchers small rules of thumb such as “Make 
sure that the code you want to reuse has a clear license.” or “Make the 
license a decision criterion when selecting a Free Software library”. 
In addition, we also encourage our researchers to publish their own 
developments as Free Software or, even better, contribute to existing 
Free Software projects. In this area, there is still room for 
improvement but we try to encourage them by pointing out the benefits 
of open collaboration such as improved visibility, sustainability, and 
quality of published software. Finally, when making your developed 
research software available as Free Software, you also ensure that your 
work is still available to you and the wider research community after 
your contracts end and you head over to another research 
organization.</p><p>FSFE: Are tools like REUSE key to educate and 
guide the rest of the research software development community?</p><p/><p><strong>Tobias Schlauch: 
</strong>Yes, I think so. An approach such as REUSE makes it much 
easier to follow an established good practice. For example, I do not 
have to think where to put a specific information such as the license 
files as REUSE gives me clear advice. In addition, REUSE helps me to 
check whether I accidentally missed something. Such tools are really, 
really important because they bring a standard into practice.</p><p><strong>FSFE: Indeed, DLR is not only adopting REUSE but also has 
included it as a reference within its </strong><a href="media/6b796640.opensource-software_dlr_2022.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.dlr.de/de/medien/publikationen/broschueren/opensource-software_dlr_2022.pdf">Free 
Software guidelines</a><strong>. Is the DLR aiming 
to including REUSE into its licensing policy as well? How do you think 
this would benefit DLR and the research ecosystem as a 
whole?</strong></p><p><strong>Tobias Schlauch: </strong>Yes, I think 
that REUSE has a good chance to be included in our DLR policies with 
regard to software publication. There are different activities planned, 
for example, in context of the adoption of the <a href="https://os.helmholtz.de/en/open-research-software/model-policy">Model 
Policy on Sustainable Software at the Helmholtz Centers</a> 
at DLR. In close relation to this, we might already earlier update the 
<a href="https://rse.dlr.de/01_guidelines.html">DLR Software 
Engineering Guidelines</a> and make REUSE the default way on 
how to document license and copyright information. The effect in the 
wider research community will take some time but I think that we can 
reach a point where we finally have a clearer picture of the license 
situation when reusing a software.</p><p>FSFE: If you could 
improve/change something to bring the Free Software ecosystem and the 
research community closer together, what would that be?</p><p><strong>Tobias Schlauch:</strong> I would like to remove the fear of 
researchers publishing their code as Free Software and to encourage 
them to contribute to existing Free Software projects more often.</p><p>FSFE: Once again thank you very much, Tobias, for your insights and 
for all the efforts you are leading within the DLR and the research 
community. </p><h2>Thanks to all our volunteers, contributors, and 
supporters!</h2><p>It is always a great opportunity to thank our 
volunteers and external contributors to REUSE for their great work in 
continuing improving the tool and documentation but also for keeping up 
an ongoing and fruitful discussion regarding its specification. </p><p>The contribution of all our supporters also allows our continuing 
work on REUSE as well as on all our activities. You can join them by 
becoming a supporter, tell your friends how they can <a href="https://fsfe.org/donate/donate.html">support our work 
with a small donation</a>. Your support enables our work!</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20231106-01
title: FSFE at the Chaos Communication Congress
uri: FSFE-at-the-Chaos-Communication-Congress
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20231106-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>FSFE at the Chaos Communication Congress</h1><p>
    The FSFE is back for the Chaos Communication Congress! Come and join us at the end of December in the "Bits &amp; Bäume" cluster and end the year in a fun and chaos way attending interesting talks and making new friends! The Call of Participation ends on 11 November so rush up!
    </p>    
    <img src="media/a1fc9043.318c7196dd40cc95178c1d1c606d.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/small/64/44/318c7196dd40cc95178c1d1c606d.jpg"/>
<p>
    Under the motto ’Unlocked’, the 37th edition of the Chaos Communication Congress is back as an in-person event and at its usual venue in Hamburg. Being one of the largest events of its kind, the annual congress opens its doors to around 16.000 hackers to meet, network, and discuss their favourite topics in talks, workshops and meet-ups. There is something for everybody at the 37C3. So come on in and be part of this years Congress!</p><p>
    This year, the Free Software Foundation Europe is an active part of the 37C3 as part of the Bits &amp; Bäume cluster. Together, we will create a room for Free Software enthusiasts, Chaos-people, and everybody who wants to come together, connect and talk about Free Software.
    </p><p>
    If you care about sustainability, drop by and let us explain how <a href="https://fsfe.org/freesoftware/sustainability/">Free Software contributes to a “greener” society</a>. This year we are also happy to announce the new track “Sustainability &amp; Climate Justice”. Together with Freifunk, Fiff and many more, the FSFE is part of this years content-team behind the track. We are looking forward to your submissions about Free Software and sustainability at the 37C3! The <a href="https://content.events.ccc.de/cfp/37c3/index.de.html">Call for Participation</a> ends on the 11th of November.
    </p><p>
    You can discover a lot more about Free Software and the activities of the FSFE at our booth. And keep the date! Live together singing at our booth every evening, at 19:00 h. The song? The famous <a href="https://www.gnu.org/music/free-software-song.html">Free Software Song</a>. We cannot wait to sing it with you!
    </p><p>Let us bring <a href="https://content.events.ccc.de/cfp/37c3/index.de.html">Free Software on stage at the 37C3</a> and <a href="https://survey.fsfe.org/index.php/134141">join us</a> at the FSFE booth and our talks and workshops!</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20231108-01
title: Join us at SFSCON 2023!
uri: Join-us-at-SFSCON-2023
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20231108-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>Join us at SFSCON 2023!</h1><p>We cannot wait to be in Bolzano for the South Tyrol Free Software 
Conference (SFSCON) on 10 and 11 November. This two-day conference 
brings together Free Software advocates, decision makers and the 
general public at the gateway to the Dolomites. Our team will be there 
with talks, side events and a booth. We are ready to talk to you, so 
just drop by and say hello!</p>
     <img src="media/74dc7723.7a99c417a759ddc75ada0a2e93cc.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/b6/eb/7a99c417a759ddc75ada0a2e93cc.png"/>
       <p>SFSCON is full of insightful talks, side events such as a hackathon 
and the European Free Software prize and a lot of interesting people to 
meet. Check out what we have prepared for these two days  and do not 
forget to check out the entire SFSCON 23 schedule to find out about the 
rest of the talks.😉</p><h2>Ada Readings</h2><p>The first day will start and close with 
respective readings of the book <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/ada-zangemann//">‘Ada &amp; Zangemann - A Tale of Software, 
Skateboards, and Raspberry Ice Cream’</a>. The one in the morning will be a 
close event in Italian for school children so we encourage you to come 
to the one in the evening.</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.sfscon.it/programs/2023/">CLOSING with a Tale of Software, Skateboards, and Raspberry Ice Cream</a></strong>
10 November – 18:00h
Seminar 1
Before you take some time to relax and enjoy this story, read in 
English by its author Matthias Kirschner, we still have a whole day 
ahead of us. Just remember that you can get your own copy of this book 
in English, German and... for the first time, in Italian! You can buy 
it at our stand (and it makes a great gift).
</p>
     <img src="media/8d993b31.da26304bb271a3f965c292abafcf.png" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/f8/93/da26304bb271a3f965c292abafcf.png"/>
       The book 'Ada &amp; Zangemann' will be available to buy for the first time in Italian at SFSCON.
       <h2>Our talks!</h2><p><strong><a href="https://www.sfscon.it/talks/sharing-the-power-of-appreciation-celebrating-i-love-free-software-day/">Sharing the power of appreciation: Celebrating ‘♥ I Love Free 
Software Day ♥’</a></strong>
10 November - 13:20h
Seminar 3
Like Ada, we think Free Software is great and its contributors are 
really cool. That is why every year we celebrate the <a href="https://ilovefs.org">“I Love Free 
Software Day”</a>, to thank them for their daily 
work. Want to take part in the 2024 celebration? Bonnie Mehring will 
explain more about this event at her talk.</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.sfscon.it/talks/free-software-and-ai-in-europe-2/">Free Software and AI in Europe</a></strong>
10 November - 14:00h 
Seminar 4
Politics and Free Software are interconnected. If 
you want to get a better understanding of the current hot topics 
related to Free Software being discussed in the European Union. In this 
talk, Alexander Sander will present the latest developments in EU 
legislation and activities on AI and what role Free Software plays in 
this.
</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.sfscon.it/talks/why-do-we-need-a-next-generation-internet/">Why Do We Need A Next Generation Internet?</a></strong>
10 November - 14:20h
Seminar 4 
The future of Internet is also a 
political topic. Gabriel Ku Wei Bin, FSFE Legal Project Manager, will 
explore why the current state of the internet should should be 
re-imagined , what can be done and how an EU initiative want to achieve 
it, creating a platform for future generations.
</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.sfscon.it/talks/interoperable-europe-act-a-real-game-changer/">Interoperable Europe Act: A real game changer?</a></strong>
10 November - 14:40h 
Seminar 4
Another of our policy 
experts d Lina Ceballos will take a closer look a the IEA, shedding 
light on why this law is important for the Free Software community.
</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.sfscon.it/talks/tedective/">Let’s monitor implementation of Free Software Policies!</a></strong>
10 November - 15:20h
Seminar 4 
Also in the same 
seminar room and speaking of policy.... publicly funded software 
developed for the public sector should be made publicly available under 
a Free Software licence, right? And with tools like <a href="https://tedective.org/">TEDective</a>, this can 
be monitored. Want to know more? Johannes Näder will discuss how we as 
civil society can identify and deal with the lack of implementation of 
Free Software policies.</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.sfscon.it/talks/windows-and-office-tax-refund/">Windows and Office “tax” refund</a></strong>
10 November  – 15:00h
Seminar 2
Another demand of the Free Software community, as well as other civil society members and associations, are asking about the right to install any software on any device. Listen to FSFE volunteer Luca Bonissi going through his personal experience about the refund of pre-installed software, mainly in laptops.
</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.sfscon.it/talks/can-we-sustain-software-freedom-in-the-mobile-world/">Can we sustain Software Freedom in the mobile world?</a></strong>
10 November  – 15:40h
Seminar 3
But what about mobile phones? Can we achieve the same level of freedom and choice on smartphones?  Nicole Faerber will discuss this topic during her session.</p><p><strong>The ZOOOM project track</strong></p><p>The <a href="https://zooom4u.eu/">ZOOOM Initiative</a> is a 
project financed by the European Commission to raise awareness of the 
importance of management of rights and obligations related to Free 
Software, Open Data, and Open Hardware, in ecosystems of constant 
innovation. The ZOOOM Track at SFSCON aims to disseminate the findings of the 
ZOOOM project and show the intersection between legal and business 
aspects in IP management and value creation/capture in innovation 
ecosystems based on open-source software (and beyond). While on the 
first day the track will focus on different presentations explaining 
this Horizon Europe project, the second day a workshop will be held to 
examine  the ZOOOM toolkit, which provides valuable tools and material 
regarding open licence innovation around the topic of Open Data, 
Software and Hardware.</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.sfscon.it/talks/the-zooom-framework-legal-aspects-of-foss-and-beyond/">The ZOOOM Framework: Legal aspects of FOSS and beyond</a></strong>
10 November - 17:00h
Seminar 2
As partner of the ZOOOM project,  FSFE team members Niharika Singhal will give an overview of the Free Software licensing compliance practices, including initiatives such as REUSE for streamlining copyright and license information for software projects.
</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.sfscon.it/tracks/fsfe-italian-community-meeting/">The future of Free Software in Italy</a></strong>
11 November - 09:20h
Seminar 4
The second day of the conference will start with a side event for the Italian community, so SFSCON participants so Free Software advocates who want to join online, where participants will discuss the future of Free Software in Italy, moderated by Marta Andreoli, FSFE Deputy Coordinator Italy.
Interested? <a href="https://pretix.eu/noi-digital/sfscon23/3973989/">Remember to register ahead!</a>.</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.sfscon.it/talks/free-software-and-open-science/">Free Software and Open Science</a></strong>
11 November - 10:20h
Seminar 2
The Open Science movement shares Free Software 
values and it offers a huge opportunity for Free Software in research 
and academia. FSFE volunteer Christian Busse, will present an overview 
on how the core concepts of Free Software and the FAIR (findable, 
accessible, interoperable, reusable) principles intersect, what this 
means for managing code as research output and recent initiatives on 
the European level that will provide support for these issues. </p><p><strong><a href="https://www.sfscon.it/talks/the-future-of-connectivity-open-internet-and-human-rights/">The Future of Connectivity, Open Internet and Human Rights</a></strong>
11 November - 12:20h
Seminar 2 
We are becoming more 
and more dependent on the Internet for our work, education, 
communication, personal relations and entertainment. It’s time to 
resolve monopolies and re-establish democratic control over the 
technology we most depend upon. Lucas Lasota, FSFE will present the 
challenges end-users are facing to get more control over their devices 
and how Free Software is key for a consumer re-employment.</p><h2>And even more!</h2><p>At the end of the second day, Bonnie Mehring will present the <a href="https://fsfe.org/activities/yh4f/">Youth 
Hacking 4 Freedom</a> competition at the hackathon closing event. This 
competition, which will be held for the third time in 2024, is aimed at 
European teenagers who love coding, whether they are beginners or 
advanced, and who want to develop their own project and have the chance 
to win cash prizes while networking with other teenagers.</p><p>Besides, during these two days you can come to our booth to get free 
stickers, information about our campaigns and initiatives and get some 
nice swag! Moreover, we will have free home made ice cream to give away 
to anyone who subscribes to our newsletter.</p>
     <img src="media/6c96075d.20ab73f29a008d77d76076ffd070.jpg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/28/93/20ab73f29a008d77d76076ffd070.jpg"/>
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<p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


feed_id: news-20231110-01
title: Frank Karlitschek receives the European SFS Award at SFSCON23
uri: Frank-Karlitschek-receives-the-European-SFS-Award-at-SFSCON23
url: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20231110-01.fr.html
content:
<h1>Frank Karlitschek receives the European SFS Award at SFSCON23</h1><p>The founder of Nextcloud received the European SFS Award at SFSCON. 
This recognition which was presented for the first time jointly by the 
Linux User Group Bolzano and the Free Software Foundation Europe, went to <em>"a tireless advocate of digital freedom as universal 
right"</em>.</p>
     <img src="media/0ab73f5e.16f2ff6a537b6267143d3456652b.jpeg" data-original-source="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/eb/46/16f2ff6a537b6267143d3456652b.jpeg"/>
       <p><em>"He is not only a talented technologist, but also a tireless advocate 
of digital freedom as a universal right"</em>. With these words, the 
European SFS Award was presented to Nextcloud founder Frank Karlitschek 
today, 10 November, at SFSCON 2023. This is the first time that the 
well-established SFS Award has been extended to the European level, a 
joint collaboration with the initiators of this recognition, the Linux 
User Group BZ (LUGBZ) and the Free Software Foundation Europe 
(FSFE).</p><p>More than two decades ago, Frank Karlitschek founded the community 
website KDE-Look.org, then GNOME-look.org and finally openDesktop.org 
to improve Free Software. In 2010, with the ownCloud project, the 
Stuttgart-based Free Software developer laid the foundation for a 
platform that allows people to store their data securely and 
independently. This led to the launch of Nextcloud in 2016.</p><p>Today, Nextcloud is a Free Software collaboration tool used 
by millions worldwide <em>"and which some of the biggest technology companies 
around the world fear as a competitor"</em>, as Matthias Kirschner, FSFE 
president, pointed out during the Award ceremony. Kirschner further 
noted that <em>“even in situations where he could have personally or with 
his company benefited financially, he decided to follow his principles 
and ensure that there is a fair level playing field for others in our 
community as well"</em>.</p><p><em>He[Karlitschek] followed his ideals and his strong believe that 
users should have the rights to use, understand, share, and improve 
their software—and created a comprehensive, user-friendly and secure 
collaboration platform</em>, added Rafael Barbieri, LUGBZ member.</p><p>In his thank you speech, Karlitschek said he can just accept the 
award in the name for the Nextcloud community, the ones that really 
deserve this recognition.</p><h2>The European SFS Award</h2><p>The first SFS Award was presented to Hugo Leiter in 2004 at the SFSCON 
South Tyrol Free Software Conference for the implementation of Libre 
Office in all municipalities of South Tyrol. Twenty years later, at the 
start of the SFSCON at the NOI Techpark, the award was presented for 
the first time on a European level. The Free Software Foundation Europe 
teamed up with the initiator of the award, LUGBZ, to jointly honour 
Free Software developers who have made outstanding contributions to the 
dissemination and promotion of Free Software in Europe.</p><h2>2023 Laudatio</h2><p><strong>Rafael</strong>: It’s an honour for me (on behalf of the Board of Linux User Group Bozen-Bolzano-Bulsan) to 
present the first European SFS Award, continuing a twenty year old 
tradition, since the first SFS Award was assigned in 2004 to Hugo 
Leiter, for introducing Libre Office in all municipalities of South 
Tyrol. Traditionally the AWARD has always been given to someone who 
greatly contributed to the culture of Free Software in South Tyrol, and 
this tradition will continue, but as SFSCON this year we extended the 
narrative to the essential European level. LUGBZ, promoting digital 
sustainability in South Tyrol, joined forces with an important European 
association active in the sphere of Free Software, namely the Free 
Software Foundation Europe (FSFE). Let me introduce the president: 
Matthias Kirchner.</p><p><strong>Matthias</strong>: Thank you Raphael! As the FSFE we have now participated 
many years at the SFSCON, and saw how the LUGBZ was awarding great Free 
Software contributors from Italy – so we were happy when we have been 
approached to join forces and award European Free Software contributors 
together with the LUGBZ.</p><p><strong>Raphael</strong>: As in previous years, we received many nominations for 
potential winners. It was not easy for us to choose a winner, since 
many of the suggested candidates made enormous contribution to Free 
Software.</p><p><strong>Matthias</strong>: The deciding factor for us this year was to choose a 
European who lives the values of software freedom, a person who has 
dedicated decades of work to software freedom and brought it to the 
next level, a true visionary and pioneer of software freedom.</p><p><strong>Raphael</strong>: In 2001, over two decades ago, he started KDE-Look.org, 
later GNOME-look.org, as well as openDesktop.org to improve Free 
Software, and supported many initiatives in our field, including 
serving as Vice President of KDE e.V.</p><p>In 2010 at Akademy he laid the foundations for a platform that 
enabled millions of people to store their data securely and 
self-determined on servers. He promoted Open Standards, and inspired 
people to join the movement for software freedom.</p><p>With the development of a remote collaboration tool for teams, which 
is developed under the freedom protecting GNU AGPL license, he followed 
his ideals and his strong believe that users should have the rights to 
use, understand, share, and improve their software – and created a 
comprehensive, user-friendly and secure collaboration platform.</p><p><strong>Matthias</strong>: His tireless commitment to software freedom has resulted 
in a Free Software product which some of the biggest technology 
companies around the world fear as a competitor.</p><p>Even in situations where he could have personally or with his company 
benefited financially, he decided to follow his principles and ensure 
that there is a fair level playing field for others in our community as 
well.</p><p><strong>Raphael</strong>: He is not only a gifted technologist, but also a champion 
of the idea of digital freedom as a universal right. With his work he 
lives the ideals of transparency, privacy, and individual control over 
digital information, but he also laid the foundation for a diverse and 
engaged community.</p><p><strong>Matthias</strong>: His dedication, his vision, and his strong principles 
enriched and inspired many in our community. We are deeply grateful for 
his contributions and look forward to a future he helps shape.</p><p>For these reasons, we hereby award Frank Karlitschek, the founder of 
Nextcloud, the European SFS Award 2023.</p><p><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/support">Support FSFE</a></p>


