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07 April 2021
In our 10th episode of the Software Freedom Podcast we talk with Elisa Lindinger from Superrr Lab. Together we discuss problems faced by Free Software projects and how to tackle them. In a broader frame we discover what would be needed for a more sustainable digital infrastructure and talk about the work Elisa does for this aim.
06 April 2021
Finally! Spring is here, hot weather is coming, and it’s sale time in
the FSFE shop! That's why we offer all
our coloured T-shirts, magnets, pins, gym sacks and children shirts at a
reduced price for a short period.
31 March 2021
With a groundbreaking resolution, Dortmund has committed itself to the use of Free Software. With an overwhelming, cross-faction majority,
the city council has paved the way for "Public Money? Public Code!” In the future, software developed or commissioned by the administration will
be made available to the general public.
30 March 2021
In the context of reform of telecommunication laws, EU member states are currently implementing legislation with direct impact on Router Freedom. The FSFE has launched an activity package for organisations and individuals to raise awareness and empower them to advocate for users' device sovereignty in their countries.
25 March 2021 – Erik Albers
In our March Newsletter read about our supporter Luca Bonissi who forced Lenovo to pay a 20.000 Euros refund for a pre-installed Windows, about our supporter Reinhard Müller who has volunteered for the FSFE for two decades, our "I Love Free Software" report and as usual about our other diverse community activities.
24 March 2021
We learnt through a public announcement that Richard Stallman is
again part of the board of directors of the Free Software Foundation,
one of our independent sister organisations. We disapprove of this
step that came without any message of remorse or willingness to
change.
19 March 2021
This year we celebrated the 11th edition of the "I Love Free Software Day". Every year on 14 February we show our love for Free Software and say thank you to the people working for software freedom. To all of you who took part and celebrated the "I Love Free Software Day", we - the Free Software Foundation Europe - would like to thank you so much.
18 March 2021
More and more administrations are following the principle "Public Money? Public Code!" and are turning to Free Software.
In Switzerland, the Free Software "Caluma" has been used very successfully for several years to manage the administration of
construction applications.
11 March 2021
FOSDEM, the biggest annual Free Software event in Europe, took place again this year on the first weekend in February.
As we do every year, we organised a community event before FOSDEM and this year we also co-organised the Legal and Policy Devroom for the first time.
05 March 2021
In 2021, the Free Software Foundation Europe turns 20. This is a moment that we want to use to celebrate our community with a series of publications. In our second publication we interview Reinhard Müller who has contributed as a volunteer since 2002 in various roles from local activities to the European core team.
02 March 2021
In a historic judgment in Italy, in a case initiated by FSFE supporter Luca Bonissi, Lenovo was ordered to pay 20,000 euros in damages for abusive behaviour in denying to refund the price of a pre-installed Windows licence. In a motivating gesture for the Free Software cause, Luca donated 15,000 euros to the FSFE.
25 February 2021 – Erik Albers
In our February Newsletter, we interview our founding president Georg Greve as part of our publication series to celebrate 20 Years FSFE, we reflect on I love Free Software Day and our FOSDEM participation, we advertise our new job vacancy and as usual we report on our diverse community activities.
19 February 2021
It is no secret that the FSFE's activities are only possible with the priceless help of our contributors and supporters around Europe. In return we support local engagement financially, with our expertise, information material and networks. To help formalize this process, we run our next call for FSFE community projects.
14 February 2021
Today on the "I Love Free Software Day" we want to celebrate and share our love for Free Software. With this special day we say thank you to all the Free Software friends who supported, developed, campaigned, translated and worked for Free Software. On 14 February, let us show our love and thank all those people involved in Free Software.
11 February 2021
For this episode of the Software Freedom Podcast we talk about the background of the "I Love Free Software Day" and how it all began 11 years ago. Discover together with Bonnie Mehring why Free Software developers, advocates, activists and contributors think this special day is so important for Free Software.
09 February 2021
We are looking for a person with a communications background to support
us in our running and upcoming projects, including our upcoming digital
sustainability campaign. The person will work full-time in our Berlin
office.
04 February 2021
In 2021 the Free Software Foundation Europe turns 20. This is a moment that we want to use to celebrate our community with a series of publications, both those who have accompanied us in the past and those are still doing so. In our first publication we look back where everything got started and have conducted an interview with the FSFE's first president, Georg C. F. Greve.
04 February 2021
As every year, the FSFE will be present at FOSDEM, the biggest annual Free Software event in Europe. In 2021, the FSFE is honored
to co-organise the Legal and Policy Devroom at FOSDEM. We are excited and look forward to presenting you an interesting programme throughout the whole weekend.
03 February 2021
People around the world work hard to maintain Free Software and we rely on Free Software to keep us connected. On this year's I Love Free Software Day let us think about the developers, contributors, designers, those who promoted the use of Free Software and many more who spend their time to share, improve and create Free Software. On 14 February we show our love and thank those who work for Free Software.
27 January 2021 – Erik Albers
In our January Newsletter, read about our plans for 2021 including our upcoming birthday celebrations and our participation at FOSDEM. We roll out this year's "I love Free Software" campaign and, as usual, report about our various community activites.
19 January 2021
We are looking for a person with a strong technical background to support
projects with software engineering and expertise. The person will work
part-time, either in our Berlin office or remotely.
16 December 2020 – Erik Albers
In our December Newsletter, read about the German Corona Warn App being published independently to extend software freedom, learn about public code in international development cooperation, enjoy an interview with Cord-Landwehr from KDE about REUSE adoption, one about the Zurich local group receiving a DINACon award and much more.
15 December 2020
In just three years, our REUSE initiative has successfully changed licensing practices of at least over five hundred projects. From its adoption by NGI0 projects to a Corona Warn App to KDE, 2020 marks another successful year of this campaign. We used the chance to speak with Andreas Cord-Landwehr about REUSE adoption in the KDE community.
11 December 2020
In 2019, the FSFE's local group Zurich has launched the "Learn like the pros" campaign. Goal of the campaign is to present solutions for the use of Free Software in education. Recently, the campaign was awarded the DINACon Award. On this behalf we interviewed the coordinators Ralf Hersel and Gian-Maria Daffré.
10 December 2020
International development cooperation is increasingly digitised. Free Software thus is becoming a fundamental technology to reach the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals. Together with experts in the field, the FSFE summarises these interrelations in an article and demands publicly funded software to be published as Free Software.
08 December 2020
A handful of Free Software developers today achieved what official
bodies have been missing for months: They have made available the
German Corona Warn App for tracing Covid-19 risk contacts in a
version that is completely free of dependencies on Google and
available in F-Droid, the Free Software app store.
04 December 2020
In this Software Freedom Podcast episode Bonnie Mehring and Matthias Kirschner talk about the monetary costs of Free Software. On the example of a conversation Bonnie had with her mother, both discover ways of explaining the world of Free Software and how to answer common questions and misunderstandings about software freedom.
25 November 2020 – Erik Albers
In our Newsletter November, we review our annual report "Software Freedom in Europe" and the new Free Software Strategy by the European Commission. We have new staffers, a new call for FSFE community projects, REUSE is taking off, the local group in Zurich received an award, and so much more has happened to discover.
20 November 2020
It is no secret that the FSFE's activities are only possible with the priceless help of our contributors and supporters around Europe. In return we support local engagement with our expertise, information material, networks or even financially. To help formalize this process, we run our second call for FSFE community projects.
12 November 2020
What is the best way to alert people about catastrophes? Germany went
with proprietary apps which caused the recent warning day ("Warntag")
to become an official failure. We analysed the situation and found
more robust solutions that respect user rights.
10 November 2020
"Software Freedom in Europe" is the yearly report of the Free Software Foundation Europe e.V. (FSFE). In one document, it gives you a breakdown of important things the FSFE has done and achieved during the last 12 months.
23 October 2020
On Wednesday the EU Commission published its new Open Source Strategy. We are pleased that the Commission recognises the benefits of Free Software
and the four freedoms to use, study, share and improve, but the Commission lacks concrete targets and indicators to implement the strategy.
Without these, we worry that the strategy will end up accomplishing too little!
23 October 2020 – Erik Albers
Read in our October newsletter about FSF's thirty-fifth anniversary, our
upcoming participation at SFSCon, our technical job vacancy, and our
other diverse community activities.
19 October 2020
The South Tyrol Free Software Conference, SFSCon, is one of Europe’s most established annual conferences on Free Software.
In recent years we have been represented with talks, workshops and our information booth. Last year we also organised our
Community Event in the context of SFSCon, so that we could meet not only our community but also many interested people and
report about our work.
09 October 2020
The FSFE's sister organisation, the FSF, celebrates its thirty-fifth
anniversary this week. Thirty-five years of working for software
freedom and inspiring many people and organisations to take a stand
for user freedoms deserve big congratulations. Watch and read the
congratulatory speech by FSFE President Matthias Kirschner.
05 October 2020
We are looking for a working student to support our work to empower
people to control technology. The person will work 10 hours per week
in the Berlin office (home office possible at a later stage) and will
support the FSFE's technical infrastructure by working closely
together with our system administrators.
25 September 2020
For the seventh episode of our Software Freedom Podcast we talk with Vincent Lequertier about transparency, fairness, and accessibility as crucial criteria for artificial intelligence (AI) and why it is important for our society to release AI software under a Free Software license.
23 September 2020 – Erik Albers
Read in our September newsletter about a new strong alliance formed by administrations, business and civil society organisations asking for "A place for public code". Also read about our call to apply for FSFE support for your local project, our job vacancy, and about our other diverse community activities.
10 September 2020
The increased use of Free Software is a central component for more digital sovereignty. Together with a strong
alliance of administrations, politics, business and civil society, we call for the development of a code repository
with Free Software for the public sector.
07 September 2020
It is no secret that the FSFE's activities are only possible with the priceless help of our contributors and supporters around Europe. In return we support local engagement with our expertise, information material, networks or even financially. To help formalize this process, we run our first call for FSFE community projects.
04 September 2020
We are looking for an office assistant to support our work to empower
people to control technology. The person will work 15-35 hours per week
with our team in the Berlin office and will support the FSFE's Berlin
office operations.
26 August 2020 – Erik Albers
In our August Newsletter, we are evaluating reasons why the European Commission should avoid using the term "intellectual property". We also asked the new government in Munich about their progress regarding Free Software, and we introduce our new Open Science Coordinator, Christian Busse. As usual, you can read about our diverse community activities.
20 August 2020
In order to contribute to the European Commission public consultation regarding the update of the "Intellectual Property (IP)" regulatory system, the FSFE has published a first feedback. Based on its world-wide experience with Free Software, the FSFE calls for a more inclusive and decentralized regulatory system that allows sustainable knowledge sharing and intangible wealth.
10 August 2020
100 days ago, the new Green-Red coalition in Munich adopted the principle of 'Public Money? Public Code!' to guide
their procurement of software. Now, we take a look at the first activities undertaken for the use of Free Software.
22 July 2020 – Erik Albers
From hackathons to apps to public administrations: Read about the recent successes in Europe regarding Free Software in our July Newsletter. Also find videos from multiple online events where the FSFE was represented and read about our diverse community activities.
20 July 2020
The spread of Covid-19 brought dramatic and drastic changes for us and our societies, and this shed light on the global need for global solutions like Free Software. Here is a short summary of the recent successes towards software freedom in Europe we achieved together with your help and despite the crisis.
03 July 2020
We invited Miriam Ballhausen to talk with us about copyright enforcement. She is a German lawyer who focuses on software, data protection, copyright law and specifically Free Software copyright. This is the sixth regular episode of the Software Freedom Podcast for which we invite experts from our community.
30 June 2020
The town of Bühl, Germany, has started the successful Free Software based video conference platform “Palim! Palim!”. To find out more about the relations between Bühl and Free Software we conducted an interview with Eduard Itrich, the digitisation officer from the town of Bühl.
29 June 2020
Like many other European countries, Denmark also tries to track
Sars-CoV-2 infections with a mobile phone tracing app. However,
against advice by health organisations and despite positive examples
by other countries, the app is proprietary, so not being released
under a Free Software (also called Open Source) license.
16 June 2020 – Erik Albers
In our June Newsletter read among other things about the FSFE's achievements regarding Router Freedom in Europe, about a new coalition agreement in Hamburg that puts a focus on Free Software and about the European Parliament demanding "Public Money? Public Code!". As always, also read about our diverse community activities.
10 June 2020
In Hamburg, the SPD and the Greens are stating in their coalition
agreement to focus more on Free Software during their future term. The
FSFE welcomes this step and will critically monitor its implementation.
09 June 2020
Etalab maintains two lists of Free Software. One is about the Free Software recommended for the public sector (called SILL) while the other one links to Free Software repositories created by the public sector. To find out more about the two lists we conducted an interview with Bastien Guerry from Etalab.
01 June 2020
From 21 June a new set of rules will guide the implementation of Router Freedom in Europe. The internalisation of the rules by the 27 EU member states will face challenges with negative consequences for Router Freedom. The FSFE contributed to several improvements of the guidelines and will monitor compliance with them.
19 May 2020 – Lucas Lasota
In order to contribute to the EU Commission assessment of the Market Definition Notice, the FSFE has taken part in the public consultation to call for more attention to smaller stakeholders and civil society in topics of EU competition law.
14 May 2020 – Nico Rikken
After a nudge by the FSFE, the Dutch OpenAIR initiative has provided licenses on their material to support reuse.
12 May 2020 – Erik Albers
Read about our demand to publish the results of publicly financed hackathons as Free Software, about a new coalition-agreement in Munich that aligns with our principles of "Public Money? Public Code!" and what happened inside the FSFE and our community. You will also read about the results of our web-sprint, about our regular podcast and an extraordinary one.
06 May 2020
The new coalition agreement in Munich commits to the principle of "Public Money? Public Code!".
The FSFE welcomes this decision by the new government and will closely monitor the progress of the implementation.
27 April 2020
NGI Pointer is an initiative from the European Commission designed to provide funding and expertise to Free Software projects that can improve the internet as a platform. The FSFE has joined its Advisory Board to provide assistance to these participating projects. The first call for applications to join NGI Pointer is now open until 1 June 2020.
24 April 2020 – Nico Rikken
In an open letter to the Parliament, the Dutch
minister for internal affairs Raymond Knops commits to a "Free Software
by default" policy and underlines its benefits for society. Current
market regulations shall be reworded to allow publishing Free Software
by the government.
24 April 2020
For our Software Freedom Podcast we talk with people who have inspiring ideas about software freedom. In this special episode, we talk with Dr. Luis Falcón and Dr. Axel Braun about the Free health and hospital information system GNU Health.
15 April 2020
This year's FSFE's Free Software Legal and Licensing Workshop has been cancelled. The FSFE thanks our contributors and looks ahead to organizing the event next year.
11 April 2020
The biggest financial impact the FSFE faces in these times
of physical distancing is the cancellation of Free Software conferences,
including our own events. To keep the software freedom movement solid and
alive, please consider to donate a part of
your conference budget to Free Software organisations, including the
FSFE.
09 April 2020
For our Software Freedom Podcast we talk with people who have inspiring ideas about software freedom. In this episode, we talk with Professor Lawrence Lessig, founder of Creative Commons, about regulation of society, offline as well as online, about the different means of regulation, and shed light on regulations through code.
08 April 2020
Currently we see a lot of hackathons to find tools that help tackle the crisis of pandemic COVID-19.
More and more governments and administrations are hosting or funding such hackathons. To make sure that the results of
these hackathons can be used globally and adapted locally - that the software can be used, studied, shared and improved
everywhere - the FSFE asks to publish the outcomes under a Free Software licence.
06 April 2020 – Erik Albers
With the spreading of COVID-19 we are facing a global pandemic that requires a lot of coordinated efforts and asks for new global solutions. Our extraordinary newsletter concentrates on software freedom for global solutions, on Free Software solutions for remote connections and on how the FSFE handles the whole situation. As usual, we highlight our community activities and give tips on what you can do to edutain yourself while staying home. Enjoy the read, stay healthy, and protect freedom.
03 April 2020
Due to the ongoing Covid-19 virus outbreak many employees - voluntarily or mandatory - are working remotely now. Many organisations who have not been used to remote work so far now face a number of difficulties adapting to the situation. To avoid potential lock-ins, some FSFE supporters collectively wrote about the good reasons to use Free Software for remote work and collected a detailed list of practical solutions in our wiki.
02 April 2020
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) demands that the use of tracking technologies
that aim at breaking the chains of disease infection may only be promoted on a voluntary basis, fundamental
rights must be respected and the software must be published under a Free Software licence.
30 March 2020
Cheering on doctors and nurses, sewing face-masks, donating gloves and disinfectant gel, building respirators, running errands for elderly neighbours. Everybody wants to contribute to alleviate the dramatic situations brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
27 March 2020
Among all the serious diseases and deaths it
causes, the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its accompanying COVID-19 disease also
keep the FSFE and the whole Free Software community in suspense. For
our community and other charitable organisations we would share our
experiences and lessons learnt from the Corona crisis.
11 March 2020
We are looking for an executive assistant to support our work to empower
people to control technology. The person will work 25-35 hours per week
with our team in the Berlin office and will be in charge of the FSFE's Berlin
office operations. Due to the current situation and the difficulty to onboard the the new person, the application period is enlarged as written below.
10 March 2020
What is Free Software? How does it contribute to digital sovereignty, security and transparency of state digital infrastructure? Which steps can public administrations take? These and more questions are answered in our publication "Public Money Public Code – Modernising Public Infrastructure with Free Software". After the successful release of the English version of our brochure we translated it into three more languages: German, Czech and Brazilian Portuguese.
02 March 2020 – Max Mehl, Lucas Lasota
Consider this hypothetical scenario: you moved
to a new apartment. Apart from all the stress of packing, transporting, and
unpacking all your stuff at your new home, you also had to deal with
getting utilities connected. The electric company turned out to be
difficult to deal with: they said you had to change your TV set,
toaster, refrigerator and most of your lamps.
28 February 2020
The recent security scandal around WhatsApp and
access to the content of private groups shows that there is an urgent
need for action with regard to secure communication.
26 February 2020 – Erik Albers
From our own pre-FOSDEM event, to the exciting FOSDEM weekend, to I love Free Software day, February was full of exciting news for the FSFE. We used these occasions to present our work, as well as to offer communities around Europe the opportunity to present their own. Read about our booths and presentations, about love and upcoming events in our February Newsletter.
12 February 2020
While you are reading this, someone somewhere is
improving the code of a Free Software you use for yourself. Free
Software has long been part of the daily use of billion of users, still
the people behind the respective projects often remain invisible.
Together we want to change that. On 14 February is the "I love Free
Software Day", a day to show your love and celebrate your favourite Free
Software and its contributors. Join us!
29 January 2020
We are looking for interns and trainees experienced in legal, policy or technical fields. The persons will work 35 hours per week with our team in the FSFE's Berlin office. There will be coordination with remote staff and volunteers, and depending on the work area opportunity to participate in events and meetings throughout Europe.
22 January 2020 – Bonnie Mehring
At the end of December, FSFE was in Leipzig at the 36th Chaos Communication Congress. As in previous years, we were present at the congress with lots of information material, talks and workshops. FSFE was one of the main organisers of the cluster about:freedom, an association of 12 civil society organisations and groups. Together with the other organisations, we focused on digital rights and network policy issues.
22 January 2020 – Erik Albers
2020 is not just a new year, it is the dawn of a new decade. With more and more automated systems run by software, a political representation of freedom is more needed than ever. Read in our January Newsletter about why Cory Doctorow supports the FSFE financially and why you should do so too. Read about our upcoming FOSDEM activities including our pre-FOSDEM meeting and reflections on our presence at the Chaos Communication Congress. Also we have a new Software Freedom Podcast with Harald Welte and reports from our community.
21 January 2020
In the monthly Software Freedom Podcast we talk with people who have inspiring ideas about software freedom. In this episode, we talk with Carmen Bianca Bakker about the REUSE project. By this we are covering the very broad topic of software licensing and the problems there, which REUSE is able to solve with three simple steps.
20 December 2019
Once a month, we talk with people who have inspiring ideas about software freedom. In this third episode, our guest is Harald Welte, Free Software programmer and activist. Harald discusses with us his current projects regarding mobile phone communication and the general status of Free Software in this area.
12 November 2019
We are back with the second episode of our Software Freedom Podcast!
Once a month, we talk with people who have inspiring ideas about
software freedom. In this episode, we talk with Lydia Pintscher from
KDE about the development of the KDE community, the different KDE projects
and the issues they will be tackling over the next two years.
12 October 2019
We have a Podcast! Starting with this episode, we will talk once a
month with people who have inspiring ideas about software freedom. In
our first episode of our Software Freedom Podcast, we address the
issue of Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) together with Cory
Doctorow, a British-Canadian writer, political activist, and
co-editor of the blog boingboing.net. Cory Doctorow is a prominent
supporter of software freedom and a less restrictive copyright law.
His books are published under Creative Commons licenses.
For older news items, please see our news archives.