= Munich commits to "Public Money? Public Code!" =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200506-01.nl.html ]
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.
The coalition of SPD and Greens in Munich agreed on a coalition treaty
[1] last Sunday following the local elections in March. It includes a
positive statement on the use of Free Software: the principle "Public
Money? Public Code!" should apply in future. Munich thus joins the
FSFE's demand.
The FSFE welcomes the "Public Money? Public Code!" policy by the new
Munich government. After the last government of SPD and CSU had
distanced itself from the prior progressive Free Software strategy
this is now a positive signal again. Public administrations
following the principle of "Public Money? Public Code!" can benefit
from collaboration with other public bodies, independence from
single vendors, potential tax savings, increased innovation, and a
better basis for IT security.", says Matthias Kirschner, President
of the Free Software Foundation Europe.
In 2014, the SPD entered a coalition agreement with the CSU, and Dieter
Reiter (SPD) was elected new mayor of Munich. Munich abandoned their
"LiMux" strategy of developing an independent IT infrastructure built
with Free Software and a GNU/Linux operating system, and started to move
back to depending on proprietary software. The Free Software Foundation
Europe criticised this re-migration in the past [2]. Now, with the new
coalition of SPD and Greens, Munich seems to be back on the track by its
commitment to "Public Money? Public Code!". Still, the treaty leaves
room for improvement as it includes some typical loopholes such as the
vague limitation to software whose code does not contain personal or
confidential data. Therefore the FSFE will continue to closely monitor
the progress of the implementation of the "Public Money, Public Code!"
policy and how procurement procedures will be handled in future.
The "Public Money? Public Code!" initiative aims to set Free Software as
the standard for publicly financed software. The Free Software
Foundation Europe together with over 180 civil society organisations and
more than 27.000 individuals signed the open letter. We will use the
signatures to contact decision makers and political representatives all
over Europe and convince them to make public code the standard. You are
invited to add your signature to make a bigger impact on
https://publiccode.eu/ [3]
Discuss this [4]
== Trefwoorden ==
- Public Money? Public Code! [5]
- Public Administration [6]
- Policy [7]
- LiMux [8]
1: https://www.gruene-muenchen.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Druckfassung_Koal…
2: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20190515-01.html
3: https://publiccode.eu
4: https://community.fsfe.org/t/467
5: https://fsfe.org/tags/tagged-pmpc.nl.html
6: https://fsfe.org/tags/tagged-publicadministration.nl.html
7: https://fsfe.org/tags/tagged-policy.nl.html
8: https://fsfe.org/tags/tagged-limux.nl.html
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology. Software is deeply involved in all aspects of our
lives; and it is important that this technology empowers rather than
restricts us. Free Software gives everybody the rights to use,
understand, adapt and share software. These rights help support other
fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how Free
Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination.
It enhances users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software
adoption, encourage people to use and develop Free Software, and
provide resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software
in Europe.
http://fsfe.org
= COVID-19 Hackathons: Only Free Software creates global solutions =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200408-01.nl.html ]
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.
Breaking the chain of COVID-19 infections and alleviating its dramatic
impacts are of top priority within our societies. Software is inherently
connected to achieve these goals, from 3D printing ventilators to
tracking potential outbreaks or organising solidarity within
communities. During the last weeks we have seen virtual hackathons being
organised to help find and fund solutions that tackle the COVID-19
crisis. For the time being only some of them are published under a Free
Software licence, also called Open Source Software or Libre Software
licence, meaning that these solutions can be used, studied, shared and
improved by everyone around the world.
Meanwhile, more and more European governments and administrations are
hosting virtual hackathons to help develop new tools. While some of them
are explicitly supporting Free Software solutions only, like the
WirVsVirus [1] hackathon others are not mentioning their licence at all
- like EUvsVirus [2] initiated by the European Commission or Global Hack
[3], funded by StartUpEU, making it difficult or impossible to reuse the
software in other parts of the world.
In a time when humanity needs to work together to find solutions for a
crisis, we cannot afford to reinvent the wheel again and again for
software that helps us tackle the spread of COVID-19. Global problems
need global solutions! It is Free Software that enables global
cooperation for code development. Any proprietary solution will
inevitably lead to countless isolated solutions and waste energy and
time which we as humanity cannot afford in such a critical situation.
Besides global cooperation, Free Software licences allow sharing of code
in any jurisdiction. Solutions developed in one country can be reused
and adapted in another one. International development agencies and
humanitarian movements can help to contain the spread of COVID-19 in any
country around the world with the availability of Free Software
solutions.
Already before this crisis hundreds of organisations and tens of
thousands of people demanded that publicly financed software developed
for the public sector must be made publicly available under Free
Software licences [4]. It is now even more important than ever before to
tackle this crisis.
== Get involved ==
1: https://wirvsvirushackathon.org/international/
2: https://euvsvirus.org/
3: https://theglobalhack.com/
4: https://publiccode.eu/
5: https://wiki.fsfe.org/Activities/Hackathons4Freedom
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology. Software is deeply involved in all aspects of our
lives; and it is important that this technology empowers rather than
restricts us. Free Software gives everybody the rights to use,
understand, adapt and share software. These rights help support other
fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how Free
Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination.
It enhances users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software
adoption, encourage people to use and develop Free Software, and
provide resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software
in Europe.
http://fsfe.org
= Any Corona tracking app must be used voluntarily and be Free Software =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200402-02.nl.html ]
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.
In the last days there have been increasing debates about the use and
development of apps that aim at helping to contain the corona virus, by
tracking new infections and their contact persons. With the help of a
contact diary it is possible to record who met with whom and when. If a
person is infected with the corona virus, their contacts are informed
and asked to isolate themselves and to take further actions, if
necessary. It will be hopefully possible to break the chain of infection
and thus reduce the infection rate. In some countries, there are also
discussions about a mandatory use of this app, which would interfere on
people's right to control their technology and thus their privacy.
The Free Software Foundation Europe demands that any such app may only
be introduced on a voluntary basis and the software must be published
under a Free Software licence, sometimes also called Open Source. Any
medical records and data must be placed under the highest priority of
data protection. Only Free Software offers enough transparency to
validate a complete data protection and a compliant use, thus trust can
be established. Not to forget that a majority of investments in the
current crisis and a lot of actors in the medical sector are state-
funded, and publicly financed software developed for the public sector
must be made publicly available under Free Software licences [1], as
hundreds of organisations and tens of thousands of people demand.
Global problems need global solutions and it is only Free Software that
enables global code development cooperation in a legally safe
environment. Any proprietary solution will lead inevitably to countless
isolated solutions and thereby waste energy and time.
Besides global cooperation, Free Software licences allow sharing of code
in any jurisdiction. Solutions developed in one country can be reused
and adpated in another one. International development agencies and
humanitarian movements can help to contain the spread of COVID-19 in any
country around the world with Free Software solutions.
Discuss this [2]
1: https://publiccode.eu/
2: https://community.fsfe.org/t/any-corona-tracking-app-must-be-used-voluntari…
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology. Software is deeply involved in all aspects of our
lives; and it is important that this technology empowers rather than
restricts us. Free Software gives everybody the rights to use,
understand, adapt and share software. These rights help support other
fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how Free
Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination.
It enhances users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software
adoption, encourage people to use and develop Free Software, and
provide resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software
in Europe.
http://fsfe.org
= Expert Brochure to Modernise Public Digital Infrastructure with Public Code - Translated Versions Online =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200310-01.nl.html ]
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.
The recent debates about digital sovereignty show that the desire for
self-determined government action in the field of digitisation is
immense. Digital services offered and used by our public administrations
are the critical infrastructure of 21st century. In order to establish
trustworthy systems, public bodies must ensure they have full control
over the software and the computer systems at the core of our state
digital infrastructure. We need software that helps public
administrations regain sovereignty over their critical digital
infrastructure, allowing them to become and remain independent from a
handful of companies.
The brochure summarises the FSFE's long-term expertise with additional
knowledge from leading experts in various ICT areas. It helps readers
understand Free Software and its benefits for a modern digital public
infrastructure. Hot topics covered include the avoidance of vendor lock-
in, improvement of IT security through openness, exploring different
business models, handling of procurement issues, and learning from
innovative approaches to smart cities.
== Get your copy now ==
You can download a PDF version of the brochure or order a printed
version on the brochure page [1]. The document is licensed as CC BY-SA
4.0. Available languages printed and PDF: English, German; available
languages PDF: Czech, and Brazilian Portuguese.
We would like to thank the volunteers and partners who have contributed
to translate the brochure. If you would like to enable the translation
into more languages, you can help us with a donation or by becoming a
supporter [2].
The brochure is published as part of the FSFE's "Public Money? Public
Code!" initiative. With a strong alliance of the administration of
Barcelona, the Parliament of Asturias, over 180 organisations, and more
than 27.000 individuals, we demand that publicly financed software
development should be made publicly available under Free Software
licenses. You can sign our open letter and find out more at
publiccode.eu [3].
1: https://fsfe.org/campaigns/publiccode/brochure.nl.html
2: https://my.fsfe.org/donate
3: https://publiccode.eu/
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology. Software is deeply involved in all aspects of our
lives; and it is important that this technology empowers rather than
restricts us. Free Software gives everybody the rights to use,
understand, adapt and share software. These rights help support other
fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how Free
Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination.
It enhances users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software
adoption, encourage people to use and develop Free Software, and
provide resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software
in Europe.
http://fsfe.org
= Security scandal around WhatsApp shows the need for decentralised messengers and digital sovereignty =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200228-01.nl.html ]
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.
Links to private chat groups in the proprietary WhatsApp messenger can
be used to show the communication and private data of group members,
even if you are not a member. The links could be found on various search
engines. Even if they are removed from search results, links still work
and give access to private group communication. Among these groups are
also administrations like civil servants of the Indonesian Ministry of
Finance. This case shows again that digital sovereignty is crucial for
states and administrations. The security breach was first reported by
Deutsche Welle [1].
In order to establish trustworthy and secure communication, governments
need to strengthen interoperable Free Software solutions using Open
Standards [2] and enable decentralisation. This helps administrations as
well as individuals to protect their privacy and empowers them to have
control of the technology they use. The software is already in place and
was used by most of the internet users before Google and Facebook joined
the market: XMPP! This open protocol, also known as Jabber, has been
developed by the Free Software community since 1999. Thanks to Open
Standards it is possible to communicate with people who use a completely
different client software and XMPP server. You are even able to
communicate with other services like ICQ or AIM - some might remember.
XMPP has also been used by tech enterprises like Facebook and Google for
their chat systems, but both eventually switched to isolated proprietary
solutions, so XMPP has been forgotten by many users.
Still, there are many XMPP servers in use and - as the recent scandal
around WhatsApp shows - it should be considered as an alternative by
users nowadays. But of course there has also been a development in the
field of Free Software and Open Standard messengers in the last decades.
For instance the Matrix protocol is a widely recognised and respected
standard for secure and decentralised communication. This is proven by
the fact that it is being used by large Free Software communities like
Mozilla [3], KDE [4], but also in the whole French administration [5] or
Germany's armed forces [6].
The Free Software Foundation Europe therefore asks governments to use
interoperable, decentralised Free Software messenger solutions and also
provide funds for security programmes like bug bounties around these
projects. Individuals are advised to change their messenger to a Free
Software one.
The FSFE also started an initiative called "Public Money, Public Code!",
requiring that publicly financed software developed for the public
sector be made publicly available under a Free and Open Source Software
licence. If it is public money, it should be public code as well. The
campaign is supported by administrations like the city of Barcelona,
more than 180 NGOs and 27.000 individuals. You can find more information
on publiccode.eu [7].
For users of Android mobile phones, the Free Software Foundation Europe
started the " Free Your Android [8] " campaign. It helps users to regain
control of their data and Android device by proprietary components and
eventually the complete operating system with Free Software. The FSFE
collects information about running an Android system as free as possible
and coordinates efforts in this area.
1: https://www.dw.com/en/whatsapp-security-flaw-over-60000-groups-still-access…
2: https://fsfe.org/activities/os/index.nl.html
3: https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/synchronous-messaging-at-mozilla-the-decisi…
4: https://dot.kde.org/2019/02/20/kde-adding-matrix-its-im-framework
5: https://matrix.org/blog/2018/04/26/matrix-and-riot-confirmed-as-the-basis-f…
6: https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/collection/open-source-observatory-osor/news/ma…
7: https://publiccode.eu
8: https://fsfe.org/campaigns/android/index.nl.html
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology. Software is deeply involved in all aspects of our
lives; and it is important that this technology empowers rather than
restricts us. Free Software gives everybody the rights to use,
understand, adapt and share software. These rights help support other
fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how Free
Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination.
It enhances users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software
adoption, encourage people to use and develop Free Software, and
provide resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software
in Europe.
http://fsfe.org
= REUSE makes copyright and licensing easier than ever =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20190807-01.nl.html ]
REUSE helps developers to declare copyright and licensing of their
projects. Today, the REUSE project released version 3.0 of their
specification. The new edition is accompanied by a helper tool and makes
adopting the best practices easier than ever.
The licensing of a software project is critical information. Developers
set the terms under which others can reuse their software, from
individuals to giant corporations. Authors want to make sure that others
adhere to their chosen licenses; potential re-users have to know the
license of third-party software before publication; and companies have
to ensure license compliance in their products that often build on top
of existing projects. The REUSE [1] project, led by the Free Software
Foundation Europe (FSFE), helps all of these parties.
REUSE aims to have all copyright and licensing information stored as
close to the source files as possible. This is achieved by directly
adding this information to the file in a standardised and machine-
readable form. If a file does not support that, a .license file or
central DEP-5 configuration file can be used instead. This way,
developers can be assured that re-users will not oversee copyright
holders and their intended license.
Following the best practices is simple:
1. Choose and provide licenses: Select a Free Software license, find the
unique identifier of this license, and store the full license text
inside a dedicated LICENSES/ directory.
2. Add copyright and licensing information to each file: Add at least
two lines indicating the copyright holder and the license.
3. Confirm REUSE compliance: Use the REUSE tool to check whether all
necessary information is present.
Adopters can start with a new tutorial [2] that explains how to make a
repository REUSE compliant. To ensure that developers can concentrate on
their actual work, we have developed the REUSE helper tool [3] that
automates and assists with some of these steps. It can also be included
in CI/CD workflows [4] to confirm REUSE compliance continuously.
Our constantly expanding FAQ [5] answers basic questions about
licensing, copyright, and more complex use cases. Advanced users and
integrators will find the full specification [6] helpful.
And there is more to come: The REUSE initiative will continue its work
on making copyright and licensing easier for everyone. Our roadmap
includes configurable templates for adding the headers with the helper
tool, as well as an API that for example allows projects to display a
dynamic badge indicating the REUSE status, or third-party services to
integrate REUSE checks.
REUSE is already being used by various software projects like the Linux
kernel [7], and recommended by other license compliance initiatives like
OpenChain [8]. We welcome other developers to adopt REUSE and look
forward to feedback and collaboration. Please contact us [9] and join
the mailing list [10].
Discuss this article [11]
1: https://reuse.software
2: https://reuse.software/tutorial
3: https://git.fsfe.org/reuse/tool/
4: https://reuse.software/dev
5: https://reuse.software/faq
6: https://reuse.software/spec
7: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/Doc…
8: https://www.openchainproject.org/news/2017/09/13/fsfe-contributes-reuse-gui…
9: https://fsfe.org/contact
10: https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/reuse
11: https://community.fsfe.org/t/reuse-makes-copyright-and-licensing-easier-tha…
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology. Software is deeply involved in all aspects of our
lives; and it is important that this technology empowers rather than
restricts us. Free Software gives everybody the rights to use,
understand, adapt and share software. These rights help support other
fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how Free
Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination.
It enhances users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software
adoption, encourage people to use and develop Free Software, and
provide resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software
in Europe.
http://fsfe.org
= Three conclusions to draw from Google denying Huawei access to software =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20190520-01.nl.html ]
Google denies the Chinese IT giant Huawei access to Google's proprietary
components of the Android mobile operating system which threatens IT
security. This highlights the importance Free Software has for
technology users, public bodies, and businesses. The Free Software
Foundation Europe (FSFE) presents three essential lessons from this
case.
Following the U.S. administration's decision to effectively ban American
companies from doing trade with the Chinese company Huawei, Google
suspended all business with the company. This affects all software which
is not covered under Free Software licences. In practice, Huawei's
upcoming and potentially also current phones will no longer get support
and updates for the Android operating system. They will also not have
access to the proprietary Google apps and services like Gmail and Google
Play. Although proprietary software should be avoided in the first
place, especially the latter will put future Huawei user at risk because
without access to the default app store on most stock Android phones
they will miss important security updates for the apps installed through
it.
Google offers only a base version of Android under a Free Software
licence but bundles it together with proprietary apps and services. The
non-free components of most stock Android devices have numerous
downsides for users, as the FSFE has documented since 2012 [1]. Now, the
current case demonstrates that even tech giants like Huawei face similar
dependencies and vendor lock-in effects as any individual users if they
rely on proprietary software.
== Three Conclusions ==
The following lessons can be drawn from this case:
1. The FSFE urges *users* to use Free Software operating systems and
applications on their computing devices. With proprietary software,
they are on the receiving end only and vendors may deny them access
to crucial security updates if the vendor or a government changes its
strategy. Free Software enables control of technology, and the more
important that technology becomes in our daily lives, the more
relevant Free Software becomes for users. For Android, the FSFE helps
users to regain more control with its Free Your Android initiative
[2].
2. *Governments and especially the European Union* should invest more
resources in Free Software to gain independence from large
enterprises and other states. The current case highlights the lack of
influence the EU has on outside technology providers. Instead of
waiting for a future European IT monopolist to enter the stage, the
EU and its members states should invest in Free Software development
[3] and focus on supporting local Free Software organisations as well
as businesses. This would effectively foster the inner-European
market and enable independence for European citizens and the EU
economy. This step is essential for avoiding exposing European
infrastructure to shutdowns controlled by external factors.
3. The FSFE urges *companies* to use as much Free Software as possible
in their supply chains. Proprietary software makes a company
dependent on its vendor and this vendor's government. The current
case shows that the US was able to force Google to stop delivery of
its proprietary products – but could not stop delivery of the Free
Software components of Android. Had Huawei invested more resources in
Free Software apps and services, the US strategy would not have hit
them as hard. Although the current events are linked to the scrutiny
the Chinese company is under right now, it is obvious that this could
happen to any other company based in any other country as well.
The earlier allegations against Huawei already showed that code for all
critical infrastructure should be published under a Free Software
licence [4]. The latest episode of the Huawei affair illustrates that
the same applies to apps and services. Just days before the European
Elections, this should be a wake-up call for the next constituent
Parliament to ask the European Commission for European directives that
foster independence of European technical infrastructure and that build
on Free Software, starting with the demand to release publicly funded
software as public code [5].
Discuss this article [6]
1: https://freeyourandroid.org
2: https://freeyourandroid.org
3: https://publiccode.eu
4: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20190205-01.nl.html
5: https://publiccode.eu
6: https://community.fsfe.org/t/three-conclusions-to-draw-from-google-denying-…
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology. Software is deeply involved in all aspects of our
lives; and it is important that this technology empowers rather than
restricts us. Free Software gives everybody the rights to use,
understand, adapt and share software. These rights help support other
fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how Free
Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination.
It enhances users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software
adoption, encourage people to use and develop Free Software, and
provide resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software
in Europe.
http://fsfe.org
= Free Software in Munich - FSFE thanks cabaret artist Christine Prayon =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20190515-02.nl.html ]
Yesterday, political satirist Christine Prayon was awarded the 10,000
Euro Dieter Hildebrandt Prize of the City of Munich for demanding
political or decidedly socio-critical political satire. Prayon is
donating the prize money to the Free Software Foundation Europe.
The jury states [1], among other things, that the award recipient Prayon
"[...] does not simply accuse - she unmasks, and we are her witnesses".
Prayon herself used her thank-you speech to put the finger on one of
Munich's sore spots: Prayon describes the former genius, progressive
process of making Munich independent of the providers of proprietary
software and letting the complete administration run on a free system.
Prayon then criticised the switch back to proprietary systems.
The migration of workstations back to proprietary software will cost
Munich almost 50 million Euros over the next six years. A further 37
million Euros will have to be invested in implementation projects. The
Free Software Foundation Europe already criticised the migration-project
in the past. The migration will not solve existing organisational IT
problems in the day-to-day administrative business. At the same time new
dependencies on manufacturers of proprietary software will arise and
license fees will be paid to the proprietary manufacturers instead of
using these funds in tax payers' best interest for the further
development of the software and the cooperation with other
administrations. The systems become less transparent and no longer
comprehensible for citizens. Further information on the migration plans
of the City of Munich can be found here [2].
Munich is thus turning against the trend: in other administrations, Free
Software is being used with overwhelming success. Since the French
government decided to start using more Free Software back in 2012,
between 0.6% and 5.4% more companies using Free Software have been
created in France every year; between 6.6% and 14% more people find
employment in the IT sector every year. In Barcelona, 70% of the budget
for the development of new software is used to create Free Software.
Contracts have so far been awarded to 3,000 companies, 60% of them SMEs,
mostly from the region. In collaborative projects, more and more cities
are working on common software solutions and jointly develop them,
saving costs and sharing risks.
The Free Software Foundation Europe has launched the campaign "Public
Money? Public Code!" to convince other administrations to switch to Free
Software and support them in their migration. As part of the campaign,
we published the specialist publication "Public Money Public Code -
Modernising Public Infrastructure with Free Software". The brochure aims
to answer questions from decision-makers about the benefits of using and
developing Free Software for the public administration.
More information about the campaign and its supporters can be found on
our campaign website at publiccode.eu [3], and the brochure can be found
here [4].
The Free Software Foundation Europe would like to take this opportunity
to thank Christine Prayon for her commitment to Free Software and her
generous donation.
1: https://www.muenchen.de/rathaus/Stadtverwaltung/Kulturreferat/Kulturfoerder…
2: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20190515-01.html
3: https://publiccode.eu/
4: https://fsfe.org/campaigns/publiccode/brochure
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology. Software is deeply involved in all aspects of our
lives; and it is important that this technology empowers rather than
restricts us. Free Software gives everybody the rights to use,
understand, adapt and share software. These rights help support other
fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how Free
Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination.
It enhances users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software
adoption, encourage people to use and develop Free Software, and
provide resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software
in Europe.
http://fsfe.org
= Copyright Directive – EU safeguards Free Software at the last minute =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20190326-01.nl.html ]
The European Parliament adopted the controversial Copyright Directive by
348 votes in favour, 274 votes against and 36 abstentions. Today's vote
marks the end of years of debate in the European Union. Heated
discussions about the introduction of upload filters ended up in
protests of tens of thousands people in the streets all across Europe.
In a last minute action back in September 2018, the European Parliament
adopted an amendment and pushed it through the trilogue to at least
protect Free and Open Source Software.
“We are glad we were able to raise awareness and understanding of
what drives software development in Europe nowadays among many
policy makers. The exclusion of Free Software code hosting and
sharing providers from this directive is crucial to keep Free
Software development in Europe healthy, solid and alive. we are
dismayed that the EU missed the opportunity to renew copyright to a
reasonable extent. As upload filters are now introduced, we urge the
European Commission to avoid filtering monopolies by companies this
directive actually intended to regulate. We call on the European
Commission to promote the dissemination of Free Software filter
technologies, including financial support, for instance within the
framework of research programmes Horizon2020 and Horizon Europe.”
says Alexander Sander, Policy Manager of the Free Software
Foundation Europe.
The Free Software Foundation Europe and Open Forum Europe started a
campaign to “ Save Code Share [1] ” in 2017. More than 14.000 people
supported our call with an open letter which requests EU legislators to
preserve the ability to collaboratively build software online in current
EU Copyright Directive proposal.
1: https://savecodeshare.eu/
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology. Software is deeply involved in all aspects of our
lives; and it is important that this technology empowers rather than
restricts us. Free Software gives everybody the rights to use,
understand, adapt and share software. These rights help support other
fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how Free
Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination.
It enhances users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software
adoption, encourage people to use and develop Free Software, and
provide resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software
in Europe.
http://fsfe.org
= Join the I Love Free Software Day 2019 =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20190214-01.nl.html ]
Today, as with every year on February 14th, people around the globe are
celebrating *"I love Free Software"* Day by expressing their love and
thanks to all the people working behind each Free Software project.
Follow the love with the hashtag #IloveFS today and add your own love
dedication to the stream!
Software is deeply involved in all aspects of our lives; and it is
important that this technology empowers rather than restricts us. Free
Software gives everybody the rights to use, understand, adapt and share
software. These rights help support other fundamental freedoms like
freedom of speech, press and privacy. And Free Software is also the
result of people who work together collaboratively and dedicate their
skills to a project. "I love Free Software" Day is a day to show our
appreciation to all these people behind any Free Software project and
our gratitude for their dedication:https://ilovefs.org
== Becoming part of #ilovefs [1] ==
Everyone can participate in *"I love Free Software"* Day and join the
celebrations by sharing a message of love with the hashtag *#ilovefs* on
any (social) media channel. Be it on a general note or directly
dedicated to a particular Free and Open Source Software solution. The
more people contribute their part, the more we will enjoy a beautiful
*"I love Free Software"* Day together.
Or help by spreading the word in the offline world among your friends
and colleagues and bring them together. We know about interesting
offline events happening, for example in Barcelona, Berlin, Sofia,
Stockholm, Tirana, Plovdiv and Zurich. Follow the stream and enjoy a
lovely day packed with thankfulness and creativity!
Happy *"I love Free Software"* Day everyone!
1: https://ilovefs.org
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology. Software is deeply involved in all aspects of our
lives; and it is important that this technology empowers rather than
restricts us. Free Software gives everybody the rights to use,
understand, adapt and share software. These rights help support other
fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how Free
Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination.
It enhances users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software
adoption, encourage people to use and develop Free Software, and
provide resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software
in Europe.
http://fsfe.org