=FSFE welcomes German Government's White Paper on "Secure Boot" =
[Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20121120-01.html]
Yesterday the German Ministry of the Interior published a white paper
about "Trusted Computing" and "Secure Boot". The white paper says that
"device owners must be in complete control of (able to manage and
monitor) all the trusted computing security systems of their devices."
This has been one of FSFE's key demands from the beginning. The document
continues that "delegating this control to third parties requires
conscious and informed consent by the device owner".
Another demand by the FSFE is adressed by the government's white paper.
That before purchasing a device, buyers must be informed concisely about
the technical measures implemented in this device, as well as the
specific usage restrictions and their consequences for the owner:
"Trusted computing security systems must be deactivated (opt-in
principle)" when devices are delivered. "Based on the necessary
transparency with regard to technical features and content of trusted
computing solutions, device owners must be able to make responsible
decisions when it comes to product selection, start-up, configuration,
operation and shut-down." And "Deactivation must also be possible later
(opt- out function) and must not have any negative impact on the
functioning of hard- and software that does not use trusted computing
functions."
"It is an important step, that a government now takes a firm stand on
"Secure Boot", too. We as a society have to make sure, that we are
in control of our computers, so everyone can install arbitrary software
and is able to retain exclusive control over his own data. Full, sole
and permanent control over security subsystems is necessary for this.",
says Matthias Kirschner, German Coordinator of the FSFE. "Now the
Government has to implement their position when buying new hardware."
- - German's Federal Government White Paper on Trusted Computing and
Secure Boot:
http://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Themen/OED_Verwaltung/Inform…
- - FSFE's analysis:
http://fsfe.org/campaigns/generalpurposecomputing/secure-boot-analysis.en.h…
- - Petition "Stand up for your freedom to install free software":
http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/secure-boot-vs-restricted-boot/statement
= About the Free Software Foundation Europe =
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit
non-governmental organisation active in many European countries and
involved in many global activities. Access to software determines
participation in a digital society. To secure equal participation in
the information age, as well as freedom of competition, the Free
Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is dedicated to the
furthering of Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use, study,
modify and copy. Founded in 2001, creating awareness for these issues,
securing Free Software politically and legally, and giving people
Freedom by supporting development of Free Software are central issues
of the FSFE.
http://fsfe.org/
= Finnish activist, Danish hacker share Nordic Free Software Award 2012
=
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20121112-01.html ]
Finnish Free Software activist Otto Kekäläinen and Danish hacker Ole
Tange are the recipients of the 2012 Nordic Free Software Award. With
the Nordic Free Software award, given out for the 6th time this year,
the Swedish Association for Free Software and Free Culture (FFKP,
Föreningen Fri Kultur och Programvara)[1]honours people and projects
who have made important contributions to software freedom.
1. http://ffkp.se
This year, the awards committee decided to honour two people who have
worked long and hard to promote Free Software in Finland and Denmark.
Otto Kekäläinen is a Free Software campaigner based in Tampere,
Finland. As the coordinator of FSFE's Finnish country team, he leads the
organisations campaigning and advocacy work in Finland. He is educating
Finland's public bodies on correct practices in software procurement,
and has spearheaded the Free Software community's criticism of
Helsinki's city government for hesitating to adopt Free Software. As the
project lead for the VALO-CD project[2], which publishes a collection of
Free Software for Windows, he has introduced many users of this platform
to programs that they can use, study, share and improve.
2. http://www.valo-cd.net
"Ole is director of IT-Politisk Forening[3], a non-governmental
organisation that has succeeded in bringing Free Software to Denmark's
public sector in Denmark. A long-time Free Software developer, he is
most recently working on the GNU Parallel project. Ole played an
important role in the fights against software patents, creating campaign
ideas such as the original"Patented Webshop"[4].
3. http://www.itpol.dk
4. http://ole.tange.dk/swpat
"Otto embodies a rare and precious combination of talents: Deep
knowledge of technology, a passion for Free Software, and a knack for
campaigning" says Karsten Gerloff, President of the Free Software
Foundation Europe (FSFE)[5]. "Energetic, patient and extremely
persistent, he is really taking software freedom forward in Finland." .
5. http://fsfe.org
"Ole's enthusiasm and commitment has been an inspiration to everyone. We
are proud and eternally gratefulto be able to award him this prestigious
price for advancing Free Software in the Nordic countries," says Jonas
Öberg, Executive Director of the Swedish Association for Free Software
and Free Culture.
Previous recipients of the award include software patent campaigner Erik
Josefsson (2011), Icelandic software developer Bjarni Runar Einarsson
(2010), Swedish hackers Simon Josefsson and Daniel Stenberg (2009),
Swedish IT strategist Mats Östling (2008) and the SkoleLinux project
(2007).
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit
non-governmental organisation active in many European countries and
involved in many global activities. Access to software determines
participation in a digital society. To secure equal participation in
the information age, as well as freedom of competition, the Free
Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is dedicated to the
furthering of Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use, study,
modify and copy. Founded in 2001, creating awareness for these issues,
securing Free Software politically and legally, and giving people
Freedom by supporting development of Free Software are central issues
of the FSFE.
http://fsfe.org/
= UK takes major step towards competition, innovation in software market =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20121101-02.en.html]
The UK government has released a new Open Standards policy. FSFE
welcomes this document as a major step towards more competition and
innovation in the UK software market.
"With this policy, and in particular with its strong definition of Open
Standards, the UK government sets an example that governments elsewhere
should aspire to", says Karsten Gerloff, President of the Free Software
Foundation Europe. Under the new policy, effective immediately, patents
that are essential to implementing a standard must be licensed without
royalties or restrictions that would prevent their implementation in
Free Software.
Exit costs are another issue where the policy represents significant
progress. In future, when UK government bodies buy a software solution,
they have to include in the price a calculation of what it will cost
them to get out of this solution in the future. This is perhaps the
first time that a government has made this long-standing demand of FSFE
an explicit policy. It means that government bodies cannot simply avoid
buying Free Software solutions because they are locked into one
particular vendor's proprietary file formats.
"Open Standards are really a choice between free competition on the
one hand, and leaving the market to a few big players on the other hand.
It's great to see that the UK government puts the country's interests
first, and refuses to be constrained by the bad old ways of doing
things", says Gerloff. "This policy will open up the market and remove
barriers to entry, promoting innovation and competition".
Experience in other countries shows that achieving real change in the
way the public sector buys software will be hard. FSFE therefore believe
that the UK government would do well to take advantage of this
opportunity and put even greater emphasis on increasing the use of Free
Software in the country's public sector. This is an area where the UK
still lags behind many other countries by a long margin, and much effort
will be required to catch up.
Further analysis by FSFE: - The UK's new Open Standards policy:
http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2012/11/01/the-uks-new-open-standards-policy
- FSFE Open Standard definition:
http://fsfe.org/activities/os/def.en.html
- FSFE submission to UK Open Standards consultation:
http://fsfe.org/activities/os/2012-06-uk-consultation-os.en.html
Find more about the UK Government Open Standards policy
- UK Government: Open Standards Consultation documents:
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/open-standards-consultatio…
- UK Government: Open Standards Principles:
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/default/files/resources/Open-Standard…
- UK Government: Open Standards Consultation: The Government response:
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/default/files/resources/Government-Re…
== Contact ==
Ana Galán Herranz
Free Software Foundation Europe
E-Mail: anaghz(a)fsfe.org
Phone: +49 30 27 59 52 90
Karsten Gerloff
President, Free Software Foundation Europe
E-Mail: gerloff(a)fsfeurope.org
Phone: +49 176 9690 4298
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit
non-governmental organisation active in many European countries and
involved in many global activities. Access to software determines
participation in a digital society. To secure equal participation in
the information age, as well as freedom of competition, the Free
Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is dedicated to the
furthering of Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use, study,
modify and copy. Founded in 2001, creating awareness for these issues,
securing Free Software politically and legally, and giving people
Freedom by supporting development of Free Software are central issues
of the FSFE. http://fsfe.org/
= Unitary patent threatens innovation in Europe =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2012/20120907-01.en.html]
Will lawsuits like Apple vs Samsung soon take place in Europe? The
European Parliament is about to set the future course for Europe's
patent system. On September 17th and 18th, the European Parliament's
Legal Affairs committee will discuss a proposal for a EU-wide
patent. From now until September 18th, FSFE will continuously provide
updates and analysis on the unitary patent on our website [1].
This proposal has faced massive criticism from different sides. In its
current form, it will mean:
- giving up political control over Europe's innovation policy
- endangering due process for those involved in patent litigation
- cementing the EPO's dangerous practice of awarding patents on software
The European Court of Justice has warned that the current patent
proposal is incompatible with EU laws [2].
In order to preserve and enhance Europe's capacity for innovation,
FSFE demands that:
- Political control over the patent system: Europe's patent system
must be placed under the Parliament's supervision. The patent
system is an important tool of innovation policy. The European
Parliament must not delegate its responsibilities to an
organisation that is entirely outside the EU's control.
- Due process: The patent system has to guarantee due process for
all, with proper checks and balances. Rather than being left at
the mercy of an unsupervised special patent court, those
involved in patent litigation must have recourse to national
courts and ultimately to the European Court of Justice.
- No patents on software: Parliament needs to effectively
ensure that computer programs are excluded from
patentability. MEPs must make it clear that a computer program
cannot be patented just because it runs on generic data
processing hardware.
== Contact ==
Karsten Gerloff
President, Free Software Foundation Europe
E-Mail: gerloff(a)fsfeurope.org
Phone: +49 176 9690 4298
== Footnotes ==
1. http://fsfe.org/
2. http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/P_73113/
= FSFE wants to better protect Free Software licenses from bankruptcy =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120730-01.en.html ]
When the companies or authors that license Free Software enter
bankruptcy there is a risk that granted Free Software licenses will face
legal challenges in some jurisdictions. FSFE is now trying to prevent
this situation in Germany. The expert institution ifrOSS supported by
FSFE suggests German Ministry of Justice to include a specific Free
Software clause in the German Insolvency Code.
It is not entirely clear what can happen to the Free Software licenses
that were granted by rights holders either before or after they went
bankrupt. This lack of clear rules could greatly endanger functioning of
the Free Software, which depends on the contributions from numerous
rights holders.
Some time ago, German Ministry of Justice published an initiative to
improve the regulation of licenses during the insolvency proceedings. As
a response, ifrOSS (Institute for Legal Questions on Free and Open
Source Software) supported by FSFE now prepared the suggestion of the
Free Software clause that could effectively remove the problems
specifically associated with the Free Software. The clause ensures that
Free Software licensing model would not be negatively affected by a
bankruptcy of a licensing rights holder. It makes it clear that any
offer to grant Free Software license made before the licensor's
bankruptcy can be accepted by anyone even after the bankruptcy
proceedings started.
FSFE asks the German Ministry of Justice to consider this proposal
favourably as it can greatly contribute to the legal certainty of the
Free Software based industries, such as automotive, mechanical
engineering and IT field.
ifrOSS together with FSFE asks the government to include the following
clause in the newly proposed § 108a of the Insolvency Code
(/Insolvenzordnung, InsO/):
Original version: "(4) Wenn der Schuldner durch Lizenzvertrag
unentgeltlich ein einfaches Nutzungsrecht für jedermann einräumt, so
findet die Regelung des § 103 InsO keine Anwendung. Das vom Schuldner
vor des Insolvenzverfahrens abgegebene Angebot auf Abschluss eines
solchen Lizenzvertrags, kann auch nach Eröffnung angenommen werden."
English version: "(4) When the debtor grants somebody a non-exclusive
right by means of a license agreement without consideration, the rule
stipulated in § 103 Insolvency Code shall not apply. Debtor's offer to
conclude such license agreement made before the initiation of the
insolvency proceedings can be also accepted after the insolvency
proceedings have been initiated."
Shall the Free Software face similar problems in other jurisdictions, we
kindly invite you to contact us or take similar steps.
FSFE works for the public good. Its activities can be supported by
signing up at http://fsfe.org/support
== Further links ==
- Legislative Initiative of the German Ministry of Justice (de)
http://www.der-betrieb.de/content/pdfft,0,466327
- The press release of ifrOSS (de)
http://www.ifross.org/artikel/vorschlag-des-ifross-insolvenzrechtlichen-fra…
- The entire proposal of ifrOSS (de)
https://www.ifross.de/ifross_html/120506%20Stellungnahme%20InsO.pdf
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit
non-governmental organisation active in many European countries and
involved in many global activities. Access to software determines
participation in a digital society. To secure equal participation in
the information age, as well as freedom of competition, the Free
Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is dedicated to the
furthering of Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use, study,
modify and copy. Founded in 2001, creating awareness for these issues,
securing Free Software politically and legally, and giving people
Freedom by supporting development of Free Software are central issues
of the FSFE.
http://fsfe.org/
Contact: Matthias Kirschner, Free Software Foundation Europe,
Linienstr. 141, 10115 Berlin, t +49-30-27595290, m +49-1577-1780003
= City of Helsinki Wants To Keep Software Costs Secret =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120711-01.html ]
The IT department of the city of Helsinki claimed in a report to the
city board that migrating to OpenOffice would cost is over 21 million
euros. On 10th of April 2012, FSFE filed a Freedom of Information
request, asking the city how it had arrived at a surprisingly high cost
estimates for running OpenOffice (now LibreOffice) on the city's
workstations. The city of Helsinki has now denied this request[1]and has
stated that it will not release any details about the calculations.
"This secrecy is truly disappointing. If anyone was looking to Helsinki
for a pragmatic assessment of the costs and benefits of Free Software,
this should make them reconsider," says Otto Kekäläinen, FSFE's
Finland coordinator. The city's administration insists that its
calculations are based on a secret formula provided by a consultancy.
Even if one were to accept that business secrets should be more
important than the interests of Helsinki's citizens, the city could and
should still release the numbers that it put into the formula. This
could be such information as the estimated cost per seat, or estimated
annual costs for support. "If Helsinki won't explain how they came by
their figures, how can anyone take those numbers seriously?" asks
Kekäläinen.
Johanna Sumuvuori, member of Helsinki's city council, has been pushing
for greater use of Free Software in the city's administration since
2010. Together with 50 out of 85 members of Helsinki's city council, she
is now urging the city[2]to at least provide users with up-to-date
LibreOffice installs in parallel with the proprietary office suite
currently in use.
During 2011, the city of Helsinki ran a pilot project, trying out the
Free Software suite as a secondary office suite on all 21 000 city
workstations and on as the sole office suite on 600 laptops provided to
city trustees. After the pilot ended in December 2011, a report by the
city claimed that the cost of using OpenOffice/LibreOffice would cost
70% more than the current proprietary office suite.
FSFE's analysis points to a number of severe deficiencies[3]in both the
pilot project and the report. Even though the city's claims appear
unrealistic, Helsinki's administration refuses to explain how the
figures were calculated.
FSFE is running a project to improve public sector procurement
practices[4]in Finland. Public sector bodies frequently make mistakes in
their calls for tender by requesting tenders for specific brands and
product names, thus discriminating competitors. FSFE works with public
bodies to fix mistakes in calls for tender, and to spread best practices
on how to increase true competition and thus better quality for a more
competitive price.
FSFE works for the public good. Its activities can be supported by
signing up at fsfe.org/support[5]
1. news-20120711-01-attachment-helsinki-foia-denial.pdf
2. http://www.sumuvuori.net/node/178
3. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120412-02.en.html
4. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120619-01.en.html
5. http://fsfe.org/support
== Contact ==
=== Finland ===
Otto Kekäläinen
FSFE Coordinator, Finland
otto(a)fsfe.org
=== +358 44 566 2204International ===
Karsten Gerloff
FSFE President
gerloff(a)fsfe.org
+49 176 9690 4298If you wish to receive further updates, subscribe to
our press release mailing list at http://fsfe.org/press
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit
non-governmental organisation active in many European countries and
involved in many global activities. Access to software determines
participation in a digital society. To secure equal participation in
the information age, as well as freedom of competition, the Free
Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is dedicated to the
furthering of Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use, study,
modify and copy. Founded in 2001, creating awareness for these issues,
securing Free Software politically and legally, and giving people
Freedom by supporting development of Free Software are central issues
of the FSFE.
http://fsfe.org/