= FSFE on AVM vs Cybits: A small computer is still a computer =
[Online under http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110622-01.en.html ]
Berlin, 22. June 2011 - Yesterday in Berlin a court hearing took place
in a case that could set a crucial precedent for the embedded industry
(reported at [3]). In the lawsuit between AVM and Cybits, AVM maintained
that others should not be allowed to modify Free Software on computers
bought from AVM, such as the widely used Fritz!Box. At the heart of the
debate is the Linux kernel, distributed under the GNU GPL which
guarantees exactly this freedom to users. Free Software Foundation
Europe (FSFE) and gpl-violations.org today published a detailed report
about the hearing.
"Users have the right to decide for themselves which software they want
to run on their computers. If AVM, or any other company, does not want
to adhere to the GNU General Public License, they should not use
GPL-licensed software," says Matthias Kirschner, FSFE's Germany
coordinator.
"AVM wants to keep and extend its monopolistic power over those devices,
even after they have been sold. Not only does this conflict with the GNU
GPL license of the Linux kernel, it is also anti-competitive," says
Harald Welte, Linux kernel contributor and founder of gpl-violations.org
project.
The court made no decision during yesterday's hearing. The participants
may file further written pleadings. The court may then either rule
directly, or begin hearing evidence. FSFE and gpl-violations.org will
continue to monitor the case and defend the freedom of software users.
1. Detailed report about the hearing from June 21st
http://fsfe.org/projects/ftf/avm-gpl-violation.en.html#oh-20110621
2. Harald Welte's blog article concentrating on technical aspects
http://laforge.gnumonks.org/weblog/2011/06/21/#20110621-avm_cybits_court_he…
3. 2011-06-20: Press Release: "AVM violating license of the Linux
kernel" http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110620-01.en.html
== Press contacts ==
Matthias Kirschner <mk at fsfe.org>, Free Software Foundation Europe
Linienstraße 141, 10115 Berlin
Phone: +49-30-275 95 290 Mobile: +49-1577-178 000 3
== gpl-violations.org ==
The gpl-violations.org project is taking legal and other means to make
sure commercial users of Free Software are adhering to the GNU General
Public License. gpl-violations.org has enforced the GNU GPL in
hundreds of cases, most of them amicably and out of court. However,
if necessary, legal means such as warning notices, preliminary
injunctions and civil copyright lawsuits are used in order to ensure
companies are following-up with their obligations under the GNU GPL.
gpl-violations.org was started by Free Software developer Harald
Welte, who has received multiple awards in recognition of his legal
efforts on enforcing the GNU GPL.
== 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/
= AVM violating license of the Linux kernel =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110620-01.en.html ]
== Linux kernel at centre of battle for control of embedded devices ==
Berlin, 20th June - Tomorrow on June 21st a legal case will be heard
before the District Court of Berlin which may have enormous consequences
for the way that software is developed and distributed. The adversaries
in the case are the manufacturer and distributor of DSL routers AVM
Computersysteme Vertriebs GmbH (AVM), and Cybits AG (Cybits) which
produces children's web-filtering software. Both companies use the Linux
kernel, which is licensed under the GNU General Public License, version
2 (GNU GPL); a Free Software license permitting everyone to use, study,
share, and improve works which use it.
The case was brought to court by AVM with the aim of preventing Cybits
from changing any parts of the firmware used in AVM's routers, including
the Linux kernel. The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) and gpl-
violations.org consider AVM's action as a broad attack against the
principles of Free Software, and thus against the thousands of
individuals and companies developinging, improving and distributing Free
Software.
"I decided to contribute my work to the Linux kernel under the GNU GPL,
and let others benefit from it. I'm happy if companies make a lot of
money with software written by me and thousands of others. But in
return, when they distribute our software I want them to give others the
same rights they received from me", said Harald Welte, founder of gpl-
violations.org and copyright holder of several parts of the Linux
kernel.
This is however exactly what AVM tried to avoid when in 2010 they filed
two actions against Cybits. AVM claimed that when their customers
install Cybits' filtering software on AVM routers it changes the
routers' firmware and consequently infringes on AVM's copyright. In the
opinion of AVM, even changing the Linux kernel components of the
firmware is not allowed. The Court of Appeals of Berlin rejected this
argument in its decision on the request for a preliminary injunction in
September 2010, after Mr. Welte intervened in the case. Now, the
District Court of Berlin will have to decide on the issue again, this
time in the main proceedings.
"This case has far reaching consequences for the future of Free Software
and the GNU GPL. The GNU GPL is a legal license set by the original
authors of the software. These terms are not optional" said Till Jaeger
from JBB Rechtsanwälte who represents Mr. Welte in this case.
If AVM succeeds in forbidding others from exercising the freedoms
explicitly granted by the GNU General Public License terms, it will
directly contravene the legal rights of the original authors of the
programs, who decided that software freedom and cooperation is more
important to them than directly receiving license fees. Moreover, there
are also significant economic and business implications. First, it will
give device manufacturers the chance to veto software from third parties
on their products, resulting in worse products for the user and them
being locked-in to purchasing future products from a particular vendor.
Second, it will give companies like AVM an unfair advantage over their
competitors who are in compliance with the Free Software licenses which
they use. Third, it will threaten the cooperative software development
model, which has been successfully used by many companies worldwide for
three decades.
"AVM is attacking the very foundations of Free Software: They want to
take away freedom from others. We have to act when a company sues others
for executing their right to modify Free Software. AVM's behaviour must
not be tolerated. If they are successful in court it will be disastrous
for the global market for embedded devices, which includes mobile
phones, network hardware, and other Linux based products" says Matthias
Kirschner, FSFE's German Coordinator.
"Ironically, by preventing others from enacting the rights granted by
the GNU GPL, AVM itself is in violation of the license terms. Therefore
they have no right to distribute the software" says Till Jaeger.
FSFE and gpl-violations.org are committed to encouraging the use of Free
Software by companies and developers by making licensing and compliance
as easy as possible. Generally it is considerably easier to comply with
Free Software licenses than with EULAs and other license agreements for
non-Free software. Often it is only necessary to add a copy of the GNU
GPL license text to documentation, and add an offer to provide the
software source code (see FSFE's compliance tips[1]).
1. http://fsfe.org/projects/ftf/useful-tips-for-vendors.en.html
- Link to Background Information[2]
- Court decision 2nd instance (pdf, German)[3]
- Intervention by Harald Welte (pdf, German)[4]
- FSFE's legal page[5]
- FSFE's legal team maintains a collection of documentation on Free
Software Legal and Licensing topics. It also produces guides and
handbooks.[6]
- Frequently Asked Questions about the GNU Licenses[7]
- GNU GPL version 2[8] and official translations[9]
2. http://fsfe.org/projects/ftf/avm-gpl-violation.en.html
3. http://fsfe.org/projects/ftf/kg-avm-vs-cybits.pdf
4. http://fsfe.org/projects/ftf/avm-nebenintervention.pdf
5. http://fsfe.org/projects/ftf/ftf.en.html
6. http://fsfe.org/projects/ftf/documentation.en.html
7. http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html
8. http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html
9. http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0-translations.html
== Press contacts ==
Matthias Kirschner <mk at fsfe.org>, Free Software Foundation Europe
Linienstraße 141, 10115 Berlin
Phone: +49-30-275 95 290 Mobile: +49-1577-178 000 3
== gpl-violations.org ==
The gpl-violations.org project is taking legal and other means to
make sure commercial users of Free Software are adhering to the GNU
General Public License. gpl-violations.org has enforced the GNU GPL
in hundreds of cases, most of them amicably and out of court.
However, if neccessary, legal means such as warning notices,
preliminary injunctions and civil copyright lawsuits are used in
order to ensure companies are following-up with their obligations
under the GNU GPL.
gpl-violations.org was started by Free Software developer Harald
Welte, who has received multiple awards in recognition of his legal
efforts on enforcing the GNU GPL.
== 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/
= FSFE Newsletter - June 2011 =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201106.en.html ]
== The 899 Million question: Microsoft, European Commission, and Free
Software ==
What would you do with a monopolist, who uses his dominant position in
one area to create monopolies in other areas as well? The European
Commission has decided in 2004 that Microsoft has to provide competitors
with information how to connect a workgroup server with computers
running Microsoft Windows. Since the main competitor to Microsoft’s
workgroup server is the Free Software Samba project, the Commission made
it clear that Microsoft had to release interoperability information in a
way that is compatible with Free Software licenses like the GNU GPL. The
Commission's 2004 decision did not require Microsoft to publish
innovative information, it asked for simple information how Microsoft
computers talk to each other.
But Microsoft played for time, even when the Commission imposed a fine
of two million Euro for every day that Microsoft did not make the
required interoperability information and documentation available in a
way that the Samba team could make use of it. That gave Microsoft three
more years to gain profit from its monopoly position.
After losing an appeal in October 2007[1], Microsoft finally made the
required interoperability information available for a one-time fee of
EUR 10,000. This gives Free Software groups access to Microsoft’s
protocol specifications, but does not give them a license to the patents
that Microsoft holds in this area. Microsoft only offers patent licenses
under conditions that are fundamentally incompatible with the GNU GPL.
So the Samba team has a license to use Microsoft’s protocol
specifications, but not its patented technologies. At least those
patents are identified, and the Samba team can work around them with
considerable effort until we fix the problem of software patents as a
whole.
1. http://fsfe.org/projects/ms-vs-eu/timeline.en.html
Microsoft appealed the fine. On the 24th of May another hearing took
place. Like in the rest of the process, FSFE was again present, together
with the Samba team, giving crucial input to ensure that Free Software
can compete on market. Karsten Gerloff wrote about the hearing in his
blog article"Samba case hearing: How Microsoft’s gamble backfired"[2],
and you can also read Groklaw interview with Karsten Gerloff and Carlo
Piana[3]. A ruling on the Microsoft’s appeal is expected in the second
half of the year.
2.
http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2011/05/27/samba-case-hearing-how-microsofts-…
3. http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20110530202005299
== Antifeatures + DRM ==
How many times have you been forced to watch those copyright notices at
the beginning of a DVD, without the chance to fast-forward? Or would you
miss it, if no mobile phone would have a SIM lock?
On the 4th of May our American sister organisation organised the "Day
Against DRM". There were several articles, events, and radio shows about
this topic[4]. Your editor was interviewed by Dradio Wissen on the
subject of Antifeatures, which also includes digitial restriction
management (DRM).
4. http://www.defectivebydesign.org/highlights-2011-day-against-drm
An antifeature is a feature, which is implemented by the developer on
purpose, but which user does not want. So, it is not about bugs or
missing functionality, but about functions which the vendor added
intentionally to restrict the user.
Your editor's interview and corresponding article[5] explain some
examples, like how printer vendors prevent others from producing
printers' cartridges, the sim lock in mobile phones, the option to get
rid of additional software commercials on laptops, or the copyright
notices and the region code for DVDs.
5. http://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=797
With Free Software adding antifeatures simply isn't lucrative. Every
user has the freedom to change the software and to share those changes
with others. So when one person removes an antifeature, all other users
will benefit from this work. In Free Software new features are
implemented either if someone pays for them, or if someone is convinced
that this is an important feature and s/he has spent spare time on it.
Therewith Free Software is more honest and more transparent towards
users.
Benjamin Mako Hill wrote more about antifeatures[6] and also gave
several talks about it, e.g. at Linux Conf Australia 2010 (Ogg-
Theora)[7], or FrosCon (Ogg-Theora)[8].
6. http://www.fsf.org/bulletin/2007/fall/antifeatures/
7. http://projects.mako.cc/media/revealing_errors_lca2010.ogv
8.
http://ftp.stw-bonn.de/froscon/2010/hs12/theora/hs12_-_2010-08-22_12:45_-_e…
== Something completely different ==
- As British Telecom plan to roll out new music subscription service to
their 5.5 million broadband customers, our UK Team has asked BT to
make user freedom one of the product's key features.[9]
- The German Foreign Office is turning away from Free Software, and the
German Government is entangling itself in contradictions. The
assessment of our German team is,[10] that the reaction of the
Government to an inquiry by "Bündnis 90/Grüne" shows that the
government either does not understand important aspects of Free
Software or is deliberately offending Free Software in general as well
as Free Software companies in particular. We set up a public comment
plattform[11], and ask you to participate.
- The Free Software in Education update is out for March/April 2011[12].
Besides, there is an education survey in the UK.[13]
- The German team commented the replies to our question to the political
parties in Bremen.[14]
- From the planet aggregation[15]:
- This month's Fellowship interview with Florian Effenberger[16], is
out. He was the previous Marketing Project Lead for OpenOffice.org and
now founding member and part of the Steering Committee at The Document
Foundation.
- There are again new issues of Free Software and law related links for
30.4.-6.5.[17] 7.5.-22.5.[18], and 23.5.-29.5.[19].
- Fellow Jan-Christoph Borchardt wrote about Free(ing) web games.[20]
9. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/bt-open-letter.en.html
10. http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110511-01.en.html
11. http://etherpad.fsfe.org/1TyQlboVdF
12.
http://blogs.fsfe.org/guido/2011/04/free-software-in-education-marchapril-2…
13.
http://blogs.fsfe.org/guido/2011/05/free-software-in-education-survey-in-uk/
14. http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110520-01.en.html
15. http://planet.fsfe.org
16. http://blogs.fsfe.org/fellowship-interviews/?p=308
17. http://matija.suklje.name/?q=node/245
18. http://matija.suklje.name/?q=node/246
19. http://matija.suklje.name/?q=node/247
20. https://jancborchardt.wordpress.com/2011/05/19/freeing-web-games/
== Get active: Translate our Ask your Candidates page ==
In the coming month we will do more in our"Ask Your Candidates"[21]
activity. You can already help us by translating this page into your
native language. Like on all pages click on the source code link[22] at
the buttom of the page. Translate the page and then send it to
translators fsfeurope.org. If you are interested to help us more
regularly with translations, please take a look at our translator
page[23].
21. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/askyourcandidates/askyourcandidates.en.html
22.
http://fsfe.org/source/campaigns/askyourcandidates/askyourcandidates.xhtml
23. http://fsfe.org/contribute/translators/translators.en.html
Regards,
Matthias Kirschner- FSFE
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <http://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <http://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <http://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <http://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <http://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
= FSFE in Samba case: Microsoft's defiance backfired =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110525-01.en.html ]
Luxembourg, May 25 - FSFE played a key role at a Microsoft hearing
before the European Union's General Court on Tuesday, helping explain
the intricacies of Free Software servers.
The hearing was called to consider Microsoft's challenge to a EUR 899
million fine imposed by the European Commission in 2008. Microsoft had
failed to carry out remedies imposed for its violation of EU antitrust
law. A ruling is expected for later in the year.
Microsoft was required to provide interoperability information that
would enable others to hook up to its products so they could compete
with its workgroup servers. Key among those was the Samba team, which is
the only surviving competitor in the workgroup server market. Only after
a European Union court acted in 2007 to uphold nearly all of the
Commission's 2004 decision did Microsoft finally meet the Commission's
requirement to comply.
"In order to compete, the Samba team only needed the mundane information
about how Microsoft computers talk to each other," said Tridgell. "There
is nothing innovative here. All the innovative bits are either already
published by Microsoft's own researchers, or are contained in the
Microsoft program source code – and we have no interest in seeing
that. The innovation certainly isn't in the protocol specifications."
Tridgell appeared before a panel headed by Chamber President Nicholas
James Forwood of Britain, which also included judges Franklin Dehousse
of Belgium and Juraj Schwarcz of Slovakia. Microsoft, the Commission,
and outside intervenors on both sides were also represented. FSFE and
the Samba team were represented by lawyer Carlo Piana.
The problems date back to the Commission's 2004 decision that Microsoft
should release interoperability information. After that, the company
played for time and waited three years to comply with the Commission's
demands. Explaining the significance of Samba for a competitive software
market, Chamber President Forwood said: “Samba is the funnel through
which the effects on the market will be produced.”
Microsoft contended that the information it had to provide was valuable
and innovative, and originally sought to charge high prices for it.
Tridgell demonstrated that the valuable information had already been
revealed by Microsoft in research papers and other public fora. By
contrast, the information that Samba team needed to interoperate with
computers running Microsoft Windows was neither original nor innovative.
“Microsoft didn't keep this information secret because it was
valuable; the information was only valuable because it was kept
secret,” Piana told the Court on behalf of FSFE. He said it let
Microsoft preserve its dominant position, because no other software was
able to talk to the company's systems. “The company used these three
years to further entrench its dominant position in the market.”
“Microsoft is acting like a gambler who doubled up on a losing bet,
and now wants his money back,” said Nicholas Kahn, the representative
of the European Commission. By waiting three years before complying with
the Commission's decision while the clock on the fine was ticking,
Microsoft set the stakes very high – and finally lost.
“In this case, Europe's competition regulators have shown their bite.
We hope that the court will uphold the fine and make it clear that
companies in Europe have to play by the rules,” said Karsten Gerloff,
President of the Free Software Foundation Europe. “FSFE does many
things to help foster the growth of Free Software. We're proud to help
make the case for Free Software in a forum such as this, where we
believe we are providing a public service.”
Workgroup servers handle tasks used in small groups – printing,
signing in, and allocating permission to access particular files. The
Samba project not only provides an alternative to Microsoft's workgroup
server. It has come up with an alternative that is better in many
respects. For example, the Samba team used the trivial information
provided by Microsoft to build an innovative system that runs on very
small, cheap computers -- something that Microsoft's software cannot do.
“The hearing established that Free Software is central to restoring
competition in the workgroup server market,” says Piana. “Everyone
agreed to this, including the judges. This case matters because it
highlights that interoperability is more important than a company's
interest in keeping its dominant position.”
== 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: Karsten Gerloff, President, +49-176-96904298
= German Government: Lack of knowledge or deliberately offending Free
Software? =
[Permant URL http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110511-01.en.html ]
Berlin 11. May 2011. In the case of the Foreign Office turning away from
Free Software, the German Government is entangling itself in
contradictions. The reaction of the Government to an inquiry by "Bündnis
90/Grüne" has led to more pending questions than answers.
"Many replies show that the government either doesn't understand
important aspects of Free Software or is deliberately offending Free
Software in general as well as Free Software companies in particular"
says Matthias Kirschner, Germany coordinator of Free Software Foundation
Europe (FSFE).
The government argues that the developments in the Foreign Office
constitute a "turning away from the policy of exclusively using open
source software." At the same time, the government has confirmed that
they will migrate to Microsoft Windows 7 and Office 2010.
"The statements that Free Software would be worse to use, would cause
additional expenses on hardware, and that a lack of warranty would exist
are imaginative perceptions rather than fitting into a serious reply
from the government" said Elmar Geese, president of the "Linux-Verband".
Furthermore the response of the German Government has raised new
questions. The government mentioned that 4.3 million Euro have been
spent on a Free Software federal GNU/Linux distribution which apparently
has never been finished. "We wonder what has happened to that project
and what the money has actually been spent on" said Matthias Kirschner.
The FSFE and the "Linux-Verband" will work on an analysis of the reply
together with those who are interested.
- The reply of the German Federal Government (German)
http://www.von-notz.de/downloads/antwort-ka_bmi_quelloffene-software-aa_03-…
- Some comments in a blog entry (German)
http://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=781
- Public plattform to comment the questions (German)
http://etherpad.fsfe.org/1TyQlboVdF
== 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
= FSFE Newsletter - May 2011 =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201105.en.html ]
== Competition authorities: Free Software protects competition ==
882 software patents, likely related to GNU/Linux, in the hands of
people who could use them to pressure Free Software companies and
developers? Maybe in the hands of Microsoft, which has for years used
nebulous patent claims to extract licensing fees from companies that use
the Linux kernel in their products. This month the German and the US
competition authorities approved the sale of those patents to CPTN, a
consortium consisting of Microsoft, Oracle, Apple, and EMC. But, barring
nasty surprises in the still to be published detailed decision, we
neutralised the danger for Free Software.
Software patents are a very complex matter, and competition authorities
are not used dealing with them. So beginning from December 2010 we
explained to the German competition authorities why the patent sale was
highly problematic. In our first[1] , and second[2] submission we
explained the mechanics that some companies use to compete in the
software market, and how they preserve their monopolies.
1. http://fsfe.org/projects/swpat/letter-20101222.en.html
2. http://fsfe.org/projects/swpat/letter-20110406.en.html
In their press release the authorities have not only highlighted the
importance of Free Software for competition, and that actual patent
lawsuits are anticompetitive but also that threatening with patent
lawsuits, like the fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) strategies from
some non-free software companies, can be anticompetitive.
So for the first time, competition authorities have acknowledged the
essential part of Free Software for competition, and that patent
lawsuits by dominant market participants can be anticompetitive. This
will also be important for future debates, when the behaviour of big
non-free software companies has to be evaluated from a competition law
perspective.
As the devil is in the details, we hope to hear about the exact wording
of the CPTN contracts to evaluate them[3] . Such work is very time
consuming, and we would not be able to keep track of those activities,
without the support of one time donations[4] and regular ones by our
Fellows[5] .
3. http://fsfe.org/projects/swpat/novell-cptn.en.html
4. http://fsfe.org/donate/donate.en.html
5. http://fsfe.org/join.en.html
== Mission is possible ==
To date, 17 percent of the public institutions, we contacted[6] ,
already replied and removed the non-free PDF reader advertisements from
their websites. The current progress of the campaign can be seen on our
buglist[7] . Until now we have only received one negative reply.
However, as about 83 percent of the contacted institutions have not
responded yet, we want to remind them about the letter we have sent, and
ask for a reply. This works only with your help. To take part, follow
the actions from our follow-up guide[8] . In short this is:
6. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/pdfreaders.en.html
7. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/buglist.en.html
8. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/follow-up.en.html
- have a look at organisations in your country which appear as not
having answered yet,
- contact and remind them of FSFE's letter on inadmissibility of
advertising of proprietary software by public institutions, and
- ask them to remove the proprietary software advertising from their
websites.
If you discover non-free PDF reader advertisement, and is not on our
list, you are encouraged to contact them on your own. For public
institutions use a modified version of our letter[9] , for companies and
non-profits we are working on a template, after volunteers have
convinced organisations like Greenpeace Germany[10] to link to
pdfreaders.org instead.
9. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/letter.en.html
10. http://www.greenpeace.de/themen/energie/nachrichten/artikel/deutschlands_en…
== Something completely different ==
- Data stored per-user, and under the user's control. That is the aim of
the unhosted web. This project is covered by this month Fellowship
interview with Michiel de Jong[11] . If you want to discuss this in
person with Michiel, he will help as one of our booth volunteers for
one day during Berlin's Linuxtag[12] .
- Free Software for the public sector: We have provided input for the
European Commission on modernising the way in which public bodies buy
software[13] and related services.
- At the moment fellows are starting new Fellowship groups[14] in
Augsburg[15] (Germany) and Manchester[16] (UK). For the Manchester
group our British coordinator Sam Tuke created a good presentation
template about the Fellowship which is now linked from the meeting
howto[17] .
- Noteworthy articles from the Fellowship planet[18] include:
- Timo Jyrinki's article about his presentation of "tuning an old but
free phone"[19] with corresponding videos from FSCONS[20] ,
- Carlo Piana's article "Doors opened at Openoffice"[21] about
Oracle's announcement that they want to make OpenOffice.org a
community developed project,
- and Lena Simon's article about the old myths in a digital society[22]
(German) which also covers some issues we have to explain often.
11. http://losca.blogspot.com/2011/04/tuning-old-but-free-phone-video-now.en.ht…
12. http://www.fscons.org
13. http://piana.eu/it/node/265
14. http://www.stud.uni-potsdam.de/~leena/2011/04/alte-mythen-in-der-digitalen-…
- Groklaw's well deserved pension. Groklaw is shutting down and like our
sister organisation[23] we would like to thank them for their good
work.
- Free Software licensing, Free Software business, software patents, and
other topics from a legal point of view are covered in Matija's Free
Software and law related links. Editions are available for
29.03.-17.04.[24] , 18.04.-24.04.[25] , and 25.04.-29.04.[26] .
15. http://blogs.fsfe.org/fellowship-interviews/?p=299
16. http://wiki.fsfe.org/FellowshipEvents/Linuxtag%20berlin
17. http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110418-01.en.html
18. http://wiki.fsfe.org/groups/
19. http://wiki.fsfe.org/groups/Augsburg
20. http://wiki.fsfe.org/groups/Manchester
21. http://wiki.fsfe.org/MeetingHowTo#General
22. http://planet.fsfe.org
23. http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/farewell-groklaw-and-thanks
24. http://matija.suklje.name/?q=node/239
25. http://matija.suklje.name/?q=node/241
26. http://matija.suklje.name/?q=node/244
== Get Active - Internships at FSFE ==
We are looking for smart, motivated interns to join our team[27] . Apply
for an internship position[28] yourself, or distribute the information
about it. We offer:
27. http://fsfe.org/about/team.en.html
28. http://fsfe.org/contribute/internship.en.html
- a challenging and exciting time with a dynamic NPO working
internationally,
- a close-up view of organisational and community processes,
- a chance to take the initiative and put your ideas into practice, and
- the opportunity to meet and work with Free Software advocates across
Europe.
Beside the current interns Natalia Evdokimova[29] , and Nicolas Jean[30]
, past interns include our Italian coordinator Giacomo Poderi[31] ,
Fellowship representative Hugo Roy[32] , our president Karsten
Gerloff[33] , UK coordinator Sam Tuke[34] , Swedish team member Stian
Rødven Eide[35] , education team coordinator Thomas Jensch[36] , and
your editor[37] , who was FSFE's first intern. So as you can see, the
internship is a good start to get more involved in FSFE.
29. http://fsfe.org/index.en.html
30. http://fsfe.org/about/jean/jean.en.html
31. http://blogs.fsfe.org/poderi/
32. http://fsfe.org/about/roy/roy.en.html
33. http://fsfe.org/about/gerloff/gerloff.en.html
34. http://fsfe.org/about/tuke/tuke.en.html
35. http://blogs.fsfe.org/julipan/
36. http://blogs.fsfe.org/riepernet/
37. http://fsfe.org/about/kirschner/kirschner.en.html
Regards,
Matthias Kirschner - FSFE
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <http://www.fsfe.org>
FSFE News <http://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <http://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <http://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <http://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
Free Software crucial to competition, regulators in Novell patent deal say
Competition authorities in Germany and the United States today highlighted the fundamental role that Free Software plays for competition in the software market. After several months of discussions, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the German Federal Competition Office (FCO) have allowed a consortium of Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and EMC to acquire 882 patents from Novell only subject to conditions clearly intended to prevent their use against Free Software players.
"This is an historic step", says Karsten Gerloff, President of the Free Software Foundation Europe, which was involved in the FCO investigation since the beginning. "The regulators acknowledge that Free Software is crucial to competition; that patent aggression can well be anticompetitive behaviour; and that fear, uncertainty and doubt serve to push smaller competitors out of the market."
= Parallels to Microsoft case - no patent privilege =
"FSFE has been highlighting the danger of software patents for a decade," says FSFE's legal counsel Carlo Piana. In the present transaction, patents play a similar role as they did in the European Commission's antitrust proceedings against Microsoft. Microsoft was forced to disclose its secret protocols, but refused to make them available under conditions that would allow their use in GPL-licensed Free Software. FSFE is glad to see that conversely in this situation antitrust authorities on both sides of the Atlantic are recognising the power of copyleft Free Software licenses to preserve competition.
The decisions by the FCO and the DOJ are also an acknowledgement that regulatory intervention can be necessary to overcome vendor lock-in and create a level playing field for all market participants. "Patents are not an excuse to avoid antitrust scrutiny. Today's announcements make that clear as daylight" says Piana.
In a hearing at the European Court of Justice next month, FSFE will state its objections to Microsoft's strategy of using patents to limit competition, as Microsoft is appealing the fine of 899 million Euro imposed by the Commission.
FSFE will carefully review the actual decisions as they become available. "Today's announcements point in a very interesting direction. It is a success for the intense work done by FSFE and others, such as the Free Software Foundation and the Open Source Initiative. But the conditions we've seen are no panacea. The devil will be in the details," says Gerloff. Intense monitoring by the competition authorities will be required to ensure that the conditions for the transaction will have the intended effect.
Contact
Karsten Gerloff
President, Free Software Foundation Europe
Phone: +49 176 9690 4298
Mail: gerloff(a)fsfeurope.org
Resources
US DOJ announcement: http://7thspace.com/headlines/379849/usdoj_cptn_holdings_llc_and_novell_inc…
German FCO announcement:
http://www.bundeskartellamt.de/wDeutsch/aktuelles/presse/2011_04_20W3Dnavid…
FSFE statement to German FCO from December 22, 2010
http://fsfe.org/projects/swpat/letter-20101222.en.html
FSFE response to questions by German FCO from April 6, 2011
http://fsfe.org/projects/swpat/letter-20110406.en.html
Overview of FSFE's work
http://fsfe.org/projects/work.en.html
-- Karsten Gerloff [ ] <gerloff(a)fsfeurope.org> Free Software Foundation
Europe [ ][ ][ ] [http://fsfe.org] President | | +49 176 9690 4298 Your
donation powers our work! [http://fsfe.org/donate/] Free Software
Foundation Europe e.V. is a German Verein registered at the
Registergericht Hamburg (VR 17030).
= FSFE Newsletter - April 2011 =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201104.en.html ]
== A decade of Freedom: FSFE turned 10 ==
One room with a bed, a desk, and a sofa. That was the situation when
your editor started working as an intern for FSFE in Georg Greve's one
room appartment in Hamburg in 2004. FSFE started with its operations in
March 2001[1] as the first sister organisation of the FSF in the US. We
have come a long way[2] since then. First of all, our interns don't get
Georg's mandatory cooking lessons any more, instead they now have their
own desks and do not have to work from the sofa any more. Second, we now
have the Fellowship which leads to a growth of volunteers and
activities:
- In the UK, Sam Tuke is currently busy setting up a punchy team. They
are giving talks, organising events, and documenting the
developments[3] in the future role of Free Software in the British
public sector.
- Our Italian team is currently supporting ADUC to get rid of the
Windows Tax[4] . ADUC is an Italian association for users/consumers'
rights who recently filed a class action request against Microsoft
Italy's refusal of reimbursing unused OEM licences for its operating
system. Carlo Piana is helping ADUC's lawyers and Giacomo Poderi with
the Italian team will help to raise awareness on this issue[5] .
- In Switzerland you have a confusing landscape of different Free
Software organisations, which have problems with coordionation. It was
nearly impossible to find out what is going on in the next weeks, or
to find a date for an activity which does not interfer with another
group. That's why the Zurich Fellowship group has now set up an event
calendar on freie-termine.ch[6] to improve this situation.
- Our Swedish team was actively publishing videos from FSCONS[7] . Last
year in November, we hosted our own track at FSCONS around different
topics of decentralised (social) networks and free network services.
Now the videos of the talks[8] are finally online.
- This year there are at least 8 Federal State elections in Germany. The
German team already received replies from the parties in Sachsen-
Anhalt[9] , Rheinland-Pfalz[10] , and Baden-Würrtemberg[11] on
questions like general support of Free Software, problems of vendor
lock-in, Open Standards[12] , non-free PDF readers advertisements[13]
on public websites, the use of Free Software in education[14] , and
software patents[15] . The same will be done for the remaining
elections.
1. http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110310-01.en.html
2. http://fsfe.org/about/history/birthday10.en.html
3. http://fsfe.org/uk/mapping-uk.en.html
4. http://wiki.fsfe.org/WindowsTaxRefund
5. http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110321-01.en.html
6. http://freie-termine.ch
7. http://fscons.org/2010/news/fscons-2010-videos-finally
8.
http://blogs.fsfe.org/torsten.grote/2011/03/28/fscons-2010-divide-and-re-co…
9. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/ayc/201103-germany-sachsen-anhalt.de.html
10. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/ayc/201103-germany-rheinland-pfalz.de.html
11. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/ayc/201103-germany-baden-wuerttemberg.de.html
12. http://fsfe.org/projects/os/os.en.html
13. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/pdfreaders.en.html
14. http://fsfe.org/projects/education/education.en.html
15. http://fsfe.org/projects/swpat/swpat.en.html
== Worldwide celebration of Open Standards ==
Open Standards are a common language, publicly documented, that computer
programs can speak. They are central to interoperability and freedom of
choice in technology. Open Standards allow Free Software developers to
create programs that can interoperate with other solutions, so users can
migrate away from proprietary solutions.
Many of you followed our call to participate in this year's Document
Freedom Day: in Brazil, the Federal Data Processing Company - Serpro -
hold events in 10 cities. In the European Parliament, experts discussed
Open Standards as a means to guarantee access to cultural works in the
long term. Other groups participated in Argentina, Belgium, Brazil,
Croatia, Greece, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Panama, Portugal,
Spain and United Kingdom. Selected FSFE activities include:
- The City Munich was awarded with the European Document Freedom Day
prize for its LiMux project[16] .
- Tagesschau.de awarded[17] for the use of Open Standards: The prize was
awarded in Berlin and Hamburg by the Foundation for a Free Information
Infrastructure (FFII) and us for offering the broadcast shows also in
the free video format "Ogg Theora". As you can see on the pictures[18]
(DE) the cake was amazing (also available in French[19] )
- "A bright Document Freedom Day for Britain?" about Open Standards in
Britain[20] .
16. http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110330-02.en.html
17. http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110330-01.en.html
18. http://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=765
19. http://blogs.fsfe.org/nicoulas/?p=87
20. http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110330-04.en.html
== Something completely different ==
- Redhat made $909 million with Free Software and Nokia is spreading
FUD?: After Mirko Böhm wrote an interesting analysis[21] on the
current Nokia move, your editor commented on Nokia's announcement[22]
about selling the proprietary Qt business to Digia. This also led to
interesting discussions on our public mailing lists about the meaning
of "commercial".
- Our freshly elected Fellowship representative Hugo Roy[23] wrote about
IPRED[24] (FR).
- Fellowship Interview with Dan Leinir Turthra Jensen[25] . Dan
describes the aims of these exciting gaming projects, and discusses
what Free Software could mean for gaming in future.
- New Legal News available for 19.02.-25.02.[26] , 26.02.-04.03.[27] ,
05.03.-13.03.[28] , 14.03.-20.03.[29] , 21.03.-28.03.[30]
- 2010 Free Software Awards[31] go to: Rob Savoye and the TOR project.
Savoye is a long-time free software hacker, who has worked on GNU and
other free software for over 20 years. TOR is enabling people around
the world to experience freedom of access and expression on the
Internet while keeping them in control of their privacy and anonymity.
- The FSF welcomed Debian's "Squeeze" release[32] . Debian GNU/Linux
also received a prize at the Cebit, where Karsten Gerloff held the
laudatio[33].
21. http://www.kdedevelopers.org/node/4394
22. http://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=736
23. http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110301-01.en.html
24.
http://blog.hugoroy.eu/2011/03/28/ipred-remettre-en-question-la-politique-d…
25. http://blogs.fsfe.org/fellowship-interviews/?p=267
26. http://matija.suklje.name/?q=node/232
27. http://matija.suklje.name/?q=node/233
28. http://matija.suklje.name/?q=node/236
29. http://matija.suklje.name/?q=node/237
30. http://matija.suklje.name/?q=node/238
31. http://www.fsf.org/news/2010-free-software-awards-announced
32.
http://www.fsf.org/news/debian-squeeze-makes-key-progress-toward-being-a-fu…
33. http://fsfe.org/events/2011/lnm-award-debian.en.html
== Get Active - Translations for free PDF readers ==
During our pdfreaders campaign[34] we received the feedback that it is
difficult to use some free PDF readers, as the download pages, or the
actual software is not translated. Since then our intern Nicoulas Jean
is in contact with several free PDF reader developers. Take a look at
our list of PDF readers[35] and how to help them with translation, and
take action:
- Help translating your favorite PDF reader and ask others to do so.
- Find out how to help with translations of the missing readers and add
this information it to the website.
34. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/pdfreaders.en.html
35. http://wiki.fsfe.org/PDFreadersTranslations
Regards,
Matthias Kirschner - FSFE
= Cutting-edge development: the Analogue Printer =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110401-01.en.html ]
Today FSFE announced a new cutting-edge development: the Analogue Printer.
"Usually, FSFE concentrates on Free Software policy issues: we work to promote
Free Software in politics, business, and law, to increase social awareness of
Open Standards and acceptance by society at large. But at one point we decided
to use our donations to develop this groundbreaking device", says FSFE's
Fellowship Coordinator Matthias Kirschner.
The device is available in two versions:
- Analogue printer, business-style pen, dark blue (€12.00). This
analogue printer is interoperable and works on every platform. Highly
hackable, it uses Open Standards and comes with a shiny box
<http://fsfe.org/order/2010/images/pen-blue.jpg>.
- Analogue printer, geek-style pen, green (€5.00). This analogue printer
is interoperable and works on every platform. Highly hackable, it uses
Open Standards <http://fsfe.org/order/2010/images/pen-green.jpg>.
The device can print any colour, 3D, underwater, and all file formats.
Since the device is analogue, there is no digital restriction management
(DRM), so you can use it for any purpose.
Pictures on http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110401-01.en.html
"It was high time to provide users with a device that frees them not
only from the bonds of proprietary software, but from the limitations of
software in general", says Karsten Gerloff, FSFE's President. "This is a
tool that will finally give you 100% direct control over your written
communications, with no black boxes getting between you and your
messages."
The device is available in FSFE's online shop
<http://fsfe.org/order/order.en.html#other-items>.
== 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/
= Tagesschau.de awarded for the use of Open Standards =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110330-01.en.html ]
Berlin, 30. March 2011 - Today the ARD internet platform Tagesschau.de
will receive an award for the use of Open Standards at the "Document
Freedom Day". The prize is awarded by the Free Software Foundation
Europe (FSFE) and the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure
e.V. (FFII) for offering the broadcasted shows also in the free video
format "Ogg Theora" <http://theora.org/>.
In Berlin FSFE and FFII will hand over a certificate and a cake with the
"rOgg On!" label on to Sven Bruns, technical manager at tagesschau.de.
In Hamburg, Sabine Klein, vice editorial director of tagesschau.de will
accept a DFD cake on behalf of the editorial team.
"In times of non-free video formats still dominating the internet,
tagesschau.de is an example for other broadcasting corporations how to
provide unrestricted access to their media.", says Matthias Kirschner,
Germany-Coordinator of FSFE.
In contrast to proprietary video formats Ogg Theora is a free video
format that every software producer is allowed to support without
licensing requirements. Therefore software users are not dependent on a
single software vender but can apply Ogg Theora on various devices.
Stephan Uhlmann, member of the FFII board: "It's convenient to support
the currently dominating format instead of using Open Standards. But
this domination brings along patents whose exclusive control disables
alternative software solutions and later innovations. In contrast to
this users of Open Standards have free choice of their software. But no
matter whether Apple, Microsoft or GNU/Linux: the videos of
tagesschau.de will always be playable."
Ogg Theora is supported by all media players in common GNU/Linux
distributions. One can also play Ogg-files on Microsoft Windows or
Apple's Mac OS X by using the VLC player. Furthermore, many modern
webbrowsers directly support the format.
On tagesschau.de, all regular videos are available as Ogg Theora. At
tagesschau24 <http://www.tagesschau.de/tagesschau24/>, videos are
directly embedded via the new webstandard HTML5. In other parts of the
website, it still needs to be manually set to "download the file" and
then the format "Medium (Ogg)" has to be clicked.
"We hope that all other multimedia contents – especially the media
library and live streams – will soon be available in a free format.
Moreover we would be glad about Ogg Theora or WebM videos
<http://www.webmproject.org/> in higher quality levels", indicates
Matthias Kirschner.
Press pictures of the award ceremony will be available March 30. at 2pm.
on <http://wiki.fsfe.org/DFD-2011-Berlin-Hamburg-Bilder>.
== Press contacts ==
Matthias Kirschner <mk(a)fsfe.org>, Free Software Foundation Europe
Linienstraße 141, 10115 Berlin
Phone: +49-30-275 95 290
Mobile: +49-1577-178 000 3
Stephan Uhlmann <uhlmann(a)ffii.org>, FFII Office Berlin
Malmöer Str. 6, 10439 Berlin
Phone: +49-170-4225008
== About Document Freedom Day ==
The Document Freedom Day (DFD) is a global action day for free
document formats and Open Standards. It takes place every year on last
Wednesday in March since 2008. In recent years over 200 teams of
volunteers in over 60 countries have shared the benefits of Open
document formats and Open Standards. This years city sponsorship for
Berlin is done by tarent AG and for Hamburg inmedias.it GmbH.
http://www.documentfreedom.org/
== 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/
== About FFII ==
The FFII is a not-for-profit association registered in twenty European
countries, dedicated to the development of information goods for the
public benefit, based on copyright, free competition, open standards.
More than 1000 members, 3,500 companies and 100,000 supporters have
entrusted the FFII to act as their voice in public policy questions
concerning exclusion rights ("intellectual property") in data
processing.
http://www.ffii.org/
