= Open Letter to EU institutions: Time to support Open Standards =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2014/news-20140326-02.sv.html ]
In an open letter[1] to the European Parliament and the European
Commission, Free Software Foundation Europe and Open Forum Europe[2] are
asking the European institutions to improve their support for Open
Standards. The letter is directed to Giancarlo Vilella, the president of
the European Parliament's DG ITEC and chair of the Inter-Institutional
Committee for Informatics.
In a recent letter[3] to MEP Amelia Andersdotter, the EC acknowledges
that is is in a state of "effective captivity" to Microsoft. As FSFE has
pointed out repeatedly[4], this is a persistent problem for the
Commission, the Council and the Parliament.
"Recognising a problem is always the first step towards solving it. We
appreciate the Commission's newfound frankness on the subject," says
FSFE's president Karsten Gerloff. "Along with Europe's citizens and the
continent's software industry, we now expect the Commission to take
action and free itself from this captivity."
The letter also raises the issue of video formats. Currently, it is
difficult or impossible for Free Software users to follow the
proceedings of the Parliament and the Council in real time, because the
live video streams of these organisations rely on proprietary
technology. This is a problem which OFE and FSFE have highlighted for
many years.
"This would be a comparatively simple measure for the European
institutions to improve the transparency of their work for ordinary
citizens," says Gerloff. "We fail to understand why there has not been
more progress on this issue over the past six years."
1. http://fsfe.org/activities/os/2014-03-26.OpenLetterToVilella.en.html
2. http://openforumeurope.org
3. https://ameliaandersdotter.eu/sites/default/files/andersdotter_annex.pdf
4. https://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2011/06/06/the-european-commissions-locked-i…
== 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/
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= Document Freedom Day delivers messages of interoperability around the world =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2014/news-20140326-01.sv.html]
Over the following 24 hours Open Standards will be celebrated to the
ends of the earth. The Document Freedom Day campaign for
interoperability is being enacted from Tokyo to Rio[1], and Birmingham
to Taipei[2]. 41 Events are taking place in 18 countries so far.
Open Standards provide the means for apps and computers to communicate
together using common formats that everyone can use. This year two
Document Freedom Day events have been organised by Government bodies:
the Brazilian Federal Government CISL Committee[3], and the Nepalese
Department[4] of Information Technology. Events in the European
Parliament[5] are today exploring Open Standards used for encryption,
while the OpenStreetMap Foundation on Saturday received the Document
Freedom Day UK award[6] in Birmingham.
"Spying revelations of the last year have proven the value of Open
Standards for security as well for documents" says Sam Tuke, Campaign
Manager. "Encrypted messages and network connections using Open
Standards provide world-class privacy, used by Edward Snowden[7] and the
NSA alike."
Supporting organisations have marked the occasion in their own style,
with a series of articles[8] on SVG by Libre Graphics Magazine, a new
whitepaper by The Document Foundation later this week, and a standards
infographic by PHPList.
"This year, teams are using a broad range of multilingual educational
resources to introduce Open Standards to the public" says Erik Albers,
Community Manager. "Thousands of Cartoons, leaflets and posters have
already been dispatched, and online editions[9] have been printed in
Turkey and Japan. New groups can still participate by locally
distributing materials and registering[10] their event."
Document Freedom Day 2014 is facilitated by the Free Software Foundation
Europe, and made possible by support from Google, Commons Machinery, and
Freiheit Technologies. A report of all events will be published in
April, collecting highlights and media from participating groups.
1. http://documentfreedom.org/events/events.html
2. http://documentfreedom.org/events/events.html
3. http://www.softwarelivre.gov.br/eventos/dfd-document-freedom-day
4. http://www.ku.edu.np/cse/kucc/?event=one-day-workshop-on-open-standards
5. http://www.greens-efa.eu/greensefa-4th-document-freedom-day-in-the-european…
6. http://documentfreedom.org/news/2014/news-20140324-01.en.html
7. http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/17/encrypting-your-email-works-says-nsa-whist…
8. http://libregraphicsmag.com/blog/
9. http://documentfreedom.org/artwork.html
10. http://documentfreedom.org/registerevent.html
== 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/
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= Computers in the post-Snowden era: choose before paying! =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2014/news-20140324-01.sv.html]
The revelations from Edward Snowden concerning massive surveillance of
communications demonstrates the need for each person to be able to
control their computers and phones. Yet computer and telephone
manufacturers and retailers typicall impose on users programs that
jeopardise their privacy.
Each person should therefore have the opportunity to refuse to pay for
non-Free software, and be allowed to choose the programs that run on
their telephone and computer.
Today, the Free Software Foundation joins other organisations throughout
the world[1] in requesting an unfettered choice of the operating system
on telephones, laptops and other computing devices.
- Sign the international petition![2]
- Further information.[3]
- Do you want help in promoting this petition?[4]
1. http://no.more.racketware.info/petition/support
2. http://no.more.racketware.info/petition/click/en
3. http://no.more.racketware.info/petition/en/index
4. http://no.more.racketware.info/petition/index
== 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/
_______________________________________________
Press-release-sv mailing list
Press-release-sv(a)fsfeurope.org
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= OB-Wahl in München: LiMux Erfolg ausbauen, Umstellungsschmerzen abarbeiten =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2014/news-20140310-01.sv.html]
Die Free Software Foundation Europe veröffentlichte heute gemeinsam mit
dem Förderverein für eine Freie Informationelle Infrastruktur München[1]
ihre Freie-Software-Wahlprüfsteine für die Wahl der Oberbürgermeisterin
bzw. des Oberbürgermeisters der Stadt München am 16. März 2014[2]. Die
OB-Kandidatinnen und -Kandidaten konnten sich zu Fragen hinsichtlich
Freier Software und Offener Standards in München im Allgemeinen und des
LiMux-Projekts im Speziellen sowie sicherer Kommunikationsmöglichkeiten
und der kommunalen Datenweitergabe äußern.
Neben den bereits im Stadtrat vertretenen Parteien SPD, CSU, Grüne, FDP,
Die Linke, Bayernpartei und ÖDP legten auch AfD sowie Piraten ihre
Positionen dar. Die fast vollständige Umstellung der Münchner
Verwaltungs-IT auf Freie Software, das sogenannte LiMux-Projekt, wird
außer von der CSU grundsätzlich als Bereicherung für die Stadt gesehen.
Sehr erfreulich ist auch, dass die Aspekte Freiheit und Unabhängigkeit
von proprietären Softwareanbietern inzwischen von den Politikerinnen und
Politikern mindestens als ebenso wichtig betrachtet werden wie die
Kosten.
Trotz ihres umfassenden Bekenntnis zu Freier Software wurden jedoch
immer wieder Probleme mit der Software in der Verwaltung genannt. Diese
stehen aber offenbar eher mit der IT-Organisation an sich als der
eingesetzten (Freien) Software in Zusammenhang. Es besteht aber den
Aussagen nach der Wille, diese technischen und organisatorischen
Probleme gezielt und unter Beibehaltung von Freier Software zu lösen.
Auch wurde mehrheitlich geschrieben, dass der Einsatz von Freier
Software in weiteren Bereichen, insbesondere des Bildungswesens,
anzustreben sei. Mit Erstaunen nehmen wir allerdings auch die
Verwechselung von Freier Software, also Software die man verwenden,
untersuchen, weitergeben und ändern darf, mit kostenloser Software
(Freeware) durch Josef Schmid/CSU zur Kenntnis. Auf dieses
Mißverständnis scheint seine in weiten Teilen ablehnende Haltung
gegenüber dem LiMux-Projekts begründet.
Gesichterte elektronische Kommunikation halten fast alle Befragten im
Moment noch für zu komplex und daher auch noch nicht massentauglich. Es
wird als Alternative auf die Briefpost und das persönliche Gespräch
verwiesen. Beim kommunalen Datenhandel sprechen sich fast alle dafür
aus, vor der Weitergabe die Erlaubnis der Bürgerinnen und Bürger
einzuholen (Opt-In) statt ihnen nur ein Widerspruchsrecht einzuräumen
(Opt-Out).
== Einige Ergebnisse der Befragung ==
Nennt man München und Freie Software in einem Satz, folgt mit hoher
Wahrscheinlichkeit auch kurz darauf der Begriff *LiMux*. Dieser aus den
Wörtern Linux und München gebildete Projektname steht für die Umstellung
der städtischen IT-Systeme auf Freie Software und stellt ein
international wahrgenommenes Leuchtturmprojekt dar. Die Stadt München
begab sich mit diesem bis dato beispiellosen Vorhaben klar in eine
Vorreiterrolle für andere Kommunen, Länder und Firmen in der ganzen
Welt.
Diese Einschätzung teilt auch eine deutliche Mehrheit der Befragten. Das
Thema LiMux, stellvertretend für Freie Software und Offene Standards,
steht also für die Münchner Kandidatinnen und Kandidaten genauso auf der
Tagesordnung wie z.B. Defizite bei Kita-Plätzen oder die Untertunnelung
des Englischen Gartens. Dabei wird LiMux nicht nur positiv bewertet.
Durchweg alle Kandidatinnen bzw. Kandidaten, die bereits in engerem
Kontakt mit der Stadtverwaltung stehen, berichten von Schwierigkeiten
beim Einsatz der Software. So schreibt Michael Mattar von der FDP "Die
Unzufriedenheit bei den städtischen Mitarbeitern ist enorm." Ähnliche
Aussagen waren auch bereits von Sabine Nallinger, Grüne, während des
Wahlkampfs zu hören. Brigitte Wolf von der Partei Die Linke sieht auch
Probleme und regt an: "Die Unzufriedenheit mit dem LiMux System kann
sicherlich nur reduziert werden indem die Anwenderinnen und Anwender
umfangreicher im Umgang mit dem System geschult werden." Wo diese
Schwierigkeiten herkommen, beschreibt Nallinger so: "Wir haben anfangs
den Aufwand unterschätzt. Das hat aber auch damit zu tun, dass wir
keinen Überblick hatten, wie heterogen und vielfältig die Software-
Landschaft der Münchner Stadtverwaltung war." Auch wenn man
berücksichtigt, dass in grossen Verwaltungen fast immer eine gewisse
Unzufriedenheit mit der bestehenden IT-Lösung existiert: Es scheint,
dass hier LiMux auch einen Teil der mit jeder Umstrukturierung und
Konsolidierung einher gehenden Unzufriedenheit zugerechnet bekommen hat.
Der Großteil der Befragten spricht sich daher dafür aus, diese
Unzufriedenheit systematisch abzuarbeiten. Stellvertretend schreibt
Michael Mattar von der FDP: "Wir werden in der neuen Amtsperiode in
jedem Fall gezwungen sein, diese Schwächen systematisch zu eruieren und
einen Maßnahmekatalog zu erstellen, um die Schwierigkeiten in der Praxis
abzubauen. Ich gehe davon aus, dass dies gelingen wird, da ein
Systemwechsel sicher zu unvertretbaren Kosten führen würde." Diese
Standard-Vorgehensweise für komplexe Systeme unabhängig vom Hersteller
scheint lediglich Josef Schmid, Kandidat der CSU, nicht zu unterstützen.
In seiner Argumentation bedient er sich leider auch längst vergessen
geglaubter Klischees, so stellt er die Behauptung auf, dass Freie
Software kostenlos sein müsse. Er weist darüber hinaus in seiner Antwort
darauf hin, dass die Verbreitung Freier Software nicht in den Bereich
der kommunalen Daseinsvorsorge gehöre. Andere Parteien zeigten in Bezug
auf die zentrale Rolle der Informationstechnologie für Gesellschaft,
Wirtschaft und Bildung deutlich mehr Bewusstsein und waren sich in
unterschiedlicher Ausprägung einig, hier mehr für den IT- und
Wissensstandort München tun zu wollen.
Die Enthüllungen von Edward Snowden haben der Weltöffentlichkeit
schmerzhaft vor Augen geführt, dass es eine flächendeckende
Überwachungsmaschinerie gibt, vor der man sich nur schwer schützen kann.
Unbestritten effektiv ist aber nach wie vor der Einsatz von starker
Kryptographie in quelloffener Software. Daher wollten wir wissen, ob man
mit den Kandidatinnen und Kandidaten verschlüsselt kommunizieren könne
und ob es Ideen gibt, wie sichere Kommunikation mit der Verwaltung
aussehen könnte.
Die ÖDP hat das Thema nach eigener Aussage schon länger auf ihrer
Agenda: "Diese Problematik (Industriespionage) haben wir bereits in
unseren Anträgen 2003 angesprochen." Bemängelt wird aber, dass die
gängigen Verschlüsselungsverfahren für Normalanwenderinnen und -anwender
noch zu kompliziert seien. Einen konkreten Lösungsansatz beschreibt
Brigitte Wolf, Die Linke: "Vielmehr würde ich mich dafür einsetzten,
dass die Stadt ihren Bürgerinnen und Bürgern Informationen über die
Software und Handhabung bereit stellt und erklärt, wie diese
funktionieren und warum sie wichtig sind. Dabei benötigen wir sicherlich
Schulungen für die Beschäftigten. Hier würde ich mich dafür einsetzen,
dass diese obligatorisch sind und schon während der Ausbildung angeboten
werden. Eine weitere Option wäre es, die interne Kommunikation der
städtischen Stellen auch über vertrauliche E-Mail-Kommunikationskanäle
laufen zu lassen, hier handelt es sich oftmals ja auch um sensible
Daten." Zusammenfassend ist das Bewusstsein parteiübergreifend
geschärft, aber es hapert oft noch an der konkreten Umsetzung. Treffend
beschreibt der Kandidat der Bayernpartei, Horst Münzinger, den Anspruch:
"Der Schutz persönlicher Übermittlungskanäle und Daten vor dem Zugriff
durch Dritte hat in der Kommunikation zwischen öffentlichen Stellen und
Bürgern absoluten Vorrang."
Im Jahr 2013 wurde ein neues Bundesmeldegesetz verabschiedet, welches
unter Anderem die Weitergabe von Meldedaten zu gewerblichen Zwecken neu
behandelt. Bürgerinnen und Bürgern wird zwar die Möglichkeit gegegeben,
der Weitergabe der Daten in einigen Fällen zu widersprechen (Opt-Out),
doch wird über diese Möglichkeit nur zurückhaltend informiert und setzt
eine aktive Handlung voraus. Wir wollten daher wissen, ob die
Kandidatinnen und Kandidaten sich nicht dafür einsetzen wollen, dass die
Weitergabe nur nach der Zustimmung durch die Betroffenen erfolgen darf
(Opt-In). Aus den Antworten nahezu aller Parteien ließ sich entnehmen,
dass die Opt-In-Variante zu präferieren sei. Dieter Reiter von der SPD
merkt allerdings an: "Wir geben zu bedenken, dass nicht nur Parteien,
sondern auch viele Organisationen und Privatpersonen bei einem Opt-in-
Verfahren Nachteile in Kauf nehmen müssten. Kommerzielle hingegen kaufen
sich ihre Daten notfalls teuer woanders." Sabine Nallinger von den
Grünen setzt die Prioritäten dagegen deutlich anders: "Es gibt ein Recht
auf informationelle Selbstbestimmung, das muss gerade für obligatorisch
erhobene Daten von Behörden gelten. Staatliche Melderegister sind keine
Grabbeltische der Privatwirtschaft. Nur die Daten von den Bürgerinnen
und Bürgern, die explizit einem Verkauf der eigenen Daten zustimmen,
werden weitergegeben (Opt-In-Verfahren). Das Interesse der
Werbewirtschaft und von Adresshändlern muss hintanstehen."
== Verweise ==
- Die FSFE Wahlprüfsteine der Wahl der Oberbürgermeisterin bzw. des
Oberbürgermeisters der Stadt München 2014[3]
- Wahlprüfsteine vergangener Wahlen: Nordrhein-Westfalen[4]
- Schleswig-Holstein[5]
- Saarland[6]
- Berlin[7]
- Bremen[8]
- Rheinland Pfalz[9]
- Baden Württemberg[10]
- Sachsen Anhalt[11]
-
1. http://www.ffii.de/
2. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/askyourcandidates/201403-germany-bayern-muc.sv.ht…
3. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/askyourcandidates/201403-germany-bayern-muc.sv.ht…
4. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/askyourcandidates/201205-germany-nrw.sv.html
5. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/askyourcandidates/201205-germany-schle-hol.sv.html
6. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/askyourcandidates/201203-germany-saarland.sv.html
7. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/askyourcandidates/201109-germany-berlin.sv.html
8. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/askyourcandidates/201105-germany-bremen.sv.html
9. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/askyourcandidates/201103-germany-rheinland-pfalz.…
10. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/askyourcandidates/201103-germany-baden-wuerttembe…
11. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/askyourcandidates/201103-germany-sachsen-anhalt.s…
== 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/
_______________________________________________
Press-release-sv mailing list
Press-release-sv(a)fsfeurope.org
https://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/press-release-sv
[This mail would have been sent to press-release-sv(a)fsfeurope.org]
= FSFE comments on UK proposal on document formats =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2014/news-20140226-01.sv.html]
FSFE has submitted comments[1] on a proposal by the UK government to use
only document formats based on Open Standards[2] in future.
"We applaud the UK government for its focus on competition and
openness", says Karsten Gerloff, FSFE's President. "This proposal is an
example to other governments on how to do it right."
The UK government has proposed to rely exclusively on open document
formats for newly created documents. Each of the proposed standards
(HTML, ODF, TXT, CSV) addresses a different technical need. These
recommendations are based on an extensive study of user needs among the
government's staff.
"We are delighted that the UK government is using Free Software and Open
Standards in a strategic fashion. Their approach will likely increase
competition among suppliers, make public sector IT more efficient, and
reduce costs," says Gerloff.
1. http://standards.data.gov.uk/comment/865#comment-865
2. http://fsfe.org/activities/os/def.en.html
== 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/
_______________________________________________
Press-release-sv mailing list
Press-release-sv(a)fsfeurope.org
https://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/press-release-sv
Varning: Den här sidan har inte blivit översatt ännu. Vad du ser nedan
är originalversionen av sidan. Använddenna sida för att få information
om hur du kan hjälpa till med översättningar och andra saker.
= Open Letter on Freedom and Internet Voting to Estonia's National
Electoral Committee =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2013/news-20130730-01.sv.html ]
FSFE has sent anopen letter to Estonia's National Electoral Committee
(NEC) regarding the country's Internet voting system. We ask the NEC to
release the software used in the election process asFree Software.
"Our aim is to safeguard the freedom and privacy of Estonia's
citizens, and to improve the security of the election process," says
Karsten Gerloff, FSFE's President.
Estonia has used Internet voting for general elections since 2005.
Unfortunately, the system's technology remains proprietary. Local
activists have recently managed to convince the NEC to release source
code for some of the software under a non-free licence, but this licence
does not permit distribution of derivative works or commercial use.
These arbitrary restrictions on software developed with public funds
hinder security research.
"Important system components remain completely unknown to the general
public. One of those components is the client side voting application
that must be loaded and executed on the voter's computer," says Heiki
Ojasild, Fellowship representative in FSFE's General Assembly. "There
is no guarantee that thiswidely distributed black box functions
according to voters' expectations, or that it will respect their
privacy or will."
Due to the unavailability of the source code and the fact that the
client side voting application is not built onOpen Standards, the voter
is also forced to use one of the operating systems supported by the
National Electoral Committee.
FSFE has drawn the NEC's attention to these remaining problems and
possible solutions. FSFE has offered the NEC its assistance and is
looking forward to helping them ensure that freedom, privacy, and
credibility of the elections are not forsaken in the pursuit of
technological progress.
== 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/
_______________________________________________
Press-release-sv mailing list
Press-release-sv(a)fsfeurope.org
https://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/press-release-sv
Varning: Den här sidan har inte blivit översatt ännu. Vad du ser nedan
är originalversionen av sidan. Använddenna sida för att få information
om hur du kan hjälpa till med översättningar och andra saker.
= FSFE Newsletter - August 2013 =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201308.sv.html ]
== Proprietary companies ask European Commission to restrict business
models ==
Because Android is Free Software and gratis, the non-free software
competition cannot compete with it, therefore the market has less
alternatives, thus the consumer suffers from this lack of competition.
In a nutshell that is the argumentation of the so-called "Fair Search"
coalition. Essentially they are asking the European Commission to favour
a restrictive business model over a liberal one, which is exactly the
opposite of what competition regulators should do in order to achieve a
fair market.
Asking the European Commission to cripple Free Software in order to
allow proprietary vendors to sell their locked-down systems is absurd.
Therefore theFSFE has written a letter to the European Commission's
competition authorities to refute the claims, and make it clear that
Free Software is critical for a competitive IT market. In our letter we
ask the European Commission to dismiss the "FairSearch" coalition's
unfounded claims regarding predatory pricing, and not make them part of
whatever steps it decides to take. For further information: our legal
councilCarlo Piana wrote a background article about this case.
== Election software: source code available but not Free Software ==
Estonia has used Internet voting for general elections since 2005. Local
activists have recently managed to convince Estonia's National Electoral
Committee (NEC) to release source code for some of the software under a
non-free licence, but this licence does not permit distribution of
derivative works or commercial use and therefore is non-free. Besides
"[i]mportant system components remain completely unknown to the general
public. One of those components is the client side voting application
that must be loaded and executed on the voter's computer," said Heiki
Ojasild, Fellowship representative in the FSFE's General Assembly inour
press release accompanying ouropen letter to NEC regarding the country's
Internet voting system.
Similar in Norway: Paul Boddie reports about theNorwegian voting and the
illusion of "Open Source", where the published software covers only
"testing, reviewing or evaluating the code", restricts commercial
purposes, and for a lot of things you need a "written approval" from the
vendors.
== NSA leaks motivates Free Software activists ==
For almost two decades the Free Software Foundations have been working
for a society where the power over technology is distributed. We work
for a world in which nobody can prevent others from learning how
computers work. A world in which programmers can work with each other
instead against each other. Nobody should be forced to use a certain
kind of software without being able to adjust it to her own needs
instead of adjusting herself to the software. Everybody should be able
to audit software, to understand what a program does exactly and what
happens to your data.
The Free Software movement wrote a lot of software which respects your
privacy, including encryption and anonymisation software. The FSFE
pushed for Open Standards to prevent monopolies by enabling different
software to work with each other. We promote decentralised systems, so
there is no single point in our infrastructure which has too much power
and which enables you to store the data in a trusted enviroment.
It seems the NSA leaks of the last weeks have strengthened the Free
Software community's will to continue fighting for our freedoms in a
digital society. More people are listening to Free Software programmers
and activists, more people demand Free Software solutions, more people
are using Free Software to protect their privacy, and more people
appreciate Free Software developer's work. E.g.Eva Galperin from EFF
said in her keynote at KDE's conference akademy: "Help us Free Software,
you are our last and only hope". She asked Free Software developers to
build new products, and "save us"! And as you will see below, the Free
Software movement will continue to do so.
== Something completely different ==
- Privacy is a fundamental human right, and is central to maintaining
democratic societies. The FSFE joined more than 100 other
organisations indemanding that states respect human rights, and bring
their surveillance apparatus under democratic control. More than one
year in the making, the demands are now more relevant than ever. The
FSFE alsosigned an Open Letter to stop surveillance, which calls for
twelve political steps including the development and promotion of Free
Software for digital self-defence.
- The FSFEcommented on leaked documents which show how Microsoft is
actively cooperating with the NSA.
- Together with the Open Rights Group we sent anopen letter on
transparency to Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament.
Mr Schulz has recently been asked to produce a study on transparency
within the Parliament. In our letter we are offering Mr Schulz our
help in this effort and suggest several questions, e.g. if the
Parliament would be obliged to publish the source code of the software
it uses.
- News about Free Software in education are back:Guido Arnold summarised
what happened in the education sector during April, May, and June. He
alsosummarised the relevant parts of the UNESO conference World Summit
on an Information Society (WSIS+10).
- Ubuntu is aiming to raise $32 million in crowdfunding to produce
Ubuntu Edge, a mobile computer that can dual-boot between Android and
Ubuntu GNU/Linux.Our sister organisation the FSF is asking the crucial
question:Will Ubuntu Edge commit to using only Free Software?. Paul
Boddie, Fellow and maintainer ofFellowship wiki, looked into the
question ifUbuntu Edge is making things even harder for open hardware?
- Besidesour sister organisation reports that the New Internationalist
adopted the DRM-free label and over 50 others were added to the DRM-
free Guide.
- From the public administrations: Students and teachers at 160 high
schools in the Brussels Region have started to use Free Software like
LibreOffice or Mozilla Thunderbird on PCs and tablets. Joinup reports
that France's ministry of Agriculture extensively uses Free Software:
For instance in 2012 it spent 174,000 euro on support for Free
Software. Additionally news from France: Lucile wrote about theZombie
Free Software provision -- a Free Software law for France's higher
education -- and how to contact politicians.
- For those amongst you giving talks at conferences: LWN now offers a
handycalendar for call for papers.
- From theplanet aggregation:
- Former FSFE president Georg Greve wrote a tetralogy about the Post
PRISM society. Heputs together what actually has been proven so
far,what that means for society,what the implications for businesses
around the world are, andtakes a look at governments. He argues that
any government should be able to answer the following question: What
is your policy on a sovereign software supply and digital
infrastructure? If that question cannot be answered, he suggests it
is time to get to work. And soon.
- FSFE's president Karsten Gerloff wroteabout what you can do to
secure your communications, e.g. participating in politics,
- Werner Koch, author of GnuPG and FSFE GA member wrote about Gpg4win
and the feds, commenting on a CT article which mentions GnuPG and
claims that only a self compiled version is trustworthy.
- and Kevin Keijzerdocumented how he maintains his online privacy.
- Anonymisation hobbyist Jens Lechtenboergerexplains how he selects
Tor guard nodes under global surveillance, and also publishing code
how he analysed the situation.
- A proposal for a new encrypted mobile messaging app called Hemlis
received $125,000 in crowdfunding. It is good to see ambitious new
software projects get support from the community when they are Free
Software. Sam Tuke checks ifthis is really the case with Hemlis.
- Viktor Horvathpublished the video from his talk at FOSDEM about
SlapOS a decentralised Free Software plattform.
- Lucile wrote about several examples of interesting uses of
transparency policies, related to Free Software especially for
France.
- Should a person be bound by terms of use and contracts where that
person has been effectively coerced into accepting them? Other
questions about IT in universities are asked by Paul Boddie
in"Students: Beware of the Academic Cloud!"
- News from Martin Gollowitzer's"Tracking for Freedom" project: he is
now cycling with the pros.
- Mirko Böhm reports from his travel toAkademy and the Qt contributor
summit. Together with Armijn Hemel he started a process to make
defensive publications a routine part of the Qt release process,
- and Free Software activities in Munich have intensified. Christian
Kalkhoff and the Munich group now bought a pavilion to be present at
more and more public events (German).
== Get active: Help with Crypto parties! ==
Crypto parties are getting more popular. They also attract funding from
non-free software companies. One company offered money to crypto party
organisers if they also mention non-free software (German). Good that a
lot of FSFE's volunteers already support the organisers to help people
install encryption software, and educate participants about Free
Software.
In the Free Software community a lot of us understand how end-to-end
encryption works. At the moment a lot of people new to Free Software
want to use it themselves. If you have some time, either help some
friends, colleagues, or search for local crypto parties and show others
how to use GnuPG for e-mail encryption, OTR for encrypted chats, TOR to
anonymise your online behaviour or programs like Jitsi to have encrypted
audio and video communications.
Thanks to all theFellows anddonors who enable our work,
Matthias Kirschner -FSFE
--
Free Software Foundation Europe
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Free Software Discussions
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= FSFE Newsletter - December 2013 =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201312.sv.html ]
== Our cryptocards and straw fires ==
In 2005 we started giving crypto cards[1] to individuals who donated to
us and have become Fellow of FSFE. We believe it is important to remind
people about Free Software tools to encrypt our communications. Besides
since FSFE was founded in 2001, we have been explaining that those 40
digits on our business cards are about encryption and why this is
important. 8 years later, the topic encryption hit ithe media, and it is
now mentioned in every newspaper in Europe. This is good and bad at the
same time: We currently face the problem that media attention is very
high but it does not mean we have more resources to deal with it. We
would like to work more on these issues but we also cannot stop working
on other long term topics.
== Importance of long term work ==
If you take a look at our new timeline[2] you will see that we often had
to work on topics which are difficult to explain to a larger audience,
work intensive, and sometimes unpopular. Companies worked against Free
Software as they saw it as threat to them earning money but we helped
them to understand how they can make revenues with Free Software. We had
to spend 8 years of work with the European Commission and the European
Court of Justice to make sure Free Software companies are allowed to
compete with Microsoft's work group servers and since then we are
pushing this knowledge also on the national[3] and local levels. License
compliance was an unpopular topic for a long time but developers have to
make sure our software can be programmed and used without legal risks.
When we started working on Open Standards it was a niche topic, now it
is main stream. Companies opposed our position on software patents, now
a lot of businesses and politicians realised they are a dangerous
business risk. Today they use our arguments and ask us for input to get
rid of them.
== What we need to master the challenge ==
We believe in a society in which software is in the hands of all of us:
as individuals, companies and organisations, or governments, instead of
a few powerful entities. Nobody should be allowed to prevent you from
changing software, or asking someone else to change it for you, on your
mobile phone, router, car, or other belongings. The last months have
shown us that it is important for our society to have computers we can
trust. Computers we control. Programs that are transparent in what they
do with our data and which can be changed to fulfil our needs. The only
way to achieve this is with Free Software.
Such a challenge cannot be solved in a few months, it takes a long time.
It takes organisations which continue to work when there is no big media
attention. An organisation which fights for your freedom in the digital
age. FSFE has worked on those issues for over 12 years.
To face this challenge FSFE needs to work continuously towards this
goal, and for this we need you, to invest in your freedom! At the moment
it is a good time to intensify our work, as there are many people out
there who listen differently to the same messages we had before. We
would like to expand our activities, and therefore we need your
donation. Do what others did who value software freedom: Become a
supporting member by joining the Fellowship of FSFE!
== Something completely different ==
- FSFE published a press release about the Rockstar vs. Google case[4] :
Rockstar, a consortium of companies formed to collect certain patents
put on sale in the dissolution procedure of Nortel, has sued Google
and other companies over seven of those patents. FSFE already voiced
serious concerns and warned competition regulators against exactly
such a scenario in December 2011[5]. Again an example how software
patents are a dangerous business risk.
- We welcome our new core team member Maurice Verheesen from the
Netherlands[6]. He already took care of our booth at T-Dose which also
becomes a meeting point for Fellows from the Netherlands and the
Rhineland[7].
- Shall I buy a computer without an operating system and install
GNU/Linux distribution of my own choice, or buy a laptop with
GNU/Linux preinstalled which includes non-free software? Participate
in the discussion on our public English speaking list by reading this
message[8], continue with the mentioned blogs articles there, comment
on the list, and like Paul Boddie wrote: join other volunteers to
maintain the hardware vendors page[9].
- Thanks to Nermin Canik, FSFE had its first booth in Turkey[10], and
Michael Stehmann took care of an FSFE booth and two talks at
OpenRheinRuhr[11].
- FSFE participated at the Open Knowledge Festival[12]. At the "speed
geeking", in which Lucile Falgueyrac gave the same five minutes talk
seven times, she presented FSFE, Open Standards and Document Freedom
Day[13].
- The Parliament in Spain's Andalusia is unanimously urging the region's
government to switch to Free Software[14].
- Guido Arnold published the FSFE education update from October[15].
- Jérémie Zimmermann from our friends at La Quadrature Du Net argues in
"Snowden and the Future of our Communication Architecture"[16] that
the "Snowden revelations give us a vivid illustration that Richard
Stallman and others have been right for all these years." He writes
that we need decentralised services, Free Software, and end-to-end
encryption.
- The Guardian project wrote about how to set up your own app store with
F-Droid[17]. If you host your own F-Droid repository, then people can
use F-Droid to install your own apps signed by your own signing key.
- Renault apparently has the ability to remotely prevent the battery
from charging. Karsten Gerloff wrote about the Zoe electric car[18].
- He also summarised a report by the French website Mediapart. At the
European Parliament in Strasbourg, a technically skilled person
managed to intercept 14 Members of the European Parliament and their
staffers[19] using trivial tools.
- From the planet aggregation[20] :
- After discussion with a Danish Member of Parliament, Thomas Locke
wrote what he did to support TOR[21] and is now running a TOR exit
node.
- Torsten Grote summarised the presentation[22] about Dark Mail as
Next-Generation Email to Stop Spying.
- Fellowship representative Nikos Roussos wrote about how he started
with GNU/Linux[23].
- The Neo900 phone moved beyond the discussion phase and into the
fundraising phase. Paul Boddie gives some background[24].
- Besides he takes a look at the Free Software Desktop[25]. He
argues that "Free Software desktop developers have imperilled
their own mission with the result that they now have to make up
lost ground in the struggle to get people to use their software."
- In Paris another MutterWare meeting[26] took place. Nicolas Jean
wrote a short summary[27], about the email client meeting. Hugo
Roy documents how to do a carddav lookup in mutt[28] and Karsten
Gerloff how to do address lookup with mu[29]. If you regret not
living in Paris, Hugo and Nicolas suggest to start MutterWare
meetings in your city, too.
- A court in Caen/France ruled that a French SME did not infringe
Skype's copyright by reverse-engineering the algorithm used by the
company[30] for its VoIP services, and attempting to use it
commercially.
- Daniel Pocock highlights the applications for the Outreach Program
for Women[31] and the option for Australian women to get $75,000
to make free software during maternity leave[32].
- Cryptography: Sergey Matveev wrote about a big cryptoparty in
Moscow[33], Lucile Falgueyrac helped at a cryptoparty for
journalists[34], and wrote about the problems accepting a security
signature in GNU/Linux[35].
- Anna spent a week with some 5-11 year old children for an
plasticine animating using Phatch, Linux Stop Motion and
Kdenlive[36].
- And your editor highlighted the part about Free Software[37] from
David Wheelers's article "Vulnerability bidding wars and
vulnerability economics".
== Get active: Why does Free Software matter to you? ==
This month Jacob Appelbaum, spokesperson for the TOR Project, and two
other TOR developers became supporting members of FSFE and Jacob
explained why he did so:
I believe that actions of support for the FSFE are important for
encouraging Free Software development and adoption in Europe as well
as the rest of the world. I'm an FSFE Fellow because financially
supporting the cause of Free Software brings positive improvements
to all societies throughout the world.
Quotes like this help others understanding the importance of our work.
On our english Fellowship page[38] some of our Fellows already explain
why Free Software and FSFE's work is important to them. We would also
like *you* to write us why Free Software and our work matters to
you[39]. In agreement with you, we would then like to publish some of
the submissions on our website. Else they just motivate FSFE's working
teams.
Thanks to all the volunteers[40], Fellows[41] and corporate donors[42]
who enable our work,
Matthias Kirschner - FSFE
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <http://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <http://fsfe.org/news/news.sv.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <http://fsfe.org/events/events.sv.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <http://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <http://fsfe.org/contact/community.sv.html>
1. http://fsfe.org/fellowship/card.sv.html
2. http://fsfe.org/timeline/timeline.sv.html
3. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120619-01.sv.html
4. http://fsfe.org/news/2013/news-20131107-01.sv.html
5. https://fsfe.org/campaigns/swpat/nortel.en.html
6. https://blogs.fsfe.org/hugo/2013/11/welcoming-maurice-to-the-core-team/
7. https://blogs.fsfe.org/stehmann/?p=984
8. http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/discussion/2013-November/009871.html
9. https://wiki.fsfe.org/Hardware%20for%20Free%20Software
10. https://twitter.com/MsLipsum/status/404352087326072832
11. https://blogs.fsfe.org/stehmann/?p=990
12. https://blogs.fsfe.org/lucile.falg/2013/11/22/open-knowledge-festival-meetu…
13. http://documentfreedom.org
14. https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/osor/news/parliament-spains-andalusia…
15. https://blogs.fsfe.org/guido/2013/11/free-software-in-education-news-octobe…
16. https://www.laquadrature.net/en/snowden-and-the-future-of-our-communication…
17. https://guardianproject.info/2013/11/05/setting-up-your-own-app-store-with-…
18. https://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2013/10/31/renault-will-remotely-lock-down-e…
19. https://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2013/11/21/european-parliament-meps-staffers…
20. http://planet.fsfe.org
21. https://blogs.fsfe.org/thomaslocke/2013/11/20/a-little-more-privacy-with-to…
22. http://freedom-blog.net/2013/11/dark-mail-as-next-generation-email-to-stop-…
23. http://www.roussos.cc/2013/11/05/my-linux-history/
24. https://blogs.fsfe.org/pboddie/?p=501
25. https://blogs.fsfe.org/pboddie/?p=505
26. https://wiki.fsfe.org/groups/Paris/Mutterware
27. https://blogs.fsfe.org/nicoulas/?p=151
28. http://hroy.eu/tips/mutt-carddav-lookup/
29. https://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2013/11/07/address-lookup-in-mutt-with-mu/
30. https://blogs.fsfe.org/lucile.falg/2013/10/31/skype-reverse-engineering-cou…
31. http://danielpocock.com/debian-opw-applications-2013
32. http://danielpocock.com/making-free-software-during-paid-maternity-leave
33. https://blogs.fsfe.org/stargrave/archives/100
34. https://blogs.fsfe.org/lucile.falg/2013/11/19/cryptoparty-for-journalists/
35. https://blogs.fsfe.org/lucile.falg/2013/10/31/accepting-a-security-signatur…
36. https://blogs.fsfe.org/anna.morris/2013/11/05/free-software-animation-with-…
37. https://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/vulnerability-economics-and-free-software/
38. http://fsfe.org/fellowship/index.en.html
39. http://fsfe.org/mailto:fellowship@fsfeurope.org
40. http://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.sv.html
41. http://fsfe.org/fellowship/join.sv.html
42. http://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus.sv.html
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