[FSFE] Cyber Resilience Act & Free Software: Parliament waters down its own position

[press at fsfe.org]

 = Cyber Resilience Act & Free Software: Parliament waters down its own position =

[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230719-01.it.html ]

The European Parliament today voted on its position on the Cyber
Resilience Act (CRA). While the position improves on the Commission's
exemption to protect Free Software, it fails to introduce a proper
protection . We call on the institutions to put the burden of liability
only on those who significantly financially benefit from the market,
while protecting developers and non-profit work.

The Commission’s proposal to exclude Free Software “outside the course
of a commercial activity” would fail to address a large part of software
that will not be covered but is deployed. At the same time, smaller and
non-profit projects would be harmed as they would have to bear major
costs.

Therefore we have already proposed a solution that will lead to more
security while safeguarding Free Software:

1. Liability should be shifted to those *deploying* Free Software
   instead of those *developing* Free Software and

2. Those who significantly financially benefit from this deployment
   should make sure the software becomes CE-compliant

While the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO), a
committee for opinion in CRA, backed our demand and voted for the
protection of Free Software developers in the Cyber Resilience Act, the
Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) introduced less far
reaching protections with today's vote. Regular corporate donations or
contributions by corporate employees to a project could turn non-profit
work into a “commercial activity”, and thus lead to liability.

/Alexander Sander, FSFE Senior Policy Consultant explains:/ "With
today's vote, the EU Parliament has watered down its own position.
Placing the burden of liability on small or non-profit entities that
rely on regular donations would harm the Free Software and thus society
and business alike. Due to the lack of funding and resources to go
through the proposed procedures to become CE compliant, some of these
projects might have to stop completely. We call on the institutions to
find a compromise that safeguards the Free Software ecosystem while
shifting liability to those who significantly financially benefit from
the deployment” /./   Interinstitutional negotiations will start start
soon and should be concluded this year if possible. You can read more
here [1].

 1: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230323-01.it.html

  == Informazioni sulla Free Software Foundation Europe ==

  La Free Software Foundation Europe è una Onlus che incoraggia gli utenti
  ad avere il controllo della tecnologia. Il Software è presente in tutti
  gli aspetti della nostra vita ed è importante che questa tecnologia ci
  aiuti anziché limitarci. Il Software Libero garantisce a tutti il
  diritto di usare, studiare, modificare e condividere il software. Questi
  diritti aiutano a sostenere altre libertà fondamentali come il diritto
  di parola, la libertà di stampa e la privacy.

  La FSFE aiuta persone e organizzazioni a comprendere come il Software
  Libero contribuisce alla libertà, alla trasparenza e
  all'auto-determinazione.  Potenziamo i diritti degli utenti abolendo le
  barriere che esistono nell'adottare il Software Libero, incoraggiamo le
  persone ad usare e sviluppare il Software Libero e forniamo le risorse
  per consentire a tutti di promuovere ulteriormente il Software Libero in
  Europa. 

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