Hello,
I would like to point to a particular problem with using free software variants
of the Android operating system (LineageOS, etc.): namely proprietary apps that
detect if the phone's software is modified (by rooting or installing custom
ROMs) and then refuse to run if it is so.
Google makes this easy with its DRM mechanism called Google Play Integrity.
This is particularly problematic with software that is important in daily life,
for example banking [1] and government-provided apps. For example, Polish
mObywatel and Ukrainian Diia belong to this category. These apps are published
by the respective governments and used for increasingly many
government-provided services. They refuse to work on LineageOS.
Recently, the proposed version of the eIDAS 2.0 directive seems to require such
behavior of government-issued ID apps. I hope that there is still time for some
advocacy work to revert such changes.
I am afraid that this problem will get worse with time as more people will be
forced not to root their phones. Because of that, rooted phones will get less
frequent and it would be easier for app developers to justify blocking them.
Reversing this situation would then be difficult.
This is going to kill in practice what remains of open source in Android.
Greetings,
Mateusz Jończyk
[1] Reddit thread: Safety Net is making it harder to use or advocate for
LineageOS,
https://www.reddit.com/r/LineageOS/comments/sa3qkq/safety_net_is_making_it_…
Dear Discussion-List,
Today, we would like to share the news about the start of the third
round of Youth Hacking 4 Freedom (YH4F) with you. YH4F is a hacking
competition for teenagers from Europe, regardless of their coding
skills. YH4F is open to everyone between 14 and 18 years. The 6 winners
will be awarded with a cash prize, in total more than 10,000 Euro.
With YH4F, the Free Software Foundation Europe lowers the barrier for
teenagers to engage with Free Software. YH4F provides the perfect entry
point for teenagers to get in touch with Free Software. Participants get
to practically experience the four freedoms. They develop their own Free
Software project or contribute to an existing one, learning more about
collaborative work in Free Software and Free Software communities. And,
of course, fun is an essential part of the experience!
The competition is about to kick off with an opening event on the 7th of
December, 19:30 CET for all interested teenagers. In this event, we will
share all the information about YH4F 2024 and of course answer all the
questions participants might have.
On the 1st of January 2024 the competition will properly start with the
coding period till the 30th of June 2024. During this six month coding
period participants will work on their Free Software project. Every
month of the coding period, we organsie a monthly online meeting, in
which the teenagers get to know each other and can form friendships
across Europe. During these meetings, we, as well as jury members,
provide input on Free Software topics.
YH4F 2024 in a nutshell:
* Participants must be between 14 and 18 years old at the time of
registration.
* Participation is free, but registration is mandatory. Registration is
open throughout the coding period. For registering please share this
link: https://survey.fsfe.org/index.php/658534
* The opening event is on 7 December 2023
* The coding period is between 1 January and 30 June 2024.
* During the coding period participants are free to join the monthly
online meetings.
* The first-, second-, and third-place winners will receive €4,096,
€2,048, and €1,024. There will also be three special prizes of €1,024.
Overall, around 10,000 Euro will be awarded.
* Each participant, who submitted a project will also receive a
certification of participation and a special prize
The competition will be conducted remotely, except for the award
ceremony, which will take place in Brussels during a weekend in October
2024 (to which the winners and a family member will be invited on an
all-expenses-paid basis).
You can find out more about the FSFE’s coding competition here:
https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20231116-01.html
and on https://yh4f.org
Please share this information with teenagers, teachers, organisations,
youth clubs and others within your network and be part of YH4F 2024! If
you have any questions please feel free to reach out to us at any time.
Best regards,
Alex and Bonnie
--
Bonnie Mehring - Project manager -
Free Software Foundation Europe
Schönhauser Allee 6/7, 10119 Berlin, Germany | t +49-30-27595290
Registered at Amtsgericht Hamburg, VR 17030 |(fsfe.org/support)
Hello from somewhere in the EU,
There is currently a call for projects to finance them (donations) which
is open until 1 December 2023. This could be of interest to you or even
help your friends to finance their work and development.
Project funding available varies from 5,000 to 50,000 euros (with the
possibility to scale them up if there is proven potential)
Full summary is here:
https://www.apc.org/en/news/open-calls-free-software-hardware-and-data-acti…
A consortium of 12 non-profit organisations is involved in managing the
NGI zero programme. https://nlnet.nl/entrust/background/#organisation
2 Tracks:
+ NGI Zero Entrust: Trustworthiness and data sovereignty
https://nlnet.nl/entrust/guideforapplicants/
+ NGI Zero Core: Moving the internet forward
https://nlnet.nl/core/guideforapplicants
You don't need to reveal your real name prior to the project being
granted. Also, young people that have not yet reached the age of legal
consent in their country of origin on the date of the deadline can also
apply without any constraints.
If you are based outside the European Union and still have doubts,
please write to hvale(a)apc.org
As well as funding from donations, there is specific support (technical,
safety, accessibility, licensing, etc.) for the projects selected.
Also, if you'd like to talk about it with me, I'd be delighted ;-)
Warm regards,
--
Xavier Coadic
Association for Progressive Communications
Communications associate for NGI Zero initiative
Hello,
I would like to point to a particular problem with using free software variants
of the Android operating system (LineageOS, etc.): namely proprietary apps that
detect if the phone's software is modified (by rooting or installing custom
ROMs) and then refuse to run if it is so.
Google makes this easy with its DRM mechanism called Google Play Integrity.
This is particularly problematic with software that is important in daily life,
for example banking [1] and government-provided apps. For example, Polish
mObywatel and Ukrainian Diia belong to this category. These apps are published
by the respective governments and used for increasingly many
government-provided services. They refuse to work on LineageOS.
Recently, the proposed version of the eIDAS 2.0 directive seems to require such
behavior of government-issued ID apps. I hope that there is still time for some
advocacy work to revert such changes.
I am afraid that this problem will get worse with time as more people will be
forced not to root their phones. Because of that, rooted phones will get less
frequent and it would be easier for app developers to justify blocking them.
Reversing this situation would then be difficult.
This is going to kill in practice what remains of open source in Android.
Greetings,
Mateusz Jończyk
[1] Reddit thread: Safety Net is making it harder to use or advocate for
LineageOS,
https://www.reddit.com/r/LineageOS/comments/sa3qkq/safety_net_is_making_it_…
Hi,
is there a cloud storage provider for private people that offers
a few GiByte for a reasonable fee, is a European company that hosts in Europe
and is very Free Software friendly?
Got asked that by someone and did not find many provider easily.
Found https://cloud.tab.digital/ from Latvia that offers Nextcloud
for one user starting with 128 GByte at 60€/year
or 72€/year 80 Gbyte for more users.
Found https://internxt.com/drive from Spain with 200 GB for 42€/year
claiming that stuff is Free Software https://internxt.com/de/open-source
They look less serious with a currently large introductory deal and a lifetime
option (which cannot really work as costs will occur forever).
Does anyone have experiences with this company, it software and services?
In Germany there is also Magenta Cloud and Strato which do not seem to be
very Free Software friendly though. And https://mailbox.org/en/services#cloud-storage which does not seem to be available separately.
Regards,
Bernhard
--
FSFE -- Gründungsmitglied der Vollversammmlung blogs.fsfe.org/bernhard
Unterstütze Freie Software: https://www.fsfe.org/support/support.de.html
Hello,
I have a small hosting service for 20 years, but without a hosting
panel. So my customers write me an e-mail or call me when they need an
extra mailbox or website etc. Then I login using SSH and run a bash script.
For me this is not a big problem, but some customers would like it when
they could do more themselves using a web-interface. E.g. change a
password or create an extra mailbox.
I have some experience with ISPconfig, what is open source. But I don't
like it. I even saw that they sell add-ons who need "ioncube". That
encrypts the PHP so the code is hidden!
https://www.ioncube.com/https://www.ispconfig.org/add-ons/ispconfig-migration-tool/
Do you have an advice for an open source hosting panel?
What I would like the most is something where I don't need to change how
I work. E.g. where I can configure an "action" when a customer wants to
create a mailbox or change a password.
With regards,
Paul van der Vlis
--
Paul van der Vlis Linux systeembeheer Groningen
https://vandervlis.nl/