*Varning:* Den här sidan har inte blivit översatt ännu. Vad du ser nedan
är originalversionen av sidan. Använd denna[1] 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: https://fsfe.org/news/2013/news-20130730-01.sv.html ]
FSFE has sent an open letter[2] 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 as Free
Software[3].
"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 this widely distributed[4] 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 on Open Standards[5], 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.
1. http://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.sv.html
2. http://fsfe.org/ee/i-voting/2013-07-26_Open_Letter_to_NEC.sv.html
3. http://fsfe.org/about/basics/freesoftware.sv.html
4. http://vvk.ee/voting-methods-in-estonia/engindex/statistics/
5. https://fsfe.org/activities/os/def.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. Använd denna[1] sida för att få
information om hur du kan hjälpa till med översättningar och andra
saker.
= FSFE objects to claims of 'predatory pricing' in Free Software =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2013/news-20130729-01.sv.html ]
In a recent antitrust submission to the European Commission, a
Microsoft-led coalition falsely claimed that the distribution of Free
Software free of charge hurts competition. FSFE has written[2] a letter
to the European Commission's competition authorities to refute this
claim, and make it clear that Free Software is critical for an open,
competitive IT market.
In its letter, FSFE urges the Commission to consider the facts properly
before accepting these allegations at face value. "Free Software is a
boon for humankind. The only thing that it is dangerous to is
Microsoft's hopelessly outdated, restrictive business model," says
Karsten Gerloff, FSFE's president.
The so-called "FairSearch" coalition is essentially asking the European
Commission to favour a restrictive business model over a liberal one.
This is exactly the opposite of what competition regulators should do in
order to achieve a fair and open market.
"Free Software is not about price, it's about liberty, a guarantee of
competition and vendor independence. Asking to cripple Free Software in
order to allow proprietary vendors to sell their locked-down systems is
just abusurd" says Carlo Piana, FSFE's General Counsel. "The most
substantial threat to competition in the mobile space today are software
patents, and we have repeatedly urged antitrust authorities to address
this problem," he adds.
FSFE asks 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 in response to the
group's filing.
1. http://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.sv.html
2. http://fsfe.org/activities/policy/eu/20130729.EC.Fairsearch.letter.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
= Open Letter to Prime Minister Erdoğan: Invest your $5b in digital
freedom =
[Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2013/news-20130620-01.en.html ]
In recent weeks, political events [1] in Istanbul have been the focus of
international media. Important discussions are taking place about
Turkey's government and her people. Several have lost their lives in the
process.
Days before the protests in Taksim Square erupted, President Erdoğan was
in America. On behalf of an ambitious education investment project
called FATIH [2], he toured Silicon Valley as the guest of America's
largest technology companies, each of whom are hoping to land a contract
for more than 10 million new tablet computers.
As the safety and freedom on the street of Turkey's activists is hotly
debated in the press, the safety and freedom of her children to learn
has understandably received much less attention. Whether it is publicly
discussed or not however, $5 billion will soon be spent on education,
and it's impact on the rights of the next generation of Turkey's
students will be immense.
FSFE's Education Team [3] is dedicated to empowering students via Free
Software. If you think that humans deserve rights over the technology
they use, you can add your name to our list of supporters [4] .
== The letter ==
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,
Recently you visited America [5] to discuss the acquisition of 10.6
million tablets from leading technology companies for students, on
behalf of Turkey's project FATIH [2].
We urge you to take alternative products into consideration, and
consider the impact of the software those tablets use.
Google, Apple, and Microsoft, who hosted you, all tie their tablets to
software which would prevent Turkish children from studying and
customising it. The companies you spoke to enforce strict proprietary
licensing which would ensure that schools could only lease their ability
to use applications, not own them or rights to them.
Free Software [6], contrastingly, protects students' rights to use,
study, share, and improve it. In an educational context these rights can
make the difference between consumers and creators. Without these
freedoms, the 17 million students affected by your plan cannot
experiment or develop the understanding necessary to lead digital
economies in future.
Software support and maintenance is expensive, and proprietary software
exacerbates these costs by restricting who can provide you with
services. By using Free Software, Turkish schools would lose their
dependency on a single vendor, and competition for service contracts
could be more local, and more competitive.
Finally, for better security of both schools and students, Free Software
makes its code available, providing evidence of how it functions. This
week's revelations surrounding British Government spying on Turkish
politicians [7] at the G20 summit highlight the importance of software
security and privacy. Educational computers should not provide
back-doors [8] for foreign Governments and companies.
Apple [9], Google [10] and Microsoft [11] all embrace Free Software
themselves, and use it internally. Making the step towards Free Software
tablets is important however, and several global manufacturers and
distributors offer Free Software devices for sale. Will the freedom of
Turkey's citizens be considered in your forthcoming decision to purchase
tablets?
Please send us your answer, and do not hesitate to contact us should you
have further questions about the contents of this letter.
Yours Sincerely,
Sam Tuke
The Free Software Foundation Europe e.V.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_protests_in_Turkey
2. http://fatihproject.com/
3. https://fsfe.org/activities/education/education.html
4. https://fsfe.org/support/support.html
5.
http://www.electronista.com/articles/13/05/20/country.seeks.bids.on.106.mil…
6. https://fsfe.org/about/basics/freesoftware.html
7.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/17/turkey-russia-g20-spying-gchq
8.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-14/u-s-agencies-said-to-swap-data-wit…
9.
http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/29/the-state-of-linux-how-even-apple-is-going…
10. https://developers.google.com/open-source/
11. http://msopentech.com/
== 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. Använd denna[1]sida för att få
information om hur du kan hjälpa till med översättningar och andra
saker.
1. http://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.sv.html
= FSFE Newsletter - March 2013 =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201303.sv.html ]
== Brussels flooded with Free Software activists ==
>From February 1st to February 3rd thousands of people went to Brussels
to participate in FOSDEM -- the Free and Open Source Software
Developers' European Meeting. At FOSDEM you have the opportunity to meet
developers and contributors from nearly all major Free Software
projects. FSFE is always there to talk with people about ongoing
developments and the needs and contributions in the Free Software
community. So it is a good place to exchange information, talk with very
interesting people, plan future activities, and meet all the people you
would usually just have e-mail contact with.
As in previous years, FSFE was present with a booth, answering questions
about current political topics and activities, distributing information
material and – what every hacker needs – cool t-shirts. Fellow Mirko
Böhm has written a summary about FOSDEM[2], including tips on
communication for Free Software groups and projects, if we should
embrace app stores and how to share a trademark. Isabel Drost has
documented FOSDEM in 9 blog posts[3]: from her arrival with spider
robots[4], about Trademarks and Free Software[5], or the panel
discussion about GNU APL[6].
2. http://creative-destruction.me/2013/02/02/fosdem13-community-legal-devrooms
3. http://blog.isabel-drost.de/index.php/archives/tag/fosdem
4. http://blog.isabel-drost.de/index.php/archives/460/fosdem-2013-01
5. http://blog.isabel-drost.de/index.php/archives/461/trademarks-and-oss
6. http://blog.isabel-drost.de/index.php/archives/463/afero-gpl-panel-discussi…
We were also present with several talks: For example our Finnish team
coordinator Otto Kekäläinen[7]gave a talk about "Fixing public
procurement", our vice-president Henrik Sandklef gave a talk about
Searduino[8], and Erik Albers presented our Free Your Android
campaign[9]( recording available (webm)[10].
7. https://fosdem.org/2013/schedule/speaker/otto_kekalainen/
8. http://sandklef.wordpress.com/2013/01/12/searduino-fosdem-new-gui-simulator…
9. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/android/android.sv.html
10. http://video.fosdem.org/2013/lightningtalks/Phone_liberation_parties.webm
As part of the FYA campaign, Several Fellows also participated in a
meeting at the European Parliament on Friday[11]. It was organised by
Alexander Alvaro, Vice-President of the European Parliament (EP),
together with the European Parliament Free Software User Group
(EPFSUG)[12]. He wanted his EP colleagues to learn how to regain control
of their data and how to install a free operating system and Free
Software on their Android devices.
11. http://epfsug.eu/content/free-your-android-fsfe
12. http://epfsug.eu/
Just three weeks later, we were shocked to hear that Mr Alvaro had a car
accident and is still in hospital with serious injuries. FSFE wishes him
a fast and full recovery.
== Why we love Free Software ==
A lot of people followed our call[13]to participate in the I love Free
Software activity. The result – which has been summarised in a
report[14]by FSFE's new interns Lucile Falgueyrac and Stepan Stehlicek
– was a lot of e-mails, blog posts, pictures and a comic strip. E.g.,
Fellow Mirko Böhm explains why he loves Free Software:
13. http://fsfe.org/news/2013/news-20130212-01.sv.html
14. http://fsfe.org/news/2013/news-20130221-01.sv.html
The benefits of Free Software go beyond the individual contributors and
the communities they form. The four freedoms laid out as the foundations
of Free Software are a fanfare to the ability to exercise one’s free
will, to freely collaborate by helping your neighbors, to achieve
independence from directions other people have thought up for us. The
effects can be seen all around us – when teaching material for schools
is developed collaboratively and freely shared, when government data is
opened up to improve the transparency of the political process, when the
technical foundations of the internet and the operating systems running
modern technology become a common good, and in many other places. People
start to expect similar freedoms they learned to get used to in software
when engaging in society. And more participation is always better.
== Something completely different ==
- Our DFD team published a video tutorial[15], which explains how to
watch Youtube videos using HTML5. Do not miss this month's "get-
active" item below, which is also about Document Freedom Day.
- We have received a report about a successful case of Windows tax
refund in Croatia[16]. One has to apply for the refund within 30 days
of a purchase of an ASUS product and fill out a form in order to
receive €42 refund for Microsoft Windows 8 OEM.
- LWN writes about trademarks and their limits[17], the idea behind
trademarks, about how effective this protection is, and gives examples
of bad behaviour; e.g., offering Free Software with unwanted toolbars
and adware.
- In FSFE we receive a lot of license questions, but we have not yet
evaluated how many we receive through country teams, our legal teams,
or over the phone. Our sister organisation FSF reports[18]that they
have responded to and resolved over 400 reports of suspected license
violations and over 600 general licensing and compliance questions.
- Your editor has written an article for the German news site Heise
titled"Politics and Free Software"[19]. The article covers his
experience from the parliament working group on interoperability,
standards, and Free Software.
- Guido Arnold has published the January update about Free Software in
education[20], covering news from the community and the government as
well as upcoming events.
- Mirko gave a talk at Embedded World 2013 about defensive
publications[21].
- Besides many other positive news from Joinup about Free Software in
the public administration: Member of the European Parliament Amelia
Andersdotter wants public administrations to consider software
freedom[22]as one of the reasons to select new ICT solutions, and the
city of Bolzano has automated testing of e-government services on Free
Software systems[23].
- Fellow Jelle Hermsen asked for blog aggregation for our Dutch Fellows,
and now it is up and running[24].
- From the planet aggregation[25]:
- Anna Morris, who created the DFD video mentioned above, wrote about
Guake: a command-line tool for "dyslexics and beginners"[26].
- You wonder why we published the DFD as ".webm"? Peter Bubestinger
wrote a summary article[27]about different video formats from a Free
Software perspective, explaining that digital video consists of video
codec, audio codec, and container format. He explains the different
codecs, and why some videos do not work out of the box on a Free
Software Distribution.
- Beside this, Peter also wrote about Tears of Steel, a movie made with
Free Software[28].
- From Steel to Stealth: What could the Americans and British do to put
the stealth back into stealth bomber? Daniel Pocock explains why the
US military might need the Free Software lumical[29].
- Mark Lindhout described how to use RSYNC to delete remote
folders[30]and after inspiration from the last Fellowship meeting in
Berlin he also wrote about why and how to play high-fidelity white
noise[31].
- Interested in a distributed solution for one-time-password
authentication on GNU/Linux operating systems? Daniel wrote about
dynalogin[32]which is providing this.
- Thomas Løcke describes how to use the Ada Web Server[33]and,
- Henri Bergius is thinking about the flow-based programming user
interface[34].
15. http://download.fsfe.org/campaigns/dfd/youtube-howto-english-854x480.webm
16. https://wiki.fsfe.org/WindowsTaxRefund/Croatia
17. http://lwn.net/Articles/536126
18. http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/fsf-licensing-team-what-we-did-in-2012-w…
19. http://www.heise.de/open/artikel/Die-Woche-Politik-und-Freie-Software-17942…
20. http://blogs.fsfe.org/guido/2013/02/free-software-in-education-news-january…
21. http://creative-destruction.me/2013/02/26/defensive-publications-at-embedde…
22. http://joinup.ec.europa.eu/news/mep-authorities-should-include-freedoms-whe…
23. http://joinup.ec.europa.eu/news/bolzano-automates-testing-e-government-serv…
24. http://planet.fsfe.org/nl/
25. http://planet.fsfe.org
26. http://blogs.fsfe.org/anna.morris/2013/02/18/guake-a-great-command-line-too…
27. https://blogs.fsfe.org/pb/?page_id=20
28. https://blogs.fsfe.org/pb/?p=41
29. http://danielpocock.com/us-military-may-need-lumicall
30. http://blogs.fsfe.org/marklindhout/2013/02/use-rsync-to-delete-remote-folde…
31. http://blogs.fsfe.org/marklindhout/2013/02/need-to-play-high-fidelity-white…
32. http://danielpocock.com/dynalogin-1.0.0-released
33. http://blogs.fsfe.org/thomaslocke/2013/02/10/using-the-ada-web-server-aws-p…
34. http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/inspiration-for-fbp-ui/
== Get active: Organise an event for Document Freedom Day 2013 ==
Help us to introduce more people to Open Standards – participate in
Document Freedom Day 2013[35]on March 27th! Local teams can now promote
their events[36]on DocumentFreedom.org, and have them marked on the
global campaign map[37].
35. http://documentfreedom.org
36. http://www.documentfreedom.org/registerevent.html
37. http://www.documentfreedom.org/events/events.html
In 2012 groups of volunteers ran 54 events in 23 different countries. If
you want to get some inspiration for your event, take a look at our
activity packages[38]or the DFD report from 2012[39]. Help us to make
this year's DFD the most successful yet!
38. http://www.documentfreedom.org/getinvolved.html
39. http://www.documentfreedom.org/news/2012/news-20120403-01.html
Thanks to all the Fellows and donors 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>
_______________________________________________
Press-release-sv mailing list
Press-release-sv(a)fsfeurope.org
https://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/press-release-sv
= Document Freedom Day: 2013 Event registration now open =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2013/news-20130226-01.en.html ]
Today event registration opens for Document Freedom Day 2013, March
27th. Local teams can add details of their activities to
DocumentFreedom.org[1], and have them marked on the global campaign
map[2].
Last week 50 promotional packs were dispatched to hackerspaces to kick
start event preparations. They contain posters, fliers, stickers, and
advice, including how to apply for financial support. Packs are now also
available to order online.
"Last year trail-blazing Open Standards advocates introduced thousands
of people to better standards" said Sam Tuke, Campaign Manager. "Teams
now have more resources at their disposal, and fresh ideas including
switching from Adobe Flash to HTML5 technologies".
"Markets for digital products such as audiobooks and cloud documents
have grown dramatically in recent months, but without Open Standards
customers are victims of vendor lock-in and anti-consumer market
control" said Erik Albers, Community Manager, Free Software Foundation
Europe.
This year the campaign aims to have more events, in additional
locations. In 2012[3]groups of volunteers ran 54 events in 23 different
countries, including Brussels, Colombia, and Indonesia.
1. http://documentfreedom.org
2. http://www.documentfreedom.org/events/events.html
3. http://www.documentfreedom.org/news/2012/news-20120403-01.en.html
== About Document Freedom Day ==
Document Freedom Day (DFD) campaigns to celebrate information
accessibility and introduce non-technical audiences to Open Standards.
Open Standards are a basic condition for freedom and choice in
software; ensuring the freedom to access data, and the freedom to
build Free Software to read and write information. Started in 2008,
the campaign last year had 54 events worldwide. It will happen on 27th
March.
http://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/
_______________________________________________
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. Använd denna[1]sida för att få
information om hur du kan hjälpa till med översättningar och andra
saker.
1. http://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.sv.html
= FSFE asks to show your love for Free Software! =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2013/news-20130212-01.en.html ]
On February 14th Free Software Foundation Europe asks all Free Software
users to show their appreciation for Free Software. FSFE suggests to
take this day as an opportunity to say "thank you" to one of the
dedicated hard-working people in the Free Software community.
"Every day, we use Free Software and often take it for granted. We write
bug reports, tell others how they should improve their software, or ask
them for new features - and often we are not shy about criticising. So,
to let the people in Free Software receive a positive feedback at least
once a year, there is the 'I love Free Software day'." says Matthias
Kirschner, who initiated the FSFE's#ilovefs campaign[1].
For the"I love Free Software Day"[2]the FSFE has several suggestions how
to show your love to the people behind Free Software, including:
- write an e-mail/letter, (micro-)blog post, to contributors expressing
how much you like what they are doing
- buy your favourite contributor a drink. Or buy someone else a drink
and while enjoying it, tell her/him about your favourite Free Software
application!
- give a contributor a hug (ask for permission first)
- take a picture of yourself showing your feelings for Free Software,
and post them online.
- Donate to FSFE[3]or another Free Software initiative[4]to express your
gratitude. They depend on your contribution to continue their work. So
check out your favourite organisation and make a donation. You can be
sure they will love you back.
- Finally you can help spread the love by sharing the campaign
banners[5], by e-mail, (micro)blog or by spreading through any social
network (please use the hashtag #ilovefs for this).
"We want you to help us, to make this day the day where everybody
says*'thank you'*to the people behind Free Software", adds Matthias
Kirschner.
1. http://ilovefs.org
2. http://ilovefs.org
3. http://fsfe.org/donate/donate.en.html
4. http://wiki.fsfe.org/DonateToFreeSoftwareProjects
5. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/ilovefs/2012/banners.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
= European Parliament adopts deeply flawed unitary patent, gives up
power over innovation policy =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20121211-01.html ]
Today, the European Parliament has adopted a proposal to create a patent
with unitary effect for Europe. This decision will leave Europe with a
patent system that is both deeply flawed and prone to overreach. It also
ends democratic control of Europe's innovation policy.
"We are disappointed that so many MEPs were prepared to throw Europe's
researchers and innovators under the bus just to achieve a deal, any
deal" says Karsten Gerloff, President of the Free Software Foundation
Europe. "It is natural that after nearly four decades of discussions on
a single patent system for Europe, most of those involved simply want
the debate to end. But we would have expected more of our elected
representatives."
== Intense criticism from all sides ==
In adopting the proposal, MEPs chose to disregard intense criticism of
the proposal from all sides of the debate. Patent lawyers[1],
independent legal experts[2], SMEs[3]and civil society groups such as
FSFE all voiced their concerns to MEPs ahead of the vote. FSFE
recognises the important work done by some MEPs, in particular the
Greens/EFA, in informing their colleagues about the serious flaws in the
proposal.
1. http://ipkitten.blogspot.de/2012/12/unitary-patent-deja-vu-council-debate.h…
2. http://www.ip.mpg.de/en/pub/publications/opinions/unitary_patent_package.cfm
3. http://www.april.org/en/against-software-patents-460-companies-demand-impro…
With this decision, the European Parliament has essentially given up its
power to shape Europe's innovation policy. That power will instead fall
to the European Patent Office, which has a track record of awarding
monopoly powers on the widest possible range of subject matter.
"We are alarmed to see both legislative and executive power in the hands
of a single agency," says Karsten Gerloff. "The separation of powers is
a fundamental principle of democracy. We regret that in today's vote,
many MEPs were prepared to give this up in exchange for an ill-conceived
compromise."
== Software patents, fragmentation and confusion ==
The text adopted today will lead to fragmentation of jurisdiction and of
jurisprudence across the European Union. Creating divergence and
confusion, the proposal will make the patent system much harder to
navigate for small and medium enterprises. The European Patent Office
will have much greater leeway to continue its practice of granting
patents on software. This will harm competition and innovation, and
create unnecessary risks for businesses and software developers. It is
also likely that the adopted text will lead to more intense patent
litigation in Europe, including by patent trolls.
FSFE is also concerned about the lack of a research exception and of a
provision for compulsory licenses. According to the Max Planck Institute
for "Intellectual Property", the envisioned patent court is incompatible
with European Union law[4]. These fundamental flaws mean that
considerable uncertainty remains about the way in which the patent
system will operate in future.
4. http://www.ip.mpg.de/en/pub/publications/opinions/unitary_patent_package.cfm
== Next steps ==
According to the European Parliament's website[5], "the international
agreement creating a unified patent court will enter into force on 1
January 2014 or after thirteen contracting states ratify it, provided
that UK, France and Germany are among them. The other two acts would
apply from 1 January 2014, or from the date when the international
agreement enters into force, whichever is the latest. Spain and Italy
are currently outside the new regime, but could decide to join in at any
time."
5. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/pressroom/content/20121210IPR04506/ht…
=== More information: ===
- Overview of issues with the unitary patent package[6]
- Resources on the unitary patent package[7]
6. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/swpat/current/unitary-patent.en.html
7. https://www.unitary-patent.eu/
== 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. Använd denna[1]sida för att få
information om hur du kan hjälpa till med översättningar och andra
saker.
1. http://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.sv.html
= FSFE Newsletter - December 2012 =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201212.sv.html ]
== UK: Small and major steps towards more Free Software ==
On 7th November, several political candidates standing in the Manchester
Central By-election participated in the"Manchester Digital Debate"[2],
organised by our UK coordinator Sam Tuke and the Open Rights Group
(ORG). The event is part of FSFE's "Ask Your Candidates" campaign, which
aims to provide an opportunity to engage (local) politicians with
digital concerns that they typically do not address.
2. http://manchester.openrightsgroup.org/2012/10/24/manchester-digital-debate
Besides these important steps at the local level, last month the UK
government has released a new Open Standards policy. In future all UK
Government bodies must comply with the Open Standards Principles or
apply for an exemption. FSFE welcomed this step[3], and particularly its
strong Open Standards definition. It also includes another long-standing
FSFE demand: to take into account the software exit costs. From now on,
when UK government bodies buy a software solution, they have to consider
in the price a calculation of what it will cost them to get out of this
solution, in the future. This means that government bodies could not
simply avoid buying Free Software solutions because they are locked into
one particular vendor's proprietary file formats. FSFE president Karsten
Gerloff analysed the new policy in detail[4].
3. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20121101-02.sv.html
4. http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2012/11/01/the-uks-new-open-standards-policy/
== Secure Boot: FSFE welcomes German Government's White Paper on "Secure
Boot" ==
We want to make sure that you are in control of your computing. This
control is, currently, restricted by "Secure Boot". On 19th November, as
the first government, the German Ministry of the Interior published a
white paper about "Trusted Computing" and "Secure Boot"[5]. The white
paper states that "device owners must be in complete control of (able to
manage and monitor) all the trusted computing security systems of their
devices." This has been one of FSFE's key demands from the beginning of
the debate. The document continues that "delegating this control to
third parties requires conscious and informed consent by the device
owner".
5. http://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Themen/OED_Verwaltung/Inform…
Another FSFE demand is also addressed by the government's white paper:
Before purchasing a device, buyers must be informed concisely about the
technical measures implemented in this device, as well as the specific
usage restrictions and its consequences for the owner: "Trusted
computing security systems must be deactivated (opt-in principle)" when
devices are delivered. "Based on the necessary transparency with regard
to technical features and content of trusted computing solutions, device
owners must be able to make responsible decisions when it comes to
product selection, start-up, configuration, operation and shut-down."
And "Deactivation must also be possible later (opt- out function) and
must not have any negative impact on the functioning of hard- and
software that does not use trusted computing functions."
Though all of what the German Government stated, should be self-evident,
unfortunately it is not. FSFE will continue talking to other governments
about this issue, to improve their understanding of the political and
economic consequences of this technology.
== German Cities: Two good news and a bad one ==
First the bad news: The city of Freiburg has decided to switch back,
from OpenOffice.org, to Microsoft Office. The study they based their
decision on was published one week before the decision, which we and
other Free Software organisations had criticised before[6]. Unfortunate
news, but as IBM's Rob Weir wrote in his article[7]in the Free Software
community we tend to look at the bad news, and forget about the good
news.
6. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20121116-01.sv.html
7. http://www.robweir.com/blog/2012/11/a-tale-of-two-cities.html
So, some good news: on the one hand, the City of Leipzig has just
migrated 4200 working stations to OpenOffice (DE)[8], and on the other
hand, Munich announced they are saving over 10 Million Euro[9]with Free
Software. If you want to be updated with good news from the public
administrations in Europe, the European Commission's Join-up
Portal[10]is a good place to check out.
8. http://www.it-muenchen-blog.de/2012/10/leipzig-auf-kurs-zum-freien-officepa…
9. http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Linux-brings-over-EUR10-million-savi…
10. https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/news/news
== Something completely different ==
- LWN has a good summary of Karsten's talk "All watched over by machines
of loving grace"[11], which is about society, power, and control.
Besides, Karsten recommended the German authorities to publish the
code of mobile phone apps[12].
- Our Finnish team coordinator Otto Kekäläinen and the Danish hacker
Ole Tange received the 2012 Nordic Free Software Award[13]. With this
recognition, the Swedish Association for Free Software and Free
Culture ( FFKP, Föreningen Fri Kultur och Programvara[14]) honours
people and projects who have made important contributions to software
freedom. Congratulations Otto!
- "Fuck you, this is my culture!". This statement ended Amelia
Andersdotter's (Swedish Pirate Party) speech at the Internet
Governance Forum[15]wearing a European Parliament Free Software User
Group (EPFSUG)[16]t-shirt.
- Matija Šuklje, Jürgen Kneissl, Peter Bubestinger and Martin
Gollowitzer (all FSFE) were interviewed[17]by Radio Orange about Free
Software, software patents and other connected topics. In 2010 Radio
Orange was awarded with the German Document Freedom Award[18], because
they provide OGG Vorbis for all their radio shows.
- Also on software patents, Richard Stallman wrote an interesting
article on the WIRED[19], suggesting to change the effect of patents:
"We should legislate that developing, distributing, or running a
program on generally used computing hardware does not constitute
patent infringement."
- Former KDE president Aaron Seigo pleads to end the cults of
personality in Free Software[20].
- Mark Lindhout published the default Fellowship blog theme Pome on his
Github account[21], and invites everyone to contribute!
- Do you remember the time of the browser bundling? Or the Samba
antitrust case[22]? You might also enjoy XKCD's comic strip named
"Microsoft"[23].
- From the planet aggregation[24]:
- Looking for a self-made Christmas present for your grandmother? What
about a one button audiobook player? Michael Clemens described how he
build such a device[25]with a Raspberry Pi for his 90 year old
Grandma.
- FSF to begins to accept scanned assignments from Germany[26], and
Werner Koch, author of GnuPG, wrote the article"The tragedy of GNU
copyright assignments"[27], where he asks if the GNU hackers really
have the freedom they demand from others?
- Erik Albers wrote about his experience with Ubuntu running on a Nexus
7[28]while he and Torsten Grote gave a Free Your Android workshop at
SFSCON in Bolzano. Albert Dengg gave talks in Austria, and in our
upcoming events[29]you will find upcoming Free Your Android[30]related
events.
- Otto wrote about the WOW effect[31], and a wishlist for future mobile
devices while Henri Bergius wrote an extensive blog post about Jolla's
Sailfish OS"[32].
- How to open computed tomography (CT) scan pictures (DICOM)? Our
president, Karsten Gerloff, broke his foot[33]just for you to find
out.
- What can you learn out of the Skolelinux pilot in Rhineland
Palatinate? Guido Arnold wrote a summary about Kurt Gramlich's[34]in
English, so more people can learn what happened after the first
euphoria and the reasons why the pilot may be considered a failure.
- There were several reports from events: Erik Albers organised the Free
Your Android workshop during FSCONS[35], where Fellow Bjarni Einarsson
rescued an (almost) bricked phone. Ana wrote about her high
expectations to FSCONS[36]and how a perfect weekend looks like.
- Isabel Drost wrote 11 reports about the ApacheCon Europe[37],
- Mirko Böhm reported (in German) about the summit of Newthinking ( day
1[38], and day 2[39]), and about our workshop at an event from the
Green party about Internet Policy[40].
- And finally, read Leena Simon's blog post[41]to find out why South
Park failed on copyright.
11. lwn.net/Articles/523537/
12. http://joinup.ec.europa.eu/news/advocates-open-source-recommend-german-auth…
13. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20121112-01.sv.html
14. https://ffkp.se/
15. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsoGMT49v_o
16. http://epfsug.eu/
17. http://sendungsarchiv.o94.at/get.php?id=094pr6519
18. http://fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20100324-01.sv.html
19. http://www.wired.com/opinion/2012/11/richard-stallman-software-patents
20. http://aseigo.blogspot.com.br/2012/11/ending-cults-of-personality-in-free.h…
21. https://github.com/marklindhout/Pome
22. http://fsfe.org/activities/ms-vs-eu/ms-vs-eu.en.html
23. https://xkcd.com/1118/
24. http://planet.fsfe.org
25. http://blogs.fsfe.org/clemens/2012/10/30/the-one-button-audiobook-player/
26. http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/fsf-to-begin-accepting-scanned-assignmen…
27. http://rem.eifzilla.de.ipv4.sixxs.org/archives/2012/11/27/the-tragedy-of-gn…
28. http://blogs.fsfe.org/eal/2012/11/21/my-experience-with-ubuntu-running-on-a…
29. http://fsfe.org/events/
30. http://freeyourandroid.org
31. http://seravo.fi/2012/11/the-wow-effect
32. http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/jolla-sailfish/
33. http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2012/11/26/broke-my-foot/
34. http://blogs.fsfe.org/guido/2012/11/skolelinux-pilot-in-rhineland-palatinat…
35. http://blogs.fsfe.org/eal/2012/11/15/free-society-conference-and-nordic-sum…
36. http://blogs.fsfe.org/anaghz/2012/11/22/fscons-elation/
37. http://blog.isabel-drost.de/index.php/archives/category/events-menu/apache-…
38. http://creative-destruction.me/2012/11/16/son12-day-1-2/
39. http://creative-destruction.me/2012/11/16/son12-day-2/
40. https://netzpolitik.org/2012/nk12-produzent-und-konsument-im-netz/
41. http://leena.de/south-parks-genius-website-copyright-fail/
== Get active: New year, new donations ==
It is the end of the year, and like FSFE's financial officer Reinhard
Müller[42]your editor would like to start 2013 with a good money
buffer. So this month, please help us to fill our war chest:
42. http://wiki.fsfe.org/Fellows/reinhard
- If you are not yet a Fellow, please join now[43]and support us with
your donation.
- Check out our support programs[44]to find out if the webshops you
already use for your Christmas shopping are listed there, and install
our plugins. (If you need some suggestions for books, take a look at
your editor's recommended books about Free Software[45].
- And please convince your employer to support us[46], and join our list
of donors[47]. (If you do not want to talk to your employer on your
own, please contact us[48], and suggest whom we should talk to.)
43. https://fellowship.fsfe.org/ams/join.php?ams=join
44. http://wiki.fsfe.org/SupportPrograms
45. http://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=399
46. http://fsfe.org/donate/donate.sv.html
47. http://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus.sv.html
48. http://fsfe.org/contact/contact.sv.html
Thanks to all the Fellows[49]and donors[50]who enable our work,
49. http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join
50. donate/thankgnus.sv.html
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>
_______________________________________________
Press-release-sv mailing list
Press-release-sv(a)fsfeurope.org
https://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/press-release-sv