= FSFE Newsletter - August 2016 =
[ Online lesen: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201608.de.html ]
== "Free and Open Source Security Audit" in the EU needs feedback from Free Software communities ==
The goal of the "Free and Open Source Security Audit" (FOSSA) pilot
project is to increase the security of Free Software used by European
institutions. The FSFE has been following the project since early 2014.
Recently, the European Commission published the first round of
deliverables based on their interviews with stakeholders[1]. While the
FSFE is in full support of this European initiative, the implementation
of the project leaves us concerned. FOSSA's first analysis lacks an
understanding of Free Software; it includes several factual errors; and
it was based on poorly conducted general interviews. FSFE President
Matthias Kirschner[2] and FSFE Fellowship Representative Mirko Böehm[3],
who were both interviewed for the project, have summarised the most
evident shortcomings in the recent FOSSA publications. However, looking
from another perspective: FOSSA is still in its first stages and with
the help of more Free Software experts, we can get FOSSA going in the
right direction. The FSFE will continue to closely follow FOSSA's
upcoming implementations. In case you have any comments or feedback
concerning the initiative, please do not hesitate to share your thoughts
with us on our discussion list[4] or directly to the attention of
Matthias Kirschner. This way, we will make sure that all relevant
concerns will be communicated to the EU.
== Italy plans to stop its explicit support for Free Software in e-Government ==
The government of Italy is planning to revise the provision in the
Digital Administration Law that requires public administrations to
prioritise reusable, Free Software-based software solutions[5]. The
changes also concern the publication and maintenance of a list of open
ICT standards that are used by public administrations. Following this
proposal would mean the government will no longer require the national
agency for the Digitisation of the Public Sector (AGID) to issue binding
opinions on interoperability, or to prioritise Free Software. Members of
the Italian Parliament have raised their concerns in regard to the
proposed changes. FSFE's General Counsel Carlo Piana has previously
advised Italian authorities on the guidelines of implementation of
Digital Administration Law[6], and contested the government's plans in
his letter to Tech Economy[7] (in Italian).
== From the community ==
- Daniel Pocock explains security problems with SMS and phone
verification, and asks how many mobile phone accounts will be hijacked
this summer[8].
- Hannes Hauswedell explains how you can retroactively replace git
subtree with git submodule[9].
- Polina Malaja sums up the creation of the European Cyber Security
Organisation (ECSO) and explains why many security concerns can be
significantly decreased by using Free Software as much as
possible[10].
- Daniel Pocock explains how you can help with monitoring packages in
Debian and Ubuntu.[11]
- Wolfgang Romey writes about the sustainability of technical devices
and their need for Free Software[12] (German).
== What else have we done? ==
- Early this summer, the FSFE co-signed a letter in support of strong
net neutrality together with 72 other organisations. The European
Commission, however, seems to endorse the weak net neutrality demands
proposed by the coalition of 17 biggest EU Internet Service Providers
(ISP) in the so-called '5G manifesto'. Our policy analyst Polina
Malaja blogged about the worrisome direction of watering down strong
net neutrality in the name of 'innovation'[13].
- Matthias gave a talk at the Technical University of Berlin about the
importance of Free Software and presented some of the highlights of
FSFE's work.
- FSFE's Italian team was present with a booth at Wikimania 2016 in
Esino Larino, Italy.
== Take action! ==
>From August 1st, a new German law will allow users to freely choose
their router device. The FSFE wants to ensure everybody knows about
their new rights and is asking users to report cases in which internet
service providers (ISP) try to avoid the new regulation[14]. The new
regulation was designed to eliminate previous ambiguity around the
practice of "compulsory routers" imposed on the users by ISPs. However,
it is necessary to ensure that the new law is implemented.
If you are a client of a German internet provider, we ask you to
exercise your new right and start using an alternative device, ideally
one that runs Free Software. Please provide us feedback whether you had
any issues about running a new router and help us to collect it in our
wiki page[15]. In case you don't have an alternative device at hand, the
FSFE can also provide some testing devices. Please refer to our wiki
page for more information on this.
== Good Free Software news ==
The European Commission will reward existing IT solutions that have been
developed and shared by public administrations, and that can be further
reused across Europe due to the use of Free Software licenses[16].
Adullact, the French organisation for public administrations using free
software, set up Comptoir-du-Libre.org, a website that aims to help
public administrations’ IT decision-makers to switch to Free
Software[17]. The city council of the Spanish city of Ciudad Real voted
in favor of a resolution to switch all 400 workstations of the city's
administration to Free Software[18] (Spanish). The Open Knowledge
Foundation Germany, in cooperation with the German Federal Ministry of
Education and Research, started the Prototype fund[19], which supports
Free Software projects with a grant of up to €30.000, available for
anyone with primary residence in Germany.
Thanks to all the volunteers[20], Fellows[21] and corporate donors[22]
who enable our work,
your editors Polina Malaja and Erik Albers, FSFE[23]
--
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1. https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/eu-fossa/og_page/project-deliveries
2. https://k7r.eu/fossa-now-we-need-feedback-by-the-real-experts/
3. https://creative-destruction.me/2016/07/11/eu-fossa-needs-your-help-a-free-…
4. https://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/discussion
5. http://www.funzionepubblica.gov.it/articolo/riforma-della-pa/10-02-2016/cod…
6. https://fsfe.org/news/2014/news-20140116-01.en.html
7. http://www.techeconomy.it/2016/07/07/bulgaria-open-italia-qualche-passo-die…
8. https://danielpocock.com/how-many-mobile-phone-accounts-will-be-hijacked-th…
9. http://blogs.fsfe.org/h2/2016/07/27/retroactively-replacing-git-subtree-wit…
10. https://blogs.fsfe.org/polina/2016/07/11/ec-free-software-to-enhance-cybers…
11. https://danielpocock.com/help-monitoring-packages-in-debian-and-ubuntu
12. https://blogs.fsfe.org/wromey/2016/07/16/anschlussfrage-warum-sind-nachhalt…
13. https://blogs.fsfe.org/polina/2016/07/15/on-carrots-and-sticks-5g-manifesto/
14. https://fsfe.org/news/2016/news-20160725-01.en.html
15. https://wiki.fsfe.org/Activities/CompulsoryRouters/Implementation/Germany
16. https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/news/new-european-contest-promote-it-reuse
17. https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/osor/news/new-site-promote-proven-ope…
18. http://www.miciudadreal.es/2016/05/25/el-pleno-acuerda-caminar-hacia-el-sof…
19. https://prototypefund.de/en/
20. https://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.en.html
21. http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join
22. https://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus.en.html
23. https://fsfe.org