= FSFE Newsletter June 2019 =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201906.it.html ]
This month's newsletter highlights the Google/Huawei case and the
greater picture it reveals to us. In the Get Active section we call for
your proactivity in promoting the use of Free Software. Additionally,
you can find out what happened at our Web-a-thon in Frankfurt am Main
and view some media of the actions we have taken for promoting and
increasing the awareness of Free Software to the wider audience, as well
as see what's planned for the near future, where you can take part in.
== The Google - Huawei Lessons ==
Last month, Google blacklisted and blocked Huawei from accessing all its
proprietary components of the Android mobile operating system. The
California based tech giant had to comply with the executive order
issued by the U.S. government to effectively ban all American companies
from trading with Huawei. While the Chinese telco will not have access
to Google's proprietary components, it will nevertheless be able to use
those parts of Android's operating system available under the open
source licence, which is free for anyone to use. This highlights the
importance that Free Software has for users, public bodies, and
businesses. The Free Software Foundation Europe presented three
essential lessons from this case:
1. Free Software enables control over technology: The more important
technology becomes in our daily lives, the more relevant Free
Software becomes for individual users.
2. The EU is overly reliant on foreign sources of technology: The
European Union and its member states should invest in Free Software
development and focus on supporting local Free Software organisations
and businesses. This can foster greater technological independence
for the EU economy.
3. Free Software gives companies technological independence.: A company
that uses proprietary software is dependent on such software's vendor
and the government that regulates it. The best strategy for a company
to avoid this is to use as much Free Software as possible in their
supply chains.
Read more details about these lessons in our press release [1].
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== Do not miss: upcoming events with the FSFE ==
As with every month, we are trying to spread the word and help
individuals and organisations understand what Free Software is and how
Free Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-
determination. If you are interested in seeing us in action and join our
cause, keep in mind the following dates and locations in the coming few
months:
- On July 3rd, FSFE Programme Manager Max Mehl will explain how Free
Software can be the solution to many security problems at Pass the
Salt [3] in Lille, France.
- On July 6th, FSFE supporter Reinhard Müller will give a presentation
at Tübix [4] about the development of web applications he used
successfully for the development of the new online FSFE community
portal [5] in Tübingen, Germany
- On July 8th, the FSFE community in Bonn will have a meeting [6]
discussing Free Software.
- On July 22nd, the Franken community of the FSFE and the Nuremberg
Hackerspace will be hosting a lecture [7] about the basics and common
misunderstandings of Free Software in Nuremberg, Germany
- Between August 21st and 25th the FSFE will host an assembly [8] at the
Chaos Communication Camp in Mildenberg, Germany. The assembly will be
part of about:freedom [9], a cluster with a focus on digital (human)
rights politics, freedom of information and Free Software advocacy. It
is a union of different and diverse organisations from all over the
world promoting Free Software and defending and extending digital
rights. There will be workshops on-site and information materials. If
you are coming to the camp, drop by and have a chat with us!
== What have we done? Inside and Outside the FSFE ==
Since the last newsletter we have been very active in promoting the Free
Software cause, by helping individuals and organisations have a better
understanding of what Free Software is and encouraging them to develop
and implement it in their lives. We want to share with you the events we
have photos and videos for, below:
- Between May 24th and 26th, the FSFE ran our web-a-thon 2019 [10].
There were 13 hackers (and more in the evenings) who met in Frankfurt
(Main) to work on the FSFE's website, and of course to also celebrate
our nice community and commemorate International Towel Day [11]. We
aimed high and tried to get rid of many unresolved issues, some rather
small, some highly important for editors, translators and of course
our visitors. In the milestone "Hackathon1905" [12], we collected the
issues to be worked on, and it turns out that we achieved more than we
anticipated. 47 tickets and pull requests have been closed
successfully. Thanks to everyone who participated, maintained the good
mood throughout and to the CCC FFM [13] for hosting us patiently
during the whole weekend!
- Lucas Lasota, the FSFE's legal intern, presented the legal trends in
Free Software at the Libre Graphics Meetings [14] in Saarbrücken,
Germany on May 29th. You can watch his presentation video. [15]
The Viennese FSFE supporters group participated with an FSFE info-booth
at the local street festival Veganmania between June 7th and 10th in
Vienna, Austria. See pictures of the event and read about the local
group's successful down-to-earth approach in a report by Franz Gratzer
[16].
The FSFE's president Matthias Kirschner gave a keynote about Free
Software in our society at this year's OW2 on June 13th in Paris. You
can watch the keynote video. [17]
Our Policy Manager Alexander Sander was invited as an expert on
E-Government in the Landtag Saarland, the parliament of the German
federal State Saarland on June 17th. In his talk he discussed the
advantages of free software in the area of e-government. You can find
his expert opinion and research here [18]:
The FSFE participated with a booth at the OpenExpo [19] in Madrid, Spain
on June 20th where we had the chance to meet and talk to many people
about Free Software.
- On June 25th, the FSFE's Policy and Project Managers Alexander Sander
and Galia Mancheva talked about the Public Money? Public Code!
campaign and the updated Copyright Directive at Libertybits [20] in
Sofia, Bulgaria
== Get Active ==
Do you remember that some years ago the German newspaper Die
Tageszeitung (TAZ) received the Document Freedom Day Award [21] for
delivering its electronic paper to its subscribers in a choice of open
formats, and without digital restrictions (DRM) [22]? This year, the TAZ
newspaper went a step further and even launched their taz.app on f-droid
[23] under a Free Software license. This is a great example for other
newspapers to follow. Contact your favourite newspaper and demand they
follow the TAZ's example of giving users freedom of choice and technical
control.
== Contribute to our newsletter ==
If you would like to share any thoughts, pictures, or news, send them to
us. As always, the address is newsletter(a)fsfe.org. We're looking forward
to hearing from you!
If you also want to support us and our work, join our community and
support us with a donation or a monthly contribution:
https://my.fsfe.org/support [24]
Thanks to our community, all the volunteers [25], supporters [26] and
donors [27] who make our work possible. And thanks to our translators
[28], who enable you to read this newsletter in your mother tongue.
Your editors,
The FSFE team
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1: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20190520-01.en.html
2: https://fsfe.org/join/nl2019-06
3: https://2019.pass-the-salt.org/talks/102.html
4: https://www.tuebix.org/
5: https://my.fsfe.org/
6: https://wiki.fsfe.org/LocalGroups/Bonn
7: https://wiki.fsfe.org/LocalGroups/Franken/DigitalFestival2019
8: https://signup.c3assemblies.de/assembly/db340abb-1f28-48e0-bbd6-59035e98cb42
9: https://signup.c3assemblies.de/assembly/c1831305-457e-4199-9070-38e2ac9234de
10: https://wiki.fsfe.org/Events/2019/0525-fsfe-web-a-thon
11: https://mastodon.social/@3rik/102155847488969972
12: https://git.fsfe.org/FSFE/fsfe-website/milestone/10?state=closed
13: https://ccc-ffm.de/
14: https://opensaar.de/2019/04/libre-graphis-meeting-in-saarbruecken/
15: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnNkTWLohWo
16: https://blogs.fsfe.org/franz.gratzer/2019/06/16/linux-week-veganmania/
17: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHXDCHX1Zhg
18: https://download.fsfe.org/policy/190607_EGov_Saarland_Stellungnahme.pdf
19: https://openexpoeurope.com/
20: https://libertybits.org/eventalk_speaker_category/2019/
21: https://fsfe.org/news/2013/news-20130327-01.en.html
22: https://drm.info/
23: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.thecode.android.tazreader/
24: https://my.fsfe.org/support
25: https://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute
26: https://my.fsfe.org/support
27: https://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus
28: https://fsfe.org/contribute/translators/translators
29: https://fsfe.org/join/nl2019-06