= Cory Doctorow +++ Artificial Intelligence +++ New Staffer Fani Partsafyllidou =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-202105.nl.html ]
In our May Newsletter read about our time traveller Cory Doctorow who
sends his wishes for 20 Years FSFE from utopian 2041, Router Freedom
developments in Greece, Germany, and Austria as well as AI application
benefits under Free Software licenses and as usual our other diverse
community activities.
== 20 Years FSFE: Time traveller Cory Doctorow sends his wishes from utopian 2041! ==
Prolific Sci-fi author Cory Doctorow envisions the world in 2041 and
informs us that humankind was able to solve major world problems thanks
to collective work and mutual sharing of knowledge. Doctorow has been a
vocal supporter of the FSFE for many years now. In his video he is
celebrating the 20 year anniversary of the FSFE in his own fascinating
way: Doctorow is travelling in time to greet us and congratulate us on
our 40 year anniversary, talking to us from 2041.
His time travel allows him to see the critical importance of the FSFE in
the transition to a digital society. In the author’s words ‘In those two
decades we have seen massive decentralization of the internet thanks and
part to deep reforms to our anti-trust and monopoly law, mandates for
interoperability and open APIs’. This is why Doctorow is thanking the
FSFE for our next 20 years of fostering freedom and decentralisation.
== Rapid developments in Router Freedom in Greece, Germany, and Austria ==
Rapid developments in Router Freedom are being made in the EU countries
as an EU reform of telecommunications law is being transposed into
national jurisdictions. The implementation process has been complex and
has led to different solutions which may negatively affect Router
Freedom. The FSFE has been closely monitoring national legislation on
telecommunications and actively taken part in public consultations
together with local organisations to support legislative changes in
favour of Router Freedom. For example, in Greece, the FSFE and six other
organisations supported the preliminary decision of the Greek regulator
for incorporating Router Freedom in the national legislation.
The next months will be crucial for Router Freedom in EU countries.
There are challenges ahead. Differently from Greece, Germany [1] has
moved in a direction to reevaluate the consolidated framework, which can
lead to more restrictions to end-users rights. In Austria [2], the fate
of Router Freedom will be decided by the national regulatory agency RTR
after the full implementation of the telecom reform.
== Achieving accuracy and fairness in Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications using Free Software ==
Vincent Lequertier published an article [3] stating the reasons why AI
applications released under a Free Software license can prevent known
pitfalls in AI, making its use both efficient and fair. Three elements
of AI should be provided openly: the source code used to train the AI,
the datasets, and the trained AI models. Being able to understand how AI
works will enable us to correct unfair discrimination generated by AI
and give the opportunity for everyone to improve its transparency.
Furthermore, releasing AI as Free Software can help fostering innovation
in this field.
Vincent also suggested in a blog post [4] on FSFE's Planet [5] that the
successful imposition of checklists in crucial sectors can be used as an
example of good practice in AI development.
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This year the FSFE celebrates its 20th anniversary. Support our work for
the next 20 years to come [6]
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== Internal: Our new staffer Fani Partsafyllidou ==
We welcome our new staffer Fani Partsafyllidou! Fani holds a Master's
Degree in Modern History and Political Science and after working with
the European Association of History and Citizenship Educators she joined
the FSFE communication team on the first of May. You will read more and
more by her in the upcoming months, and -- except this very paragraph --
you are already reading the first newsletter brought to you by Fani.
== Upcoming events ==
Matthias Kirschner, president of the FSFE, and Bonnie Mehring, FSFE
Coordinator of Translations, will talk at OpenSUSE Con about Public
Money Public Code and the progress of the FSFE after 20 years of
collective action. OpenSUSE Con will happen on 18 & 19 of June, the
detailed schedule is still to be set.
== What we have done ==
- In the Next Generation Internet Zero initiative, the FSFE has
cooperated with other organisations in Europe to facilitate the use of
Free Software licences by developers, by providing educational
material as well as guidance. We recently published a report on how
the FSFE Helps Free Software Developers Engineer a Better Internet [7]
- On May 22 the FSFE participated in MERGE-it, a conference organised
for Italian communities that work with Open Source and Free Software.
Patrick Ohnewein, Financial Officer of the FSFE and the Deputy
Coordinator in Italy, gave a talk about Free Software in the Public
Administration, and Francesca Indorato, FSFE employee, moderated the
session and the discussion.
- Matthias Kirschner gave an interview (DE) [8] in Co-Vienna where he
analysed the concept of Ethical Software and its relation to freedom
of speech.
- On May 6 Alexander Sander, the FSFE's policy consultant, contributed
to a session about how to advocate on the EU level for Digital
Sustainability [9]
- On May 5 Alexander Sander hosted a session on "Public Money? Public
Code!" during an event of over 50 European civil society organisations
[10] who formulated several recommendations to political decision
makers in the light of the upcoming federal election in Germany.
- Alexander also hosted a webinar on May 26 to highlight the benefits of
using Free Software in public administration [11] and to explain the
process of implementation.
- Alexander Sander took part in a panel discussion on centralization to
standardization [12] with representatives of the German Government and
local government associations. Alexander brought the perspective on
Open Standards and Free Software to the panel
- Our Dutch country team organised an online get-together on May 19.
== Get active ==
Our new call for local projects is open until the 25th of July! [13] If
you are a supporter of the FSFE and you have a project you have wanted
to do for a long time, apply for funding by the FSFE and make it happen.
If you are a supporter but you have no project in hand, look for a local
group in your vicinity or create one. And if you are not a supporter yet
- time to join the FSFE now [14].
== Contribute to our newsletter ==
If you would like to share any thoughts, pictures, or news, please send
them to us. As always, the address is newsletter(a)fsfe.org. We are
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 [15].
Thanks to our community and all the volunteers [16], supporters [17],
and donors [18] who make our work possible. And thanks to our
translators [19], who enable you to read this newsletter in your native
languages.
Your editor, Fani Partsafyllidou
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Support us with your donation [20]
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Discuss this [21]
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1: https://fsfe.org/news/2021/news-20210505-01.nl.html
2: https://fsfe.org/news/2021/news-20210506-01.nl.html
3: https://fsfe.org/freesoftware/artificial-intelligence.nl.html
4: https://vl8r.eu/posts/2021/05/16/artificial-intelligence-safety-embracing-c…
5: https://planet.fsfe.org
6: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-202105.html
7: https://fsfe.org/news/2021/news-20210504-01.nl.html
8: https://www.co-vienna.com/de/leute/der-digitale-freiheitskampfer/
9: https://www.ioew.de/veranstaltung/european-approaches-towards-a-sustainable…
10: https://digitalezivilgesellschaft.org/en-
11: https://public-money.confetti.events/
12: https://www.egovkommunal.de/#Agenda
13: https://fsfe.org/news/2021/news-20210526-01.nl.html
14: https://my.fsfe.org/donate
15: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-202105.html
16: https://fsfe.org/contribute
17: https://my.fsfe.org/support
18: https://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus
19: https://fsfe.org/contribute/translators
20: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl
21: https://community.fsfe.org/t/685