= FSFE Newsletter - December 2017 / January 2018 =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201712.ru.html ]
== 2017: A year full of Free Software ==
The Free Software Foundation Europe looks back on a very exciting year.
While on one hand we managed to take our regular campaigns like I love
Free Software [1] and Ask Your Candidates [2] to a new level with
extraordinary activities, we also started three new major activities
this year that will keep running in 2018 and beyond. These are Public
Money Public Code [3], Save Code Share [4] and the Reuse Initiative [5].
In the legal field we held the 10th Legal and Licensing Workshop [6] and
updated the Fiduciary Licence Agreement [7] to version 2.0. In the
technical field, we set up new tools for our community [8] and
(co-)developed new tools for our campaigns [9]. All of them are Free
Software, of course.
2017 was also a very good year for our outreach. Our community attended
75 events in 11 countries with talks, workshops and booths. In our
Berlin office we have welcomed six interns from six different European
countries, and our message keeps spreading with new merchandise items
[10] and promotional material [11].
As a result of our joint efforts, we have seen growth in many sectors:
in funds, in media attention, and in our community, with the latter
being the most important point. The Free Software Foundation Europe
could not pursue its mission without the people that make up our
community and spread our message. This is a big thank you to all of you:
the countless volunteers, supporters and donors who were part of or who
made the work of FSFE possible in 2017. Your contributions are priceless
and we are doing our best to keep the good work going in 2018!
If you are interested in more details about our activities in 2017, read
our yearly report [12]. If you like what we are doing, join the FSFE as
a supporter [13] and help us to continue our work for Free Software!
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Help us grow and make a difference in 2018 [14]
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== What else have we done? Inside and Outside the FSFE ==
- Part of a new copyright proposal currently discussed by the European
Union is Article 13, which imposes the installation of arbitrary
upload filters on every code hosting and sharing provider. Together
with over 80 organisations, the FSFE called the EU member states to
reject the harmful Article 13 [15] and to Save Code Share [16].
- The Dutch government released the source code and documentation of
"Basisregistratie Personen", a 100 million Euro IT system that
registers information about inhabitants within the Netherlands. The
FSFE applauds the Dutch government's move [17] towards releasing
publicly financed code as Free Software.
- Max Mehl, project manager of the FSFE, explains the current status of
the FSFE's work on proposed European Radio Lockdown [18]. While the
FSFE was not accepted as member of committee, which assists the
European Commission with drafting the delegated acts, we keep raising
our demand to save users' rights and Free Software, backed by more
than 50 civil society organisations.
- The FSFE submitted its response to the public consultation on the
Directive on the re-use of public sector information [19]. In our
response we argue that source code needs to be added to the list of
'documents' that governments and other public bodies need to make
available for re-use in an open and machine readable format. When it
comes to publicly financed software, it should be released to the
public under Free Software licences [20].
- Thanks to April, the French Free Software association, we now have a
French translation of our "Public Money? Public Code!" campaign video
[21].
- Erik Albers wrote a report of the FSFE's community meeting and the
common spirit with some pictures (http://blog.3rik.cc/2017/12/report-
about-the-fsfe-community-meeting-2017/)
- Earlier this year, after a public consultation, we took the decision
to change the name of our supporter program, the Fellowship of the
FSFE, and talk about our supporters by their true name: Supporters. At
the same time as we're completing this change, we're also
decommissioning our old Fellowship SmartCard in favor of a brand new
FSFE supporter patch [22].
- Matthias Kirschner, President of the FSFE, argues in a blogpost [23]
as a reply to Scott Peterson from Red Hat, that the terms "Open Source
Software" and "Free Software" are referring to the same kind of
software but only differ in their emphasis. And that it is challenging
to impossible and maybe even unnecessary to find a "neutral" term.
- Jonas Öberg, Executive Director of the FSFE, introduces the FSFE's
forms API in a blogpost [24], a way to send emails and manage sign-ups
on web pages used in the FSFE community.
- Daniel Pocock, community representative of the FSFE, shared a picture
of the fixme.ch hackerspace [25] in Lausanne which promotes the FSFE.
- Michael Kappes blogs about a group of supporters from the Berlin local
FSFE group who went to the FIfF-Konferenz in Jena to set up a booth
for the FSFE [26].
- Björn Schiessle, German team co-coordinator, blogs about how to
achieve practical software freedom in the cloud [27].
- We welcome our new associate [28]: Open Labs [29], Albania
- FSFE has a new t-shirt celebrating the 100 freedoms of Free Software
[30]. Also, we have a lot of other nice shirts and merchandise in our
online shop [31] - for Christmas or for any other reason.
- Thanks to our growing community and the big demand by people around
the world to spread the word about the FSFE and Free Software, we are
looking for an office assistant as a part-time job [32] to help us
with packing and posting.
- In 2018, again, we are looking for students who can join our team in
Berlin [33] for three months or more as a mandatory part of their
studies or before graduation.
== Do not miss it! Upcoming events with the FSFE ==
As in recent years, the FSFE will be present with an FSFE assembly at
the Chaos Communication Congress [34], one of the biggest technology
related events in Europe. The assembly will be equipped with current
merchandise and promotional material, run a Free Software track, invite
people to play a Free Software game or to join us in several Free
Software song sing-along sessions. After all, the assembly shall be a
place for our community to get together and connect with each other. If
you are attending Chaos Communication Congress too, use this opportunity
to meet and get to know the people behind FSFE, including volunteers and
staffers.
As usual, find all the other future events with or by the FSFE listed on
our events page [35].
== Get Active ==
Use the vacation time to read our yearly report [36] and share it among
your friends. Let people know about the importance of Free Software and
why they should care about it. Tell them that people around the world
form communities with the aim to bring technological freedom,
transparency, knowledge and emancipation to everyone. Spread the word
[37] about the four freedoms and if possible, help others to exercise
their freedoms too.
Join our cause [38].
== 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!
Thanks to our community, all the volunteers [39], supporters [40] and
donors [41] who make our work possible. And thanks to our translators
[42], who enable you to read this newsletter in your mother tongue.
Your editor,
Erik Albers
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Help us grow and make a difference in 2018 [43]
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1: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20170315-01
2: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20170829-01
3: http://publiccode.eu/
4: http://savecodeshare.eu/
5: http://reuse.software/
6: https://fsfe.org/activities/ftf/legal-conference
7: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20171013-01
8: https://wiki.fsfe.org/TechDocs
9: https://github.com/freedomvote/freedomvote
10: https://fsfe.org/order/
11: https://fsfe.org/contribute/spreadtheword
12: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20171207-01
13: https://fsfe.org/join/nl2017-12
14: https://fsfe.org/httpsfsfeorgjoinnl201712
15: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20171130-01
16: http://savecodeshare.eu/
17: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20171206-01
18: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20171212-01
19: http://blogs.fsfe.org/polina/2017/12/13/fsfe-asks-to-include-software-into-…
20: http://publiccode.eu/
21: https://www.april.org/version-audio-francaise-de-la-video-argent-public-cod…
22: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20171116-01
23: https://k7r.eu/2-percent-discussion-free-software-or-open-source-software/
24: http://blog.jonasoberg.net/introducing-forms/
25: https://danielpocock.com/hacking-with-posters-and-stickers
26: http://blogs.fsfe.org/majestyx/2017/11/03/fsfe-berlin-goes-fiff-konferenz-2…
27: https://www.schiessle.org/articles/2017/11/14/software-freedom-in-the-cloud/
28: https://fsfe.org/associates/associates
29: https://openlabs.cc/en/
30: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20171211-01
31: https://fsfe.org/order/
32: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20171207-02
33: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20171114-01
34: https://events.ccc.de/congress/2017/wiki/index.php/Assembly:Free_Software_F…
35: https://fsfe.org/events/events
36: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20171207-01
37: https://fsfe.org/contribute/spreadtheword
38: http://fsfe.org/join
39: https://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute
40: http://fsfe.org/join
41: https://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus
42: https://fsfe.org/contribute/translators/translators
43: https://fsfe.org/httpsfsfeorgjoinnl201712