Press-release-fi November 2012

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Finnish activist, Danish hacker share Nordic Free Software Award 2012
by press＠fsfeurope.org 12 Nov '12

12 Nov '12

= Finnish activist, Danish hacker share Nordic Free Software Award 2012 = [Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20121112-01.html ] Finnish Free Software activist Otto Kekäläinen and Danish hacker Ole Tange are the recipients of the 2012 Nordic Free Software Award. With the Nordic Free Software award, given out for the 6th time this year, the Swedish Association for Free Software and Free Culture (FFKP, Föreningen Fri Kultur och Programvara)[1]honours people and projects who have made important contributions to software freedom. 1. http://ffkp.se This year, the awards committee decided to honour two people who have worked long and hard to promote Free Software in Finland and Denmark. Otto Kekäläinen is a Free Software campaigner based in Tampere, Finland. As the coordinator of FSFE's Finnish country team, he leads the organisations campaigning and advocacy work in Finland. He is educating Finland's public bodies on correct practices in software procurement, and has spearheaded the Free Software community's criticism of Helsinki's city government for hesitating to adopt Free Software. As the project lead for the VALO-CD project[2], which publishes a collection of Free Software for Windows, he has introduced many users of this platform to programs that they can use, study, share and improve. 2. http://www.valo-cd.net "Ole is director of IT-Politisk Forening[3], a non-governmental organisation that has succeeded in bringing Free Software to Denmark's public sector in Denmark. A long-time Free Software developer, he is most recently working on the GNU Parallel project. Ole played an important role in the fights against software patents, creating campaign ideas such as the original"Patented Webshop"[4]. 3. http://www.itpol.dk 4. http://ole.tange.dk/swpat "Otto embodies a rare and precious combination of talents: Deep knowledge of technology, a passion for Free Software, and a knack for campaigning" says Karsten Gerloff, President of the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE)[5]. "Energetic, patient and extremely persistent, he is really taking software freedom forward in Finland." . 5. http://fsfe.org "Ole's enthusiasm and commitment has been an inspiration to everyone. We are proud and eternally gratefulto be able to award him this prestigious price for advancing Free Software in the Nordic countries," says Jonas Öberg, Executive Director of the Swedish Association for Free Software and Free Culture. Previous recipients of the award include software patent campaigner Erik Josefsson (2011), Icelandic software developer Bjarni Runar Einarsson (2010), Swedish hackers Simon Josefsson and Daniel Stenberg (2009), Swedish IT strategist Mats Östling (2008) and the SkoleLinux project (2007). == 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/

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FSFE Newsletter - November 2012
by press＠fsfeurope.org 05 Nov '12

05 Nov '12

*Varoitus:*Tätä sivua ei ole vielä käännetty. Alla näet sivun alkuperäisen version. Lisätietoja käännösten tekemiseen osallistumisesta ja muusta tältä sivulta[1]. 1. http://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.fi.html?pk_campaign=enewsletter&pk_kw… = FSFE Newsletter - November 2012 = [Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201211.fi.html?pk_campaign=enewsletter&pk_kwd=20… ] == Rooting and flashing your device does not void the warranty in EU == Most of the participants in our Free Your Android[2]workshops are concerned whether rooting your device (e.g. an Android phone) and replacing its operating system with something else voids your statutory warranty as consumer. We asked our legal coordinator Matija Šuklje and FSFE legal council Carlo Piana to analyse the problem. Their answer is: No.[3]"Just the fact that you modified or changed the software of your device, is not a sufficient reason to void your statutory warranty. As long as you have bought the device as a consumer in the European Union." Read throughout their analysis[4]. 2. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/android/android.fi.html?pk_campaign=enewsletter&p… 3. http://matija.suklje.name/rooting-and-flashing-your-device-does-not-void-th… 4. http://matija.suklje.name/rooting-and-flashing-your-device-does-not-void-th… We hope these news will encourage people to flash their devices with Free Software. Next opportunity to attend on of our Free Your Android workshop is on the 9th of November at FSCONS[5], in Sweden, and on the 16th of November at SFSCON[6], in Italy. 5. http://fsfe.org/events/2012/fscons-2012.fi.html?pk_campaign=enewsletter&pk_… 6. https://2012.sfscon.it/en/program == Facts about software patents by the New York Times == The New York Times published an article entitled"The Patent, Used as a Sword"[7]about the patent system. Hugo Roy summaries it[8]. It is about how Apple and Google were spending more on patents than on research and development in 2011. Among other issues, it focuses on the number of lawsuits filed each year in the US, which has tripled from 1990 to 2010, and how 70% of patent applications are approved after the applicant altered claims. 7. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/08/technology/patent-wars-among-tech-giants… 8. http://blog.hugoroy.eu/2012/10/10/some-facts-about-the-us-patent-system/ On the same topic, Karsten Gerloff gave a talk about "How Software Patents Are Delaying The Future"[9], on a discussion panel organised by the European Patent Office. "Currently, a lot of policy on patents (as well as copyright) is made on the basis of faith and rather dubious argument. We urgently need to move on towards evidence-based policy making", concludes Karsten. 9. https://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2012/09/27/epo-debate-how-software-patents-a… == Something completely different == - FSFE will have a track focused on general purpose computing at FSCONS[10]in Gothenburg from 9th to 11th November. Karsten Gerloff will talk about software patents[11], Erik Albers about the Free Your Android campaign[12], Sam Tuke will give a preview about a new campaign FSFE will launch soon, and your editor gives a general overview about general purpose computing. In other tracks, Otto Kekäläinen gives two talks, one about"Dirty tactics against LibreOffice in public administration and how to overcome them"[13]and another about "How to fix public procurement"; and Hugo Roy will present his project"Terms of Services; Didn't Read"[14]. And there are other interesting talks[15]. - Chris Woolfrey interviewed Hugo Roy[16], FSFE's French Team coordinator and co-founder of the Digital Freedoms association[17]. He joined FSFE in 2009 as an intern, assisting FSFE president Karsten Gerloff. In France, Hugo is also active with April[18]and the French Data Network[19]. - Last month your editor visited Benjamin Mako Hill, John Sullivan, Richard Stallman, and the FSF office staff[20]in Boston. There was a lot happening at our sister organisation: They opened nominations[21]for the 15th Annual Free Software Awards; they crashed the Microsoft Windows 8 launch event[22]in New York City with a cheerful GNU; Libby Reinish wrote about the Ada Lovelace Day[23], a day to celebrate women's contributions to science and technology; the LulzBot AO-100 3D Printer was awarded the first "Respects Your Freedom" (RYF) certification[24]; and Donald Robertson published a presentation from Jeremy Allison[25]explaining why Samba chose the GNU GPL version 3. - A study from Carlo Daffara[26]concluded that Free Software is contributing 450 billion Euro per year to Europe's economy. You are contributing to it! - The European Commission's joinup portal is listing different national and regional Free Software repositories[27]. - From our Fellowship planet aggregation[28]: - Thomas Løcke wrote about the GNU MediaGoblin[29]crowdsourcing campaign. Its goal is to improve posting, sharing and commenting on media, with Free Software and with keeping more control of your data. Oskar Welzl also donated to GNU Media Goblin[30], as he wants to have an alternative to Flickr and YouTube. - Ana is destroying some myths surrounding Free Software[31]. She also wrote about the"Social media and the concept of 'freedom'"[32]and her experiences from changing keyboard layouts[33]after setting up an encrypted hard disk. In general she concludes "My computer is working better and I am starting to understand software a bit better". - Karl Beecher reports, that in 1974 Arthur C. Clarke predicted[34]in a video that by 2001 we will all have small computers that can fit on a desk in our own home, and they will even be inter-connected with other computers across the world. (While watching your editor noticed how picky he is about fan noise.) - Erik explained why you should become a supporter of FSFE[35]. Currently, we have 1233 supporters[36], and if the growth continues at the same pace, we will have 5733 in a year. Thanks also to all of you promoting the supporter, like Lionel Montrieux[37], Oskar Wenzel[38], and others. - Interested in tablets and phones? Henri looks into how to be productive with them[39]. Our Finnish Fellows describe how to install the Meego offspring Mer and Nemo on ExoPC tablet (WeTab)[40]and Timo wrote about the Bavarian phone OpenPhoenux GTA04[41]and how to hack on it[42]. - Sam Tuke described how to install static website generator webgen[43](which we use for pdfreaders.org[44]), and how to install the Android Emulator in Fedora 17[45], that lets you to test applications without having an Android phone. - Do you want to know why Telepathy is awesome? Read Daniele Domenichelli's blog post[46]. Also, and related to KDE, Torsten Grote explains how to build Kontact on Debian Sid[47]. In fact, KDE became 16 last month. Congrats and thanks to all Free Software hackers in KDE! Continue being awesome. - Our legal coordinator Matija is learning to program Python[48]and he announced[49]to work one day a week from Cyberpipe, Slovenian's biggest hacklab. 10. http://fsfe.org/events/2012/fscons-2012.fi.html?pk_campaign=enewsletter&pk_… 11. https://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2012/09/27/epo-debate-how-software-patents-a… 12. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/android/android.fi.html?pk_campaign=enewsletter&p… 13. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20121022-01.fi.html?pk_campaign=enewsletter&… 14. http://tos-dr.info/ 15. https://fscons.org/2012/schedule/ 16. http://blogs.fsfe.org/fellowship-interviews/?p=628&pk_campaign=enewsletter&… 17. http://www.libertesnumeriques.net/ 18. http://www.april.org/ 19. http://www.fdn.fr/ 20. https://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=1017&pk_campaign=enewsletter&pk_kwd=201211 21. https://www.fsf.org/news/the-free-software-foundation-opens-nominations-for… 22. http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnus-trick-or-treat-at-windows-8-launch 23. https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/happy-ada-lovelace-day 24. https://www.fsf.org/news/hardware-certification-aleph-objects-lulzbot-3d-pr… 25. https://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/jeremy-allison-on-why-samba-switched-to… 26. https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/news/contribution-open-source-europes-economy-4… 27. https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/software/federated_forge 28. http://planet.fsfe.org?pk_campaign=enewsletter&pk_kwd=201211 29. https://blogs.fsfe.org/thomaslocke/2012/10/28/mediagoblin-an-emerging-free-… 30. http://oskar.twoday.net/STORIES/169431527/ 31. http://blogs.fsfe.org/anaghz/2012/10/29/a-run-for-fs-i-destroying-the-myths… 32. https://blogs.fsfe.org/anaghz/2012/10/04/social-media-and-the-concept-of-fr… 33. https://blogs.fsfe.org/anaghz/2012/09/26/free-sotfware-baptism-of-fire/?pk_… 34. http://computerfloss.com/2012/10/arthur-c-clarke-predicting-computing-in-20… 35. https://blogs.fsfe.org/eal/2012/10/12/why-become-a-supporter-of-fsfe/?pk_ca… 36. https://fsfe.org/support/stats?pk_campaign=enewsletter&pk_kwd=201211 37. http://lionel.montrieux.eu/2012/09/26/become-a-supporter-of-fsfe/ 38. http://oskar.twoday.net/stories/156263488/ 39. http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/tablet-productivity 40. http://seravo.fi/2012/10/trying-out-meego-offspring-mer-and-nemo-on-exopc-w… 41. http://losca.blogspot.de/2012/10/openphoenux-gta04.html 42. http://losca.blogspot.de/2012/10/uds-gta04-hacking.html 43. http://blogs.fsfe.org/samtuke/?p=420&pk_campaign=enewsletter&pk_kwd=201211 44. http://pdfreaders.org 45. https://blogs.fsfe.org/samtuke/?p=428&pk_campaign=enewsletter&pk_kwd=201211 46. https://blogs.fsfe.org/drdanz/?p=747&pk_campaign=enewsletter&pk_kwd=201211 47. https://blogs.fsfe.org/torsten.grote/2012/10/03/compiling-kde-kontact-from-… 48. http://matija.suklje.name/understanding-how-python-counts 49. http://matija.suklje.name/fsfe-legal-office-hours-in-cyberpipe == Get active: Every buck, fixes a bug! == A lot of you already signed our Petition For The Removal Of Proprietary Software Advertising On Public Institution Websites[50], and now we ask you for your support to enhance this campaign. 50. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/petition.fi.html?pk_campaign=enewslett… With the example of PDF readers we raised general awareness of proprietary software advertisements on public administration's websites since September 2010. Until today our Petition was signed by 80 organisations, 58 businesses and 2438 individuals. We contacted 2104 public administrations, and managed to close 552 bugs (26%). So 552 federal government departments, municipalities, and other administrations removed the advertisement, or added additional references to Free Software PDF readers. And we will continue fixing the remaining bugs. Just last month twenty Italian civil society organisations wrote a letter[51]to the President of the Authority for the Protection of Personal Data, asking the agency to ensure that all documents published on its website can be read and used with Free Software programs. 51. http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120921-01.fi.html?pk_campaign=enewsletter&… However, we also received a lot of feedback from the public administration and other institutions and political entities. One big task is to improve the PDF readers website, as it is one of our key tools in this campaign. With your donation, we will be able to implement the planned new features for the website until the 1st of February and after it, for its maintenance. Please donate on the fundraising page[52], which uses Ulule platform, and spread the news about it. 52. http://www.ulule.com/pdfreaders/ Thanks to all the Fellows[53]and donors[54]who enable our work, 53. http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join?pk_campaign=enewsletter&pk_kwd=201211 54. donate/thankgnus.fi.html Matthias Kirschner- FSFE -- Free Software Foundation Europe <http://fsfe.org> FSFE News <http://fsfe.org/news/news.fi.rss?pk_campaign=enewsletter&pk_kwd=201211> Upcoming FSFE Events <http://fsfe.org/events/events.fi.rss?pk_campaign=e newsletter&pk_kwd=201211> Fellowship Blog Aggregation <http://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml?pk_camp aign=enewsletter&pk_kwd=201211> Free Software Discussions <http://fsfe.org/contact/community.fi.html?pk_ campaign=enewsletter&pk_kwd=201211>

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Press-release-fi November 2012