= EU to fund Free Software code review =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2014/news-20141219-01.fi.html ]
The European Parliament has approved funding for several projects
related to Free Software and privacy. In the EU budget for 2015[1],
which the European Parliament adopted[2] on December 17, the
Parliamentarians have allocated up to one million Euro for a project to
audit Free Software programs in use at the Commission and the Parliament
in order to identify and fix security vulnerabilities.
Even though these institutions are tightly locked into non-free file
formats, much of their infrastructure is based on Free Software.
“This is a very welcome decision,” says FSFE's president Karsten
Gerloff. “Like most public bodies, the European institutions rely
heavily on Free Software for their daily operations. It is good to
see that the Parliament and the Commission will invest at least a
little in improving the quality and the programs they use.”
The European Commission's Directorate General for Informatics (DIGIT)
will be in charge of implementing the pilot. FSFE urges the Commission
to work closely with upstream developers. The EC should make the audit
results public as soon as possible, and contribute any improvements it
makes to the upstream projects.
The budget further lists a project to encrypt communications among the
EU institutions, funded with EUR 500,000; and a pilot that uses Free
Software and Open Standards to help civil society actors participate in
lawmaking, by improving AT4AM, the software that MEPs use for drafting
legislation, which the Parliament published as Free Software in 2013[3].
Another project is intended to enable the European Commission to make
unclassified documents publicly available by default.
“Taken together, these projects are a first step towards more
transparent policy making in Europe,” says Gerloff. “We will
continue to work with the Commission and the Parliament to help them
along the path of engaging more consistently and effectively with
the Free Software community.”
Media contact:
Karsten Gerloff
Mail: gerloff fsfe.org
tel.: +49 176 9690 4298
--
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1. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/budget/data/DB2/2015/en/SEC03.pdf
2. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/content/20141027STO76315/ht…
3. http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2012/07/18/helping-the-european-parliament-to…
== 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/
= Protect your privacy - Help GnuPG hire a second developer! =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2014/news-20141217-01.fi.html ]
GnuPG is the world's leading privacy tool, with an estimated base of
more than four million active users world-wide, and a thousand new users
each day. It guards emails, files, and programs from snooping and spying
on Windows, Mac, and GNU/Linux. This crucial program needs your help to
keep going in 2015 and beyond.
Ongoing government spying revelations have shown how little of our
information is really safe. GnuPG is one of the few tools that can offer
real protection. Edward Snowden used it to encrypt his communications
with journalists. All companies and individuals running Free Software
systems use it to protect their software against manipulation -
sometimes without even knowing about it. Credit card data and backups
are routinely encrypted through GnuPG, and the program will be needed
for many years in the future to restore that data.
GnuPG this is free of charge for all those people around the world, but
it costs money to develop and maintain. For more than a decade, g10 code
GmbH, the company owned and headed by GnuPG's principal author Werner
Koch, has been bearing the majority of these costs. The company is
seeking EUR 120,000 to carry on its work on GnuPG in 2015.
With this money, the company will:
- hire a second developer to work on GnuPG
- maintain the GnuPG software and documentation
- put this vital bit of our privacy infrastructure on a more solid
organisational footing, so that it will remain viable in the long
term.
There are no fancy fundraising videos or goodies. Every cent of your
donation will directly support the future development of GnuPG. Donors
will be listed on the GnuPG website and in the next GnuPG release,
unless they choose to remain anonymous.
You can directly donate to the GnuPG project through this page:
https://gnupg.org/donate/[1]
If you can benefit from a donation receipt by a Germany charity you may
donate to the GnuPG account at the WAU Holland Stiftung:
https://www.wauland.de/en/donation.html#61[2]
Wau Holland Stiftung
Commerzbank Kassel
Königsplatz 32-34
34117 Kassel / Germany
IBAN: DE89 5204 0021 0277 2812 06
BIC: COBADEFF520 or COBADEFFXXX
Stichwort: GnuPG
Bitcoin: 12LKeo24XCzgz6ASSxcUa8BvUfzkEyCpGq
The Wau Holland Stiftung will use the money raised to pay for
development work on GnuPG and Enigmail.
In a blog post, Werner Koch has provided an overview of GnuPG's costs
and revenues over the years:
https://www.gnupg.org/blog/20141214-gnupg-and-g10.html[3]
Media contact:
- Werner Koch, primary GnuPG developer, g10 code: Email: wk AT g10code
DOT org Phone: +49-2104-173855
- Karsten Gerloff, President, Free Software Foundation Europe: Email:
gerloff AT fsfe DOT org Phone: +49 176 9690 4298
- Bernd Fix, Wau Holland Stiftung: Email: bf AT wauland DOT de
About Wau Holland Stiftung:
WHS is a foundation related to the Chaos Computer Club, that was
launched by the father and close friends of the late "information
philosopher" Wau Holland (a.k.a. Herwart Holland-Moritz) to promote and
pursue his unique freethinking in relation to freedom of communication
and informational self-determination.
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <https://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <https://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <https://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
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Free Software Discussions <https://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
1. https://gnupg.org/donate/
2. https://www.wauland.de/en/donation.html#61
3. https://www.gnupg.org/blog/20141214-gnupg-and-g10.html
== 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/
= Study: To ensure transparency, European Parliament must adopt Free Software, Open Standards =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2014/news-20141212-01.fi.html ]
A study relesead on Friday says that the European Parliament must adopt
Free Software and Open Standards[1] in order to fulfil its transparency
obligations. The authors conclude that "the Rules of Procedure of the
European Parliament should whenever possible make Free Software and Open
Standards mandatory for all systems and data used for the work of
Parliament."
The study, entitled "Ensuring utmost transparency -- Free Software and
Open Standards under the Rules of Procedure of the European
Parliament"[2], was prepared by two legal experts for the Greens/EFA[3]
in the European Parliament. Its authors, the legal experts Carlo Piana
(Italy) and Ulf Öberg (Sweden), argue that the Parliament is committed
to an even higher standard of openness than other EU institutions.
"This study sends a strong signal that Free Software and Open
Standards are essential for the European institutions to fulfil
their transparency obligations," says FSFE's president Karsten
Gerloff. "We call on the European Parliament to implement the
study's recommendations at all levels, and as quickly as possible,
in particular with regard to access and use of documents, email and
encryption, video streaming, and upcoming procurement decisions."
The study lists a number of concrete steps the European Parliament needs
to take in order to fulfil its transparency obligations:
- Immediate technical measures includes to enable access and use of
documents, email and encryption with and through Open Standards. In
other words, the European Parliament must make it possible to work
with ODF, IMAP and OpenPGP inside the Parliament. It must also ensure
that citizens can use these open standards to communicate with the
Parliament, regardless of the software platform they are using.
- When acquiring software and services, the European Parliament should
prefer Free Software based on Open Standards. This is not only allowed
by the EU's procurement rules, but actually "serves the general
economic interest of the EU".
- The European Parliament should continously check that its IT
infrastructure and services comply with the Constitutional Principle
of Openness and the Parliament's own Rules of Procedure to ensure the
utmost transparency.
FSFE and others have repeatedly criticised the Parliament for failing on
transparency. Currently, MEPs and parliamentary staff do not have access
to a standards-compliant email solution, and live video streams from the
Parliament are not accessible for Free Software users.
"The Parliament needs to open itself to the world," says Gerloff.
"Live video streams that allow all Europeans to follow the
Parliament's work are essential to democracy in the 21st century.
Encryption is a necessity to allow the citizens to talk to their
MEPs in confidence. Utmost transparency is one of the EU's
fundamental principles, and Europeans expect their Parliament to do
better in this regard."
The Greens/EFA are soliciting feedback[4] for a second edition of the
study.
Media contact:
Karsten Gerloff
Mail: gerloff fsfe.org
tel.: +49 176 9690 4298
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <https://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <https://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <https://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <https://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <https://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
1. https://fsfe.org/activities/os/def.en.html
2. http://www.greens-efa.eu/fileadmin/dam/Documents/Studies/Ensuring-Utmost-Tr…
3. http://www.greens-efa.eu/free-software-and-open-standards-in-the-european-p…
4. http://euwiki.org/Ensuring_utmost_transparency_--_Free_Software_and_Open_St…
== 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/
= Get secure with a smartcard and support FSFE’s work in 2015 =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2014/news-20141203-01.fi.html ]
Free Software Foundation Europe is a pan-European charity, established
in 2001 to empower users to control technology. To enable the
organisation to intensify its work with the European Commission and to
let more people know about Free Software, the FSFE needs another
€190,000 for its work in 2015. Next year, the FSFE will push harder than
ever to weave software freedom into the fabric of our society.
The new European Commission is currently setting the direction of its
policy making for the coming five years. The FSFE is in frequent contact
with Commission staff who currently see open doors for Free Software in
Brussels. In 2015, the FSFE wants to use this momentum to push for
changes on software procurement, standardisation, and device
sovereignty, and create real progress for Free Software and Open
Standards.
At the same time, in 2015 the FSFE will reach out to more people, and go
to more places where people do not yet know about Free Software. The
FSFE will expand its network of local groups throughout Europe. The
organisation is constantly translating its increasingly popular
promotion materials[1] into many European languages. Local volunteers
can spread the word about Free Software by ordering gratis promotion
packs, and distributing the materials at libraries, cinemas, shops and
in other places, greatly extending the reach of the Free Software
message.
The best way to support the FSFE's work is to[2] become a Fellow (a
sustaining member of the FSFE). All Fellowship contributions directly
benefit the FSFE’s work towards a free society. Fellows receive a state-
of-the-art Fellowship smartcard[3] which, together with the free GnuPG
encryption software and a card reader, can be used to sign and encrypt
e-mails, to secure SSH keys, to securely log into a computer from a
potentially insecure machine, or to store the user’s hard disk
encryption keys. Since the encryption key is stored on the card itself,
it is almost impossible to steal.
There is also the option to make a one time donation to the FSFE[4].
To continue its work in 2015, the FSFE will need €420,000 in total. The
organisation has already secured €230,000 thanks to existing sustaining
members, regular donations, and merchandise sales. The FSFE requires
another €190,000 to underwrite its work in 2015.
- Karsten Gerloff's blog entry about the FSFE's work in the last 12
months[5]
1. https://fsfe.org/contribute/spreadtheword.fi.html#promo-material
2. https://fsfe.org/join/join.fi.html
3. https://fsfe.org/fellowship/card.fi.html
4. https://fsfe.org/donate/onetime-donation.fi.html
5. http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2014/12/01/preview-what-fsfe-did-in-2014/
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology. Software controlled technology is deeply involved
in all aspects of our lives; and it is important that this technology
empowers rather than restricts us. Free Software gives everybody the
right to use, understand, adapt and share software. These rights help
support other fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and
privacy. (http://fsfe.org)