= FSFE elects new President and Vice President =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2015/news-20150922-01.en.html ]
Matthias Kirschner and Alessandro Rubini are FSFE's new President and
Vice President. They were elected last week in Bucharest during FSFE's
General Assembly, while Reinhard Müller was re-elected as Financial
Officer. They will serve FSFE in those positions for the upcoming two
years.
Matthias Kirschner is an FSFE employee since 2009. He started using
GNU/Linux in 1999 and realised that software is deeply involved in all
aspects of our lives. Matthias is convinced that this technology has to
empower society rather than restrict it. While studying Political and
Administrative Science he convinced the FSFE to accept him as the FSFE's
first intern in 2004. Since then he has been helping other
organisations, companies and governments to understand how they can
benefit from Free Software -- which gives everybody the rights to use,
study, share and improve software -- and how those rights help to
support freedom of speech, freedom of press, or privacy.
Matthias loves spending time with his baby son, and in his spare time
assists in wilderness first aid seminars, enjoys comics like XKCD and
Transmetropolitan, Monty Python, and Die Ärzte.
Alessandro Rubini is an electronic engineer and holds a Ph.D. in
computer science. He installed Linux 0.99.14, is an active Free Software
user and developer, and author of the book "Linux Device Drivers". After
his Ph.D. he left the university as he did not want to just write
articles. He now works as an independent consultant in the area of
industrial use of GNU/Linux, mainly on device drivers and embedded
system as well as on microcontrollers and PCB design. Recently he has
been working with CERN within the White Rabbit project, aimed at sub-
nanosecond synchronisation of I/O cards. He enjoys working with CERN, as
they have a policy to publish all their work as Free Software and Free
Hardware.
Alessandro was already a member of the Free Software Foundation Europe
from 2001 to 2006 and recently joined FSFE again. He felt that FSFE is
the right place to have positive and constructive discussions about Free
Software. Beside his volunteer engagement in FSFE and in other Free
Software organisations, he is an active boy scout, likes cycling, is
father of two children, and listens to white noise during work.
"I am happy to welcome both Matthias and Alessandro to their new
roles," says Executive Director Jonas Öberg, "both have been
instrumental in shaping the organisation into its current form and I
look forward to the expertise they will bring as we go about
empowering users to control technology."
== 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/
= "Freedomvote": 10 questions about digital freedom for the Swiss national election =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2015/news-20150916-01.en.html ]
In anticipation of the Swiss national parliament elections (Nationalrat-
/ Ständeratswahlen) on 18 October 2015, FSFE Switzerland starts the
„Freedomvote“[1] campaign today, in cooperation with the "Swiss Open
Systems User Group“ (/ch/open). The campaign offers an online portal
that lists those candidates who will run for election, and their opinion
towards Internet policy, Free Software, and open data formats.
The Freedomvote campaign aims to give voters guidance about the
candidates who are running for election. For many voters nowadays, it is
important what candidates think about aspects of Internet politics, such
as freedom and user rights in the digital age. However, many politicians
still try to avoid these topics. With its Freedomvote campaign, the FSFE
Switzerland wants to change that and bring Internet policy topics and
the use of Free Software into the political agenda. All candidates are
invited to answer diverse questions affecting digital user rights,
e-voting, net neutrality, open data, educational material, Free Software
and encryption. In addition, candidates are welcome to explicitly
explain their own position and provide answers to each question in a
free text field. Based on the answers of the candidates, voters who care
about digital rights, receive help to decide for whom they might vote
for. To get the best results, it is also possible to set up one's own
profile as a voter in order to match your distinct answers with those of
the candidates.
„To answer the ten questions, candidates can use our platform directly
themself and forward the answers via their party, or directly contact
us" says Simon Wächter from Freedomvote, "what we hope for is active
encouragement of candidates from all parties to our transparency
initiative. The more who participate, the more can the campaign help to
offer good guidance for the voters." FSFE Switzerland sends out
hundreds of mails and letters this week, to ask candidates for their
participation. You can help them by additionally asking the candidates
of your region about their participation, personally.
Besides the development and provision of Freedomvote by FSFE Switzerland
and /ch/open[2], the campaign is supported by various civil rights
organisations, such as Parldigi[3], Internet Society Switzerland
Chapter[4], Opendata.ch[5], Digitalle Allmend[6], and Willhelm Tux[7].
The underlying software of freedomvote.ch is self-developed and is
published as Free Software[8].
--
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://freedomvote.ch
2. http://ch-open.ch/
3. http://www.digitale-nachhaltigkeit.ch/
4. http://www.isoc.ch/
5. http://opendata.ch/
6. http://allmend.ch/
7. http://www.wilhelmtux.ch/
8. https://freie.software/adfinis-sygroup/freedomvote
== 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/