= Show your love for Free Software =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2014/news-20140211-01.en.html]
On 14th February, the Free Software Foundation Europe asks all Free
Software users to think about the dedicated hard-working people in the
Free Software community and to show them their appreciation like last
year[1].
"Every day, we use Free Software and often take it for granted. We
write bug reports, tell others how they should improve their
software, or ask them for new features. Often we are not shy about
criticising. So, to let the people in Free Software receive a
positive feedback once a year, there is the 'I love Free Software
day'." says FSFE's vice president Matthias Kirschner, who initiated
the #ilovefs campaign[2] in 2010.
For the "I love Free Software Day"[3] the FSFE has several suggestions
how to show your love creatively to the people behind Free Software,
including:
- Write an e-mail or letter to contributors expressing how much you like
what they are doing.
- Share your feelings about Free Software in social networks and
microblogs using #ilovefs[4]. Or write a blog post about your
favourite Free Software application.
- Buy your favourite contributor a drink. Or buy someone else a drink
and while enjoying it, tell her/him about your favourite Free Software
program.
- Give a contributor a hug (ask for permission first). You might wonder
how many Free Software developers live in your area!
- Help us collecting quotes for our testimonials of people loving Free
Software[5]. Ask developers, artists, politicians, or other users to
send their quote to fellowship fsfeurope.org.
- Take a picture of yourself showing your feelings for Free Software,
and post them online.
- Donate to Free Software initiatives[6] or to FSFE[7] to express your
gratitude. They depend on your contribution to continue their work. So
check out your favourite organisation and make a donation. You can be
sure they will love you back.
- Finally you can help spread the love by sharing the campaign
banners[8], by e-mail, (micro)blog or by spreading through any social
network (please use the hashtag #ilovefs for this).
"Free Software gains its strenghts by the community and the ability
to work together and join forces." says Matthias Kirschner. "We
should not underestimate the power of a simple "thank you" for
people who are easing our everyday work. So say thank you on 14th
February!"
1. http://fsfe.org/news/2013/news-20130221-01.en.html
2. http://ilovefs.org
3. http://ilovefs.org
4. https://twitter.com/search?q=%23ilovefs
5. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/ilovefs/whylovefs/whylovefs.en.html
6. https://wiki.fsfe.org/DonateToFreeSoftwareProjects
7. http://fsfe.org/donate/donate.en.html
8. http://fsfe.org/campaigns/ilovefs/artwork/artwork.en.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/
= Italy puts Free Software first in public sector =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2014/news-20140116-01.en.html]
The Italian government has made Free Software the default choice for
public administrations. In a document[1] published last Wednesday, the
Italian Digital Agency issued rules saying that all government
organisations in the country must consider using Free Software before
buying licenses for proprietary programs.
The document, titled "Guidelines on comparative evaluation [of
software]", sets out a detailed method which public bodies must follow
to decide which software to use. They are required to look for suitable
Free Software programs, or choose software developed by the public
sector. Only if no suitable programs of these types are available may
they consider acquiring non-free software.
"There is no excuse. All public administrations must opt for Free
Software or re-use whenever possible", says Carlo Piana, FSFE's General
Counsel, who participated in the committee that advised on the
guideline. "Now Free Software and re-use are the norm, proprietary
software the exception. This is the most advanced affirmative action in
Europe so far. I'm so proud that Italy leads the way, for once".
"This is a great example of a simple measure that governments everywhere
can take to gain control of their IT infrastructures", says Karsten
Gerloff, FSFE's President. "Free Software lets government agencies
reclaim their technological sovereignty, and helps them to make it
harder for foreign spies to access citizen's data and confidential
information. We encourage other countries in Europe and around the world
to take a close look and learn from Italy."
The document was authored by the Italian Digital Agency, which for the
first time implemented a consulting process involving representatives
from the public sector, the Free Software community, and proprietary
software makers.
Importantly, the new rules come with a mechanism to ensure they are
followed. Both public bodies and the interested public can ask the
Italian Digital Agency to check if a given organisation is following the
correct procedure. Administrative courts can annul decisions that
contradict these rules. In case of negligence, individual public
servants may be held personally liable.
1. http://www.digitpa.gov.it/notizie/riuso-valutazione-comparativa-online-circ…
== 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/
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2013/news-20131107-01.en.html ]
Rockstar, a consortium of companies formed to collect certain patents
put on sale in the dissolution procedure of Nortel, has sued[1] Google
and other companies over seven of those patents.
FSFE voiced serious concerns and warned[2] competition regulators
against exactly such a scenario in December 2011. Previously, the US
Department of Justice had imposed limits on another, similar
transaction: The buyers software company Novell's patent portfolio had
to accept limits on the things they could do with the those patents. In
particular, they were prevented from using them against Free Software.
But when Rockstar bought Nortel's patent, things were different.
Whatever promises, if any, the US competition regulators managed to
extract from the companies that make up Rockstar - Microsoft, Apple,
RIM, Ericsson, and Sony - are clearly ineffective. Rockstar's CEO is
even reported as publicly stating[3] that he does not feel bound by any
such commitments. The result is an entirely predictable lawsuit where a
proxy company is using generic, overbroad patents in order to harm a
competitor.
"Patents on software are a dangerous business risk at the best of
times," says Carlo Piana, FSFE's General Counsel. "In highly competitive
markets like the one for mobile devices, they are essentially a license
for privateering."
This case highlights the need for regulators to monitor patent
transactions tightly, and analyse their consequences carefully. Lawsuits
such as this strangle innovation and impose a private tax on productive
companies.
For further information, please contact Karsten Gerloff.
Email: gerloff [at] fsfeurope.org
Phone: +4917696904298
1. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/10/patent-war-goes-nuclear-microsof…
2. https://fsfe.org/campaigns/swpat/nortel.en.html
3. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/10/patent-war-goes-nuclear-microsof…
== 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/
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2013/news-20130927-01.en.html ]
It was 30 years ago that Richard Stallman announced the GNU project[1].
An initiative that started with a programmer's frustration over a broken
printer driver has changed our society. The idea of software that
everyone can use, study, share and improve has proven very powerful
indeed.
"Without the GNU project and the Free Software movement that it
inspired, our everyday lives - and the Internet - would be a very
different place right now," says Karsten Gerloff, President of the
Free Software Foundation Europe.
Free Software[2] puts the control of electronic devices where it
belongs: with the people who own them. Today, Free Software is
everywhere. It powers the Internet, our mobile phones, televisions,
cars, routers, and electronic devices of all sorts. Free Software has
fundamentally changed the way people create software: instead of
preventing people to adapt the software to their own needs, they invite
people to participate in the development.
"The GNU project has acted as the starting point of a movement that
makes sure we can control technology, and not technology controlling
us," says Matthias Kirschner, FSFE's head of Public Awareness.
The influence of the GNU project's approach to sharing knowledge goes
far beyond the GNU/Linux operating system, and extends beyond computer
programs. With the power of shared knowledge, Wikipedia has fast risen
to become the world's mainstream encyclopedia. Creative Commons licenses
let artists, musicians and authors use their work in ways ideally suited
to the digital age. Scientists and engineers rely on Free Software tools
to cure diseases and make everyone's life better. A generation of young
people is now coming of age for whom sharing knowledge is simply the
natural thing to do.
"We are grateful to Richard Stallman for sparking this epochal change,
and to everyone who has worked so hard to drive Free Software's
progress for three decades," says Gerloff. "Join our movement, support
our work[3], and help us met the challenges ahead."
1. http://gnu.org
2. http://fsfe.org/about/basics/freesoftware.en.html
3. http://fsfe.org/fellowship/join.en.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/
= FSFE Newsletter - August 2013 =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201308.html ]
== Proprietary companies ask European Commission to restrict business
models ==
Because Android is Free Software and gratis, the non-free software
competition cannot compete with it, therefore the market has less
alternatives, thus the consumer suffers from this lack of competition.
In a nutshell that is the argumentation of the so-called "Fair Search"
coalition. Essentially they are asking the European Commission to favour
a restrictive business model over a liberal one, which is exactly the
opposite of what competition regulators should do in order to achieve a
fair market.
Asking the European Commission to cripple Free Software in order to
allow proprietary vendors to sell their locked-down systems is absurd.
Therefore the FSFE has written a letter to the European Commission's
competition authorities to refute the claims[1], and make it clear that
Free Software is critical for a competitive IT market. In our letter we
ask the European Commission to dismiss the "FairSearch" coalition's
unfounded claims regarding predatory pricing, and not make them part of
whatever steps it decides to take. For further information: our legal
council Carlo Piana wrote a background article about this case[2].
== Election software: source code available but not Free Software ==
Estonia has used Internet voting for general elections since 2005. Local
activists have recently managed to convince Estonia's National Electoral
Committee (NEC) to release source code for some of the software under a
non-free licence, but this licence does not permit distribution of
derivative works or commercial use and therefore is non-free. Besides
"[i]mportant system components remain completely unknown to the general
public. One of those components is the client side voting application
that must be loaded and executed on the voter's computer," said Heiki
Ojasild, Fellowship representative in the FSFE's General Assembly in our
press release[3] accompanying our open letter to NEC regarding the
country's Internet voting system[4].
Similar in Norway: Paul Boddie reports about the Norwegian voting and
the illusion of "Open Source"[5], where the published software covers
only "testing, reviewing or evaluating the code", restricts commercial
purposes, and for a lot of things you need a "written approval" from the
vendors.
== NSA leaks motivates Free Software activists ==
For almost two decades the Free Software Foundations have been working
for a society where the power over technology is distributed. We work
for a world in which nobody can prevent others from learning how
computers work. A world in which programmers can work with each other
instead against each other. Nobody should be forced to use a certain
kind of software without being able to adjust it to her own needs
instead of adjusting herself to the software. Everybody should be able
to audit software, to understand what a program does exactly and what
happens to your data.
The Free Software movement wrote a lot of software which respects your
privacy, including encryption and anonymisation software. The FSFE
pushed for Open Standards to prevent monopolies by enabling different
software to work with each other. We promote decentralised systems, so
there is no single point in our infrastructure which has too much power
and which enables you to store the data in a trusted enviroment.
It seems the NSA leaks of the last weeks have strengthened the Free
Software community's will to continue fighting for our freedoms in a
digital society. More people are listening to Free Software programmers
and activists, more people demand Free Software solutions, more people
are using Free Software to protect their privacy, and more people
appreciate Free Software developer's work. E.g. Eva Galperin from EFF
said in her keynote at KDE's conference akademy[6]: "Help us Free
Software, you are our last and only hope". She asked Free Software
developers to build new products, and "save us"! And as you will see
below, the Free Software movement will continue to do so.
== Something completely different ==
- Privacy is a fundamental human right, and is central to maintaining
democratic societies. The FSFE joined more than 100 other
organisations in demanding that states respect human rights, and bring
their surveillance apparatus under democratic control.[7] More than
one year in the making, the demands are now more relevant than ever.
The FSFE also signed an Open Letter to stop surveillance[8], which
calls for twelve political steps including the development and
promotion of Free Software for digital self-defence.
- The FSFE commented on leaked documents[9] which show how Microsoft is
actively cooperating with the NSA.
- Together with the Open Rights Group we sent an open letter on
transparency to Martin Schulz, President of the European
Parliament[10]. Mr Schulz has recently been asked to produce a study
on transparency within the Parliament. In our letter we are offering
Mr Schulz our help in this effort and suggest several questions, e.g.
if the Parliament would be obliged to publish the source code of the
software it uses.
- News about Free Software in education are back: Guido Arnold
summarised what happened in the education sector[11] during April,
May, and June. He also summarised the relevant parts[12] of the UNESO
conference World Summit on an Information Society (WSIS+10).
- Ubuntu is aiming to raise $32 million in crowdfunding to produce
Ubuntu Edge, a mobile computer that can dual-boot between Android and
Ubuntu GNU/Linux. Our sister organisation[13] the FSF is asking the
crucial question: Will Ubuntu Edge commit to using only Free
Software?[14]. Paul Boddie, Fellow and maintainer of Fellowship
wiki[15], looked into the question if Ubuntu Edge is making things
even harder for open hardware?[16]
- Besides our sister organisation reports that the New Internationalist
adopted the DRM-free label[17] and over 50 others were added to the
DRM-free Guide.
- From the public administrations: Students and teachers at 160 high
schools in the Brussels Region have started to use Free Software[18]
like LibreOffice or Mozilla Thunderbird on PCs and tablets. Joinup
reports that France's ministry of Agriculture extensively uses Free
Software[19]: For instance in 2012 it spent 174,000 euro on support
for Free Software. Additionally news from France: Lucile wrote about
the Zombie Free Software provision[20] -- a Free Software law for
France's higher education -- and how to contact politicians.
- For those amongst you giving talks at conferences: LWN now offers a
handy calendar for call for papers[21].
- From the planet aggregation[22]:
- Former FSFE president Georg Greve wrote a tetralogy about the Post
PRISM society. He puts together what actually has been proven so
far[23], what that means for society[24], what the implications for
businesses around the world are[25], and takes a look at
governments[26]. He argues that any government should be able to
answer the following question: What is your policy on a sovereign
software supply and digital infrastructure? If that question cannot
be answered, he suggests it is time to get to work. And soon.
- FSFE's president Karsten Gerloff wrote about what you can do to
secure your communications[27], e.g. participating in politics,
- Werner Koch, author of GnuPG and FSFE GA member wrote about Gpg4win
and the feds[28], commenting on a CT article which mentions GnuPG
and claims that only a self compiled version is trustworthy.
- and Kevin Keijzer documented how he maintains his online
privacy[29].
- Anonymisation hobbyist Jens Lechtenboerger explains how he selects
Tor guard nodes under global surveillance[30], and also publishing
code how he analysed the situation.
- A proposal for a new encrypted mobile messaging app called Hemlis
received $125,000 in crowdfunding. It is good to see ambitious new
software projects get support from the community when they are Free
Software. Sam Tuke checks if this is really the case with
Hemlis[31].
- Viktor Horvath published the video from his talk at FOSDEM about
SlapOS[32] a decentralised Free Software plattform.
- Lucile wrote about several examples of interesting uses of
transparency policies[33], related to Free Software especially for
France.
- Should a person be bound by terms of use and contracts where that
person has been effectively coerced into accepting them? Other
questions about IT in universities are asked by Paul Boddie in
"Students: Beware of the Academic Cloud!"[34]
- News from Martin Gollowitzer's "Tracking for Freedom"[35] project:
he is now cycling with the pros.
- Mirko Böhm reports from his travel to Akademy and the Qt contributor
summit[36]. Together with Armijn Hemel he started a process to make
defensive publications a routine part of the Qt release process[37],
- and Free Software activities in Munich have intensified. Christof
Kalkhoff and the Munich group now bought a pavilion to be present at
more and more public events (German)[38].
== Get active: Help with Crypto parties! ==
Crypto parties are getting more popular. They also attract funding from
non-free software companies. One company offered money to crypto party
organisers if they also mention non-free software (German)[39]. Good
that a lot of FSFE's volunteers already support the organisers to help
people install encryption software, and educate participants about Free
Software.
In the Free Software community a lot of us understand how end-to-end
encryption works. At the moment a lot of people new to Free Software
want to use it themselves. If you have some time, either help some
friends, colleagues, or search for local crypto parties and show others
how to use GnuPG for e-mail encryption, OTR for encrypted chats, TOR to
anonymise your online behaviour or programs like Jitsi to have encrypted
audio and video communications.
Thanks to all the Fellows[40] and donors[41] who enable our work,
Matthias Kirschner - FSFE
--
Free Software Foundation Europe <http://fsfe.org>
FSFE News <http://fsfe.org/news/news.en.rss>
Upcoming FSFE Events <http://fsfe.org/events/events.en.rss>
Fellowship Blog Aggregation <http://planet.fsfe.org/en/rss20.xml>
Free Software Discussions <http://fsfe.org/contact/community.en.html>
1. http://fsfe.org/news/2013/news-20130729-01.en.html
2. http://piana.eu/android
3. http://fsfe.org/news/2013/news-20130730-01.en.html
4. http://fsfe.org/ee/i-voting/2013-07-26_Open_Letter_to_NEC.en.html
5. https://blogs.fsfe.org/pboddie/?p=291
6. https://lwn.net/Articles/559124
7. https://necessaryandproportionate.org/
8. http://www.stopsurveillance.org/?page_id=20
9. http://fsfe.org/news/2013/news-20130712-01.en.html
10. http://fsfe.org/activities/os/transparency-letter.en.html
11. https://blogs.fsfe.org/guido/2013/07/free-software-in-education-news-aprilm…
12. https://blogs.fsfe.org/guido/2013/06/1347/
13. http://fsfe.org/about/fsfnetwork.en.html
14. https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/will-ubuntu-edge-commit-to-using-only-f…
15. http://wiki.fsfe.org
16. https://blogs.fsfe.org/pboddie/?p=366
17. https://www.defectivebydesign.org/new-internationalist-drm-free-label-guide…
18. http://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/osor/news/open-source-tablets-and-pcs-…
19. http://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/osor/news/extensive-open-source-use-fr…
20. https://blogs.fsfe.org/lucile.falg/2013/06/28/zombie-free-software-provisio…
21. https://lwn.net/Calendar/Monthly/cfp/2013-08/
22. http://planet.fsfe.org
23. https://blogs.fsfe.org/greve/?p=553
24. https://blogs.fsfe.org/greve/?p=568
25. https://blogs.fsfe.org/greve/?p=573
26. https://blogs.fsfe.org/greve/?p=586
27. https://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2013/07/01/some-things-you-can-do-to-secure-…
28. http://rem.eifzilla.de/archives/2013/07/16/gpg4win-and-the-feds
29. https://blogs.fsfe.org/the_unconventional/2013/06/29/more-work-to-maintain-…
30. https://blogs.fsfe.org/jens.lechtenboerger/2013/07/19/how-i-select-tor-guar…
31. https://blogs.fsfe.org/samtuke/?p=564
32. https://blogs.fsfe.org/viktor/archives/62
33. https://blogs.fsfe.org/lucile.falg/2013/07/19/clear-answers-demanded
34. https://blogs.fsfe.org/pboddie/?p=197
35. https://blogs.fsfe.org/gollo/2013/07/06/tracking-for-freedom-cycling-with-t…
36. http://creative-destruction.me/2013/07/10/kde-akademy-and-qt-contributor-su…
37. http://creative-destruction.me/2013/07/16/qt-project-and-defensive-publicat…
38. http://www.softmetz.de/2013/07/16/bericht-vom-treffen-der-muenchner-fsfe-fe…
39. http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/netzpolitik/hacker-lehnen-teletrustt-sponsor…
40. http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join
41. http://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus.en.html
= Open Letter on Freedom and Internet Voting to Estonia's National
Electoral Committee =
[Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2013/news-20130730-01.en.html ]
FSFE has sent an open letter[1] to Estonia's National Electoral
Committee (NEC) regarding the country's Internet voting system. We ask
the NEC to release the software used in the election process as Free
Software[2].
"Our aim is to safeguard the freedom and privacy of Estonia's
citizens, and to improve the security of the election process," says
Karsten Gerloff, FSFE's President.
Estonia has used Internet voting for general elections since 2005.
Unfortunately, the system's technology remains proprietary. Local
activists have recently managed to convince the NEC to release source
code for some of the software under a non-free licence, but this licence
does not permit distribution of derivative works or commercial use.
These arbitrary restrictions on software developed with public funds
hinder security research.
"Important system components remain completely unknown to the general
public. One of those components is the client side voting application
that must be loaded and executed on the voter's computer," says Heiki
Ojasild, Fellowship representative in FSFE's General Assembly. "There
is no guarantee that this widely distributed[3] black box functions
according to voters' expectations, or that it will respect their
privacy or will."
Due to the unavailability of the source code and the fact that the
client side voting application is not built on Open Standards[4], the
voter is also forced to use one of the operating systems supported by
the National Electoral Committee.
FSFE has drawn the NEC's attention to these remaining problems and
possible solutions. FSFE has offered the NEC its assistance and is
looking forward to helping them ensure that freedom, privacy, and
credibility of the elections are not forsaken in the pursuit of
technological progress.
1. http://fsfe.org/ee/i-voting/2013-07-26_Open_Letter_to_NEC.en.html
2. http://fsfe.org/about/basics/freesoftware.en.html
3. http://vvk.ee/voting-methods-in-estonia/engindex/statistics/
4. https://fsfe.org/activities/os/def.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/
= FSFE objects to claims of 'predatory pricing' in Free Software =
[Read online: http://fsfe.org/news/2013/news-20130729-01.en.html ]
In a recent antitrust submission to the European Commission, a
Microsoft-led coalition falsely claimed that the distribution of Free
Software free of charge hurts competition. FSFE has written[1] a letter
to the European Commission's competition authorities to refute this
claim, and make it clear that Free Software is critical for an open,
competitive IT market.
In its letter, FSFE urges the Commission to consider the facts properly
before accepting these allegations at face value. "Free Software is a
boon for humankind. The only thing that it is dangerous to is
Microsoft's hopelessly outdated, restrictive business model," says
Karsten Gerloff, FSFE's president.
The so-called "FairSearch" coalition is essentially asking the European
Commission to favour a restrictive business model over a liberal one.
This is exactly the opposite of what competition regulators should do in
order to achieve a fair and open market.
"Free Software is not about price, it's about liberty, a guarantee of
competition and vendor independence. Asking to cripple Free Software in
order to allow proprietary vendors to sell their locked-down systems is
just abusurd" says Carlo Piana, FSFE's General Counsel. "The most
substantial threat to competition in the mobile space today are software
patents, and we have repeatedly urged antitrust authorities to address
this problem," he adds.
FSFE asks the European Commission to dismiss the "FairSearch"
coalition's unfounded claims regarding predatory pricing, and not make
them part of whatever steps it decides to take in response to the
group's filing.
1. http://fsfe.org/activities/policy/eu/20130729.EC.Fairsearch.letter.en.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/
= Open Letter on transparency to President of the European Parliament =
[Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2013/news-20130716-01.en.html ]
Free Software Foundation Europe and Open Rights Group[1] have sent an
open letter[2] [pdf][3] to the President of the European Parliament,
Martin Schulz. Mr Schulz has recently been asked[4] [pdf] to produce a
study on transparency within the Parliament.
- In their letter, the civil society groups are offering Mr Schulz their
help in this effort. They are also suggesting a number of questions
that should be considered in the report on transparency, such as As
the Parliament is held to a standard of "utmost transparency", would
it be obliged to make public the source code of the software it uses?
- How can the Parliament use Free Software and Open Standards to make
sure that citizens have full and unfettered access to all documents
produced by the Parliament?
- What can the Parliament do to make videos of its proceedings available
to citizens without requiring them to install non-free software?
- Does the requirement for "utmost transparency" also cover the
Parliament's procurement of software?
"We appreciate the Parliament's commitment to transparency," says
Karsten Gerloff, FSFE's President. "It is essential for democracy in
Europe that citizens have the fullest possible access to parliamentary
proceedings, and to the tools which the Parliament uses to make the
laws that govern us all."
Open Rights Group and FSFE look forward to assisting the European
Parliament in the preparation of the transparency study.
1. http://www.openrightsgroup.org/
2. http://fsfe.org/activities/os/transparency-letter
3. http://download.fsfe.org/letters/20130716.Letter.Schulz.pdf
4. http://epfsug.eu/wws/arc/epfsug/2013-07/msg00041/Letter_President_Schulz_Fr…
== 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/