This mail has been automatically generated. Normally, you will only
receive it once a year and/or after the autorespond message has been
changed.
If you get this reply, it means that your mail has reached my computer
where it is sitting for me to fetch it. Travelling all over the world,
I usually get my mail at least once every 24hrs, although at times it
may take longer than that. Given the amount of mail received, it
easily takes me up to 48hrs to reply to mail at times.
So if you don't receive a reply within 72hrs, I apologize for the
inconvenience, but there is no need to worry.
In case your request is generally related to the FSF Europe and/or
paperwork issues, please consider contacting
office(a)fsfeurope.org
Should you wish to arrange a speech, finalize travel details or are in
need of some sort of paperwork, you should resend your message to
greve-assist(a)fsfeurope.org
and include both greve(a)fsfeurope.org and greve-assist(a)fsfeurope.org in
all future communication on this topic.
In case of emergencies, both
greve-assist(a)fsfeurope.org
office(a)fsfeurope.org
can be of assistance, so can
Jonas Öberg <oberg(a)fsfeurope.org>
the vice-president of the FSF Europe.
For further contact information, please see http://fsfeurope.org/contact/
Regards,
Georg Greve
FSF Europe http://fsfeurope.org
GNU Project http://www.gnu.org
Brave GNU World http://brave-gnu-world.org
Please support our work at the FSFE http://fsfeurope.org/help/
-- press release --
-- for immediate release--
Essen/Wien, Wednesday March 24th, 2004
FSFE welcomes three new members from Austria
(Essen/Wien) Three Free Software activists from Austria join Free
Software Foundation Europe (FSFE).
After years of successful cooperation through their membership in the
"Verein zur Förderung Freier Software" (FFS), Austria's associate
organization of the FSF Europe, Georg Jakob, Karin Kosina and Reinhard
Müller have now officially joined the ranks of the FSFE.
"Joining the FSF Europe was a logical and important step, something
the FFS has been aiming to build capacity for from its first days,"
says Georg Jakob, current president of the FFS. "Being part of the
European Union, Austria is not only strongly influenced by European
politics, we also feel this is the right step as we've always seen
ourselves as Europeans as well as Austrians."
"The most important threats we are currently facing, such as software
patents, cannot be dealt with on a national scale alone. European
cooperation is necessary. We are confident that this cooperation,
which has proved its effectiveness many times already, will increase
even more through the integration of Austrian representatives into
the FSF Europe core team," Karin Kosina continues.
"Working together across language, cultural and political barriers is
sometimes a very challenging task, but also one that is very
rewarding," says Georg Greve, president of the FSF Europe. "Seeing
the network grow is both exciting and promising. We hope that others
will also feel the desire to build cooperation across all borders and
get active within the FSF Europe."
Having seen a constantly growing group of permanent and occasional
volunteers, this brings the amount of fully represented countries in
the FSF Europe up to five, with more to be expected.
About the Free Software Foundation Europe
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSF Europe) is a charitable
non-governmental organization dedicated to all aspects of Free
Software in Europe. Access to software determines who may participate
in a digital society. Therefore the freedoms to use, copy, modify and
redistribute software - as described in the Free Software definition -
allow equal participation in the information age. 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 FSF Europe, which was founded in 2001 as the
European sister organization of the Free Software Foundation in the
United States.
http://fsfeurope.org
Contact
Europe:
Georg C. F. Greve <greve(a)fsfeurope.org>
phone: +49-40-23809080
fax: +49-40-23809081
Austria:
Georg Jakob <jakob(a)fsfeurope.org>
Karin Kosina <kosina(a)fsfeurope.org>
Reinhard Müller <mueller(a)fsfeurope.org>
Further contact information available at
http://fsfeurope.org/contact/
About the Verein zur Förderung Freier Software (FFS)
The "Verein zur Förderung Freier Software" (FFS) was founded in
2001 as a non-profit organization to complement the existing
international organizations in attending to users and developers of
Free Software in Austria. Apart from the participation in various
projects for the support of Free Software in the private, business,
and public sectors, the growing number of members also care for the
protection and improvement of the legal foundations of the
development and use of Free Software.
http://ffs.or.at
[for immediate distribution]
IPRED: A Hushed Up Directive
The EU parliament in Strasbourg is about to debate the "Intellectual
Property Rights Enforcement Directive" (IPRED), which further
restricts European law on copyright, patents and other unspecified
"intellectual property rights." [1] The directive's rapporteur is
French MEP Janelly Fourtou, wife of the head of Vivendi Universal [2],
a group of media and telecommunications companies.
The directive was presented by the legal commission for the internal
market in January 2003 [3] then further elaborated behind closed doors
to be set on an accelerated course for approval, one normally reserved
for directives on which there is already unanimous agreement and does
not allow for public debate by citizens, political forces and civil
rights groups.
The directive proposes to harmonizes national laws and to combat
"piracy" [4] based on statistics, analysis and market forecasts
provided by the BSA [5] and other content providers that predict the
birth of hundreds of thousands of jobs in Europe (paragraph 2.C, page
10 of the directive); to that end it considers equal unintentional
illicit copies not made for profit and those made on a large scale for
profit -- and authorizes the rights' holders to hire private police to
raid a suspect¹s home (Article 11).
An international coalition of civil rights and consumer groups has
formed to sound the alarm on the risks of this directive and to try
and limit the damages [6], creating a Campaign for an Open Digital
Environment that will meet March 8 from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm in
Strasbourg outside the European Parliament.
Participants include IP Justice[8], European Digital Rights (EDRi)[9],
Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR)[10], Foundation for
a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII)[11] and Electronic Frontier
Foundation (EFF)[12].
The Free Software Foundation Europe has added its voice to the chorus
of protests.
"The directive is extremely dangerous and delicate, it was not debated
in a democratic manner. We believe that every law involving immaterial
output should be closely evaluated by our elected representatives and
citizenry to avoid accepting passively the interests of some companies
operating in that sector and ignoring the rights of citizens, content
producers and independent operators, " said Alessandro Rubini, who
writes both free software programs and manuals.
Among the dangers:
- The sweeping breadth of the directive, which covers copyright,
patents, trademarks, satellite and cable transmissions, data bases,
software etc., does not give a precise definition of "intellectual
property," an expression that has different definitions in various
countries nullifying the pretense of harmony.
- It puts into discussion civil liberties like privacy, fair use for
non-commercial purposes of material under copyright for teaching
purposes or research, the legal safe-guards (that cover, for example,
the right to be heard in legal proceedings) and the right of
self-expression.
- It reinforces the control over use and distribution over
technological devices through the imposition of unilateral licenses
susceptible to modification or repeal in any moment and for any
reason.
- It prohibits the deactivation, neutralization, removal or
manipulation of RFID (Radio Frequency ID) devices that transmit
information via radio frequencies the location and movements of an
individual.
- Use of private police forces paid by media companies to search
private homes of those suspected of violating the law. These types of
raids were formerly only possible in the UK where the "Anton Piller"
measures could be extended to commercial violations. With this
directive it would extend to all European citizens.
- An appeal of the Mareva injuction by which it will be possible to
freeze bank accounts and property of those suspected of violating
the law before they can appear before the authorities investigating
the presumed crime.
- The confiscation and destruction of machines and instruments of
Internet provides (ISP) based only on the suspicion that their users
are violating the law.
For further details and updates on the March 8 protest in Strasbourg:
http://www.ipjustice.org/CODE/
REFERENCES
[1] http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html#IntellectualProperty
[2] http://www.vivendiuniversal.com/
[3] http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/it/com/pdf/2003/com2003_0046it01.pdf
[4] http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html#Piracy
[5] http://global.bsa.org/eupolicy/copyright/index.phtml
[6] http://www.ipjustice.org/CODE/release20040302_en.shtml
[7] http://www.ipjustice.org/CODE/rally.shtml
[8] http://www.ipjustice.org/
[9] http://www.edri.org/
[10] http://www.fipr.org/
[11] http://www.ffii.org/
[12] http://www.eff.org/
[13] http://www.ipjustice.org/CODE/whitepaper.shtml
More information: http://fsfeurope.org/
Italian contacts:
Alessandro Rubini <rubini at fsfeurope.org>
Tel: +39 0382 52 95 54
Cel: +39 349 26 89 041
Stefano Maffulli <maffulli at fsfeurope.org>
Tel (office): +39 02 34 537 127
Fax (office): +30 02 34 531 282
Cel: +39 347 14 93 733
Further information is available for the press at:
http://fsfeurope.org/press/
Milano, February 18th, 2003
- for immediate release -
"Free Software Foundation defends the GNU GPL against SCO attacks"
The organization that defends Free Software in Europe, Free Software
Foundation Europe, has no doubt that the litigation between SCO
against IBM and Novell cannot affect the users of the operating
system GNU/Linux.
Professor Eben Moglen of Columbia University, pro-bono general
counsel of FSF North America, has published a paper that will help
free software developers and end-users understand the legal issues
and business risks involved in using the Linux kernel. The paper is
avaible on the OSDL web site.
http://www.osdl.org/docs/osdl_eben_moglen_third_statement.pdf
"After selling licenses for rights in the original Unix code, the SCO
Group is now suing Novell to please hand over those rights to SCO."
Stefano Maffulli, Italian chancellor of FSF Europe explains. "The
lawsuit shows SCO Group's uncertainty about their claims on the code
in question. One could ask on what grounds they think they were
suing others. In any case, their licensing campaign is obviously
over," he continues.
The license of the Linux kernel, the GNU General Public Licens,
grants the recipients of the software the right to use, copy, modify
and redistribute the software under the same terms. Many users got
the Linux software from the SCO Group, even after they sued IBM in
august 2003.
"As both the SCO Group and Novell, through its recent acquisition
SuSE, have been distributing copies of the GNU/Linux system --
including the Linux kernel -- under the GNU GPL, it means that
regardless of the outcome of that process, no party will ever be able
to ask for licensing fees." says Werner Koch, Head of Office of FSF
Europe.
"The whole issue has been very much overplayed and overrated by
analysts who assumed that if there is smoke, there is fire. But in
the modern business world, you will often discover nothing but a
smoke machine," concludes Georg Greve, president of the FSF
Europe. "In the end, this case is a typical example of a company
trying to undo time and undoing itself in the process. Understanding,
accepting and working with the freedoms of Free Software is becoming
a key factor of success for modern companies in information
technology."
About the Free Software Foundation Europe
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSF Europe) is a charitable
non-governmental organization dedicated to all aspects of Free
Software in Europe. Access to software determines who may participate
in a digital society. Therefore the freedoms to use, copy, modify and
redistribute software - as described in the Free Software definition
- allow equal participation in the information age. 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 FSF Europe, which was founded in
2001 as the European sister organization of the Free Software
Foundation in the United States.
http://fsfeurope.org
Contact
Europe:
Georg C. F. Greve <greve(a)fsfeurope.org>
phone: +49-40-23809080
fax: +49-40-23809081
Italy:
Stefano Maffulli <maffulli(a)fsfeurope.org>
phone: +39-02-34537127
fax: +39-02-34531282
Germany:
Werner Koch <koch(a)fsfeurope.org>
phone: +49-2104-173855
Further contact information available at
http://fsfeurope.org/contact/
[for immediate release]
Free Software as part of the German governmental delegation at the
UN- Preparation - Conference to the World Summit on the Information
Society (WSIS) in Paris
Karlsruhe, 12.07.2003
>From July 15th to 18th, a preparative conference towards the World
Summit on the Information Society will be held in Paris, at which the
future and destination of the information- and science- society shall
be discussed as requested by the UN- General Assembly.
As a nominee from the coordinating circle of the German Civil Society
for the WSIS, Georg Greve, president of the FSF Europe will take part
in the meeting as a member of the German governmental delegation.
"To take part in such an important meeting as a member for the
coordinating circle of the German Civil Society for the WSIS means a
huge honor and a challenge to fulfill the great expectations", said
Georg Greve at the LinuxTag in Karlsruhe. "In this function I would
like to thank the German Government that they opened the door for the
participation of the civil society. We hope to build upon this during
the two years of the summit's process and to serve as a role model for
other countries."
Georg Greve continues: "The sustainability of the information society
will be my focus. Besides questions like equality of knowledge and
access as well as informational independence, which are part of my
regular work for Free Software, also gender- equality and greater
possibilities of access by means of new media will play a seminal
role."
"Especially for developing countries, Free Software offers various
possibilities to gain access to the information- and knowledge-
society. Therefore, we warmly welcome Georg Greve as a member of the
German governmental delegation", said Markus Beckedahl, Chair of the
Network of New Media (Netzwerk Neue Medien e.V.).
"Free Software provides transparent and open digital
infrastructures. Thanks to the civil commitment of numerous
programmers worldwide, those are open to everybody. The network new
media e.V. is convinced, that Free Software is fundamental in helping
close the global digital divide", continued Markus Beckedahl.
-------------
About the FSF Europe:
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSF Europe) is a charitable
non-governmental organization dedicated to all aspects of Free
Software in Europe. Access to software determines who may participate
in a digital society. Therefore the freedoms to use, copy, modify and
redistribute software - as described in the Free Software definition
- allow equal participation in the information age. 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 FSF Europe, which was founded in
2001 as the European sister organization of the Free Software
Foundation in the United States.
http://fsfeurope.org
Contact
FSF Europe:
Georg C. F. Greve <greve(a)fsfeurope.org>
phone: +49-40-23809080
fax: +49-40-23809081
The network new media e.V.:
Since one year, the network new media works on the networking of the
civil society for the first World Summit on the Information Society
(WSIS) of the UN, that will take place in Geneva from 9th ~12th
December 2003. Out of this work now the ~coordinating circle of the
German Civil Society for the WSIS~ has emerged.
--
More information about the wsis is available under:
http://www.worldsummit2003.orghttp://www.itu.int/wsis
Press-release of the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSF Europe)
For immediate release
FSF Europe concludes two successful first years.
(Milano) Last weekend, the Free Software Foundation Europe held its
2003 general assembly in Milano, Italy. After two years of
operation, it was time to draw a first summary and also hold
elections.
Georg Greve and Jonas Öberg were re-elected as president and
vice-president for another two years, Werner Koch was appointed new
Head of Office. The FSF Europe thanks the former Head of Office,
Dr. Peter Gerwinski, for his time, work and dedication.
During the general assembly, the FSF Europe drew a positive summary
of the last two years. Highlights were becoming a partner of the
European Commission in the AGNULA Information Society Technologies
(IST) project within the first year and succeeding with its
recommendation to give Free Software based projects preference for
funding within the whole IST area of the sixth framework programme.
Another highlight area rising in importance especially recently is
the legal safety and maintainability of Free Software.
In order to provide additional protection for Free Software, the
FSF Europe has worked on its Fiduciary License Agreement (FLA), an
agreement that allows authors to make the FSF Europe their
fiduciary for all legal issues and that provides a possible
solution for the needs of the numerous software projects that will
need to establish some form of rights management.
Among the plans for the future are the organisation of a meeting
between the associated organisations of the FSF Europe, as well as
increased work in the legal and political field, which is where the
largest potential dangers to Free Software and the information age
are currently arising.
"Looking back at the past two years is fascinating. We were able to
help convinving the the Commission on Intellectual Property Rights
to commend Free Software to developing countries for its providing
freedom and chances of sustainable local industries," says Georg
Greve, president of the FSF Europe. "Also we opened the windows of
opportunity with the European Commission. Our work for the next
years will not only be to help creating more opportunities, but
also to help people making use of them."
Jonas Öberg, Vice President of the FSF Europe, adds: "FSF Europe is
also a truly global organisation, even if Europe is our main
focus. We have been called upon for advice by governments outside
of Europe, giving us a chance to participate in political
conferences from Tokyo, Japan to Washington, USA."
The 2003 General Assembly was hosted by the Italian Chapter of the
FSF Europe. "The GA came at an important time for the italian free
software community", says Stefano Maffulli, Italian Chancellor.
"The Italian government has just published an interesting report
about Free Software in public administration and the renowed
University Bocconi in Milan has recently held a conference on the
economic viability of free software business."
More information can be found in the two-year executive summary
online at
http://fsfeurope.org/documents/reports/es-2003.html
About the Free Software Foundation Europe
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSF Europe) is a charitable
non-governmental organization dedicated to all aspects of Free
Software in Europe. Access to software determines who may participate
in a digital society. Therefore the freedoms to use, copy, modify and
redistribute software - as described in the Free Software definition -
allow equal participation in the information age. 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 FSF Europe, which was founded in 2001 as the
European sister organization of the Free Software Foundation in the
United States.
http://fsfeurope.org
Contact
Europe:
Georg C. F. Greve <greve(a)fsfeurope.org>
phone: +49-40-23809080
fax: +49-40-23809081
Further contact information available at
http://fsfeurope.org/contact/
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Free Software Foundation
Bradley M. Kuhn <pr(a)fsf.org>
Phone: +1-617-542-5942
Media Contact: Free Software Foundation Europe
Georg C. F. Greve <greve(a)gnu.org>
Phone: +49-40-23809080
Professor Lawrence Lessig Awarded the 2002 FSF Award for the
Advancement of Free Software
Brussels, Belgium - Saturday, February 8, 2003 - The Free Software
Foundation (FSF) bestowed today its fifth annual FSF Award for the
Advancement of Free Software. FSF President and founder, Richard
Stallman, presented the award to Professor Lawrence Lessig for promoting
understanding of the political dimension of free software, including
the idea that "code is law". Lessig has also promoted ideas similar
to free software in other related fields.
The award ceremony was hosted at the Free and Open Source Software
Developers' Meeting (FOSDEM) in collaboration with the Free Software
Foundation Europe.
A committee of Free Software leaders selected the winner and two
other finalists from the nominations received by the public among the
thousands of mostly volunteer programmers worldwide who dedicate their
time to advancing Free Software. The selection committee included:
Enrique A. Chaparro, Frederic Couchet, Hong Feng, Miguel de Icaza, Raju
Mathur, Frederick Noronha, Jonas Oberg, Eric Raymond, Guido van Rossum,
Peter Salus, Suresh Ramasubramanian, and Larry Wall.
Lessig was chosen from three finalists for the award. The other
finalists were Bruno Haible and Theo de Raadt.
This was the fifth award of this kind. The prior winners were Larry
Wall, Miguel de Icaza, Brian Paul, and Guido van Rossum.
About Free Software Foundation Europe:
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSF Europe) is a charitable
non-governmental organization dedicated to all aspects of Free Software
in Europe. Access to software determines who may participate in
a digital society. Therefore the freedoms to use, copy, modify and
redistribute software -- as described in the Free Software definition -
allow equal participation in the information age. 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 FSF Europe, which was founded in 2001 as the
European sister organization of the Free Software Foundation.
More information about the FSF Europe can be found at
http://www.fsfeurope.org/.
About Free Software Foundation:
The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting
computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute
computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of Free
(as in freedom) Software - particularly the GNU operating system and
its GNU/Linux variants - and Free Documentation for Free Software.
The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political
issues of freedom in the use of software. Their web site, located
at http://www.fsf.org, is an important source of information about
GNU/Linux. They are headquartered in Boston, MA, USA.
Copyright (C) 2003, Free Software Foundation Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is
permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.
_______________________________________________
FSF And GNU Press mailing list <info-press(a)gnu.org>
http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-press
[ for immediate release ]
FSF Europe releases Fiduciary Licence Agreement V1.0
February 4th, 2002
Essen/Hamburg
The Free Software Foundation Europe is proud to announce the first
publicly available version of its Fiduciary Licence Agreement
(FLA); an agreement that will help securing the legal stability of
Free Software by allowing the FSF Europe to act as the fiduciary
for Free Software authors and projects.
By this, the Fiduciary Licence Agreement will help retaining the
legal maintainability of Free Software, making sure that Free
Software remains legally safe to use in all areas commercial or
non-commercial.
While reducing the legal risks for authors of Free Software, it
will enable the FSF Europe to defend Free Software on behalf of the
author against abuse - even in court, if necessary.
And it will provide a solid neutral ground for projects with
parties involved that differ in their aims and policies, be they
commercial or non-commercial.
"We see an increasing amount of commercial or publicly funded
projects at the moment on national and European scale," says Georg
Greve, President of the FSF Europe. "They tend to be temporally
limited partnerships between parties that may have conflicting
interests in other fields."
Georg Greve continues: "Therefore it becomes increasingly important
to offer solutions that will allow the projects to prosper when
that time has run out; because that is usually when the life of a
Free Software project has just begun. The FLA offers such a
solution."
The first version of the Fiduciary Licence Agreement is now
available online at http://fsfeurope.org/projects/fla/
About the Free Software Foundation Europe
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSF Europe) is a charitable
non-governmental organization dedicated to all aspects of Free
Software in Europe. Access to software determines who may participate
in a digital society. Therefore the freedoms to use, copy, modify and
redistribute software - as described in the Free Software definition -
allow equal participation in the information age. 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 FSF Europe, which was founded in 2001 as the
European sister organization of the Free Software Foundation in the
United States.
http://fsfeurope.org
Contact
FSF Europe:
Georg C. F. Greve <greve(a)fsfeurope.org>
phone: +49-40-23809080
fax: +49-40-23809081
FSF Europe welcomes the TUX&GNU@school column
January, 7th 2003
Hamburg/Essen/Valais
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Europe officially welcomes Mario
Fux' TUX&GNU@school column whose future editions will be published
under the umbrella of the FSF Europe.
Each edition of the column contains a presentation of a Free educational
software program, valuable tips to web sites that deal with Free Software
and education, user testimonies as well as suggestions for new small
programs for pupils and teachers. All editions will be published in
German and English first.
The FSF Europe provides infrastructure and an organizational framework,
such as web space and mailing lists for lectors and translators. With
this support, Mario Fux continues to write his column. The column is
free documentation and the GNU Free Documentation License (GNU
FDL) and will be developed in an open manner. In consequence, any
interested person can work on the project as a lector or translator.
TUX&GNU@school is a logical step to extend the promotion of Free Software
in the educational sector. Mario Fux emphasizes: "GNU/Linux and Free
Software in schools have become at least as viable as proprietary
software in the meantime" and continues: "I'm again and again surprised
how big the choice of Free educational programs is", contradicting
critics of Free Software who often claim a lack of applications for
the GNU platform.
Also the didactic and social aspects of the use of Free Software in
schools are of special importance:
"In the past, computer science education has concentrated too much
teaching products instead of comprehension", says Georg C.F. Greve,
President of the FSF Europe. Greve continues: "Free Software enables
the interactive understanding of outer and inner workings of a computer
and furthermore ensures an equality of chances for all pupils".
The FSF Europe thanks Mario Fux for his hitherto efforts and looks
forward
to his future editions, which are available at
http://www.fsfeurope.org/education/tgs/ .
About the Free Software Foundation Europe
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSF Europe) is a charitable
non-governmental organization dedicated to all aspects of Free
Software in Europe. Access to software determines who may participate
in a digital society. Therefore the freedoms to use, copy, modify and
redistribute software - as described in the Free Software definition -
allow equal participation in the information age. 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 FSF Europe, which was founded in 2001 as the
European sister organization of the Free Software Foundation in the
United States.
http://www.fsfeurope.org
Contact
FSF Europe:
Georg C. F. Greve <greve(a)fsfeurope.org>
phone: +49-40-23809080
fax: +49-40-23809081
TUX&GNU@school column:
Mario Fux <foxman(a)lugo.ch>
FSF Europe calls for participation
December, 18th 2002
Essen/Hamburg
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) invites all companies,
organizations and research institutes interested in Free Software
projects funded by the European Commission to join their effort.
In April 2002 the FSF Europe issued a recommendation to the
European Commission about the benefits of Free Software for Europe
and a European information society. This recommendation was backed
by over 50 parties throughout Europe and was apparently heard by
the Commission.
Although there was originally no plan to deal with Free Software
within the 6th Framework Programme at all, the Information Society
Technologies (IST) Work Programme now contains a statement that
will give Free Software preferential treatment. This opens up all
parts of the 1725 million euro IST budget to Free Software.
"This decision is very important for Europe because the areas in
which the IST program seeks to further development may turn out to
be very fundamental and essential to people in Europe," says Georg
Greve, President of the Free Software Foundation Europe. "We will
now seek to help assembling consortia to address as many calls as
possible with Free Software. Also we will offer our assistance in
getting the consortia off on the right foot."
Interested parties can find more information at
http://fsfeurope.org/documents/fp6/
On this page you will also find the address of the mailing list
where further information and discussion can be found.
About the Free Software Foundation Europe
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSF Europe) is a charitable
non-governmental organization dedicated to all aspects of Free
Software in Europe. Access to software determines who may participate
in a digital society. Therefore the freedoms to use, copy, modify and
redistribute software - as described in the Free Software definition -
allow equal participation in the information age. 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 FSF Europe, which was founded in 2001 as the
European sister organization of the Free Software Foundation in the
United States.
http://www.fsfeurope.org
Contact
FSF Europe:
Georg C. F. Greve <greve(a)fsfeurope.org>
phone: +49-40-23809080
fax: +49-40-23809081