= Dortmund relies on Free Software – This paves the way for Public Money? Public Code! =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2021/news-20210331-01.en.html ]
With a groundbreaking resolution, Dortmund has committed itself to the
use of Free Software. With an overwhelming, cross-faction majority, the
city council has paved the way for "Public Money? Public Code!” In the
future, software developed or commissioned by the administration will be
made available to the general public.
Back in February, the city council approved a motion previously
submitted by the SPD, Bündnis90/Die Grünen, CDU, Die Linke+ and
FDP/Bürgerliste. In the future, Free Software is to be used wherever
possible and software developed or commissioned for development by the
administration is to be made available to the general public. Dortmund
is thus following the principle of "Public Money? Public Code!" - code
paid for by all should be available to the people! The minutes of the
meeting published today [1] show with what unity the council stands
behind the principle: The motion passed unanimously. (Although the
FDP/Bürgerliste abstained from the vote due to a different amendment on
a different point, but introduced the motion and is still in favor). The
result was made possible by the consistent efforts of the DO-FOSS
initiative [2], which also supported the "Public Money? Public Code"
campaign of the FSFE.
Matthias Kirschner, President of the Free Software Foundation Europe
states: "We are happy that the DO-FOSS initiative was able to convince
the city of Dortmund of the principle of "Public Money? Public Code".
Free Software gives everyone the right to use, study, share and improve
software for any purpose. These freedoms also benefit administrations.
Public administrations that follow this principle can benefit from
numerous advantages: Collaboration with other government agencies,
independence from individual vendors, potential tax savings, innovation
and a more solid basis for IT security. The Council's decision means
that there is now the political backing to gradually break down
dependencies on proprietary vendors. We will accompany the
implementation and at the same time call on other administrations in
Germany and Europe to follow Dortmund's example." The "Public Money?
Public Code!" initiative aims to establish Free Software as the standard
for publicly funded software. The "Public Money? Public Code!"
initiative of the Free Software Foundation Europe is supported by over
200 organizations and administrations. Learn more here: publiccode.eu
[3]
Discuss this [4]
1: https://rathaus.dortmund.de/dosys/doRat.nsf/NiederschriftXP.xsp?action=open…
2: https://blog.do-foss.de/
3: https://publiccode.eu/
4: https://community.fsfe.org/t/646
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology. Software 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 rights to use,
understand, adapt and share software. These rights help support other
fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how Free
Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination.
It enhances users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software
adoption, encourage people to use and develop Free Software, and
provide resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software
in Europe.
https://fsfe.org
= Statement on Richard Stallman rejoining the FSF board =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2021/news-20210324-01.en.html ]
We learnt through a public announcement that Richard Stallman is again
part of the board of directors of the Free Software Foundation, one of
our independent sister organisations. We disapprove of this step that
came without any message of remorse or willingness to change.
In 2019, Richard Stallman resigned as president and board member of the
Free Software Foundation. On 21 March 2021 Stallman announced he is
member of the board again. The FSFE only learnt about that fact through
his public announcement.
We believe this step and how it was communicated harms the future of the
Free Software movement. The goal of the software freedom movement is to
empower all people to control technology and thereby create a better
society for everyone. Free Software is meant to serve everyone
regardless of their age, ability or disability, gender identity, sex,
ethnicity, nationality, religion or sexual orientation. This requires an
inclusive and diverse environment that welcomes all contributors
equally. The FSFE realises that we ourselves and the Free Software
movement still have to work hard to be that place where everyone feels
safe and respected to participate in it in order to fulfill the
movement's mission.
One crucial factor in making our community more inclusive is to
recognise and reflect when other people are offended or harmed by our
own actions and consider this feedback in future actions. The way
Richard Stallman announced his return to the board unfortunately lacks
any acknowledgement of this kind of thought process, and we are deeply
disappointed that the FSF board did not address these concerns before
electing him a board member again. Overall, we feel the current step
sends the wrong signal to existing and future community members.
That is why, as a legally and financially independent organisation, in
which Richard Stallman has not had any decision-making powers, we call
for his resignation from all FSF bodies. The FSF needs to seriously
reflect on this decision as well as their decision-making process to
prevent similar issues from happening again. Therefore, in the current
situation we see ourselves unable to collaborate both with the FSF and
any other organisation in which Richard Stallman has a leading position.
Instead, we will continue to work with groups and individuals who foster
diversity and equality in the Free Software movement in order to achieve
our joint goal of empowering all users to control technology.
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology. Software 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 rights to use,
understand, adapt and share software. These rights help support other
fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how Free
Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination.
It enhances users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software
adoption, encourage people to use and develop Free Software, and
provide resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software
in Europe.
https://fsfe.org
= Public code for publicly financed international development cooperation =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20201210-01.en.html ]
International development cooperation is increasingly digitised. Free
Software thus is becoming a fundamental technology to reach the United
Nation's Sustainable Development Goals. Together with experts in the
field, the FSFE summarises these interrelations in an article and
demands publicly funded software to be published as Free Software.
Inherent attributes of Free Software and its communities include equal
access to the sources, an international culture of sharing and
developing software together for the benefit of everyone. While many of
us find these freedoms to be universally acceptable, we see that this is
not the case once we look in the world of proprietary software.
Unfortunately, the same is to be said for the distribution of natural
resources around the globe.
In 2015 the United Nations General Assembly set the Sustainable
Development Goals, aiming at "a better and sustainable future for all"
by trying to reduce inequalities and offer equal access to the most
basic resources of our societies like food, health and education.
International development cooperation strives to achieve the UN
sustainability goals by improving global conditions and the empowering
of local partners. In some extend similar as to software freedom,
existing dependencies should be reduced and new dependencies avoided at
all costs.
Nowadays, international development cooperation is becoming increasingly
digitised and shifting its focus towards digital cooperation. Whether in
agriculture, industrial production, health care or public
administration, the development and maintenance of modern social
processes is no longer conceivable without software. To some extent
functional software becomes the basic technology of social organization
as well as of modern administrative services. The roll-out of
proprietary software, however, exacerbates the dependencies of users in
the developing countries on the currently market-dominating software
industry from the present industrial countries. Free Software, in
contrast, allows emancipation and independence of its users - be they
individuals or state-owned organisations.
Free Software allows development investments once made to be reused
around the globe without (further) license costs and without legal or
technical restrictions. The simultaneous publication of its source code
on public code repositories also enables one's own software development
to profit from reusing, improving and republishing by other actors
around the globe. In terms of international cooperation, the freely
licensed source code serves as a basis for organized or self-empowered
knowledge multiplication and transfer. Free Software allows the
development of digital cornerstones and provides international standards
without creating new monopolies and dependencies.
The reasons just mentioned show that Free Software is an essential part
of any sustainable digital development. Consequently, the "Principles
for Digital Development" require the publication of software, data and
standards under free licenses. The FSFE, together with experts from the
German Corporation for International Cooperation, has analyzed and put
together the main benefits for international development cooperation
when relying on Free Software in one article [1].
The article is part of our series about the basics of Free Software [2].
It delivers background on the ongoing process of digitisation in
international devlopment cooperation, its effects and the status quo. It
sheds light on the multiple benefits that international development
cooperation can profit from, when using and developing Free Software.
They build reason the FSFE demanding that in all international
development cooperation, any software development (co-)financed with
public money be published as Free Software [3].
Read the article [4]
Nico Lück, co-author of the article and expert from the German
Corporation for International Cooperation sums up: "Minimising
dependencies and building up local partner capacities fosters
sustainability of IT solutions: Free Software and other open resources
are the enabling instruments to be preferred and promoted for
sustainable development cooperation." Discuss this [5]
1: https://fsfe.org/freesoftware/developmentcooperation/index.en.html
2: https://fsfe.org/freesoftware/index.en.html
3: https://fsfe.org/freesoftware/developmentcooperation/index.en.html#pmpc-for…
4: https://fsfe.org/freesoftware/developmentcooperation/index.en.html
5: https://community.fsfe.org/t/555
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology. Software 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 rights to use,
understand, adapt and share software. These rights help support other
fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how Free
Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination.
It enhances users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software
adoption, encourage people to use and develop Free Software, and
provide resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software
in Europe.
https://fsfe.org
= German Corona tracing app available without Google services =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20201208-01.en.html ]
A handful of Free Software developers today achieved what official
bodies have been missing for months: They have made available the German
Corona Warn App for tracking Covid-19 risk contacts in a version that is
completely free of dependencies on Google and available in the F-Droid,
the Free Software app store.
Already in April this year, the FSFE formulated two fundamental
requirements for so-called Corona apps [1]. First, there must be no
obligation to use them, and second, they must be available as Free
Software. At first glance, the German /Corona Warn App/ (CWA) published
in June, meets these criteria, like many others in Europe by now.
However, the exchange of device keys via Bluetooth, on the basis of
which the risk is calculated, is handled by an underlying interface.
The problem is that this interface software, called /Exposure
Notifications API/ and significantly developed by Apple and Google, is
largely proprietary. This means it cannot be freely used, investigated,
distributed and improved. In Google's Android operating system it is
also necessary to install and use the Play Services. These Google
services intervene deeply in the system and undermine the digital
sovereignty of the users. By default, this prevents the use of many
Corona apps for people who value privacy and software freedom on their
Android devices [2].
== Volunteers solve problems step by step ==
A first major improvement was provided by Free Software developer and
FSFE supporter Marvin Wißfeld in September. He built the exposure
notification functionality into microG [3], a Free Software
implementation of the proprietary Google services. This allows at least
people who own a Google-free Android phone [4] and have microG installed
to use various Corona apps.
A few days ago, Christian Grigis, Fynn Godau, Marcus Hoffmann and Marvin
Wißfeld went one step further. They integrated the exposure notification
component of microG directly into the German Corona Warn App [5]. This
so-called Drop-In-Replacement enables even people who have neither the
Google services nor their Free Software alternative microG installed, to
use the CWA. In addition, as of today they are making the app available
on F-Droid [6], an app store with exclusively Free Software. This is
therefore also advantageous for those users who have installed microG or
Google services, but prefer to obtain their software via F-Droid for
security and convenience reasons.
microG main developer and FSFE supporter Marvin Wißfeld adds:
"The previous solution of installing microG is often out of the
question for various reasons. But the new app from F-Droid,can also
be run without problems on all current smartphones from, for
example, Huawei some of which have been delivered without Google
services since mid-2019. The German government and the RKI may have
lost thousands of users of the Corona Warn App in recent months, as
only Google and Apple users were targeted."
It is now up to the responsible bodies, the German government, the
Robert Koch Institute (RKI) and their contractors SAP and T-Systems, to
incorporate the changes into the main development branch [7], and thus
to pull together with the Free Software community. In addition, this
method can in principle also be used for Corona apps in other countries.
== Free Software once again in a pioneering role ==
We see a familiar pattern here: the Free Software community presents a
problem and a possible solution [8], but is turned away [9] until
volunteers solve the problem themselves with unpaid work and without
official support. In this case, the resources of the authorties and
companies involved would have easily sufficed to make these significant
improvements themselves, or at least to support them. It is laudable
that the CWA was consistently developed and published as Free Software
from the very beginning, but it lacked the necessary consistency to
remove technically and meanwhile unnecessary dependencies on proprietary
software.
The FSFE appeals to governments and administrations to publish developed
software as Free Software, to break dependencies on Google's and Apple's
app stores and instead make their apps installable from independent
sources like F-Droid, and to renounce proprietary dependencies. As
Wißfeld explains, the Corona Warn App already offers concrete additional
advantages in the fight against the pandemic:
"The free implementation has the potential - in the spirit of Free
Software - for improvements that Google's proprietary interface does
not allow. For example, it would be possible to display the time of
a high risk encounter. This could - if the user voluntarily provides
the data - help public health authorities to identify hotspots or
clusters, or be used for statistical purposes to increase the
effectiveness of protective measures."
We would like to thank all persons involved who made the use of the
Corona App in Germany possible without having to accept any loss of
software freedom.
Discuss this [10]
1: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200402-02.en.html
2: https://fsfe.org/activities/android/index.en.html
3: https://mastodon.social/@larma/104630652216622243
4: https://fsfe.org/activities/android/index.en.html
5: https://codeberg.org/corona-contact-tracing-germany/cwa-android
6: https://f-droid.org/packages/de.corona.tracing/
7: https://github.com/corona-warn-app/cwa-app-android/issues/1483#issuecomment…
8: https://github.com/corona-warn-app/cwa-documentation/issues/5
9: https://github.com/corona-warn-app/cwa-documentation/issues/5#issuecomment-…
10: https://community.fsfe.org/t/552
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology. Software 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 rights to use,
understand, adapt and share software. These rights help support other
fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how Free
Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination.
It enhances users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software
adoption, encourage people to use and develop Free Software, and
provide resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software
in Europe.
https://fsfe.org
= EU Open Source Policy: good analysis, missing concrete next steps =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20201023-01.en.html ]
On Wednesday the EU Commission published its new Open Source Strategy.
We are pleased that the Commission recognises the benefits of Free
Software and the four freedoms to use, study, share and improve, but the
commission lacks concrete targets and indicators to implement the
strategy. Without these, we worry that the strategy will end up
accomplishing too little!
After the Commission's previous Open Source Strategy expired in 2017, we
have waited three years for a new one. Instead of the hoped-for major
step, which would reflect current developments around the debates on
digital sovereignty and state of the art administration, the Commission
has presented [1] only a fig leaf. The benefits of Free Software are
fully emphasised and the Commission is ambitious in its future use of
Free Software. But concrete goals are rare, and a clear commitment to
the use of Free Software is lacking. A failure of the strategy is
foreseeable at this stage as the objectives are ambitious but the
measures merely establish the status quo. Therefore, we call upon the
Commission to present and implement concrete measures and activities in
the coming weeks and months.
Apart from the establishment of a "small (sic!) Open Source Programme
Office” and the definition and promotion of the "inner source" approach,
which is not even connected to a publication under a Free Software
license, there are no real changes to the Commission's working methods.
Of course, the Strategy indeed states: "The title of this strategy,
‘Think Open’, points to a change in mindset whereby the development of
software solutions takes account of openness, sharing and reuse,
security, privacy, legal considerations and accessibility." But it is
doubtful whether anything will happen simply by clarifying the change in
thinking without having verifiable goals and by working on "inner-
source" software. We believe that changes have to be implemented and
lived, not just put on paper.
The strategy mainly repeats previous commitments and activities; whereas
sustainable and verifiable approaches are sought in vain. It says: "The
use of open source software is already common practice in the Commission
and a kind of open source culture already exists in large parts of the
organisation. We simply have to do more and become better". Concrete
terms of the plans for how to do this more and better are however not
clear. The activities of the FOSSA2 project are also mentioned, but it
is not clear why this project is not being continued or why new concrete
projects are not being launched. There are also still strong
dependencies on Microsoft [2], for its desktop operating system, office
applications and mail programs. These vendor lock-ins are still a big
issue, but it appears that there is no plan currently on how to end
these dependencies. (There is also a documentary on YouTube in English
[3] and German [4] on that)
It is also striking that concrete indicators to measure the success of
the activities are absent. The Strategy therefore seems to pay mere lip
service, which is explicitly limited by vague formulations and
loopholes. For example, the Commission intends to continue "to choose
non-open technologies where there are good reasons to do so" and wants
to publish software under a Free Software licence only "wherever it
makes sense to do so”. What these reasons are and when something makes
sense remains undefined and unclear.
In many places the Commission leaves it at problematic descriptions such
as: "The principles and actions of the new open source strategy will
make it easier to obtain permission to share code with the outside
world.". At the same time, it is clear to the Commission that
"[c]urrently, the paperwork involved in this process takes time to
complete and this holds back many of our in-house projects. This
situation needs to change." - without proposing concrete solutions, such
as a proposal for reforms.
This also raises the question of how the Commission wants to “contribute
to the knowledge society” in tangible terms. For example, instead of
calling for Free Software to be made the default in the Horizon Europe
research programme and following programmes and research activities
funded by the EU, the Commission argues that "[t]his strategy therefore
aims to enable the Commission to share software using a process
comparable to that for its documents.” - again without a concrete
proposal on how to achieve this.
Although the Commission's wording about interoperability, security,
reusability and cooperation possibilities repeatedly aims at the use of
Free Software and repeatedly emphasises the advantages of Free Software,
we feel that the Strategy lacks concrete plans to achieve these aims.
How the development of a “world-class public service" can succeed this
way remains questionable. Free Software is still not part of the EU
budget, so it is not surprising that Commission online-meetings are
still held with the proprietary software Zoom although there are viable
Free Software solutions for this. With this approach, we fear that this
situation will not improve.
== Conclusion ==
What the European Commission presented is simply too little for a
strategy. There is a lack of clear task descriptions and processes,
concrete guidelines for the implementation of wholehearted statements
and indicators to monitor success. Additionally, existing problems and
how to address them concretely, like dependencies on single vendors, are
missing. So it is not surprising that even the Commission itself, in the
document, expresses doubts as to whether their strategy will be a
success and identifies difficulties in its implementation: "Properly
implemented (sic!), the strategy, its governing principles and its
action plan will help us build and deliver better ICT solutions and
services, to leverage the innovative and collaborative power of open
source."
It is therefore all the more important that we continue to critically
monitor the work of the Commission and promote our "Public money? Public
Code!" campaign. The "Public Money? Public Code!" initiative aims to
establish Free Software as a standard for publicly funded software.
Public administrations that follow this principle can benefit from
numerous advantages: cooperation with other government bodies,
independence from individual vendors, potential tax savings, promotion
of innovation and a more solid basis for IT security.
The "Public Money? Public Code!" initiative of the Free Software
Foundation Europe is supported by over 180 organisations and
administrations from several countries, including Sweden, Spain and
Germany. To find out more, please visit: publiccode.eu/ [5]
Discuss this [6]
1: https://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/informatics/open-source-software-stra…
2: https://www.investigate-europe.eu/en/2017/europes-dire-dependency-on-micros…
3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duaYLW7LQvg
4: https://youtu.be/_ZaDuinGf2o
5: http://publiccode.eu
6: https://community.fsfe.org/t/535/
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology. Software 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 rights to use,
understand, adapt and share software. These rights help support other
fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how Free
Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination.
It enhances users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software
adoption, encourage people to use and develop Free Software, and
provide resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software
in Europe.
https://fsfe.org
= Collaborative Free Software Platform for Administrations - Group presents concept =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200910-01.en.html ]
The increased use of Free Software is a central component for more
digital sovereignty. Together with a strong alliance of administrations,
politics, business and civil society, we call for the development of a
code repository with Free Software for the public sector.
The increased use of Free Software by public institutions is a central
building block for more digital sovereignty. Free Software, also known
as Open Source Software, can be reviewed by everyone and can thus be
independently checked for security aspects. Applications can be operated
by the user and adapted to their needs. In this way, a high degree of
independence from single vendors can be achieved. In addition,
administrations have the opportunity to cooperate with each other more
easily across organisational boundaries.
Together with the Open Source Business Alliance, the federal working
group of municipal IT service providers Vitako and other experts, FSFE
has developed a first concept for a code repository for the public
sector and has found numerous supporters from administrations, politics,
economy and civil society. Under the slogan "A place for public code",
the interest group now wants to pave the way for a portal through which
the public administration in Germany can exchange and jointly develop
Free Software, also known as Open Source Software, in an adequate and
legally compliant manner.
As a first result, a working paper was produced that puts the idea of a
code repository into context and describes the challenges. It also
clarifies the potential of Free Software for use in public institutions
and how such a repository can contribute to the further development of
the digitalisation of administrations.
"The use of Free Software imposes itself on public institutions: Free
Software gives everyone the right to use, understand, share and improve
programs for any purpose. Public institutions are financed by taxes.
They must ensure that they spend the money as efficiently as possible.
By using Free Software, public bodies can collaborate in developing code
and use existing solutions without having to reinvent the wheel over and
over again. If it is public money, the code should be public too! In
addition, Free Software helps to minimise dependencies on individual
providers and thus creates the basis for digital sovereignty. FSFE has
therefore developed the "Public Money? Public Code!" campaign to show
administrations the advantages of using Free Software. However, a common
place to exchange this software within public institutions is still
missing in Germany." explains Alexander Sander, EU Policy Manager of
FSFE. Accordingly, "A Place for Public Code" pursues the following
approach: Free Software for the administration must be findable in a
structured way and it must be possible to develop and document
collaboratively while being legally compliant. In addition, it is
important that the environment promotes the exchange between the
stakeholders, such as programmers, users and administrators, and
supports the creation of networks so that communities can be created
around individual projects.
In order to fulfil these requirements, a catalogue of Free Software
solutions, a federated user administration, a code and an information
platform are needed. Free Software solutions already exist for this
purpose, which can be rolled out in a first step. The next step is now
to find a supporting organisation and ensure stable financing to meet
the needs of the stakeholders who will use this platform in the future.
The initiative "A Place for Public Code" invites administrations,
politics and the Free Software community to participate in the
discussion and to further develop the project, which can significantly
accelerate the digitisation of administration, in line with the Free
Software idea.
The background paper on this initiative can be found here (.pdf) [1].
The "Public Money? Public Code!" initiative aims to establish Free
Software as a standard for publicly funded software. Public
administrations that follow this principle can benefit from numerous
advantages: Cooperation with other government bodies, independence from
individual vendors, potential tax savings, promotion of innovation and a
more solid basis for IT security.
The "Public Money? Public Code!" initiative of the Free Software
Foundation Europe is supported by over 180 organisations and
administrations, including the City of Barcelona. To find out more,
please visit: publiccode.eu/ [2]
Discuss this [3]
1: https://download.fsfe.org/policy/papers/20200910-Ein-Ort-fuer-oeffentlichen…
2: https://publiccode.eu/
3: https://community.fsfe.org/t/508
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology. Software 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 rights to use,
understand, adapt and share software. These rights help support other
fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how Free
Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination.
It enhances users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software
adoption, encourage people to use and develop Free Software, and
provide resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software
in Europe.
https://fsfe.org
= Denmark keeps source code of Coronavirus tracing app secret =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200629-01.en.html ]
Like many other European countries, Denmark also tries to track Sars-
CoV-2 infections with a mobile phone tracing app. However, against
advice by health organisations and despite positive examples by other
countries, the app is proprietary, so not being released under a Free
Software (also called Open Source) license.
Smittestop [1], the official tracing app released by the Danish
government, is supposed to supplement the more traditional ways of
combatting the Coronavirus with contact tracing. But instead of
releasing the source code of the app under a Free Software [2] license
and thereby empowering the public as well as the scientific community to
inspect, verify, improve and experiment with it, the app's source code
is kept hidden.
This goes directly against the most recent recommendations from the WHO
[3] as well as the EU Commision's eHealth network. In the referenced
paper, the WHO specifically states that:
"There should be full transparency about how the applications and
application programming interfaces (APIs) operate, and publication of
open source and open access codes. Individuals should also be provided
with meaningful information about the existence of automated decision-
making and how risk predictions are made, including how the algorithmic
model was developed and the data used to train the model. Furthermore,
there should be information about the model's utility and insights as to
the types of errors that such a model may make." Had the Danish
government published the source code under a Free Software license, such
transparency would have been provided to the public, and scientists and
IT experts would have been able to peer review and improve the app's
error margins, possibly helping interrupt more chains of infection.
On the app's homepage, the Danish government explains that the source
code is not being published because of the risk of "security breaches"
and to protect the public against malicious actors. However, IT security
does not arise through an attackers' ignorance of the system under
attack, but due to a proper and well-reviewed security design (also read
p.22 in our expert publication [4] ). This decision, if anything, makes
the app less secure – not more. Moreover, since the app is decentralised
and is wired to nemID, the official Danish digital signature, security
breaches are unlikely to occur.
Such false security concerns have not stopped the governments of Germany
[5], Austria [6], Italy [7] and Great Britain [8] from complying with
the WHO's and the EU Commission's transparency requirements and publish
their contact tracing apps under a Free Software license. In fact,
Germany, Austria and Italy all quoted security as one of the main points
in favour of publishing the source code.
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) strongly urges the Danish
government to immediately rectify this situation and publish its
"Smittestop" app under a Free Software license, with the source code
fully available to the public.
Discuss this [9]
1: https://smittestop.dk/spoergsmaal-og-svar
2: https://fsfe.org/freesoftware/index.en.html
3: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/332200/WHO-2019-nCoV-Ethic…
4: https://fsfe.org/campaigns/publiccode/brochure
5: https://github.com/corona-warn-app
6: https://github.com/austrianredcross
7: https://github.com/immuni-app/
8: https://github.com/nhsx/
9: https://community.fsfe.org/t/480
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology. Software 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 rights to use,
understand, adapt and share software. These rights help support other
fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how Free
Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination.
It enhances users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software
adoption, encourage people to use and develop Free Software, and
provide resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software
in Europe.
https://fsfe.org
= Hamburg wants to focus more on Free Software =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200610-01.en.html ]
In Hamburg, the SPD and the Greens are stating in their coalition
agreement to focus more on Free Software during their future term. The
FSFE welcomes this step and will critically monitor its implementation.
In order to strengthen digital sovereignty of Hamburg, the city wants to
use more Free Software in the future (see the PDF of the coalition
agreement) [1]. The goal is to minimise the dependence on individual
providers and create transparency. Wherever it appears meaningful,
cooperation with other administrations should be established. However,
the coalition agreement contains several loopholes, for example for
procurement procedures and diffuse justification to protect proprietary
software vendors.
Alexander Sander, the FSFE's Policy Manager, explains: "We are pleased
that Hamburg has recognised the problems associated with the use of
proprietary software and wants to focus more on the use of Free
Software. However, the exceptions in the coalition agreement indicate at
this point in time that the implementation could lead to problems and
counteracting the goals. We will critically monitor the process and
demand that first steps be taken quickly to make software developed with
public money available to the general public. If it is public money, it
should be public code as well." Free Software gives everyone the right
to use, understand, distribute and improve software for any purpose.
Administrations also benefit from these freedoms when they rely on Free
Software. More and more administrations all over Europe are using and
developing Free Software in order to benefit from interoperable
solutions, to avoid vendor lock ins, to be transparent and sovereign, to
spend funds in the most efficient way and to foster innovation and
collaboration.
As part of the "Public Money? Public Code!" campaign, FSFE is
specifically campaigning for a change in policy towards Free Software.
The "Public Money? Public Code!" initiative aims to set Free Software as
the standard for publicly financed software. The Free Software
Foundation Europe together with over 180 civil society organisations and
more than 27.000 individuals signed the open letter. We will use the
signatures to contact decision makers and political representatives all
over Europe and convince them to make public code the standard. You are
invited to add your signature to make a bigger impact on publiccode.eu
[2] /
1: https://www.spd-hamburg.de/fileadmin-hamburg/user_upload/Koalitionsvertrag2…
2: https://publiccode.eu
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology. Software 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 rights to use,
understand, adapt and share software. These rights help support other
fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how Free
Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination.
It enhances users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software
adoption, encourage people to use and develop Free Software, and
provide resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software
in Europe.
http://fsfe.org
= Munich commits to "Public Money? Public Code!" =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200506-01.en.html ]
The new coalition agreement in Munich commits to the principle of
"Public Money? Public Code!". The FSFE welcomes this decision by the new
government and will closely monitor the progress of the implementation.
The coalition of SPD and Greens in Munich agreed on a coalition treaty
[1] last Sunday following the local elections in March. It includes a
positive statement on the use of Free Software: the principle "Public
Money? Public Code!" should apply in future. Munich thus joins the
FSFE's demand.
The FSFE welcomes the "Public Money? Public Code!" policy by the new
Munich government. After the last government of SPD and CSU had
distanced itself from the prior progressive Free Software strategy
this is now a positive signal again. Public administrations
following the principle of "Public Money? Public Code!" can benefit
from collaboration with other public bodies, independence from
single vendors, potential tax savings, increased innovation, and a
better basis for IT security.", says Matthias Kirschner, President
of the Free Software Foundation Europe.
In 2014, the SPD entered a coalition agreement with the CSU, and Dieter
Reiter (SPD) was elected new mayor of Munich. Munich abandoned their
"LiMux" strategy of developing an independent IT infrastructure built
with Free Software and a GNU/Linux operating system, and started to move
back to depending on proprietary software. The Free Software Foundation
Europe criticised this re-migration in the past [2]. Now, with the new
coalition of SPD and Greens, Munich seems to be back on the track by its
commitment to "Public Money? Public Code!". Still, the treaty leaves
room for improvement as it includes some typical loopholes such as the
vague limitation to software whose code does not contain personal or
confidential data. Therefore the FSFE will continue to closely monitor
the progress of the implementation of the "Public Money, Public Code!"
policy and how procurement procedures will be handled in future.
The "Public Money? Public Code!" initiative aims to set Free Software as
the standard for publicly financed software. The Free Software
Foundation Europe together with over 180 civil society organisations and
more than 27.000 individuals signed the open letter. We will use the
signatures to contact decision makers and political representatives all
over Europe and convince them to make public code the standard. You are
invited to add your signature to make a bigger impact on
https://publiccode.eu/ [3]
Discuss this [4]
== Tags ==
- Public Money? Public Code! [5]
- Public Administration [6]
- Policy [7]
- LiMux [8]
1: https://www.gruene-muenchen.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Druckfassung_Koal…
2: https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20190515-01.html
3: https://publiccode.eu
4: https://community.fsfe.org/t/467
5: https://fsfe.org/tags/tagged-pmpc.en.html
6: https://fsfe.org/tags/tagged-publicadministration.en.html
7: https://fsfe.org/tags/tagged-policy.en.html
8: https://fsfe.org/tags/tagged-limux.en.html
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology. Software 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 rights to use,
understand, adapt and share software. These rights help support other
fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how Free
Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination.
It enhances users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software
adoption, encourage people to use and develop Free Software, and
provide resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software
in Europe.
http://fsfe.org
= COVID-19 Hackathons: Only Free Software creates global solutions =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/2020/news-20200408-01.en.html ]
Currently we see a lot of hackathons to find tools that help tackle the
crisis of pandemic COVID-19. More and more governments and
administrations are hosting or funding such hackathons. To make sure
that the results of these hackathons can be used globally and adapted
locally - that the software can be used, studied, shared and improved
everywhere - the FSFE asks to publish the outcomes under a Free Software
licence.
Breaking the chain of COVID-19 infections and alleviating its dramatic
impacts are of top priority within our societies. Software is inherently
connected to achieve these goals, from 3D printing ventilators to
tracking potential outbreaks or organising solidarity within
communities. During the last weeks we have seen virtual hackathons being
organised to help find and fund solutions that tackle the COVID-19
crisis. For the time being only some of them are published under a Free
Software licence, also called Open Source Software or Libre Software
licence, meaning that these solutions can be used, studied, shared and
improved by everyone around the world.
Meanwhile, more and more European governments and administrations are
hosting virtual hackathons to help develop new tools. While some of them
are explicitly supporting Free Software solutions only, like the
WirVsVirus [1] hackathon others are not mentioning their licence at all
- like EUvsVirus [2] initiated by the European Commission or Global Hack
[3], funded by StartUpEU, making it difficult or impossible to reuse the
software in other parts of the world.
In a time when humanity needs to work together to find solutions for a
crisis, we cannot afford to reinvent the wheel again and again for
software that helps us tackle the spread of COVID-19. Global problems
need global solutions! It is Free Software that enables global
cooperation for code development. Any proprietary solution will
inevitably lead to countless isolated solutions and waste energy and
time which we as humanity cannot afford in such a critical situation.
Besides global cooperation, Free Software licences allow sharing of code
in any jurisdiction. Solutions developed in one country can be reused
and adapted in another one. International development agencies and
humanitarian movements can help to contain the spread of COVID-19 in any
country around the world with the availability of Free Software
solutions.
Already before this crisis hundreds of organisations and tens of
thousands of people demanded that publicly financed software developed
for the public sector must be made publicly available under Free
Software licences [4]. It is now even more important than ever before to
tackle this crisis.
== Get involved ==
1: https://wirvsvirushackathon.org/international/
2: https://euvsvirus.org/
3: https://theglobalhack.com/
4: https://publiccode.eu/
5: https://wiki.fsfe.org/Activities/Hackathons4Freedom
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to
control technology. Software 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 rights to use,
understand, adapt and share software. These rights help support other
fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how Free
Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination.
It enhances users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software
adoption, encourage people to use and develop Free Software, and
provide resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software
in Europe.
http://fsfe.org