1. General Assembly in Vienna, Austria 2. Access to Knowledge (A2K) meeting in London, UK 3. Romanian discussion mailing lists 4. LinuxWorldExpo in Milano, Italy 5. Linuxwochen Wien, Vienna, Austria 6. Software patent conference in Udine, Italy 7. Alessandro Rubini in Bologna 8. FSFE very active in Brussels 9. Freedom Party in Berne, Switzerland 10. FSFE looks for new intern

1. General Assembly in Vienna, Austria

On 7th May 2005, the general assembly of FSFE met in Vienna, Austria to review the activities of the past year and plan ahead for the next year to come. As this was the end of the second electoral period for FSFE's extended executive committee, the executive committee presented another two-year executive summary. The general assembly thanked its executives for their excellent work of the past two years and unanimously reelected the entire extended executive committee.

http://www.fsfeurope.org/documents/reports/es-2005.en.html

2. Access to Knowledge (A2K) meeting in London, UK

The A2K initiative has its background in the ongoing debate of a reform of the UN World Intellectual Property Organisation. On 12th and 13th of May, representatives of various civil society initiatives, universities and governments as well as independent activists met to discuss a possible treaty on "Access to Knowledge" to be proposed on United Nations level. Georg Greve took part in the meeting for FSFE and provided input on issues such as Free Software, software patents and open standards. He also chaired the session on Authors and Performers. The A2K treaty would be an important milestone to truly transform WIPO into a "World Intellectual Wealth Organisation."

http://www.fsfeurope.org/documents/wiwo.en.html

3. Romanian discussion mailing lists

After he translated several pages of the FSFE website to Romanian, Adi Roiban volunteered to manage a Romanian speaking discussion mailing list about Free Software topics (fsfe-ro at fsfeurope.org) and one about Free Software in education in Romania (edu-ro at fsfeurope.org). The FSFE happily hosts these lists, along with several other mailing lists on Free Software topics.

http://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo

4. LinuxWorldExpo in Milano, Italy

Most people of the Italian team were present at the LinuxWorldExpo in Milano. Stefano Maffulli held a speech about the Fellowship and participated in a round table discussion about open standards and free software. Alessandro Rubini spoke about documentation and licensing issues in free software development; he also served as chairman of the "Linux for embedded devices" session. Emmanuele Somma of the Italian team spoke about free software adoption in financial institutions, and Free Ekanayaka presented the Agnula project. Thanks to the work of the Italian team and volunteers, the highest amount ever of donations from an Italian event was achieved.

5. Linuxwochen Wien, Vienna, Austria

Linuxwochen Wien (Linux weeks Vienna), Austria's biggest Free Software event, took place from 24 to 27 May. Karin Kosina opened the event with a keynote on 24 May and held a speech about the importance of the term "Free Software" on May 26th. On 25 May, Georg Greve gave the keynote for the "B2B and public administrations" day. Both also took part in several panel discussions.

6. Software patent conference in Udine, Italy

Italian team members Stefano Maffulli, Alessandro Rubini and Fabrizio Veutro participated as speakers in a conference about software patents organised by the Udine University. University staff members organised this event to counter ongoing efforts to push for unlimited patenting during University activities.

7. Alessandro Rubini in Bologna

On 20 May, Alessandro Rubini talked in Bologna, in a lesson organised by Prof. Renzo Davoli within the "Master in Tecnologia del Software Libero e Open Source", about the economic models of Free Software development.

8. FSFE very active in Brussels

Ciaran O'Riordan, FSFE's full-time representative in Brussels, is still working closely with the FFII on the software patent issue. He met several members of the European Parliament and had good contacts with the press, for example the German magazine Spiegel and the Wall Street Journal Europe. He also organised a Freedom Party on 2 June in Brussels where Fellows of FSFE and other friends of Free Software could meet and celebrate digital freedom together.

9. Freedom Party in Berne, Switzerland

FSFE's associated organisation Wilhelm Tux organised the first Swiss Freedom Party in Berne on 21 May. The party, although small, gathered some 25 people from all over Switzerland. Myriam Schweingruber, president of Wilhelm Tux, explained the work of FSFE and presented the Fellowship and its CryptoCard. Alex Schroeder, vice-president, recalled the importance for the Swiss, although not in the EU, to collaborate actively with the FSF Europe on such important issues as software patents, proprietary software monopolies and more.

10. FSFE looks for new intern

FSFE intern Karsten Gerloff has just entered the last month of his internship. His work consists of handling most of FSFE's office tasks, promoting the Fellowship and assisting Georg Greve in the Hamburg office, as well as sometimes on his travels. The FSFE is looking for someone to succeed him as soon as possible.

http://www.fsfeurope.org/contribute/internship.en.html

You can find a list of all FSF Europe newsletters on http://www.fsfeurope.org/news/newsletter.en.html _______________________________________________ Press-release-sv mailing list Press-release-sv@fsfeurope.org https://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/press-release-sv