FSF Europe Newsletter

[Free Software Foundation Europe]

1. IPRED2 - the new attack against freedom
2. Stichting NLnet donate 150,000 EUR to support GPLv3 activities
3. Alessandro Rubini in Slovenia
4. Stefano Maffulli at the OpenOffice.org Conference in Slovenia


1. IPRED2 - the new attack against freedom

The European Commission has recently published it's draft for a second
directive on the enforcement of "intellectual property rights."  The
text proposes criminalising most infringements of patents, copyrights,
and trademarks, and also criminalising the aiding, abetting, or
inciting of such an infringement.  By requiring that jail sentences,
large fines, and other harsh punishments be available for these new
crimes, this directive could create enough fear to prevent citizens
and companies from participating in the production and distribution of
software, and to an extent, the use of software and the publication of
information.  It would also turn patent, trademark, and copyright laws
into affordable weapons for well-funded companies to use on
competitors.

Ciaran O'Rioran has put together a page in which he explains how this
directive could be abused to harm Free Software and what can be done
against it.

  http://www.fsfeurope.org/projects/ipred2/


2. Stichting NLnet donate 150,000 EUR to support GPLv3 activities

Stichting NLnet, a non-profit foundation based in The Netherlands,
announced to donate 150,000 EUR to support the GPLv3 activities of the
Free Software Foundation and the Free Software Foundation Europe. This
is an important contribution, and NLnet hopes to encourage other
grant-making organisations to help fund this unique project.


3. Alessandro Rubini in Slovenia

In Portoroz in Slovenia, Alessandro Rubini participated in a business
conference about Free Software. He gave a talk about the the use of
Free Software in business and participated in a round table discussion
about how the government should help Free Software companies grow. Apart
from these official appearances, he spent most of the time in Slovenia
establishing contacts with other Free Software advocates from both
Slovenia and Croatia.


4. Stefano Maffulli at the OpenOffice.org Conference in Slovenia

At the OpenOffice.org Conference in Koper - Capodistria, Stefano
Maffulli spoke at the round table that closed OOoConf2005.  The debate
ranged from the decision of Massachusetts to use OpenDocument Format to
the next advancements in OpenOffice.org. The Conference was very well
managed and the hospitality of LUG Trieste and LUGOS (Slovenia) was
wonderful.


You can find a list of all FSF Europe newsletters on
http://www.fsfeurope.org/news/newsletter.en.html