[Fsfe-ie] FSFE Newsletter

[Free Software Foundation Europe]

1. FSFE at Linuxtag in Wiesbaden (Germany)
2. Free Software workshop at Academy of German Army
3. FSFE at several events in Milan (Italy)
4. GPLv3 at SANE and UKUUG evening talks
5. Georg Greve at HGKZ university in Zürich (Switzerland)
6. Karsten Gerloff at eIFL workshop in Kiev (Ukraine)
7. FSFE General Assembly in Manchester
8. Linuxwochen in Vienna (Austria)


1. FSFE at Linuxtag in Wiesbaden (Germany)

As in previous years, Linuxtag was an opportunity for FSFE members and 
Fellows to meet people from FSF Latin America and the
Free Software Initiative Japan and share the FSFE booth with them.
Karsten Gerloff gave a speech about the Access to Knowledge movement
(A2K) and its backgrounds. Ciarán O'Riordan, Georg Greve (FSFE), and
Federico Heinz (FSFLA) gave speeches about various aspects of the GPLv3.
As usual, Volker Dormeyer did an excellent job organising the booth and
the accommodation.


2. Free Software workshop at Academy of German Army

Free Software is penetrating an increasing amount of governmental
areas. As part of a meeting to assess the strategic future of Free
Software in the German Army, Georg Greve was invited by the Academy of
German Army to speak on Free Software and the political and strategic
issues that software raises for all sovereign governmental tasks, for
which Free Software provides the strongest answers today.


3. FSFE at several events in Milan (Italy)

The Italian team of the FSFE took part in some Milan-based events this
month. At the "Linux World Summit", Stefano Maffulli and Cristian
Rigamonti ran the Free Software Foundation Europe booth and participated
in a panel discussion dedicated to the Italian Free Software
communities. Cristian Rigamonti then held a talk about Free Software at
the "Gira e Respira" event, and an online talk on oilproject.org about
GPLv3. All the events benefitted from the support of the Italian
Fellows.


4. GPLv3 at SANE and UKUUG evening talks

Twice last month Georg Greve explained the reasons and overall changes
to the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 3, and introduced the
audience to the GPLv3 update process. The first conference was the 5th
System Administration and Network Engineering (SANE) Conference in
Delft, in the Netherlands. The second speech took place as a UKUUG
evening talk at the University Conference Center in Manchester, UK.


5. Georg Greve at HGKZ university in Zürich (Switzerland)

On request of the School of Art and Design at the University of
Applied Sciences and Arts Zurich (HGKZ), FSFE president Georg Greve
spoke to art and design students about the role that software takes in
the digital society, and what Free Software means for society.


6. Karsten Gerloff at eIFL workshop in Kiev (Ukraine)

Libraries are currently struggling with ever-tighter copyright
restrictions that make it harder for them to serve their purpose of
collecting and disseminating knowledge. An important countermeasure is
for librarians to educate themselves about copyright, and about
advocating their interests.  
At a workshop in Kiev, Ukraine (May 26-27), Karsten Gerloff gave talks
about Free Software and sharing knowledge, as well as about the WIPO
Development Agenda and a Treaty on Access to Knowledge. The audience
consisted of librarians from the former Soviet Union, Mongolia, the
Middle East and South-East Asia.


7. FSFE General Assembly in Manchester

The FSFE held its General Assembly on 27 May 2006 in Manchester, UK.
The members of the General Assembly spent the weekend reviewing the 
past year and engaging in lively and constructive discussions about 
future tasks and priorities.


8. Linuxwochen in Vienna (Austria)

FSFE was present at Austria's largest Free Software event, the
Linuxwochen in Vienna. On all three days of the event, members of the
FSFE, Fellows, and volunteers were available at the booth to inform
about the work of the FSFE and about the Fellowship.
On the first day, Karin Kosina gave a speech titled "Free Software for
free people" in which she introduced the Free Software Foundation
Europe. On the last day, David Ayers and Karin Kosina did a presentation
of the GPLv3 which was very well received, and the following panel
discussion turned out to be very constructive.


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