Free Software Foundation Europe

News

Three conclusions to draw from Google denying Huawei access to software

20 May 2019

Google denies the Chinese IT giant Huawei access to Google's proprietary components of the Android mobile operating system which threatens IT security. This highlights the importance Free Software has for technology users, public bodies, and businesses. The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) presents three essential lessons from this case.

FSFE Newsletter - May 2019

16 May 2019

This newsletter edition gives special attention to the upcoming EU Elections. We are telling the story of the Spanish Pica Pica Hacklab who successfully used our "Public Money? Public Code!" campaign to influence the Parliament of Asturias. Pica Pica's story takes us to the upcoming EU Elections that will bring in new MEPs into the European Parliament and so we provide advice and tips on how you can get active in promoting Free Software to them. As always, you will also read about the events the FSFE is going to be part of this month, as well as a retrospective of what has happened in the past month.

Public Money, Public Code: Munich one step back - others two steps forward.

15 May 2019

More than two years ago, Munich abandoned their strategy of developing an independent IT infrastructure built with Free Software and the free operating system GNU/Linux and went back to depending on proprietary software. We followed this process closely and like to give an update today about what has happened since then in Munich and in Europe in general. Did we manage to gain more independence and control over our IT or did dependencies on monopolies increase over the past two years?

Free Software in Munich - FSFE thanks cabaret artist Christine Prayon

15 May 2019

Yesterday, political satirist Christine Prayon was awarded the 10,000 Euro Dieter Hildebrandt Prize of the City of Munich for demanding political or decidedly socio-critical political satire. Prayon is donating the prize money to the Free Software Foundation Europe.
See all news Read the Community blogs

Support the FSFE

By becoming a FSFE supporter you empower our work and help to assure our financial independence.

Become a supporter

Newsletter

Read the archive

Events

If you know about a FSFE related event that is not yet listed here or that you run on your own, you can easily add it by using our event announcement tool.

Libertybits Conference 2019 in Sofia, Bulgaria

25 June 2019

The FSFE's Policy and Project Managers Alexander Sander and Galia Mancheva will be speaking at Libertybits in Sofia, Bulgaria. Alexander will be presenting the "Public Money? Public Code!" campaign and Galia is going to talk about the recent update of the Copyright Directive and what that means for the future of Free Software development. The event will take place in Sofia Tech Park in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The FSFE with a lecture at the University of Tübingen in Tübingen, Germany

25 June 2019

Throughout history technology has influenced society. Reading, writing, arithmetic, agriculture, printing and radio are all examples of developments that changed the way we interact through trade, art and science. The most important cultural technology of the 21st century is software. It runs our workplaces, laptops, mobile phones as well as less obvious places like trains, cars, televisions, washing-machines, fridges, and many other devices. Today it depends on software how the government can implement laws, who will be able to join which university or job, or if and how long people might end up in jail. As people and companies who create software, we should consider how our actions influence the distribution of power in our society — and thereby our democracy.

On June 25, from 20:15h to 21:45h, Matthias Kirschner, President of the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE), will explain what Free Software is, why software developed with public funds should be available to all and how Power relations in our society are influenced by software. The lecture will take place in Kupferbau HS21, Hölderlinstraße 5, 72074 Tübingen. Admission is free and no registration is required.

Max Mehl talks about IT security at Pass the SALT in Lille, France

01 to 03 July 2019

In his talk, FSFE Programme Manager Max Mehl will explain how Free Software can be the solution to many pressing security problems. He will look at pros and cons and use concrete examples to illustrate why security and openness are not contradictory.

The Pass the SALT confence takes place at the Polytech engineer school in Lille from 1 to 3 July. It intends to "build bridges between Security communities and Free Software hackers". A registration to the conference is required.

See all events