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Public Awareness Activities

Since its foundation in 2001, the FSFE has been working every single day to further Free Software in Europe and beyond. With our concrete activities, based upon the three pillars of our work, we focus on protecting and extending user rights. Some of our actions run for many years, some are aimed at short-term developments, but all are part of our mission: empower users to control technology.

Another major part of our work consists of continuous engagement and background work. We are present at dozens of conferences per year, support and maintain an excellent community and provide it with helpful resources. Furthermore, we are a prominent contact point for all questions and enquiries around software freedom, and user rights.

Read more about why Public Awareness is a key element of the FSFE's work, and our general approach in that area.

  • Public Money? Public Code!

    Why is software created using taxpayers' money not released as Free Software? We want legislation requiring that publicly financed software developed for the public sector be made publicly available under a Free and Open Source Software licence. If it is public money, it should be public code as well. Code paid by the people should be available to the people!

  • Book "Ada & Zangemann"

    The illustrated book "Ada & Zangemann - a tale of software, skateboards, and raspberry ice cream" by the FSFE, tells the story of the famous inventor Zangemann and the girl Ada, a curious tinkerer. Ada begins to experiment with hardware and software, and in the process realises how crucial it is for her and others to control technology.

  • Youth Hacking 4 Freedom

    Young people, from all over Europe, compete in Youth Hacking 4 Freedom to win cash prizes by creating programs of their choice licensed as Free Software. The six winners will be invited to the Award ceremony weekend. Youth Hacking for Freedom inspires people to learn programming and to collaborate.

  • I Love Free Software

    We often underestimate the power of a simple Thank You. Free Software contributors do important work for our society and the "I Love Free Software Day" on 14 February is the perfect opportunity for you to express your special gratitude. Since 2010, we have celebrated this wonderful annual event with an ever-growing and diverse community. ♥ ♥ ♥

  • Device Neutrality

    Although digital devices are ubiquitous today, the number of devices on which users cannot run Free Software is exponentially increasing. The consequence is an increased loss of control over users’ technology. Device Neutrality aims to enable end-users to bypass gatekeepers to have a non-discriminatory use of Free Software on their devices.

  • Free Your Android

    Android is a mostly free operating system but unfortunately the drivers for most devices and most applications in the built-in store are not Free Software. This initiative helps you to regain control of your Android device and your data.

More Awareness Activities

  • Upcycling AndroidFinished

    Keep using your phone with Free Software. Upcycling Android explains the issue of software obsolescence in the Android world and helps people flashing their phones with Free Software operating systems.

  • 20 Years FSFEFinished

    In 2021, the Free Software Foundation Europe turns 20. Throughout this time we have empowered users to use, study, share, and improve software. In 20 Years FSFE, we thank everyone who helped us along the way. Here you will find interviews discussing the FSFE progress as well as technological issues. You are welcome to celebrate with us!

  • Electoral Activities

    What could be a better time to ask politicians about their stance on Free Software and Open Standards than the run-up to an election? We believe we can and should raise these issues in all elections, European, national, regional and local. Depending on the electoral system and culture, we use different strategies and tools.

  • Learn like a pro

    An initiative to bring Free Software in the education sector by increasing the digital sovereignty and competence of students and teachers. Created by the Zurich chapter, 'Lernen wie die Profis' was awarded the DINAcon Award. The activity is in German.

  • PDFreadersFinished

    The PDFreaders initiative aims to shine a spotlight on government organisations that promote proprietary PDF readers. With the help of activists across Europe, we have contacted these organisations and told them how they can improve their websites to respect our freedom. On pdfreaders.org we present Free Software PDF readers for all major operating systems.

  • DRM.info

    DRM.info is a collaborative platform initiated and maintained by the FSFE to inform about the dangers and concerns of the Digital Restrictions Management. Contributors to DRM.info include digital freedom, consumer protection, net activism and library organisations.

  • FOSS4SMEsFinished

    FOSS4SMEs was a two-year collaborative Erasmus+ project to spread and increase knowledge about Free Software. The FSFE collaborate with the other partners to develop free online educational resources for managers and employees of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

  • SELFFinished

    The SELF project (Science, Education and Learning in Freedom) aimed at creating a repository of educational materials on Free Software and Open Standards. It did this by providing a platform for the collaborative development of educational materials, as well as by engaging in the development of educational materials that were missing in the field today.

  • Brave GNU WorldFinished

    The Brave GNU World was a monthly column published from 1999 to 2004, addressed at both technical and non-technical readers. Its aim was to provide an insight into current projects and developments based on the Free Software philosophy. The Brave GNU World was translated into 9 languages, making it probably the most widely distributed monthly column in the world.

  • GNU Business NetworkFinished

    The GNU Business Network had the vision to network all companies, developers and users in and around Free Software in a way that the potential synergies are encouraged and informed decisions become possible.

  • TUX&GNU@school columnFinished

    The TUX&GNU@school column was a regular column about Free Software in education written by by Mario Fux. It informed about educational Free Software, useful web sites on the topic and other interesting topics for teachers, students and all software freedom advocates.

  • We speak about Free SoftwareFinished

    Free Software is often referred to as "Open Source". But we are convinced that Free Software is the better term: easier to understand, harder to abuse, well-defined, providing additional value, and offering freedom. We connected companies, organisations and even co-founders of the Open Source movement that prefer to use the term Free Software.