Public Awareness Activities
As a non-profit, non-governmental organisation, Free Software Foundation Europe works to create general understanding and support for Free Software and Open Standards. The following activities are concrete actions that we take in the areas of public awareness, policy advocacy and legal support.
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, Open Standards, and user rights. We also provide basic education resources on Free Software legal and licensing issues.
Read more about why Public Awareness is a key element of the FSFE's work, and our general approach in that area.
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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!
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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.
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Device Neutrality
Although digital devices are ubiquotous 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.
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Upcycling Android
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.
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Youth Hacking 4 Freedom
Young people compete in Youth Hacking 4 Freedom by creating programs of their choice licensed as Free Software. The winners receive an award in a ceremony. Youth Hacking for Freedom inspires people to learn programming and to collaborate.
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Free Your Android
Android is a mostly free operating system developed mainly by Google. Unfortunately, the drivers for most devices and most applications in the built-in store are not Free Software. This activity helps you to regain control of your Android device and your data. We collect information about running an Android system as free as possible and try to coordinate the efforts in this area.
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I Love Free Software
We often underestimate the power of a simple Thank You. Free Software contributors do important work for our society and they deserve attention. The "I love Free Software Day" on 14 February (also known as Valentine's Day) is the perfect opportunity for you to express your special gratitude. Since 2010, we have celebrated this wonderful annual event with a ever-growing diverse community.
More Awareness Activities
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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!
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Electoral Activities
What better time is there to ask politicians about their stance on Free Software and Open Standards than in the time before an election? We believe that we can and should make these topics an issue in all elections, be it on a European, national, regional, or local level. Depending on the electoral system and culture, there are different strategies and tools we use: Ask Your Candidates a set of questions, the Digital-O-Mat online tool, the Freedomvote online platform, and the Let's Promise pledges.
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Learn like a pro
An initiative aiming to bring Free Software in Education. Goal of the campaign is to increase the digital sovereignty and competence of the students, but also of the teachers. Created by the local group Zurich, Lernen wie die profis ("learning like the professionals"), has been awarded the DINAcon Award. The activity is in German.
PDFreaders
With the PDFreaders campaign we turn the spotlight on government organisations who advertise proprietary PDF readers, exposing how frequent such advertisements for non-free software are. With the help of activists across Europe, we contacted these organisations and explained to them how to improve their websites so that they 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 FSFE to inform on the dangers of Digital Restrictions Management and make visible the concerns from various different groups. DRM.info contributors include digital liberty, consumer protection, net-activism and library organisations.
FOSS4SMEsFinished
FOSS4SMEs was a two years collaborative Erasmus+ project. The FSFE worked together with five organisations with different geographical and work backgrounds to spread and extend the knowledge about Free Software. To reach this objective, the project developed free online educational resources for managers and staff of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
15 Years AnniversaryFinished
Since its foundation in 2001 we have achieved many things. The FSFE has been instrumental in a successful antitrust-case, maintained software patents unenforceable in Europe, avoiding a veritable apocalypse for small and medium-sized tech companies, and set ground-breaking legal precedents for the whole of the EU. It's time to celebrate the last 15 years!
STACSFinished
STACS (Science, Technology and Civil Society) was a project that sought to bridge the gap between civil society and research in order to increase the societal relevance of research being done. The project aimed to accomplish by educating both civil society organisations and researchers, and finding common projects to work on for the future.
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 issued from 1999 to 2004 that addressed technical and non-technical readers alike. Its aim was to provide insights into current projects and developments based upon the philosophy of Free Software. The Brave GNU World was translated into nine languages, possibly making it the farthest-spread monthly column worldwide.
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.