EU policy meets Free Software in FOSDEM
The FSFE helped to organise a FOSDEM devroom about Free Software in the European legislative landscape. It was the first time that this devroom was held and got a lot of interest from the community, that engaged in fruitful discussions about current EU policy topics.
During the last edition of FOSDEM, an EU policy devroom was organised and FSFE helped to co-organise it! On the second day of the conference, some of our staff and volunteers took part in this devroom, which was packed, and where the community had the opportunity to discuss current policy topics together with European lawmakers.
The devroom kicked off the day with a discussion on the new liability rules for Free Software. This turned into a broader debate on how the Free Software community can and should engage in the decision making process. Alexander Sander, FSFE's Senior Policy Consultant, moderated the session on "FOSS Policy Engagement", including a panel and a fishbowl discussion. After that, Lina Ceballos, FSFE Policy Project Manager, opened the session on “Public Services interoperability” and the Interoperable Europe Act, followed by a discussion between decision makers and the Community on the challenges and opportunities that the Interoperable Europe Act means for the Free Software community. Finally, Lucas Lasota, FSFE Programme Manager, together with our Netherlands Coordinator Niko Rikken, highlighted the main challenges for Router Freedom and Device Neutrality in Europe.
As this was the first time that we co organised this devroom, we are particularly interested in your feedback when it comes to the idea itself but also on the different format which was used to discuss those topics. We also want to thanks to the other devroom organizers: Simon Phipps, Enzo Ribagnac, Maarten Aertsen, Axel Thévernet, Deb Bryant, and Gijs Hillenius.