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Yearly Report +++ DMA turns one +++ Legal Corner

Our October newsletter comes with our Software Freedom in Europe report! As the DMA celebrates its first year, we reflect on Device Neutrality and discuss the war on ad blockers in our Legal Corner. Check out our interview about 'I Love Free Software Day' with our local group in Barcelona and listen to a new episode of our Policy & EU podcast series.

Quote of the Month

“I truly believe in the power of saying “Thank You”. Free Software developers are usually in a loop of bug reports and feature requests by users. We as users often see what is broken or what is missing, so we will communicate that to the developers, usually failing to send a message of how awesome the software is. This is why celebrating I Love Free Software Day and taking the time to say “Thank you” to the developers and projects we depend on is important; we need to break the cycle of negativity that sometimes the developers of Free Software are stuck in” Albert from Barcelona Free Software (see interview below)

Software Freedom in Europe 2025

In 2025 we remained engaged in enforcing the DMA, intervening in the Apple vs EC legal case; we participated in the debates around the CRA and public procurement to ensure that Free Software is embedded in Europe’s digital future. Also, we continued providing legal support and improved REUSE, while involving teenagers with YH4F, and we reached new audiences with the new Ada & Zangemann movies.

Find out what we have achieved in the last twelve months

The Digital Markets Act turns 1: one year of pushing for Device Neutrality

2025 marks one year of the enforcement of the Digital Markets Act. In our input to the European Commission’s public consultation we welcome the DMA as a milestone in regulating large tech corporations, but we stress the hurdles and challenges for making Device Neutrality a reality.

Find out more!

DMA litigation: the FSFE takes part in court hearing in Apple vs Commission case

On 21 October, the FSFE is participating as an intervenor in the hearing of the Apple vs. European Commission case at the Court of Justice of the European Union. As part of the Digital Markets Act enforcement actions, this is a key case for Free Softwareand digital markets.

Legal Corner: The War on Ad Blockers – Axel Springer’s Assault on User Freedom

For many internet users, an adblocker is an important piece of software that allows them to control the digital information they receive from their browsers, providing the option of an ad-free browsing experience. Despite this, a recent decision by the German Federal Court of Justice is giving Axel Springer a second chance to erode user freedom.

ilovefs interview - How we celebrate "I Love Free Software Day" in Barcelona, Spain

Since we began organising events in Europe together with the FSFE’s local groups for "I Love Free Software Day", Barcelona has regularly been taking part. The Barcelona based local group is a mix of people contributing and developing KDE and of Free Software friends from Catalonia. Known as "Barcelona Free Software", they do very great and amazing events. Over time it was inspiring to see how the events evolved, from company related gatherings to independent group meetings with the opportunity to welcome new Free Software enthusiasts.

Read the interview!

SFP#38: Policy and EU: Free Software Software Stack(s)

During the debate on digital sovereignty, the term “software stack” started to float around. This term quickly started to fill up with different ideas, and a discussion about it took root. Follow Alex and Bonnie in this episode to learn more about software stacks of Free Software and their connection with public administration.

From the community: The FSF elects a new president

Our sister organization, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) has elected a new president. Ian Kelling, senior systems administrator for the organization and the first union member to hold a seat on its board, has been elected as the new president of the FSF.

We congratulate Ian for being unanimously elected as the FSF's new president and look forward to his work advancing software freedom and strengthening our community.

At the stages: Linux install parties, SFSCON and more

Last weekend, we attended the 2025 Festa do Software Livre in Porto while co-organising the second Fediverse Day in Berlin. After that, we are preparing to attend SFSCON once again; our volunteers are busy organising various events. For example, in Zurich, our local group is organising several Linux installation workshops and a 'Free Your Android' workshop.

In addition, the recording of the talk at Datenspuren 2025, 'CRA: Cybersicherheit in der Gesellschaft', is already online!

Get more merchandise at Hello Tux

Hello Tux is an online marketplace offering great products that can be personalized with the logo of your favourite Free Software organization.

We’re happy to share that the FSFE is now included among the options! https://www.hellotux.com/fsfe

💚 Thank you, Hello Tux, for supporting Free Software and helping us spread the message in style!

Contribute to our Newsletter

We would love to hear from you. If you have any thoughts, pictures, or news to share, please send them to us at newsletter@fsfe.org. You can also support us, contribute to our work, and join our community. We would like to thank our community and all the volunteers, supporters, and donors who make our work possible, with a special mention to our translators who make it possible for you to read this newsletter in your mother tongue.

Your editor,
Ana

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