1 changed files with 0 additions and 76 deletions
--- a/news/2023/news-20230719-01.en.xhtml
+++ b/news/2023/news-20230719-01.en.xhtml
@ -1,76 +0,0 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <html newsdate="2023-07-19">
 <version>1</version>
 <head>
  <title>Cyber Resilience Act &amp; Free Software: Parliament waters down its own position</title>
 </head>
 <body>
 <h1>Cyber Resilience Act &amp; Free Software: Parliament waters down its own position</h1>
 <p>The European Parliament today voted on its position on the Cyber 
 Resilience Act (CRA). While the position improves on the Commission's 
 exemption to protect Free Software, it fails to introduce 
 a proper protection . We call on the institutions to put the burden of 
 liability only on those who  significantly financially benefit from the 
 market, while protecting developers and non-profit work.</p>
 <figure>
     <img src="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/89/bf/a96f8ded8b44f6e7de3097c14d04.jpg" 
       alt="Two computer screens showing some code"/>
       </figure>
 <p>The Commission’s proposal to exclude Free Software “outside the 
 course of a commercial activity” would fail to address a large part of 
 software that will not be covered but is deployed. At the same time, 
 smaller and non-profit projects would be harmed as they would have to 
 bear major costs.</p>
 <p>Therefore we have already proposed a solution that will lead to more security while safeguarding Free Software:</p>
 <ol>
 <li>Liability should be shifted to those <strong>deploying</strong> Free Software instead of those <strong>developing</strong> Free Software and</li>
 <li>Those who significantly financially benefit from this deployment should make sure the software becomes CE-compliant</li>
 </ol>
 <p>While the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO), 
 a committee for opinion in CRA,  backed our demand and voted for the 
 protection of Free Software developers in the Cyber Resilience Act, the 
 Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) introduced less far 
 reaching protections with today's vote. Regular corporate donations or contributions by corporate employees to a project could turn 
 non-profit work into a “commercial activity”, and thus lead to 
 liability.</p>
 <blockquote>
 <em>Alexander Sander, FSFE Senior Policy Consultant explains: 
 <italic>"With today's vote, the EU Parliament has watered down its 
 own position. Placing the burden of liability on small or non-profit 
 entities that rely on regular donations would harm the Free Software  
 and thus society and business alike. Due to the lack of funding and 
 resources to go through the proposed procedures to become CE 
 compliant, some of these projects might have to stop completely. We 
 call on the institutions to find a compromise that safeguards the Free 
 Software ecosystem while shifting liability to those who significantly 
 financially benefit from the deployment”</italic>.</em> 
 </blockquote>	
 <p>Interinstitutional negotiations will start start soon and should be concluded this year if possible. You can <a href="/news/2023/news-20230323-01.html">read more here</a>.
 </p>
 </body>
 <tags>
 	 <tag key="front-page"/>
 	 <tag key="european-parliament">European Parliament</tag>
 	 <tag key="policy">European Public Policy</tag>
 	 <tag key="european-union">European Union</tag>
 	 </tags>
 <discussion href="https://community.fsfe.org/t/1051"/>  
 <image url="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/89/bf/a96f8ded8b44f6e7de3097c14d04.jpg"
 alt="Two computer screens showing some code"/>
 </html>