This month's newsletter highlights the Google/Huawei case and the greater picture it reveals to us. In the Get Active section we call for your proactivity in promoting the use of Free Software. Additionally, you can find out what happened at our Web-a-thon in Frankfurt am Main and view some media of the actions we have taken for promoting and increasing the awareness of Free Software to the wider audience, as well as see what's planned for the near future, where you can take part in.
Last month, Google blacklisted and blocked Huawei from accessing all its proprietary components of the Android mobile operating system. The California based tech giant had to comply with the executive order issued by the U.S. government to effectively ban all American companies from trading with Huawei. While the Chinese telco will not have access to Google's proprietary components, it will nevertheless be able to use those parts of Android's operating system available under the open source licence, which is free for anyone to use. This highlights the importance that Free Software has for users, public bodies, and businesses. The Free Software Foundation Europe presented three essential lessons from this case:
Read more details about these lessons in our press release.
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As with every month, we are trying to spread the word and help individuals and organisations understand what Free Software is and how Free Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination. If you are interested in seeing us in action and join our cause, keep in mind the following dates and locations in the coming few months:
Since the last newsletter we have been very active in promoting the Free Software cause, by helping individuals and organisations have a better understanding of what Free Software is and encouraging them to develop and implement it in their lives. We want to share with you the events we have photos and videos for, below:
The Viennese FSFE supporters group participated with an FSFE info-booth at the local street festival Veganmania between June 7th and 10th in Vienna, Austria. See pictures of the event and read about the local group's successful down-to-earth approach in a report by Franz Gratzer.
The FSFE's president Matthias Kirschner gave a keynote about Free Software in our society at this year's OW2 on June 13th in Paris. You can watch the keynote video.
Our Policy Manager Alexander Sander was invited as an expert on E-Government in the Landtag Saarland, the parliament of the German federal State Saarland on June 17th. In his talk he discussed the advantages of free software in the area of e-government. You can find his expert opinion and research here:
The FSFE participated with a booth at the OpenExpo in Madrid, Spain on June 20th where we had the chance to meet and talk to many people about Free Software.
Do you remember that some years ago the German newspaper Die Tageszeitung (TAZ) received the Document Freedom Day Award for delivering its electronic paper to its subscribers in a choice of open formats, and without digital restrictions (DRM)? This year, the TAZ newspaper went a step further and even launched their taz.app on f-droid under a Free Software license. This is a great example for other newspapers to follow. Contact your favourite newspaper and demand they follow the TAZ's example of giving users freedom of choice and technical control.
If you would like to share any thoughts, pictures, or news, send them to us. As always, the address is
If you also want to support us and our work, join our community and support us with a donation or a monthly contribution: https://my.fsfe.org/support
Thanks to our community, all the volunteers, supporters and donors who make our work possible. And thanks to our translators, who enable you to read this newsletter in your mother tongue.
Your editors,
The FSFE team
Join our community: https://fsfe.org/join/nl2019-06