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279 lines
13 KiB
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<html>
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<version>1</version>
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<head>
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<title>Our Work</title>
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</head>
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<body class="overview">
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<h1 class="heading">Our Work</h1>
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<div id="introduction">
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<p>
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The Free Software Foundation Europe helps individuals and
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organisations understand how Free Software contributes to
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freedom, transparency and self-determination. We enhance
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users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software adoption,
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encourage people to use and develop Free Software and provide
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resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software
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in Europe.
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</p>
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</div>
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<h2>
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The three pillars of our activities:<br />
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<a href="#awareness">Public Awareness</a> - <a href="#policy">Policy Advocacy</a> - <a href="#legal">Legal Support</a>
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</h2>
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<p>
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Imagine a world where pupils learn about the philosophy of Free
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Software and no one is forced to use non-free software. A world
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where public bodies develop Free Software for the public and
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decision-makers understand the long-term societal achievements by
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building public infrastructures on Free Software.
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</p>
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<p>
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Even if these goals still seem a long way off, we are already
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taking great steps forward today. Democratic societies are
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dynamic societies. Regularly, we see changes of public demands,
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policies and legal frameworks happening. Many of these changes
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create opportunities and chances to act upon and to help the
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public moving towards a free society. To ensure that the FSFE is
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able to make the best out of these opportunities, <strong>we
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concentrate our daily work on three main pillars: public
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awareness, policy advocacy and legal support</strong>.
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</p>
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<p>
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This page is for you to read about the rationales behind our
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work. If you are interested in concrete projects and are looking more
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deeply for details, you will find them on our <a
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href="/activities/activities.html">activities overview</a>. Or
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look at our <a href="/contribute/contribute.html">contribute
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page</a> if you would like to get more deeply involved.
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</p>
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<h2 id="awareness">Public Awareness</h2>
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<p>
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Software is deeply involved in all aspects of our lives.<strong>
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It is important that people and organisations know about software
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freedom and its benefits for our society so they can join our
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cause</strong>. The more people who understand Free Software, the
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stronger our voice becomes and the more we will accomplish for
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software freedom. That is why a main focus of the FSFE's work
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revolves around informing the public.
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</p>
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<p>
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Our website explains <a
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href="/freesoftware/freesoftware.html">the basics of Free
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Software</a> and spreads <a href="/news/news.html">up-to-date
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news</a> about our work and the Free Software ecosystem. We also
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share this news on our social media channels for everyone to
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<a href="/press/press.html">follow</a> and publish a
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monthly <a href="/news/newsletter.html">Newsletter</a> with a
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summary of all news of the last 4 weeks. For those who prefer the spoken word, we
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publish a bi-monthly <a href="/news/podcast.html">podcast</a> in
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addition to discussing Free-Software-related topics in-depth with
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experts from our community.
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</p>
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<p>
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Also important in our public awareness activities are
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<strong>public campaigns</strong>. Many of these campaigns are
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designed around a special topic regarding Free Software or to
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help people to align with a certain demand covering our work for
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Free Software. But we also have timeless campaigns on the general
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well-being of Free Software, for example our <a
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href="/campaigns/ilovefs/">“I love Free Software” day</a>
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campaign, a campaign to remind all of us to say thank you to all
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the Free Software out there, at least once a year. You can find
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many more of our awareness campaigns on our <a
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href="/activities/awareness.html">activities overview</a>.
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</p>
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<figure>
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<img src="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/fd82835a6592f3d05b1e5a183cbce7c0.png" alt=""/>
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<figcaption>From top left to bottom right: Lucas Lasota speaking
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at the FSFE Community Meeting 2019 (CC-BY 2.0 NOI Techpark);
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Bonnie Mehring and Erik Albers interviewed at the 36C3; Hanno
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Boeck speaks at 34C3; FSFE village team at SHA Camp.</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p>
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We regularly create and organise <a
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href="/events/events.html">information booths</a> in many
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European countries. These are set up by our community members. You can spot
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those booths at different events, from local street festivals to
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international gatherings. Together with <strong>talks and
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workshops</strong> given by volunteers and staffers, such
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information booths spread the word of software freedom
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face-to-face. Many of our public talks are recorded and we
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publish them for everyone to see on our video channels.
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</p>
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<p>
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If you would like to <strong>get active</strong> yourself, we offer you
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high quality <a href="/contribute/spreadtheword.html">information
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material</a> to help with your personal public awareness
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activities. You can order the material for no cost inside Europe.
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Also we have high quality <a href="/order/order.html">merchandise
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material</a> for you to wear and show your support for Free
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Software.
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</p>
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<a class="learn-more" href="/activities/awareness.html">All Awareness activities</a>
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<h2 id="policy">Policy Advocacy</h2>
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<p>
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Political decisions and directions have big impact on Free
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Software, its ecosystems and its communities. The FSFE has
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long-time experience in working with policy-makers and public
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bodies in Europe, from local administrations to high-level
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decision makers. We are always aiming at enhancing the rights of Free
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Software users and developers and abolishing barriers to Free
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Software adoption.
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</p>
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<p>
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Professional representation of interests means being in the right
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place at the right time with the right approach. Politics is a
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day-to-day business but decisions take time - sometimes it takes
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years to come to a compromise. It needs a lot of explaining,
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networking, back and forth, adaptation to situations, finding
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majorities or in two words: <strong>professional
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lobbying</strong>. The FSFE undertakes this task for the benefit
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of software freedom and putting people in control of technology.
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We are in regular contact with relevant stakeholders, analyse
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decision making processes in different legal environments and
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based on this choose the best strategies to be successful with
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our demands.
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</p>
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<figure>
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<img src="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/ca6b658d055b8828eaa33bfdd138fc7f.jpg" alt=""/>
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</figure>
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<p>
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Within our policy advocacy, the FSFE takes part in consultations,
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parliamentarian hearings and public discussions. We are reaching
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out to decision makers with concrete proposals and propose
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policies in favor of user's freedom. One key to success is the
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backing of our community for whom we offer participatory
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activities to get involved in political processes or to campaign
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and advocate together with us for a Europe relying on Free
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Software. One example of such a campaign is our <a
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href="https://publiccode.eu/">“Public Money? Public Code!”</a>
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campaign, a timeless campaign targeting decision makers to change
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public funding practices: We want legislation requiring that
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publicly financed software developed for the public sector be
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made publicly available under a Free Software licence. We offer
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material and expertise and ask our community to help spread the
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word. Also we report about our activities on our website and
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social media channels, provide in-depth analysis on different
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topics and issues and help others to understand what we are doing
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and why.
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</p>
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<p>
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The FSFE is available as an independent expert for other
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communities, partners and interested bodies to explain the
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advantages and political needs of Free Software. Often we are
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partnering with like-minded organisations to back our demands by
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setting up ad-hoc alliances or campaigning together with friends.
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Throughout the year, the FSFE offers forums to discuss current
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activities and developments regarding software freedom in order
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for everyone interested to have a strong voice together in
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debates and to be successful in lobbying for Free Software.
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</p>
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<p>
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To further deepen existing alliances and to facilitate the
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creation of new ones, as well as to publicly offer our expertise,
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we also host <strong>our own policy events</strong>. For example
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we regularly invite Free Software groups around Europe to come
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together and exchange knowledge about the current state of Free
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Software in Europe and to create resilient networks. Or we invite
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decision makers to our own events and discuss important aspects
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of software freedom and help them to understand the impact of
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reusing software.
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</p>
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<p>
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Often campaigns are designed to help people to align with a
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certain demand covering our work for Free Software.
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</p>
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<a class="learn-more" href="/activities/policy.html">All Policy activities</a>
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<h2 id="legal">Legal Support</h2>
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<p>
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Free licenses and their proper application can be complex but are
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indispensable for Free Software. At the Free Software Foundation
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Europe, we <a href="/freesoftware/legal/legal.html">educate
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people on these legal issues</a> and help developers, companies
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and political entities to develop, use and reuse Free Software in
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a manner that is compliant with existing legal frameworks.
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</p>
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<p>
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The FSFE maintains <a href="/activities/ftf/ln.html">the world's
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largest network</a> on legal issues related to Free Software.
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Participants come from a variety of legal backgrounds, including
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practicing lawyers, corporate in-house counsel and software
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engineers with legal skills. The provision of a <strong>neutral
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discussion platform</strong> enables the analysis and development
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of strategies and solutions for concrete legal questions. By
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sharing knowledge among Network members, the Legal Network
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contributes to growing legal expertise regarding Free Software.
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Once a year, the FSFE hosts a Free Software Legal and Licensing
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Workshop, which gives world-leading legal experts the opportunity
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to personally discuss issues and best practices related to Free
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Software licensing.
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</p>
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<figure>
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<img src="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/4e10c5f7d344f929a494f8fc4c0ba27f.jpg" alt=""/>
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<figcaption>Polina Malaja, FSFE GA Member, speaking at the Legal
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and Licensing Workshop 2018</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p>
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To encourage accuracy and the adoption of best practices in Free
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Software licensing, the FSFE's legal experts help with concrete
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<strong>licensing consultancy</strong>. We provide guidance for
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Free Software projects, both on an individual level and
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on a larger scale with initiatives from organisations that
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include the European Commission. Our aim is to ensure that
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everyone who works with developing Free Software understands the
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best practices for communicating components, licenses and
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copyrights associated with software packages, in order for them
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to comply with all legal necessities fulfilling software freedom.
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</p>
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<p>
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The FSFE's legal work with licensing is also supported greatly by
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<a href="https://reuse.software/">REUSE</a>, an initiative
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started by the FSFE to provide a set of recommendations that
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make licensing Free Software projects easier for developers. The
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REUSE recommendations make it easy for developers to declare the
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licenses under which their Free Software works are released and
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also to enable computers to easily understand how these software
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projects are licensed. REUSE is an initiative to promote a
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software ecosystem where Free Software can be easily shared and
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reused in a legally sound manner.
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</p>
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<a class="learn-more" href="/activities/legal.html">All Legal activities</a>
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</body>
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</html>
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