64 lines
3.8 KiB
HTML
64 lines
3.8 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<html newsdate="2020-04-08">
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<version>1</version>
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<head>
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<title>COVID-19 Hackathons: Only Free Software creates global solutions</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>COVID-19 Hackathons: Only Free Software creates global solutions</h1>
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<p>Currently we see a lot of hackathons to find tools that help tackle the crisis of pandemic COVID-19.
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More and more governments and administrations are hosting or funding such hackathons. To make sure that the results of
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these hackathons can be used globally and adapted locally - that the software can be used, studied, shared and improved
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everywhere - the FSFE asks to publish the outcomes under a Free Software licence.</p>
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<p>Breaking the chain of COVID-19 infections and alleviating its dramatic impacts are of top priority within our societies.
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Software is inherently connected to achieve these goals, from 3D printing ventilators to tracking potential outbreaks or
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organising solidarity within communities. During the last weeks we have seen virtual hackathons being organised to help find
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and fund solutions that tackle the COVID-19 crisis. For the time being only some of them are published under a Free Software
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licence, also called Open Source Software or Libre Software licence, meaning that these solutions can be used, studied,
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shared and improved by everyone around the world.</p>
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<p>Meanwhile, more and more European governments and administrations are hosting virtual hackathons to help develop new tools.
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While some of them are explicitly supporting Free Software solutions only, like the <a href="https://wirvsvirushackathon.org/international/">WirVsVirus</a> hackathon
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others are not mentioning their licence at all - like <a href="https://euvsvirus.org/">EUvsVirus</a> initiated by the European
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Commission or <a href="https://theglobalhack.com/">Global Hack</a>, funded by StartUpEU, making it difficult or impossible to reuse the software in other parts of the world.</p>
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<p>In a time when humanity needs to work together to find solutions for a crisis, we cannot afford to reinvent the wheel
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again and again for software that helps us tackle the spread of COVID-19. Global problems need global solutions! It is
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Free Software that enables global cooperation for code development. Any proprietary solution will inevitably lead to countless
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isolated solutions and waste energy and time which we as humanity cannot afford in such a critical situation.</p>
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<p>Besides global cooperation, Free Software licences allow sharing of code in any jurisdiction. Solutions developed in one
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country can be reused and adapted in another one. International development agencies and humanitarian movements can help to
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contain the spread of COVID-19 in any country around the world with the availability of Free Software solutions.</p>
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<p><blockquote>Already before this crisis hundreds of organisations and tens of thousands of people demanded that
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<a href="https://publiccode.eu/">publicly financed software developed for the public sector must be made publicly available under Free Software licences</a>.
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It is now even more important than ever before to tackle this crisis.
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</blockquote></p>
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<h2>Get involved</h2>
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If you want to help humanity to benefit from Free Software, you can help gather more Hackathons on
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our <a href="https://wiki.fsfe.org/Activities/Hackathons4Freedom">dedicated wiki page</a>.
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To make sure that the results of these hackathons can be used globally and adapted locally - that the software can
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be used, studied, shared and improved everywhere - the FSFE asks you to get in contact with organisers of hackathons
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and demand to publish the outcomes under a Free Software licence.
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</body>
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<tags>
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<tag key="front-page"/>
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<tag key="tools">Tools</tag>
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<tag key="pmpc">Public Money? Public Code!</tag>
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<tag key="corona">Corona</tag>
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</tags>
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</html>
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