346 lines
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HTML
346 lines
17 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
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<title>FSF Europe - Two year executive summary, period 2003-2005 -- 7th May 2005</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<center>
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<h1>Two year executive summary</h1>
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<h2>period 2003-2005</h2>
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<h2>Report for the 2005 general assembly</h2>
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</center>
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<div align="right">
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Vienna, Austria, 7th May 2005<br />
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</div>
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<p>Four years after its official start in March 10th, 2001 and the
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finalisation of its founding process in April 24th, 2001, the general
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assembly on 7 May 2005 in Vienna, Austria marks the end of another
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electorial period for the Free Software Foundation Europe Extended
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Executive Committee.</p>
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<p>The organisation itself has seen two busy years and has grown in size,
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activities and impact. Instead of trying to achieve or claim
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completeness, this report will briefly summarize some of FSFE's
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milestones of the past two years.</p>
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<h3>European Union: Microsoft Antitrust Investigation</h3>
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<p>Following up on the work it began during its first two years, FSFE in
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cooperation with the Samba Team were delivering crucial expertise in
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the antitrust investigation of the European Union against Microsoft
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for extending its desktop monopoly into the server market. After
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Microsoft filed suit at the European Court of First Instance against
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the fine and obligations to make available its protocol
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specifications, FSFE entered [<a href="#1" name="anch_1">1</a>] the court case as third party, also
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representing the Samba Team. Together, FSFE and Samba, represented in
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court by Carlo Piana of FSFE's Italian team, were able to help
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convince [<a href="#2" name="anch_2">2</a>] the court to not suspend the EU decision. More
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information available online. [<a href="#3" name="anch_3">3</a>]</p>
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<pre class="indent">
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[<a href="#anch_1" name="1">1</a>] <a href="http://mailman.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2004q3/000067.html" target="_blank">http://mailman.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2004q3/000067.html</a>
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[<a href="#anch_2" name="2">2</a>] <a href="/projects/ms-vs-eu/intervention-20040930.en.html">http://fsfeurope.org/projects/ms-vs-eu/intervention-20040930.en.html</a>
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[<a href="#anch_3" name="3">3</a>] <a href="/projects/ms-vs-eu/">http://fsfeurope.org/projects/ms-vs-eu/</a>
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</pre>
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<h3>UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)</h3>
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<p>The first phase of the United Nations World Summit on the Information
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Society (WSIS) took place December 2003 in Geneva, Switzerland. [<a href="#4" name="anch_4">4</a>]
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FSFE participated in the complete series of conferences leading up to
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this event from the intersessional meeting in Paris to the last
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PrepComs in Geneva. FSFE's president, Georg Greve, participated in the
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German governmental delegation on behalf of the German Civil Society
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coordination circle, co-coordinated the Patents, Copyrights and
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Trademarks (PCT) Working Group [<a href="#5" name="anch_5">5</a>] and helped establish and coordinate
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the European Caucus of Civil Society. [<a href="#6" name="anch_6">6</a>]</p>
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<p>During the summit itself, FSFE organised the "Free Software, Free
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Society" side event where Richard Stallman, Lawrence Lessig and others
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talked about the issues of freedom in a digital society. Working with
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other Civil Society and governmental representatives, Free Software
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Foundation Europe was able get some significant changes into the final
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documents. [<a href="#8" name="anch_8">8</a>]</p>
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<pre class="indent">
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[<a href="#anch_4" name="4">4</a>] <a href="/projects/wsis/wsis.en.html">http://fsfeurope.org/projects/wsis/wsis.en.html</a>
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[<a href="#anch_5" name="5">5</a>] <a href="http://www.wsis-pct.org" target="_blank">http://www.wsis-pct.org</a>
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[<a href="#anch_6" name="6">6</a>] <a href="http://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/wsis-euc" target="_blank">http://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/wsis-euc</a>
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[<a href="#anch_7" name="7">7</a>] <a href="/projects/wsis/event-03-12-10.en.html">http://fsfeurope.org/projects/wsis/event-03-12-10.en.html</a>
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[<a href="#anch_8" name="8">8</a>] <a href="/projects/wsis/debriefing-geneva.en.html">http://fsfeurope.org/projects/wsis/debriefing-geneva.en.html</a>
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</pre>
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<h3>Towards a "World Intellectual Wealth Organisation"</h3>
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<p>After speaking at a course of WIPO and the University of Torino held
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at the International Training Center (ITC) of the International Labor
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Organisation (ILO) in Torino, Italy, FSFE decided to become observer
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of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). [<a href="#9" name="anch_9">9</a>] WIPO is
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one of the 16 specialised UN organisations and it is administrating 23
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international treates dealing with different aspects of limited
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monopolies on knowledge. As such, it has a central position in the
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global governance and power structure in relation to Copyrights,
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Patents and Trademarks, in particular.</p>
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<p>Together with other groups, organisations and governments, FSFE is
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working towards turning WIPO into an organisation oriented at
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increasing the intellectual wealth of all of humankind. [<a href="#10" name="anch_10">10</a>]</p>
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<p>A very important step in this direction was taken at the
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Inter-sessional, Inter-governmental Meeting (IIM) for the
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establishment of a development agenda for WIPO and the Permanent
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Committee on Cooperation for Development related to Intellectual
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Property (PCIPD) at which FSFE had its first official appearances
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within WIPO. [<a href="#11][12" name="anch_11][12">11][12</a>]</p>
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<pre class="indent">
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[<a href="#anch_9" name="9">9</a>] <a href="/projects/wipo/">http://fsfeurope.org/projects/wipo/</a>
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[<a href="#anch_10" name="10">10</a>] <a href="/documents/wiwo.en.html">http://fsfeurope.org/documents/wiwo.en.html</a>
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[<a href="#anch_11" name="11">11</a>] <a href="/projects/wipo/statement-20050413.en.html">http://fsfeurope.org/projects/wipo/statement-20050413.en.html</a>
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[<a href="#anch_12" name="12">12</a>] <a href="/projects/wipo/statement-20050415.en.html">http://fsfeurope.org/projects/wipo/statement-20050415.en.html</a>
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</pre>
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<h3>Press Work</h3>
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<p>One of the most seminal tasks for Free Software is creating awareness
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and informing people about issues of digital freedom. While Free
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Software is becoming increasingly important in the IT industry, many
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people do not yet understand it. Outside of the IT industry, most
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people will not even have heard of it.</p>
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<p>Changing this requires getting the issues and topics covered in
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mainstream media in a language that the readers, viewers and listeners
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can relate to. For that reason, <a href="/about/jakobs/">Joachim Jakobs</a> took responsibility of
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the media relations for FSFE in 2004, allowing for a much higher
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presence of software freedom in the "traditional" media.</p>
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<p>Some media in which FSFE was covered within the past years are: ARD,
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Bloomberg, Computerzeitung, DIE ZEIT, Deutschlandfunk, FAZ, Financial
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Times Deutschland, Financial Times, FR, Handelsblatt, International
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Herald Tribune, Le Figaro, Mediemagasinet(Sveriges Television), ORF
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m@trix, ORF Mittagsjournal, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Wall Street Journal,
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arte tv.</p>
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<h3>International Free Software Cooperation</h3>
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<p>FSFE did not only increase its activities towards the part of the
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world that had never heard of Free Software before, it also increased
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and strengthened its activities inside the Free Software community.</p>
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<p>In particular, FSFE's president Georg Greve served as interim board
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member for the X.Org [<a href="#13" name="anch_13">13</a>] foundation during its establishment, trying
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to help in organisationally, legally and politically. He also worked
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with the group of people planning and coordinating the establishment
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of Free Software Foundation Latin America [<a href="#14" name="anch_14">14</a>] to help strengthen the
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global FSF Network.</p>
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<pre class="indent">
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[<a href="#anch_13" name="13">13</a>] <a href="http://www.x.org" target="_blank">http://www.x.org</a>
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[<a href="#anch_14" name="14">14</a>] <a href="http://www.fsfla.org" target="_blank">http://www.fsfla.org</a>
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</pre>
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<h3>Associates & Participants</h3>
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<p>This of course only became possible because FSFE itself grew
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considerably during the past two years. Besides Joachim Jakobs, who is
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handling media relations on a full-time basis, FSFE took on <a href="/about/maffulli/">Stefano
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Maffulli</a>, FSFE's Italian Coordinator, on a part-time basis. A recent
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addition to the team was <a href="/about/oriordan/">Ciaran O'Riordan</a>, who is currently working
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full-time for FSFE in Brussels on European Union issues, such as
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<a href="/projects/swpat" target="_blank">software patents</a>.</p>
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<p>Another important addition were the interns: Matthias Kirschner, who
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was with the FSFE for eight months, and Karsten Gerloff, who is
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currently in his third month working for FSFE. Both participated fully
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in the activities of FSFE: While Matthias Kirschner was deeply
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involved in the inception, planning and implementation of the
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Fellowship, [<a href="#15" name="anch_15">15</a>] Karsten Gerloff largely set up the Hamburg Office of
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FSFE and participated in the WIPO conferences, which he helped
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document and make accessible in his blog. [<a href="#16" name="anch_16">16</a>]</p>
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<p>Also, the network of associate organisations [<a href="#17" name="anch_17">17</a>] has grown again
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within the past two years to</p>
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<pre class="indent">
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AFFS, UK [<a href="#18" name="anch_18">18</a>]
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ANSOL, Portugal [<a href="#19" name="anch_19">19</a>]
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ASSOLI, Italy [<a href="#20" name="anch_20">20</a>]
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FFII, Germany [<a href="#21" name="anch_21">21</a>]
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FFIS, Germany [<a href="#22" name="anch_22">22</a>]
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FFS, Austria [<a href="#23" name="anch_23">23</a>]
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FSIJ, Japan [<a href="#24" name="anch_24">24</a>]
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Fundacion Via Libre, Argentina [<a href="#25" name="anch_25">25</a>]
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IFSO, Ireland [<a href="#26" name="anch_26">26</a>]
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OFSET, France [<a href="#27" name="anch_27">27</a>]
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Vrijschrift, Netherlands [<a href="#28" name="anch_28">28</a>]
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Wilhelmtux, Switzerland [<a href="#29" name="anch_29">29</a>]
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</pre>
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<p>of which IFSO was the latest addition. These associate organisations
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often play a critical role in the establishment and coordination of
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the national teams of FSFE.</p>
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<pre class="indent">
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[<a href="#anch_15" name="15">15</a>] <a href="/projects/fellowship/">http://fsfeurope.org/projects/fellowship/</a>
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[<a href="#anch_16" name="16">16</a>] <a href="http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/" target="_blank">http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/</a>
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[<a href="#anch_17" name="17">17</a>] <a href="/associates/">http://fsfeurope.org/associates/</a>
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[<a href="#anch_18" name="18">18</a>] <a href="http://www.affs.org.uk" target="_blank">http://www.affs.org.uk</a>
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[<a href="#anch_19" name="19">19</a>] <a href="http://www.ansol.org" target="_blank">http://www.ansol.org</a>
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[<a href="#anch_20" name="20">20</a>] <a href="http://www.softwarelibero.it" target="_blank">http://www.softwarelibero.it</a>
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[<a href="#anch_21" name="21">21</a>] <a href="http://www.ffii.org" target="_blank">http://www.ffii.org</a>
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[<a href="#anch_22" name="22">22</a>] <a href="http://www.ffis.de" target="_blank">http://www.ffis.de</a>
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[<a href="#anch_23" name="23">23</a>] <a href="http://www.ffs.or.at" target="_blank">http://www.ffs.or.at</a>
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[<a href="#anch_24" name="24">24</a>] <a href="http://www.fsij.org" target="_blank">http://www.fsij.org</a>
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[<a href="#anch_25" name="25">25</a>] <a href="http://www.vialibre.org.ar" target="_blank">http://www.vialibre.org.ar</a>
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[<a href="#anch_26" name="26">26</a>] <a href="http://www.ifso.ie" target="_blank">http://www.ifso.ie</a>
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[<a href="#anch_27" name="27">27</a>] <a href="http://www.ofset.org" target="_blank">http://www.ofset.org</a>
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[<a href="#anch_28" name="28">28</a>] <a href="http://www.vrijschrift.org" target="_blank">http://www.vrijschrift.org</a>
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[<a href="#anch_29" name="29">29</a>] <a href="http://www.wilhelmtux.ch" target="_blank">http://www.wilhelmtux.ch</a>
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</pre>
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<h3>Fellowship</h3>
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<p>After several months of preparation, the FSFE finally released its
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Fellowship [<a href="#30" name="anch_30">30</a>] campaign in late February 2005. The Fellowship is a
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community for digital freedom -- it is a way of raising your flag to
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show that you care about these issues and the easiest way of
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contributing to the ongoing work of FSFE both politically and
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financially to protect your freedom.</p>
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<p>All Fellows of FSFE get a login on the Fellowship portal, which is
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slowly evolving into a platform of communication, coordination and
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collaboration.</p>
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<p>Each Fellow also gets a personalised OpenPGP SmartCard with the
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possibility to have the keys signed by the Free Software Foundation
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Europe. This gives all Fellows a state of the art crypto token that
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allows Fellows to protect their own privacy and data as well as spread
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general awareness for these issues.</p>
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<p>Thanks to the success of the Fellowship, FSFE was able have Ciaran
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O'Riordan working full time in Brussels and further increase its
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activities -- sign up and protect your freedom! [<a href="#31" name="anch_31">31</a>]</p>
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<pre class="indent">
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[<a href="#anch_30" name="30">30</a>] <a href="http://fellowship.fsfe.org" target="_blank">http://fellowship.fsfe.org</a>
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[<a href="#anch_31" name="31">31</a>] <a href="http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join" target="_blank">http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join</a>
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</pre>
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<h3>Ongoing activities</h3>
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<p>There were numerous other activities FSFE has been working on during
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the past couple of years, from teaching at World Bank courses to
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working with local activists in various activities. In order to allow
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people to better follow the many things that are often happening in
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parallel, FSFE also established a monthly newsletter, which is the
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easiest way of remaining informed about FSFE's activities. [<a href="#32" name="anch_32">32</a>]</p>
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<pre class="indent">
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[<a href="#anch_32" name="32">32</a>] <a href="/news/newsletter.en.html">http://fsfeurope.org/news/newsletter.en.html</a>
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</pre>
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<h3>Shows/Talks</h3>
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<p>Being an educational effort as well as a political organisation, one
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of the permanent tasks for all people in FSFE is being present at
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trade shows and conferences, create and distribute information
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material, talk to people in various places and fora to inform them
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about Free Software and issues of freedom in the digital age.</p>
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<p>These are some of the places and events where FSFE did this work</p>
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<pre class="indent">
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ALANTEJO Party 2004, Evora, Portugal
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Banco Central do Brazil, Brasilia, Brazil
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BerLINux, Berlin, Germany
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Bilgi University, Istanbul, Turkey
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Chamber of Commerce, Vienna, Austria
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CONISLI, Sao Paulo, Brazil
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Computerworld Conference, Zurich, Switzerland
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DRM and alternatives, Berlin, Germany
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European Social Forum (ESF), London, UK
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FOSDEM, Brussels, Belgium
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Florence World Vision, Forence, Italy
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Free Software Forum, Porto Alegre, Brazil
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Free Software Seminar, Västerås, Sweden
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Free Software Summer Event, Caceres, Spain
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Free Software Workshop, Damascus, Syria
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Free Software in a Free Society, Sarajevo, Bosnia
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GNU/Linux Day in Bozen,
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GNU/Linux Infoday, European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium
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GNU/Linux World Expo, Milan, Italy
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GNU/LinuxTag, Karlsruhe, Germany
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Handelsblatt Conference, Berlin, Germany
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Instituto Bruno Leoni, Milan, Italy
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KDE Community World Summit, Ludwigsburg, Germany
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KIPA Free Software Conference, Seoul, South Korea
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LOTS Event, Berne, Switzerland
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LiMux Project Inauguration, Munich, Germany
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Linux World Expo & Conference Birmingham, UK
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Linux World Expo, Frankfurt, Germany
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LinuxForum, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Linuxwochen, Eisenstadt, Austria
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Linuxwochen, Linz, Austria
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Linuxwochen, Wien, Austria
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Ministry of Communication, Brasilia, Brazil
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National Congress, Montevideo, Uruguay
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National Technical University of Athens, Greece
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Nordic University Computer Club Conference, Uppsala, Sweden
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Red Hat World Tour, Munich, Germany
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Senate of Buenos Aires, La Plata, Argentina
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South Tyrol Free Software Conference, Bozen, Italy
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Summit of Italian Free Software Organizations, Avellino, Italy
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UN World Summit on the Information Society, Geneva, Switzerland
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UNCTAD expert meeting on Free Software, Geneva, Switzerland
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USUARIA conference, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Universita Bocconi, Milano, Italy
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University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Argentina
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University of Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
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University of Torino & UN WIPO, ITC-ILO, Torino, Italy
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WIPO IIM, Geneva, Switzerland
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WIPO PCIPD, Geneva, Switzerland
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Week of Digital Freedom, Rome, Italy
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Week of freedom road tour, Italy
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Wizards of OS, Berlin, Germany
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World Bank course at ITC-ILO, Torino, Italy
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World Social Forum (WSF), Porto Alegre, Brazil
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</pre>
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<h3>Outlook</h3>
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<p>FSFE is now growing out of the startup phase and find itself involved
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in many activities that are going to require attention for some time
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in the future -- like software patents, the case of Microsoft against
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the European Commission or the United Nations activities, such as a
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<a href="/projects/wipo/" target="_blank">reform of WIPO</a>.</p>
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<p>Having grown up now in many aspects, FSFE will need to consolidate its
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activities to make sure they will be sustainable for the next decade
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to come. At the same time, FSFE will need to increase its activities
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throughout Europe on the national and European Union level.</p>
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<p>Finding a balance between these two and finding more people who are
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willing to do and/or support this work will be a necessity in order to
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make this happen.</p>
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</body>
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<timestamp>$Date$ $Author$</timestamp>
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