147 lines
8.1 KiB
HTML
147 lines
8.1 KiB
HTML
<html newsdate="2016-08-08" type="newsletter">
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<version>1</version>
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<head>
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<title>FSFE Newsletter - August 2016</title>
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</head>
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<body microformats="h-entry">
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<h1 class="p-name">FSFE Newsletter - August 2016</h1>
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<h2 id="free-and-open-source-security-audit-in-the-eu-needs-feedback- from-free-software-communities">"Free and Open Source Security Audit"
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in the EU needs feedback from Free Software communities</h2>
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<p>The goal of the "Free and Open Source Security Audit" (FOSSA) pilot
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project is to increase the security of Free Software used by
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European institutions. The FSFE has been following the project since
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early 2014. Recently, the European Commission
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<a href="https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/eu-fossa/og_page/project-deliveries">
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published the first round of deliverables based on their
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interviews with stakeholders</a>. While the FSFE is in full support of
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this European initiative, the implementation of the project leaves us
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concerned. FOSSA's first analysis lacks an understanding of Free
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Software; it includes several factual errors; and it was based on poorly
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conducted general interviews. <a href="https://k7r.eu/fossa-now-we-need-feedback-by-the-real-experts/">FSFE President Matthias Kirschner</a> and
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<a href="https://creative-destruction.me/2016/07/11/eu-fossa-needs-your-help-a-free-software-community-call-to-action/">FSFE Fellowship
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Representative Mirko Böehm</a>, who were both interviewed for the project,
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have summarised the most evident shortcomings in the recent
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FOSSA publications. However, looking from another perspective: FOSSA is
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still in its first stages and with the help of more Free Software
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experts, we can get FOSSA going in the right direction. The FSFE will
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continue to closely follow FOSSA's upcoming implementations. In case you have
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any comments or feedback concerning the initiative, please do not
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hesitate to share your thoughts with us on our
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<a href="https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/discussion">
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discussion list</a> or directly to the attention of Matthias Kirschner.
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This way, we will make sure that all relevant concerns will be communicated
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to the EU.</p>
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<h2 id="italy-plans-to-stop-its-explicit-support-for-free-software-in-e-government">
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Italy plans to stop its explicit support for Free Software
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in e-Government</h2>
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<p>The government of Italy is planning to <a href="http://www.funzionepubblica.gov.it/articolo/riforma-della-pa/10-02-2016/codice-dellamministrazione-digitale">
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revise the provision in the Digital Administration Law that requires
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public administrations to prioritise reusable, Free Software-based
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software solutions</a>. The changes also concern the publication and
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maintenance of a list of open ICT standards that are used by public administrations. Following
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this proposal would mean the government will no longer require the national agency
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for the Digitisation of the Public Sector (AGID) to issue binding opinions on
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interoperability, or to prioritise Free Software. Members of the
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Italian Parliament have raised their concerns in regard to the proposed changes.
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FSFE's General Counsel Carlo Piana has previously
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<a href="/news/2014/news-20140116-01.html">advised
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Italian authorities on the guidelines of implementation of Digital Administration Law
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</a>, and contested the government's plans <a href="http://www.techeconomy.it/2016/07/07/bulgaria-open-italia-qualche-passo-dietro/">in his letter to Tech Economy</a> (in Italian).
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</p>
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<h2 id="from-the-community">From the community</h2>
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<ul>
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<li>Daniel Pocock explains security problems with SMS and phone
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verification, and asks
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how many mobile phone accounts will be hijacked
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this summer.</li>
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<li>Hannes Hauswedell explains how you can <a href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/h2/2016/07/27/retroactively-replacing-git-subtree-with-git-submodule/">
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retroactively replace git subtree with git submodule</a>.</li>
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<li>Polina Malaja sums up the creation of the European Cyber Security Organisation (ECSO) and
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<a href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/polina/2016/07/11/ec-free-software-to-enhance-cybersecurity/">
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explains why many security concerns can be significantly decreased by using Free
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Software as much as possible</a>.</li>
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<li>Daniel Pocock explains how you can help with
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monitoring packages in Debian and Ubuntu.</li>
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<li>Wolfgang Romey writes about <a href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/wromey/2016/07/16/anschlussfrage-warum-sind-nachhaltige-gerate-zudem-noch-technisch-ruckstandig/">
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the sustainability of technical devices and their need for Free Software</a> (German).</li>
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</ul>
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<h2 id="what-else-have-we-done">What else have we done?</h2>
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<ul>
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<li>Early this summer, the FSFE co-signed a letter in support of strong
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net neutrality together with 72 other organisations. The European Commission, however,
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seems to endorse the weak net neutrality demands proposed by the coalition
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of 17 biggest EU Internet Service Providers (ISP) in the so-called '5G manifesto'.
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Our policy analyst Polina Malaja <a href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/polina/2016/07/15/on-carrots-and-sticks-5g-manifesto/">blogged about the worrisome direction
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of watering down strong net neutrality in the name of 'innovation'</a>. </li>
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<li>Matthias gave a talk at the Technical University of Berlin about
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the importance of Free Software and presented some of the highlights of FSFE's work.</li>
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<li>FSFE's Italian team was present with a booth at Wikimania 2016 in Esino Larino, Italy.</li>
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</ul>
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<h2 id="take-action">Take action!</h2>
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<p>From August 1st, a new German law will allow users to freely choose
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their router device. The FSFE wants to ensure everybody knows about their new
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rights and is <a href="/news/2016/news-20160725-01.html">
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asking users to report cases in which internet service providers (ISP) try to
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avoid the new regulation</a>. The new regulation was designed to eliminate
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previous ambiguity around the practice of "compulsory routers"
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imposed on the users by ISPs. However, it is necessary to ensure that
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the new law is implemented.</p>
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<p>If you are a client of a German internet provider, we ask you to exercise
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your new right and start using an alternative device, ideally one that runs
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Free Software. Please provide us feedback whether you had any issues about
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running a new router and help us to collect it in our
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<a href="https://wiki.fsfe.org/Activities/CompulsoryRouters/Implementation/Germany">wiki page</a>.
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In case you don't have an alternative device at hand, the FSFE can also provide some testing devices.
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Please refer to our wiki page for more information on this.</p>
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<h2 id="good-free-software-news">Good Free Software news</h2>
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<p>The European Commission will <a href="https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/news/new-european-contest-promote-it-reuse">reward existing IT solutions
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that have been developed and shared by public administrations, and that
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can be further reused across Europe due to the use of Free Software licenses</a>.
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Adullact, the French organisation for public administrations using free
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software, set up Comptoir-du-Libre.org,<a href="https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/osor/news/new-site-promote-proven-open-source-ict-tools"> a website that aims to
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help public administrations’ IT decision-makers to switch to Free Software</a>.
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The city council of <a href="http://www.miciudadreal.es/2016/05/25/el-pleno-acuerda-caminar-hacia-el-software-libre/">the Spanish city of Ciudad Real voted in favor of a
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resolution to switch all 400 workstations of the city's administration
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to Free Software</a> (Spanish). The Open Knowledge Foundation Germany, in
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cooperation with the German Federal Ministry of Education and
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Research, started the <a href="https://prototypefund.de/en/">Prototype fund</a>, which supports Free Software
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projects with a grant of up to €30.000, available for anyone with primary residence in Germany.</p>
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<p>Thanks to all the <a href="/contribute/contribute.html">volunteers</a>,
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<a href="https://my.fsfe.org/donate">Fellows</a> and <a href="/donate/thankgnus.html">corporate donors</a> who enable our work,</p>
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<p>your editors Polina Malaja and Erik Albers, <a href="/index.html">FSFE</a></p>
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</body>
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<sidebar promo="about-fsfe"/>
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<date>
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<original content="2016-08"/>
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</date>
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<followup>donate</followup>
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<tags>
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<tag key="newsletter"/>
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</tags>
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</html>
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