484 lines
16 KiB
HTML
484 lines
16 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
|
|
<html newsdate="2021-06-25">
|
|
<version>1</version>
|
|
|
|
<head>
|
|
<title>20 Years FSFE: Interview with Torsten Grote</title>
|
|
</head>
|
|
|
|
<body>
|
|
|
|
<h1>20 Years FSFE: Interview with Torsten Grote</h1>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
In our fourth birthday publication we are interviewing Torsten
|
|
Grote, who explored Free Software alternatives on smartphones
|
|
for the FSFE as early as 2012. We reminisce about the emergence
|
|
of our Free Your Android campaign and discuss with Torsten
|
|
which options are available for liberating our phones today.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p></p>
|
|
|
|
<figure>
|
|
<img
|
|
src="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/2428e0d5718d202093340c681d818ecc.jpg"
|
|
/><figcaption>Torsten Grote, creator of the Free Your Android
|
|
campaign in the FSFE, conveys the message of 'Free Your Android' in
|
|
FISL15, the 15th Forum International Software Libre. 2014, Brazil.</figcaption>
|
|
</figure>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Torsten Grote is a Free Software developer and long time
|
|
volunteer in the FSFE. He started his journey of engagement in
|
|
the local group in Berlin, later joined the <a
|
|
href="https://wiki.fsfe.org/Teams/Germany">FSFE country team
|
|
Germany</a> and finally became <a href="/about/team.html">a GA
|
|
member</a> in 2009. In the FSFE, Torsten is best known for
|
|
being the creator of our <a href="/activities/android/">Free
|
|
Your Android</a>-campaign, the campaign about regaining control
|
|
of your Android device and your data. </p> <p>For many years
|
|
now, Torsten has lived in Brazil and has worked for different Free
|
|
Software projects from Tor to Briar to CalyxOS. He is an expert
|
|
in the field of phone liberation and creator of <a
|
|
href="https://f-droid.org/packages/de.grobox.blitzmail/">"Blitzmail"</a>
|
|
and <a
|
|
href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.grobox.liberario/">"Transportr"</a>,
|
|
both available in <a href="https://f-droid.org">F-Droid</a>.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
For 20 Years FSFE, we interview Torsten Grote about his time
|
|
with the FSFE, freedom on mobile devices, and upcoming
|
|
challenges in the field.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3 id="interview-with-Torsten-Grote">Interview with Torsten Grote</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<strong> FSFE: Do you remember your first contact with the FSFE? What
|
|
caught your initial attention and how did you get introduced
|
|
and active? </strong>
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<div class="answer">
|
|
<p>
|
|
<strong>Torsten Grote:</strong>
|
|
When I was studying computer science in university, I got increasingly
|
|
interested in the political and ethical aspects of software. Thus, I
|
|
discovered the FSFE that seemed to have regular meetings in Berlin
|
|
where I was living. I subscribed to their <a
|
|
href="https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/berlin">Berlin
|
|
mailing list</a> in 2007 and soon received an email about a
|
|
a meeting with a presentation about the first Free Software
|
|
mobile phone, the <a
|
|
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openmoko">Openmoko</a>.
|
|
Having heard about the Openmoko before, this got me really
|
|
excited and motivated me sufficiently to show up at this
|
|
meeting in person.
|
|
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<div class="answer">
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Arriving at my first FSFE meeting, I was warmly welcomed by
|
|
Matthias Kirschner who was coordinating the Berlin group back
|
|
then and is now the president of FSFE. There were lots of
|
|
friendly and likeminded people. I enjoyed the meeting a lot, so
|
|
that I become a regular participant for many years to come.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Through the meetings, but also special activities of the Berlin
|
|
group, I got more and more involved, joined the German team, and
|
|
got eventually <a
|
|
href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/torsten.grote/2009/06/01/i-won-the-ga-election/">elected
|
|
into FSFE's general assembly</a> in 2009.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<blockquote>
|
|
'Smartphones were just starting to become a thing. The first
|
|
iPhone came out around the same time as the OpenMoko and the
|
|
first Android phone a year later.'
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<figure>
|
|
<img
|
|
src="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/9fb9173c46409cbe2aeda14abdeda73c.jpg"
|
|
/> <figcaption> Torsten Grote and the rest of the FSFE team handing
|
|
over the Document Freedom Day Award in 2010 to Radio
|
|
Deutschlandfunk with the theme "rOGG on". The Document Freedom Day
|
|
was an FSFE campaign, designed and implemented to a great extent by
|
|
Fernanda Weiden. Fernanda also gave an <a
|
|
href="/news/2021/news-20210420-01.html">interview</a> to celebrate and
|
|
reflect on the FSFE's 20 year progress.</figcaption>
|
|
</figure>
|
|
|
|
<div class="question">
|
|
<p>
|
|
<strong>You came up with the 'Free your Android' idea in 2012. What
|
|
was the status of phone liberation back then? What was the
|
|
initial spark to create this campaign? </strong> </p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<div class="answer">
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
While the Openmoko was a great phone, its development
|
|
fragmented and eventually stopped. Few phones were actually
|
|
produced, but I managed to get one.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Smartphones were just starting to become a thing. The first
|
|
iPhone came out around the same time as the OpenMoko and the
|
|
first Android phone a year later. Most people had proprietary
|
|
feature phones and I had hoped that having the Openmoko
|
|
starting at the same time would give freedom a chance.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
After this, we saw many other mobile operating systems with
|
|
more or less Free Software, such as WebOS, Tizen, Maemo/MeeGo,
|
|
Ubuntu Touch, Firefox OS, and many more. However, so far none
|
|
managed to compete with today's duopoly.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<div class="question">
|
|
<p>
|
|
<strong>Later, the FSFE moved forward with your idea and pioneered
|
|
the idea of using Android as a base for a phone using only Free
|
|
Software. What were the initial efforts, and what were the issues users had
|
|
to overcome to achieve freedom on mobile devices? </strong>
|
|
</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<div class="answer">
|
|
<p>
|
|
To me it became apparent in 2012 that it would be very hard to
|
|
compete with Android. It had already a big market share and
|
|
most importantly, it was mostly Free Software. Since the
|
|
beginning, people took the source code and made their own
|
|
modified versions of Android, some becoming popular such as
|
|
Replicant or LineageOS.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
It might have been a risky bet to focus on Android, but it seemed the best
|
|
chance to bring more Free Software to people and it was important to ensure
|
|
that it stays free and to work to liberate its non-free bits.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<blockquote>'To me it became apparent in 2012 that it would be
|
|
very hard to compete with Android. It had already a big market
|
|
share and most importantly, it was mostly Free
|
|
Software.'</blockquote>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
The biggest challenge still exists today. It is the lower layers of the
|
|
device, the hardware drivers and the firmware that are still mostly not Free
|
|
Software.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Another challenge in the early days was installing a different version of
|
|
Android. Even for technical people this was quite difficult and could render
|
|
the device unusable. Today, some phones even allow their operating system to
|
|
be changed with your webbrowser by visiting a website.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<div class="question">
|
|
<p>
|
|
<strong>
|
|
DRM, locked devices, proprietary parts in initial flagship
|
|
cyanogenmod... How did the situation for users who like to put freedom
|
|
first on their mobile devices evolve since the initial start of the
|
|
campaign? After all, did the situation improve or worsen?
|
|
</strong>
|
|
</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<div class="answer">
|
|
<p>
|
|
I'd say the situation improved significantly. There's now more devices to
|
|
choose from, easier installation and many more apps now available
|
|
as
|
|
Free Software.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
However, there is also more use-cases like banking, ride-sharing or instant-
|
|
messages that are sometimes only available via a proprietary app and
|
|
due to their connection to a specific company they are hard to replace
|
|
with a general purpose Free Software solution.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<figure>
|
|
<img
|
|
src="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/thumb/bf8fe585b03c1eb743d0d85665e3671f@2x.jpeg"
|
|
/> <figcaption>'While the Openmoko was a great phone, its
|
|
development fragmented and eventually stopped. Few phones were
|
|
actually produced, but I managed to get one.' Torsten Grote holding
|
|
an Openmoko phone in 2008.</figcaption>
|
|
</figure>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<div class="question">
|
|
<p>
|
|
<strong>
|
|
The world of Custom-ROMs is hard to oversee and there are
|
|
many different developments from more or less known
|
|
entities being shared in different channels. What is your
|
|
recommendation for a newbie or where can an interested user
|
|
best start to learn more about Android alternatives?
|
|
</strong>
|
|
</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<div class="answer">
|
|
<p>
|
|
If you already have a phone that you want to install an
|
|
alternative Android version on, then LineageOS is a good start
|
|
since they support many devices. However, they do so by
|
|
including the same proprietary drivers and firmware that is
|
|
already on the device anyway.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
If you don't have a device yet, but plan to buy one, I suggest
|
|
to choose an Android version first and then buy a device that
|
|
is supported by it. Only Replicant is using 100% Free Software
|
|
here and thus supports only old devices.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Unfortunately, I am not aware of a single website that presents
|
|
and recommends various Android ROMs. Since the situation
|
|
changes frequently, this is hard to maintain. For example,
|
|
besides those mentioned already, there's now also CalyxOS
|
|
gaining popularity.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<blockquote>
|
|
'If you already have a phone that you want to install an
|
|
alternative Android version on, then LineageOS is a good start
|
|
since they support many devices.'
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<div class="question">
|
|
<p>
|
|
<strong>
|
|
You are also creator of two Free Software mobile apps that
|
|
are offered on f-droid. What role does f-droid play for
|
|
freedom on Android devices in current setups and what
|
|
developments do you expect / wish for or see coming
|
|
regarding distribution of free software on mobile devices?
|
|
</strong>
|
|
</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<div class="answer">
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
F-Droid is <strong>the</strong> distribution channel for Free
|
|
Software apps. Without it, you would need to find, install and
|
|
update apps manually. So it is a rather central piece in a free
|
|
mobile device.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
F-Droid is almost as old as Android itself. It has seen many
|
|
awesome contributors over the years that all helped to make it
|
|
what it is. But F-Droid has also aged and required substantial
|
|
work to get modernized. This kind of work is hard to do for
|
|
volunteer contributors that work without compensation in their
|
|
free time.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
There are now many forks and clones of the F-Droid app that
|
|
would benefit from having F-Droid libraries, so they could
|
|
share and maintain most the code together instead of each doing
|
|
their own thing.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Then there is this whole area of building and updating all apps
|
|
directly from their source code ideally reproducibile. Here, we
|
|
sometimes see large delays as this responsibility historically
|
|
lies with a single person.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
My wish for the future would be that F-Droid finds the
|
|
governance and funding to tackle these big issues to remain a
|
|
viable alternative to Google Play.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<div class="question">
|
|
<p>
|
|
<strong>
|
|
What is your personal highlight with the FSFE or an
|
|
important thing that you learnt from your work at the FSFE?
|
|
</strong>
|
|
</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<div class="answer">
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
My highlight with FSFE were always the in-person meetings,
|
|
especially those of the general assembly that would meet in a
|
|
different European country each time. We were discussing Free
|
|
Software strategy by day and partying together by night. It was
|
|
impressive to see how we always managed to establish a
|
|
consensus between all members on organizational questions.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<figure>
|
|
<img
|
|
src="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/thumb/4040b50c3e4b65eed8ec813872a16fcf@2x.jpeg"
|
|
/> <figcaption>Since many years now Torsten lives in Brazil and
|
|
works for different Free Software projects from Tor to Briar to
|
|
CalyxOS.</figcaption>
|
|
</figure>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<div class="question">
|
|
<p>
|
|
<strong>
|
|
And what is a story that still makes you laugh or smile
|
|
when you remember it?
|
|
</strong>
|
|
</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<div class="answer">
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
When FSFE started its Free Your Android campaign, I had a big
|
|
smile over my two ears to see the huge media echo it caused
|
|
like few FSFE campaigns before. I was glad to see that it had
|
|
hit a nerve and even the subway news monitors in Berlin had
|
|
picked it up.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Years later, some F-Droid contributors confessed that they only
|
|
got involved and spend many years improving F-Droid and adding
|
|
more apps, because they had been motivated to join this work by
|
|
the Free Your Android campaign. It is great to see what impact
|
|
a few motivated people can have if they dedicate themselves to
|
|
a cause.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<div class="question">
|
|
<p>
|
|
<strong>FSFE: As a last question, what do you wish the FSFE
|
|
for the next 20 years?</strong>
|
|
</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<div class="answer">
|
|
<p>
|
|
I wish that FSFE will continue to be a strong and respected NGO
|
|
with an even bigger staff that will be able to educate the
|
|
public as well as more and more European politicians about the
|
|
importance of Free Software, so that we can participate in all
|
|
aspects of society without having to use proprietary software.
|
|
Furthermore, I wish that this will lead to all public software
|
|
spending going exclusively towards Free Software.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<div class="question">
|
|
<p>
|
|
<strong>FSFE: Thank you very much!</strong>
|
|
</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3>About "20 Years FSFE"</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
In 2021 the Free Software Foundation Europe turns 20. This means
|
|
two decades of <a href="/about/about.html">empowering users to
|
|
control technology</a>.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<figure>
|
|
<img
|
|
src="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/53aeebdafa0a0c83324dcafc1e4bef1c.png"
|
|
alt="Banner with FSFE 20 years. FSFE since 2001" />
|
|
</figure>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Turning 20 is a time when we like to take a breath and to look back
|
|
on the road we have come, to reflect the milestones we have passed,
|
|
the successes we have achieved, the stories we have written and
|
|
the moments that brought us together and that we will always
|
|
joyfully remember. In 2021 we want to give momentum to the
|
|
FSFE and even more to our pan-European community, the community
|
|
that has formed and always will form the shoulders that our
|
|
movement relies on.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<strong>20 Years FSFE is meant to be a celebration of everyone who
|
|
has accompanied us in the past or still does. Thank you for
|
|
your place in the structure of the FSFE today and for setting
|
|
the foundation for the next decades of software freedom to come. </strong>
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
</body>
|
|
|
|
<tags>
|
|
<tag key="front-page"/>
|
|
<tag key="interview">Interview</tag>
|
|
<tag key="fsfe20">20 Years FSFE</tag>
|
|
</tags>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<discussion href="https://community.fsfe.org/t/700"/>
|
|
<image url="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/2428e0d5718d202093340c681d818ecc.jpg"/>
|
|
|
|
</html>
|