159 行
5.8 KiB
HTML
159 行
5.8 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
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<html newsdate="2015-01-05" type="newsletter">
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<head>
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<title>FSFE Newsletter - January 2015</title>
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</head>
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<body class="newsletter article" microformats="h-entry" id="nl-201501">
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<h1 class="p-name">FSFE Newsletter – January 2015</h1>
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<h2>A revolution</h2>
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<p newsteaser="yes">
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The Earth has once again completed a full, customarily counted
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revolution. Here at FSFE we have been busy throughout 2014, working hard
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to ensure that users remain in control of their devices and that Free
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Software may once compete on a level playing field for public tenders.
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More information, including the extent of our limited success and our
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future prospects, on both these issues and our other frontiers may be
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found in our <a href="/news/2014/news-20141218-02.html">annual report for 2014</a>,
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penned by our President <a href="/about/gerloff">Karsten Gerloff</a>.
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</p>
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<p>
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In addition to providing a comprehensive overview of our activities in
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2014, Karsten finishes the report with a sneak peek of the challenges
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we are going to face and overcome in revolution 2015.
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For instance, we intend to build on the success of the
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<a href="http://freesoftwarepact.eu/">Free Software Pact</a> to spread
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awareness about Free Software among both the elected representatives of
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the European citizenry and the unelected bureaucrats of the executive
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branch.
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</p>
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<p>
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We also intend to invest more in our local volunteers and Fellowship
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groups. We are hopeful that not only will we reach a wider audience and
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have a greater impact with increased local participation, but this will
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also be much more fun for everyone involved.
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</p>
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<h2>Fellowship elections</h2>
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<p>
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FSFE has a bit less than 1500 <a href="/fellowship/">Fellows</a> or
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sustaining members. In addition to receiving
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<a href="/fellowship/about/fellowship.html#youget">certain benefits</a>
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useful for digital activists, all of them have a say in the governance
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of the FSFE. This right is exercised by
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<a href="/about/legal/constitution.html#id-fellowship-seats">electing</a>
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representatives to the General Assembly, the highest decision-making
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body of FSFE. Your temporary editor will have served his term as a
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Fellowship Representative by this spring, and hence a new Representative
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will be elected by the orderly Fellows from February 20th to March 6th
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2015, 12pm.
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</p>
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<p>
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Your outgoing Representative would like to take this opportunity to
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invite all our Fellows to partake in the elections. The General Assembly
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is responsible for making all strategic decisions for FSFE, and all
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Fellows, whether true idealists or business-minded pragmatists, have
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the same right to affect our future growth and direction, so please do
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so.
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</p>
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<h2>EU: the good and the bad</h2>
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<p>
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On December 17, 2014, the European Parliament adopted the EU budget for
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2015. We are very happy to report that thanks to the efforts of MEPs
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Julia Reda (Pirates) and Max Andersson (Greens), the Parliament has
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allocated up to a million euros to audit Free Software used by the
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European Parliament and Commission. We hope that the institutions
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concerned will closely work with upstream developers to best benefit
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the public. We also welcome
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<a href="/news/2014/news-20141219-01.html">further allocations</a>
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that aim to allow equal participation in the digital society.
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</p>
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<p>
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Unfortunately, we must still call upon EU institutions to make use of
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Open Standards and Free Software, as a recent study prepared for the
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Greens/EFA
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<a href="/news/2014/news-20141212-01.html">has found</a> that the EU
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Parliament falls woefully short of its democratic obligations to ensure
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transparency and openness. Among other shortcomings the parliamentarians
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lack access to a standards-compliant e-mail solution.
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</p>
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<h2>Something completely different</h2>
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<ul>
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From the planet aggregation:
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<li>
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Paul Boddie writes about the
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‘<a href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/pboddie/?p=802">unplanned obsolescence</a>’
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of early Fairphone devices, justifiedly arguing that Fairphone's
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decision to overlook or deprioritize hardware support for Free
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Software was unwise considering the abundance of information available
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on the lack of hardware support for Free Software.
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</li>
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<li>
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Otto Kekäläinen
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<a href="http://seravo.fi/2014/password-hygiene-every-mans-responsibility">writes</a>
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about password management while recognizing that people are not
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storage media. Otto's piece is an excellent read when taken with a
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pinch of salt.
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</li>
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<li>
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Nico Rikken contemplates the right to make bad choices in his piece
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‘<a href="http://nicorikken.eu/blog/optional-rights/">Optional rights</a>’.
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</li>
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</ul>
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<p>
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2015 will bring a new etiquette to our Fellowship Planet. A proposed
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draft will be presented to the Fellows for consultation at the earliest
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convenience.
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</p>
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<h2>Get active: spread free software</h2>
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<p>
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The gift giving season has just ended. No doubt you have a friend or
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relative unfortunate enough to have been given a computer bundled with
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non-free software as a gift. Help them install a free GNU/Linux
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distribution or <a href="http://www.replicant.us/">Replicant</a>.
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</p>
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<p>
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Thanks to all the <a href="/contribute/contribute.html">volunteers</a>,
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<a href="http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join">Fellows</a> and
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<a href="/donate/thankgnus.html">corporate donors</a> who enable our
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work,<br />
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<a href="/about/ojasild">Heiki Ojasild</a><br />
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Fellowship Representative, <a href="http://www.fsfe.org">FSFE</a>
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</p>
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</body>
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<sidebar promo="about-fsfe" />
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<author id="repentinus" />
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<date>
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<original content="2015-01-05" />
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</date>
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<followup>donate</followup>
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<tags>
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<tag>newsletter</tag>
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</tags>
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</html>
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