SFP#16: Free Software in France with Hugo Roy

In this episode of the Software Freedom Podcast, Bonnie Mehring speaks with Hugo Roy about his long involvement with the FSFE. Hugo is also very active in the French Free Software community and gives us an overview of the standing of Free Software in France.

Hugo has been a volunteer for the FSFE for over 10 years now. Have you ever wondered what people inside the FSFE think about the organisation and how they see its development? In this podcast episode, Hugo and Bonnie talk about Hugo’s experiences as an intern and as a volunteer. Hugo has been a long-time activist for Free Software in France. Hugo and Bonnie talk about the understanding of Free Software in the public sphere and how it developed in recent years. This episode of the Software Freedom Podcast gives some insights into the framework of Free Software in France.

Read more:

• About Hugo Roy
• The FSFE's legal network
• OSOR report about France
• Etalab France

If you liked this episode and want to support our continuous work for software freedom, please help us with a donation.

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Librem 5: a PC in your pocket +++ Booths are back

In this issue we look into the software development of Librem 5 phone and of Phosh, the popular graphical environment for Linux phones. And booths are back! We are happy to discuss Free Software in person again.

A PC in your pocket: Librem 5, a Free Software phone

Librem 5 runs the fully convergent PureOS, which means you can take a mobile desktop with you within your phone. Its dedicated graphical environment, Phosh, is becoming a popular option for Linux phones. Guido Günther, FSFE supporter and one of Purism’s main developers, reveals details of Librem’s software development with us in our interview. Convergence, the ability to have almost the same OS in phones and laptops, benefits software development. Guido explains: “Using mostly the same components across devices helps avoid developing the same things twice, one for mobile and one for desktop. It allows people with knowledge of desktop Linux to find their way around right away [… and] to contribute more easily as it is the same technology stack.”

The FSFE is advocating for the publication of source code of drivers, tools, and interfaces for the ecodesign and sustainability of products. Over one hundred entities support this demand, and Guido confirms its importance for hardware sustainability: “Finding or writing Free Software drivers can be very challenging, especially when it comes to complex things like the GPU, as these are very complex devices. Similarly for software components in the camera stack. But having free drivers is a requirement for sustainability.” Finally, Guido recalls FrOSCon as a highlight of the FSFE local group Bonn.

Save the date

• On Friday 9 September, Francesco Bonnano, software developer, and Professor Michele Calà will present the ‘Public Money? Public Code!’ campaign in Caltanissetta. Join if you are nearby, or spread the word!

• From 30 September to 2 October, the FSFE, together with 11 other civil society organisations, is co-organising the Bits & Bäume 2022 (“Bits and Trees”) conference, the conference about digital sustainability. Besides technically organising the conference, the FSFE is also involved in creating content. Lucas Lasota speaks about “Device Neutrality: a sustainable way to safeguard control over digital devices”, Erik Albers about “4 Demands towards a sustainable European ecodesign”, and Matthias Kirschner gives a book reading on “Ada & Zangemann: A tale about software, skateboards and raspberry ice cream”. The FSFE local group Berlin supports our activities with an information booth there. Tickets are available now; drop by to discuss software freedom and sustainability!

• On Saturday 1 October, Lina Ceballos, FSFE Project Manager, will present REUSE at Akademy in Barcelona.

Back to the booths!

After a long time of restrictions in social gatherings, we were finally able to have two booths in the weekend of 20-21 August. The FSFE had a booth in the Open House event of the German Federal Ministry of Environment in Berlin. It was a booth full of people and energy, thanks to the overwhelming participation of the FSFE local group Berlin. More than five volunteers were on the spot throughout the weekend, explaining Free Software to the audience. At the booth we were presenting upcycled Android phones and explained how Free Software can help overcome software obsolescence. One highlight was the visit of State Secretary Rohleder to the booth. We demonstrated old phones that can still operate securely with Free Software.

During the same weekend the FSFE had a booth at one of Germany’s largest GNU/Linux conferences, FrOSCon in St. Augustin, Germany. The FSFE Women group joined and met there and discussed with members of the Open Office booth the process of converting software into Debian packages. Lina Ceballos presented REUSE in a talk.

Our groups and community

Aarhus: During their August meetup, the FSFE local group Aarhus followed the recent developments in Denmark regarding potential Free Software usage in schools. The Danish Data Protection Agency has, in reaction to a complaint from a parent, found that the use of Chromebooks and Google Classroom in schools in the municipality of Helsingør is unacceptable and unlikely to comply with General Data Protection Regulation.

The group also discussed the EU chat directive, translations into Danish, and types of conferences where ‘Public Money? Public Code!’ can be presented. The group will meet again on 22 September.

Hamburg: The FSFE local group Hamburg had its monthly meeting and will meet again on 12 September.

Netherlands: The FSFE country team Netherlands is starting an international coalition about Free Software in Education, coordinating its efforts with organisations who work on education IT. The team will meet again on 21 September.

Translators: The FSFE translators group met online in August. Bonnie Mehring gave a tutorial on using Git and guided new contributors into making their first pull request. Luca Bonissi demonstrated the webpreview tool. At the end of the meeting the participants enjoyed many rounds of charades, pondering upon confusing sketches.

In August we published the first pages translated into Turkish: Our general page about Free Software and why Democracy requires Free Software.

Vienna: The FSFE local group Vienna held an information stall at Veganmania on the Donauinsel, enjoying interesting conversations with people who wanted to learn about Free Software.

Zurich: The FSFE local group Zurich met in August and discussed the activities in the educational sector and division of responsibilities. The group will meet again on 8 September.

Get active

Since the launch of the “Public Money? Public Code!” initiative, it has grown a lot and experienced increasing support. Now there is a new and fun way of showing your support for “Public Money? Public Code!”. Create your own SharePic! It is easy: choose a picture of yourself, go to the SharePic generator, and add your support message. Ta-da: your personalised SharePic. Share the picture on your favourite social media using #PublicCode.

Contribute to our Newsletter

If you would like to share any thoughts, pictures, or news, please send them to us. As always, the address is newsletter@fsfe.org. We're looking forward to hearing from you! If you also want to support us and our work, join our community and support us with a donation or a monthly contribution. Thanks to our community and all the volunteers, supporters, and donors who make our work possible. And thanks to our translators, who enable you to read this newsletter in your native languages.

Your editor, Fani Partsafyllidou

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Broad alliance demands: Digitization must serve social and ecological change

A broad alliance of 13 organisations from the fields of environmental protection, digital policy, development cooperation and academia publishes a catalog of demands to show political solutions towards a more sustainable digital society. This as a prelude to the upcoming conference for digitization and sustainability "Bits & Bäume".

A broad alliance of 13 organizations from the fields of environmental protection and nature conservation, digital policy, development cooperation and academia demands: Digitization must be at the service of society and social and ecological change. This is what the organizations are calling for at the forthcoming conference on digitization and sustainability "Bits & Bäume", which will take place from September 30 to October 2, 2022 in Berlin. Today, the same organizations publish a catalog of demands that show political solutions towards a more sustainable digital society.

Digital technologies are double-edged. It is becoming increasingly clear how digital technologies are contributing to the increasing demand for resources worldwide and how facilitate monopolization tendencies across sectors. On the other hand, with use of Free Software, they can also help contributing to equal access and participation in technologies and help improving living conditions and environmental protection worldwide.

The organizations demand that politics align the strategic framework for digitization with the needs for nature, climate and resource protection and the preservation of biodiversity. Along with this, digitization must support a globally fair and sustainable economic system that enables everyone to participate while actively involving local communities and civil society groups in shaping the global digital economy and politics.

The big questions of digitization are discussed, including social participation, socio-ecological transformation, food sovereignty, economic order, common goods and a global peace order. Free Software comes as a basic technology for the demands made by the alliance because it is decisive for the longevity and reusability of hardware, gives users control over their technology and because it guarantees legally secure international cooperation and reuse while at the same time allowing local adaptation.

The demands form the prelude to the forthcoming conference for digitization and sustainability “Bits & Bäume”, which will take place from September 30 to October 2, 2022 in Berlin. The FSFE is part of the organisational committee, thus co-organiser. The program that has just been published offers exciting topics related to Free Software and the commons, and ticket sales have started.

More on the subject

• As shown in our recent Study on the sustainability of Free Software, the access and use of Free Software is crucial to the longevity of hardware. The longer we use this hardware, the fewer resources we need to produce new hardware.

• Our Upcycling Android Initiative helps users to take back control of their phones and use their phones longer.

• International development cooperation is also increasingly benefiting from the sustainability of Free Software. As shown in our article, Free Software is an indispensable basic technology that ensures legally secure international cooperation and reuse and enables global scaling with simultaneous local customization options.

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Support “Public Money? Public Code!” with a SharePic

Since the launch of the “Public Money? Public Code!” initiative, it has grown a lot and experienced an increase of support. Now there is a new and fun way of showing your support for “Public Money? Public Code!”. With the new SharePic-Template, everybody can show their support of the campaign.

For almost 5 years now the “Public Money? Public Code!” initiative has demanded that software for the public sector must be released under a Free Software license. Since 2017 a lot has happened. The Open Letter has been signed by over 210 organisations, by six public administrations, and over 33.000 individuals. Besides the support of the Open Letter people have also shown their support by translating the material of the initiative; the webpage, has been translated into 21 languages. Similarly, the “Public Money? Public Code!” brochure, which was just recently translated by a team of volunteers into Italian, so far has been translated to German, Czech, Brazilian Portuguese, and Spanish.

The “Public Money? Public Code!” initiative has grown immensely, and with the increasing support we have also created more and more promotional material for it. Among this are the brochure, stickers, and the ”Public Money? Public Code!” video. The newest addition to the material is the new “SharePic-Template” for “Public Money? Public Code!”. The SharePic, designed by Markus Meier, is now online on the FSFE’s Sharepic-generator. The SharePic can be used to show your support of “Public Money? Public Code!” in a fun way on your favourite social media channel.

To create your own SharePic is easy. All you need to do is to choose a picture of yourself and go to the SharePic-generator. There you can fill in all the information and your support message and then you are done and the SharePic is ready to go live. Start showing your support of “Public Money? Public Code!” by creating and sharing your own SharePic and most importantly have fun while doing so. Please use #PublicCode for sharing the picture on your favourite social media channel.

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The FSFE is looking for an intern to support policy activities

We are looking for a reliable and driven intern to support the FSFE's policy activities and contribute to our work to empower people to control technology. The person will work 35 hours per week with our team in the FSFE Berlin office for a six month period.

About the FSFE

Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to control technology. Software is deeply involved in all aspects of our lives and it is important that technology empowers rather than restricts us. Free Software gives everybody the rights to use, understand, adapt, and share software. These rights help support other fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press, and privacy.

The FSFE helps individuals and organisations to understand how Free Software contributes to freedom, transparency, and self-determination. It enhances users' rights by abolishing barriers to Free Software adoption, encourages people to use and develop Free Software, and provides resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software in Europe.

We are involved in many activities in the legal, economic, political, and technical areas around Free Software. Our work is made possible by a community of volunteers, supporters, donors, and staff.

We are looking for an intern

We are looking for a reliable and driven intern for our policy team. You will support the FSFE's activities and work closely with our team. Our internships are of great value to us, therefore we make sure to offer our interns the opportunity to learn about Free Software and how to carry out lobbying activities, as well as to meet and work with our vibrant community across Europe. The person will work 35 hours per week with our team in the FSFE Berlin office for a six month period.

Read more about our internships and what former interns say about it.

Main responsibilities

• Support FSFE policy projects like Public Money? Public Code! , among others;
• Conduct background research in the fields of politics, administrations, and economy;
• Assist our policy team with formulating policy positions on various issues;
• Communicate with contacts from the FSFE community, NGOs, industry, and public administrations;
• Work together with volunteers and others in the work on various projects;
• General office tasks.

Qualifications

• Background in economics, finance, political science, or related field;
• An interest in fiscal and economic policy topics, such as budget and tax policy;
• A good understanding of the European market and its regulation is an advantage;
• Industry specific knowledge of the ICT sector is an asset;
• Excellent spoken and written English, other European languages are considered an asset;
• Very reliable, well-organised, and supportive of colleagues.

Attitude

You care about social and political change for the next generations and you are interested in acquiring practical experience by learning from our different policy activities. We are looking for a reliable and well-organised team player who is interested in supporting the organisation in making the world better for future generations.

How to apply

To apply, please send a maximum one-page cover letter and a maximum two-page CV in PDF format by email to jobs@fsfe.org, with the subject "Intern position". Please do not include pictures of yourself in the application. There is no immediate closing date for submitting applications, but we recommend to apply as early as possible as applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Please indicate your possible starting date.

The position is for a period of 6 months, full time at 35 hours per week, starting as agreed. The location of the internship is Berlin, Germany. Therefore you will be required to show that you can legally work in Germany -- either by being an EU citizen or by having a residence and work permit for the duration. This internship is compensated according to the German minimum wage. Your personal data will be deleted 3 months after we have made our decision.

Free Software is meant to serve everyone regardless of their age, ability or disability, gender identity, sex, race, nationality, religion, or sexual orientation. Hence, we encourage applications from all backgrounds and promise to judge all applications on merit, without reference to any of the characteristics listed. To promote diversity and equality in the Free Software community, we shall give preference between applications of equal strength to applicants who identify as part of a traditionally marginalised demographic in technology.

You might be interested in

An internship in the FSFE can be an intensive yet enriching experience. We have asked eight of our former interns about their time at the FSFE. Get a glimpse of what to expect from this position in our interview with past interns.

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