Consider donating your conference budget

The biggest financial impact the FSFE faces in these times of physical distancing is the cancellation of Free Software conferences, including our own events. To keep the software freedom movement solid and alive, please consider to donate a part of your conference budget to Free Software organisations, including the FSFE.

Last week we wrote about how the SARS-CoV-2 virus affects the FSFE. Booths and talks have been some of the main channels over which we inform people about software freedom and the FSFE’s work. Losing these due to cancellation of events also means a heavily limited visibility for our topics and our organisation.

For example, last year we participated in over 60 events in 11 European countries. This is more than one per week on average, with every event contributing to spreading our message and growing our community. These events are some of our best opportunities to explain and discuss Free Software issues in personal conversations. This is the same situation with our information material and merchandise: last year, we sent out over 800 information material packages around the world and sold over 1.100 shirts and hoodies. For the last few weeks we are no longer able to participate in events or effectively handle requests for our information materials and merchandise - and it is unclear how long this situation will last.

In the case of our events, like the annual Legal and Licensing Workshop or the “Public Money? Public Code!” conference, it is a direct financial burden we take due to missing sponsorships, non-refundable costs and work that we have already invested.

In a time when humanity needs to work together to find solutions for a crisis, we cannot afford to reinvent the wheel again and again. Global problems need global solutions! It is Free Software that enables global cooperation for code development. We will keep doing our best for software freedom and humanity, even while staying home. We will keep our campaigns running and start new ones, take part in consultations, produce our Software Freedom Podcasts and inform more on our digital channels.

We know these are difficult times for everyone: many others are struggling as well, and some even more seriously. But if you are in the position to do so, please support the future of our movement by donating a part of your conference budget to organisations for software freedom; including the FSFE.

In these difficult times specifically, but also in general, we would like to thank our volunteers who form the foundation of the FSFE with their invaluable contributions, and our supporters and donors who enable our work for Free Software.

Your help is highly appreciated. Thank you so much!

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Software Freedom Podcast #5 about regulation with Professor Lawrence Lessig

For our Software Freedom Podcast we talk with people who have inspiring ideas about software freedom. In this episode, we talk with Professor Lawrence Lessig, founder of Creative Commons, about regulation of society, offline as well as online, about the different means of regulation, and shed light on regulations through code.

This fifth episode of the Software Freedom Podcast covers the complicated topic of regulation. Our guest is Professor Lawrence Lessig from the Harvard Law School. Lessig is a former board member of the Free Software Foundation and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, as well as founder and present Board member of Creative Commons. Lessig has published several books, including the influential and often-quoted "Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace". In this episode we discuss with Professor Lessig the different types of regulation that affect society both online and offline, such as laws, norms, the market, or architecture. In this respect we also touch upon code as a means of regulation. Enjoy learning about the positive and negative effects that some of these regulations can have on society, as well as the further development of ideas.

Katharina Nocun, Lawrence Lessig and Matthias Kirschner while recording the Software Freedom Podcast.

Read more:

Professor Lawrence Lessig Books from Professor Lawrence Lessig Free Software Foundation Creative Commons Copyright What is Free Software? The four freedoms of Free Software

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

Support FSFE

Software Freedom Podcast #5 about regulation with Professor Lawrence Lessig

For our Software Freedom Podcast we talk with people who have inspiring ideas about software freedom. In this episode, we talk with Professor Lawrence Lessig, founder of Creative Commons, about regulation of society, offline as well as online, about the different means of regulation, and shed light on regulations through code.

This fifth episode of the Software Freedom Podcast covers the complicated topic of regulation. Our guest is Professor Lawrence Lessig from the Harvard Law School. Lessig is a former board member of the Free Software Foundation and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, as well as founder and present Board member of Creative Commons. Lessig has published several books, including the influential and often-quoted "Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace". In this episode we discuss with Professor Lessig the different types of regulation that affect society both online and offline, such as laws, norms, the market, or architecture. In this respect we also touch upon code as a means of regulation. Enjoy learning about the positive and negative effects that some of these regulations can have on society, as well as the further development of ideas.

Katharina Nocun, Lawrence Lessig and Matthias Kirschner while recording the Software Freedom Podcast.

Read more:

Professor Lawrence Lessig Books from Professor Lawrence Lessig Free Software Foundation Creative Commons Copyright What is Free Software? The four freedoms of Free Software

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

Support FSFE

Software Freedom Podcast #5 about regulation with Professor Lawrence Lessig

For our Software Freedom Podcast we talk with people who have inspiring ideas about software freedom. In this episode, we talk with Professor Lawrence Lessig, founder of Creative Commons, about regulation of society, offline as well as online, about the different means of regulation, and shed light on regulations through code.

This fifth episode of the Software Freedom Podcast covers the complicated topic of regulation. Our guest is Professor Lawrence Lessig from the Harvard Law School. Lessig is a former board member of the Free Software Foundation and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, as well as founder and present Board member of Creative Commons. Lessig has published several books, including the influential and often-quoted "Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace". In this episode we discuss with Professor Lessig the different types of regulation that affect society both, online and offline, such as laws, norms, the market, or architecture. In this respect we also touch upon code as a means of regulation. Enjoy learning about the positive and negative effects that some of these regulations can have on society, as well as the further development of ideas.

Read more:

Professor Lawrence Lessig Books from Professor Lawrence Lessig Free Software Foundation Creative Commons Copyright What is Free Software? The four freedoms of Free Software

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

Support FSFE

COVID-19 Hackathons: Only Free Software creates global solutions

Currently we see a lot of hackathons to find tools that help tackle the crisis of pandemic COVID-19. More and more governments and administrations are hosting or funding such hackathons. To make sure that the results of these hackathons can be used globally and adapted locally - that the software can be used, studied, shared and improved everywhere - the FSFE asks to publish the outcomes under a Free Software licence.

Breaking the chain of COVID-19 infections and alleviating its dramatic impacts are of top priority within our societies. Software is inherently connected to achieve these goals, from 3D printing ventilators to tracking potential outbreaks or organising solidarity within communities. During the last weeks we have seen virtual hackathons being organised to help find and fund solutions that tackle the COVID-19 crisis. For the time being only some of them are published under a Free Software licence, also called Open Source Software or Libre Software licence, meaning that these solutions can be used, studied, shared and improved by everyone around the world.

Meanwhile, more and more European governments and administrations are hosting virtual hackathons to help develop new tools. While some of them are explicitly supporting Free Software solutions only, like the WirVsVirus hackathon others are not mentioning their licence at all - like EUvsVirus initiated by the European Commission or Global Hack, funded by StartUpEU, making it difficult or impossible to reuse the software in other parts of the world.

In a time when humanity needs to work together to find solutions for a crisis, we cannot afford to reinvent the wheel again and again for software that helps us tackle the spread of COVID-19. Global problems need global solutions! It is Free Software that enables global cooperation for code development. Any proprietary solution will inevitably lead to countless isolated solutions and waste energy and time which we as humanity cannot afford in such a critical situation.

Besides global cooperation, Free Software licences allow sharing of code in any jurisdiction. Solutions developed in one country can be reused and adapted in another one. International development agencies and humanitarian movements can help to contain the spread of COVID-19 in any country around the world with the availability of Free Software solutions.

Already before this crisis hundreds of organisations and tens of thousands of people demanded that publicly financed software developed for the public sector must be made publicly available under Free Software licences. It is now even more important than ever before to tackle this crisis.

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