L’édition 2024 de la compétition Youth Hacking 4 Freedoom démarre

Les inscriptions sont désormais ouvertes pour l’édition 2024 de Youth Hacking 4 Freedom, le concours de codage destiné aux jeunes Européens. Ce concours donne aux adolescents la possibilité de coder leur propre projet - seul ou en équipe - de se faire de nouveaux amis dans toute l’Europe et de gagner jusqu’à 4 096 euros !

Après deux éditions réussies, Youth Hacking 4 Freedom, le concours de codage de la Free Software Foundation Europe pour les jeunes Européens, ouvre les inscriptions pour sa troisième édition. YH4F 2024 démarre le 7 décembre avec un événement en ligne pour répondre aux questions des participants avant que la période de codage ne commence en janvier 2024. Plus de 10 000 euros en espèces seront attribués aux six gagnants de l’édition 2024. 4096 € pour la première place, 2048 € pour la deuxième place, 1024 € pour la troisième place et des prix spéciaux seront distribués. En outre, tous les participants qui soumettent un projet recevront le prix de participation YH4F.

L’objectif de ce concours est de rassembler des jeunes de toute l’Europe intéressés par le codage, quel que soit leur niveau actuel en la matière. Pendant six mois, les participants - qui doivent être âgés de 14 à 18 ans au moment de l’inscription - auront la possibilité de travailler sur leur propre projet de logiciel libre, seuls ou en équipe.

Les participants doivent s’inscrire pour participer au concours qui débutera le 7 décembre par un événement en ligne expliquant les détails du même. Cet événement de lancement est une excellente occasion pour tous ceux qui pourraient avoir des doutes quant à leur participation d’obtenir des réponses à leurs questions et de comprendre le fonctionnement de ce concours et les raisons pour lesquelles toute personne, quelles que soient ses compétences en matière de codage, est plus que bienvenue pour y participer.

Lorsque la période de codage débutera le 1er janvier 2024, les participants auront la possibilité de travailler sur leurs projets pendant six mois, jusqu’au 30 juin 2024, date à laquelle ils devront soumettre leurs projets. Une inscription tardive est possible, de même qu’une modification de l’idée originale du projet, mais la période de codage ne sera pas prolongée.

Au cours de ces six mois, les participants auront également l’occasion de rencontrer d’autres jeunes Européens qui partagent leurs intérêts et, très probablement, leurs défis en matière de codage. Des réunions mensuelles facultatives en ligne seront organisées pour guider les participants tout au long de la période de codage et leur apprendre à mener à bien un projet de logiciel libre, à tirer parti des expériences des participants précédents et à obtenir des conseils de la part des membres expérimentés de notre jury.

En juillet et août 2024, un jury international d’experts techniques examinera les projets et les gagnants seront notifiés en septembre 2024 et officiellement annoncés lors du week-end de la cérémonie de remise des prix à Bruxelles en octobre 2024.

Èvenement d’ouverture – 7 December

Lors de l’événement d’ouverture en ligne du 7 décembre, les organisateurs du concours YH4F expliqueront en détail ce qui est attendu des participants et répondront à leurs questions. En outre, les participants auront la possibilité de poser des questions aux participants des éditions précédentes, qui expliqueront leur expérience dans le cadre de ce concours.

Sur le site web du YH4F vous trouverez de plus amples informations sur l’inscription, l’événement d’ouverture et le concours en général. Si vous avez des questions, vous pouvez toujours nous contacter à l’adresse contact@fsfe.org.

Sponsor 2024 Youth Hacking 4 Freedom

Le concours 2023 a pu être organisé grâce au financement généreux de Reinhard Wiesemann et du Linuxhotel GmbH.

Si vous souhaitez sponsoriser l’édition 2024 ou les éditions futures de YH4F, veuillez nous contacter à l’adresse contact@fsfe.org.

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German Parliament receives Upcycling Android Open Letter

On 14 November, the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) handed over the Open Letter “The right to install any software on any device" to Tabea Rößner, Chair of the Digital Affairs Committee at the German Bundestag. The letter aims to enable a more sustainable use of electronic products and devices in the European Union.

To achieve this goal, the Open Letter sets out four key demands:

1. Users have the right to freely choose operating systems and software running on their devices
2. Users have the right to freely choose between service providers to connect their devices with
3. Devices are interoperable and compatible with open standards
4. Source code of drivers, tools, and interfaces are published under a free license

Signed by more than 3000 individuals and by 147 organisations, the Open Letter to European Union legislators was presented on 14 November to the Chair of the Digital Affairs Committee (Ausschuss für Digitales) at the German Bundestag, by a delegation from the FSFE.

Rößner announced that she would hand over the Open Letter to Steffi Lemke, Germany's Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection.

About Upcycling Android

Launched in November 2021, under the name “Upcycling Android", this FSFE initiative has also helped people to flash their phones with Free Software operating systems. This not only promotes the right of any user to install any software on any device, but also enables a more sustainable use of electronic products.

Even after the project has officially ended, the Upcycling Android material can be freely used by others who want to continue promoting the use of Free Software while overcoming software obsolescence.

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SFSCON 2023 +++ YH4F winners +++ REUSE goes to space

Our yearly report, Software Freedom in Europe 2023, is out. At the YH4F award ceremony, we learned about the awesome projects from this edition's winners, our team went to Bolzano to SFSCON, and we are happy to find out how the REUSE specification keeps on helping developers, such as the ones at the German Aerospace Center. Find these and other stories in our November issue!

Table of contents

1. Software Freedom in Europe 2023
2. Find out about our YH4F second edition winners!
3. REUSE goes to space!
4. Fediverse Symposium: Recordings are now online
5. Meeting of the General Assembly
6. From our Community
7. FSFE Code of Conduct
8. Quote of the Month
9. Contribute to our Newsletter

Software Freedom in Europe 2023

Our yearly report is out! In 2023, Software Freedom has been back on stage, while we have boosted our activities for the coming generations with our children’s book and the coding competition for young Europeans. We have also continued to bring our demands to lawmakers, helped projects to become REUSE compliant, and shared many great moments with our community.

Read our report!

Find out about our YH4F second edition winners!

A real-time plotter for micro-controllers, a classroom quiz platform, a radio tool, a device that provides bags to pick up your dog’s poo, a game engine to help non-programmers develop their ideas, and a program to search for a file on your computer by its hash. These are the six projects that won the 2023 edition of Youth Hacking 4 Freedom.

REUSE goes to space!

The German Aerospace Center has adopted the REUSE specification in some of its projects. We have talked to Tobias Schlauch, research software engineer at the DLR, about the role of Free Software for research, innovation, and the importance of a clear understanding and displaying of the legal information of software projects. He highlights the special contributions that REUSE has to offer for software development but also for research.

Fediverse Symposium: Recordings are now online

More than 70 people came together, in Cologne on 22 September, to get an insight into the Fediverse and to discuss the importance of decentralised social networks for our society. If you were not able to join our Fediverse Symposium or want to re-watch the talks, we now have the German-language recordings on our PeerTube instance for you!

SFSCON: What a great experience!

Last Friday and Saturday, the FSFE team participated in SFSCON23. We had a great time and we really loved both the environment and the ideas that were circulating. It was also a great chance to meet the Italian Free Software community, with volunteers and friends we haven’t seen in a long time.

The European SFS Award was awarded during SFSCON to Frank Karlitscheck, founder of Nextcloud, a remote collaboration tool for teams under the GNU AGPL. This is the first time that the SFS Award has been extended to the European level, and FSFE joins its organiser Linux User Group Bolzano (LUGBZ) in this recognition.

Stay tuned on our channels to know more about what happened during SFSCON!

From our Community

A lot of things happened in our Planet in recent weeks! Check out the experience of our Vienna local group with an FSFE booth at the 25th anniversary of the Veganmania or the post about Ada, and Promote Digital Maturity by reading books to others.

In October many Italian communities gathered to celebrate Linux Day! From Palermo to Milan, enthusiasts as well as newcomers from various Italian cities met to explore topics related to Linux and Free Software, and of course to hear more readings of ‘Ada & Zangemann’! If you want to get involved or just stay informed about the activities organised by the Italian FSFE community, the Italian FSFE Team would love to welcome you.

The members of the Free Software Foundation Europe held their General Assembly on 21 and 22 October at Linuxhotel in Essen. This annual meeting is held to discuss the course for the overall direction of the organization. Among other things the current Executive Council was re-elected: Matthias Kirschner as President, Heiki Lõhmus as Vice President, and Patrick Ohnewein as Financial Officer.

And some last big news! You can now watch -and share- our “What is Free Software” video in Albanian and Finnish! You can find them in our What is Free Software playlist. Thanks to our supporters for making this happen!

FSFE Code of Conduct

The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) and its community aim to offer a friendly and peaceful environment for every participant at the FSFE's events, online and offline.

Therefore, we are committed to ensuring welcoming and respectful environments for our staff, volunteers, and participants, and we will uphold our Code of Conduct. Misbehaviour can lead to exclusion from our events and/or our technical infrastructure.

If you have been in a situation in which the spirit of the Code of Conduct was breached, please be in touch with our central CARE team.

Quote of the Month

“Four decades of the free software movement have put us today in the position to widely deploy software that gives people rights with respect to the critical technology they rely on. The next 40 years is critical. I'm confident the diversity of voices and organizations working together will make it possible to achieve the hard work and vision of the movement's ideals, democratizing our technology and instituting ethical software for all of our essential infrastructure.”

Karen Sandler, Executive Director of the Software Freedom Conservancy (from her testimony for the GNU 40th anniversary)

Contribute to our Newsletter

We would love to hear from you. If you have any thoughts, pictures, or news to share, please send them to us at newsletter@fsfe.org. You can also support us, contribute to our work, and join our community. We would like to thank our community and all the volunteers, supporters, and donors who make our work possible, with a special mention to our translators who make it possible for you to read this newsletter in your mother tongue.

Your editor, Ana Galán

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Belgium commits to Router Freedom

The Belgian telecom regulator BIPT formally introduced Router Freedom. The decision encompasses all network types including fiber (FTTx) and the decision sets a deadline of twelve months for becoming compliant. The FSFE acknowledges this decision as a major win for consumer rights, and will monitor further implementation.

Router Freedom is the right that customers of any Internet Service Provider (ISP) are able to choose and use a private modem and router instead of equipment provided by the operator. This freedom has direct impact on consumer welfare, device security, and sustainability in the telecom sector. In a decision published on October 2023, the Belgian telecom regulator BIPT formally introduced Router Freedom nation wide, applying this right to all network types, including fiber (FTTx).

In a comprehensive analysis, the regulator confirmed its previous proposal to set the position of the Network Termination Point (NTP) at Point A, meaning that end-users will be able to use routers and modems of their choice. The regulator rebuked the arguments of telecom operators who claim that Router Freedom would have a negative impact on the interoperability and security of the network.

The decision of the BIPT explicitly recognised Router Freedom for fiber networks in the EU. Although other regulators have considered this freedom in general terms for all network types, operators have been pushing for exceptions for fiber in order to push their own optical terminal equipment (ONT) onto consumers. The BIPT dismissed the exception of fiber networks, arguing in favour of the same definition of the NTP for all topologies. ISPs will have twelve months to come infrastructure to come into compliance.

Community support was paramount

T"The BIPT recognised the demands of the FSFE and quoted us in several parts of their analysis, referring inclusively to our monitoring map. A network of supporters, volunteers, and supporting organisations in Belgium empowered the expert contribution of the FSFE to the regulatory process. We relied on the support of the FSFE Benelux team, who proactively monitored and supported communication with the regulator. Besides that, our partners in Italy helped us provide prompt repsonses when the regulator required further input regarding the certification procedures for router interoperability in Italy.

Practical implementation requires proper monitoring

As we point out in our recently published comprehensive survey on Router Freedom, even in countries where Router Freedom is regulated, end-users suffer several hurdles to use their own equipment. Operators contractually prohibit the use of private equipment or impose disproportional disadvantages to users with private routers. The operators often do not inform end-users about access credentials device compatibility with the network and customers often do not receive the same level of service compared to customers who use the operators’ routers.

The FSFE will closely follow up on the implementation and further monitor future developments. We urge the BIPT to do the same and strictly intervene in non-compliant cases.

Further material

• The FSFE position to public consultation of the BIPT (EN) (NL)
• The BIPT decision on the position of the NTP (NL)

The Router Freedom initiative

Router Freedom is the right that customers of any Internet Service Provider (ISP) are able to choose and use a private modem and router instead of equipment provided by the operator. Since 2013, the Free Software Foundation Europe has been successfully engaged with Router Freedom, promoting end-users’ freedom in many European countries. Join us and learn more about the several ways to get involved. Please consider becoming a FSFE donor; you help make possible our long-term engagement and professional commitment in defending people’s rights to control technology.

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Interoperable Europe Act: an ambition that turned out to be watered-down

Decision makers are meeting to agree on the final text of the Interoperable Europe Act (IEA). There is a concerning wording related to giving priority to Free Software when implementing interoperable solutions and confusing criteria to do so. Overall, what could have been a very ambitious initiative turned out to be another regulation with ambiguous and problematic wording.

The FSFE has received exclusive access to the the final agreement of the IEA which will be agreed on tonight, on 13 November. We welcome that there is a clear definition of Free Software licenses, as well as the intention to monitor the development of Free Software interoperable solutions in the public sector.

There is, nonetheless, an especially concerning wording in the text when it comes to the sharing and reusing of interoperability solutions (Art4(5a)). The draft text suggests that public administrations should prioritise Free Software when deciding on the implementation of interoperability solutions. However, the way the final text looks is problematic for two reasons:

The wording "solutions that do not carry restrictive licensing terms, such as open source solutions" implies that there are other solutions that do not carry restrictive licensing terms apart from open source licenses. If so, which ones would those be? This is indeed not clear in the text and this leads to legal uncertainty.

Since this specific wording can become extremely misleading, it is particularly important to highlight this problematic loophole. To serve as an example, we have the well-known fact that FRAND licensing terms - that in theory stand for "fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory" terms - in practice are incompatible with most of Free Software. In the past, we have already criticised the stance of the Commission on such licensing and we have also pointed out that in fact FRAND licences cannot be considered fair, reasonable nor non-discriminatory.

Furthermore, the European Commission has watered down the already ambiguous wording of this article by limiting the situations in which public administrations shall prioritise Free Software interoperable solutions by adding the following criteria: "when equivalent in functionalities, total cost, user-centricity, cybersecurity or other relevant objective criteria".

This wording undermines a regulation that aims to make the sharing and reuse of solutions a more common practice among public administrations. By adding this criteria to allow public administrations to actually refuse to use Free Software solutions, the Commission is going in the opposite direction of the "Free Software first" approach that this legislation needs.

Wording as "other relevant objective criteria" brings back, once again, the constant problematic tendency of the Commission to limit Free Software and its adoption by adding ambiguous and unclear wording. It also shows a lack of ambition which could have led it to become a real game changer.

By adopting this position, the European Commission is also falling short of its own ambitions, already defined in documents such as the Open Source Strategy and the ’Decision on the open source licensing and reuse of Commission software’. Therefore, it is deeply concerning that the European Commission is now pushing back by turning on the opposite direction.

Last but not least, unfortunately, the chance for other stakeholders to be part of the governance structure, specifically on the Board, has been removed from the final text, being currently only up to the Chair to decide if an expert can join the Board as an observer.

That is why the role of the Free Software community is crucial to monitor the implementation of the IEA, while highlighting the importance of Free Software for achieving interoperability in the European digital public services.

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