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1. Introducing the FSFE newsletter 2. EU Council decision on software patents directive 3. AGNULA 4. Welcoming FSFE press speaker Joachim Jakobs 5. Georg Greve in South America 6. Protecting Free Software from over regulation 7. Other important public appearances
1. Introducing the FSFE newsletter
Around the official general assembly of the Free Software Foundation Europe on May 15, the core members took the chance to discuss several ideas on how to improve public information about the activities of the FSFE. One of the results was the decision to periodically publish a newsletter, and this is the first one.
2. EU Council decision on software patents directive
The most widely regarded event in May was probably the decision of the Council of the European Union about the Software Patent Directive. After the European Parliament made its clear vote against unlimited patentability of software algorithms, the Irish Presidency proposed a version of the directive that undoes virtually all of the Parliament's changes. Even though some countries did not approve it, this version got the necessary qualified majority in the Council. The fact that the Council's opposition against software patent was still stronger than expected can well be regarded as a result of the successful cooperation of FSFE, FFII and many other organizations in informing citizens and politicians about the danger of the Presidency's proposal. As the decision process is still not finished, the FSFE will continue to work on the software patent issue together with these organizations.
3. AGNULA
While AGNULA (A GNU/Linux Audio Distribution) is already regarded a big success by all participants (and also by the European Union, who funded the project), work is not over with the final release. The FSFE still supports the project by helping with things like the AGNULA trademark license.
4. Welcoming FSFE press speaker Joachim Jakobs
To relieve the core members from the increasingly time-consuming press work, the FSFE hired Joachim Jakobs on a part-time basis as a press speaker.
5. Georg Greve in South America
Georg Greve is currently visiting several locations in South America, getting in contact with local Free Software Activists there and supporting them in building up a Free Software network there like the FSFE is here. His public activities in South America included an interview for Argentinas most important newspaper, a speech at the University of Cordoba about Free Software in Education, an interview for TV as well as for the largest national radio station in Uruguay and the keynote at USUARIA, a South American congress on Free Software topics. We expect these activities to help building up a global network of Free Software organizations, of which the FSFE will be an essential part.
6. Protecting Free Software from over regulation
The Italian Chapter has been very busy trying to amend a new Italian law that could harm Free Software. To limit the supposed damages that the Italian motion picture and record industry claims to come from peer-to-peer file sharing, the government proposed a law that makes it illegal to publish any digital content on the web without "declaring to the SIAE that the publisher has a license to do so". The law also introduces more restrictions, making a criminal offense punishable with up to four years of jail sharing without consent of the author any file on the web, even if it is not "for profit".
The law is so absurd that FSF Europe has been asked by BSA (Business Software Alliance) to cooperate to prevent its approval. Unfortunately, though, the law passed despite the fact that in the end both the government and the opposition agreed that "it is a very bad law". The government promised to correct it soon and already announced a revision: FSFE will continue its strong pressure on the whole Parliament.
7. Other important public appearances
Stefano Maffulli participated at a forum about "Intellectual property" at the Istituto Bruno Leoni (IBL) in Italy to point out some problems regarding software patents. At the end of the month he participated to a "summit of Italian free software organizations" in Avellino where there was the chance to discuss a better coordination between them.
-- Free Software Foundation Europe http://www.fsfeurope.org
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