The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) supports Free Software so that every citizen can play an independent, active and responsible part in our information society. However, censorship of content, violations of the principle of 'Net Neutrality' and increasing online surveillance do not fit with these goals.

Freedom not Fear 2008

"My name is Shane Coughlan and and I work for Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE), a non-profit, non-governmental organisation with offices in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Sweden. You may remember me from my last FSFE update on this blog on the Freedom Task Force, which is the FSFE's legal training project which I coordinate.

"This was an important month for Free Software. Not only was Software Freedom Day held (as always) on the 20th, but this years marks the 25th anniversary of the GNU Project. Celebrations took place across Europe and our Fellows continued to support Free Software in local areas with enthusiasm and passion. Other important events took place.

"...I am a Fellow of the Free Software Foundation Europe and an occasional contributor to Groklaw. I support Free Software as a means to bridge the digital divide, build a better society, and create opportunities for everyone. Every one of us can find a way to contribute and make an impact..."

"...My vision of the world is different. I would like to see a world in which all the software in our computers — in our desktop PCs, our laptops, our handhelds, our phones — is under the our control and respects our freedom. In other words, a world where all software is free software..."

"Last Saturday (22.9) a couple of Fellows, including myself joined the demonstration "Freiheit statt Angst" (Freedom instead of Fear) in Berlin, Germany. The demonstration's focus was protesting against "Anti-Terrorism" legislation that severly threatens our civil liberties in Germany and Europe...."

" 'Microsoft should be required openly, fully and faithfully to implement free and open industry standards,' is the message of a letter by the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) to European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes. To help achieve this goal, FSFE offered its support for a possible antitrust investigation based on the complaint of Opera Software against Microsoft. The complaint was based on anti-competitive behaviour in the web browser market..."

Free Software Foundation Europe's Freedom Task Force (FTF) and GPL-Violations.org have just formed a partnership that has released a guide to reporting and fixing license violations.