Hacking copyright and regulations for 25years! Past, present and a call for a future!
MCLD 2012 | Fri 07 Aug 2 p.m.–2:45 p.m.
Presented by
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Nicole Faerber
https://www.dpin.de/nf/
Nicole is a FOSS veteran, she started with the GNU C compiler and MicroEmacs on an Intel 80386SX laptop back in 1991, quickly moved on to Linux around 1992/1993 and submitted her first kernel patch some time in 1994. Nicole studied a mix of computer science and electrical engineering in Siegen Germany. In 1999 she co-founded a company for embedded Linux development services, she ran until 2014 when she joined Purism (USA) as CTO, where she headed the development of the Lbrem5 mobile phone. In 2024 Nicole joined Mercedes-Benz and is working in the FOSS compliance and governance team.
Throughout her professional career in FOSS Nicole supported various FOSS projects and supports the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) as a volunteer.
Nicole Faerber
https://www.dpin.de/nf/
Nicole is a FOSS veteran, she started with the GNU C compiler and MicroEmacs on an Intel 80386SX laptop back in 1991, quickly moved on to Linux around 1992/1993 and submitted her first kernel patch some time in 1994. Nicole studied a mix of computer science and electrical engineering in Siegen Germany. In 1999 she co-founded a company for embedded Linux development services, she ran until 2014 when she joined Purism (USA) as CTO, where she headed the development of the Lbrem5 mobile phone. In 2024 Nicole joined Mercedes-Benz and is working in the FOSS compliance and governance team. Throughout her professional career in FOSS Nicole supported various FOSS projects and supports the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) as a volunteer.
Abstract
The Free Software Foundation Europe is celebrating its 25th anniversary!
Court cases, law, regulation, advocacy, the landscape is changing. We hacked the copyright system and today Free Software is literally everywhere. There is no internet service without Free Software, the vast majority of mobile devices runs software licensed under Free Software licenses and Free Software has become a corner stone of modern digital life on earth - We have won! But did we really?
With the advent of artificial intelligence we are confronted with a big challenge: Will Free Software licenses, an important tool to accomplish our goals in the Free Software movement, carry us through the next 25 years? What will be the meaning of "software" at all, when A.I.s just dump it out, without any copyright? No license to enforce the four freedoms? Do we, and how do we, have to adapt our approach to accomplish software freedom?
The FSFE has worked for 25 years for the right to use, study, share, and improve software. We worked for device neutrality, on regulation benefiting Free Software, on "Public Money? Public Code!", legal education, and involving the next generation of young hackers. A lot of what the FSFE did the last 25 years is an uphill battle, a small pan European NGO against Goliaths of the IT industry. Just right now the FSFE is taking part as a key expert in hearings by the European Commission against Apple! The case is argued based on the EU DMA, the Digital Markets Act, a EU law that is supposed to protect European customers from being exploited by digital monopolists.
In the work of the FSFE in the past years we learned that we need to look beyond technology and licenses if we want to protect personal freedom, self determination, and sovereignty.
Let's review some challenges and great achievements from these years, why was the FSFE involved in an anti competition case about Microsoft, why are we involved in two cases about Apple right now, and why do we believe we need more of such "non-traditional" work for software freedom? In this talk we will examine examples from 25 years of work for software freedom and what we can learn from them for the future! We cannot continue with the old approaches, we need to hack the system again to accomplish software freedom.
The Free Software Foundation Europe is celebrating its 25th anniversary!
Court cases, law, regulation, advocacy, the landscape is changing. We hacked the copyright system and today Free Software is literally everywhere. There is no internet service without Free Software, the vast majority of mobile devices runs software licensed under Free Software licenses and Free Software has become a corner stone of modern digital life on earth - We have won! But did we really?
With the advent of artificial intelligence we are confronted with a big challenge: Will Free Software licenses, an important tool to accomplish our goals in the Free Software movement, carry us through the next 25 years? What will be the meaning of "software" at all, when A.I.s just dump it out, without any copyright? No license to enforce the four freedoms? Do we, and how do we, have to adapt our approach to accomplish software freedom?
The FSFE has worked for 25 years for the right to use, study, share, and improve software. We worked for device neutrality, on regulation benefiting Free Software, on "Public Money? Public Code!", legal education, and involving the next generation of young hackers. A lot of what the FSFE did the last 25 years is an uphill battle, a small pan European NGO against Goliaths of the IT industry. Just right now the FSFE is taking part as a key expert in hearings by the European Commission against Apple! The case is argued based on the EU DMA, the Digital Markets Act, a EU law that is supposed to protect European customers from being exploited by digital monopolists.
In the work of the FSFE in the past years we learned that we need to look beyond technology and licenses if we want to protect personal freedom, self determination, and sovereignty.
Let's review some challenges and great achievements from these years, why was the FSFE involved in an anti competition case about Microsoft, why are we involved in two cases about Apple right now, and why do we believe we need more of such "non-traditional" work for software freedom? In this talk we will examine examples from 25 years of work for software freedom and what we can learn from them for the future! We cannot continue with the old approaches, we need to hack the system again to accomplish software freedom.