Legal and Policy Issues

Open Source Culture is Very US-Centric, But It Shouldn't Be

How Can We Make FOSS Truly Global?
Free and open source software is made up of a truly global community of tinkerers, collaborators and innovators. In this conversation, Deb Nicholson and Hong Phuc Dang will look at the global state of open source policy and talk about why no particular country -- especially the US -- should be centered. So, let's make sure the conversation about the future of open source is a truly global one!
Sure, lots of tech came from the US; Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon but a large proportion of the story of free and open source software didn't happen in the US. In fact, most of the exciting parts of the work to encourage people to adopt, build and adapt open source are happening in other places. In this conversation, Deb Nicholson and Hong Phuc Dang will look at the global state of open source policy and talk about why no particular country -- especially the US -- should be centered. They'll cover: * Public code strategies and adoption of open source tools in different jurisdictions * Policy initiatives that foster free and open source software production * Local FOSS adoption blueprints that could be replicated around the world Open source is a global community of tinkerers, collaborators and innovators. It's time to share the spotlight more equitably. Solutions for small cities, or minority language groups or vulnerable populations could come from anywhere and be applied around the world. The discussions around public code and adoption aren't even happening in the US yet, and code without hearty adoption isn't enough. So, let's make sure the conversation about the future of open source is a truly global one!

Additional information

Type devroom

More sessions

2/6/21
Legal and Policy Issues
D.legal
On October 21st 2021, the European Commission approved the new Open Source Software Strategy 2020-2023 of the Commission. We will interview Evangelos Tsavalopoulos on this.
2/6/21
Legal and Policy Issues
D.legal
Software and Hardware Freedom in Health Public Policy On this panel, we will discuss the extent to which the use of Free Software and open hardware can be used in the public health sector. Software and hardware can help to solve global problems together. The wheel does not always have to be reinvented and through cooperation common innovation can succeed.
2/6/21
Legal and Policy Issues
Sven Franck
D.legal
Financing open source using tax breaks on donations made to endowment funds or general interest associations is a construct available in France and a viable alternative to R&D expenditures for sponsoring open source projects. We will present several initiatives from the Libre Endowment Fund ("Fonds de Dotation du Libre" in French) - from financing feature development of open source software to releasing a 4G/5G base station as open source hardware or supporting litigation against the French ...
2/6/21
Legal and Policy Issues
D.legal
Compliance with Open Source and Free Software licenses remains a perennial topic of discussion among policy makers in our community. However, little attention is paid to the motivations why these licenses have specific requirements. Specifically, at least for copyleft licenses, the licenses seek to bestow specific rights and freedoms to the users who receive the software integrated into the devices they use. This panel, containing a group of industry experts, consultants, and license enforcement ...
2/7/21
Legal and Policy Issues
Vittorio Bertola
D.legal
The Internet originally thrived on interoperable services - until the "walled gardens" came. The European Commission recently proposed new regulations (DSA/DMA/DGA) to protect democracy and restore openness and competition. The talk will introduce them and their economic and political background; it will then focus on a specific point, the requirement for dominant platforms to interoperate with third parties, though only in limited cases, using messaging and social media as example.
2/7/21
Legal and Policy Issues
Cornelius Schumacher
D.legal
When the initial release of Qt was published in 1995, it was one of the first projects to use a dual-licensing model. This model, LGPL and a proprietary commercial license today, has served the project well for more than 25 years. It is less well known that the dual-licensing model is supported by a community contract which guarantees the freedom of Qt beyond what is in the license covered. This contract is maintained by the KDE Free Qt Foundation and has kept Qt free through multiple ...
2/7/21
Legal and Policy Issues
Lucas Lasota
D.legal
Router Freedom is a net neutrality principle that Internet Access Providers (IAPs) must not the limit the users' right to choose their own routers and modems to connect to the Internet protected in Europe since 2015. However, new rules on EU has created challenges router freedom, given that IAPs will be able to limit the right based on "objective technological necessity". The talk will go through the historical aspects and future developments in Europe.