Speaker(s): Bonnie Mehring

The Free Software Foundation Europe runs two main activities for young people in Europe: Youth Hacking 4 Freedom and the illustrated book „Ada & Zangemann: A Tale of Software, Skateboards and Raspberry Ice Cream“ by Matthias Kirschner and Sarah Brandstätter.
Youth Hacking 4 Freedom is our programming competition, that is open for all teenagers in Europe.
While Youth Hacking 4 Freedom is targeted for teenagers, we also have our inspiring Ada and Zangemann story. A fun story for children from the age of 6 and adults alike about a girl who loves to tinker, and decides to confront the mighty inventor Zangemann.

In this talk, I will briefly introduce those activities, share some fun anecdotes, and highlight our learnings about engaging with younger people through the glasses of Free Software.

Full schedule, including slides and other resources:
https://pretalx.devconf.info/devconf-cz-2026/schedule/

To mark this milestone, the FSFE has published a timeline, tracing 25 years of policy wins, legal work, campaigns, and community milestones across its core focus areas: https://fsfe.org/about/timeline.html

Dario Presutti joins this episode of the DMA VOX POPULI podcast to discus about what the European Commission got right, where it fell short, and what must come next for software freedom and interoperability in Europe.

In this talk, we look at the importance of knowing how to explain the importance of Free Software to people who have no technical knowledge, using my personal experience as an example.

We will go through the basics, the different activities and work of the Free Software Foundation European and how everyone can contribute.

The Free Software Foundation Europe runs two main activities for young people in Europe: Youth Hacking 4 Freedom and the illustrated book „Ada & Zangemann: A Tale of Software, Skateboards and Raspberry Ice Cream“ by Matthias Kirschner and Sarah Brandstätter.
Youth Hacking 4 Freedom is our programming competition, that is open for all teenagers in Europe.

While Youth Hacking 4 Freedom is targeted for teenagers, we also have our inspiring Ada and Zangemann story. A fun story for children from the age of 6 and adults alike about a girl who loves to tinker, and decides to confront the mighty inventor Zangemann.

In this talk, Bonnie Mehring briefly introduces those activities, share some fun anecdotes, and highlights our learnings about engaging with younger people through the glasses of Free Software.

Age verification laws are spreading fast, but most coverage is either panic or dismissal, with very little clarity on what these laws say, who they apply to, or what they mean for Free Software. In this episode of Techlore Talks, Henry sits down with Jithendra Palepu, who has a legal background and Free Software Foundation Europe volunteer, to actually make sense of it. Age verification, age estimation, age gating, and self-declaration, why the difference matters enormously, and more. We examine what California's AB 1628 actually requires, we discuss why MidnightBSD's decision to ban California users may have backfired against the very principles it was trying to protect, and so much more. If you've had strong reactions to these laws but struggled to fully back them up, this one's for you.

Note: Sorry about the video issues, our recording tool had a lot of problems, but audio is still solid 🙏

🔗 SOURCES & LINKS
• Free Software Foundation Europe: https://fsfe.org
• FSFE — Youth Hacking for Freedom: https://fsfe.org/activities/yh4f/
• Software Freedom Conservancy: https://sfconservancy.org
• Keep Android Open: https://keepandroidopen.org/
• Read our breakdown: https://techlore.tech/age-verification-laws-and-free-software-fsfe-interview-techlore-talks/

🧡 SUPPORT TECHLORE
• Become a Techlorian: https://techlore.tech/support/#/portal/signup
• All Support Methods: https://techlore.tech/support/

🔐 MORE FROM TECHLORE
• Homepage & Newsletter: https://techlore.tech
• Our Course, Go Incognito: https://techlore.tech/go-incognito-course/
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• VPN Comparison Chart: https://vpn.techlore.tech/

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS
00:00 INTRO
02:43 DEFINING AGE VERIFICATION
05:15 THE REAL CONCERN
09:59 SELF-DECLARATION
13:14 SERVICE VS. OS AGE VERIFICATION
19:34 RESPONSIBILITY
23:23 MIDNIGHTBSD & SYSTEMD
25:27 LINUX CARVE-OUTS?
27:54 SHARED & SECONDHAND DEVICES?
29:42 APPLE + DMA
32:59 WHAT'S THE OVERALL NARRATIVE?
37:57 JITHENDRA'S & FSFE'S CONCERNS
42:21 DO ANY LAWS GET THIS RIGHT?
44:33 WHO IS DOING THE VERIFICATION?
45:03 DATA LEAK RESPONSIBILITY
46:37 OS-LEVEL AGE VERIFICATION IN EU
48:04 YOUNG DEVELOPERS
49:14 ENFORCEABILITY
50:54 ACTIONABLE ADVICE
52:42 HOW TO FACILITATE DISCUSSIONS
54:37 HOW TO FOLLOW

#AgeVerification #FreeSoftware

Przemysław „gro” Grondek przedstawił swojego forka forka forka (tak, dobrze to napisaliśmy) systemu do głosowania w formacie STV (single transferable vote, lub „pojedynczy głos przechodni” w wolnym tłumaczeniu). Z tego systemu korzystała do swoich głosowań m.in. partia Razem, która w swoim jeszcze poprzednim forku dodała m.in. wsparcie dla języka polskiego.

Wbrew nazwie prelekcji, jest ona prowadzona w języku polskim.

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Możesz zaobserwować prelegenta na...

• GitHubie: https://github.com/pgrondek

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Wesprzyj „Kontrabandę” na...

• Patronite (jeżeli interesuje Cię wsparcie cykliczne, co miesiąc): https://patronite.pl/kontrabanda.net
• buycoffee.to (jeżeli chcesz wpłacić tylko jeden raz): https://buycoffee.to/kontrabanda

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Wydarzenie pod egidą Free Software Foundation Europe, na którym nagranie zostało zrealizowane, odbyło się w Warszawskim Hackerspace'ie na ul. Żelaznej 103a w Warszawie. Z miejsca też chcemy podziękować członkom hackerspace'u za użyczenie nam sprzętu do nagrywania.

(c) MMXXVI kontrabanda.net, materiał dostępny na licencji Creative Commons BY–NC–SA 4.0 International.
Logotyp Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) został przedstawiony w celach ilustracyjnych. FSFE nie ma żadnego związku z „Kontrabandą”. Nie otrzymaliśmy żadnej zapłaty ze strony FSFE w zamian za pokrycie tego typu wydarzenia.

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Original video: https://play.kontrabanda.net/w/feY6M14W8ZR34qYLbiFKC1

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Wydarzenie pod egidą Free Software Foundation Europe, na którym nagranie zostało zrealizowane, odbyło się w Warszawskim Hackerspace'ie na ul. Żelaznej 103a w Warszawie. Z miejsca też chcemy podziękować członkom hackerspace'u za użyczenie nam sprzętu do nagrywania.

(c) MMXXVI kontrabanda.net, materiał dostępny na licencji Creative Commons BY–NC–SA 4.0 International.
Logotyp Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) został przedstawiony w celach ilustracyjnych. FSFE nie ma żadnego związku z „Kontrabandą”. Nie otrzymaliśmy żadnej zapłaty ze strony FSFE w zamian za pokrycie tego typu wydarzenia.

https://2025.nook-luebeck.de/talks/free-software-platform-regulation/
The impact of the Digital Market Act on Free Software

Platform regulation is a hot topic. Not only the EU but several countries are regulating big tech’s enormous economic power.

The DMA in the EU is an example of such regulation, aimed at devices manufacturers, app stores, search engines, browsers and cloud services. The law impacts Free Software due to a series of obligations related to interoperability, side loading and installing of apps. Big tech is very reactive to this law. For instance, Apple started three litigations against the Commission due to the enforcement of the DMA.

This talk will explain why regulating big tech is key for Free Software, and what steps were taken by the FSFE to protect Free Software in such challenging processes.

Die Nights of Open Knowledge (Nook) in Lübeck ist eine offene Vortragsveranstaltung, die einem weiten Publikum Einblicke in die verschiedene Bereiche der Informatik, aber auch technikfremde Themen bietet. Die NooK wird vom Chaotikum e.V. aus Lübeck und der Studierendenschaft der Uni Lübeck veranstaltet.

https://nook-luebeck.de/

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY NC ND 4.0). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

PLAMADISO Talk by Lucas Lasota (Free Software Foundation Europe & Weizenbaum Institute) – 27 May 2025 || Organized by the Research Group “Digital Economy, Internet Ecosystem & Internet Policy” @Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society

Title: “Is Interoperability cool again? Entangling the DMA, FOSS and the Telecom Sector”

Abstract
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) relies on interoperability as one of its regulatory tool in Art. 6(7). Gatekeepers have proposed diverse approaches to comply with their interoperability obligations regarding APIs. Apple has introduced a request-based approach for granting software and hardware interoperability. This contrasts with the industry practices adopted by Free and Open Source Software projects (FOSS). This talk portrays the diverse challenges FOSS services and products face in requesting interoperability with software features controlled by iOS and iPadOS. Besides, to illustrate how interoperability has been regulated in the EU, this talk concludes with lessons learned from regulatory activity over interconnection of routers and modems). Telecom regulators in the EU have recurred to interoperability to open up infrastructure subjected to gatekeeper control.

Short Bio
Dr. Lucas Lasota, MA, PhD, is a researcher, lecturer, qualified lawyer (Brazil) and project manager in the field of IT, telecommunications and contract law. His research focuses on regulatory measures of digital technologies and their impact on individual and collective rights, as well as on internet governance, telecommunications and international contract law. He is Associate Researcher at the Weizenbaum Institute and at Halle-Wittenberg University. He also works as Legal Programme Manager at the Free Software Foundation Europe.

Note
At approximately 32:30 minutes, the speaker uses the term "interoperability-by-default". The intended and correct term is "interoperability-by-design”.

More info about Lucas Lasota:
Website: https://www.weizenbaum-institut.de/en/portrait/p/lucas-lasota/

Stay tuned for future events: https://plamadiso.weizenbaum-institut.de
Follow us on X: https://x.com/JWI_Digi_Econ
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/plamadiso/
Find all PLAMADISO Talks in our playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW2I9deNht9zwTYFJdmYkuwPWFYYq2Nrr
The Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society: https://weizenbaum-institut.de/

The story “Ada & Zangemann – A Tale of Software, Skateboards and Raspberry Ice Cream” inspires the software freedom community because it covers more than the simple value of learning to program. It also covers the importance of control over technology and its impact on society. In this way the story is inspiring many kids, teens, parents and many others to learn programming and shape technology.

I too was captivated by the story. Working on a Dutch translation sent me down the path of improving the automation to help others like me to translate the story and publish it in different formats. The free culture license of the book enables and compels the community to adapt it, and they have. The community keeps surprising us with new formats to convey the story. Since its release it has been translated into 30 languages, published as a book in 7 and as movie in 5. And it is available in a growing number of other formats: epub, online book, bilingual book and kamishibai.

Translation and localization is the primary purpose of the automation. More interesting and ambition is to support the increasing number of formats: from printed book, to online book, voiceover text and subtitles. This wide variety of formats presents a unique challenge for which no ready-made solution exists. By leveraging open standards (XML, Docbook, ITS) and Free Software (Scribus, itstool, gettext, xsltproc, pandoc, Weblate) we created automation that enables translators to add new languages while also enabling new formats to be added. This includes a novel method for inserting text and images into Scribus. This multi-media setup can be used as inspiration for other free culture multi-media projects.

In this presentation we will tell the story how the automation developed over time. We'll share the inspiring stories from the community that leveraged the automation and influenced its development. The technical challenge of the automation is fun, but the community stories give it meaning and motivate me to keep at it.

With this presentation we hope to inspire others to contribute to the Ada & Zangemann community by translating, adding a new format or contributing to the automation and to share own materials benefiting our community as Open Educational Resources.

Legal and licensing issues are a vital part of the Free Software ecosystem. While many Free Software developers may have a good idea of the legal and licensing requirements that turn their project into Free Software, there are many more attending FOSDEM who may lack the knowledge or have misconceptions about the legal issues in Free Software.

This session hopes to provide an introduction and background to the legal concepts that underpin the freedoms in Free Software, and how the law is an important tool in ensuring our digital freedoms, so that participants can better appreciate the legal and licensing issues to be discussed by speakers in the Legal and Policy Devroom.

This video on FOSDEM website: https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/event/GGAEL7-an_introduction_to_law_and_free_software/

This is the perfect talk for everybody who wants to share their ideas and thoughts with others through podcasts. Learn the basics of recording, editing, and publishing podcasts with Free Software tools, and discover how to create quality content without relying on proprietary software. Everybody is welcome to join us from beginners and those looking to switch to Free Software!

This video on FOSDEM website: https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/event/PUKMWN-how_to_do_a_podcast_with_free_software/

In this talk, we will expand on our brief introduction from last year, showcasing additional features and the latest developments in the 2025 release of Friendica.

You can find the Friendica project homepage at friendi.ca; the source code for the core is maintained on GitHub, and the add-ons are maintained on git.friendi.ca.

This video on FOSDEM website: https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/event/DNS7Z8-friendica_-_hidden_in_plain_sight_since_2025/

In particular, the panel will deal with the European Commission's recent decisions in regulating hardware and software interoperability for Apple’s OSes. The audience will learn what interoperability under the DMA means for Free Software developers, and how they can expect the interoperability solutions to be provided by gatekeeper companies like Apple and Google.

More importantly, the discussion will address relevant questions for the effective implementation of the interoperability obligations in the DMA, including:

The panel will be composed by:

Panel moderation: Lucas Lasota, Legal Researcher and Lecturer at the Halle-Wittenberg University.

This video on FOSDEM website: https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/event/TQS7LM-interoperability-dma-apple-google/

Nach drei Jahren wurde endlich die nutzerunfreundliche Praxis des Routerzwangs („Compulsory Routers“) gesetzlich für unzulässig erklärt, und aktuell treibt uns die EU-Funkabschottung („Radio Lockdown Directive“) um. Um was geht es dabei? Und was können wir daraus für andere Fälle lernen?

Webpage: https://fsfe.org/activities/deviceneutrality/interop-survey
Survey: https://survey.fsfe.org/index.php/699938?lang=en

The Digital Markets Act promises a new right to interoperability, but its real value depends on whether developers and communities can actually use it. For Free Software projects, interoperability is not only a market issue but a precondition for community-led innovation and user autonomy. This lightning talk introduces the FSFE’s DMA Interoperability Survey, a community-driven effort to collect developers’ shared experiences of requesting interoperability under Article 6(7) of the DMA. By amplifying these voices, the survey helps turn individual struggles into collective evidence that can support effective enforcement and fairer digital ecosystems.

Free Software communities rely on interoperability to collaborate, innovate, and offer users meaningful alternatives to dominant platforms. While the DMA establishes a legal right to request interoperability from gatekeepers, early experiences show that exercising this right can be complex, resource-intensive, and discouraging, especially for volunteer-driven and not-for-profit projects.

This lightning talk presents the FSFE’s DMA Interoperability Survey as a tool for community participation and mutual support. The survey enables developers to document their experiences, share common obstacles, and make visible patterns of behaviour that no single project could demonstrate alone. It turns scattered, individual interactions with gatekeepers into a collective picture of how interoperability works in practice.

By centring community knowledge and lived experience, the talk argues that effective DMA enforcement depends on active engagement from developers and Free Software communities themselves. Interoperability is not enforced only in courtrooms or regulatory offices, but also through shared documentation, solidarity, and sustained community input that helps ensure the DMA delivers real freedom to build, modify, and share software across platforms.

You like coding and tinkering with software or hardware? And you are up for a challenge? Then the “Youth Hacking 4 Freedom” is the perfect competition to test your skills.
The fifth round of the FSFE's programming competition “Youth Hacking 4 Freedom” is open for registration. "Youth Hacking 4 Freedom" is a programming competition for European teenagers from 14 to 18 years old. The participants have the chance to work on their own project idea with the guidance of experts from the Free Software universe. There are no limitations for the projects as long as they are published under a Free Software license. In this competition young people can test their skills, learn how to work on a project under a deadline, and most importantly have fun while meeting different people from Europe. Hear all about the competition and how to participate in this lightning talk. For more information come and visit the

Spätestens seitdem Donald Trump wieder im Weißen Haus sitzt, geistert die „Digitale Souveränität“ verstärkt durch die politischen Diskussionen. Wir haben mittlerweile ein Zentrum dafür (ZenDiS) und einen Fonds, der sich zur Agentur gemausert hat (Sovereign Tech Fund/Agency). Aber ist jetzt das Schlagwort Digitale Souveränität der Türöffner für mehr Open-Source-Software in Behörden, Verwaltungen, Schulen und anderen öffentlichen Einrichtungen, oder erweist sich das als Bumerang? Sind Big Tech, die doch viel in Linux und Open Source investieren, wirklich das Problem?

In dieser Sonderfolge des c’t uplink blicken wir kritisch auf den Begriff Digitale Souveränität und diskutieren, welche Konzepte sich dahinter verbergen. Wir sprechen darüber, ob und warum gerade die Community den Karren aus dem Dreck ziehen soll. Außerdem schauen wir, warum es nur so langsam vorwärts geht mit freier Software in öffentlicher Hand und welche Lösungswege es gibt oder geben könnte.

Gäste (u.a.):

• Anne Roth, Referentin Digitalpolitik im Bundestag
• Bonnie Mehring, Senior-Projekt-Managerin Free Software Foundation Europe
• Sven Neuhaus, Tech Lead Open-Source-Produkte, Zentrum Digitale Souveränität

Licensed to the public under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0