Alexander Sander, the FSFE's Senior Policy Consultant, and Bonnie Mehring meet for their monthly update on the current policy topics. In this episode they talk about the Free Software hearing in the German Bundestag.

At the beginning of December, the FSFE participated in a German parliament hearing on Free Software, organised by the Digital Committee. The hearing focused on the use of Free Software for the public administration. In his speech for the position of the FSFE, Alexander Sander, highlighted the importance of the current trend of 'openwashing' and how this can affect the procurement process in the public administration.

Listen to this episode and find out what the overall take on the hearing is!

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Join this new episode of our Software Freedom podcast in which Bonnie Mehring and Alexander Sander discussing current topics affecting Free Software in the European Union. In this episode we focus on the 27 million euros cut of funding of the Next Generation Internet initiative (known as NGI). Alex and Bonnie shed some light on the history of this European project and share the newest developments in this case.

As FSFE's Senior Policy Consultant, Alex focuses on the role of Free Software at the political arena. There, he advocates for the recognition of Free Software, raising awareness about the important role of Free Software for shaping of our digital tomorrow. When the news of the €27 million funding cut to the Next Generation Internet initiative was leaked, Alex and the FSFE immediately took action. In the wake of the loss in funding we called on our community to take action, demanding long-term funding for Free Software. With the help of our community we reached out to the European Commission - with success.

This is the perfect episode for anyone looking to understand EU policies and the funding cuts for NGI!

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For our 25th episode of the Software Freedom Podcast we are happy to welcome Hannes Mehnert, one of the MirageOS core developer. Matthias Kirschner, president of the FSFE, and Hannes talk about MirageOS. This episode gives an overview of everything from the basics to the future of MirageOS.

As one of the core developers of MirageOS, Hannes Mehrnert, has a deep understanding of the inner workings of the programming framework and its modules. He and Matthias talk about the usage of MirageOS, the funding and how you as a volunteer can support MirageOS. However, they not only stop there but also cover the functional programming language OCaml, the foundation on which it all builds. Listen to a deeply interesting conversation between Hannes and Matthias while learning more about MirageOS, modular systems, reproducible builds and functional programming.

This is the perfect episode for everybody who wants to get familiar with MirageOS and modular systems!

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Have there been any changes for Free Software in Europe or the USA in the last year? How is Free Software viewed by legislators? What can we do to support software freedom? Karen Sandler and Alexander Sander are active in the Free Software movement and share their views on the current status of Free Software in our society.

Karen Sandler is the executive director of the Software Freedom Conservancy and has a background in law and engineering. Our second guest for this episode is the FSFE's Senior Policy Consultant, Alexander Sander. In his work, Alex focuses on policy topics, always raising the status of Free Software within Europe. Over the past year, he has met with many decision-makers in Europe such as Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) or officials from the European Commission and Council, to talk about Free Software, for example in relation to the AI Act, the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), or the Product Liability Directive (PLD).

At the same time, across the ocean, the Software Freedom Conservancy has been working with a broad alliance to advocate for the right to repair.

In short a lot has happened in the past year. Luckily, Alex and Karen are here to talk with our host Bonnie about the current situation and what we still need to do for software freedom. Learn more about the state of Free Software with Alex and Karen and find out how you can support software freedom.

This is the perfect episode for everybody who needs a quick summary of the past year. Let's start software freedom!

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Our podcast host, Bonnie Mehring meets with Matthias Kirschner, the FSFE's President, Gabriel Ku Wei Bin, member of the FSFE's legal team, and Tobias Diekershof, the FSFE's System Administrator, to play a little guessing game about Free Software basic terms.

This episode has something for everybody, no matter if you are already part of the Free Software universe or if you just arrived in this world. It is the perfect episode to learn more about Free Software. Share this episode with your family so they finally understand what you are talking about, when you talk about GNU 😉.

And do not forget to stop the audio and have a guess yourself! ♥♥♥

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Johannes has been involved with Free Software since the 1990s. In November 2022, he turned his passion for Free Software into his daily bread and started working for the Free Software Foundation Europe. He is, among other responsibilities, the current coordinator of the FSFE’s "Public Money? Public Code!" initiative.

If you have not heard of this initiative yet, or if you don’t know how best to get involved, check out our new Software Freedom Podcast episode and learn all about "Public Money? Public Code!".

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Listen to Karen and Bonnie talk about the importance of Free Software on medical devices and find out more about

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