At FOSDEM 2022, I again joined my fellow organizers of the Legal & Policy DevRoom for a panel discussion on the hot topics we observed over the past year in Free and Open Source Software. Together with Bradley Kuhn, Karen Sandler and Alexander Sander, we reflected on the presentations from the day’s track and looked forward to the future of FOSS policy. This panel provided an opportunity to discuss the pressing issues facing the FOSS community from legal and policy perspectives.
At SFScon 2021 in Bolzano (Italy), I presented REUSE as a gold standard approach for Free and Open Source Software licensing. The REUSE initiative, launched by the Free Software Foundation Europe, provides best practices and tools that make licensing Free Software projects straightforward and unambiguous. By following three simple steps – providing license and copyright information in every file, including license texts, and confirming REUSE compliance with the tool – projects can achieve clarity that benefits both developers and users.
At EuroBSDCon 2021, I introduced the REUSE initiative to the OpenBSD community, demonstrating how this approach can simplify licensing practices for Free and Open Source Software communities like theirs. The talk focused on the practical challenges developers face when trying to properly license their code and how REUSE’s three simple rules can solve these problems. This presentation was particularly relevant for the OpenBSD ecosystem, where licensing clarity and permissive licenses play a central role in the community’s values.
At OW2con 2021, I presented REUSE to an audience deeply involved in Open Source infrastructure projects and close to public authorities and French businesses. The talk emphasized how REUSE makes Free Software licensing accessible and manageable for everyone – from individual developers to large organizations managing complex codebases. This was particularly relevant for the OW2 community, where projects often involve multiple contributors, dependencies, and licensing considerations across international boundaries.
Bei Europe Direct Dortmund hielt ich einen Vortrag über digitale Souveränität in Europa und die zentrale Rolle, die Freie und Open Source Software dabei spielt. Der Vortrag beleuchtete, wie abhängig Europa von proprietären Softwarelösungen geworden ist und welche Risiken diese Abhängigkeit für demokratische Institutionen, wirtschaftliche Wettbewerbsfähigkeit und technologische Selbstbestimmung mit sich bringt. Ich argumentierte, dass echte digitale Souveränität nur durch den strategischen Einsatz und die Förderung Freier Software erreicht werden kann.
At LibrePlanet 2021, I presented the REUSE initiative as a set of best practices for declaring copyright and licenses in Free Software projects. LibrePlanet is the Free Software Foundation’s annual conference celebrating software freedom, making it an ideal venue to discuss how REUSE helps uphold the principles that the community values most. The talk focused on how clear licensing and copyright information benefits both developers and users of Free Software.
At FOSDEM 2021, I participated in the annual panel of Legal & Policy DevRoom organizers where we discussed the hot topics from the track’s presentations that year. This panel tradition brings together the organizers to reflect on the most pressing legal and policy issues facing Free and Open Source Software, based on the talks and discussions throughout the day. It provided an opportunity to synthesize the diverse perspectives presented in the DevRoom and look ahead to emerging challenges.
At FOSDEM 2021, I delivered a presentation on REUSE best practices for declaring copyright and licenses in Free and Open Source Software projects. The talk was part of FOSDEM’s OpenChain track, where developers and legal professionals gather to discuss these critical topics. I focused on how REUSE provides a practical, standardized approach to one of the most common yet frustrating problems in FOSS development: maintaining clear licensing information.
Beim Winterkongress der Digitalen Gesellschaft Schweiz hielt ich einen Vortrag über den fundamentalen Zusammenhang zwischen IT-Sicherheit und Freier Software/Open Source. Die Kernthese war provokant formuliert, aber technisch begründet: Echte IT-Sicherheit ist ohne Freie Software nicht möglich. In einer Zeit, in der Cybersecurity zunehmend als kritisches Thema für Gesellschaft, Wirtschaft und Staat wahrgenommen wurde, argumentierte ich, dass proprietäre Software strukturelle Sicherheitsprobleme mit sich bringt, die nicht einfach durch bessere Praktiken gelöst werden können.
At FOSDEM 2020, I presented “Go REUSE to license your code” in the Legal and Policy Issues Devroom. This talk marked an important milestone in the REUSE initiative’s evolution, as we were seeing increasing adoption across diverse projects and growing recognition of licensing clarity as a critical aspect of software quality. The presentation encouraged developers to adopt REUSE practices for their own projects, showing that proper licensing doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming.