FTF Project Status

support for the Free Software Foundation Europe

FSFE announced the Freedom Task Force (FTF) services in November 2006, at the FSFE fellowship meeting in Bolzano, Italy.

A legal eco-system for `Free Software' includes the provision of information exchange network, free software education, and related services. Supervision of the European free software law framework development is now being implemented by the FTF project team, as reported by the project leader Shane Coughlan from Zürich:

The following steps were taken to create the infrastructure to support FTF activities:

• arranging an office in Zürich, and establishing the communication network;
• set-up a partnership with gpl-violation.org;
• growing the (informal) network of technical specialists and free software volunteers to help with licensing documentation and consultancy;
• the set-up of an archive containing firmware analysis tools;
• establishment of a working relationship with KDE e.V., SUN Microsystems open source group, and Philips Intellectual property;
• several Special Interest Groups (SIGs) to discuss free software business and licensing issues were created.

A public network of legal representatives across Europe was established. Most effort was made for locating people able and willing to contribute to public and informal legal networks for free software usage. In total, 13 legal experts were found to participate in the networks, eight of whom are practicing lawyers.

Based on these first results, a fiduciary program for civil and common law was initiated. FTF plans to act as a legal guardian of Free Software projects throughout Europe.

Upcoming activities of the FTF include:

• development of a policy to ease the growth of the organization;
• expand the public and the internal FTF legal network;
• the launch of a public FTF technical network;
• consolidation of the FTF networks;
• formalisation of interaction with other parties;
• taking an active role in legal research; and
• the introduction of the new GNU GPL version 3 licence in Europe.