Today the legal affairs (JURI) Committee of the European Parliament destroyed most of the measures on DRMs in Reda Report on Copyright by way of amendments before adopting it by a large majority. Key paragraphs have been wiped out.
The debate and the vote on the report on TAFTA/TTIP1 scheduled for June 10, 2015 have finally been finally postponed sine die by the European Parliament presidency.
1. For more information on TAFTA/TTIP, and the threats of those agreements, you can read the dedicated page on April's website (in French).
Update (Tuesday June 9, 2015, 18:30) : According to European Parliament Press Service "scheduled vote for tomorrow has been postponed due to many amendments & requests for split or separate votes (according to Rule 175)".
On May 27, 2015 a a new leak of TiSA (Trade in Services Agreement) was published. TiSA is an international agreement currently negotiated behind closed doors by 50 countries, including the EU and the US. In this version, an article explicitly prevents a country to give priority to Free Software. April denounces this text and asks European governments to reject those dangerous and opaque negotiations.
Jacques Marzin, Director of DISIC (the French interministerial directorate for information systems and communication), wishes to strengthen and extend the public services' strategy with respect to Free Software. April welcomes this and encourages the government to give the DISIC the means necessary to implement this strategy.
On May 28, 2015, the International Trade (INTA) committee of the European Parliament voted a report in favor of a slightly amended Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)1.
As part of the International Day against DRM (“digital handcuffs”), on May 6th, 2015, April is publishing a video on the issue of e-books and DRM.
This day of protest is an opportunity to remember how dangerous these digital handcuffs are for free software users and developers alike, and how far they go toward restraining legitimate uses of works.
On 20 April 2015, Politico.eu published two working documents on the digital single market. These leaked documents are revealing about the Commission's upcoming strategy regarding all digital matters. Revising the IPRED directive, DRM as well as interoperability are among the issues tackled.
On Saturday, April 18 2015, everywhere in France and in the rest of the world will take place the Global Trade Day, against trade agreements such as TTIP/TAFTA, CETA, TISA, ... . April encourages everyone to participate in the events..
The European Commission has published a new version of its Free Software Strategy for the 2014-2017 period 1. This strategy largely builds on the previous one while adding a more affirmative attitude towards Free Software.
Today, 25 March 2015, is Document Freedom Day, the
international day to celebrate and raise awareness of Open
Standards. On this occasion, the organizations April, Free Software
Foundation Europe, European Digital Rights, OpenForum Europe and Open
Source Business Alliance would like to reflect on the importance for
public institutions in general, and for the European Commission in
particular, considering its leadership role, of using Open Standards
in all their digital communication and services.
April supports Document Freedom Day, which will be held on 25 March 2015. The Day's aim is to remind people of the importance of having truly open document formats. Such formats allow citizens, consumers, governments and companies to use the software of their choice while retaining long-term control over their documents and their data.
For the 2015 edition, we encourage everyone to educate as many people as possible to the importance of open standards, citizens as well as public officials.
April will be present at LibrePlanet in Cambridge (USA) on 21 and 22 March 2015 and will give a talk on trade agreements such as TAFTA (Transatlantic Free Agreement/Area) and their impact on computer freedoms.
LibrePlanet is the FSF's annual congress (Free Software Foundation). The 2015 edition will take place at MIT (Massachussets Institute of Technology) in Cambridge (USA) on 21 and 22 March 2015.
Only a few hours are left until the debates in the European Parliament, which are scheduled to take place on 23-24 March, to reach out to members of the JURI Committee and ask them to reject the amendments aiming to salvage digital handcuffs (DRM).
April has the pleasure to announce that the City of Paris has joined our organisation and wishes to further its action in favour of free software.
Following a request in December 2014 by the Greens' group in the City Council of Paris, and a deliberation initiated by Mr Emmanuel Grégoire, the Deputy Mayor in charge of modernising city government, Paris' membership to April was approved by the Council.
Many MEPs proposed amendments in the European Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI), with the intention of destroying any advances from the Reda Report. This disheartening behaviour should urgently be opposed. Should these amendments be adopted, digital handcuffs (DRM) would get a free pass and continue to exert their harmful restrictive measures. April calls for mobilisation to help inform MEPs of the JURI Committee before the upcoming debates on 23 and 24 March 2015.
The French Publisher's Association (SNE) just launched a campaign entitled “A book is a book” [fr], advocating that printed books and electronic books should be treated equally. April would like to point out that an e-book locked by DRM cannot be compared with a printed book: the reader of a "digitally handcuffed e-book" is deprived of essential freedoms.
Despite the French government's stated position, some French officials are inviting French MEPs to not reject the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism —a position also adopted by Bernd Lange, the German socialist Rapporteur of this text. April calls on MEPs not to yield to these manipulations, and reiterates its call on the European Commission and all the institutions involved to drop negotiations.
April just published its activity report for 2015, and is delighted to announce the election of its new Board of Directors. This year, the Board will be chaired by Jean-Christophe Becquet.
The Call for papers is open for the Libre Software Meeting (Beauvais, France, July 2015). The deadline for submitting a talk is March 3rd, 2015.
RMLL/LSM — "Rencontres Mondiales du Logiciel Libre"/"Libre Software
Meeting" — are a series of non-profit lectures, workshops and panels
on Libre Software, its uses and its cultural environment. They are
organized yearly in a friendly atmosphere.
April was registered as a nonprofit on November, 1996, at the
Bobigny prefecture, and it's creation was announced in the Journal
Officiel's issue n°51, from December 18th, 1996.
The association is thus celebrating it's eighteenth birthday!
Inscrivez-vous aujourd'hui à l'infolettre pour découvrir les
enjeux du logiciel libre, des outils et des moyens
d'actions. Prenez le contrôle de vos libertés
informatiques. Suivez nos actions en cours et à venir.
Printer-friendly version
April was registered as a nonprofit on November, 1996, at the
Bobigny prefecture, and it's creation was announced in the Journal
Officiel's issue n°51, from December 18th, 1996.
