Bonum Certa Men Certa

Europe is Moving to Freedom-Respecting Software After the PRISM Scandal



Summary: More success stories for Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) across Europe come amid serious revelations that give ammunition against the use of proprietary software, including Microsoft software where back door access by the NSA is now a fact

Earlier this month we published several posts about European politicians expressing deep concerns over spying by the NSA, which is essentially, based on law professors (days ago in the New York Times), criminal. Here in England and also in Berlin there have recently been some odd policy changes that are easy to attribute to lobbyists of proprietary software or some moles. Someone has just used IDG to anonymously tell the story which names no specific place. It says: "Years of successful open source development are dumped after a directive comes down from on high -- without discussion allowed or reasons given" (that's just the summary).



"As procurement becomes more visible to the public, pressure will be put to move to FOSS and lawsuits filed when that doesn't happen (not necessarily due to privacy concerns, at least not yet)."This sounds like a typical story, similar to many others that we covered; these are stories where Microsoft crushes FOSS using corruption, e.g. bribes. There is this new report about a region in Italy "replacing Microsoft Office on 7,000 machines with the open source alternative, saving up to €600,000 in licensing costs."

As procurement becomes more visible to the public, pressure will be put to move to FOSS and lawsuits filed when that doesn't happen (not necessarily due to privacy concerns, at least not yet).

Over in France right now we observe the same thing which recently happened in the UK. Pro-FOSS policy gets watered down, or as an FSFE blog puts it:

On June 25 the French Senat voted the final version of the law on education, accepting a governmental amendment weakening the bill’s Free Software provision. Procurement for e-learning services now has to “consider Free Software and open format offers, if any”. No more priority given to Free Software solutions, unfortunately.


This is fortunately being reversed again, revealing an ongoing fight over policy:

French parliament says free software is a priority in education



France's Senate and National Assembly agree to make free software a priority for education. This Wednesday the National Assembly confirmed a proposal by the Senate, urging institutions of higher educations to prefer this type of solution. The plan still needs to be accepted by the government.


We shall see how it ends up. Given that companies like Microsoft share personal data of EU citizens with the NSA (Microsoft generates more spin as it gets sued for privacy violations in Europe) and the NSA has back doors for Microsoft software, no nation should use this type of software, especially not in defence or education (public sector).

There are many stories this month about parts of Europe abandoning Microsoft for FOSS and one has to wonder what role PRISM plays in debates over it. As a token of advice, when arguing with people over software freedom, cite privacy issues, noting autonomy and security. People do care about it now.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Gemini Links 22/09/2025: Rabbit Hole and DeGoogling Fairphone
Links for the day
Links 22/09/2025: Russian War Planes Invade NATO Airspace While Dihydroxyacetone Man Escalates Attack on Free Speech Because of Critics
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 21, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, September 21, 2025
Links 21/09/2025: "Hey Hi" (Hype) Under Fire, Fakes Identified; Tesla Burns Family
Links for the day
Google's Software is Malware and Malware in Mobile Devices
Originally posted by Rob Musial
Links 20/09/2025: Hegemony Coming to a Close, Luigi Mangione Ruled Not Terrorist
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/09/2025: "Charlie Kirk Was a Hateful Piece of Shit" and Slop Code Attempted by Microsofter
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 20, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, September 20, 2025
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Snowy Photos and utism is a Spectrum
Links for the day
Microsoft-Sponsored Xenophobia and Nationalism
IBM is very similar in this regard
Vintage is Sometimes Better
Why can't we get back to "simple" if (or where) "simple" means better?
Climate Breakdown Means We'll be Publishing More, Not Less
Press freedom will be a common, recurring theme
Our 5-Year Geminispace Anniversary is Coming Up
I still remember when Gemini Protocol was quite new
It's Right to Point Out Violence From the Right
Violence is a recurring theme
Tentative Summary of Things to Publish in Project 2030
I'll still be in my forties by then
Web Browsers That "Do Hey Hi" (AI)
State-of-the-art plagiarism or "autocomplete on steroids" (not coined by us, nevertheless a nice description) don't have much/any prospect
Links 20/09/2025: Hardware Projects in View, Some Independent Publishers About Russia Prosper After Cheeto Cuts Funding
Links for the day
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Options and TV Time Machine
Links for the day
Links 20/09/2025: Retrocomputer, Antique Phone Experience, and More
Links for the day
Links 20/09/2025: Internet Shutdowns, Media Censorship, and Climate Worries
Links for the day
About 700 New Gemini Capsules in 13 Months (or 54 Per Month)
4.8K would represent a 20% increase
Rust People: Drain the Swap, You're Holding It Wrong
Does Rust make sense?
Techrights the Name Turns 15
About 6 weeks from now we turn 19
Microsoft is Running Out of Time and Floating Fake Figures, Fake Projects, Fake Narratives, Fake Excuses
Also, a lot of Microsoft's "revenue" claims are circular financing (i.e. Microsoft buying from itself, which means Ponzi-like fraud)
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, linuxconfig.org, and Plagiarised Phoronix
Many articles out there are nowadays fake
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 19, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, September 19, 2025
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Navigating the Pressures of Modern Life and SpellBinding Accidentally Wrote Another Gemini Server
Links for the day