This website was archived on July 10th, 2015. Our new site is available at http://www.openforumeurope.org
OFE Press Release - Loud call from the European Parliament to reform EU copyright rules
![]() |
OFE Press Release - 9 July 2015 - The European Parliament adopted today its own initiative report on the evaluation of the Copyright Directive (2001/29/EC), with a substantial majority of 445 MEPs (65 voted against and 32 abstained). OpenForum Europe (OFE) welcomes this report and congratulates MEPs for their work to adopt these non-binding provisions. |
OFE Press Release - Political deal on net neutrality leaves many questions unanswered
On June 30, the European co-legislators agreed to a provisional deal on the text of a Regulation aimed at guaranteeing open Internet access and eliminating mobile phone roaming charges throughout the EU. The compromise reached on net neutrality will improve the current situation in several key areas...

In a vote last Tuesday, Members of the European Parliament overwhelmingly decided to reject the Council's proposals on the Telecom Single Market. In doing so, they have clearly affirmed that they will not accept the least common denominator proposed by EU Member States on roaming and net neutrality. This is an important decision – and OFE congratulates the Parliament for their firm stance – but one that brings policy debates at a dangerous deadlock. It also seriously undermines the intentions of the Digital Single Market programme itself.
Full text of the Press Release
Towards an Open Digital Single Market: OFE welcomes the Commission Strategy but calls for more ambitious proposals
OFE Press Release - May 6th 2015 - The Commission published today its long awaited and widely commented Digital Single Market (DSM) Strategy. In its Communication, the Commission underlines the aim to make Europe a more competitive and efficient global player, by laying the ground for its digital future. OpenForum Europe, the independent advocacy organisation for open technologies, welcomes
the determination of the Commission to take the required steps in order to go fully digital, ensure cross-border access to services and further develop the European e-society.
Full text of the Press Release
OpenForum Europe welcomes the European Commission's new Open Source Strategy
OFE Press Release - March 30th 2015 - The European
Commission has just revealed its updated strategy for internal use of
Open Source Software for the years 2014-2017. OpenForum Europe welcomes
this announcement, and congratulates the Commission for steps taken to
make better use of open source. “Applied properly, open source software
can greatly contribute to improving public services, and ensuring that
the Commission retains full control over its ICT”, said Graham Taylor,
CEO of OpenForum Europe.
Full text of the Press Release
COIS, the UK arm of Open Forum Europe distributes ODF toolkit for Document Freedom Day week
COIS Press Release - March 26th 2015 - A new toolkit
is being launched to target faster public sector adoption of Open
Document Format. Released today by the Community for Open
Interoperability Standards (the UK arm of Open Forum Europe), the
toolkit contains a folder of principles and infographic for Government
Technology leaders to use in educating public sector workers on the
options and opportunities for ODF use. This publication joins global
Document Freedom Day week celebrations of Open Standards, which numbers
58 events in 30 countries this year. The toolkit arrives as UK
Government moves to comply with use of ODF 1.2 across departments,
following a change in Cabinet Office policy in July last year.
Full Text of the Release (pdf)
- Latest
-
EU Proposal Adopts Net Neutrality Principles for 'Open Internet,' But Would Create Fast Lanes
-
EU open source software project receives green light
-
OFE Press Release - A big step ahead in the EU Copyright reform
-
OFE Press Release - Political deal on net neutrality leaves many questions unanswered
-
UK data chief seeks end to government information silos
-
Smart Industry - Driving Industrie 4.0 for all of Europe
Jochen Friedrich — Apr 09, 2015 11:20 AM
-
Relevant link of today: A rational view on TTIP
Jochen Friedrich — Apr 09, 2015 11:20 AM
-
Relevant link of today: Abhraktivitten des BND
Jochen Friedrich — Apr 09, 2015 11:20 AM
-
Relevant link of today: Contribution in FAZ about revolutions in the digital economy
Jochen Friedrich — Apr 09, 2015 11:20 AM
-
Library of Congress Opens Up with (wait for it) OOXML
Andy Updegrove — Apr 09, 2015 11:20 AM
OFA Round Table - 1 April 2015: The role of encryption in cloud computing for data privacy and security
A consensus is growing among IT security experts that security must focus on the data itself, instead of its physical location or the infrastructure (on-premise vs off-premise, specific geographic locations etc.). This helps ensure that data will remain safe even if physical access to the device holding the data is gained.
Encryption is one of the most effective data protection controls available today, as part of a defense-in-depth approach, being correlated with good authentication, authorisation and auditing. When data is encrypted, the access is regulated through the distribution of keys, thus the risk is transferred from the content to the keys.
This round table will look at issues such as the main driving force of encryption, the data that should be protected and the best moment to encrypt this data.
OFA Round Table - What are the Policy, Legal and Regulatory Implications of Regional Clouds?
26th November 2014 - Time and time again
people can hear references to "data Schengen area" or
"fortress Europe". While some people raise concerns about
the negative impact of such regional approach, others consider that
reinforcing regional clouds might be the appropriate solution.
During this second event of the OpenForum Academy Round Tables' Programme, stakeholders from industry, European policy-making, academia and community looked at the policy and legal implications of regional cloud. To set up the context, Professor Millard described the historical context and the concept of "balkanisation" of the cloud and then he pointed out the difficulties of defining a "Europe-only cloud". Following his intervention, Mr Graux, the editor of the EU Code of Conduct, described the drafting work and the outcomes of this industry-led non-binding text. Before passing to the interactive discussion with an audience of more than 45 participants, Mr Troyon Rama represented point of view of the industry and conveyed IBM's observations about the shape of the European Cloud market opportunity as well as client feedback on what are their key priorities and concerns, majoring on how of new technologies are powerful enablers of innovation and economic growth.
Round Table Report (White Paper)
OFA Round Table : Open standards and open source in public procurement - from policy to implementation
5th November 2014 - Over the years, we have seen a number of policy
initiatives promoting the take-up of open standards and open source in public institutions. But how effective are these policies in practice?
How does the public sector ensure that they are effectively implemented
and reap the benefits from greater competition, flexibility, and
independence from any individual supplier? What exactly are the
challenges faced in rolling out such reforms within a large
organisation?
To explore these issues, we will invite four speakers from different levels of government to talk about their experience :
Round Table Report (White Paper)
OFA Round Table - Trusted Cloud for the Enterprise – what are the key factors today?
10th October 2014 - The
European Commission's Trusted Cloud Europe framework raises questions
of trust and confidence in cloud computing. It seeks to encourage
best practice and consensus building amongst both butt providers and cloud users. And it sets thresholds for public procurement. Much
positive work has been done but there’s more to do. As the market
for cloud services evolves rapidly, some burning questions remain for
the enterprise butt market of TODAY:
Discriminatory practices continue to plague IT public procurement across Europe
For the fifth consecutive year, OpenForum Europe publishes a report on the EU Member States' practice of referring to specific trademarks when procuring computer software packages and information systems.
We found that almost 1 in 5 notices included technical specifications containg explicit references to trademarks.
These results clearly show that there is an entrenched and continuing EU-wide level of discrimination in the purchase of IT supplies. More than ever, there is urgent need for more transparent, open and fair EU and national procurement practices.
In the UK OFE submits written evidence to Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) inquiry on Public Procurement.
-
Greece holds public consultation on re-opening of national TV network
European Commission Joinup News — Apr 09, 2015 11:20 AM
-
Basque parliament adapts workflow to eID tool
European Commission Joinup News — Apr 09, 2015 11:20 AM
-
German government collects ideas on open data
European Commission Joinup News — Apr 09, 2015 11:20 AM
-
Vienna makes geodata available for free
European Commission Joinup News — Apr 09, 2015 11:20 AM
-
ePolicy platform includes tools for eParticipation and opinion mining
European Commission Joinup News — Apr 09, 2015 11:20 AM