How to become a supporter or a member (or even Patron) of EPFSUG

EPFSUG's organisation hasn't been all formalised yet (as of April 2011) but we are committed to making our organisational structure reflect our ideas of freedom and openness, and as a first principle, we believe that membership and supportership should be public. We think that a public and published statement about why you want to be a supporter or member is a quite strong commitment to the ideas, goals and values which underpin the free software movement and will as such provide both the transparency and the trust necessary to pursue our mission in the European Parliament.

Here are the definitions:

• Supporters of EPFSUG: A supporter of EPFSUG is anyone who does not have an @europarl.europa.eu email address.
• Members of EPFSUG: Membership is open to anyone who is working in the European Parliament and who has an @europarl.europa.eu email address.
• Patrons of EPFSUG: Of course, EPFSUG would not exist without its first Patron MEP Indrek Tarand, and as of February 2012, Indrek now shares his patronship with MEP Amelia Andersdotter. More patron candidates are warmly welcome.

So how to go about it?

1. The first step in joining is to mail your name along with a brief statement of your personal motives to the mailing list epfsug@epfsug.eu.This will immediately tell the world you have taken the first step to become a member or a supporter of EPFSUG since that mailinglist has a public archive and quite a number of subscribers.

   Please feel free to be inspired by previous statements (see below). No fancy declarations needed (but of course appreciated!) - you're welcome to copy any of the statements.

2. Step two. You have to send a mail to EPFSUG's infrastructure admin group (or put them in cc in step one above!). The mail address is iag@epfsug.eu. Then one of the admins will put your declaration on this page along with the other members and supporters already listed below. The admins will also subscribe you to either mailing list members@epfsug.eu or supporters@epfsug.eu.

3. Step three. This last step might seem completely unnecessary, but to make sure everybody knows that no mistake has been made in step two above, you have to confirm that you are satisfied with the text beside your name in the list at the end of this page and that you have received mail from either the members or supporters list. You confirm the completion of the process with another mail to epfsug@epfsug.eu

4. Step four. This step is actually only for MEPs who are candidates for patronship of EPFSUG. Please contact Indrek and Amelia on how to prodeed.

Statements of patrons, members and supporters below:

• Patrons
  1. Indrek Tarand, MEP: As a patron of EPFSUG, I protect EP members, staff and assistants who use and work with free software according to the statutes, and line with the rules and regulations of each members' contract with regards to the institutions providing for the information infrastructure in the Parliament.
  2. Amelia Andersdotter, MEP: As a patron of EPFSUG, I support the users of free software that work inside the insitutions and are willing to explore ways of incorporating free software in their work routines.
• Members
  1. Erik Josefsson, group staff: As a member of EPFSUG, I am dedicated to use and work with free software within the remits of my capacity and competence as adviser on internet policies with the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament.
  2. Francisco Padilla, group staff: As a member of EPFSUG, I am a free software user since ten years. I would be happy to be able to use Free Software in the context of my job as an adviser for the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament and in this context to contribute to the development of specific tools that would useful for information sharing and management in a cooperative spirit.
  3. David Morrison, group staff: As a member of EPFSUG, I am a free software user for 5 years. I currently use Free Software in the context of my work on my personal machine and would be happy to be able to use use Free Software in the context of my work with the Greens/EFA Group when using the the equipment of the European Parliament.
  4. Marc Kaufmann, MEP assistant: As a member of EPFSUG, I fully support the idea that we should drive adoption of Free Software in the European Parliament's information infrastructures. I say this because of my personal professional experience with Free Software in the context of my work as an MEP assistant.
  5. Camilla Bursi, group staff: I am an occasional user of free software but convinced by the benefits they can provide in terms of efficiency and collaborative work. As a member of EPSUG I will use free software on my personal computer in the context of my work in the European Parliament and share my experience with other colleagues.
  6. Christian Meseth, EP administrator: As an EP administrator I am interested in using free software within the EP and I share the vision of the European Parliament setting an example as a public institution with regards to the use of free software and open standards.
  7. Johannes Woelfing, MEP assistant: I am a user of free software user for several years. I switched to free software, because I am fascinated by the idea of sharing knowledge as it is done within the different open source communities. Besides that the possibilities provided especially by ubuntu convinced me to stick to that decision. I think the use of free software in the parliament could increase our efficiency notably. Writing this mail the poor compatibility of the citrix client we are using with ubuntu reminds me of the urgent necessity of a free software user group in the European Parliament.
  8. Stefan Happer, EuroparlTV: By supporting the use of open-source software within the European Parliament I hope that the EP can deliver IT solutions faster and make internal clients more happy. My emphasis is on open-source solutions that have a wide-spread use throughout the internet, in order to facilitate exchanges and re-use. My own experience is mainly based on LAMP-projects and Drupal. I also think that there is a need to overcome the situation where for example PHP is blocked in-house but then DGs go for an external contractor who is free to use whatever is working for them - without the Parliament having any control or benefit of re-use.
  9. Konstantin D. A. Scheller, MEP assistant: As a member of EPFSUG I will try to use and support free software whenever possible, and to encourage others to do the same. For me free (libre) software is a cornerstone of democratic governance. Firstly, use of free software ensures that any interested person can freely and openly access anything that political bodies - such as the European Parliament - create and publish. Secondly, use of free software reduces the degree to which political bodies and their successful work are dependent on any corporations or other profit-oriented interest groups that could try to use such a dependence for their benefit.
  10. Benjamin Rey, EP administrator: I care about transparency, control over the softwares we use and taxpayers' money!
  11. Dimitrios Symeonidis, Technical Helpdesk, DG INTE: I want to help document and expand the use of FOSS inside the EP, and to participate in any EP activities regarding Open Standards.
  12. Mattias Bjärnemalm, MEP assisstant: I use Free Software at home because it gives me both control and liberty. I want to be a member of EPFSUG so that the European Parliament where I work can have the same.
  13. Julien Bencze, MEP assistant: As I am in the middle of a vibrant global debate on excessive and expansive copyrights, it is important for me to also fight, in a concrete way, for software freedom in my working environment, and to support initiatives that advance public institutions' independence from corporate control and capture. Free software gives us fresh air in a world where everything is always more subject to property and merchandising. I believe it is a tool with great potential to boost civic awareness by encouraging the involvment of the individuals in the shaping and improvement of the collective good.
• Supporters
  1. Jonatan Walck: As a supporter of EPFSUG, I share the vision of the Parliament setting an example as a public institution with regards to the use of free software and open standards.
  2. Karsten Gerloff: As a supporter of the EPFSUG, I will provide advice and experience to the group in all matters relating to Free Software and Open Standards, drawing on the strength of my organisation, the Free Software Foundation Europe.
  3. Stefan Marsiske: As a supporter of EPFSUG, I support the group with my long-term experience regarding Free Software, Open Standards, Open Data and any possibility to increase efficiency by deploying proper and free technology.
  4. Smári McCarthy: As a supporter of EPFSUG, I will assist the group in developing feasible plans for the adoption of Free Software, Open Standards and technologies. I will provide my experience from having worked both in the field and in policy development to bridge the gap between theory and practice.
  5. Evert Edel: As a supporter of EPFSUG, I share the vision of the Parliament setting an example in using Free Software and Open Standards. I hope to assist the group in developing and implementing Open Standards and Free Software.
  6. Joris Vanhove: As a supporter of EPFSUG, I will assist the group in implementing and deploying Open Standards and Free Software.
  7. Patrice-Emmanuel Schmitz: As legal expert in the www.osor.eu team, I propose to assist the group in questions related to ICT procurement, FLOSS licensing, European interoperability framework and national interoperability frameworks.
  8. Bastiaan Wakkie: It actually struck me the EP is not using open source in a larger scale despite all fights against Microsoft and Internet Explorer Domination the recent years. Only to get this changed, and it will be (!), I will support in any way I can.
  9. Christian Voecks: I have worked with Free Software for many years and have seen institutions appreciate the flexibility and usability of Free Software solutions. As a supporter of EPFSUG, I will contribute with my experience with adoption and migration to Free Software and I hope to help the European Parliament to become vendor independent and fully citizen-serving.
  10. Ciarán O'Riordan: I want to see the European Parliament's computer system policy change so that the EP, its Members, and the staff control the software on the computers instead of being at the mercy of external companies that share neither the obligations nor the goals of the EP. As a politically engaged citizen, I expect all the EP's documents, audio/video recordings, webpages, and means of participation to be accessible by everyone, without software choices being imposed on citizens. To achieve this, the EP must make a strong commitment that all software installed, distributed, and endorsed by the European Parliament be free software. I look forward to working with EPFSUG to make this happen.
  11. Katrien Cogghe: I want to promote the use of Free and Open Source Software to the European Parliament members and their staff because it's important to know that free software has a lot of advantages (no vendor lock ins, open standards, etc...).
  12. Flemming Bjerke: As a supporter of EPFSUG, I find it offending that I CANNOT SEE THE EUPARLIAMENT MEETINGS LIVE because I cannot run Windows MediaPlayer. By making such troubles for users that do not use Windows, the EU-parliament come to support Microsoft's dominance.
  13. Wouter Vandenneucker: You can say a lot of things about FOSS software. Starting with the fact that it's Free and that it's Open Source. But it's more than that, it's a commitment of a whole community. A community that strives every day to make better software available to everybody. The benefits are immense, not only is a FOSS project likely to be more secure, it also enables people to customize, work together, and so much more. I believe that an institution like the European Parliament should endorse the use of free- and open-source software with all means. Therefore I'd be more than happy to support the epfsug project!
  14. Maurício Nascimento: I am a Brazilian Free Software evangelist and System and Network Engineer. I have been working with GNU/Linux since 2001. I would like to share my skills and contribute to EPFSUG to help develop and implement Free Software projects in the European Parliamnet. I can help with documentation, system administration, tests, deployment, migration, security, training, multimedia, etc.
  15. Etienne Saliez: I am interested in healthcare networks and involved in a working group of the International Society for Telemedicine (ISfTeH), a non profit international association focusing on developing countries. The working group's main project Collaborative Care Team in Open Source is a patient centric multidisciplinary record intended to integrate specialized medical free and open source software components.
  16. Emilio Batista Barcón: I work as a translator. Among others, I am translating since some years for one of the companies which translate the EU-Parliament documentation. The translation for the EU-Parliament has to be done compulsory on Microsoft's Word, that is, on a Windows system. Some of the texts have to be translated compulsory using SDL's Trados translation software. I want to be free to choose, and I don't want that the EU-Parliament to waste millions of euros of the EU-citizens' for software licenses to translate simple text files.
  17. Jurgen Gaeremyn: I am a firm believer that the foundations of a united Europe (equality, fraternity, liberty) can't be realized if the ideals of Software Freedom are omitted. Therefore, I want to put my name on this list and make statement of what I believe in. Please find the full version of my statement in the mail archive.
  18. Kathrine Johansen: As a supporter of EPFSUG, I am supporting the promotion of free software in public institutions. The European Parlaiment has the chance to set an example for the use of open standards in public institutions.
  19. Jeanne Tadeusz: I believe that Free Software is the way to go for the European Parliament and all public institutions. I will gladly provide my help and experience on all things related to Free Software, Free Software and public administration, interoperability, standards, public procurement, patents.
  20. Rishab Aiyer Ghosh: Free Software is important for a democracy.
  21. Kaido Kikkas: I am an academic hacker and have been living solely on free/open-source software since 2001. I consider information freedom in its many forms very much an European value which should be promoted by the European Parliament. Therefore I consider the establishment of EPFSUG a very necessary and important step towards that goal. Further, after the invitation by MEP Indrek Tarand to speak at Document Freedom Day in early 2011, I agreed to provide him assistance in free/open-source software issues. As a supporter of EPFSUG, I am willing to continue as his council in these matters. I am also willing to cooperate with other patrons, members and supporters in other FOSS-related projects.
  22. Andreas Kuckartz: The European Parliament and other European institutions should only use Open Source software. I will provide advice and experience in all such matters.
  23. Caspar Bowden: From 2002 until August 2011, I was Chief Privacy Adviser for Microsoft in Europe. I realize it might seem odd that I wish to join EPFSUG, but I have always been sympathetic towards free software. From 1998-2002 I was Director of www.fipr.org and I am particularly interested in ensuring that usable implementations of advanced privacy technologies are available on free software platforms.
  24. Kirsten Fiedler: As a supporter of EPFSUG and as a free software user myself, I would like to encourage broader European Parliament support for free and open-source software. The use of free software would be an important step for European political bodies towards becoming more open, more efficient and to incorporate open-source community dynamics that would enhance public participation.
  25. Marcelo Sosa: I am a freedom lover - born an Aquarius so I can't help it - therefore I wish everybody could enjoy in both the material and virtual worlds as much liberty of choice as their consciousness and respect for others would allow. That's why I give my support to this group and thank its initiators for creating this forum for promoting free software as part of a free life.
  26. Guido Arnold: I fully agree with EPFSUG's mission statement. I wish the European Parliament to demand and protect Free Software more and better. That the European Parliament then has to walk the talk and actively using it is hence a natural thing for me. Although I won't have the time to contribute much to EPFSUG's efforts in the near future, I still want to express my support.
  27. Nicolas Malevé, for Constant: The association Constant for Arts and Media wants to become a supporter of EPFSUG. Constant supports artists and researchers using free software to develop cultural projects and enrich a free culture. We find very important that the members of the European Parliament work on a legal framework that allows a free culture and its free tools to blossom. We are also convinced that a rich contemporary culture only exists when there is an understanding and an informed consensus over the exchange of data, and that free software gives us a very important insight in this matter.
  28. Eszter Bakó: As a supporter of EPFSUG, I support the group in its vision to help the European Parliament to become an example as a public institution. That is to make the EP's documents, audio/video contents, means of participation accessible to every citizen without distinction as to the software they use. I will provide advice concerning Free Software and Open Standards together with my organization, the Free Software Foundation Europe.
  29. Ante Wessels: "Talk transparency, run transparency".