The 4th meeting with external guest speakers was again a big success with large attendance and enthusiastic volunteers. EPFSUG Patron Indrek Tarand was needed elsewhere, but thankfully backed up by MEPs Carl Schlyter and Christian Engström.
This time we had invited Jonas Smedegaard from FreedomBox to add perspective to the computer space we in the European Parliament are working in - node-to-node, distributed storage, secure communication, web of trust, mesh networking and last but not least, "spying on yourself". Jonas (also known as dr. Jones) gave a broad presentation on which services the FreedomBox might provide in the future.
EPFSUG member Johannes testified how easy he set up the Office Laptop with Ubuntu, also giving a vivid account on how the office of MEP Giegold has turned into a hi-tech park with most work done on personal computing power, largely independent of the EP's intranet and infrastructure.
Much appreciated was the presence of Mr Eero Torri from the EP's Directorate for Information Technologies, who noted there is a difference between the services the EP provides to connect internet and the intranet, in settings, privileges and security.
Last, Joris, founding supporter and EPFSUG server admin, explained with a brilliant infographics and elegant pedagogics why and how we need to sign and encrypt our daily email as a habit like brushing teeth and washing hands.
This meeting leaves us energized and ambitious for future endeavours. Join us to be in the front seat of big things to come!