Members Newsletter – February 2024
I was at FOSDEM last week, and there were a few key takeaways from my perspective:
- The drafting of the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) is basically complete. OSI and other Open Source communities were committed in 2023 to educating legislators about the existence of communities of software developers that don’t put their creations on the market because the voices of these communities had been excluded by the EU Commission. This year we invited the regulators to join FOSDEM again and the results were much more reflective of the Open Source community thanks to that strong push. However…
- Our work is not over. Before the CRA goes into effect, there are a lot more opportunities for Open Source developers to be hampered. We’re facing at least another 2 years of hard work with the regulators to make sure that the newly developed standards and satellite regulations don’t push us back to where we started in 2023. Speaking of regulations…
- The AI Act is a very complex regulation we’ll have to catch up on. There is an exclusion for “Open Source AI” but nobody knows exactly what that’s supposed to mean in practice.
This is why the involvement of the broader Open Source community is so important right now. Just before we headed to Belgium, OSI announced a public forum to welcome the broader community to engage in the conversations surrounding AI and the collaborative development of version 1.0 of the Open Source AI Definition. You can read more about the forum in this blog post, and you can comment on the Open Source AI Definition Open: v.0.0.5 here.
Curious what work has already been done toward the mission to create an Open Source AI Definition and how you can get involved this year? Check out this blog: Open Source AI Definition: Where it stands and what’s ahead
Also remember that OSI Board nominations are now open until March 4, 2024. You have to be an OSI member to be a nominee or to vote, so if you need to renew your membership, now is the perfect time!
Stefano Maffulli
Executive Director, OSI
I hold weekly office hours on Fridays with OSI members: book time if you want to chat about OSI’s activities, if you want to volunteer or have suggestions.
News from the OSI
The European regulators listened to the Open Source communities!
From the Policy and standards program
Open Source communities defended developers and foundations against risks posed by the CRA to Open Source development, and their voices were heard. Workshops being offered at FOSDEM offer a chance for others to participate moving forward. Read more.
Fixing a gap in the SEP regulation
From the Policy and standards program
In OSI’s feedback to the European Commission’s proposed Standard Essential Patent (SEP) Regulation (SEP-R), OSI recommended that the legislation add a waiting period for patent claims registered under the regulation as standard-essential after the standard has been ratified. The recommendation was based on the social purpose behind tolerating the presence of royalty-due patents in standards at all, rather than as an endorsement of it. Read more.
A comparative view of AI definitions as we move toward standardization
From the Advocacy and outreach program
The evolution of the EU AI Act is progressing toward a technology-neutral definition for AI to be applied to future AI systems. In the coming months, multiple states will agree on precise legal definitions, which reflect moral considerations of the role that AI will and will not be allowed to play in Europe for the very first time. Read more.
Open Source AI Definition: Where it stands and what’s ahead
From the Advocacy and outreach program
We are working toward an Open Source AI Definition release candidate 1 (RC1) by early summer and a version 1 (v. 1.0) in October. We have established working groups to analyze all the components of popular AI systems (like Llama2, Pythia, BLOOM, OpenCV), and new drafts of the Definition will be released monthly with town hall meetings every two weeks and constant public review. Read more.
A public forum to discuss the Open Source AI Definition
From the Advocacy and outreach program
OSI announced a public forum to widen the conversations that will lead to version 1.0 of the Open Source AI Definition. The forums are part of our commitment to inclusiveness and transparency, matching the public town hall meetings that started two weeks ago. Read more.
Announcing: The 2024 State of Open Source Report
From the Advocacy and outreach program
The 2024 State of Open Source Report is now available for download. This blog highlights some of the most interesting points we at the OSI are watching from the report. Read more.
The OSI board expands, adding two new seats; focus on AI and international policies
From OSI Elections
Sayeed Choudhury and Gaël Blondelle have been appointed to the two new OSI board seats. Today’s blog explains why the board has been expanded, and shares the impressive bios of our new board members. Read more.
OSI in the news
The outlook for open source? Growing, but there are challenges
OSI at Computer Weekly
The interest in data technologies goes hand in hand with the exponential growth happening right now in the artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) space, said Stefano Maffulli, executive director of the Open Source Initiative, which worked with OpenLogic by Perforce on the report. Read more.
2024 State of Open Source Report
Download the results of the annual Open Source survey conducted by OpenLogic by Perforce in collaboration with the OSI and the Eclipse Foundation. Download report.
More than beer + code: What you missed at FOSDEM 2024
OSI at Opensource.net
The FOSDEM is one of a kind – with 35 dev rooms, 951 speakers and 67 tracks — ranging from APIs to Rust — there’s enough to keep you busy for weeks. If you missed the chance to dive into code discussions, network with fellow enthusiasts, and (of course) Belgian waffles, fear not! We’re here to recap the key takeaways and explore the event’s highlights. Read more.
Open Source Policy Summit 2024: Be there or be in the dark
OSI at Opensource.net
The EU Open Source Policy Summit, marking its 10th anniversary this year, is more than just a tech conference – it’s a crucial crossroads for the future of digital policy. It’s also one of the few occasions where blue-suited wonks mingle with the hoodie-and-jeans crowd in a kind of FOSDEM-pre-game. Read more.
OSI affiliates in the news
The Value of Open Source Software
Linux Foundation at Harvard Business School
We estimate the supply-side value of widely-used OSS is $4.15 billion, but that the demand-side value is much larger at $8.8 trillion. We find that firms would need to spend 3.5 times more on software than they currently do if OSS did not exist. Read more.
Update on EU Software Regulation: Lots of improvements & good news
Apache Software Foundation at ASF Blog
The ASF, Eclipse, FSF Europe, the Linux Foundation Europe, the Python folks, the Open Source Initiative, Mozilla, NLNet-labs, the Internet Society (and countless others), as well as many industrial groups that use open source, spent inordinate amounts of time and energy to talk to policy makers, the Spanish EU Presidency, the European Parliament, the Commission, and 25-odd European national governments. To explain not just the impact on open source software but to explain what open source is – and why it is crucial to, and at the core, of the industry’s ability to innovate. Also, as our code is the basis for so much other software why it is important for the goals of the CRA (better security), to get things right. Read more.
WhatsApp Chats Will Soon Work With Other Encrypted Messaging Apps
Matrix Foundation at Wired
Matthew Hodgson, the cofounder of Matrix, which is building an open source standard for encryption and operates the messaging app Element, confirms that his company has worked with WhatsApp on interoperability in an “experimental” way. Read more.
CISA Partners With OpenSSF Securing Software Repositories Working Group to Release Principles for Package Repository Security
OpenSSF at CISA News
CISA partnered with the Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) Securing Software Repositories Working Group to publish the Principles for Package Repository Security framework. Recognizing the critical role package repositories play in securing open source software ecosystems, this framework lays out voluntary security maturity levels for package repositories. Read more.
Drupal Association Co-Founds the Open Website Alliance
Drupal Association at DA Blog
The international community organizations behind Drupal, Joomla, TYPO3, and WordPress join forces in a leadership-level alliance. The members of the Alliance are united in their shared values and their message to decision-makers to always choose open source software over proprietary systems. Read more.
Upcoming events
Open Source AI Definition Town Hall
February 23, 2024 – Online
Join Stefano Maffulli, Executive Director at the Open Source Initiative to hear the latest news, and comment on the drafts of the Open Source AI Definition. Read more.
FOSS Backstage 2024
March 4-5, 2024 – Berlin, Germany
We want to encourage more discourse about the non-coding aspects of successful open source projects. Join us to learn more about what goes on behind the stages of Free and Open Source Software! The sixth edition of FOSS Backstage will take place in Berlin (and online) on 4th and 5th March 2024. Read more.
ORT Community Days 2024
March 6-7, 2024 – Berlin, Germany
Join us on March 6-7 2024, on Bosch IoT Campus in Berlin for two days of presentations, workshops and brainstorms on all things ORT (OSS Review Toolkit) from sharing best practices, technical deep-dives till building processes with ORT. The ORT Community Days are an opportunity for anyone who is looking to automate open source management within their organization whether license, security or ways of working. Read more.
SCALE 21x
March 14-17, 2024 – Pasadena, CA
SCaLE is the largest community-run open-source and free software conference in North America. It is held annually in the greater Los Angeles area. Read more.
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