From GNU Emacs to code.gouv.fr, LibrePlanet 2022
See the LibrePlanet 2022 page.
Who am I?
Bastien Guerry, 44yo, Free Software developer and hacktivist (bzg).
I am a GNU Emacs user since 1998 and a contributor since ~2006.
My day job is "head of the Free Software unit" within the French Inter-Ministerial Directorate for Digital Affairs.
Our mission is to convince public administrations and agencies to use more Free Software, to publish their source code under a free software license and to attract people in the administration who can help reach these two goals.
I want to convince you how this job is important for the Free Software movement in general.
As a Free Software hacktivist
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I first promoted Open Access within my lab
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We started Move Commons with some friends
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I worked for One Laptop Per Child
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I worked for Wikimedia France
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I contributed to ShareLex.org
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I launched jecode.org (now defunct)
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I started FundTheCode.org
"From counterculture to cyberculture", Fred Turner (2012)
There is a myth about the Internet revolution, one of self-organizing individuals building a free culture. Fundamental rights always evolve thanks to a cultural change within existing institutions.
What I concluded: it is important to educate and convince political parties about free software and to promote a cultural change within public administrations, because it is the best way to defend software freedom as a fundamental right.
Free software history
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1970-1983: Prehistory
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1983-1991: History
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1991-1998: Build the system
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1998-2010: Conquer the market
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2010-2020: Enter tech giants
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2020-2030: Enter public administrations
Why?
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Public money, public code
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Administrations are stable institutions
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Administrations serve the "public interest"
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Public sector rules favor diversity
The technical and legal fights are not enough!
Let's fight for a cultural change where it matters most.
What we do in the Free Software unit
To comment this blog post, you can send an email to the public mailing list ~bzg/public-inbox@lists.sr.ht