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DeepL, ein Unternehmen für KI-Produkte und –Forschung mit Sitz in Köln und Betreiber des geichnamigen maschinellen Übersetzungsdienstes hat im Rahmen seiner jährlichen Konferenz DeepL Dialogues…

“They are not alone in their work for software freedom”

Every year on 14 February we celebrate “I Love Free Software Day”, thanking all who contribute to Free Software. Without all of you we would not have such a great ecosystem today! Our Polish group joined our celebrations on 2025 for the first time, and we wanted to know more about them. So, we talked with Damian, our Poland group coordinator, about the Polish groups’ commitment to Free Software.

The Polish country team of the FSFE, FSFE Poland has existed since 2018. For some time there was a lull in the activities of the groups – but now they are back! Currently there are three local groups, Warsaw, Poznań and Wrocław, which are some of the largest cities in Poland. Together they do quite a lot and are actively organising events and campaigns. For a good view of their activity you can of course join their Matrix room (Polish only)

Together they decided to celebrate “I Love Free Software Day 2025”, taking this as the perfect opportunity to restart FSFE Poland. They organised three events to which everyone interested in Free Software was invited. Every event was visited by 20-30 people; there were lots of fun, interesting conversations with a focus on lesser known software, and lots of pizza!

FSFE: Hello Damian, we are glad that you could take the time for this interview. Can you tell us how many local groups there are in Poland? Can everybody who is interested join them?

Damian Fajfer, Coordinator of FSFE Poland: The Polish volunteers happen to be mostly from around Warsaw, Poznań and Wrocław so I would say there are three groups overall. Of course anyone can join; these are not strict groups at all and have no membership formalities whatsoever. If your goals align with ours and Free Software is important for you, we invite you to participate in our Matrix rooms, especially if you would be willing to help with our projects and activities.

FSFE: What did you do for I Love Free Software Day 2025?

Damian: This was our first time; we plan to celebrate the event each year. But for the future in a more coordinated manner! For 2025, we managed to make a unified template for all our local activities and helped each other organise the event in three cities: Wrocław, Poznań and Warsaw. Here you can find the code of our website, published by Michał Korczak under the SIC license. The result was meetings of about 20-30+ people in each location. We talked about Free Software projects with emphasis on those that are hidden, lesser-known projects, but important for us for some specific reason.

FSFE: Was there something you liked very much about the celebrations?

Damian: I feel like they helped us unify our standing a little bit. People got to acknowledge that FSFE supports their work and – hopefully – that they are not alone in their work for software freedom. I liked that we made a common template for the event and that we translated Pretalx to Polish - huge kudos to Wiktor Przybylski, Paweł "pomidor" Wiczyński, Kacper from Hackerspace Łódź and others for their excellent work.

FSFE: Why do you think I Love Free Software Day is important and why should everybody be celebrating this day?

Damian: Because it raises awareness in the community about the importance of Free Software. It also shows the importance of work done by volunteers who help with the development of Free Software. “I Love Free Software Day” is one of the few opportunities to meet in person, where Free Software is the leading conversation topic.

FSFE: What are the activities the local groups do and is there something happening where new people are welcome to join and support the effort?

Damian: You could say that each FSFE group is loosely associated around a Hackerspace, which provided a space to host the event in that city this year. People feeling associated with the Free Software movement just naturally gravitate towards these places. We are using Matrix channel as the sole medium of communication and everyone interested in Free Software is encouraged to join. I would say our main activities are promoting the Free Software movement by organising Free Software events in Poland: “Sesja Linuksowa” (“Linux Session”), “Poznańska Impreza Wolnego Oprogramowania” (“Poznań Free Software Party”), “Jesień Linuxowa” (“Linux Autumn”) and many more.

The FSFE volunteers are, in varying proportions, organisers of these events and I think it is now impossible to find a Free Software event without one of us being there. We are timidly trying to get more seriously into translations and have started writing reports regarding Free Software that I hope will appear by the end of the year.

FSFE: Was the celebration in 2025, the first time you celebrated “I Love Free Software Day” and what motivated you to participate?

Damian: Actually, the first “I Love Free Software Day” event I organised was in 2017 at Poznań University of Technology. I was a student and also the Free Software student club president so it felt pretty natural at that time. I had already helped organising Poznańska Impreza Wolnego Oprogramowania (“Poznań Free Software Party”) and Linux Presentation Days before. In 2016 I saw some FSFE stickers on someone’s laptop and the person suggested that we could order stickers from the FSFE website for our conference next time. I wanted to be part of the celebration because I loved the idea the first time and the timing for the event is ideal for a Free Software event because nothing much happens during the winter time.

FSFE: As a coordinator of the Poland group, you managed the communication for all three local groups. How was this from your perspective as coordinator and are there some pitfalls you can share with us that other country coordinators should watch out for?

Damian: I think I had a huge advantage already because I personally know people from the other cities. I have studied in Poznań and the organisers are ex-members of the Free Software student's club. Their friends and I met Michał from Wrocław during “Jesień Linuxowa” (“Linux Autumn”). His being one of the main organisers behind “Sesja Linuxowa” (“Linux Session”) made him an ideal candidate to organise a way smaller event like “I Love Free Software Day”.

In reality I did not have to coordinate much as I had very experienced organisers at hand that I could rely on. If I were to give a piece of advice to people coordinating things on a country level scale, it is that you need to find people with initiative and a sense of responsibility to cooperate with. In any kind of relationship, input from both sides is required. I do not think it would really work in other communities if I tried to force my way onto people that do not feel comfortable in such a role.

FSFE: Do you already have plans for celebrating "I Love Free Software Day 2026"?

Damian: There is a LAN party culture that we inherited from previous organisers of “Poznańska Impreza Wolnego Oprogramowania” (“Poznań Free Software Party”) that I really cherish. I think it would be nice if the “I Love Free Software Day” had some LAN-Party-like online events alongside (like those that these informal communities organise: onFOSS and FOSSGralnia.

There we could promote and raise awareness about this kind of software. Besides, I do not know if the theme is already announced but I hope everyone is aiming to affect more people, listen to more talks and eat more pizza.

FSFE: That sounds like a great party! We cannot wait to see your event and we will keep our community posted about this. Thank you for your time and your work for the Free Software community!

You can find more images in our gallery here!

Support FSFE

Die auf dem Qt-Framework basierende leichtgewichtige Desktopumgebung LXQt geht in Version 2.3.0 weiter den Weg der besseren Wayland-Integration

Beim diesjährigen Ubuntu Summit in London zeigte sich, wie stark Canonical das Linux-Ökosystem weiterhin prägt. Mehrere Unternehmen stellten Projekte vor, die sich direkt auf Ubuntu stützen, oft verbunden mit der Integration von Snap-Paketen, die die Verteilung und Wartung von Anwendungen deutlich vereinfachen sollen. Damit festigt Ubuntu seine Rolle als zentrale Plattform im offenen Softwareumfeld. Ein […]

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Legal Corner: Apple’s “notarisation” – blocking software freedom of developers and users!

The EU’s Digital Markets Act is supposed to shake up the power of tech giants by giving developers and users more choice. Apple’s “notarisation” of mobile apps contradicts these objectives. A civil-society complaint against Apple’s monopolistic control over app distribution aims to change that.

CC-BY-SA 4.0. by Rahak for FSFE

The EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) aims for a structural reset of power in digital markets, a shift from corporate control toward device neutrality, where users decide what runs on their devices. For Free Software, this legislation can be a unique opportunity by finally opening closed ecosystems - like iOS - to Free Software alternatives. Apple has reacted aggressively against the DMA, litigating against regulators, and unfairly excluding Free Software from iOS and iPadOS by blocking the unfettered installation of software (sideloading), prohibiting alternative app stores, and hindering interoperability.

The FSFE has recently contributed to a complaint initiated by civil-society organisations targeting Apple’s non-compliance with the DMA, urging the European Commission to enforce the DMA’s rules related to interoperability and the app store, giving users and developers effective choice over which apps and app stores they want to use on their devices. This complaint is important for software freedom, contextualising the diverse approaches towards curation of software distribution.

The action taken: calling out the illegality of Apple’s “notarization” of mobile apps

Imagine that you are a Free Software developer willing to make your program available in the iPhone. You want to have your software curated in a non-profit Free Software-friendly app store (like F-Droid for Android). This is important for you because you prefer to not have Apple controlling what your software does and to whom it should be made available.

This all sounds good, until you realise that your plan is not possible in iOS. There is no non-profit Free Software app store available for iPhones and iPads. Apple blocks non-profit app stores with extremely high financial requirements and prohibits unfettered installation of software. Even for the Free Software commercial ones, such as the Alt Store, Apple still applies a complete review and control, through an encryption layer over distributed source code.

On October 22, ARTICLE 19 and Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte (GFF) filed a complaint against Apple for non-compliance with the DMA to tackle these issues. The complaint highlights the following conduct as illegal under the DMA:

• Apple does not allow the unfettered installation of third-party software (sideloading);
• Apple prevents third-party app stores to effectively running on iOS and iPadOS;

• Apple does not provide effective free-of-charge interoperability with the company’s features controlled via iOS and iPadOS.

The core of the complaint is twofold:

1. Apple’s complete review of apps – known as “notarisation” process - a mandatory step for distributing any software on its platforms, represents the very gatekeeping behaviour the DMA was written to prevent. Notarisation forces all apps, even those distributed outside Apple’s App Store, to be submitted to Apple’s servers for scanning, approval, and cryptographic re-signing before installation. The result is that Apple retains full control over what software users can install and how developers can distribute it. This transforms Apple’s self-appointed “security review” into a choke-point of power, locking in developers and users into the company’s proprietary ecosystem.

2. Apple’s requirements for third-party app stores. Apple has conditioned the provision of a third-party app store as a native app in its iOS and iPadOS on (1) providing a standby letter of credit in the amount of €1,000,000 from a financial institution that is at least A-rated; or (2) being a member of good standing in the Apple Developer Program for two continuous years or more and have an app that had more than 1,000,000 first annual installs on iOS and iPadOS in the EU in the prior calendar year.

Both requirements are extremely unfair and disproportionately affects non-profit Free Software projects, SMEs, startups, and individual developers. This discriminates by size and renders the market inaccessible to smaller new entrants.

The implications of Apple’s notarisation for software freedom

For Free Software developers, the implications are even more severe. Apple’s notarisation regime requires developers to hold a paid Apple Developer account, accept restrictive legal terms, and submit binaries to a closed, opaque process. Once approved, the binaries are re-signed by Apple and distributed under digital restriction management (DRM).

This breaks users’ rights when it comes to Free Software freedoms. Users can no longer verify that the source code they read corresponds to the binary they run, nor can they freely redistribute software that Apple refuses to notarise. What makes this process absurd is that Apple applies this notarisation process to all apps running on iOS, no matter which channel of distribution. This means that a developer of an alternative app store for iOS has actually no control over the apps they can distribute in their store, as Apple still holds gatekeeping power through notarisation.

Under the DMA, gatekeepers must enable the installation of third-party app stores and refrain from imposing unnecessary technical restrictions. Yet Apple’s notarisation enforces the very dependency the DMA prohibits: it reasserts Apple’s role as the mandatory intermediary for every app on its platforms. This undermines competition, discourages independent developers, and excludes non-commercial, community-run projects that cannot afford to submit to Apple’s terms or refuse to submit to them. Allowing this practice to persist would water down the DMA’s promise before it is even tested.

Blocking alternative app stores with extremely high requirements

Apple’s requirements for enabling third-party app stores are very hard to meet. They have effectively prevented non-profit Free Software app stores from working in iOS and iPadOS. The provision of a 1 million euro standby letter of credit or 1 million downloads within a year in the EU overburdens not only non-profits, but also individual developers, startups, and SMEs. When these conditions are put into context, such requirements do not reflect industry standards and expectations. They derive from Apple’s monopolistic behaviour with respect to mobile devices. Such impositions do not exist in Apple’s laptops and desktop computers, where unfettered installation (sideloading) is a reality. The complaint concludes that both requirements go beyond the limits of what is necessary under the DMA. Apple ignores less restrictive alternatives (e.g. insurance and escrow frameworks), and provides no justification for doing so.

The solution: decentralised software curation

The complaint surges the European Commission to impose fines and to find an alternative to Apple’s control over software distribution, including non-profit stakeholders in the process. The alternative to Apple’s notarisation already exists, and it works. Decentralised curation, as practised by repositories like F-Droid, shows that security and software freedom coexist inherently. Instead of concentrating trust in a single private authority, decentralised systems distribute it: through transparent verification pipelines, reproducible builds, and community audits. Users choose whom to trust, and curators are accountable to the public, not to corporate shareholders. This model embodies the DMA’s vision of interoperability and openness far better than Apple’s notarisation.

Such a model aligns with the DMA’s ambitions: interoperability, transparency, and user choice. Decentralised curation can support multiple overlapping trust networks, from individual developers to NGOs, universities, or public institutions, each maintaining their own repository policies. Instead of “millions of apps” buried in opaque ranking algorithms, users could benefit from clearly defined, community-led collections where the emphasis is on transparency, privacy, and respect for user rights. Security is achieved not through corporate secrecy but through diversity, peer review, and verifiable integrity.

What’s next?

If the DMA is to live up to its potential, regulators must treat Apple’s notarisation for what it is: a mechanism of control disguised as a security feature. This civil-society complaint demonstrates that Apple’s understanding of security undermines transparency, competition, and user autonomy - hampering software freedom for everyone. It is not genuine security, it is merely gatekeeping by another name. The European Commission must ensure that compliance with the DMA means genuine openness. The right to install, share, and verify software freely in any device is not merely a technical issue; it is a matter of freedom.

Support FSFE

Jon Seager, Canonicals Vice President of Engineering, gibt im Interview seiner Überzeugung Ausdruck, dass mittel- bis langfristig das Standard-Ubuntu, ein Core Desktop sein wird.

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