SFP#50: Policy and EU: How NGI wants to save the Internet and what's next?
We reached our 50th episode of the Software Freedom Podcast! Thank you!
Without the support of our listeners we would not have made it this far <3.
In this episode Bonnie talks with Gabriel Ku Wei Bin, from the FSFE's legal
team about how the European Next Generation Internet initiative works to move
us in the right direction towards a human-centric web.
The Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative aims to build a more resilient,
trustworthy and open Internet. Through the NGI umbrella, the European Union provides
financial support to Free Software projects covering all layers of the Internet,
to improve user experience of the Internet. The FSFE team provides support to NGI0
grantee projects on legal and licensing issues, as well as helping them to become
REUSE compliant.
In 2024 a funding cut amounting to almost €26 million was announced, which marked
the end of the NGI initiative by 2027. The loss of this funding affects the
Free Software ecosystem and its ability to steadily build important foundational
technologies from the ground up. The Free Software Foundation Europe stepped up,
with the support of hundreds of people, to try to safeguard this funding, and managed
together with our consortium partners to find a new funding umbrella to continue the
work that was done under the NGI Initiative. But why is funding like this needed in
the first place? And what will be happening next?
In this episode, Gabriel and Bonnie talk about the reasons behind NGI and
how important it is more than ever to step up against the monopolisation
of the Internet as we know it.
The FSFE's policy work is an important part of our aim to safeguard
Software Freedom. You can support our work by
donating today!
Show notes
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