Fundación Vía Libre
Encyclopedia
Fundación Vía Libre of Córdoba, Argentina
, is an NGO working on the social implications of information and communication technologies throughout Latin America
, with very strong ties to the region's software libre community
, to academia, to other civil society organizations, and to the global Free Software movement
. It was founded in 2000.
Via Libre's work on the role of software libre for the public administration has led to numerous legislative projects demanding the use of free software for all public administration work. The template "free software bill" that Vía Libre together with lawmakers and a large international group of software supporters helped to create, introduce and promote in several Latin American countries was mentioned in the FLOSS report as recommended legislation for all European Union member countries.
Vía Libre took part in the international consortium that executed the FLOSSWorld program within the European Union's 6th Framework Program, led by the University of Maastricht and also was a partner at SELFProject between years 2006/2008. Vía Libre's Support Program for Small and Medium Organizations, co-funded by AVINA Foundation
of Switzerland and Argentina's National Agency for Science and Technology, aims at helping small businesses and NGOs introduce libre software in their operations through training, preconfigured software packages and the development of a free ERP tailored to their needs. Vía Libre cooperated heavily with Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung for two years, working on publications, events and conferences on issues related to copyright
s and patents all over Latin America. From February 2008, Vía Libre takes part of FLOSSInclude Project, another European Project within the 7th Framework Program.
, against surveillance and excessive data retention, and for access to knowledge in different fields. From 2008, Vía Libre was also approved by WIPO's General Assembly as an observer at the World Intellectual Property Organization.
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, is an NGO working on the social implications of information and communication technologies throughout Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, with very strong ties to the region's software libre community
Free software community
The free-software community is an informal term that refers to the users and developers of free software as well as supporters of the free-software movement. The movement is sometimes referred to as the open-source software community or a subset thereof...
, to academia, to other civil society organizations, and to the global Free Software movement
Free software movement
The free software movement is a social and political movement with the goal of ensuring software users' four basic freedoms: the freedom to run their software, to study and change their software, and to redistribute copies with or without changes. The alternative terms "software libre", "open...
. It was founded in 2000.
Via Libre's work on the role of software libre for the public administration has led to numerous legislative projects demanding the use of free software for all public administration work. The template "free software bill" that Vía Libre together with lawmakers and a large international group of software supporters helped to create, introduce and promote in several Latin American countries was mentioned in the FLOSS report as recommended legislation for all European Union member countries.
Vía Libre took part in the international consortium that executed the FLOSSWorld program within the European Union's 6th Framework Program, led by the University of Maastricht and also was a partner at SELFProject between years 2006/2008. Vía Libre's Support Program for Small and Medium Organizations, co-funded by AVINA Foundation
AVINA Foundation
-Overview:It was founded in 1994 by Stephan Schmidheiny. Its Chairman is Brizio Biondi-Morra and its CEO is Sean McKaughan. It has offices in Buenos Aires in Argentina, Santa Cruz de la Sierra in Bolivia, Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Santiago in Chile, Bogota in Colombia, Cuenca in Ecuador, Asuncion...
of Switzerland and Argentina's National Agency for Science and Technology, aims at helping small businesses and NGOs introduce libre software in their operations through training, preconfigured software packages and the development of a free ERP tailored to their needs. Vía Libre cooperated heavily with Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung for two years, working on publications, events and conferences on issues related to copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
s and patents all over Latin America. From February 2008, Vía Libre takes part of FLOSSInclude Project, another European Project within the 7th Framework Program.
Other fields of interest
As a civil rights advocacy group, Vía Libre campaigns for human rights, civil liberties, access to knowledge and the right to privacy in cyberspace. In the last few years, the Foundation has launched campaigns against Electronic VotingElectronic voting
Electronic voting is a term encompassing several different types of voting, embracing both electronic means of casting a vote and electronic means of counting votes....
, against surveillance and excessive data retention, and for access to knowledge in different fields. From 2008, Vía Libre was also approved by WIPO's General Assembly as an observer at the World Intellectual Property Organization.
External links
- Fundación Vía Libre
- Fundación Vía Libre Information on the website of the Self Project
- Heinrich Böll Foundation in Latinamerica