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Interview with Shane Coughlan of FSFE's Freedom Task Force

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The Free Software Foundation Europe has created a resource designed to assist FOSS projects with copyright and licensing. Shane Coughlan heads this project and agreed to answer our questions. The interview was conducted by e-mail on February 23rd. Mr. Coughlan was speaking at FOSDEM in Brussels today [February 24th]. We would like to thank him for responding to our questions.

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Q: Thanks for taking time for Groklaw. First off, perhaps you could tell us a little about yourself?

SC: My name is Shane Coughlan and I am the project coordinator for FSFE's Freedom Task Force. My academic background is quite diverse. My undergraduate degree was in English, Politics, Media and Cultural Studies and my postgraduate degree was based in International Relations. During my postgraduate research I focused on a type of security called Cybernetic warfare.

I've given quite a few talks about security and Free Software in the UK and Ireland. I became involved in FSFE's projects through the fellowship of FSFE. I joined as a support of Free Software and became more active in spreading the word over time. In October 2006 I was employed full-time to act as the coordinator of the FTF.

You could say that my job in the FTF is to connect technical people with legal people and to foster a productive dialogue between all parties.

The FTF is the legal hub of Free Software Foundation Europe. It was created to help collect and share knowledge about the legal aspects of Free software, to bring together legal experts and to work with other groups with similar goals.

Our basic mandate is to provide licence support services to individuals, projects and businesses involved with Free Software. We seek to positively engage with all types of parties and open constructive dialogues to facilitate education, to resolve issues and to work for the long-term benefit of Free Software.

Our primary activities include licence education, fiduciary services and licence enforcement work. On the enforcement side of things we work in partnership with gpl-violations.org.

Q: What about the enforcement side of things? If you are representing the legal interests of a project, what do you do if there is infringement?

Full Story.

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