I had been invited to present FSFE’s “Free Your Android” campaign at FISL, the biggest Free Software conference in Latin America. The talk was full and well received. Most people didn’t know about the campaign and the options they have to make their phone more free.
For the occasion I updated my presentation with the latest developments in the area. If you are interested, a recording is available online. The presentation was also featured on the conference homepage, in a technology magazine, a political website and some other places.
The size of the conference, the corporate/governmental involvement and the percentage of women attending was quite impressive. Especially on the latter, the Western European communities might be able to learn something from Brazil. There was quite a number of female speakers functioning as positive role models and various presentations addressing and inviting women specifically.
The Pirate Party Brazil was present with quite some people looking for signatures that would allow them to be recognized as an official political party in Brazil. The state governor (from a different party) even gave his signature to that cause.
I learned that Free Software is already present in many areas in Brazil and that it receives a great deal of support from the government. Instead of running WindowsXP, many ATMs in the country run GNU/Linux, for example.
Overall it was a great event. I had lots of fun and I can recommend the conference to everybody who has the chance to go there. Thanks a lot to the organizers for inviting me and for making this conference a huge success.