TYPO3 and Fellow CMS Projects Warn of Adverse Effects of European Union Legislation

Free and open source content management platforms Drupal, Joomla, TYPO3, and WordPress serve more than half of all EU websites. Together, they commend the EU’s goal of enhanced software security and quality, but warn that the proposed Cyber Resilience Act could bring contrary results by undermining the European economy’s competitiveness and the Union’s core aims and values.

Baar ZG, Switzerland, 25 July 2023
 

The letter adds support to concerns voiced about the adverse impact the proposed regulations could have on free and open source (FOSS) development and activity in the EU — an annual multi-billion Euro contributor to the EU’s economy, innovation, and prosperity that also advances the EU’s aims and values.

Read the Open Letter

The letter emphasizes the Act’s ban on “unfinished software” and unclear definitions of “commercial activity”. Rule sets that ignore or contradict the interconnected nature of digital business and software development mean European innovation and economic participation could be hampered. These restrictions could lead to an unintended rush of business towards American tech giants.

The signatories explain that FOSS projects foster peaceful cooperation that exemplifies EU core Aims and Values, including human dignity, freedom, democracy, and equality. However, the proposed regulation goes against the realities of modern software development and could prevent FOSS projects from practicing within the EU.

FOSS is developed, published, distributed, and continuously updated through independent international cooperation and contributions from thousands of individuals. The authors emphasize that this central tenet of FOSS is in itself a source of cyber resilience, saying that “secure software should not be dependent on proprietary software owned and managed by non-European tech giants.” Rather, software security should be achieved by encouraging and embracing free and open source technology.

The letter ends with an invitation to EU Commission members and other interested parties to participate in a seminar in Brussels to discuss FOSS and how CMS web platforms can maintain their status as exemplars of European innovation and prosperity.

The letter is available at typo3.org/eu-open-letter-july-2023, signed by: 

• Crystal Dionysopoulos, President, Open Source Matters, Inc. (Joomla)
• Josepha Haden Chomphosy, Executive Director, WordPress Project
• Olivier Dobberkau, President, TYPO3 Association
• Tim Doyle, CEO, Drupal Association.

The TYPO3 Association coordinates and funds the long-term development of TYPO3 CMS and is the owner of the TYPO3 trademark. It is a not-for-profit organization that provides software to the public free of charge. The TYPO3 Association is an association according to Swiss Law that was founded by the members of the TYPO3 Community in November 2004. It has its headquarters in Baar ZG, Switzerland. The TYPO3 Association is non-partisan and denominationally neutral. More information about members, objectives, and funding opportunities can be found at: typo3.org/project/association/

TYPO3 GmbH is a service company established by the TYPO3 Association to provide support services and to take on the development of the TYPO3 CMS software. More about the TYPO3 Company can be found at typo3.com.

Drupal, Joomla, and WordPress are, along with TYPO3, the most popular FOSS content management systems on the web today. While all are based on the PHP programming language and distributed under the GPL open-source license, each platform takes a different approach to website publishing. With strength in diversity, they form the Inter-CMS Working Group, promoting the values and benefits of free and open source software.

Adobe PDF (.pdf)
Microsoft Word (.docx)

Original letter (.pdf)

TYPO3 Association
Mathias Bolt Lesniak
media(at)typo3.com

Please feel free to send a copy of the press release to your local media. Just ensure you do not spam. Make it clear that you are not an official representative of the TYPO3 Association or TYPO3 Company, but that you are an agency or individual using TYPO3.

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