OpenForum Europe is nominating Carlo Piana, a long-standing friend of OFE and a Fellow of the OpenForum Academy as a candidate to the position of an affiliate director at Open Source Initiative (OSI).
The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is a non-profit global organisation stewarding the Open Source Definition that sets the foundation for the open source software ecosystem. OSI is advocating for the benefits of open source and builds bridges within the open source community through its wide network of partners and collaborators. OFE is an affiliate member of the organisation, and believes that Carlo joining the Board would greatly support OSI in its activities.
The OSI board of directors gathers volunteers who are exceptional individuals involved in open source communities. The board oversees the overall work of the organisation, supports its staff and sets strategic goals and direction in line with its mission. OFE believes that Carlo is an outstanding candidate for this position with his immense experience and credibility in advocating for digital freedoms and in legal matters. While coming from the grassroots movement, he is equally considered equanimous by industry players, having a deep knowledge of how large and small corporations, large and small public entities, startups, foundation and grassroots movement work and face open source for their goals and needs.
About Carlo Piana:
Lawyer and digital freedom advocate, Carlo is an eminent figure in the Open Source field. Former General Counsel of the Free Software Foundation Europe for more than a decade, he represented FSFE and the Samba Team in the largest antitrust litigation in Europe, arguing before the Court of Justice and the European Commission in a ten years long confrontation. This led to the confirmation of the decision against Microsoft and to the opening of a phase of more openness of its protocols and more competition in the browser field.
He is currently serving as IP and OS advisory team of United Nations Technology Innovation Labs and has for fifteen years served as an editor of Ifosslr – the first legal review dedicated exclusively to free and open source software law and other liberties. In Italy, he has published one of the most successful books on digital liberties (“Open Source, Software Libero e Altre Libertà”) distributed in 5000 copies by Wikimedia Foundation Italia. He is also on record in the first decision to enforce an open source licence in Italy.
Carlo has been also active and outspoken in the licence approval discussion list at OSI. Also is a staunch advocate of Open Data and Open Source in the Public Administration, having represented FSFE and the KDE Foundation in the team drafting of the first national guidelines on the procurement of open source software in Italy. Currently he advises the Noi Techpark in Bolzano for their Open Data Hub and has been a consultant of Regione Sardegna for their open data strategy. Having dedicated more than 25 years of his professional activity to IT law, Carlo is also President of EuroITcounsel, a network of lawyers specialising in IT and has founded Array (Array is an array) a loosely knit law firm exclusively dedicated to IT Law and Free and Open Source.