Ritengo questa comunicazione rilevante, inoltro nelle liste.
diego
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Diego Maniacco, Bolzano (Italy)
diego.maniacco@xxxxxxxxx
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Not f'd — you won't find me on Facebook
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Dana Morgenstein, FSF <info@xxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2020 at 02:42
Subject: HACKERS and HOSPITALS: How you can help
To: DIEGO MANIACCO <diego.maniacco@xxxxxxxxx>
[image: Free Software Foundation]
*Please consider adding info@xxxxxxx <info@xxxxxxx> to your address book,
which will ensure that our messages reach you and not your spam box.*
*Read and share online:
https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/hackers-and-hospitals-how-you-can-help
<https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/hackers-and-hospitals-how-you-can-help>*
Dear DIEGO MANIACCO,
Free software activists, as well as many scientists and medical
professionals, have long since realized that proprietary medical software
and devices are neither ethical nor adequate to our needs
<https://media.libreplanet.org/u/libreplanet/m/freedom-devices-and-health/>.
The COVID-19 pandemic has illuminated some of these shortcomings to a
broader audience -- and also given our community a unique opportunity to
offer real, material help at a difficult time. We're putting together a
plan to pitch in, and we hope you'll join us: keep reading to find out what
you can do!
You may already be aware that software and hardware restrictions are actively
hampering
<https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wxekgx/hospitals-need-to-repair-ventilators-manufacturers-are-making-that-impossible>
the ability of hospitals to repair desperately needed ventilators all over
the world, and how some Italian volunteers ran into problems
<https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/17/21184308/coronavirus-italy-medical-3d-print-valves-treatments>
when they 3D printed ventilator valves. (As you can see from the link, the
stories vary about exactly what their interaction with the manufacturer
was, but it's clear that the company refused to release proprietary design
files, forcing the volunteers to reverse-engineer the parts.)
Past coverage of the struggles of free software activists to free the
devices they use includes:
-
Software Freedom Conservancy executive director and Free Software Award
winner
<https://www.fsf.org/news/public-lab-and-karen-sandler-are-2017-free-software-awards-winners-1>
Karen
Sandler's <https://www.fsf.org/working-together/profiles/karen-sandler>
efforts to raise the alarm about the dangers of proprietary software in
medical devices, including her own pacemaker;
-
The struggles of LibrePlanet speaker
<https://media.libreplanet.org/u/libreplanet/m/freedom-devices-and-health/>
and OpenAPS <https://openaps.org/> co-founder Dana Lewis, and many others
<https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/04/looping-created-insulin-pump-underground-market/588091/>
to help Type 1 diabetics take control of their medical treatment using an
Artificial Pancreas System; and
-
The efforts of many patients and activists
<https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/xwjd4w/im-possibly-alive-because-it-exists-why-sleep-apnea-patients-rely-on-a-cpap-machine-hacker>
to improve the effectiveness of their sleep apnea treatment by hacking
their CPAP machines.
We've also seen how free software can deliver better health outcomes from
our friends at GNU Health <https://gnuhealth.org> and GNU Health Embedded
<https://libreplanet.org/2020/speakers/#2744>, and how the participation of
everyday people in the scientific process can help to save the environment
through Free Software Award winners Public Lab
<https://www.fsf.org/news/public-lab-and-karen-sandler-are-2017-free-software-awards-winners-1>,
and help in disaster relief through Free Software Award winners Sahana
<https://www.fsf.org/news/social-benefit-award-2006>.
So it's clear that the free software community has a lot of creativity and
know-how to contribute in the tough days ahead, and that with over 845,000
people worldwide stricken with COVID-19 as of this writing, we absolutely
need to pitch in if we can help people to avoid illness, and to recover
from coronavirus. *We know that the 3D printing of medical equipment is
distinctly not an advisable hobby for amateurs, and that the production of
anything more complex than cloth masks will require expert input.* But we
also know that the outlook is bleak if supplies run short – and that
shortages are almost certain
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/03/18/ventilator-shortage-hospital-icu-coronavirus/>
.
That's why we're looking into what we can make with our in-office Respects
Your Freedom (RYF)-certified <https://ryf.fsf.org/> 3D printers, and we're
talking to the brand new Mass General Brigham Center for COVID Innovation
<https://covidinnovation.partners.org/> so they can direct our efforts.
We're also gathering resources for our "HACKERS and HOSPITALS" plan at
the LibrePlanet
wiki page <https://libreplanet.org/wiki/HACKERS_and_HOSPITALS>. If you have
expertise, 3D printers, or supplies to contribute, please contact Michael
via sysadmin@xxxxxxx. If you do not have the means to produce medical gear
and you still want to help, research can be done from anywhere with only a
computer and an Internet connection. Add any projects that are freely
licensed working towards helping with COVID-19 to the wiki!
We've always believed that it's of crucial importance to human freedom and
creativity to allow us to use all the tools at our disposal with no
restrictions, and right now, we may be able to use the free software we've
built, preserved, and advocated for together to save lives.
Happy and healthy hacking,
Dana Morgenstein
Outreach & Communications Coordinator
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