About
Carlo is a lawyer based in Milan, Italy, practicing IT law, active for almost 25 years in advocacy and activism for digital freedoms. He has been involved in the battles for ensuring competition in networking protocols on behalf of Samba Team and FSFE in one of the largest at the time litigation on antitrust matters before the EU Courts. Regularly advises, also pro bono or partly pro bono, some of the most important Free Software entities and foundations, including Debian, The Document Foundation and the Blender Foundation. Has served as General Counsel for the Free Software Foundation Europe for more than ten years and as Chair of the Board of the Open Source Initiative, of which is Board Member, as well as founding and being editor of the International Free and Open Source Software Law Review. He has joined The Eclipse Foundation as part of the Eclipse Oniro Working Group and member of the Steering Committee, and is one of the designers of the OS compliance toolchain developed within the project, is fellow of the Open Forum Academy and member of OpenChain. He was in the first advisory board for creating detail legislation favoring Open Source software over proprietary in Italian public procurement.
Current employer
Array (law firm)
Other affiliations
- Eclipse Foundation (contributing member, member of working groups)
- Open Forum Academy (fellow)
- Openchain Project (partner)
What areas of the Board’s work do you see yourself contributing towards?
My main focus will be continuing the work I started as chair of the board:
- Keep the board’s focus on investing in OSI education and outreach programs that cover policy makers, lawyers, developers of software and of AI systems.
- Complete the transition to a professional organization, with board governance that reflects the new organizational structure.
- Continue researching the AI ecosystem, supporting the newly-formed communities around development of AI systems and data commons
What goals do you hope to achieve for OSI and the world of open source by serving on the Board of Directors?
Continue growing the OSI on the path it’s been since I started serving on the board in 2021. OSI has never had more visibility and funding to hire qualified employees that are making a difference, educating policy makers in the EU and the US. OSI must increase its support for Open Source developers to limit the impact of the Cyber Resilience Act as the implementation standards are developed. Similarly, I want OSI to continue leading the conversation about AI, to defend the original Open Source principles and combat open washing.
Previous board service
- Director (2022 – 2025)
- Chair of the Board (2023 – 2024)
Main social media account or blog
https://mastodon.uno/deck/@carlopiana
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