OpenCLI

It will be the first strike of bloggers ever. On July 14, 2009, Italian bloggers will muzzle themselves in the Web as well as in Piazza Navona in Rome, at 7PM where they will meet to protest against an Italian government bill (the Alfano decree) introducing a number of new rules which will limit the freedom of expression in Italian internet.

The so-called “obligation to rectify” imposed to the manager of an information site (blogs, social networks such as Facebook, Twitter etc) clearly appears to be a pretext. In fact such imposition, in termsof bureaucratization of the network and of very heavy penalties for users, shall make of the new decree an internet-killer.

The practical effects shall be to cause the independent sites and blogs to cease or materially reduce their publications. The apparent intent of introducing criteria of responsibility hides the attempt to make life difficult or impossible for bloggers and users of shared sites (for example: You Tube…) The fact is that bloggers are already entirely liable, from a penal standpoint, in the event of crimes such as insults, defamation etc: there is no need to introduce unbearable penalties for “citizen-journalists” who do not intend to submit themselves to the bureaucracy and the burdens contemplated in the Alfano decree.

The plurality of information, regardless of the media, internet, newspapers, radio and tv networks etc, is a fundamental right of men and citizens, on which democracy and freedom are based. The Alfano decree is an attack to the freedom of all media, from the major newspapers to the smallest blog.

For this reason we invite all Italian blogs and sites to a day of silence, in the day in which newspapers and tv networks will also remain silent. It is a message of all operators in the media world, who jointly shout to the political world: “we don not want to be gagged”.

We therefore invite all citizens with a blog or a site to publish this logo and mantain it for the entire day of July 14 next.

Defending the press, the tv and radio networks, the journalists and the Web, we firmly defend the basic freedom of information and the future of our democracy.

Alessandro Gilioli
Guido Scorza
Enzo Di Frenna

pubblicato: domenica 24 maggio 2009 da Lpt on fire! in: Open Source VoIp

European court decisions still accept in many cases the validity of the software patents granted by national patent offices and the European Patent Office (EPO) that is beyond democratic control. They not only continue to grant them, but also to lobby in favor of them. Despite the current deep crisis of the patent system, they are unable to reform and put at risk too many European businesses with their soft granting policy.

On 2005 the Commission appeared to be more supportive to the interests of major international conglomerates than of small and medium sized enterprises from Europe – who are a major driving force behind European innovation. The European Parliament rejected at the end the software patent directive, but has no rights for legislative initiatives.

Considerations

Studies

A large number of serious scientific and economic studies justify ruling out patents on software.

Copyright for software, but no patents

Software authors are already protected by copyright law, allowing others to innovate in the same space generating healthy competition, but this protection is undermined by patents on software. It is far too easy to violate patents on software whilst being completely unaware of any transgression. Software companies do not use and do not need the patent system to innovate. They must be protected from owners of dubious granted patents.

Litigation instead of innovation

Software patents miss their legitimate purpose. Patents on software favour litigation in detriment of innovation, defeating their democratic justification. They force software producers to spend on bureaucracy, lawsuits, and circumventing dubious granted claims on software what would otherwise be spent on Research and Development. Owners of patents on software, who sometimes doesn’t produce software themselves, obtain a means to exert unfair control over the market.

American mistakes

In the USA there are billions of dollars in litigation over software patents each year, and not only between software companies, but also other companies just because they have a web site (this starts to happen in Europe also). This mistake needs to be avoided in Europe.

We urge our legislators

• to pass national legal clarifications to substantive patent law to rule out any software patent;
• to invalidate all granted claims on patents that can be infringed by software run on programmable apparatus;
• to also strive to propagate these rules to the European level, including the European Patent Convention.

Sign as an individual	Sign as a company
Sign as an association	Sign as a company group

Continue reading…

The UK government has said it will accelerate the use of open source software in public services.

Tom Watson MP, minister for digital engagement, said open source software would be on a level playing field with proprietary software such as Windows.

Open source software will be adopted “when it delivers best value for money”, the government said.

It added that public services should where possible avoid being “locked into proprietary software”.

Licences for the use of open source software are generally free of charge and embrace open standards, and the code that powers the programs can be modified without fear of trampling on intellectual property or copyright.

According to some in the open source industry, the shift from proprietary standards could save the government £600m a year.

Simon Phipps, chief open source officer for Sun Microsystems, said the UK government’s stance was part of a “global wave” of take up for open source in governments.

“We waste a fortune on proprietary computer software because of paying for licences and promises up front and not demanding value,” he said.

Mr Phipps said schools, government departments and public services would have a “crucial freedom” because of the choice of whether to pay for support and training when using open source software.

The government’s action plan could see a wave of open source software being deployed in areas such as office applications (word processing and spreadsheets), document management and database infrastructure, the backbone of many large-scale IT systems.

‘More teeth’

Steve Shine, European vice president of Ingres, an open source support vendor, said the government’s action plan had “more teeth” than policies being adopted in other countries because the plan was tied into policies regarding how IT managers procure new software.

He said the move had partly been driven by a series of high-profile IT failures in recent years that had relied on proprietary software.

He said: “Open source can help avoid many of the hidden costs of proprietary software such as making organisations re-pay for licences if they want to shift use of a particular piece of software from one place to another.

“This is irrelevant in the open source world.”

Announcing an open source and open standards action plan, the government said it would:

• ensure that the government adopts open standards and uses these to communicate with the citizens and businesses that have adopted open source solutions
• ensure that open source solutions are considered properly and, where they deliver best value for money are selected for government business solutions
• strengthen the skills, experience and capabilities within government and in its suppliers to use open source to greatest advantage
• embed an open source culture of sharing, re-use and collaborative development across government and its suppliers
• ensure that systems integrators and proprietary software suppliers demonstrate the same flexibility and ability to re-use their solutions and products as is inherent in open source.

Government departments will be required to adopt open source software when “there is no significant overall cost difference between open and non-open source products” because of its “inherent flexibility”.

Expected backlash

Mr Phipps and Mr Shine said they expected a backlash from proprietary software firms.

“I am absolutely certain there have been communications extremely high-up in proprietary vendors with management high up in government,” said Mr Shine.

Mr Phipps added: “Measured over the short term traditional vendors will cut prices back, end load contacts and do everything to appear cheaper.

“But the real value with open source comes from giving users a new flexibility.”

He said the widespread adoption of open source software in public services could also have a knock on effect to the ordinary consumer.

“It’s already happening to significant extent in the UK. Lots of homes are using Firefox and OpenOffice.org.

“It is becoming acceptable and expected.”