MESSAGE
| DATE | 2003-10-01 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir Secretary NYLXS
|
| SUBJECT | Re: [hangout] UN Summit Tones Down Open-Source Stance
|
I here Yasir Arafat and Damascus will open source the suicide
bomber technology.
Ruben
On Wed, Oct 01, 2003 at 12:45:39PM +0100, Inker, Evan wrote:
>
> Another Reason why the UN is a totally useless organization...
>
>
> DATE: 30/09/2003
>
> UN Summit Tones Down Open-Source Stance
>
> By Kevin Murphy
>
> International governments have toned down their proposed endorsement of
> open-source software models, following lobbying by businesses at a
> preparatory meeting of the World Summit on the Information Society, which is
> set to run this December in Geneva.
>
> The WSIS, run by the UN and International Telecommunications Union, met last
> week to debate dozens of topics relating to international cooperation on IT
> issues, but open-source emerged as a key issue.
>
> Language in an August draft of the WSIS Plan of Action that would have
> advocated the use of open-source software, particularly in developing
> nations, was toned down in the September 26 draft, to give equal weight to
> the value of proprietary software.
>
> The August draft promoted open source awareness, the creation of
> intellectual property mechanisms supporting open source, and the creation of
> a UN "Programmers Without Frontiers" body to support open source software in
> developing nations.
>
> In the new draft, these are replaced with a more general description of how
> governments should "promote awareness among all stakeholders of the
> possibilities offered by different software models... including proprietary,
> open-source and free software".
>
> The changes were apparently made after input from several nations uneasy
> with excluding mentions of proprietary software from the Plan, and from the
> business lobby's delegation, which came out strongly against open-source.
>
> Delegates from the US and EU were prominent among those asking that
> commercial software interests get a fair representation in the Plan, and
> that certain provisions should be deleted. Commercial interests also came
> against the provisions.
>
> "Business has consistently stated that it is essential for governments to
> ensure technologically neutral policy towards different software models,"
> said the delegate from the business lobby, during the conference debate.
>
> "Governments cannot know, case-by-case, what software solution is best for
> every user," she said, urging the deletion of the open-source provisions.
> "Each user should be allowed to make a choice that meets their individual
> needs."
>
> In recent years commercial software interests, notably Microsoft Corp, which
> faces the constant threat of having its market share eroded by Linux, have
> had to lobby hard to keep governments from openly preferring open-source
> over proprietary software.
>
> Microsoft has gone so far as to offer governments the unprecedented chance
> to view Windows source code, primarily to help quash security fears, and
> more than a dozen countries have so far taken up its offer.
>
> And earlier this month, a trio of east Asian nations proposed the creation
> of a new operating system specifically to reduce the region's reliance on
> Microsoft. China already promotes a local variant of Linux as its OS of
> choice.
>
> The WSIS, which expects more than 50 heads of state to attend its December
> meeting, also expects to debate dozens of other hot IT topics during the
> meeting. The overriding theme is bridging the so-called "digital divide"
> between IT haves and have-nots.
>
> Other issues set for debate include the archiving of and access to
> government information, access to wireless spectrum, government subsidies of
> internet access, internet taxes, and international cooperation on
> information security.
>
> Spam, a current hot-button topic acknowledged to need global cooperation,
> also gets a look in. The August draft of the Plan of Action called for this
> cooperation, coordination with ISPs, the education of users, and the
> prosecution of spammers.
>
> In the latest draft, these rather general proposals were scaled back
> further. The 100 words the August Plan offered to the spam problem were
> reduced to the sentence: "Take appropriate action on spam at national and
> international levels."
>
>
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