[From nobody Mon Sep 10 20:15:25 2007 Return-path: cpi-ua-owner@vancouvercommunity.net Received: from vcn.bc.ca ([207.102.64.2]) by priv-edtnes16-hme0.telusplanet.net (InterMail vM.6.00.05.02 201-2115-109-103-20031105) with ESMTP id <20031211160310.GNBR222.priv-edtnes16-hme0.telusplanet.net@vcn.bc.ca> for <jfsayre@telus.net>; Thu, 11 Dec 2003 09:03:10 -0700 Received: (from sympa@localhost) by vcn.bc.ca (8.11.7+Sun/8.11.7) id hBBG2ib03992; Thu, 11 Dec 2003 08:02:44 -0800 (PST) Received: from mail.flora.ca (calcutta3.flora.ca [192.139.46.242]) by vcn.bc.ca (8.11.7+Sun/8.11.7) with ESMTP id hBBG2PE03850 for <cpi-ua@vancouvercommunity.net>; Thu, 11 Dec 2003 08:02:27 -0800 (PST) Received: from calcutta.flora.ca (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by mail.flora.ca (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id hBBG2EAp025632; Thu, 11 Dec 2003 11:02:14 -0500 Received: from localhost (russell@localhost) by calcutta.flora.ca (8.12.8/8.12.8/Submit) with ESMTP id hBBG28a1025628; Thu, 11 Dec 2003 11:02:09 -0500 Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 11:02:08 -0500 (EST) From: Russell McOrmond <russell@flora.ca> Subject: [CPI-UA] Free/Libre and Open Source Software at the World Summit on the Information Society. To: Honourable John Manley <manlej1@parl.gc.ca>, Reg Alcock MP -- Jeff Legault <jeff.legault@reg-alcock.ca>, Reg Alcock <reg.alcock@reg-alcock.ca>, =?iso-8859-1?Q?=22B=E9langer=2C_Mauril_-_M=2EP=2E=22?= <Belanger.M@parl.gc.ca> Cc: CANadian OPENsource Education and Research <discuss@canopener.ca>, Universal Access Canada <cpi-ua@vancouvercommunity.net> Reply-to: cpi-ua@vancouvercommunity.net Message-id: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0312111045560.24569-100000@calcutta.flora.ca> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Precedence: list X-Loop: cpi-ua@vancouvercommunity.net X-Sequence: 2352 List-Owner: <mailto:cpi-ua-request@vancouvercommunity.net> List-Post: <mailto:cpi-ua@vancouvercommunity.net> List-Subscribe: <mailto:sympa@vancouvercommunity.net?subject=subscribe%20cpi-ua> List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:sympa@vancouvercommunity.net?subject=unsubscribe%20cpi-ua> List-Archive: <http://vancouvercommunity.net/lists/arc/cpi-ua> List-Help: <mailto:sympa@vancouvercommunity.net?subject=help> List-Id: <cpi-ua@vancouvercommunity.net> X-No-Archive: yes I am sending copies to my MP in Ottawa-south, and a few other MP's and an MP's assistant that have expressed interest in the past. Please pass this letter onward! I have been watching the WSIS as closely as I can from Canada. I hope that in the future that I will be reporting from the summit itself, but need to find someone to sponsor me as I could not afford to go on my own. An article I read today in OPEN Magazine is worth hi-lighting. It reminds people that the question of FLOSS vs "software manufacturing" (treating of software as a manufactured good to be paid for on a per-unit royalty fee) is not a technical one, but a social, economic and governance one: To quote the article: http://weblog.flora.org/article.php3?story_id=537 The choice between free software, Open Source, and proprietary software is not a technological choice. It is a social choice, and a choice of business arrangement. It is a social choice, like deciding you want your citizens to be able to send email, not just receive it. It is also a business arrangement, like deciding that you want to buy a car rather than rent one. It is a matter of sovereignty also: If the government uses non-free software, it hands control of the government's computing to a private party, usually foreign. "Technological neutrality is a good principle, but it does not imply neutrality on social issues, business arrangements, or sovereignty." I have authored or referenced a number of articles about FLOSS at WSIS on my weblog. Use the following search to see a list of them: http://weblog.flora.org/search.php3?query=WSIS The importance of the last one, the governance issue, can not be underestimated. When it comes to software that controls ICT, automates government policy, or counts votes, software "code is law". We must ensure that for this subset of software that this form of law receives the same level of accountability and transparency as other law enacted by democratic governments. One of the easiest ways to do this, and to also receive the social and economic benefits as a bonus, is to ensure that this type of software is FLOSS. --- Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/> Governance software that controls ICT, automates government policy, or electronically counts votes, shouldn't be bought any more than politicians should be bought. -- http://www.flora.ca/russell/ ]