From jp at nexedi.com Mon Dec 1 17:44:29 2008 From: jp at nexedi.com (Jean-Paul Smets) Date: Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:44:29 +0100 Subject: [ffii] FFII TIO Workgroup Releases Guidelines to Protect Freedom and Competition in, the Cloud Message-ID: <4934146D.7070307@nexedi.com> Hi, FFII is making the news at Open World Forum (Paris) with the "TIO Libre" concept (http://www.openworldforum.org/). It is now getting support from international government authorities which were present at the Forum as well as from Open Source / Free Software vendors. You can find our first press release bellow or at: https://tio.ffii.org/FFII_TIO_Workgroup_Releases_Guidelines_to_Protect_Freedom_and_Competition_in_the_Cloud More news will be provided in our next press release after the end of the forum tomorrow. Regards, JP Smets. FFII TIO workgroup leader ---- FFII TIO Workgroup Releases Guidelines to Protect Freedom and Competition in the Cloud Paris, Munich, Campos, December 1st 2008 - the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) released during the Open World Forum the first conclusions of its workgroup on Total Information Outsourcing (TIO). TIO is a recent trend in the management of corporate information systems which consists of outsourcing critical information infrastructure to Web based services. This creates new risks for Freedom and Competition. The FFII TIO workgroup has identified 7 rights that address these risks. If they are satisfied, outsourced software and data enjoys the same freedom and security that is available with in-house Open Source / Free Software solutions. TIO is based on technologies known as Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud Computing, Business Process Office (BPO), e-consulting, e-learning, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0 and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Rogerio Atem de Carvalho, researcher at CEFET Campos (Brasil), explains: "Total Information Outsourcing (TIO) is a fantastic opportunity to bring the benefits of the most advanced software to companies and organisations which do not have enough resources to implement their own information system and would not consider using it otherwise." Bernard Lang, FFII France Board Member, adds: "The well known risks of proprietary software - such as vendor lock-in, intrusion, or data security - are exacerbated in the TIO context. Even though TIO services are often based on Open Source / Free Software, this is good for the provider but no longer enough to protect the user.". "The FFII TIO workgroup has been assessing these risks and the different solutions to circumvent them. The result is a list of 7 criteria on Service Level Agreements (SLA): 3 criteria for Customer Freedom and 4 criteria for Customer Loyalty." says Jean-Paul Smets, FFII TIO work group leader and CEO of Nexedi. The criteria for Customer Freedom are: 1. Data Freedom, i.e. the freedom to migrate all user data including configuration and logs to an infrastructure operated by any other party. 2. Software Freedom, i.e. the freedom to benefit from the same service on a standalone infrastructure operated by any other party using solely Open Source / Free Software made available by the provider. 3. Competition Freedom, the freedom to copy and provide the same service. Jean-Paul Smets adds: "While the goals of traditional software freedom can be ascertained with these criteria, additional safeguards are required before TIO can provide the same guarantees in terms of reliability and security as regular staff or civil servants. This is where the final four criteria come into play.". Alberto Barrionuevo, president of FFII, concludes: "The FFII workgroup on Total Information Outsourcing (TIO) has highlighted 3 rights which must be preserved in order to protect Freedom on the Web Infrastructure: Data Freedom, Software Freedom and Competition Freedom. The TIO workgroup will progress and refine its criteria over the next 12 months. Meanwhile, FFII has published a draft list of TIO providers which respect the 3 freedoms. We encourage more companies and organisations to join this list to protect Freedom and Competition on the Web Infrastructure by implementing what will be called from now: TIO Libre." Links * TIO Libre Definitions - http://tio.ffii.org/Tio_Libre_Definitions * TIO Guidelines - http://tio.ffii.org/Tio_Guidelines * FFII TIO work group - http://tio.ffii.org/ * List of TIO Libre Providers http://tio.ffii.org/List_Of_Tio_Libre_Providers Contact Jean-Paul Smets FFII Paris +33-6-29 02 44 25 [16]jp at nexedi.com (English/Fran?ais/Castellano/Catal?/???) About the FFII The FFII is a not-for-profit association active in over fifty countries, dedicated to the development of information goods for the public benefit, based on copyright, free competition, and open standards. More than 850 members, 3,500 companies and 100,000 supporters have entrusted the FFII to act as their voice in public policy questions concerning exclusion rights (intellectual property) in data processing. From ivan at ffii.org Fri Dec 12 19:11:38 2008 From: ivan at ffii.org (Ivan F. Villanueva B.) Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2008 19:11:38 +0100 Subject: [ffii] Petition demands effective ban of software patents in Europe Message-ID: <20081212181138.GB6853@artificialidea> ======================================================================= Petition demands effective ban of software patents in Europe ======================================================================= Berlin, 12th December 2008 - Backed by the FFII and other organisations, software developers launch a petition in 28 languages to stop software patents and protect European innovators. The petition asks for legislative clarifications to clear out the legal uncertainty and imbalances created by software patents. Since the rejection of the software patent directive by the European Parliament in 2005, litigation and patent traps have become an even more prominent problem for the market and users of software. The European Patent Office (EPO) and national patent offices continue to grant these software patents and have not adapted their practice, despite the fact that they are facing a patent crisis caused by lowering standards and a lengthening backlog of applications. Meanwhile, court decisions accept and in many cases validate the granted software patents. Benjamin Henrion, president of the FFII, comments, "the patent community is pushing hard to expand what can be patented. In the face of the growing clamour against software patents, they react with denial ('we don't do it!'), incredulity ('why exclude software?') and pleading not-guilty ('we're just executing the law'). At the same time, they betray their pro-software-patents bias by lobbying the legislator to expand patentability. Hence it is up to democratic forces to bring bureaucracies back under control." Ivan Villanueva, coordinator of the European petition, comments, "after the decision on the Symbian case in the UK the president of the European Patent Office, Mrs. Brimelow, has recently made a referral to the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBoA) on the question of software patents. However, I expect the EBoA will not completely change the current point of view of the European Patent Office, but rather will reaffirm it. With the Stop Software Patents Petition we want to make a loud and clear statement against software patents in Europe, unifying the voices of the European software industry and civil society." Reinier Bakels, a patent scholar, also comments about Brimelow's referral on the question of software patents, "The lawmakers in the member states ought to be leading rather than letting the EPO do so with its defective democratic legitimacy. This is not just a 'technical' legal matter, but a policy decision." He continues and agrees with Villanueva, "the referral has little to do with the real questions on software patentability. Concepts such as 'technical contribution', 'further technical contribution' and 'technical considerations' are part of the problem rather than part of the solution. Obviously the EBoA is only supposed to confirm present policies, not to give a fresh view." Henrion adds, "patents on software are a danger which companies of all sizes worldwide are becoming aware of, but many judges and lawyers don't seem to understand the problems they present. For instance recently in the USA, the judge of the Bilski case refused to comment on the subject of software patents, ignoring several Amicus Briefs from the software industry. We need legislative clarifications ruling out software patents. This is what our petition asks for." The organisers call on businesses and organisations to add their signatures and promote the petition between its customers or supporters. The petition can be signed at * http://stopsoftwarepatents.eu ======================================================================= Links ======================================================================= * Software patents, an introduction http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/en/m/basics/index.html * Symbian supreme court decision http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2008/1066.html * Full text for the referral to the EBoA http://documents.epo.org/projects/babylon/eponet.nsf/0/B89D95BB305AAA8DC12574EC002C7CF6/$File/G308_en.pdf * EPO announcement of the referral http://www.epo.org/topics/news/2008/20081024.html * Bilski court decision http://www.groklaw.net/pdf/07-1130.pdf * Permanent link to this press release https://press.ffii.org/Press_releases/Petition_demands_effective_ban_of_software_patents_in_Europe ======================================================================= Contact ======================================================================= Benjamin Henrion President of the FFII +32-2-414 84 03 +32-484-566109 bhenrion at ffii.org (French/English) Ivan Villanueva Coordinator of the European Petition +49-160-23 160 13 ivan at ffii.org (Spanish/German/English) ======================================================================= About the FFII ======================================================================= The FFII is a not-for-profit association active in over fifty countries, dedicated to the development of information goods for the public benefit, based on copyright, free competition, and open standards. More than 850 members, 3,500 companies and 100,000 supporters have entrusted the FFII to act as their voice in public policy questions concerning exclusion rights (intellectual property) in data processing.