Fsf-friends June 2004

fsf-friends@gnu.org.in

30 participants
39 discussions

[Fwd]: please comply with standards
by Mahesh T. Pai 10 Jun '04

10 Jun '04

Any comments? ----- Forwarded message from "Mahesh T. Pai" <paivakil(a)vsnl.net> ----- > Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2004 23:46:31 +0530 > From: "Mahesh T. Pai" <paivakil(a)vsnl.net> > Subject: please comply with standards > To: contmngr-sfio(a)sb.nic.in > Message-ID: <20040609181631.GA5348(a)nandini.home> > > Dear Sir(s), > > This has reference to the home page of th Serious Fraud Investigation > Office, (http://www.sfio.nic.in/). > > The bottom of your page mentions that ``Site optimised for 800 X 600 > monitor resolution, java enabled, IE 4.0 or above.'' > > I feel that as an institution which has to interact with the public it > is most improper of you to `optimise' your pages for a browser for a > particular operating system. Firstly, it is in no way, > `optimisation'. You are simply using public funds for carrying > advertisement for a particular company. > > You ought be aware that the users of the world wide web use diverse > operating systems and browsers. In order to make things easier for > both developers and users of the internet, the W3C consortium (World > Wide Web Consortium) has laid down certain standards for web pages; > and it would have been appropriate for you to conform to those > standards. > > Also, you will appreciate that the Internet is a useful medium for > people with disabilities to communicate with the outside world, and > compliance with the W3C standards automatically ensures that people > with disabilities can access your site (for example, using a screen > reader). You will appreciate that as an organ of the government, and > an organisation discharging Sovereign functions, you have to adhere to > certain standards of fairness and propriety. > > In fact, on verification of your site, except for minor variations > which affect accessibility for the visually disabled, the pages are > by and large compliant to the W3C standard. What, then, is the > objective of recommending use of a specific browser? > > I hope that you will understand the issue in its proper perspective, > and ensure that your pages fully conform to W3C standards and further, > remove references to specific brands of browsers. > > Hoping early compliance with this request, > > Thanking You, > Sincerely Yours, > > Mahesh T. Pai, > Advocate, `Nandini', > SRM Road, Cochin - 682018. > Kerala State. > > ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Mahesh T. Pai <<>> http://paivakil.port5.com Encryption: A powerful algorithmic encoding technique employed in the creation of computer manuals.

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Re: Re: [Fsf-friends] [Fwd]: please comply with standards
by Kanti Jadia 10 Jun '04

10 Jun '04

Hi Mahesh et all, The best way to proceed according to me would be http://www.anybrowser.org/ Campaign for a Non-Browser Specific WWW. We should spread the word for anybrowser. This would help us all. Thanks Kanti On Thu, 10 Jun 2004 Mahesh T. Pai wrote : >Kanti Jadia said on Thu, Jun 10, 2004 at 03:27:38AM +0000,: > > > NIC maintains/develops/deploys the websites for most of the >Public > > utility, Gov. etc. > >Actually, non-NIC pages are worse. See cochinshipyard.com >and >kfri.org. > >And also have alook at http://patentoffice.nic.in/, which is >free of >the noxious advertisement, but not W3C compliant, anduses >proprietary, >non-standard tags. (hint - marqee). > >-- > Mahesh T. Pai <<>> http://paivakil.port5.com >free - (adj) able to act at will; not hampered; not under > compulsion or restraint; free from obligations or >duties; > not bound to servitude; at libertyx. > >_______________________________________________ >Fsf-friends mailing list >Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in >http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends ----------------------------------------- Enjoy your Freedom,use GNU/Linux. http://www.gnu.org/gnu/why-gnu-linux.html -----------------------------------------

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Re: [Fsf-friends] [Fwd]: please comply with standards
by Kanti Jadia 10 Jun '04

10 Jun '04

Hi Mahesh, Just a point in time, As per the website "This site is developed and hosted by National Informatics Centre Contents are provided and maintained by The Serious Fraud Investigation Office Site optimised for 800 X 600 monitor resolution, java enabled, IE 4.0 or above." So its better to let NIC know what its doing. NIC maintains/develops/deploys the websites for most of the Public utility, Gov. etc. My 0.2 cents ( oops paise ) Thanks On Wed, 09 Jun 2004 Mahesh T. Pai wrote : >Any comments? > >----- Forwarded message from "Mahesh T. Pai" <paivakil(a)vsnl.net> >----- > > > Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2004 23:46:31 +0530 > > From: "Mahesh T. Pai" <paivakil(a)vsnl.net> > > Subject: please comply with standards > > To: contmngr-sfio(a)sb.nic.in > > Message-ID: <20040609181631.GA5348(a)nandini.home> > > > > Dear Sir(s), > > > > This has reference to the home page of th Serious Fraud >Investigation > > Office, (http://www.sfio.nic.in/). > > > > The bottom of your page mentions that ``Site optimised for >800 X 600 > > monitor resolution, java enabled, IE 4.0 or above.'' > > > > I feel that as an institution which has to interact with the >public it > > is most improper of you to `optimise' your pages for a >browser for a > > particular operating system. Firstly, it is in >no way, > > `optimisation'. You are simply using public funds for >carrying > > advertisement for a particular company. > > > > You ought be aware that the users of the world wide web >use diverse > > operating systems and browsers. In order to make things >easier for > > both developers and users of the internet, the W3C >consortium (World > > Wide Web Consortium) has laid down certain standards for >web pages; > > and it would have been appropriate for you to conform >to those > > standards. > > > > Also, you will appreciate that the Internet is a useful >medium for > > people with disabilities to communicate with the outside >world, and > > compliance with the W3C standards automatically ensures >that people > > with disabilities can access your site (for example, using >a screen > > reader). You will appreciate that as an organ of the >government, and > > an organisation discharging Sovereign functions, you have to >adhere to > > certain standards of fairness and propriety. > > > > In fact, on verification of your site, except for minor >variations > > which affect accessibility for the visually disabled, the >pages are > > by and large compliant to the W3C standard. What, >then, is the > > objective of recommending use of a specific browser? > > > > I hope that you will understand the issue in its proper >perspective, > > and ensure that your pages fully conform to W3C standards and >further, > > remove references to specific brands of browsers. > > > > Hoping early compliance with this request, > > > > Thanking You, > > Sincerely Yours, > > > > Mahesh T. Pai, > > Advocate, `Nandini', > > SRM Road, Cochin - 682018. > > Kerala State. > > > > > >----- End forwarded message ----- > >-- > Mahesh T. Pai <<>> http://paivakil.port5.com >Encryption: A powerful algorithmic encoding technique employed >in > the creation of computer manuals. > >_______________________________________________ >Fsf-friends mailing list >Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in >http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends ----------------------------------------- Enjoy your Freedom,use GNU/Linux. http://www.gnu.org/gnu/why-gnu-linux.html -----------------------------------------

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Free the Law
by Ramanraj K 10 Jun '04

10 Jun '04

Free the Law: Initiative needed to have indlii.org I was recently searching for some legal material and landed at http://www.austlii.edu.au/ - the website of Australasian Legal Information Institute. The website allows _free_ access to most of the Australian legal resources, including legislation and decisions of the High Court of Australia [the Highest court in Australia]. They have devised standard notation for citing case law that is uniformly followed througout Australia, with most of the Courts sending in the judgements and transcripts of proceedings to austlii in standard formats. Legislation is reported to the site by the attorneys who represent the state. Austlii has also led initiatives in England that led to www.bailii.org Free access is available to all to the legal resources at austlii In India, NIC has taken several initiatives, and a wealth of information relating to legislation and case-law are available, but not everything is free. AFAIK, there are no standard notations that enable citing case-law published at the NIC servers before the courts. Again, AFAIK, many proprietary software tools are used in India, in sharp contrast to Austlii that uses GNU C and has created its own in-house software to index information. [ http://www2.austlii.edu.au/%7Egraham/Slides/London/technical.html ] [ http://causelists.nic.in ] Austlii also has a worldlii site to provide access to legal information in other jurisdictions. An initiative to have a site named indlii on the lines of austlii may help to standardise reporting of legal information on the internet. Details about how the austlii project was created, funded and works is available at: http://www.lawonline.cc/accesslawright.htm under the title "Free the Law" Having free and easy access to legal information would be the first serious step in e-governance efforts. Probably, FSF-India, and a few law universities in India could take the initiative to move NIC to create indlii on the lines of austlii, possibly by teaming up together along with austlii. Regards, Ramanraj.

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Fwd:Latest news on European Softwarepatents
by Rakesh 'arky' Ambati 09 Jun '04

09 Jun '04

FYI --arky --- contributors-request(a)osnews.com wrote: > Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2004 12:00:00 +0000 > From: contributors-request(a)osnews.com > Subject: Contributors digest, Vol 1 #62 - 1 msg > To: contributors(a)osnews.com > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Latest news on European Softwarepatents (Arend > Lammertink) > > --__--__-- > > Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2004 13:27:13 +0200 > From: Arend Lammertink <alam(a)home.nl> > To: contributors(a)osnews.com > Subject: [OSNews Contrib] Latest news on European > Softwarepatents > > This is a multi-part message in MIME format. > --------------090001040703070402060103 > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-2; > format=flowed > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > > Hi there, > > I was part of a delegation that handed over a > petition to the Dutch > government on behalf of the FFII, against > softwarepatents. > > As a result of this, the decision taken by the > Counsil of Ministers is > once again under discussion and might even be > overturned! > > I have typed about half the story and would like to > know if this would > have any chance of being published. > > Of course, I'm open to any suggestions and > improvements (English is not > my native language) and I still need to write the > other half, which I > think is quite interesting. > > For example, the only company that was present at > the emergency debate > were our friends from Redmond. Since they also > sponsor the Irish > presidency, it is obvious they had something to gain > here. > > What do you think? > Should I write the other half? > > Kindest regards, > > Arend Lammertink. > > > > --------------090001040703070402060103 > Content-Type: text/plain; > name="swpat.txt" > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > Content-Disposition: inline; > filename="swpat.txt" > > The latest news on European Software Patents. > > > The battle about Software Patents in Europe seemed > all but lost. The council of ministers voted for a > directive that basically slapped the European > Parliament in the face because they shamelessly put > aside a democratic decision taken by said > Parliament. And even though the Parliament still has > a second reading where it has to go to a lot of > trouble to repair the damage done by the Council, it > is a serious matter that the Council of Ministers > have shown they have no idea of the devastating > consequences of their directive for the European > SME's. What's more, they have shown twice in one > week that they have no respect for the democratic > opinion of the European Parliament, which in itself > is absolutely unacceptable. > > It turned out that the Dutch Eurocommisionar had > played a big role in convincing our German > neighbours to vote in favor of a "compromise" that > basically puts the European Software industry on > sell-off, since of 30.000 softwarepatents the EPO > already gave out against the letter and spirit of > the existing law, 75% belong to non-European > multinationals and it is unclear what happens to the > legal status of these patents. > If he reads this, I want him to know that I am going > to vote for the Parliament coming Thursday as I did > last time and I, as a European citizen, want my vote > to be respected. > > > _Seemed_ all but lost. But it ain't over yet. We've > played our cards (and luck!) quite nicely here in > The Netherlands (if I may say so myself) and at this > moment the Dutch Parliament is seriously considering > to revoke the vote Minister Brinkhorst gave at the > Council. This has never happened before in the > history of the European Union! > > > So, what's going on out there? Did we miss > something? > > > Well, the ball started rolling because I knew a > member of the Dutch Parliament, Annie Schrijer ( > http://www.tweede-kamer.nl/leden_commissies_fracties/griffie_lfc/kamerdet63… > ), who turned out to be vice-chairman of the > Committee for Economic affairs in the Dutch > Parliament. > After the demonstration on friday the 14th of May at > the Dutch ministry of Economic Affairs, I talked to > some of the representatives of the FFII and > vrijschrift.org and I told them I knew Mrs. Schrijer > and could be able to contact her. Since we thought > it might help, I decided to call her. > > Since she lives just a few kilometers from where I > live, it could happen that I went over to her place > the next saturday and was able to tell her the whole > story. Fortunately she had had patent issues in her > dossier before, so it didn't took long for her to > understand exactly what was going on. > > Even though she could not do much herself directly, > she could tell me how I could try to hand over an > urgent petition to the Dutch Parliament on tuesday > May 18th, the day the Ministers were to vote in the > Council. That always seems to "shake the bed" as she > put it. > > Well, I could not have imagened how right she was. > First of all, we offered the petition to the right > persons this time. Previously, we had offered it to > the civil servants who wrote the letters on behalf > of the Minister that later turned out to contain > critical errors... > Of course, these guys were not very interested in > "shaking the bed". They were more interested in > getting this over as quickly and quietly as > possible. > > But, there we were. > > Tuesday, the 18th of May. Just 5 geeks disguised as > businessmen standing eye to eye with the Commision > for Economic Affairs of the Dutch Parliament : > http://www.harmwal.nl/img/20040518denhaagmaastricht/pict0007.jpg > What happens in such a case is that you are allowed > to say your thing for about 5 minutes. After that, > it's usually "thanks" and off you go. > > This time, there was just a little tiny extra > detail. Apparantly Annie had done her homework and > she had noticed that there was an error in the > letter the Minister (or better: his civil servants) > had sent to the Parliament prior to the vote in the > Council, explaining that there was "agreement" > between the European Parliament and the Council, > which had been understood by the Dutch Parliament as > saying "dont't worry, everything is arranged and in > order". By that time, it was already clear that the > Dutch members of the European Parliament were not > exactly speaking about an "agreement". Oops. > > So, we had our hands on a classical case of > "onjuiste informatie" ("incorrect information") to > the Parliament by a responsible politician, not > seldom resulting in the forced resignation of such a > politician. > Clearly this is something the opposition is always > interested in. In the Netherlands, they have an > important task in being the guarding dog of the > Parliament. It just had to be wakened.... > > So, Annie whispered something into their ears that I > was unable to hear. However, we would soon find out > the guarding dog had been wakened. What happened was > that a letter was sent to the Minister where he was > asked to explain the situation. Unfortunately, we > don't have a copy of this letter, but the answer of > the Minister is available on the official website of > the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affars (in Dutch): > > http://www.ez.nl/upload/docs/Kamerbrieven/PDF-Documenten/4033973-vtk.pdf > (Exercise for the reader: Who actually wrote it?) > > Of course, we had some remarks (in Dutch), > co-authored by mr.ir. R.B.Bakels [1]: > > http://www.vrijschrift.nl/Members/arend/Brief_AO_EZ/becommentarieerde_brief… > > > > For those of you that don't understand Dutch, the > letter, prepared in the Minister's name by his civil > servants, contains just the standard arguments > copycatted from the European Commission, but no > answer to the question "was there or was there not > an agreement between the European Parliament and the > Council?". > > What might be interesting at this point is to take a > look at the transcriptions of the debate at the > Council of Ministers: > > http://wiki.ael.be/index.php/V002.ogg > http://wiki.ael.be/index.php/V003.ogg > > Especially the last part of the second transcription > shows an interesting insight into democracy as > practiced by the Council of Ministers. > > (Note: even though the extension suggests they're > ogg files, they're not. > They are transcriptions of ogg files and in > html format. The audio > recordings are also available: > http://wiki.ael.be/index.php/Transcription ) > > > Anyway, the answer of the Minister was unsatisfying > and therefore the Dutch Commission for Economic > Affairs ordered a "spoed-debat" ("emergency debate") > on the matter. They wanted to know if an error was > made and also if they would be able to revoke the > vote of the Minister, should they want to. > > > > :-:-: > > Short answer for now: > > * Yes, there was an error > * Yes, all European countries can revoke their vote > if they want to > > The Dutch Parliament will debate on the subject > before the end of this month. > > To be continued before publication ... > > > ======= > > [1] Mr.ir. R.B. Bakels. Connected to the Centre for > Intellectual Propertyright of the University of > Utrecht. Author of the "JURI 107" report about > Softwarepatents for the European Parliament > (together with prof. Hugenholtz). He is considered > as one of the leading experts on the subject of > Softwarepatents. > > > > --------------090001040703070402060103-- > > > > --__--__-- > > _______________________________________________ > Contributors mailing list > Contributors(a)osnews.com > http://lists.osnews.com/mailman/listinfo/contributors > > > End of Contributors Digest __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger. http://messenger.yahoo.com/

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[FSFE PR][EN] FSF Europe newsletter (fwd)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 08 Jun '04

08 Jun '04

---------- Forwarded message ---------- 1. Introducing the FSFE newsletter 2. EU Council decision on software patents directive 3. AGNULA 4. Welcoming FSFE press speaker Joachim Jakobs 5. Georg Greve in South America 6. Protecting Free Software from over regulation 7. Other important public appearances 1. Introducing the FSFE newsletter Around the official general assembly of the Free Software Foundation Europe on May 15, the core members took the chance to discuss several ideas on how to improve public information about the activities of the FSFE. One of the results was the decision to periodically publish a newsletter, and this is the first one. 2. EU Council decision on software patents directive The most widely regarded event in May was probably the decision of the Council of the European Union about the Software Patent Directive. After the European Parliament made its clear vote against unlimited patentability of software algorithms, the Irish Presidency proposed a version of the directive that undoes virtually all of the Parliament's changes. Even though some countries did not approve it, this version got the necessary qualified majority in the Council. The fact that the Council's opposition against software patent was still stronger than expected can well be regarded as a result of the successful cooperation of FSFE, FFII and many other organizations in informing citizens and politicians about the danger of the Presidency's proposal. As the decision process is still not finished, the FSFE will continue to work on the software patent issue together with these organizations. 3. AGNULA While AGNULA (A GNU/Linux Audio Distribution) is already regarded a big success by all participants (and also by the European Union, who funded the project), work is not over with the final release. The FSFE still supports the project by helping with things like the AGNULA trademark license. 4. Welcoming FSFE press speaker Joachim Jakobs To relieve the core members from the increasingly time-consuming press work, the FSFE hired Joachim Jakobs on a part-time basis as a press speaker. 5. Georg Greve in South America Georg Greve is currently visiting several locations in South America, getting in contact with local Free Software Activists there and supporting them in building up a Free Software network there like the FSFE is here. His public activities in South America included an interview for Argentinas most important newspaper, a speech at the University of Cordoba about Free Software in Education, an interview for TV as well as for the largest national radio station in Uruguay and the keynote at USUARIA, a South American congress on Free Software topics. We expect these activities to help building up a global network of Free Software organizations, of which the FSFE will be an essential part. 6. Protecting Free Software from over regulation The Italian Chapter has been very busy trying to amend a new Italian law that could harm Free Software. To limit the supposed damages that the Italian motion picture and record industry claims to come from peer-to-peer file sharing, the government proposed a law that makes it illegal to publish any digital content on the web without "declaring to the SIAE that the publisher has a license to do so". The law also introduces more restrictions, making a criminal offense punishable with up to four years of jail sharing without consent of the author any file on the web, even if it is not "for profit". The law is so absurd that FSF Europe has been asked by BSA (Business Software Alliance) to cooperate to prevent its approval. Unfortunately, though, the law passed despite the fact that in the end both the government and the opposition agreed that "it is a very bad law". The government promised to correct it soon and already announced a revision: FSFE will continue its strong pressure on the whole Parliament. 7. Other important public appearances Stefano Maffulli participated at a forum about "Intellectual property" at the Istituto Bruno Leoni (IBL) in Italy to point out some problems regarding software patents. At the end of the month he participated to a "summit of Italian free software organizations" in Avellino where there was the chance to discuss a better coordination between them. -- Free Software Foundation Europe http://www.fsfeurope.org _______________________________________________ Press-release mailing list Press-release(a)fsfeurope.org https://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/press-release

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news from fsf-europe
by Mahesh T. Pai 08 Jun '04

08 Jun '04

The FSF-Europe has put out a News Letter. It is at:- http://lwn.net/Articles/88615/ Cant' locate this on the FSF-Europe site. -- Mahesh T. Pai <<>> http://paivakil.port5.com Buy Free Software -- It gives you freedom!

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grmtech.com - a free software documenting company
by Dileep M. Kumar 08 Jun '04

08 Jun '04

----- Forwarded message from aji(a)grmtech.com ----- >>>Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2004 02:43:12 -0700 (PDT) >>>From: aji(a)grmtech.com >>>Subject: A note about our company >>>To: dileep(a)kumarayil.net >>> >>>Hi Dileep, >>> >>>We are a web related company using free softwares and really blessed by >>>the free software community. In the coming days we are planning to work on >>>the following issues with fs community, >>> >>>1) tech writing >>>http://www.geteducation.com/techwriting/index.html , we will be doing the >>>documentation for free softwares and also will publish few useful article >>>time to time(looking for technical writers). >>>2) GNU press >>>3) FSDN >>>4) Any other thing that the community suggestes and which follows the >>>guidelines on http://www.grmtech.com/fund.html >>> >>>Regards >>>Aji -- .''`. Dileep M. Kumar <dileep(a)kumarayil.net> : :' : http://www.kumarayil.net `. `'` Mobile: 98474-47437 `- Debian GNU/Linux - Choice of the Freedom Lovers

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Hello
by rms＠gnu.org 08 Jun '04

08 Jun '04

Important data!

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Virtual forum: FLOSS for e-learning
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 08 Jun '04

08 Jun '04

---------- Forwarded message ---------- http://portal.unesco.org/ci/ev.php?URL_ID=15841&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION… UNESCO's IIEP Organizes Virtual Forum on Free and Open Source Software for E-Learning 25-05-2004 (UNESCO) An internet discussion on "Virtual Forum on Free and Open Source Software" (FOSS) is being organized by the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) in response to the interest expressed during the first discussion forum Virtual universities and e-learning Policy issues – What are they? and Whose are they? associated with the IIEP study on the virtual university and e-learning. At the conclusion of the first forum in February 2004, many participants asked IIEP to maintain its support for the community built around the topic of e-learning. The objective of this second forum is to support information exchange and reflection upon the potential of free and open source software for e-learning and to consider the pros and cons and its applicability for developing countries. The forum will take place from 1-25 June 2004 and will be organized in two sessions. Session 1 (1-11 June): FOSS – what is it and what should you know about it? FOSS for e-learning – what are the pros and cons? Session 2 (14-25 June): FOSS solutions for e-learning It will be generally moderated by Susan D’Antoni, the editor of the IIEP study on the virtual university, with input from the members of the informal organizing group for the forum: Tony Bailetti (Carleton University, Canada) Jean Claude Dauphin (UNESCO) Ross Gardler (University of the West Indies) Stafano Mazzocchi (Apache Software Foundation) Paul West (Commonwealth of Learning). The format will be informal with an open exchange of information among participants. However, in addition to the informed input from the organizing group, some experts have been invited to share their experience and ideas. Participants will be given a brief document introducing the forum, with several suggested general background documents. The discussion and debate will be summarized in a report that will be made available to all the participants as documentation on the issues and concerns related to the potential of FOSS for e-learning. To join the forum, you can send an e-mail message to: virtual.university(a)iiep.unesco.org

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Fsf-friends June 2004