[lug] IP: Open Source programs for Peru's government (fwd from: dfarber at earthlink.net)

[Michael D. Hirsch]

Thanks for posting this.  I don't manage to keep up with slashdot
every day and this was a truly inspiring letter.

Going back and reading the slashdot discussion lead me to another
impressive article on kuro5hin:
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2002/4/25/1345/03329
It is a reprint of the seminal speech in English parliment about
copyright law.  In it the author, Thomas Babbington Macaulay, explains
the evils inherent in copyright extending long after death.  His
speech is equally relevant today, over 150 years later.  

I encourage everyone to take the time to read it.

--Michael


Evelyn Mitchell writes:
 > -----Original Message-----
 > From: Luigidigi <luigidigi at cwpanama.net>
 > Date: Sun, 05 May 2002 14:58:44 
 > To: farber at cis.upenn.edu
 > Subject: Open Source programs for Peru's government
 > 
 > In a letter to the GM of Microsoft Peru, Peruvian congressman Dr Edgar 
 > David Villanueva Nuñez trashes every argument and FUD the MS machine 
 > throws at the Peruvian government, point by point.
 > The original letter from MS Peru was with regards to a bill in the 
 > Peruvian congress that aims at using Open Source programs for its 
 > administrative government offices.
 > Mr Villanueva explains knowleagebly and with details why the Open Source 
 > programs are better for a country like Peru. Well worth the time to read 
 > it, it should be obligatory reading at Washington DC.
 > 
 > Read the letter here
 > <http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:TvfSi6UFJpQC:www.gnu.org.pe/resmseng.html+&hl=en&lr=lang_en>
 > or at:
 > http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:TvfSi6UFJpQC:www.gnu.org.pe/resmseng.html+&hl=en&lr=lang_en
 > 
 > A few excerpts, in no particular order:
 > 
 > "The inclusion of the intellectual property of others in works claimed 
 > as one's own is not a practice that has been noted in the free software 
 > community; whereas, unfortunately, it has been in the area of proprietry 
 > software. As an example, the condemnation by the Commercial Court of 
 > Nanterre, France, on 27th September 2001 of Microsoft Corp. to a penalty 
 > of 3 million francs in damages and interest, for violation of 
 > intellectual property (piracy, to use the unfortunate term that your 
 > firm commonly uses in its publicity)."
 > 
 > "To guarantee national security or the security of the State, it is 
 > indispensable to be able to rely on systems without elements which allow 
 > control from a distance or the undesired transmission of information to 
 > third parties. Systems with source code freely accessible to the public 
 > are required to allow their inspection by the State itself, by the 
 > citizens, and by a large number of independent experts throughout the 
 > world. Our proposal brings further security, since the knowledge of the 
 > source code will eliminate the growing number of programs with *spy code*."
 > 
 > "In addition, a reading of your opinion would lead to the conclusion 
 > that the State market is crucial and essential for the proprietary 
 > software industry, to such a point that the choice made by the State in 
 > this bill would completely eliminate the market for these firms. If that 
 > is true, we can deduce that the State must be subsidising the 
 > proprietary software industry. In the unlikely event that this were 
 > true, the State would have the right to apply the subsidies in the area 
 > it considered of greatest social value; it is undeniable, in this 
 > improbable hypothesis, that if the State decided to subsidize software, 
 > it would have to do so choosing the free over the proprietary, 
 > considering its social effect and the rational use of taxpayers money."
 > 
 > 
 > Ehem, I need this guy to represent me. :)
 > 
 > 
 > Luis Lima
 > 
 > 
 > 
 > 
 > For archives see:
 > http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
 > 
 > ----- End forwarded message -----
 > 
 > -- 
 > Regards,                    tummy.com, ltd 
 > Evelyn Mitchell             Linux Consulting since 1995
 > efm at tummy.com               Senior System and Network Administrators
 >                             http://www.tummy.com/
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