FSFE-IE March 2005

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58 discussions

Software Patents Debate DCU
by Harry Tormey 28 Mar '05

28 Mar '05

Hi, Just to let you all know Debate Soc in association with Redbrick will be hosting a debate about software patents on Wednesday the 30th of March in the Henry Graton building within DCU. Speakers will include postgrads and lecturers from within DCU such as Mr Charlie Daly, Mr Neil Costigan and Dr Malcolm Tyrell as well as a special guest lecturer from UCD Dr Joseph Kiniry. The motion for the debate is: "this house thinks that software patents within the european Union are a bad idea". -Harry

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IFSO Wiki updates
by IfsoWiki＠ifso.ie 27 Mar '05

27 Mar '05

* GlennStrong HelpContentsSun, 27 Mar 2005 07:30:02 -0000 1104141031 URL: http://www.ifso.ie/cgi-bin/wiki.cgi/HelpContents * GlennStrong InterWikiSun, 27 Mar 2005 07:30:02 -0000 1105190921 URL: http://www.ifso.ie/cgi-bin/wiki.cgi/InterWiki * GlennStrong SyntaxReferenceSun, 27 Mar 2005 07:30:02 -0000 1104141020 URL: http://www.ifso.ie/cgi-bin/wiki.cgi/SyntaxReference * GlennStrong MoinMoinSun, 27 Mar 2005 07:30:02 -0000 1104140996 URL: http://www.ifso.ie/cgi-bin/wiki.cgi/MoinMoin * GlennStrong Minutes 2005 03 15Sun, 27 Mar 2005 07:30:02 -0000 URL: http://www.ifso.ie/cgi-bin/wiki.cgi/Minutes_202005_2003_2015 * GlennStrong AGM 2005Sun, 27 Mar 2005 07:30:02 -0000 Formatting URL: http://www.ifso.ie/cgi-bin/wiki.cgi/AGM_202005 * GlennStrong IfsoMeetingsSun, 27 Mar 2005 07:30:02 -0000 URL: http://www.ifso.ie/cgi-bin/wiki.cgi/IfsoMeetings * GlennStrong IfsoWebPagesSun, 27 Mar 2005 07:30:02 -0000 URL: http://www.ifso.ie/cgi-bin/wiki.cgi/IfsoWebPages

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Report on AGM 2005
by Glenn Strong 25 Mar '05

25 Mar '05

--text follows this line-- The IFSO 2005 AGM was held in TCD on the 23rd of March 2005 at 7pm. Chair: Glenn Strong (note: In the absence of the chairman the meeting was chaired by the Secretary) Present: Members (presence of an asterisk indicates a member of more than four months standing, and therefore eligable to vote in the election for committee members): Abey Campbell Conor Nash (*) David Cathcart (*) David O'Callaghan Eibhear OhAnluain (*) Glenn Strong (*) Harry Tormey (*) Hugh Gibbons (*) Malcolm Tyrrell (*) Mel McWeeney (*) Sean O'Sullivan Teresa Hackett (*) Non-members: Ryan Meade 1. Opening announcements. The meeting thanked Hugh Gibbons for assisting in arranging the room and Teresa Hackett for organising the meeting. The meeting then confirmed that a quorum was present. 2. Apologies for absence were noted from Ciaran O'Riordan and Ben North 3. The meeting then approved the agenda 4. The voting procedure for the committee election was agreed. It was noted that a preferendum voting system should be considered for the next AGM; it was agreed that a simpler system could be used at this meeting. It was agreed that for the current meeting it would be sufficient to use a first-past the post system to elect one committee member, and th to repeat this process with the remaining candidates until all committee positions were filled. 5. In the absence of the treasurer an interim report on the IFSO finances was presented by the Secretary. It was agreed by the meeting that the accounts could not be approved in the present state, as there were a number of figures that were not finalised. It was unanimously agreed that the meeting would proceed on the condition that the final accounts be circulated for approval within two weeks of this date. 6. The amounts of the subscriptions and the due dates were agreed: 6.1 The subscription shall remain at ¤20 for a year, but quarterly discounts will be available. 6.2 Memberships shall run from January to December 7. The rules for a quorum at the Annual General Meeting was discussed at some length. It was decided by a majority 7.1 that the figure for a quorum should remain at 10 members 7.2 that the word "first" be struck from section 2.8 of the constitution, thus requiring the next AGM to consider the figure again. 8. The rules for a quorum at the Extraordinary General Meeting was also discussed. By a majority is was decided 8.1 that the figure for a quorum should be raised to 8 members 8.2 that the word "first" be struck from section 3.1 of the constitution, thus requiring the next AGM to consider the figure again. 9. The election for the committee was then held, with each candidate making a brief statement (nominee Ciaran O'Riordan having provided a statement to be read to the meeting). The outgoing committee determined that it would be desirable to enlarge slightly in the coming year, and therefore were including one additional committee position for a total of five. The following members were elected to constitute the committee for 2005: 1. Glenn Strong 2. Teresa Hackett 3. Malcolm Tyrrell 4. Ciaran O'Riordan 5. David Cathcart 10. It was unanimously agreed to pursue affiliation with FSFE 11. There was discussion of the draft workplan for 2005, with agreement reached as to items to be pursued. 12. AOB 12.1 It was proposed and agreed to thank Black Night Solutions for their donation of web hosting and domain registration during 2004 13. There being no further business the meeting was closed. ---- Further notes a) A number of outstanding subscriptions were collected b) Following the meeting the incoming committee met and determined the internal arrangement of the committee: Chairman: Glenn Strong Treasurer: Teresa Hackett Secretary: David Cathcart Webmaster: Malcolm Tyrrell General member: Ciaran O'Riordan Report on the IFSO 2005 AGM The IFSO 2005 AGM was held in TCD on the 23rd of March 2005 at 7pm. Chair: Glenn Strong (note: In the absence of the chairman the meeting was chaired by the Secretary) The meeting opened by polling the members present to determine the quorum. Since more than 10 IFSO members were present the meeting was declared to have a quorum. 1. Opening announcements. The meeting thanked Hugh Gibbons for assisting in arranging the room and Teresa Hackett for organising the meeting. 2. Apologies for absence were noted from Ciaran O'Riordan and Ben North 3. The meeting then approved the agenda 4. The voting procedure for the committee election was agreed. It was noted that a preferendum voting system should be considered for the next AGM; it was agreed that a simpler system could be used at this meeting. 5. In the absence of the treasurer an interim report on the IFSO finances was presented by the Secretary. It was agreed by the meeting that the accounts could not be approved in the present state, as there were a number of figured that were not finalised. It was unanimously agreed that the meeting would proceed on the condition that the final accounts be circulated and approved within two weeks of this date. 6. The amounts of the subscriptions and the due dates were agreed: 6.1 The subscription shall remain at ¤20 for a year, but quarterly discounts will be available. 6.2 Memberships shall run from January to December 7. The rules for a quorum at the Annual General Meeting was discussed at some length. It was decided by a majority 7.1 that the figure for a quorum should remain at 10 members 7.2 that the word "first" be struck from section 2.8 of the constitution, thus requiring the next AGM to consider the figure again. 8. The rules for a quorum at the Extraordinary General Meeting was also discussed. By a majority is was decided 8.1 that the figure for a quorum should be raised to 8 members 8.2 that the word "first" be struck from section 3.1 of the constitution, thus requiring the next AGM to consider the figure again. 9. The election for the committee was then held, with each candidate making a brief statement (nominee Ciaran O'Riordan having provided a statement to be read to the meeting), and the following members were elected to constitute the committee for 2005: 1. Glenn Strong 2. Teresa Hackett 3. Malcolm Tyrrell 4. Ciaran O'Riordan 5. David Cathcart 10. It was unanimously agreed to pursue affiliation with FSFE 11. There was discussion of the draft workplan for 2005, with agreement reached as to items to be pursued. 12. AOB 12.1 It was proposed and agreed to thank Black Night Solutions for their donation of web hosting and domain registration during 2004 13. There being no further business the meeting was closed. ---- Further notes a) A number of outstanding subscriptions were collected b) Following the meeting the incoming committee met and determined the internal arrangement of the committee: Chairman: Glenn Strong Treasurer: Teresa Hackett Secretary: David Cathcart Webmaster: Malcolm Tyrrell General member: Ciaran O'Riordan It was further decided that the chairman would also act as the primary press contact and PRO. Photographs from the meeting are available: http://www.cathcart.cx/ifso/ifso-agm-1.jpg http://www.cathcart.cx/ifso/ifso-agm-2.jpg http://www.netsoc.ucd.ie/~cathcart/ifso/ifso-agm-merged.JPG (composite image created from -1 and -2) http://www.cs.tcd.ie/Glenn.Strong/Pictures/agm2004/ (low quality phonecam images) David's photos also available here: http://flickr.com/photos/cathcart/7351512/ -- Glenn Strong

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EU rejects Microsoft's licence
by Teresa Hackett 24 Mar '05

24 Mar '05

============================================================ EDRI-gram biweekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe Number 3.6, 24 March 2005 ============================================================ Information about EDRI and its members: http://www.edri.org/ ============================================================ 4. EU rejects Microsoft's licence ============================================================ The European Commission has rejected Microsoft's proposal to comply with the EU anti-trust ruling. Microsoft needs to enable other software providers to interoperate with computers that run the Windows operating system. But the proposed Microsoft server interoperability licence contains a number of serious flaws including unjustifiably high royalty fees and the exclusion of open source vendors, according to the Commission. In March 2004 Microsoft got a record fine of 497 million euro after a five-year investigation by the Competition Commissioner into Microsoft's business practice. According to the Commission's ruling Microsoft's illegal business practice has enabled it to acquire a dominant position in the market for work group server operating systems and has significantly weakened competition on the media player market. As a remedy the Commission ordered Microsoft to offer a version of Windows without bundled media player and to share more technical information with server rivals. Microsoft has paid the fine but is still negotiating with the Commission how to comply with the remedies after losing an attempt to suspend the sanctions at the EU Court of Justice. Microsoft announced that it will offer a server interoperability licence that will give competitors access to server communication protocols. But the Commission has rejected the proposed license because open source vendors are excluded, the price of the license is too high and it requires competitors to take an all-in-one licence for different protocols. The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) filed the original complaint with the commission that Microsoft's proposed licensing terms made it impossible for companies that write open source software to compete on a level playing field. The Microsoft licence allows free software projects like Samba to use the software interface information, but bans it from publishing the software as free software. "Obviously, while paying royalties is not impossible [..], with Free Software nobody knows exactly how many copies using a certain program are circulating, as free software is allowed to be copied as often as necessary, freely", says Stefano Maffulli, from the Italian FSFE. The Commission is also critical of the quality of the stripped-down Windows version and has rejected Microsoft's proposal to limit the powers of a non-partisan trustee to monitor its compliance with EU-imposed sanctions. Microsoft's draft licence, step by step (18.03.2005) http://insight.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,39020463,39191959,00.htm Free Software Foundation Europe press release (11.02.2005) http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2005q1/000092.html EU Court confirms Commission's decision against Microsoft (29.12.2004) http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number2.25/microsoft

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European parliamentarians urging India to oppose software patents
by Teresa Hackett 23 Mar '05

23 Mar '05

21 March 2005 -- David Hammerstein, Member of the European Parliament, sent a letter to the Indian Members of Parliament on the subject of the patentability of software, which is subject of a bill tabled in the Indian Parliament on 18 March by Minister for Commerce & Industry Shri Kamal Nath. Hammerstein's Letter =================== To Mr. T.K. VISWANATHAN Secretary to Government of India, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, Leader of the Indian National Congress, 10, Janpath, Dr. Manmohan Singh Prime Minister of India Shri Kamal Nath Minister for Commerce & Industry L K Advani Leader of Opposition David Hammerstein Member of the European Parliament Grupo Verde/ALE Subject: Software patents in the Parliaments of Europe and India Dear fellow MP, I am writing to you on the subject of software patents as Member of European Parliament. The European Parliament has opposed to make software patentable in September 2003, and in February 2005 the European Parliament by unanimous vote rejected a proposal by the Council of the European Union to request that. The debate is still open here, but speaking as a Parlamentarian I urge you to avoid any hasty and unwise steps in India. During our debate, the US trade representative (for example in a letter of 16 September 2003) has argued that Europe was bound to have software patents due to the TRIPS treaty. We have now reached the understanding that in the making of TRIPS there is no indication that computer programs were to seen as a field of technology in the sense of TRIPS. Hence we clarified in Article 2 of our directive: "(2) The use of natural forces to control physical effects beyond the digital representation of information belongs to a field of technology. The processing, handling, and presentation of information do not belong to a field of technology, even where technical devices are employed for such purposes". This is in accordance with art 52 (2)(c) of the European Patent Convention that states clearly that "schemes, rules and methods for performing mental acts, playing games or doing business, and programs for computers" shall not be regarded as inventions. Moreover, article 10 of the TRIPs treaty also clearly demands protection by copyright for computer programs; TRIPS does not mention patent protection for computer programs at any place. Given that the majority of software patent applications at the European Patent Office is from US and Japanese countries, having software patentable is clearly not in Europe's interest, and it is also likely also not to be in India's interest. I would recommend either * to amend the Indian law in the sense as outlined at http://wiki.ffii.org/InAmend0503En * or just to keep the acceptable present wording of the Patent Act's 2002 version "3 (k) a mathematical or business method or computer programme per se or algorithms" and to reject the ambiguous wording that has it had been issued by the Minister of Industry Kamal Nath in December 2004 ordinance "3 (k) a computer programme per se other than its technical application to industry or a combination with hardware; 3(ka) a mathematical method or business method or algorithms;" * or to improve the present wording of the Patent Act's 2002 version by simply deleting "per se" in "3(k) a mathematical or business method or computer programme per se or algorithms" With kind regards, David Hammerstein _______________________________________________

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IFSO Wiki updates
by IfsoWiki＠ifso.ie 23 Mar '05

23 Mar '05

* TeresaHackett AgmPlanWed, 23 Mar 2005 08:30:02 -0000 URL: http://www.ifso.ie/cgi-bin/wiki.cgi/AgmPlan

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swpatents group meeting
by Glenn Strong 22 Mar '05

22 Mar '05

Hi everyone, As you may be aware Barry O'Donovan has been working to lobby the Irish MEP's regarding software patents. He is now also working to bring together the various groups who oppose the currently proposed legislation (including IFSO, ILUG and other groups). Since we are all meeting tomorrow we thought it would be good to have a preliminary meeting about this. Anyone interested is welcome to come to the Duke pub a little earlier than originally announced, and take part. We have decided to meet at 1730 (for 1800, probably, as people are coming from work). No pressure - only three or four have presently been able to commit - just an opportunity to discuss plans. -- Glenn Strong

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IFSO Wiki updates
by IfsoWiki＠ifso.ie 22 Mar '05

22 Mar '05

* TeresaHackett AgmPlanTue, 22 Mar 2005 08:30:01 -0000 URL: http://www.ifso.ie/cgi-bin/wiki.cgi/AgmPlan

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Nominations for the IFSO committee
by Glenn Strong 21 Mar '05

21 Mar '05

Hi Folks, I sent this before, but (i) there are a couple of changes as some people have declined their nomination (for good and honourable reasons), and (ii) some people reported not seeing the original message, so perhaps there was a technical problem. I am sending this one to the fsfe-ie list, so everyone should get it! The nominations for the IFSO committee, to be voted on at the AGM on Wednesday 23rd March 2005: Cathcart, David Hackett, Teresa O'Riordan, Ciaran Strong, Glenn Tormey, Harry Tyrrell, Malcolm -- Glenn Strong

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Re: [Fsfe-ie] Irish Software Assoc-
by Ryan Meade 21 Mar '05

21 Mar '05

> In the first instance, I would suggest examing the list above and trying to > identify companies who might be sympathetic, either because they develop free > software or because they provide services which depend on Free Software, for > example Linux and Apache. That should obviously read "examining the list" - probably an unnecessary correction, but I'd hate people to think I was attempting a neologism :)

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FSFE-IE March 2005