GPL v3 process begins
FSF has published a document describing the process of GPL version 3. First draft of version 3 will be released at MIT on January 16. Second draft will be published by summer 2006 and the final draft in in the fall of 2006. The final version of the license will be published in March 2007.
The process document gives us some idea of the changes that will be proposed. The Four Freedoms will be the cornerstones of the license and any suggestions will be evaluated against these basic values.
The GPL is a global license although based on the US copyright law. Copyright laws are globally quite similar because of treaties like the Berne convention, but there are local differences: moral rights, DRM, issues from contract law, etc. Because of all these differences, it is important that there is a careful review process.
The document describes the process for participation. Our research project will contribute to the discussion.
Booklet on Asian FLOSS/CSO projects
Last January-February I attended the Asia Source event near Bangalore, India. Asia Source was a wonderful meeting of FLOSS and civil society organisation people mostly from around Asia. I got to meet nice people and hear about interesting projects utilizing free software and related technologies (wiki, blogs etc.)
Frederick Noronha has now written a booklet with short articles and interviews covering many of the people and projects present at Asia Source. It is a useful resource for those interested in real-life projects utilising FLOSS in those areas.
Common Cause: Information Between Commons and Property
From the Creative Commons blog:
A new book by author Phillipe Aigrain - “Cause commune : l’information entre bien commun et propriété” (or, in English, “Common Cause: Information Between Commons and Property”) has been released online in French under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license. Selected extracts in English are also available online. Editions Fayard may be one of the first major mainstream French-speaking publishers to facilitate Creative Commons licenses. Let’s hope it serves as an example to open up more French-speaking (and other) content by mainstream publishers for freedom of use.
The book looks like an interesting foray into the politics of the “information age”. I wish somebody will translate it. Unfortunately, translations are forbidden by the license.
Introduction to FOSS in development
An introductory article “Free and Open Source Software Strategies for Sustainable Information Society”, written by me and Tere, is available as a part of a new book University Partnership for International Development. Finnish Development Knowledge for the interested.
P.S. Just noticed that the ITU Strategy and Policy Unit has a
blog covering many interesting topics, including open source.
African FOSS policies
bridges.org has published a very useful and interesting report on FOSS policies in African countries.
The report
is targeted at governments that are investigating whether and how they can integrate FOSS into their strategies for social and economic development. It provides a broad overview of how FOSS fits into national ICT policy-making, outlines the areas where governments can take policy decision related to FOSS as well as some of the possible approaches, and lists activities related to FOSS policy from across Africa. It recommends an approach to FOSS policy-making linked to national development goals and discusses some example development goals and how FOSS policies could address them.
The report has an overview of country policies and a good overview of effects of FOSS on development.
