Of course you do - and here's your big chance. Dirk Riehle is not only the Professor for Open Source Software at the Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (Germany orders these things better than we do), but he is also part of an expert council advising a “multilateral commission instituted by the German parliament to discuss and make recommendations on, well, Internet and digital society.”
On Open Enterprise blog.
Here's an almost unbelievable piece about what's happening in Germany right now:It looks as if publishers might really be lobbying for obtaining a new exclusive right conferring the power to monopolise speech e.g. by assigning a right to re-use a particular wording in the headline of a news article anywhere else without the permission of the rights holder. According to the drafts circulating in the internet, permission shall be obtainable exclusively by closing an agreement with a new collecting society which will be founded after the drafts have matured into law. Depending on the particulars, new levies might come up for each and every user of a PC, at least if the computer is used in a company for commercial purposes.
Well, obtaining monopoly protection for sentences and even parts of sentences in a natural language appears to be some kind of very strong meat. This would mean that publishers can control the wording of news messages. This comes crucially close to private control on the dissemination of facts.
But guess what? Someone thinks that German publishers aren't asking for *enough*, as the same article explains:Mr Castendyk concludes that even if the envisaged auxiliary copyright protection for newspaper language enters into law, the resulting additional revenue streams probably would be insufficient to rescue the publishing companies. He then goes a step further and postulates that publishing companies enjoy a quasi-constitutional guarantee due to their role in the society insofar the state has the obligation to maintain the conditions for their existence forever.
...
Utilising the leveraging effect of this postulated quasi-constitutional guarantee, Castendyk demands to amend cartel law in order to enable a global 'pooling' of all exclusive rights of all newspaper publishers in Germany in order to block any attempt to defect from the paywall cartell by single competitor as discussed above.
This is a beautiful demonstration of a flaw at the heart of copyright: whenever an existing business model based around a monopoly starts to fail, the reflexive approach is to demand yet more monopolies in an attempt to shore it up. And the faster people point out why that won't solve the problem, the faster the demands come for even more oppressive and unreasonable legislation to try to head off those issues.
And make no mistake: if Germany adopts this approach, there will be squeals from publishers around the world demanding "parity", just as there have been with the term of copyright. And so the ratchet will be turned once more.
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Regular readers of this blog will know that I'm a big fan of OpenOffice.org, and that I think it has the potential to break through into the mainstream. Maybe it's already begun, judging by these figures from webmasterpro.de:
On Open Enterprise blog.
If it weren't sad - and serious - this would be hilarious:Springer, which publishes the biggest daily in Europe, the tabloid Bild, as well as other newspapers in Germany and Eastern Europe, says it wants publishers to get paid for their work on the Internet, at a time when many people assume that online news should be free.
“The meta-philosophy of free — we should get rid of this philosophy,” said Christoph Keese, Springer’s head of public affairs and an architect of its online strategy. “A highly industrialized world cannot survive on rumors. It needs quality journalism, and that costs money.”
OK, that sounds fair. So what exactly had Herr Keese in mind?What kind of content would come at a cost? Any “noncommodity journalism,” Mr. Keese said, citing pictures of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy cavorting poolside with models at his villa in Sardinia — published this year by the Spanish daily El País — as an example.
“How much would people pay for that? Surely €5,” he said.
Er, no comment.
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Here's an noteworthy story about the different kinds of protection that can be given to software:
Mit einer Stellungnahme vom 16.11.2009 (PDF) hat sich der Bundesverband Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologie e.V. (BIKT) zur anstehenden Urheberrechtsreform (dem so genannten “3. Korb”) geäußert. Der Brachenverband, der nach eigenen Angaben die Interessen von über 600 kleinen und mittelständischen Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologie (IKT-)-Lösungsanbietern auf nationaler und europäischer Ebene vertritt fordert von der Politik, dass der Urheberrechtsschutz an Computerprogrammen gestärkt und gegen Patente auf “computerimplementierte Erfindungen” (also Softwarepatente) abgesichert wird. Der Verband sieht die Interessen der Software-Urheber wegen eines Anstiegs von Softwarepatenterteilungen durch das Europäische Patentamt (EPA) in Gefahr.
BIKT weist in der Stellungnahme darauf hin, dass sich die internationale Politik beim Rechtsschutz für Computerprogramme bewusst für einen “copyright approach” und gegen einen “patent approach” entschieden habe. Ein paralleler Patentschutz, der sich an vielen Software-Patenten, die vom EPA gewährt würden, manifestiere, gefährde diese Entscheidung und die Integrität des Urheberrechtsschutzes am Programm. Er führe dazu, dass “Softwareautoren im Wirkungsbereich von Patenten an der wirtschaftlichen Nutzung ihrer eigenen Programme gehindert werden.”
[Via Google Translate: With an opinion (PDF), which was published on 16.11.2009, has the Federal Information and Communications Technology Association (BIKT) for the upcoming copyright reform (the so-called "3 Basket") expressed. The industry organization representing the interests of their own statements to over 600 small and medium-sized information and communication technology (ICT) solution providers at the national and European levels of politics requires that copyright protection for computer programs and strengthened against patents on "computer-implemented inventions" (ie software) is secured. The Association considers the interests of software authors because of the high inventory and further rise of software patents granted by the European Patent Office (EPO) in danger.
BIKT notes in the comments that are aware of international politics in legal protection for computer programs for a "copyright approach" and had decided against a "patent approach". A parallel patent protection, which manifests itself in many software patents that were granted by the EPO, the decision and threatens the integrity of copyright protection in the program. It leads to that "be prevented from software authors in the scope of patents in the economic exploitation of their own programs."]
What's interesting here is that this position - preferring copyright rather than patent protection - comes from small to medium-sized software companies, but aligns with that of the free software world, which depends on copyright for the efficacy of its licences, but cannot accommodate patents, because they act as a brake on sharing.
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As part of a global conspiracy of Glyns, Glyn Wintle has kindly pointed me to this very interesting decision from those fun-loving German judges in Wiesbaden:As the first German court, the Administrative Court of Wiesbaden has found the blanket recording of the entire population's telephone, mobile phone, e-mail and Internet usage (known as data retention) disproportionate.
The decision published today by the Working Group on Data Retention (decision of 27.02.2009, file 6 K 1045/08.WI) reads: "The court is of the opinion that data retention violates the fundamental right to privacy. It is not necessary in a democratic society. The individual does not provoke the interference but can be intimidated by the risks of abuse and the feeling of being under surveillance [...] The directive [on data retention] does not respect the principle of proportionality guaranteed in Article 8 ECHR, which is why it is invalid."
Now, IANAL, and certainly not a German one, but it seems likely to me that the Administrative Court is not the highest authority in the land (which would be something like the Federal Constitutional Court), so there's probably lots of to-ing and fro-ing still to come on this before a definitive decision is reached. But it's certainly a good start since the that judgment is in tune with commonsense: that data retention is disproportionate and violates privacy.
I missed this when it first came out a couple of weeks ago:Der Bundesrat hat am 20.2.2009 dem Gesetz zur Sicherung von Beschäftigung und Stabilität in Deutschland zugestimmt und so den Weg für die geplanten Investitionen frei gemacht. Im „Pakt für Beschäftigung und Stabilität in Deutschland“ sind auch 500 Mio. Euro für Maßnahmen im Bereich der Informations- und Kommunikationstechnik enthalten, deren Verwendung durch den Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Informationstechnik gesteuert wird. Von diesen 500 Mio. Euro stehen 300 Mio. Euro sofort zur Verfügung. 200 Mio. Euro wurden durch den Haushaltsausschuss des Deutschen Bundestages bis zur Vorlage konkreter Maßnahmen gesperrt.
...
„"Ziel der Maßnahmen ist es, die Bereiche Green-IT, IT-Sicherheit und Open-Source auszubauen sowie innovative zukunftsfähige Technologien und Ideen für die Verwaltung nutzbar zu machen."“ sagt Staatssekretär Dr. Beus. Hierzu gehöre auch, ergänzend in die Weiterentwicklung der zentralen IT-Steuerungsmechanismen des Bundes zu investieren, um IT-Großprojekte künftig effizienter und schneller umzusetzen.
[Via Google Translate: The Federal Council decided on 20.2.2009 to the law to secure employment and stability in Germany, and approved, paving the way for the planned investment made. In the "pact for employment and stability in Germany" are also 500 million for activities in the field of information and communications technology, whose use by the Federal Government for information technology is controlled. Of these 500 million euros 300 million immediately available. 200 million euros were fixed by the Budget Committee of the German Bundestag pending concrete actions blocked.
...
"The aim of the measures is to improve the areas of Green IT, IT security and open-source develop sustainable and innovative technologies and ideas for the administration to use." Says Secretary of State Dr. Beus.It also includes, in addition to the development of the central IT control mechanisms of the federal investment to large-scale IT projects will be implemented more efficiently and faster.]
Every little helps. (Via PSL Brasil.)
Nicht slecht:Der IT-Rat der Bundesregierung hat beschlossen, das offene Dokumentenformat ODF (ISO 26300) in der Bundesverwaltung schrittweise einzusetzen.
Staatssekretär Dr. Hans Bernhard Beus, Beauftragter der Bundesregierung für Informationstechnik und Vorsitzender des IT-Rats, bezeichnete die Entscheidung als „wichtigen Schritt, um den Wettbewerb zwischen den Software-Herstellern zu fördern, die IT-Sicherheit zu stärken und die Interoperabilität zu verbessern, denn offene Dokumentenformate werden vollständig und regelmäßig veröffentlicht.“
Bürgern, Unternehmen und anderen Verwaltungen wird damit künftig der Dokumentenaustausch mit der Bundesverwaltung auch im ODF-Format eröffnet. Die Behörden des Bundes werden spätestens ab Anfang 2010 in der Lage sein, diese Dokumente zu empfangen und zu versenden, zu lesen und auch zu bearbeiten.
[Via Google Translate: The IT Council of the Federal Government has decided to open the document format ODF (ISO 26300) in the federal administration only gradually.
State Secretary Dr. Hans Bernhard Beus, Federal Government for Information Technology and chairman of the IT Council, described the decision as "a major step to increase competition among software vendors to promote the IT security and strengthen the interoperability to improve because open document formats will be fully and regularly published."
Citizens, businesses and other administrations will enable future exchange of documents with the federal administration in the ODF format opened. The federal authorities are beginning no later than 2010 in a position to provide this documentation to receive and send, read and edit.]
The move will be rather slow and circumspect (well, this is Germany), and there's also the danger that OOXML will get a look-in, too, now that it nominally "open" (thanks for nothing, ISO). Still, on the whole this announcement is a good message to send to German citizens and to other governments.
Wo informieren sich Medienprofis? Dem Branchenblatt "journalist" zufolge vor allem bei SPIEGEL und SPIEGEL ONLINE.
[Where do media professionals get their information? Above all from Der Spiegel and Spiegel Online, according to the industry newspaper "journalist".]
Ja, that mirrors my experience...
The use of technology to monitor deforestation and other problems in the Amazon rainforest is a great idea. This could make it even better:Canada and Germany are among the only countries that have satellite images from radars that can penetrate clouds.
"If they really want to help the Amazon, they could make their satellite images available," said Lopes.
Sharing this kind of info (a) costs *nothing* to the governments concerned and (b) could give this important project a big boost.
How about a professorship in source?University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany
Applications are invited to fill a permanent position as
Professor (W 2) in Open Source Software
at the Computer Science Department in the Faculty of Technical Engineering, beginning at January 1st, 2009.
The successful applicant will be expected to represent his discipline both in research and teaching. He has actively worked in a major Open Source project and has excellent scientific qualifications in this area, including research experiences in at least one of the following areas:
• Process management, quality assurance, team building for Open Source Software
• Development processes and tools for loosely coupled, distributed software engineering
• Essential characteristics of successful Open Source architectures
Furthermore, business and legal aspects of Open Source Software are of interest. Contributions to the department's degree programs, including the one on Information Systems are expected.
Prerequisites for the job are a university degree, good teaching skills, a doctorate and proof of further academic research or publications. The latter can, alternatively, be in the form of a post-doctoral habilitation or similar academic qualifications which may have been attained in specialized fields other than at a university or in the course of a junior professorship.
Don't all rush.
Pledging to download Firefox 3 tomorrow is clearly a totally pointless activity (yes, I've done it, anyway), and yet some interesting factoids can be gleaned from the relevant page.
For example, despite - or maybe because of - its dismal showing in overal installed base, the UK's pledges stand at a decent 54,000 currently. This compares fairly well with Germany (55,000), Italy (56,000) and France (69,000). The real surprise, for me at least, is Poland, currently on 90,000: impressive.
Here's an intriguing hint of what may be to come, in Europe at least.
First, in Belgium and Holland:
Belgium and the Netherlands will not yet consider OOXML, Microsoft's format for electronic documents, it appears from comments by the Belgian Federal ICT advisory body Fedict and the Dutch ministry of Economic Affairs.
Asked to comment on last week's ISO approval for OOXML, Fedict's chief IT architect, Peter Strickx, said: "There will have to be multiple implementations, in order for us not to become dependent on a single vendor. It will also have to be compatible with open standards that we already use, in this case Open Document Format ODF."
Also in Germany:The German Foreign Ministry will not be using OOXML, at least for now.
"We will not be in a position to process OOXML unless it is available independently of the platform", said Rolf Theodor Schuster, who heads the IT department of the German Foreign Ministry. "There must exist an Open Source implementation that can be used without any restrictions, regardless of the platform or Linux distribution."
He said the Foreign Ministry will not accept OOXML if only a single GNU/Linux distribution implements OOXML. "It is not good enough if only Novell will offer it on Suse Linux."
What's particularly interesting about both these is that they show how these people understand that a so-called standard with only minimal implementation is no standard at all. What is needed is multiple, major implementations and real competition.
Maybe one benefit of the extremely argumentative process of considering the approval of OOXML is that is has made people - well, technical people, at least - much more aware of the key issues involved. And we have Microsoft to thank for that.
Interesting:
KDE e.V and Wikimedia Deutschland have opened a shared office in Frankfurt, Germany. As two organizations that share similar goals and organizational challenges, they hope that working out of the same space will strengthen and expand their links to the Free Culture community, as well as allowing them to share resources, experience and infrastructure.
"We believe that the combination of Free Software and Free Content is not only beneficial," remarked Sebastian Kügler, a KDE e.V. board member, "but the next logical step towards a mature, organized Free Culture community." Kügler explains the idea behind opening the shared office: "Being able to tap into the expertise of an organization in a different field, but with very similar goals and principles, provides us with an opportunity to grow and gain experience that I hope to see more often, both within our projects and those of our peers."
I always did admire those sensible Teutons:
The Federal Constitutional Court in Germany has ruled that the identities of file-sharers must remain private and can longer be revealed to media companies who accuse them of copyright infringement. In future, only those accused of ‘heavy’ crimes such as murder, child pornography or kidnapping will be revealed.
This is eminentally sensible, but the content industries will doubtless keep trying to equate file-sharing with those "heavy" crimes - with the result that they will make themselves look even more ridiculous.
Focus is one of the two main German-language weekly news magazines (the other being Der Spiegel), so the announcement that it is opening up its full 15-year archive for free access is most welcome. Let's hope that Der Spiegel, err, mirrors the move.
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