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Free and Open Source Software

Free and open source software (FOSS) is a good thing from both the perspective of programmer and user freedoms as well as from the perspective of better and more efficient software production. Also, FOSS forms the backbone of the Internet (BIND/NSD for DNS servers, Apache for web servers, sendmail/postfix/qmail for mail servers, Asterisk for VoIP servers, etc.), and the Internet as we know it would not exist without FOSS.

Weblog Entry Arguments Against Software Patents in India
CIS believes that software patents are harmful for the software industry and for consumers. In this post, Pranesh Prakash looks at the philosophical, legal and practical reasons for holding such a position in India. This is a slightly modified version of a presentation made by Pranesh Prakash at the iTechLaw conference in Bangalore on February 5, 2010, as part of a panel discussing software patents in India, the United States, and the European Union.
Weblog Entry Openness, Videos, Impressions
The one day Open Video Summit organised by the Centre for Internet & Society, iCommons, Open Video Alliance, and Magic Lantern, to bring together a range of stakeholders to discuss the possibilities, potentials, mechanics and politics of Open Video. Nishant Shah, who participated in the conversations, was invited to summarise the impressions and ideas that ensued in the day.
Event Mozilla Open Web Talks (TERI, 4th Main, 2nd Cross, Domlur II Stage Bangalore, from Dec 16, 2009 07:00 PM to Dec 16, 2009 09:00 PM)
Give a talk, or just listen - On December 16 in Bangalore, Mozilla and The Centre for Internet and Society are holding an evening of talks about the future of the open internet.
Weblog Entry Open Standards Workshop at IGF '09
The Centre for Internet and Society co-organized a workshop on 'Open Standards: A Rights-Based Framework' at the fourth Internet Governance Forum, at Sharm el-Sheikh. The panel was chaired by Aslam Raffee of Sun Microsystems and the panellists were Sir Tim Berners-Lee of W3C, Renu Budhiraja of India's DIT, Sunil Abraham of CIS, Steve Mutkoski of Microsoft, and Rishab Ghosh of UNU-MERIT.
Page Second Response to Draft National Policy on Open Standards for e-Governance
Another draft (labelled "version 2", dated May 26, 2009) of the draft national policy on open standards for e-governance was made available to Fosscomm, while many software companies were speaking out against NASSCOM's position on the policy. CIS drafted a second response addressing both the allegations against NASSCOM as well as the few shortcomings we perceive in the draft policy.
Weblog Entry Letter on South Africa's IPRs from Publicly Financed R&D Regulations
Being interested in legislations in developing nations styled after the United States' Bayh-Dole Act, CIS responded to the call issued by the South African Department of Science and Technology for comments to the Intellectual Property Rights from Publicly Financed Research and Development Regulations.
Weblog Entry Letter to Education Secretary, Government of Karnataka, Advocating Adoption of FOSS in State IT Academies
The Centre for Internet and Society is a signatory to a letter being sent to the Education Secretary, Government of Karnataka, advocating the adoption of FOSS at state IT academies.
Weblog Entry An Interview With Arjen Kamphuis
In an email interview with the Centre for Internet and Society, Dutch open source activist Arjen Kamphuis discussed his experience of successfully working with the government for a policy mandating open standards for all government IT in the Netherlands.
Weblog Entry RTI Application to Visvesvaraya Technological University
The Centre for Internet and Society filed an RTI application to Visvesvaraya Technological University asking it to provide details about its curriculum design, and its tie-ups with various software vendors.
Weblog Entry Lecture by Eben Moglen and Mishi Choudhary
The Software Freedom Law Center, National Law School, and the Centre for Internet and Society organised a lecture by Mishi Choudhary and Eben Moglen for students of NLS on Saturday, December 13, 2008.
Weblog Entry Workshop on Reforming the International ICT Standardization System
On Day 4, the last day, of the Internet Governance Forum, a workshop was conducted by the Dynamic Coalition on Open Standards on the reforming the international ICT standardisation system. The panellists were Bob Jolliffe of Freedom to Innovate South Africa, Sunil Abraham of the Centre for Internet and Society, Ashish Gautam of IBM India, and Aslam Raffee, Chairperson of the Government IT Officers' Council, OSS Working Group, Republic of South Africa, who moderated the session.
Weblog Entry Report on Open Standards for GISW2008
In this report, Sunil Abraham lays out the importance and the policy implications of Open Standards.
Weblog Entry DCOS Agreement on Procurement
On December 6, 2008, at the closing of the third Internet Governance Forum in Hyderabad, India, the Dynamic Coalition on Open Standards (DCOS), of which the Centre for Internet and Society is a member, released an agreement entitled the "Dynamic Coalition on Open Standards (DCOS) Agreement on Procurement in Support of Interoperability and Open Standards".
Weblog Entry First Meeting on a National Policy for Web Accessibility
The first meeting to discuss having a national policy for web accessibility to ensure universal and inclusive participation was held at the Centre for Internet and Society's office on 7 November 2008. It was aimed at formulating an action plan to work with the government and other private and public bodies to ensure conformity to accessibility standards for web sites.
Weblog Entry Meeting on National Policy for e-Access for All
The world over, there is a move towards making the internet more accessible for persons with visual and print disabilities and for elderly persons. Many countries like the USA and UK have adopted legislation to make adherence to web accessibility standards mandatory. In India we are still relatively unaware of the importance of web accessibility. On Nov 7, 2008 at 11:00 am, the Centre for Internet and Society will host a meeting at the CIS office to discuss strategies and a plan of action to launch a campaign for making web content accessibility standards mandatory in India.
Event Meeting on National Policy for e-Access (Centre for Internet and Society, from Nov 07, 2008 11:00 AM to Nov 07, 2008 12:30 PM)
This is a meeting of all persons and organisations who are interested in having a national standard for web accessibility and enforcing mandatory compliance by all Government web sites. The main agenda will be to dwell on the importance of web accessibility and chalk out a plan of action and strategy for its advocacy.
Page Software patenting will harm industry, consumer
Report by Deepa Kurup in The Hindu dated 5th October 2008 as follow-up to the national meeting on software patents.
Page Time Out Bengaluru - Software Patenting
An article by Akhila Seetharaman published as a precursor to the national public meeting on software patents held on 4th in Bangalore.
Page World Day Against Software Patents
A global coalition of more than 80 software companies, associations and developers has declared the 24th of September to be the "World Day Against Software Patents". The Hindu, a national daily dedicated one page of its Bangalore edition to software patents and software freedom. Deepa Kurup contributed written two articles titled "Will patenting take the byte out of IT here?" and "How would it be if you read only one type of book?" which reflects some of the concerns of the Free/Libre/Open Source Software community.
Weblog Entry The National Public Meeting on Software Patents
On Saturday, October 4, 2008, the Centre for Internet and Society, with the support of eighteen other organization, held a meeting on the National Public Meeting on Software Patents in the United Theological College campus. The aim of the event was to explore various issues surrounding software patents, especially from the perspective of the draft Patent Manual.
Weblog Entry Essay Competition for Software Freedom Day
The Free Software Users Group of Bangalore and the Centre for Internet and Society in collaboration organise an essay competition for schools and colleges in Bangalore on the topic of "Software Freedom"
Page Collaborative Projects Programme
 
Page Response to the Draft National Policy on Open Standards for e-Governance
Pranesh Prakash, Programme Manager at the Centre for Internet and Society, authored a response to the draft Open Standards Policy document published by the National Informatics Centre, Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
Page Essay Competition
In partnership with Free Software User Group - Bangalore, the Centre for Internet and Society is organising a essay competition for school and college students from Bangalore. The last date for submitting entries is 8th November 2008. Three prizes of Rs. 3,000/- each are available for college students, and three 3 prizes of Rs. 1,000/- each are available for school students.
Event National Public Meeting on Software Patents (United Theological College, Bangalore, from Oct 04, 2008 10:00 AM to Oct 04, 2008 05:00 PM)
This meeting will feature the following speakers: Nagarjuna G. (Free Software Foundation of India), Prabir Purkayastha (Delhi Science Forum), Prashant Iyengar (Alternative Law Forum), Venkatesh Hariharan (Red Hat) and Sudhir Krishnaswamy (National Law School)
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Centre for Internet and Society
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