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Swatantra 2014: Fifth International Free Software Conference, Kerala
https://cis-india.org/openness/news/swatantra-2014-icfoss-december-18-20-2014-fifth-international-free-software-conference-in-kerala
<b>ICFOSS, Govt. of Kerala organized the fifth international Free Software Conference at Hotel Hycinth by Sparsa, Trivandrum from December 18 - 20, 2014. The Centre for Internet and Society was one of the organizations supporting the event. Prof. Subbiah Arunachalam was a speaker and made a presentation on Open Science.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Click to download Prof. Arunachalam's presentation on Open Science <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/open-science.ppt" class="internal-link">here</a>. For more details see the ICFOSS <a class="external-link" href="http://icfoss.in/fs2014/">web page</a>. T. Vishnu Vardhan chaired a session on Wikimedia and Access to Knowledge in India and Rahimanuddin Shaik co-presented on Making DLI Accessible. The programme schedule can be <a class="external-link" href="http://icfoss.org/fs2014/program_details.html#Wikipedia/Wikimedia">seen here</a>.</p>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Theme: Free Software for a Free World</h2>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">About Swatantra 2014</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">After India's first-ever Free Software event, “Freedom First!” that was convened in Trivandrum in 2001, Kerala had organized international Free Software conferences in 2005, 2008, and 2011. These conferences were an occasion to highlight Kerala's achievements in the domain of Free Software, as well as to bring together the community to discuss priorities and action items.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">ICFOSS is proud to present the fifth international Free Software conference of Kerala, Swatantra 2014, scheduled during 18-20 December 2014 at Thiruvananthapuram.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The theme of the conference is “Free Software for a Free World”. This reflects emerging concerns that citizens and communities face vis-a-vis privacy, online rights & freedoms, and security at the global level. Free Software provides a viable alternative to proprietary software which often compromises on these aspects. Further, Free Software also provides a technologically robust and cost effective alternative to other genres of software for all public uses, notably in Academia, Government, and personal computing, and even in the Arts & Culture domains.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">International dignitaries participating at the Conference include Dr. Richard Stallman and Ms. Nina Paley. Several luminaries from the FOSS world within the country are also expected to take part.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">About 150-200 Free Software enthusiasts, including practitioners, developers, researchers, academics, students, as well as representatives from civil society institutions, industry and the Government are expected to participate in the three-day conference.</p>
<h3>Supported by</h3>
<ul>
<li>FSF-India </li>
<li>Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore </li>
<li>SFLC.IN, Delhi </li>
<li>Swathanthra Malayalam Computing </li>
<li>FOSSEE, IIT-B</li>
<li>SPACE</li>
<li>DCBB, Kerala University </li>
<li>Spoken Tutorials, IIT-B</li>
<li>IEEE Kerala Section</li>
</ul>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/news/swatantra-2014-icfoss-december-18-20-2014-fifth-international-free-software-conference-in-kerala'>https://cis-india.org/openness/news/swatantra-2014-icfoss-december-18-20-2014-fifth-international-free-software-conference-in-kerala</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessFOSS2014-12-28T02:44:19ZNews ItemSoftware Freedom Pledge
https://cis-india.org/openness/software-freedom-pledge-2015
<b>On September 19, 2015, celebrated globally as Software Freedom Day, a number of enthusiasts got together and collectively took a pledge.</b>
<br />
<p>We, who have gathered together for <a href="http://softwarefreedomday.org/">Software Freedom Day 2015</a>, believe that software freedom is both a matter of ethical principle as well as a matter of pragmatism, and is necessary for a democratic, open society.</p>
<p>We believe that it is desirable that all people, but especially governments, use, contribute to, and spread open standards, free/libre/open source software, open APIs, openly-licensed content (including open data, open access, and open education resources), leading to a vibrant public domain, and ensure that all of the above are accessible for all, including persons with disabilities and other marginalised sections of society.</p>
<p>Given that, we pledge to:</p>
<ul>
<li>use and spread free software amongst our family, friends, and neighbours, both in person and virtually.</li>
<li>demand that services we use in turn use open standards and open APIs, and thus be available for all using free/libre/open source software, without the payment of any royalties.</li>
<li>raise the issue of software freedom with our democratic representatives, to seek that they in turn respect and promote these principles.</li>
<li>as far as possible, making our own work openly available, and seek to convince our employers, publishers, producers, and other persons who might be in a position to restrict </li>
<li>work against any laws, policies — corporate or governmental — or technical restrictions that seek to prevent people from full exercise of their rights, and which are contrary to the above principles.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<p>Signed by:</p>
<p>Abhaya Agarwal <br />
Ananth Subray <br />
Asutosha Sarangi <br />
Chirag Sarthi J <br />
Prakash Hebballi <br />
Pranesh Prakash <br />
Ralph Andrade <br />
Subhashish Panigrahi <br />
Tito Dutta <br />
Veethika Mishra</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/software-freedom-pledge-2015'>https://cis-india.org/openness/software-freedom-pledge-2015</a>
</p>
No publisherpraneshOpen StandardsOpen SourceAccess to KnowledgeFLOSSOpen ContentFOSSEventTechnological Protection Measures2015-09-25T12:26:09ZBlog EntrySoftware Freedom Day: The Importance of Free and Open Source Software
https://cis-india.org/openness/dna-september-17-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-software-freedom-day-importance-of-free-and-open-source-software
<b>Software Freedom Day (SFD) on September 17 celebrates the liberty that free and open software and the philosophy of freedom brings into people’s lives. When SFD was started in 2004, only 12 teams from different places joined. It grew to a whooping 1000 by 2010 across the world. Explaining the aim of the celebration, SFD’s official website says,</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article was <a class="external-link" href="http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/column-software-freedom-day-the-importance-of-free-and-open-source-software-2256118">published by DNA</a> on September 17, 2016.</p>
<hr style="text-align: justify; " />
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>Our goal in this celebration is to educate the worldwide public about the benefits of using high quality FOSS in education, in government, at home, and in business — in short, everywhere! The non-profit organisation Software Freedom International coordinates SFD at a global level, providing support, giveaways and a point of collaboration, but volunteer teams around the world organise the local SFD events to impact their own communities</i>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>What are FOSS, Free Software, Open Source, and FLOSS?</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Free and open source software (FOSS or F/OSS), and Free/Libre and Open-Source Software (FLOSS) are umbrella terms that are used to include both Free software and open source software. Adopted by noted software freedom advocate Richard Stallman in 1983, the free software has many names — libre software, freedom-respecting software and software libre are some of them. As defined by the <a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-intro.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Free Software Foundation</a>, one of the early advocates of software freedom, free software allows users not just to use the software with complete freedom, but to study, modify, and distribute the software and any adapted versions, in both commercial and noncommercial form. The distribution of the software for commercial and noncommercial form however depends on the particular license the software is released under. The <a href="https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/licensing-types-examples/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Creative Commons</a> licenses have recommendations for a wide array of <a href="https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/freeworks/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">free licenses</a> that one can choose for software-related documentations and any creative work they create. Similarly, there are <a href="https://opensource.com/education/16/8/3-copyright-tips-students-and-educators" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">several different </a>open licenses for software and many other works that are related to software development. “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Open_Source_Definition" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Open Source</a>” was coined as an alternative to free software in 1998 by educational-advocacy organisation <a href="https://opensource.org/history" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Open Source Initiative</a>. Open source software is generally created collaboratively, made available with its source code, and it provides the user rights to study, change, and distribute the software to anyone and for any purpose.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Supported by several global organisations like Google, Canonical, Free Software Foundation, Joomla, Creative Commons and Linux Journal, Software Freedom Day draws its inspiration from the philosophy that was grown by people like Richard Stallman who argues that free software is all about the freedom and not necessarily free of cost, but it provides the liberty to users from [proprietary software developers’] unjust power. SFD encourages everyone to gather in their own cities, educate people around them about free software, promote on social media (with the hashtag <a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/search?q=%23SFD2016" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">#SFD2016</a> this year), even hacking with free software, organising hackathons, running free software installation camps, and even going creative with flying a drone running free software!</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">From South Asia, there are <a href="http://wiki.softwarefreedomday.org/2016/India" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">13 celebratory events in India</a>, <a href="http://wiki.softwarefreedomday.org/2016/Nepal?highlight=%28%5CbCategoryCountry2016%5Cb%29" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">8 in Nepal</a>, <a href="http://wiki.softwarefreedomday.org/2016/Bangladesh?highlight=%28%5CbCategoryCountry2016%5Cb%29" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">1 in Bangladesh</a> and <a href="http://wiki.softwarefreedomday.org/2016/Sri%20Lanka?highlight=%28%5CbCategoryCountry2016%5Cb%29" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">4 in Sri Lanka</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">South Asian countries have seen adoption of both free software and open source software, in both individual and organisational level and by the government. The <a href="http://www.fsmi.in/about" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Free Software Movement of India</a> was founded in Bengaluru, India in 2010 to act as a national coalition of several regional chapters working for promoting and growing the free software movement in India. The Indian government has launched an open data portal at data.gov.in portal, initiated a new policy to adopt open source software, and <a href="https://opensource.com/government/15/6/indian-government-includes-open-source-rfps" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">asked</a> vendors to include open source software applications while making requests for proposals. Similarly, several free and open source communities and organisations like Mozilla India, Wikimedia India, Centre for Internet and Society, Open Knowledge India in India, Mozilla Bangladesh, Wikimedia Bangladesh, Bangladesh Open Source Network, Open Knowledge Bangladesh in Bangladesh, Mozilla Nepal, Wikimedians of Nepal and Open Knowledge Nepal in Nepal, Wikimedia Community User Group Pakistan in Pakistan, Lanka Software Foundation in Sri Lanka, that are operating from the subcontinent also promote free and open source software.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We promote open source and open Web technologies in the country. We are open to associate/work with existing open source or other community-run, public benefit organisations.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“Internet By The People, Internet For The People” (from <a href="https://wiki.mozilla.org/India#Objectives" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mozilla India wiki</a>)</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Mohammad Jahangir Alam, a lecturer from Southern University Bangladesh argues in a <a href="http://research.ijcaonline.org/volume42/number18/pxc3878099.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">research paper</a> that the use of open source software can help the government save enormous amount of money spent in purchasing proprietary software.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>A large amount of money of the government can be saved if it uses open source software in different IT sectors of government offices and others sectors, because government is providing computers to all educational institutes from school to university level and they are using proprietary software. For this reason government is to expend a large amount of many for buying proprietary software to run the computers. Another one is government paying significant amount of money to the different vendors for buying different types of software to implement e-Governance project. So, the government can use open source software for implanting projects to minimize cost of the projects</i>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/dna-september-17-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-software-freedom-day-importance-of-free-and-open-source-software'>https://cis-india.org/openness/dna-september-17-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-software-freedom-day-importance-of-free-and-open-source-software</a>
</p>
No publishersubhaOpen StandardsOpennessFOSSAccess to Knowledge2016-09-18T03:46:29ZBlog EntryOpen source in everyday life: How we celebrated the Software Freedom Day in Bengaluru
https://cis-india.org/openness/open-knowledge-international-blog-october-26-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-open-source-in-everyday-life-how-we-celebrated-the-software-freedom-day-in-bengaluru
<b>The free and open source software (FOSS) enthusiasts just celebrated the Software Freedom Day (SFD) on September 17 all across the world. This year, a small group of six of us gathered to celebrate SFD in the Indian city of Bengaluru. The group consisted of open source contributors from communities such as Mozilla, Wikimedia, Mediawiki, Open Street Map, and users of FOSS solutions. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This was originally published by <a class="external-link" href="http://blog.okfn.org/2016/10/26/open-source-in-everyday-life-how-we-celebrated-the-software-freedom-day-in-bengaluru/">Open Knowledge International Blog</a> on October 26, 2016.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>Each participant shared their own stories of how they got connected with FOSS and what component it plays in their day-to-day life. From how a father has been trying to introduce about open source to his young son while migrating from proprietary to open source back and forth as his job demands so, to an Open Street Map contributor who truly believes that large-scale contributions to open source can make the software as robust as proprietary ones and even better because of the freedom that lies in it. All of those who gathered agreed with the fact that FOSS has widened their freedom in choosing how they want to use, share and remix the software they use.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>When Software Freedom Day was started in 2004, only 12 teams from different places joined. It grew to a whopping </span><a href="http://fred.dao2.com/?p=273"><span>1000</span></a><span> by 2010 across the world. About the aim of the celebration, SFD’s </span><a href="http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/index.php/about"><span>official website</span></a><span> says,</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>“Our goal in this celebration is to educate the worldwide public about the benefits of using high-quality FOSS in education, in government, at home, and in business — in short, everywhere! The non-profit organization Software Freedom International coordinates SFD at a global level, providing support, giveaways and a point of collaboration, but volunteer teams around the world organize the local SFD events to impact their communities.”</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><img alt="sfd_2016_bengaluru_by_nima_lama-cc-by-sa-4-0" class="alignleft wp-image-20774 size-medium" height="199" src="http://i2.wp.com/blog.okfn.org/files/2016/10/SFD_2016_Bengaluru_by_Nima_Lama-CC-BY-SA-4.0.jpg?resize=300%2C199" width="300" />The participants in our group bounced both technical and philosophical questions to each other to gauge the actual usage of FOSS in real life, and we are moving towards adopting openness as a society. And all the participants also agreed that there is a significant disconnect in communicating widely about the work that many Indian FOSS and other free knowledge communities are doing. So they planned to meet more regularly in events organized by any of the FOSS communities and try to connect with more people using social media and chat groups so that these interactions shape into an annual event to bring all open communities under one roof.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>What are FOSS, Free Software, Open Source, and FLOSS?</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>Free and open source software (FOSS or F/OSS), and Free/Libre and Open-Source Software (FLOSS) are umbrella terms that are used to include both Free software and open source software. Adopted by well-known software freedom advocate Richard Stallman in 1983, the free software has many names — libre software, freedom-respecting software, and software libre are some of them. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>As defined by the </span><a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-intro.html"><span>Free Software Foundation</span></a><span>, one of the early advocates of software freedom, free software allows users not just to use the software with complete freedom, but to study, modify, and distribute the software and any adapted versions, in both commercial and non-commercial form. The distribution of the software for commercial and non-commercial way, however, depends on the particular license the software is released under. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>The </span><a href="https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/licensing-types-examples/"><span>Creative Commons</span></a><span> licenses have recommendations for a broad range of </span><a href="https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/freeworks/"><span>free licenses</span></a><span> that one can choose for the software-related documentations and any creative work they create. Similarly, there are </span><a href="https://opensource.com/education/16/8/3-copyright-tips-students-and-educators"><span>several different</span></a><span> open licenses for software and many other works that are related to software development. “</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Open_Source_Definition"><span>Open Source</span></a><span>” was coined as an alternative to free software in 1998 by educational advocacy organization </span><a href="https://opensource.org/history"><span>Open Source Initiative. </span></a><span>Open source software is created collaboratively, made available with its source code, and it provides the user rights to study, change, and distribute the software to anyone and for any purpose. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/index.php/about/sponsors"><span>Supported</span></a><span> by several global organizations like Google, Canonical, Free Software Foundation, Joomla, Creative Commons and Linux Journal, Software Freedom Day draws its inspiration from the philosophy that was grown by people like Richard Stallman who </span><a href="http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/index.php/about/sponsors"><span>argues</span></a><span> that free software is all about the freedom and not necessarily free of cost but provides the liberty to users from [proprietary software developers’] unjust power. SFD </span><a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/its-software-freedom-day"><span>encourages</span></a><span> everyone to gather in their own cities (</span><a href="http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/map/index.php?year=2015"><span>map</span></a><span> of places where SFD was organized this year), educate people around them about free software, promote on social media (with the hashtag </span><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23SFD2016"><span>#SFD2016</span></a><span> this year), even hacking with free software, organizing hackathons, running free software installation camps, and even going creative with</span><a href="http://www.htxt.co.za/2015/09/03/flying-freedom-day-gloriously-combines-drones-and-craft-beer/"><span> flying a drone running free software</span></a><span>! </span></p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; "><img alt="southasia-quote" class="size-large wp-image-20776 aligncenter" height="300" src="http://i0.wp.com/blog.okfn.org/files/2016/10/SouthAsia-quote.png?resize=600%2C300" width="600" /></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>From South Asia, there were </span><a href="http://wiki.softwarefreedomday.org/2016/India"><span>13 celebratory events in India</span></a><span>, </span><a href="http://wiki.softwarefreedomday.org/2016/Nepal?highlight=%28/bCategoryCountry2016/b%29"><span>8 in Nepal</span></a><span>, </span><a href="http://wiki.softwarefreedomday.org/2016/Bangladesh?highlight=%28/bCategoryCountry2016/b%29"><span>1 in Bangladesh</span></a><span> and </span><a href="http://wiki.softwarefreedomday.org/2016/Sri%20Lanka?highlight=%28/bCategoryCountry2016/b%29"><span>4 in Sri Lanka</span></a><span>. South Asian countries have seen the adoption of both free software and open source software, in both individual and organizational level and by the government. The </span><a href="http://www.fsmi.in/about"><span>Free Software Movement of India</span></a><span> was founded in Bengaluru, India in 2010 to act as a national coalition of several regional chapters working for promoting and growing the free software movement in India. The Indian government has </span><a href="https://data.gov.in/about-us"><span>launched</span></a><span> an open data portal at </span><a href="http://data.gov.in/"><span>data.gov.in</span></a><span> portal for, initiated a </span><a href="http://meity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/policy_on_adoption_of_oss.pdf"><span>new policy</span></a><span> to adopt open source software, and </span><a href="https://opensource.com/government/15/6/indian-government-includes-open-source-rfps"><span>asked</span></a><span> vendors to include open source software applications while making Requests for proposals. Similarly, several free and open source communities and organizations like </span><a href="http://mozillaindia.org/"><span>Mozilla India</span></a><span>, </span><a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_India"><span>Wikimedia India</span></a><span>, </span><a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CISA2K"><span>Centre for Internet and Society, </span></a><a href="http://in.okfn.org/about/"><span>Open Knowledge India</span></a><span> in India, </span><a href="http://mozillabd.org/"><span>Mozilla Bangladesh</span></a><span>, </span><a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Bangladesh"><span>Wikimedia Bangladesh,</span></a> <a href="http://www.bdosn.org/about-bdosn"><span>Bangladesh Open Source Network</span></a><span>, </span><a href="https://okfn.org/network/bangladesh/"><span>Open Knowledge Bangladesh </span></a><span>in Bangladesh, </span><a href="https://wiki.mozilla.org/Nepal"><span>Mozilla Nepal</span></a><span>, </span><a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Nepal"><span>Wikimedians of Nepal </span></a><span>and </span><a href="http://np.okfn.org/about/"><span>Open Knowledge Nepal</span></a><span> in Nepal, </span><a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Pakistan"><span>Wikimedia Community User Group Pakistan</span></a><span> in Pakistan, </span><a href="http://www.opensource.lk/"><span>Lanka Software Foundation</span></a><span> in Sri Lanka, that are operating from the subcontinent also promote free and open source software.</span></p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; "><b><i>We promote open source and open Web technologies in the country. We are open to associate/work with existing open source or other community-run, public benefit organizations.</i></b><b><i><br /> </i></b><b><i>“Internet By The People, Internet For The People” (from </i></b><a href="https://wiki.mozilla.org/India#Objectives"><b><i>Mozilla India wiki</i></b></a><b><i>) </i></b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>Mohammad Jahangir Alam, a lecturer from Southern University Bangladesh argues in a </span><a href="http://research.ijcaonline.org/volume42/number18/pxc3878099.pdf"><span>research paper</span></a><span> that the use of open source software can help the government save enormous amount of money that are spent in purchasing proprietary software, </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>“A large sum of money of government can be saved if the government uses open source software in different IT sectors of government offices and others sectors, Because the government is providing computers to all educational institute from school to university level and they are using proprietary software. For this reason, the government is to expend a significant amount of many for buying proprietary software to run the computers. Another one is government paying a significant amount of money to the different vendors for buying different types of software to implement e-Governance project. So, the Government can use open source software for implanting projects to minimize the cost of the projects.”</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>Check </span><a href="https://opensource.com/life/15/9/how-will-you-celebrate-software-freedom-day"><span>more ideas</span></a><span> for celebrating Software Freedom Day, and a few more </span><a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/240188/seven_ways_to_celebrate_software_freedom_day.html"><span>here</span></a><span> while planning for next year’s Software Freedom Day in your city.</span></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/open-knowledge-international-blog-october-26-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-open-source-in-everyday-life-how-we-celebrated-the-software-freedom-day-in-bengaluru'>https://cis-india.org/openness/open-knowledge-international-blog-october-26-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-open-source-in-everyday-life-how-we-celebrated-the-software-freedom-day-in-bengaluru</a>
</p>
No publishersubhaOpennessFOSSOpen Source2016-10-27T01:07:06ZBlog EntryNational Koha Conclave
https://cis-india.org/openness/news/national-koha-conclave
<b>Informatics Publishing organized an event at Fortune Park JP Celestial in Bangalore on February 17, 2016. Sunil Abraham delivered the inaugural address on the occasion.</b>
<p>For more info on the event <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/openness/national-koha-enclave.pdf">see this page</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/news/national-koha-conclave'>https://cis-india.org/openness/news/national-koha-conclave</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessFOSS2016-02-19T16:20:23ZNews ItemIt's September, and That Means It's Time for Software Freedom Day
https://cis-india.org/openness/global-voices-september-17-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-it-is-september-and-that-means-it-is-time-for-software-freedom-day
<b>Software Freedom Day (SFD), which celebrates the use of free and open software, is just around the corner on September 17. When the day first started in 2004, only 12 teams from different places joined, but it has since grown to include hundreds registered events around the world, depending on the year.</b>
<p>The article was <a class="external-link" href="https://globalvoices.org/2016/09/17/its-september-and-that-means-its-time-for-software-freedom-day/">published by Global Voices</a> on September 17, 2016.</p>
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<td style="text-align: justify; ">
<p><a href="http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/index.php/about/sponsors">Supported</a> by several global organizations like Google, Canonical, Free Software Foundation, Joomla, Creative Commons and Linux Journal, Software Freedom Day draws its inspiration from the philosophy promoted by people like Richard Stallman who <a href="http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/index.php/about/sponsors">argue</a> that free software is all about the freedom and not necessarily free of cost but provides the liberty to users from proprietary software developers’ power and influence.</p>
<p>SFD <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/its-software-freedom-day">encourages</a> everyone to gather in their own cities (here's a <a href="http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/map/index.php?year=2015">map</a> of places where SFD is organized this year), educate people around them about free software, and promote the cause on social media (with the hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23SFD2016">#SFD2016</a> this year). There's also hackathons (hacking free software to modify the code and create what one wants to have in it), running free software installation camps, and even going creative with <a href="http://www.htxt.co.za/2015/09/03/flying-freedom-day-gloriously-combines-drones-and-craft-beer/">flying a drone running free software</a>.</p>
</td>
<td>
<p><b>What are FOSS, free software, open source, and FLOSS?</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Free and open source software (FOSS or F/OSS), and free/libre and open-source software (FLOSS) are umbrella terms that are used to include both free software and open source software. Adopted by noted software freedom advocate Richard Stallman in 1983, free software has many names — libre software, freedom-respecting software and software libre are some of them. As defined by the <a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-intro.html">Free Software Foundation</a>, one of the early advocates of software freedom, free software allows users not just to use the software with complete freedom, but to study, modify, and distribute the software and any adapted versions, in both commercial and noncommercial form.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The distribution of the software for commercial and noncommercial form, however, depends on the particular license the software is released under. “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Open_Source_Definition">Open source</a>” was coined as an alternative to free software in 1998 by educational-advocacy organization <a href="https://opensource.org/history">Open Source Initiative.</a> Open source software is generally created collaboratively, made available with its source code, and it provides the user rights to study, change, and distribute the software to anyone and for any purpose.</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>From South Asia, there are <a href="http://wiki.softwarefreedomday.org/2016/India">13 celebratory events in India</a>, <a href="http://wiki.softwarefreedomday.org/2016/Nepal?highlight=%28%5CbCategoryCountry2016%5Cb%29">eight in Nepal</a>, <a href="http://wiki.softwarefreedomday.org/2016/Bangladesh?highlight=%28%5CbCategoryCountry2016%5Cb%29">one in Bangladesh</a> and <a href="http://wiki.softwarefreedomday.org/2016/Sri%20Lanka?highlight=%28%5CbCategoryCountry2016%5Cb%29">four in Sri Lanka</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">South Asian countries have seen adoption of both free software and open source software by individuals, organizations and the government. The <a href="http://www.fsmi.in/about">Free Software Movement of India</a> was founded in Bengaluru, India, in 2010 to act as a national coalition of several regional chapters working to promote and grow the free software movement in India.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Indian government has <a href="https://data.gov.in/about-us">launched</a> an open data portal at <a href="http://data.gov.in">data.gov.in</a> portal for sharing large datasets like the census data under free licenses. The government's <a href="http://meity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/policy_on_adoption_of_oss.pdf">new policy</a> emphasizes on adopting open source software. Moreover government's Ministry of Communication and Information Technology <a href="https://opensource.com/government/15/6/indian-government-includes-open-source-rfps">asked</a> vendors to include open source software applications while making requests for proposals.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Similarly, there are several free and open source communities and organizations operating from the subcontinent, like <a href="http://mozillaindia.org/">Mozilla India</a>, <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_India">Wikimedia India</a>, the <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CISA2K">Centre for Internet and Society, </a><a href="http://in.okfn.org/about/">Open Knowledge India</a>, <a href="http://mozillabd.org/">Mozilla Bangladesh</a>, <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Bangladesh">Wikimedia Bangladesh,</a> <a href="http://www.bdosn.org/about-bdosn">Bangladesh Open Source Network</a>, <a href="https://okfn.org/network/bangladesh/">Open Knowledge Bangladesh</a>, <a href="https://wiki.mozilla.org/Nepal">Mozilla Nepal</a>, <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Nepal">Wikimedians of Nepal,</a> <a href="http://np.okfn.org/about/">Open Knowledge Nepal</a>, <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Pakistan">Wikimedia Community User Group Pakistan</a>, and the <a href="http://www.opensource.lk/">Lanka Software Foundation</a> in Sri Lanka.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Mohammad Jahangir Alam, a lecturer from Southern University Bangladesh, argues in a <a href="http://research.ijcaonline.org/volume42/number18/pxc3878099.pdf">research paper</a> that the use of open source software can help the government save a enormous amount of money that are spent in purchasing proprietary software:</p>
<blockquote class="quoted" style="text-align: justify; ">A Large amount of money of government can be saved if the government uses open source software in different IT sectors of government offices and others sectors, Because government is providing computer to all educational institute from school to university level and they are using proprietary software. For this reason government is to expend a large amount of many for buying proprietary software to run the computers. Another one is government paying significant amount of money to the different vendors for buying different types of software to implement e-Governance project. So, the Government can use open source software for implanting projects to minimize cost of the projects.</blockquote>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/global-voices-september-17-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-it-is-september-and-that-means-it-is-time-for-software-freedom-day'>https://cis-india.org/openness/global-voices-september-17-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-it-is-september-and-that-means-it-is-time-for-software-freedom-day</a>
</p>
No publishersubhaOpen StandardsAccess to KnowledgeFLOSSOpennessFOSS2016-09-17T15:42:46ZBlog EntryIP Meetup #02: Prabir Purkayastha on the CRI Guidelines and software patenting in India
https://cis-india.org/a2k/events/ip-meetup-02-prabir-purkayastha-on-the-cri-guidelines-and-software-patenting-in-india
<b></b>
<h3>Prabir Purkayastha will deliver a short talk on what the Guidelines on Computer Related Inventions mean for software patenting, and the way forward, on Sunday, March 20th, 2016 at the CIS Delhi office, at 4 p.m. <br /></h3>
<div id="parent-fieldname-text-90eeae1895bf44d29641567f7fcf5d44">
<p style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">We would like to invite you to the second session of a series of IP focused meetups. The meetups are
aimed at bringing folks together working within or interested in IP law,
to discuss recent developments with reference to access to knowledge,
climate change, health, trade, etc.</p>
<p>The talk will be followed by a round of discussion, after which the
floor will be thrown open for other pressing/relevant IP developments.</p>
<p>Please join us for tea and refreshments at 3.30 pm.</p>
<p>Please RSVP by dropping a line at <a class="mail-link" href="mailto:anubha@cis-india.org">anubha@cis-india.org</a>.</p>
<p><strong>CIS Delhi's location on Google Maps: <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/nPKkoQFhRSt">https://goo.gl/maps/nPKkoQFhRSt</a></strong></p>
</div>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/events/ip-meetup-02-prabir-purkayastha-on-the-cri-guidelines-and-software-patenting-in-india'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/events/ip-meetup-02-prabir-purkayastha-on-the-cri-guidelines-and-software-patenting-in-india</a>
</p>
No publishersinhaOpen SourceAccess to KnowledgeSoftware PatentsIntellectual Property RightsFOSS2016-03-29T17:06:13ZEventHow we celebrated Software Freedom Day
https://cis-india.org/openness/subhashish-panigrahi-mozilla-open-mic-october-6-2016-how-we-celebrated-software-freedom-day
<b>A small group of 6 FOSS contributors from communities such as Mozilla, Wikimedia, Mediawiki, Open Street Map and users of FOSS solutions gathered in Bengaluru to celebrate Software Freedom Day. Subhashish Panigrahi who was a part of the event, reports the developments. </b>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">What are FOSS, Free Software, Open Source, and FLOSS?</h3>
<p class="graf-after--p graf--p graf" id="f423" style="text-align: justify; ">Adopted by noted software freedom advocate Richard Stallman in 1983, free software has many names — free and open source software (FOSS or F/OSS), and Free/Libre and Open-Source Software (FLOSS) are umbrella terms that are used to include both free software and open source software. As defined by the<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-intro.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Free Software Foundation</a> — one of the early advocates of software freedom — free software allows users to not only use the software with complete freedom, but also study, modify, and distribute the software and any adapted versions, in both commercial and noncommercial form. The distribution of the software for commercial and noncommercial form however depends on the particular license the software is released under. The<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/licensing-types-examples/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Creative Commons</a> licenses have recommendations for a wide array of<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/freeworks/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> free licenses</a> that one can choose for the software-related documentations and any creative work they create. Similarly, there are<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="https://opensource.com/education/16/8/3-copyright-tips-students-and-educators" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> several different</a> open licenses for software and many other works that are related to software development. “<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Open_Source_Definition" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Open Source</a>” was coined as an alternative to free software in 1998 by an educational-advocacy organization<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="https://opensource.org/history" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Open Source Initiative.</a> Open source software is generally created collaboratively, made available with its source code, and it provides the user rights to study, change, and distribute the software to anyone and for any purpose.</p>
<p class="graf-after--p graf--p graf" id="09ca" style="text-align: justify; "><a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/index.php/about/sponsors" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Supported</a> by several global organizations like Google, Canonical, Free Software Foundation, Joomla, Creative Commons and Linux Journal, Software Freedom Day draws its inspiration from the philosophy that was grown by people like Richard Stallman who<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/index.php/about/sponsors" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> argues</a> that free software is all about the freedom and not necessarily free of cost but provides the liberty to users from [proprietary software developers’] unjust power. SFD<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/its-software-freedom-day" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> encouraged</a> everyone to gather in their own cities (<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/map/index.php?year=2015" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">map</a> of places where SFD was organized this year) to: educate people around them about free software, promote it on social media (with the hashtag<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23SFD2016" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> #SFD2016</a> this year), hacking with free software, organizing hackathons, running free software installation camps, and even going creative with<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="http://www.htxt.co.za/2015/09/03/flying-freedom-day-gloriously-combines-drones-and-craft-beer/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> flying a drone running free software</a>!</p>
<p class="graf-after--p graf--p graf" id="ed8d" style="text-align: justify; ">In South Asia, there were<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="http://wiki.softwarefreedomday.org/2016/India" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> 13 celebratory events in India</a>,<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="http://wiki.softwarefreedomday.org/2016/Nepal?highlight=%28%5CbCategoryCountry2016%5Cb%29" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> 8 in Nepal</a>,<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="http://wiki.softwarefreedomday.org/2016/Bangladesh?highlight=%28%5CbCategoryCountry2016%5Cb%29" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> 1 in Bangladesh</a> and<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="http://wiki.softwarefreedomday.org/2016/SriLanka?highlight=%28%5CbCategoryCountry2016%5Cb%29" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> 4 in Sri Lanka</a>.</p>
<p class="graf-after--p graf--p graf" id="f183" style="text-align: justify; ">South Asian countries have seen adoption of both free software and open source software, in both individual and organizational level and by the government. The<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="http://www.fsmi.in/about" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Free Software Movement of India</a> was founded in Bengaluru, India in 2010 to act as a national coalition of several regional chapters working for promoting and growing the free software movement in India. The Indian government has<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="https://data.gov.in/about-us" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> launched</a> the open data portal at<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="http://data.gov.in/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> data.gov.in</a>, initiated a<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="http://meity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/policy_on_adoption_of_oss.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> new policy</a> to adopt open source software, and<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="https://opensource.com/government/15/6/indian-government-includes-open-source-rfps" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> asked</a> vendors to include open source software applications while making requests for proposals. Similarly, there are many free and open source communities and organizations that are operating from the subcontinent also promote free and open source software like<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="http://mozillaindia.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Mozilla India</a>,<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_India" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Wikimedia India</a>,<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CISA2K" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Centre for Internet and Society,</a><a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="http://in.okfn.org/about/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Open Knowledge India</a> in India,<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="http://mozillabd.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Mozilla Bangladesh</a>,<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Bangladesh" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Wikimedia Bangladesh,</a><a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="http://www.bdosn.org/about-bdosn" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Bangladesh Open Source Network</a>,<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="https://okfn.org/network/bangladesh/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Open Knowledge Bangladesh</a> in Bangladesh,<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="https://wiki.mozilla.org/Nepal" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Mozilla Nepal</a>,<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Nepal" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Wikimedians of Nepal</a> and<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="http://np.okfn.org/about/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Open Knowledge Nepal</a> in Nepal,<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Pakistan" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Wikimedia Community User Group Pakistan</a> in Pakistan,<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="http://www.opensource.lk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Lanka Software Foundation</a> in Sri Lanka.</p>
<p class="graf-after--p graf--p graf" id="920a" style="text-align: justify; ">We promote open source and open web technologies in the country. We are open to associate/work with existing open source or other community-run, public benefit organizations.</p>
<p class="graf-after--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf--p graf" id="54aa" style="text-align: justify; ">“Internet By The People, Internet For The People” (from<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="https://wiki.mozilla.org/India#Objectives" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Mozilla India wiki</a>)</p>
<p class="graf-after--p graf--p graf" id="5c8d" style="text-align: justify; ">Mohammad Jahangir Alam, a lecturer from Southern University Bangladesh argues in a<a class="markup--p-anchor markup--anchor" href="http://research.ijcaonline.org/volume42/number18/pxc3878099.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> research paper</a> that the use of open source software can help the government save enormous amount of money that are spent in purchasing proprietary software,</p>
<p class="graf-after--p graf--p graf" id="a9f7" style="text-align: justify; ">A Large amount of money of government can be saved if the government uses open source software in different IT sectors of government offices and others sectors, Because government is providing computer to all educational institute from school to university level and they are using proprietary software. For this reason government is to expend a large amount of many* for buying proprietary software to run the computers. Another one is government paying significant amount of money to the different vendors for buying different types of software to implement e-Governance project. So, the Government can use open source software for implanting projects to minimize cost of the projects.</p>
<p class="graf-after--p graf--p graf" id="9577" style="text-align: justify; ">This year, a small group of six of us gathered to celebrate SFD in Bengaluru. The group consisted of FOSS contributors from communities such as Mozilla, Wikimedia, Mediawiki, Open Street Map (OSM), and users of FOSS solutions. Each participant shared their own stories of how they got connected with FOSS and what component it plays in their day-to-day life — from how a father tries to introduce his son to open source software while migrating from proprietary to open source back and forth as his job demands so, to an OSM contributor who truly believes that large scale contributions to open source can make the software as robust as proprietary ones and even better because of the freedom that lie in it. The participants bounced both technical and philosophical questions to each other to gauge the actual usage of FOSS in real life, and how as a society we are moving towards adopting openness. There is a great disconnect in communicating widely about the work that many Indian FOSS and other free knowledge communities are doing, agreed all the participants. So they planned to meet more regularly and try to connect more people using social media and chat groups so that these interactions shape into an annual event to bring all open communities under one roof.</p>
<hr />
<p>The blog post which was originally published by Mozilla Open Mic on October 6 can be <a class="external-link" href="https://medium.com/mozilla-open-mic/how-we-celebrated-software-freedom-day-cae98c2cce06#.47ejlrf8x">accessed here</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/subhashish-panigrahi-mozilla-open-mic-october-6-2016-how-we-celebrated-software-freedom-day'>https://cis-india.org/openness/subhashish-panigrahi-mozilla-open-mic-october-6-2016-how-we-celebrated-software-freedom-day</a>
</p>
No publishersubhaOpen StandardsOpennessFOSS2016-10-07T02:02:18ZBlog EntryHits and Misses With the Draft Encryption Policy
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/the-wire-26-09-2015-sunil-abraham-hits-and-misses-with-draft-encryption-policy
<b>Most encryption standards are open standards. They are developed by open participation in a publicly scrutable process by industry, academia and governments in standard setting organisations (SSOs) using the principles of “rough consensus” – sometimes established by the number of participants humming in unison – and “running code” – a working implementation of the standard. The open model of standards development is based on the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) philosophy that “many eyes make all bugs shallow”.
</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article was <a class="external-link" href="http://thewire.in/2015/09/26/hits-and-misses-with-the-draft-encryption-policy-11708/">published in the Wire</a> on September 26, 2015.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This model has largely been a success but as Edward Snowden in his revelations has told us, the US with its large army of mathematicians has managed to compromise some of the standards that have been developed under public and peer scrutiny. Once a standard is developed, its success or failure depends on voluntary adoption by various sections of the market – the private sector, government (since in most markets the scale of public procurement can shape the market) and end-users. This process of voluntary adoption usually results in the best standards rising to the top. Mandates on high quality encryption standards and minimum key-sizes are an excellent idea within the government context to ensure that state, military, intelligence and law enforcement agencies are protected from foreign surveillance and traitors from within. In other words, these mandates are based on a national security imperative.<br /><br />However, similar mandates for corporations and ordinary citizens are based on a diametrically opposite imperative – surveillance. Therefore these mandates usually require the use of standards that governments can compromise usually via a brute force method (wherein supercomputers generate and attempt every possible key) and smaller key-lengths for it is generally the case that the smaller the key-length the quicker it is for the supercomputers to break in. These mandates, unlike the ones for state, military, intelligence and law enforcement agencies, interfere with the market-based voluntary adoption of standards and therefore are examples of inappropriate regulation that will undermine the security and stability of information societies.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Plain-text storage requirement</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">First, the draft policy mandates that Business to Business (B2B) users and Consumer to Consumer (C2C) users store equivalent plain text (decrypted versions) of their encrypted communications and storage data for 90 days from the date of transaction. This requirement is impossible to comply with for three reasons. Foremost, encryption for web sessions are based on dynamically generated keys and users are not even aware that their interaction with web servers (including webmail such as Gmail and Yahoo Mail) are encrypted. Next, from a usability perspective, this would require additional manual steps which no one has the time for as part of their daily usage of technologies. Finally, the plain text storage will become a honey pot for attackers. In effect this requirement is as good as saying “don’t use encryption”.<br /><br />Second, the policy mandates that B2C and “service providers located within and outside India, using encryption” shall provide readable plain-text along with the corresponding encrypted information using the same software/hardware used to produce the encrypted information when demanded in line with the provisions of the laws of the country. From the perspective of lawful interception and targeted surveillance, it is indeed important that corporations cooperate with Indian intelligence and law enforcement agencies in a manner that is compliant with international and domestic human rights law. However, there are three circumstances where this is unworkable: 1) when the service providers are FOSS communities like the TOR project which don’t retain any user data and as far as we know don’t cooperate with any government; 2) when the service provider provides consumers with solutions based on end-to-end encryption and therefore do not hold the private keys that are required for decryption; and 3) when the Indian market is too small for a foreign provider to take requests from the Indian government seriously.<br /><br />Where it is technically possible for the service provider to cooperate with Indian law enforcement and intelligence, greater compliance can be ensured by Indian participation in multilateral and multi-stakeholder internet governance policy development to ensure greater harmonisation of substantive and procedural law across jurisdictions. Options here for India include reform of the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) process and standardisation of user data request formats via the Internet Jurisdiction Project.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Regulatory design</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Governments don’t have unlimited regulatory capability or capacity. They have to be conservative when designing regulation so that a high degree of compliance can be ensured. The draft policy mandates that citizens only use “encryption algorithms and key sizes will be prescribed by the government through notification from time to time.” This would be near impossible to enforce given the burgeoning multiplicity of encryption technologies available and the number of citizens that will get online in the coming years. Similarly the mandate that “service providers located within and outside India…must enter into an agreement with the government”, “vendors of encryption products shall register their products with the designated agency of the government” and “vendors shall submit working copies of the encryption software / hardware to the government along with professional quality documentation, test suites and execution platform environments” would be impossible for two reasons: that cloud based providers will not submit their software since they would want to protect their intellectual property from competitors, and that smaller and non-profit service providers may not comply since they can’t be threatened with bans or block orders.<br /><br />This approach to regulation is inspired by license raj thinking where enforcement requires enforcement capability and capacity that we don’t have. It would be more appropriate to have a “harms”-based approach wherein the government targets only those corporations that don’t comply with legitimate law enforcement and intelligence requests for user data and interception of communication.<br /><br />Also, while the “Technical Advisory Committee” is the appropriate mechanism to ensure that policies remain technologically neutral, it does not appear that the annexure of the draft policy, i.e. “Draft Notification on modes and methods of Encryption prescribed under Section 84A of Information Technology Act 2000”, has been properly debated by technical experts. According to my colleague Pranesh Prakash, “of the three symmetric cryptographic primitives that are listed – AES, 3DES, and RC4 – one, RC4, has been shown to be a broken cipher.”<br /><br />The draft policy also doesn’t take into account the security requirements of the IT, ITES, BPO and KPO industries that handle foreign intellectual property and personal information that is protected under European or American data protection law. If clients of these Indian companies feel that the Indian government would be able to access their confidential information, they will take their business to competing countries such as the Philippines.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">And the good news is…</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">On the other hand, the second objective of the policy, which encourages “wider usage of digital Signature by all entities including Government for trusted communication, transactions and authentication” is laudable but should have ideally been a mandate for all government officials as this will ensure non-repudiation. Government officials would not be able to deny authorship for their communications or approvals that they grant for various applications and files that they process.<br /><br />Second, the setting up of “testing and evaluation infrastructure for encryption products” is also long overdue. The initiation of “research and development programs … for the development of indigenous algorithms and manufacture of indigenous products” is slightly utopian because it will be a long time before indigenous standards are as good as the global state of the art but also notable as an important start.<br /><br />The more important step for the government is to ensure high quality Indian participation in global SSOs and contributions to global standards. This has to be done through competition and market-based mechanisms wherein at least a billion dollars from the last spectrum auction should be immediately spent on funding existing government organisations, research organisations, independent research scholars and private sector organisations. These decisions should be made by peer-based committees and based on publicly verifiable measures of scientific rigour such as number of publications in peer-reviewed academic journals and acceptance of “running code” by SSOs.<br /><br />Additionally the government needs to start making mathematics a viable career in India by either employing mathematicians directly or funding academic and independent research organisations who employ mathematicians. The basis of all encryptions standards is mathematics and we urgently need the tribe of Indian mathematicians to increase dramatically in this country.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/the-wire-26-09-2015-sunil-abraham-hits-and-misses-with-draft-encryption-policy'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/the-wire-26-09-2015-sunil-abraham-hits-and-misses-with-draft-encryption-policy</a>
</p>
No publishersunilOpen StandardsInternet GovernanceSurveillanceFOSSB2B2015-09-26T16:46:53ZBlog EntryGuidelines for Examination of Computer Related Inventions in abeyance
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/guidelines-for-examination-of-computer-related-inventions-in-abeyance
<b>The CRI Guidelines were heavily criticised for their failure to address the ambiguities created by Section 3(k) and for expanding the scope of software patent eligibile subject-matter, inter alia.
Following several representations and submissions by interested stakeholders, the Controller General has moved the Guidelines into abeyance, until discussions with stakeholders are complete and contentious issues are resolved, and is a welcome step.
</b>
<p> </p>
<p>CIS has consistently made submissions
to the Indian Patent Office on the issue of software patenting( <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/comments-on-the-guidelines-for-examination-of-computer-related-inventions-cris">2015</a>, <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/comments-on-draft-guidelines-for-computer-related-inventions">2013</a>,
<a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cis-submission-draft-patent-manual-2010">2010</a>).
The <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/comments-on-the-guidelines-for-examination-of-computer-related-inventions-cris">latest
submission </a>was made in September 2015, in response to the
<a href="http://www.ipindia.nic.in/iponew/CRI_Guidelines_21August2015.pdf">Guidelines
for Examination of Computer Related Inventions, 2015</a>(“CRI Guidelines/ Guidelines”)
in which we highlighted several concerns and presented solutions, and
also proposed a definition of "computer programme per se".</p>
<p>In view of the representations made to
the Patent Office, on 14th December 2015, the Controller General
issued an order to keep the Guidelines in abeyance. <strong>Till the
issues therein are resolved, the existing provisions on S. 3(k) of
chapter 08.03.05.10 of the Manual of Patent Practice and Procedure
will continue to be applicable.</strong></p>
<p>The primary fault with the Guidelines
lay in the fact that, legally, its scope of was in excess of section
3(k) of the Indian Patent's Act, 1970 (parent statute). The
Controller General's order acknowledging the representations and
submissions made in response to the Guidelines, and consequently
keeping the Guidelines in abeyance is a welcome step.</p>
<p><strong>You may access the order <a href="http://ipindia.nic.in/officeCircular/officeOrder_14December2015.pdf">here</a>.</strong></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/guidelines-for-examination-of-computer-related-inventions-in-abeyance'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/guidelines-for-examination-of-computer-related-inventions-in-abeyance</a>
</p>
No publishersinhaIntellectual Property RightsFOSSSoftware PatentsAccess to Knowledge2015-12-23T10:06:53ZBlog EntryFree and Open Source Software and Standards for Public Health Information Systems in India: “Making them Work” by Bridging the Policy Practice Gap
https://cis-india.org/openness/news/foss-for-public-health-information-systems-in-india
<b>Anubha Sinha spoke at the ORF Health Policy Workshop on the panel: The policy landscape in India with respect FOSS software and standards in the public sector more generally. The event was organized by Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi on February 27 and 28, 2017 in New Delhi.</b>
<ul>
<li>For workshop background note <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/openness/foss-workshop-in-new-delhi-background-note">click here</a></li>
<li>For agenda <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/openness/orf-workshop-draft-agenda.pdf">click here</a></li>
<li>For more info see the <a class="external-link" href="http://www.orfonline.org/research/health-policy-workshop-february-27-28/">Observer Research Foundation website</a>. </li>
</ul>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/news/foss-for-public-health-information-systems-in-india'>https://cis-india.org/openness/news/foss-for-public-health-information-systems-in-india</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessFOSS2017-02-27T15:36:25ZNews ItemFOSSCON India 2019
https://cis-india.org/openness/news/fosscon-india-2019-1
<b>Bhuvana Meenakshi gave a talk on "The revolution of WebXR" at FOSSCON India 2019 organized by KLS Gogte Institute of Technology in Belgaum from August 29 - 31, 2019, where she discussed about the tools used for development and demos.</b>
<p>The Chief patrons included:</p>
<div id="_mcePaste">
<ul>
<li>Dr. A S Deshpande, Registrar, VTU, Belagavi</li>
<li>Dr. Satish Annigeri, Registrar(Evaluation), VTU, Belagavi</li>
<li>Shri M R Kulkarni, Chairman, Karnatak Law Society</li>
<li>Shri U N Kalkundrikar, Chairman , Governing Council, KLS Gogte Institute of Technology, Belagavi.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div id="_mcePaste"></div>
<div id="_mcePaste"></div>
<div id="_mcePaste"></div>
<h3 class="gmail-schedule-slot-title">
<ul>
<p> </p>
</ul>
</h3>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/news/fosscon-india-2019-1'>https://cis-india.org/openness/news/fosscon-india-2019-1</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminOpennessFOSS2019-09-25T22:59:38ZNews ItemFOSS: Smart Choice for Developing Countries
https://cis-india.org/news/igf-2013-workshop-287-foss-smart-choice-for-developing-countries
<b>This workshop is being organised by TechNation and Open Source Alliance of Central Asia on October 23. Sunil Abraham is participating as a panelist and will speak on FOSS and IT Growth Policies in South Asia.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/wks2013/workshop_2013_status_list_view.php?xpsltipq_je=287">Read the original published on the IGF website</a></p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>The Internet Governance Forum 2013 is being held at Bali from October 22 to 25. The overarching theme for the 2013 IGF meeting is: "Building Bridges"- Enhancing Multistakeholder Cooperation for Growth and Sustainable Development".</i></p>
<p><i> </i></p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Theme: The Internet as an Engine for Growth and Advancement</h2>
<p class="western" style="text-align: justify; ">Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), once limited to advanced users, now attracts average users. Countries have adopted FOSS for its social, economic and political benefits. Russia has started to shift government to Linux by 2015 and plans to build a national repository of Open Source Software. China is teaming up with Canonical to develop an open source operating system for Chinese users called Ubuntu Kylin. According to <i>Black Duck Software</i><b> </b>and <i>North Bridge Venture Partners Open-Source Survey, </i>Open Source Software is helping improve enterprise networking, smartcars, and academia. InformationWeek’s survey “Open Source Software Use Joins The Mix,” confirms that FOSS “is believed to create more opportunities for innovation than commercial or proprietary software.”</p>
<p class="western" style="text-align: justify; ">This workshop emphasizes three main issues: 1) Innovative FOSS technologies, 2) Capacity building in FOSS, and 3) Women as FOSS users and developers. It will discuss benefits, costs and implications of choosing FOSS; highlight the representation, role and achievements of women from the Central and South Asian region; and, guide recommendations to build capacity of women in utilizing FOSS for education, health, governance, and civil society.</p>
<p class="western" style="text-align: justify; "><b>Why FOSS?</b> FOSS fosters education for the persons contributing to it and for those using it. In addition to learning new skills, FOSS developers can help solve real-life problems. Irrespective of geographic location, volunteers work collaboratively to develop software. This creates a sense of community ownership of their technology and enhances employment, employability and increases local innovation. FOSS reduces deployment costs making it a smart choice by developing countries. FOSS is affordable, stable, reliable, and free of virus.</p>
<p class="western" style="text-align: justify; "><b>What are innovative FOSS technologies?</b> This workshop will showcase some of the most innovative Open Source Software technologies. It will highlight the fact that most servers are based on open source, and now common users, governments and businesses around the world are transitioning to FOSS.</p>
<p class="western" style="text-align: justify; "><b>Why Capacity Building?</b> Capacity building in computer education should teach students concepts, ensure that students learn through hands on experience using a variety of tools, and leave students the choice of which tool to use to create virtual worlds. Students should be given responsibilities, including helping run IT systems. For example, students of higher classes could build or modify software for lower classes.</p>
<p>Organized by Open Source Alliance of Central Asia (OSACA), this workshop will explore whether the requirements to be a FOSS contributor prevent women from doing so and what it will take for women in Central and South Asia, to become valuable contributors.</p>
<p><b>Has the proponent organised a workshop with a similar subject during past IGF meetings?</b></p>
<p>No.</p>
<h3>Co-organisers</h3>
<ol>
<li><span>Mr. Omar Mansoor Ansari, TechNation</span>, Private Sector, AFGHANISTAN, Asia-Pacific Group</li>
<li><span>Mr. Sufyan Kakakhel, Open Source Alliance of Central Asia (OSACA)</span>, Civil Society, PAKISTAN, Asia-Pacific Group</li>
</ol>
<p><b>Have the Proponent or any of the co-organisers organised an IGF workshop before? </b></p>
<p>No.</p>
<h3>Panelists</h3>
<ul>
<li>H.E. Baryalai Hassam, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Male, Government, AFGHANISTAN, Asia-Pacific Group</li>
<li>Maria Beebe, Telecom Advisory Team (Afghanistan) Deloitte, Female, Private Sector, UNITED STATES, Western Europe and Others Group - WEOG</li>
<li>Sunil Abraham, Center for Internet and Society, Male, Civil Society, INDIA, Asia-Pacific Group</li>
<li>Roxana Radu, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Female, Technical Community, ROMANIA, Eastern European Group</li>
<li>Matthias Stürmer, Open Source Switzerland, Male, Technical Community, SWITZERLAND, Western Europe and Others Group - WEOG</li>
<li>Asomiddin Atoev, ISP Association of Tajikistan, Male, Private Sector, TAJIKISTAN, Asia-Pacific Group</li>
<li>Prof. Dr. rer. pol. Wolfgang F. Finke, Ernst-Abbe University of Applied Sciences, Male, Civil Society, GERMANY, Western Europe and Others Group - WEOG</li>
<li>Dominique Lazankski, The TaxPayers' Alliance, Civil Society, UNITED KINGDOM, Western Europe and Others Group - WEOG</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Moderator</h3>
<ul>
<li>Omar Mansoor Ansari</li>
</ul>
<h3>Remote Moderator</h3>
<ul>
<li>Ana Perdigao </li>
</ul>
<h2>Agenda</h2>
<h3>FOSS: FOSS Smart Choice for Developing Countries</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This high-level thematic workshop discusses the most up-to-dated advancements in Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) technologies. With some of the best minds from the government, industry, civil society and academia learn about innovative FOSS technologies, policy and regulatory environments, project and initiatives, and how Open Source Software technologies can help enhance governance, business, education and the society. The panel will discuss implications for capacity building for women and girls in FOSS.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Workshop Agenda</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">0900 - 0910<br />Welcome and Introduction<br />Welcome and introduction by Session Chairman<br />Mr. Omar Mansoor Ansari, President at TechNation, Cofounder/ Board Director, Open Source Alliance of Central Asia (OSACA)<br /><br />0910 - 0920<br />State of FOSS and Government Policies in Afghanistan.<br />H.E. Eng. Baryalai Hassam, Deputy Minister (Technical), Ministry of Communications and IT, Afghanistan<br /><br />0920 - 0930<br />MOOCs, M-learning and other Resources Online: Implications for Capacity Building<br />Dr. Maria Beebe, Sr. ICT Advisor (Education), Telecom Advisory Team (Afghanistan) Deloitte, United States<br /><br />0930 - 0940<br />Kick-Starting the Utilization of FOSS in the Public Sector in Afghanistan – Afghan Center of Open Source Systems<br />Prof. Dr. rer. pol. Wolfgang F. Finke, Ernst-Abbe University of Applied Sciences, Germany<br /><br />0940 - 0950<br />Women Creating Their Spaces Online<br /><br />0950 - 1000<br />Technology transfer and North-South partnerships through open source communities<br />Dr. Matthias Stürmer, Swiss Open Systems User Group /ch/open, Switzerland<br /><br />1000 - 1010<br />FOSS and the Internet in Central Asia <br />Asomiddin Atoev, Cofounder/ Board Director, Open Source Alliance of Central Asia (OSACA), Chairman, ISP Association of Tajikistan. <br /><br />1010 -1020<br />FOSS and IT Growth Policies in South Asia<br />Mr. Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, Center for Internet and Society, India<br /><br />1020 - 1030<br />Open Data<br />Dominique Lazanski <br />The TaxPayers' Alliance, UK<br /><br />1030 -1100<br />Q&A and Open Discussion</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Inclusiveness of the Session</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This will be a panel workshop, it will allow considerable time for an Open Discussion and Q&A. We will be making the meeting highly interactive and participatory by engaging the speakers and participants to exchange ideas, knowledge and experience.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Suitability for Remote Participation</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We will be providing remote participation through video conferencing, creating social media, Twitter and Facebook, accounts that are interlinked and can communicate real time updates with the remote participants. A team of volunteers will be engaged to manage the communication with remote participants.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/igf-2013-workshop-287-foss-smart-choice-for-developing-countries'>https://cis-india.org/news/igf-2013-workshop-287-foss-smart-choice-for-developing-countries</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessFOSSAccess to Knowledge2013-10-21T05:28:06ZNews ItemFOSS for Public Use: Free and Open Source Software for Digital India
https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/foss-for-public-use-free-and-open-source-software-for-digital-india
<b>I attended a round-table meeting on May 29, 2015 at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. The meeting was organized by SFLC in collaboration with the International Centre for Free and Open Source Software, and the Centre for Internet & Society.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The meeting commenced with welcome address by Ms.Mishi Choudhary, Executive Director, SFLC.in. She elaborated on the idea of the round table conference and explained how sharing of knowledge and experience of the stakeholders will help and assist the people responsible for framing this policy. She then introduced the various dignitaries who participated in this endeavour.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The first session was on the topic, The Open Source Policy - Enabling Digital India, with Mishi Chaoudhary being the moderator. She explained about the “Policy on Adoption of Open Source Software for Government of India” that was launched in March 2015 by the Government of India.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The second session was opened by Satish Babu, who emphasized on the Policy’s stand that the ecosystem is more important than the code and stated that this ecosystem comprises of several stakeholders.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Delegates who spoke at the event included Dr. Nagarjuna G, Cmdr. L. R. Prakash, Dr. Andrew M Lynn, Prof. Arun Mehta, Vikram Vincent, Venkatesh Hariharan,Kishore Bhargava, Prabir Purkayastha, Ashok T. Ukrani, Ganapathy Narayanan, Anivar Aravind, Satish Babu, Srinivasan Ramakrishnan, Rahul De, Mishi Choudhary, and Anubha Sinha.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The meeting of the minutes can be <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/meeting-notes-on-foss-roundtable.pdf" class="external-link">downloaded here</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/foss-for-public-use-free-and-open-source-software-for-digital-india'>https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/foss-for-public-use-free-and-open-source-software-for-digital-india</a>
</p>
No publishersinhaOpennessFOSS2016-06-18T18:20:35ZBlog EntryFOSS & a Free, Open Internet: Synergies for Development
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/foss-a-free-open-internet-synergies-for-development
<b>Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2015 will be held at Jao Pessoa in Brazil from November 10 to 13, 2015. The theme of IGF 2015 is Evolution of Internet Governance: Empowering Sustainable Development. Civil Society is organizing a workshop on FOSS and a Free, Open Internet. The workshop will be held on November 13, 2015 from 2.00 p.m. to 3.30 p.m. Sunil Abraham and Pranesh Prakash will be speaking at this event.</b>
<p>This was published on the <a class="external-link" href="https://www.intgovforum.org/cms/wks2015/index.php/proposal/view_public/10">IGF website. </a></p>
<hr />
<table style="text-align: justify;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p>The workshop will explore links between the Free and Open nature of the Internet and the Free and Open Source Software through a series of experience sharing among the speakers as well as audiences. The speakers have been selected on the basis of their wide exposure and geographical and occupational diversity.</p>
<hr />
<p>As ICTs permeate lives of people around the world, code is fast emerging as an instrument that can change lives. In many parts of the world, the 4Rs of primary education are Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic and pRogramming, indicative of the role that ICTs will play in the future.<br /> <br /> Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) is, inter alia, a mechanism whereby code, and consequently the ability to code, is being democratized. In contrast with centralized proprietary models, FOSS allows decentralized creation, distribution and maintenance of code. Such democratization enables grassroots level application of code to solve local problems, leading to more empowered communities. Free flow of code is therefore important to ensure that communities to stay 'plugged in' and current. Code also enables communities to side-step practices such as surveillance, censorship.<br /> <br /> A Free, Open, Unfragmented Internet is of critical importance to FOSS--without a free Internet, the FOSS-based peer-production methodologies for code would be infeasible. Interestingly, the Internet also needs the innovations of FOSS to remain free & open, thus forming a positive mutual dependency.<br /> <br /> Both FOSS and the Internet are at risk from forces that are seeking increasing control over content and fragmentation, challenging its openness. This would be inimical to the rights of present & future generations to use technology to improve their lives.<br /> <br /> The Round-table seeks to highlight perspectives from the participants about the future co-developemnt of FOSS and a free, open Internet; the threats that are emerging; and ways for communities to surmount these.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p class="title">Name, stakeholder group, and organizational affiliation of workshop proposal co-organizer(s)</p>
<p>Civil Society<br /> Technical Community<br /> Private Sector</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p class="title">Has the proposer, or any of the co-organizers, organized an IGF workshop before?</p>
<p>yes</p>
<p class="title">The link to the workshop report</p>
<p>http://wsms1.intgovforum.org/content/no80-steady-stepsfoss-and-mdgs</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p class="title">Subject matter #tags that describe the workshop</p>
<p>#openInternet #foss #codefordev</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p class="title">Description of the plan to facilitate discussion amongst speakers, audience members and remote participants</p>
<p>Besides specially identified resource persons, the Roundtable will invite IGF participants who are part of FOSS communities around the world (particularly Brazil, which has a vibrant FOSS community). Participation will include real-time remote participation from FOSS communities around the world, as well as Twitter and email-based submission of ideas and thoughts.<br /> <br /> The Round-table format has been chosen for many-to-many interactions so as to generate a wealth of ideas. No speaker shall speak for more than 5 minutes. Two moderators will guide discussions, and a rapporteur will ensure that ideas are captured. The report of the Roundtable would be posted to all participating communities so as to stimulate grassroots-level action.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p class="title">Names and affiliations (stakeholder group, organization) of the participants in the proposed workshop</p>
<p>Mr.Satish Babu, Technical Community, Director, International Centre for FOSS, Trivandrum, India, who shall provide technical inputs of FOSS and its relevance, particularly to emerging economies, Confirmed<br /> <br /> Ms. Judy Okite, Civil Society, FOSS Foundation for Africa, is an experienced activist who has been promoting the use of FOSS in Africa. Seeking funding at present.<br /> <br /> Ms. Mishi Choudhary, Private Sector, Software Freedom Law Centre, New York, is a lawyer working with FOSS and its legal implications for over two decades. Confirmed<br /> <br /> Mr. Fernando Botelho, Private Sector, heads F123 Systems, Brazil, a FOSS-centric company that provides accessibility solutions to visually impaired people. Confirmed<br /> <br /> Mr. Sunil Abraham, Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), Bangalore, a civil society organization working on Internet and public policy. Confirmed<br /> <br /> Mr. Pranesh Prakash, Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), Bangalore, a civil society organization working on Internet and public policy. Confirmed<br /> <br /> Ms. Nnenna Nwakanma- WWW.Foundation, a Civil Society organization working in Africa on a broad range of areas including FOSS. Confirmed<br /> <br /> Mr. Yves MIEZAN EZO, Open Source strategy consultant, Private Sector. Seeking funding for participation. <br /> <br /> Mr. Harish Pillay, Private Sector, RedHat Asia-Pacific. Seeking funding for participation. <br /> <br /> Corinto Meffe, Advisor to the President and Directors, SERPRO, Brazil. Confirmed<br /> <br /> Frank Coelho de Alcantara, Professor, Universidade Positivo, Brazil, Confirmed<br /> <br /> Ms. Caroline Burle, Institutional and International Relations, W3C Brazil Office and Center of Studies on Web Technologies - CeWeb.br (a CGI.br/NIC.br initiative). Confirmed</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p class="title">Name of in-person Moderator(s)</p>
<p>Satish Babu, Mishi Choudhary</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p class="title">Name of Remote Moderator(s)</p>
<p>Judy Okite</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p class="title">Name of Rapporteur(s)</p>
<p>Pranesh Prakash</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p class="title">Description of the proposer's plans for remote participation</p>
<p>Besides around 30 persons at the IGF, we will be providing wide publicity for the workshop through FOSS communities and networks. Besides live audio/video participation, Twitter shall be a key resource for real-time participation. There shall be a Twitter co-ordinator identified whose role will be to tweet the salient points at the Roundtable periodically for the benefit of documenting and informing interested communities.<br /> <br /> For those that have either technical difficulties or time-zone problems, ideas and comments can be submitted by email before the workshop to the moderators.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br /></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/foss-a-free-open-internet-synergies-for-development'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/foss-a-free-open-internet-synergies-for-development</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaFOSSOpen SourceInternet GovernanceInternet Governance Forum2016-06-18T17:57:53ZNews Item