CLUE - Other Canadian blogs

How to avoid the benefits of Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS)

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 12:07:36 -0400

FLOSS offers many benefits over software that has a sole proprietor and is funded by royalties. Examples of sole proprietor software are packages such as Microsoft Office where there is a single entity which either owns or is relicensing the exclusive rights on the software, and thus is the sole entity which can provide many levels of software support.

While I recommend against this, it is possible to use FLOSS and yet receive none of the benefits beyond lower ($0) royalty payments. Government departments seem to do this all the time, not wanting to accept the advantages of FLOSS (misinterpreting software acquisition policy? Ideologically predisposed to sole proprietor software? Offer your thoughts in the comments...).

The two most common ways to avoid the benefits of FLOSS can be summarized by two acronyms: COTS and DIY.

>> Read full article on IT World Canada's blog

Free Software and the Canadian Federal Election 2008

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 10:52:45 -0400

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a donor supported charity founded in 1985 and based in Boston, MA, USA. The FSF has a worldwide mission to promote computer user freedom and to defend the rights of all free software users. They have sister organizations in Europe, India and Latin America.

Since any inclusion of legal protection for "technological measures" in the law regulates what software citizens are allowed to run on their own computer, they have an interest in this issue. Canadians who are part of the Free Software Community really need to get involved in this election to ensure that the rights of Canadian Free Software users are protected. Richard Stallman, founder and president of the FSF, requested that I write this article to give our community some ideas of what to do.

Read the rest of this entry on IT World Canada's blog »

CLUE's involvement in Internet issues: ICANN, Net Neutrality and competitive access

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:36:49 -0400

As a demonstration of CLUE's involvement in issues beyond "Linux Users", I want to talk about some of the issues that Evan Leibovitch (past executive director) and I (as policy coordinator) are involved in.

Evan has been acting as chair of the North American Region At-Large Advisory Committee of ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). Evan will hopefully be blogging about his involvement soon, and some of the issues that the advisory committee deals with. People may get a taste for the types of issues by listening to the This week in Law episode 13 from last month.

While I spoke at IT360 last week on the issue of Software Patents and Free/Libre and Open Source Software, recent interviews and blogging have been focused on the related issues of "Net Neutrality" and competitive access to telecommunications facilities. While these two issues are often lumped together or even confused for each other, I try to separate them in my articles.

Free Ontario

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:49:05 -0500

Hi folks! I'd like to invite anyone interested in participating to check out the Free Ontario initiative begin run by myself at http://therabidpenguin.blogspot.com. In a nutshell, I want to try stir things up a bit in Ontario and get the discussion around Free/Libre Open Source Software going among Ontario Politicians.

Blogging on IT World Canada

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 15:57:31 -0500

I have started to offer commentary on the IT World Canada Blogs. The first three articles are as follows:

Tech and Sec - October 2006 an interesting blog entry

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 11:07:00 -0500

I think that the following addresses some of the problem we have with
our politicians and the surrounding bureaucracy.

http://techsec.blog.ca/2006/10/

Globe and Mail: Liberal MP's fundraiser causes controversy

Fri, 20 Jan 2006 09:12:10 -0500

Globe and Mail: Liberal MP's fundraiser causes controversy - This Globe and Mail article by Roma Luciw about Bulte's fundraiser tonight contains this gem:
"I will not be silenced by zealots like Michael Geist and political opportunists like Peggy Nash who are making something out of nothing," she said, adding that she believes Mr. Geist's comments are nearing the point of being defamatory.
"I am not going to sue him before the election but dammit, watch me after the election."

A Web pioneer lays out the drawbacks of American-style copyright laws

Sun, 15 Jan 2006 20:05:21 -0500

A Web pioneer lays out the drawbacks of American-style copyright laws - Canadian science fiction author Cory Doctorow wrote an article in the Toronto Star which includes:
As well as being a writer, I'm a partner in a copyright-based business whose server is located in Toronto, not far from Bulte's riding. Boing Boing is the daily blog I co-edit; it gets about 1.7 million readers a day. We rely on copyright to protect our income, but we also need copyright to get out of the way when we quote, excerpt and include stills from other websites in the course of reporting on them.

Sony Hit With Canadian Class Action Suits

Fri, 06 Jan 2006 09:03:10 -0500

Sony Hit With Canadian Class Action Suits - With Sony slated to appear in a New York courtroom on Friday to seek approval for its class action settlement for the rootkit fiasco, its Canadian arm is now facing several Canadian class action suits. The Merchant Law Firm, based in Calgary, launched class action suits in both the Ontario and B.C. courts yesterday (Ontario brief, B.C. brief). This follows a less-publicized class action launched in Quebec against Sony last November. All of these cases arise from the rootkit issue. The briefs make for interesting reading as the Canadian cases raise a long list of legal issues including the violation of Canadian privacy law, breach of contract, violation of the Competition Act, and a host of tort claims.

Open Source and the Canadian Election

Thu, 05 Jan 2006 09:14:12 -0500

Open Source and the Canadian Election - As most Canadians know at this time, we're in the middle of an election campaign, the vote is January 23.

I don't know whether you consider open source to important enough of a public policy matter to make it an election issue, but consider this: The Green Party actually has as specific policy the goal to:

Require federal departments and agencies to transition to open source or free software for general applications, and provide free tech support to Canadian companies who also use this software.

Cleaning Up Copyright

Wed, 04 Jan 2006 11:37:30 -0500

Cleaning Up Copyright - With both prospective Canadian Heritage Ministers accepting copyright
lobby cash (see The Sad Reality of Copyright Policy In Canada, Campaign Contributions, Tipping Point, That's What Friends Are For) and the funders making it clear that they are in the market for more (see Business As Usual), it is time to clean up copyright in Canada. The election campaign provides the perfect time to do so. The short term solution
is obvious - Bulte should cancel the January 19th fundraiser and apologize to her constituents and the Canadian public.

Who's in charge of these user groups anyway?

Tue, 03 Jan 2006 22:35:17 -0500

Who's in charge of these user groups anyway? - They may be powered by passion and a love for technology, but it's often the vendors that keep these organizations alive. We talk to leaders about how they deal with the conflict of interest issues. Also: Are LUGs immune? [ITBusiness.ca]