Dear All,
The political support for Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) continues
to increase.
The CPI(M) manifesto released on the 16th of March calls for the
promotion of FOSS. The manifesto can be accessed at
http://www.cpim.org/manifesto.pdf
Following are some of the highlights of the policy -
- Promoting FOSS and other such new technologies, which are free from
monopoly ownership through copyrights or patents;
- Revamping the functioning of the Patent offices to ensure strict
adherence to the Indian Patent Act; Stop training and orientation of
Indian Patent office personnel by the US and European Patent offices
These above measures are critical to support the public education
system, local economy and the knowledge commons and counter neo-liberal
pressures that aim to privatize the public information/knowledge domain.
The CPI(M) has been a traditional supporter of free software, the
comprehensive IT programs in Kerala, including in the public school
system (http://itschool.gov.in/otherprograms.php#6) is based on FOSS.
With key parties from both the left and the right end of the political
spectrum endorsing FOSS, the Congress is left as the only major
national party which is yet to formally take a position on FOSS. One
hopes that the Congress too will soon extend its support for free
software when it releases its own manifesto next week, and explicitly
acknowledge the significant political, socio-cultural and economic
advantages of FOSS over proprietary software platforms (see
http://public-software.in/FOSS-manifesto for a call from the Network of
the FOSS Community in India to the political parties, to recognise the
advantages of FOSS in their election manifestos).
Thanks,
Vinay.
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