I went through the policy carefully and here are my comments.
The core issue for the community is--does the policy allow for
redistribution of standards to the fullest possible extent? For us, the
freedom to redistribute the software is severely hampered if the
accompanying standards cannot be redistributed.
Keeping this and other issues in mind, the questions and comments that come
to my mind are given below:
3.2 They shall be applicable to all prospective e-Governance systems
including businesses (G2G, G2B, G2E and G2C) from the date it comes
into effect.
Venky: What does prospective mean in this case? Does it mean e-Governance
systems that are created after the policy comes into effect?
4. Policy Statement
GoI shall adopt Single and Royalty-Free (RF) Open Standard
progressively for a “specific purpose with in a domain” (herein after
referred to as “Area”), to meet the laid down objectives of the Policy.
The Open Standard shall have the following characteristics:
Venky: What does, "progressively" mean here?
In Section 4.1.2, we should request addition of the following text in CAPS.
4.1.2
T he patent claims necessary to implement the Identified Standard
shall be available on a Royalty-Free basis for the life time of the
Standard. If such Standards are not found feasible then in the wider
public interest, Fair, Reasonable and Non Discriminatory terms
and conditions (FRAND) or Reasonable and Non Discriminatory
terms and conditions (RAND) with no payment AND NO RESTRICTIONS ON THE
REDISTRIBUTION OF THE STANDARD could be
considered.
The different organizations and individuals that are part of FOSSCOMM should
consider sending in their representations before the deadline of 3rd June,
2010.
Regards,
Venky
=====
On Wed, May 19, 2010 at 2:33 PM, Pranesh Prakash <[email protected]>wrote:
> Dear all,
> A new draft of the National Open Standards Policy (labelled v1.1) is now
> up for review on the egovstandards.gov.in website.
>
> http://j.mp/crlk1x [pdf]
>
> There is also a (new, as far as I'm aware, though labelled v1.1) draft
> manual for implementation of the policy:
>
> http://j.mp/96vFL8 [pdf]
>
> Under "Mandatory Characteristics", it states:
> 4.1.2
> The patent claims necessary to implement the Identified Standard shall
> be available on a Royalty-Free basis for the life time of the Standard.
> If such Standards are not found feasible then in the wider public
> interest, Fair, Reasonable and Non Discriminatory terms and conditions
> (FRAND) or Reasonable and Non Discriminatory terms and conditions (RAND)
> *with no payment* [emphasis added] could be considered.
>
> 4.2 deals with non-availability of appropriate open standards. 4.2 talks
> of 'interim standards', with a definition provided in Annexure I. Under
> 4.3 (non-availability of standard meeting functional requirements), the
> first preference is for an appropriate option (as an interim standard)
> which has "Specifications as per proven open source reference
> implementation".
>
> Under "Exceptions for Selecting One or More Additional Open Standard in
> an Area":
> 5.
> GoI shall endeavour to adopt Single and Royalty-Free (RF) Open Standard
> for an Area. However, in view of the sufficient technical justification
> and in the wider public interest, additional standard(s) in the same
> domain may be considered by GoI based on the recommendations of the
> Designated Body. Such standard shall be compatible and bi-directionally
> interoperable with the already existing selected Standard.
>
> There is now a definition of "interim standard":
> Annexure I (i):
> Interim Standard: A standard temporarily adopted by relaxing mandatory
> characteristics, until an appropriate standard is identified, which
> meets all the mandatory requirements.
>
> In the Implementation guidelines:
> 4.7
> All future Request for Proposals (RFPs) of e-Governance projects shall
> include the guidelines for ensuring compliance to Open Standards as per
> this Policy.
>
>
> All in all, it seems (after a quick glance) to be mostly
> unobjectionable. Do others think otherwise?
>
> --
> Pranesh Prakash
> Programme Manager
> Centre for Internet and Society
> W: http://cis-india.org | T: +91 80 40926283
>
>
>
>
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>
>
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