How dare they! It seems difficult to defend private patent toll gates for public services and countervene the Digital Standards Organisation call for an openness preference, so the argument is completely unrelated sinophobia:

"The EIF contains "worrying echoes of Chinese policy," Francisco Mingorance from the BSA told EurActiv."

Digistan founding member Alberto Barrionuevo explains the reasons for COSS: we wanted to offer small teams a fast, cheap, and flexible way to develop their specifications into free and open standards. Setting up a foundation is an important step in a software standard's history, but it's a large step that most small teams can't make.

COSS is a fully-distributed peer-to-peer model. André Rebentisch, who helped build the Digital Standards Organization and COSS, says: each contributor makes a unilateral grant, allowing others to use their work under specific conditions. Those conditions include the right to branch and merge, which is radical for specifications but a much appreciated freedom in the free software community.

The COSS lifecycle defines a specification as a contract between designers, implementers, and users. The weight of the contract depends on where the specification is, in its lifecycle: from raw, to draft, to stable, legacy, and through to retired. COSS editor Pieter Hintjens concludes, this model allows for experimentation, and standardization, which are normally opposed to each other.

Digistan has developed a reference specification, a web site that acts as a template for projects. One such project has already started, the RestMS specification for web messaging.

Despite the fact that the ICT sector is considered strategic for growth and innovation in the broader economy, the EU has fallen behind its competitors in terms of investments in ICT R & D. As the European Commission prepares to lay out a strategy for this sector in the 21st century, there is increasing pressure on EU and national public authorities to buy ICT products that conform to open standards that contain no intellectual property, or in which the intellectual property is subject to low or zero royalty rates and/or cannot carry use restrictions.
Where does this pressure come from? Does it really serve the interests of a European Union determined to compete in the global knowledge economy? Or does the warm-sounding populist rhetoric calling for "openness" risk turning Europe into an innovation "dead zone"?

EEI's Peter Jungen is a legendary member of the old Brussels lobby guard who masters the challenges of modern internet societies with 1950th cold war rhetorics and German angst. He is looking for answers to his questions from:

Gunnar Hökmark, Member of the European Parliament and Moderator,
Ken Ducatel, Member of the Cabinet of EU Commissioner Viviane Reding,
Pilar del Castillo, Member of the European Parliament,
Laurent Lachal, Senior Analyst, Ovum,
Stéphane Tronchon, Qualcomm,
Per Werngren, CEO of IDE (Sweden)
Nigel Gibbons, CEO of Unitech (UK) and
Jens Gaster, Senior Expert Industrial Property, European Commission, DG Internal Market

Website European Enterprise Institute: http://www.european-enterprise.org/

Council Conclusions on the development of legal offers of online cultural and creative content and the prevention and combating of piracy in the digital environment
2905th EDUCATION, YOUTH AID CULTURE Council meeting
Brussels, 20 November 2008

Most commentators focused on the aspects related to the controversial three-strikes proposal of the French presidency which currently lacks backing from the European Parliament. The final conclusions from the Council resolution show where the national ministers want the European level to take action:

INVITES THE PARTIES CONCERNED to launch consultations or to join them, in a constructive spirit, with a view to
– finding concrete, effective and fair solutions promoting the development of legal online offer and the prevention and combating of piracy;
– promoting the interoperability and ensuring the transparency of technical measures to manage and protect rights."

The Council did not address legal interoperability problems but only technical measures. However, you can expect interoperability of licensing conditions to be a major building block in the "development of legal online offer".

It has to be pointed out that the EU-Commission does not respond to specific requests for information concerning timescales. The German MEP seems to be used to the German parliament style of written questions. On the European level the Commission usually tends to hand pick some of the issues raised and takes the freedom not to answer complex questions. This is why MEPs usually need to file seperate questions.

Hiltrud Breyer's first question about conversion to open standards

Open standards and open source software are ready to be used in public institutions. The Foreign Office in Germany already began converting its IT infrastructure to Linux and open source software in 2000, and publicised its positive experiences with the operating system and software. The French police force is also working with open standards and open source software, and the Dutch Government and Parliament are expressing interest in using it. In addition to the cost savings to public funds when purchasing and maintaining operating systems and software, the use of open standards and open source software ensures the independence of software enterprises, stimulates innovation and guarantees that all citizens have an opportunity for political involvement, regardless of which operating system and software they use.

1. Does the Commission plan to convert its IT infrastructure to open standards and open source software? If so, is there a timescale in place? If not, why not?

Commission answer

…
Open Standards can be implemented both in proprietary software and OSS, and OSS solutions are not necessarily always compatible with Open Standards. Therefore, there is as such no formal relationship between OSS and Open Standards. However, Open Standards are generally widely supported in OSS and many Open Standards have reference implementations in OSS.

Is has to be highligthed that for the Commission the use of any particular category of Information Technology (IT) tools at internal level is not an objective in itself but rather a means to achieve its political, economic and social mandate, including carrying out its tasks in the most efficient way, constantly ensuring appropriate user satisfaction and best value for EU taxpayers' money.
…

The Commission has adopted and, whenever required, updated its specific "OSS Strategy" since 2001. The rationale and main lines of this strategy in its current form are publicly available. For more information, the Honourable Member is invited to consult the following reference site: http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/7389/5998.

The key items of this strategy are:

(1)The Commission will formalise the use of OSS where a clear benefit can be expected.

(2)The Commission will consider OSS solutions alongside proprietary ones in IT procurement. Contracts will be awarded on a "value for money" basis. Not only licence costs but also setup, maintenance, support and training costs of all alternative solutions will be considered.

(3) For all future IT developments, the Commission shall promote the use of products that support recognised, well-documented standards. Inter-operability is a critical issue for the Commission and usage of well-established Open Standards is a key factor to achieve and endorse it.

(4) For all new development, where deployment and usage is foreseen by parties outside of the Commission IT infrastructure, OSS will be the preferred development and deployment platform.

Unfortunately, the OSS strategy document the Commission talks about is not disclosed under the mentioned link. It seems respective documents are now hosted under the new Open Source Observatory website.

Hiltrud Breyer's second question on institutional promotion of open standards

2. Does the Commission regard it as its job to press ahead with converting European Union institutions to open standards and open source software? If so, what measures does the Commission plan to take and will should these be taken? If not, why not? …

Commission says it lacks competence for other European institutions

2. The Commission would like to point out that, although a significant degree of inter-institutional cooperation exists in the domain referred to in the Honourable Member's written question, the EU Institutions are administratively autonomous and separate from one another. As such, it is ultimately each EU Institution's responsibility to adopt any decisions in order to set up its administration as it sees fit. This principle also applies to procurement operations conducted under the Financial Regulation which for each Institution fall under the exclusive responsibility of the designated Authorising Officer(s).

Hiltrud Breyer's third question on platform neutrality

3. What action is the Commission taking to ensure that citizens with the appropriate software from any provider can access and receive information from EU institutions as well as governments and public authorities of the EU Member States?

Commission answer: we support ODF, PDF and more

3. The Commission is currently able to accept and generate documents compliant both with ISO1 standards, such as the Open Document Format (ODF) and the Portable Document Format (PDF), as well as with other formats widely used by citizens, businesses and public administrations.

In this area, the Commission constantly cooperates and exchanges views with the other European Institutions.

Furthermore, within the framework of the Commission's IDABC2 Programme, the Commission works with representatives of the Member States to promote and facilitate Open Document Exchange Formats (ODEF). For more information, the Honourable Member is invited to consult the following site:
http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/3439/5585.

The Commission does not respond here to issues concerning access to audiovisual content which is perceived as a "document" in accordance to the definition in the document access directive. In the case of audiovisual content users regularly complain about discrimination of certain software applications and a lack of support for open formats by the European institutions, which usually source out electronic register to external contractors without setting specific requirements.

The UK Government champions open standards and interoperability through its eGovernment Interoperability Framework Version 6.0, 30th April 2004 (eGIF) and through the publication of its Open Source Software Policy which is available in the document “Open Source Software, Use within UK Government, Version 2.0, 28 October 2004”.

This and eGIF are available from www.govtalk.gov.uk. Where possible the Government only uses products for interoperability that support open standards and specifications in all future IT developments.

Italics added.

The announcement is expected to annoy those who wanted a "broad" definition of open standards that would include patented standards. As expected, the Business Software Alliance and the Association for Competitive Technology, both vocal in their defense of software patents and patented standards, have denounced the move as "imposing one business model over another".

The move has also been described as "hurting small tech start-ups that rely on patent protection to survive". "Even programs like BlueTooth are excluded", says ManagingIP.

The BSA and ACT are notorious spokesmen for large US corporate interests, and claims that small, innovative European technology firms need patents to survive do not match the data. A recent EU-sponsored study on the use of patents, copyrights, and trademarks in European software SMEs had to go to Israel to find SMEs that held and licensed software patents. Apparently European IT SMEs just don't use patents.

The Commission's robust defense of the term "open standard" and its support for open source software reflect the reality of the European technology sector, which is overwhelmingly made up of SMEs that use, produce, and depend on an increasingly sophisticated ecology of open source and open standards.

The principle that e-Government should not be captured by vendors is a good one, though it goes against the corporatist trends we see in many parts of the world, and infuriates large US technology interests, who covet the growing EU government budgets. The deregulation and outsourcing of the state, by and for private interests, has become so accepted in the US that one can understand the shock and horror with which US corporate interests view the EU's insistence on large government and regulation. The term "free market" has almost opposite meanings on the two sides of the Atlantic.

We therefore expect to see concerted lobbying against the EIF/2.0 definition by the patent industry, by Microsoft, BSA, ACT, and the many dependent organizations that represent Microsoft business partners (ironically called "the European software industry" by some). Specifically, we expect to see accusations that the no-patents definition of open standards discriminates against specific providers, that it damages innovation, that it ignores the value of patents, that it will result in innovative firms leaving Europe, that it is illegal under trade agreements, and so on. We expect to see pressure applied on the Commission from the highest levels of US power.

Digistan applauds the EU Commission, and holds that patents have no place in open standards except as a mechanism to exclude competition and to raise costs to the State and EU citizens. Furthermore, EIF/2.0 does not exclude patented standards from e-Government, it simply does not allow these to claim the label "open".

The event focusses on the adoption of XML standards by the public sector. The agency announced prominent speakers as Patrick Durusau, Rob Weir and Steve Pepper who were key persons in the controversial debate over OOXML and ODF standardisation. Topic maps specialist Pepper recently came to Den Haag to launch the Digistan Hague Declaration. The host nation South Africa pioneered the appeal against OOXML ISO standardisation. The agency also takes a strong role in the promotion of interoperability by the public sector with its release of the Minimum Interoperability Standards document, MIOS pdf document.

The event is sponsored by Microsoft South Africa, IBM, Sun Microsystems and the Meraka Institute.

- Sita - South African Information Technology Agency

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to adopt the Hague Declaration of the Digital Standards Organisation."

John says, "please encourage any of your supporters who are British citizens or residents to support this petition by voting online before 6th July at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/digistan"

Cappato's question

Parliamentary questions
15 April 2008
E-2110/08
WRITTEN QUESTION by Marco Cappato (ALDE) to the Commission
Subject: Deployment of ISO 26300:2006
What steps will the Commission undertake to make its IT infrastructure fully compliant for the reception and propagation of ISO 26300:2006 documents?

Is any action planned to promote this standard in the European institutions?

Answer by Commissioner Kallas

E-2110/08EN
Answer given by Mr Kallas
on behalf of the Commission
(26.5.2008)

The Commission is currently able to accept and generate documents in the ISO 26300:2006 format (otherwise referred to and commonly known as the ODF format). The Commission wishes to be able to accept and generate documents compliant with different standardised formats (for example ISO standards PDF, ODF) as well as, whenever appropriate, in other widely used formats (ISO standards or not) currently used by citizens, businesses and public administrations.

The Commission has already presented to other European Institutions its technical approach to accept and generate documents in ODF formats.

Furthermore, within the framework of the Commission's IDABC programme, the Commission works with representatives of the Member States to promote and facilitate Open Document Exchange Formats (ODEF).

For more information, please see the reference site:
http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/3439/5585

In other words, the Commission already supports Open Document format and recommends other European Institutions to follow.

I've argued in the past that some software companies try to sound "open" while remaining proprietary by using a verbal bait-and-switch to change conversations from the topic of open source, to that of open standards. They're two very different issues.

His slight objections against the Digistan project is that open standards would be a compromise for non-adoption of free and open source software. The Hague declaration does indeed not call on Governments to adopt Free and open source software. Currently no pressure group calls aggressively for an exclusive free and open source software policy for the government. Ironically those governments which apply open source policies get active in open standards as well.

Digital open standards allow software providers to compete regardless of their business model. It is an inclusive concept aimed to move towards perfect competition and overcome the so-called lock-in effects.

Opposition against the concept of open standards follows basically three lines

• vendors want to keep control over their interfaces and restrict competition
• patent owners want to license interfaces and collect royalties
• official standard organisations fear the loss of their semi-official status. Who calls for "openness" speaks about a performance based criteria that can or cannot be fulfilled by what these organisations provide.

These days the trunk in the room is of course patent licensing conditions: RAND, FRAND, RF. Standard organizations often keep an agnostic view and require only the bare minimum, i.e. "reasonable and non-discriminatory" (uniform fee) conditions. Under the existing software patent regimes it is a tricky legal challenge to indemnify standards from patent infringement or enforce interoperable RAND licensing conditions. Neither RAND nor RF licensing is sufficiently standardized, a problem of legal interoperability. Some widespread open source licenses are incompatible with RAND conditions and many (F)RAND licences are deliberately written to lock out open source competitors.

From the rationale of a market system and the public service objectives of a government it is obvious that a more competitive environment won't do any harm to the economy. On the contrary markets benefit. It is only necessary to overcome organisational egoisms. Governments are perfectly capable to make use of their procurement power to promote more openness.

Something that strikes me about Digistan’s declaration is its basis in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and not a technical document.

Chalifour points that rightfully out. The belief of the Digistan founders is that electronic access to public services needs to be non-discriminatory. It is our right as citizens that governments do not prejudice our technological choices. eGovernment is not just another channel but is an essential public service for administration, businesses and citizens. Governments have a public mission.

"The South African national standards body, SABS, has appealed against the result of the OOXML DIS 29500 ballot in ISO. In a letter sent to the General Secretary of the IEC (co-sponsor with ISO of JTC1), the SABS expresses its “deep concern over the increasing tendency of international organizations to use the JTC 1 process to circumvent the consensus-building process that is the cornerstone to the success and international acceptance of ISO and IEC standards.”

Steve writes, "having resigned as Chairman of the Norwegian committee responsible for considering OOXML for exactly this reason, I congratulate South Africa on its willingness to stand up for the principles on which standardization work should be based."

In perhaps unrelated news, Microsoft announced that it would add ODF support to Office. Good news or bad news for free and open standards? Some have suggested that ODF is not completely safe from patent threats but this will become more clear over time.

1. Procure only information technology that implements free and open standards;
2. Deliver e-government services based exclusively on free and open standards;
3. Use only free and open digital standards in their own activities.

At time of writing, almost 300 people have signed up as supporters of the Digital Standards Organization. Their names will all be printed on the Hague Declaration, which will be printed onto paper in four copies, and signed by those present at the signing ceremony. Two copies will be kept for archival purposes and two will be auctioned at a later date to raise funds for the work of the Digital Standards Organization.

Here is what some of the Digistan founders and supporters said about the Hague Declaration:

• Andrew Updegrove, United States: "Only by acting today can we guarantee digital human rights for all in the future."
• Harish Pillay, Singapore: "I fully support this declaration. We need to ensure that future generations are not beholden to corporate whims and fancies and that the collective knowledge of the world is always available."
• Yoon-Kit Yong, Malaysia, "Open Standards for Technology and Vendor Neutrality."
• Steve Pepper, Norway, "This declaration embodies many of the principles that have guided me in two decades of work for open standards. I urge all those I have worked with and who support these principles to sign this petition."
• Alberto Barrionuevo, Spain, "Open standards are a democratic right for citizens. Public Services must be based on Open Standards."
• Nicolas Pettiaux, Belgium, "Only by acting today can we guarantee digital human rights for all in the future."
• Alain Empain, Belgium, "We need to build a really open infrastructure for the next decades. Open Standards are the only way to go."

The letter starts:

Industry has always depended on standards and traditional industries have built their standards as part of a slow, controlled, top-down approach to innovation. Industrial-age standards are often heavily patented, complex, and large. They can be expensive to implement and therefore are implementable only for large established firms.

But almost forty years ago, Steve Crocker and his team wrote RFC001 and launched the networks that built the Internet using a different model based on older human values of sharing and cooperation. His vision, and that of other Internet pioneers, was of a digital world built on simple, interoperable standards, accessible at zero cost to even the smallest teams. Largely, their dream is coming true. Today we're used to an Internet of open software, open content, and open development.

While most agree, not everyone likes it. In the telecoms, entertainment, and software industries we see the destruction of legacy vendors and their replacement by new Internet communities. And many of the old industrial businesses, instead of adapting, are fighting back. The fight is intensifying because the stakes are growing. Free and open source software, open content, and open communities are together worth trillions of dollars. The key to controlling these rich ecosystems is to control the digital standards they depend on.

Digistan France and Les Standards Numériques are the joint work of Ars Asperta, an independent consulting firm focusing on open standards and open source software related strategies for corporate and governmental organizations, and Esoma, the European Software Market Association. The LesStandardsNumeriques community has become rapidly active on open standards issues in France.

El 10 de abril del 2008, el Presidente Rafael Correa Delgado, ha firmado el Decreto 1014 por el que ordena con absoluta precisión que el software usado por las administraciones públicas del país sea software libre (e implícitamente basado en estándares abiertos). La decisión del ejecutivo coincide con la renovación por cese de las cúpulas militares y policiales del país bajo sospechas de espionaje por potencias extranjeras. El decreto tiene por ánimo lograr la soberanía tecnológica del Ecuador y el impulso de su economía informática.

The Google translation is:

On April 10, 2008, President Rafael Correa Delgado has signed Decree 1014 by ordering with absolute precision that the software used by public administrations in the country is free software (and implicitly based on open standards). The decision of the executive coincides with the renewal of the cessation of military and police leadership of the country under suspicion of spying for foreign powers. The decree is a spirit achieve technological sovereignty of Ecuador and the momentum of its economy computing.

On 21 May 2008 the Digistan community meets in the Hague in the Netherlands.

The programme consists of a private session on 20 May at 19h and a public session on 21 May from 9:00 to 16:00. The public session will be at the prestigious Royal Library in the Hague, thanks to kind support from NLnet. All participants should please register.

The programme includes discussion on these Digistan pending projects:

• Domino - a internationalised repackaging of the Netherlands e-government specifications.
• OpenXML2 - a second-generation OpenXML format that fixes OOXML.
• o-Metric - a tool to measure the “openness” of a specification. Goal is to define clear benchmark for what 'open standard' means.
• o-Base - a collection of all known open standards, ranked by “openness” and categorised by domain.
• WikiML - a standard XML markup language for Wiki content. Goal is to define a single XML language that can act as structured storage format for wikis.
• WikiGlot - a standard Wiki syntax that unifies the many different Wiki text syntaxes. Goal is to eliminate variations in wiki syntax.
• CCF - a project to build a copyright centralization framework (CCF) for new standards teams.