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218 lines
9.6 KiB
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> |
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<html> |
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<version>2</version> |
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<head> |
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<title>Open Standards – Overview</title> |
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</head> |
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<body class="article" microformats="h-entry"> |
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<p id="category"> |
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<a href="/freesoftware/freesoftware.html">Free Software</a> |
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</p> |
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<h1 class="p-name">Open Standards</h1> |
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<div class="e-content"> |
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<div id="introduction"> |
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<div class="right" style="max-width: 850px; width: 53%;"> |
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<img src="/freesoftware/standards/robot-protest-dark_2016_plussy.png" alt="robot protest"/> |
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</div> |
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<p><a href="/freesoftware/standards/def.html">Open Standards</a> are the foundation |
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of cooperation in modern society. They allow people to share all kinds |
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of data freely, prevent vendor lock-in and other artificial barriers to |
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interoperability, and promote choice between vendors and technology solutions. |
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Open Standards are implementable with Free Software, and thus provide full |
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competition in the market. FSFE advocates for fair competition, interoperability of |
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solutions, and choice for consumers. Open Standards are necessary prerequisite |
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to ensure these freedoms.</p> |
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</div> |
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<h2 id="what-is-a-technical-standard">What is a technical standard?</h2> |
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<p>A technical standard is a set of commonly agreed rules in regard to technical |
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systems. It is usually documented in a so-called 'standard specification' |
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that describes ways to consistently organise information so that it can |
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be understood and used by multiple independent applications. Standards |
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which are used for information storage are called 'formats', and those |
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for transmitting information are called 'protocols'.</p> |
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<p>A standard establishes common ground that provides means for interoperability |
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and competition. The antipode of standardisation is monopoly: users of |
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one product or service can only interoperate with users of the same product |
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or service. Therefore, standards are used to enable competition for the |
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public benefit.</p> |
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<p>Standards can also be beneficial for innovation by allowing all actors |
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on the market to innovate on top of the standard and build their own services |
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in order to serve the standard.</p> |
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<h2 id="why-open-standards">Why Open Standards?</h2> |
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<p>The problem arises when a standard is owned by one market player that uses |
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their position to control the further development of the standard, or tries |
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to manipulate it through licensing policies in order to exclude or include |
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some specific groups of actors. In this case, the standardisation is used |
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for contrary purposes than promoting competition and interoperability.</p> |
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<p>The full competition in the market is, therefore, provided by standards |
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that are open. As Open Standards are freely available without any restrictions, |
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they allow standardised technology to be used in products and services |
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without any a priori advantage based on the ownership of the standard. |
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As a consequence, the access to technology is allowed to all actors on |
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the market irrespective of one's business model.</p> |
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<h3 id="what-is-an-open-standard">What is an 'open' standard?</h3> |
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<p>Open Standards are implementable with Free Software. If a standard does |
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not meet the following criteria, it discriminates against Free Software and |
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cannot be thus called an 'open' standard:</p> |
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<p>An <a href="/freesoftware/standards/def.html">Open Standard</a> refers to a format |
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or protocol that is:</p> |
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<ol> |
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<li>Subject to full public assessment and use without constraints in |
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a manner equally available to all parties;</li> |
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<li>Without any components or extensions that have dependencies |
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on formats or protocols that do not meet the definition of an Open |
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Standard themselves;</li> |
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<li>Free from legal or technical clauses that limit its utilisation |
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by any party or in any business model;</li> |
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<li>Managed and further developed independently of any single vendor in |
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a process open to the equal participation of competitors and third parties;</li> |
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<li>Available in multiple complete implementations by competing |
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vendors, or as a complete implementation equally available to all |
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parties.</li> |
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</ol> |
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<p>This way the standard ensures that technology is accessible for everyone, |
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irrespective of business-model, size, or exclusive rights portfolio. </p> |
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<h2 id="why-should-a-stanard-be-minimalistic">Why should a standard be minimalistic?</h2> |
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<p>The aim of standards is to establish a common ground in technology and |
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enable different applications to interact with each other. With more and |
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more data being digitally stored, it is more important to ensure its |
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portability between different applications. This is why it is essential |
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to make sure that the format one chooses to store data is accessible |
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with multiple applications, irrespective of vendor or a technical solution.</p> |
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<p>This is why the standard needs to be not only open, but also |
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<a href="/freesoftware/standards/minimalisticstandards.html">'minimalistic'</a>, |
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in order to solve the technical problem adequately, and allow as many |
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implementers of that standard as possible. In other words, there is a need |
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to assess whether the standard is as simple as possible, and as complicated |
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as necessary.</p> |
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<p>Overburdened standards with multiple unnecessary features give their |
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vendors an advantage: it is more difficult for another implementer to |
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adequately read the format, and the customer is forced to a vendor lock-in. |
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In addition, standards bloated with rarely used features leave backdoors |
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and vulnerabilities for malicious attackers to take advantage of.</p> |
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<h2 id="standard-that-is-implementable-with-free-software">Standard that |
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is implementable with Free Software</h2> |
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<h3 id="reference-implementation">Reference implementation</h3> |
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<p>For software standards the actual standard is defined through both |
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the formal specification and the actual implementation. Acquiring the |
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formal specification is often not enough in order to implement the standard |
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for complex digital systems. For any company wishing to implement the |
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standard, knowledge of existing implementations can be as valuable as |
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the formal specification, as this helps to avoid the |
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extended trial-and-error process for resolving ambiguities in formal |
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specification.</p> |
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<p>Hence, for a standard to be sufficiently 'open', the openness needs to |
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address both the specification and implementation.</p> |
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<p>Consequently, for open implementations it is economically more beneficial |
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to publish reference implementations under a Free Software licence. |
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This will allow the reference implementation to be freely available and |
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also to act as a formal specification without the institutional process of |
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standard setting.</p> |
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<h3 id="patents-in-standards">Patents in standards</h3> |
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<p>Sometimes, the standard specification includes technical solutions |
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that are needed in order to implement the standard. These technical |
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solutions can be protected by patents. Whoever wishes to adopt and implement |
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the standard has to, therefore, acquire the appropriate licence from the |
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patent-holder.</p> |
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<p>Industry has turned to different licensing practices in order to overcome |
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the issue of patents essential to standard implementation: for example |
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'royalty-free' (RF) or an alternative 'fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory' |
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(FRAND) terms. <a href="/freesoftware/standards/why-frand-is-bad-for-free-software.html">FRAND |
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terms are incompatible with Free Software</a>. Furthermore, due to the |
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fact that FRAND are usually kept secret, it is impossible to prove whether |
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the imposed terms are objectively 'fair' or 'non-discriminatory'. |
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Consequently, FRAND can be used as a tool to manipulate the standardisation |
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process to exclude competition.</p> |
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<p>While RF licensing addresses only the royalty-payment criteria, |
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it does not address other restrictions that may be placed on adoption |
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and implementation of a standard by Free Software. In this regard, the |
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licensing policies of patented technology in standardisation have to be |
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compatible with the widest range of actors on the market, as the purpose |
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of standardisation is to promote competition and to allow innovation on |
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top of it.</p> |
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<p>It is noteworthy that hardly any new system in information and communications technology (ICT) is built without |
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the use of Free Software, and the exclusion of companies basing their |
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products on Free Software from standardisation can significantly hamper |
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innovation. Therefore, the appropriate licence for standard-essential-patents |
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is the one that does not place any restrictions to the standard implementation |
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with Free Software, i.e. 'restriction-free', according to the |
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<a href="#what-is-an-open-standard">Open Standard definition</a>.</p> |
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<h2 id="what-can-you-do">What can you do?</h2> |
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<blockquote> |
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<h3 id="as-a-citizen">As a citizen</h3> |
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<p> |
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<ul>Insist on Open Standards: don't let your government, university, employer, |
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or a local public administration push you into using locked down formats.</ul> |
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</p> |
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</blockquote> |
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<blockquote> |
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<h3 id="as-a-politician">As a politician</h3> |
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<ul> |
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<li>Promote policies that in practice ensure competition and innovation |
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in standardisation, i.e. minimalistic Open Standards implementable with |
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Free Software.</li> |
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<li>Promote licensing policies that are based on 'restriction-free' terms |
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in order to achieve the widest adoption of standards and allow their |
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implementation by all actors on the market.</li> |
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<li>Prioritise the use of Open Standards in public procurement and software |
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development in order to increase the interoperability of all software |
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solutions used in public sector.</li> |
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</ul> |
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</blockquote> |
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</div> |
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<related-feed tag="openstandards"/> |
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</body> |
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<sidebar promo="open-standards"> |
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</sidebar> |
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</html> |
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