delliott
b9caf021a4
continuous-integration/drone/push Build is passing
Currently implements both a format hook to remove white-space paragraphs, and a check to make their existence a critical failure. In the end may implement only one or none of these, subject to major design changes. Solves #5409 Co-authored-by: Darragh Elliott <me@delliott.net> Reviewed-on: #5431 Co-authored-by: delliott <delliott@fsfe.org> Co-committed-by: delliott <delliott@fsfe.org>
163 lines
7.1 KiB
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163 lines
7.1 KiB
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<author id="greve"/>
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<date>
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<original content="2006-02-23"/>
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</date>
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<head>
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<title>FSF Europe - Observing WIPO - Statement at the PCPD, 23 February</title>
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<body>
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<p align="center">
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[ <a href="statement-20060223.en.pdf">PDF Version (66k)</a> ]
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</p>
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<p id="category">
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<a href="/activities/policy.html">WIPO</a>
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</p>
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<h1>Statement by Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) </h1>
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<h4>FIRST SESSION OF THE PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE ON PROPOSALS RELATED TO A WIPO DEVELOPMENT AGENDA (Geneva, 20-24 February 2006)</h4>
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<p>Mr Chairman,</p>
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<p>I speak in my capacity as president of the Free Software Foundation
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Europe, a European non-governmental organisation dedicated to all
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aspects of Free Software, as defined by the four fundamental freedoms
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specified in the Free Software Definition. We operate in a network of
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sister organisations in Latin America, India, Europe and the United
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States, and work in close cooperation with the global Free Software
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community.</p>
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<p>Mr Chairman,</p>
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<p>let me first congratulate you on your chairing this session, we are
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hopeful that you will help this PCDA process to come to a concrete and
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conclusive outcome for the next general assembly. We would also like
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to congratulate all member states on their excellent proposals, even if
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our comments are in particular on the proposal of the United States.</p>
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<p>A typical cycle of sustainable activity is characterised by three
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major columns: planning, action, and analysis. Ideally, action follows
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on planning, analysis follows on action, the results of the analysis
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provide the grounds for further planning. In the WIPO context, we
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could also describe these as norm-setting, implementation, and review.</p>
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<p>Like all cycles, the WIPO cycle breaks at its weakest link. That is
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why we cannot agree with the expressed US opinion that WIPO has no
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need for analysis, and that studies only need to be done on a national
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level: there is need for review on national levels, but review also
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needs to be conducted at the level of norm-setting and implementation.</p>
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<p>As a result of this -- in our view incomplete -- understanding of the
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process, the US proposal focuses on very concrete, mainly
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implementation oriented aspects. We believe this is not necessarily a
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bad starting point for building consensus.</p>
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<p>Many member states made statements about WIPO activities greatly
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benefitting from a more participatory approach. Language ranged from
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including "views of all stakeholders, with special emphasis by public
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interest groups" to the United States proposal, which asks that WIPO</p>
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<ul><pre>
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"[...] should aggressively seek out potential partners in other
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intergovernmental organizations development agencies, as well
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as international and regional development banks, NGOs, the
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private sector, academia, charitable organizations, and other
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institutions [...]"
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</pre></ul>
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<p>This is an excellent and possibly consensual notion, which we could
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build on quickly and in a concrete way. As also discussed during the
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United Nations World Summit on the Information Society, physical
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participation in such events substantially depends upon infrastructure
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and resources often not available to public interest groups in
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particular.</p>
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<p>The problems remain similar, so may be the solutions. Therefore
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please allow me to briefly share some experiences from the WSIS.</p>
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<p>Last week's deliberations on the Internet Governance Forum under
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mandate from UN secretary-general Kofi Annan were the most advanced in
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terms of incorporating the WSIS experience. All statements were
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transcribed live and projected on a screen above the chair,
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facilitating better understanding during the session and making it
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easier for participants to do justice to all statements.</p>
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<p>After the session, the transcripts were put online in a matter of
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minutes, making all statements of the session immediately accessible
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to all who were absent or had to leave the room while the meeting took
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place.</p>
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<p>Additionally, Free Software volunteers streamed the entire session
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live in an open and accessible format that allowed all computer users
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with sufficiently fast internet access to follow the session while it
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took place, possibly getting in touch with those present in order to
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have them incorporate their views and comments in the statements. The
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recordings usually go online a few days later, making it easy for
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people to follow the session after it took place.</p>
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<p>More could be done, but these two concrete steps have already done
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much to ensure that all stakeholders, including member states, have an
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easier time following all the proceedings and help improve the
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effectiveness of the overall process.</p>
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<p>Mr Chairman,</p>
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<p>Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can be a wonderful
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tool to facilitate universal access and wide participation beyond
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cultural, geographical and financial barriers. In order for them to do
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so, it is important to use them wisely and choose formats and
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protocols that do not exclude any business model, stakeholder group or
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operating system.</p>
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<p>All WIPO online activities, including the "WIPO Partnership Database"
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around which the US proposal is built, should be conducted through
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open standards and accessible formats. Open standards in this context
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mean publicly documented and freely accessible formats for which at
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least two implementations exist, one of which should be Free Software
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so others can take it for reference and study, as well as adapt it to
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their needs of multilingualism and accessibility.</p>
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<p>The format should be available on all three major families of desktop
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operating systems used today. Additionally, it is necessary that no
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such format actively mandates the use of proprietary software, so as
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to not exclude people who wish to maintain control over their own
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information infrastructure, an issue of increasing importance for many
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member states.</p>
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<p>Only the Open Document Format (ODF) fully fits this bill in the realm
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of office applications, it should therefore be used for all future
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activities. FSF Europe gladly offers its expertise to WIPO for more
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in-depth elaboration of these issues in this and other areas.</p>
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<p>Mr Chairman,</p>
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<p>all proposals seemed to share common ground in wanting to make
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concrete improvements in this area. It is on these grounds that we
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hope to have provided the basis for a small step towards consensus of
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all member states. Maybe such a small, but visible sign of finding
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common ground will help us on our way to the next general assembly.</p>
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<p>Thank you, Mr Chairman.</p>
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<p><em>
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Statement by Mr. <a href="/about/people/greve/">Georg C.F. Greve</a> <<email mailto="yes">greve@fsfe.org</email>>
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<p div="indent">Free Software Foundation Europe, President</p>
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<p div="indent">UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS),
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<ul>
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Civil Society Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks (PCT) Working Group, Co-Coordinator<br/>
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First phase Civil Society representative, German Governmental Delegation
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</ul></p>
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</em></p>
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