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77 lines
3.7 KiB
77 lines
3.7 KiB
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<html newsdate="2010-08-03">
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<version>1</version>
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<head>
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<title>German ministries flout IT open interoperability requirements</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>German ministries flout IT open interoperability requirements</h1>
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<h2>Survey finds only 2 of 87 departments are conforming to federal open
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document regulations</h2>
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<p>Research published this week suggests that the majority of
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federal government departments in Germany are ignoring requirements to
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implement <a href="/freesoftware/standards/def.html">Open Standards</a>.</p>
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<p>A survey was conducted by the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) to
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investigate the state of government adoption of ODF, and to promote wider
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uptake of Open Standards. "Although federal policy has wisely embraced Open
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Standards for interoperability, accessibility and security, it is clear that
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most government bodies are still using inefficient proprietary formats" said
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Karsten Gerloff, President of FSFE. "Ultimately citizens will end up paying the
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price for this lack of conformity through higher bills for public IT contracts,
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and slower services due to interoperability problems" he added. "They will also
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pay a price in freedom, as they are forced to use proprietary software and
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standards to communicate with government authorities."</p>
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<p>Since the beginning of 2010, the German Information Technology Council (Rat der
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IT-Beauftragten) has required state departments to support Open Document Format
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(ODF) in order to communicate with the growing number of individuals and
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organisations that use it. The policy, which is based upon the findings of the
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Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee - a panel of experts from the federal
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administration, requires that departments have the capacity to read, write and
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send ODF files.</p>
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<p>When 87 letters were sent to the ministries challenging them to demonstrate
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their conformance by replying in the open format, only two of them replied in
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ODF as requested. The Chancellor's Office and the Ministry of Food, Agriculture
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and Consumer Protection (BMELV) were the sole respondents to use the correct
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format. Five other federal bodies responded: all of whom underlined the
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importance of Open Standards to them. Despite claiming that they were ODF
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capable however, instead used other non-ODF formats for their response.</p>
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<p>Usage of ODF continues to grow in public institutions throughout the world, and
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is already officially approved in ten separate national standards
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organisations, in addition to being the mandatory standard for communication
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between NATO's 26 member states. "The Chancellor's Office and BMELV have set an
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example for Open Standards in public administration" concluded Matthias
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Kirschner, German Coordinator of FSFE, "but overall there is clearly a long way
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to go before practice meets policy for ODF in the German public sector".</p>
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<p>FSFE shall continue to monitor ODF uptake in order to ensure the protection of
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German citizens' right to communicate using Free Software.</p>
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<p>The seven bodies that participated in the survey were:</p>
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<ol>
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<li>Bundeskanzleramt (The Chancellor's Office)</li>
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<li>Bundesministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz (BMELV)</li>
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<li>Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI) Bundesforschungsinstitut für Kulturpflanzen</li>
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<li>Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Bau und Stadtentwicklung</li>
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<li>Bundesministerium des Innern</li>
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<li>Bundespräsidialamt</li>
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<li>Der Bundesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit</li>
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</ol>
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</body>
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<tags>
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<tag key="front-page"/>
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<tag key="dfd">Document Freedom Day</tag>
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<tag key="openstandards">Open Standards</tag>
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<tag key="policy"/>
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<tag key="public-administration">Public Administration</tag>
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</tags>
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</html>
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