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HTML
101 lines
5.1 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<html newsdate="2016-11-10">
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<head>
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<title>Russian Bill makes Free Software a Public Priority</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>Russian Bill makes Free Software a Public Priority</h1>
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<p newsteaser="yes">
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Legislators have drafted
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<a href="http://asozd2.duma.gov.ru/addwork/scans.nsf/ID/15186D4536B068A54325804200466D57/$File/1187178-6.PDF?OpenElement">a bill</a>
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that will boost Free Software on multiple levels within the Russian
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Federation's public sector.</p>
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<p>The draft, approved by the Russian Federation's Duma (lower chamber)
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in mid-October, requires the public sector to prioritise Free Software over
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proprietary alternatives, gives precedence to local IT businesses that offer
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Free Software for public tenders, and recognises the need to encourage
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collaboration with the global network of Free Software organisations and
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communities.</p>
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<p>The text enforces prioritising Free Software over proprietary alternatives
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by requiring public administrations to formally justify any purchase of
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proprietary software. The purchase will be considered unjustified if a
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Free Software solution exists that satisfies the list of technical specifications
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and standards. In addition, all IT purchase agreements in the public
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sphere must be registered in a dedicated registrar and detail the overall
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quantity and price of both purchased proprietary and Free Software.</p>
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<p>In order to encourage local businesses, IT companies that distribute
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and provide Free Software products and services will by default receive
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bonus points in public tenders. With this measure, legislators intend to
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reduce the administration's dependency on foreign IT providers of proprietary
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software.</p>
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<p>Despite the above, the bill also recognises the universality of Free
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Software. As the legislators acknowledge in explanatory notes appended
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to the text, the concept of "Russian Free Software" is meaningless due
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to the global nature of Free Software. The text recognises the need to
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support Russian Free Software companies in order to better integrate into
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global Free Software communities.</p>
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<blockquote>
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<p>"[...]законопроект предлагает тем самым уйти от понятия «российское СПО»,
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поскольку наборы программных кодов, открытых по разного вида свободным
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лицензиям, представляют собой по сути единую мировую платформу[...]"</p>
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<p>English translation:</p>
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<p>[...]the draft bill suggests to withhold the concept of "Russian Free
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Software", because the source code available under different open licences
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represents in essence one global platform[...]</p>
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</blockquote>
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<p>Another interesting aspect of the law is how the authors of the bill
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have made an extra effort to ensure the language used in the draft are
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correct. For one, only software carrying licenses that allow
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<a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">the four freedoms</a>
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may be legally labelled as "Free Software":</p>
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<blockquote>
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<p>"Свободное программное обеспечение (СПО) - программное обеспечение,
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имеющее открытый исходный код и распространяемое по открытым лицензиям на
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условиях специального лицензионного договора, на основании которого пользователь
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получает неограниченное право на его установку, запуск, а также свободное
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использование, изучение, распространение и изменение (модификацию) по своему
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усмотрению в любых, не запрещенных законом целях."</p>
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<p>English translation:</p>
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<p>"Free Software - software which is open source and distributed under
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open licences based on special licensing contract terms, allowing a user
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unrestricted right to install, run, use, study, distribute and modify it
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freely, according to one's needs and for purposes that are not restricted
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by law."</p>
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</blockquote>
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<p>Secondly, every time the bill text refers to the most famous free operating
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system, it refers to it as "GNU/Linux", not simply "Linux". This indicates
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an awareness not commonly found amongst authors of national legislations.</p>
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<p>"The bill is an example of public software procurement done right." says
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Polina Malaja, Policy Analyst and Legal Coordinator at the FSFE. "The FSFE
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has long advised having all public administrations prioritise Free Software
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and recommended that all software developed by and for the public sector
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be published under a Free Software licence. As the authors of the Russian
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bill have come to realise, without Free Software public administrations
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will never be able to claim they have real digital sovereignty. Other
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European administrations should take note."</p>
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</body>
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<tags>
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<tag>front-page</tag>
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<tag>Policy</tag>
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<tag>Procurement</tag>
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</tags>
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</html>
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