Re: [hangout] David Sugar on *ASTOUNDING* Statement by Peruvian Congressman

[David Sugar <dyfet@ostel.com>]

There are a number of excellant points elequently made in this letter, 
and I am sure different people will find different parts that stand out. 
One of my own favorite parts started out by stating how Peru, as a 
sovereign nation, certainly has the right to set terms and conditions 
for purchase for goods and services and doing so is not at all 
descriminatory since any supplier is free to provide software under 
those terms.

One thing that might be helpful would be if a written English (and other 
languages) translation of the proposed law itself could be provided.  I 
had this law orally translated to me and I have established in my own 
mind what parts appear to say and mean, but having a good written 
translation would be useful for those of us who are language 
disadvanteged and perhaps could also help in using it as a model for 
drafting similar laws in other parts of the world.

David

Seth Johnson wrote:

> Yes, David.  That would be great!
>
> Below your message, I've posted two comments from the
> Patent@aful list, from Nick Fleming and Alexandre Courbot,
> who calls the letter "the perfect anti-FUD."
>
> Seth Johnson
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Date: Sun, 05 May 2002 19:11:59 +0000
> From: "David Sugar" <dyfet@ostel.com>
>
> I am actually very familiar with this, and I would be happy
> to explain some of the background about what is going on in
> Peru and other Latin American countries and free software
> when I return to the states tomorrow.  I may be visiting
> peru to speak before their parliment in early July.
>
> David
>
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> From: "Nick Fleming" <Nick@bigfatpanda.fsnet.co.uk>
> Date: Sun, 5 May 2002 13:59:48 +0100
> To: <patents@aful.org>
>
> My favorite bit :
>
> "To guarantee the permanence of public data, it is necessary
> that the usability and maintenance of the software does not
> depend on the goodwill of the suppliers, or on the monopoly
> conditions imposed by them. For this reason the State needs
> systems the development of which can be guaranteed due to
> the availability of the source code. "
>
> An amazing letter - I'm having trouble believing its genuine
> - seems too good to be true. No way can a congressman  be so
> well informed about software development surely ?
>
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Date: 05 May 2002 16:36:22 +0200
> From: Alexandre Courbot <alexandrecourbot@linuxgames.com>
> To: Seth Johnson <seth.johnson@RealMeasures.dyndns.org>
>
> Outstanding, right. This document is a perfect anti-fud. But
> I find the URL weird: the IP adress is the one of Google,
> and when trying to directly access
> www.gnu.org.pe/resmseng.html, I get redirected to the Google
> cache page. Can we be SURE this isn't fake? (it's just too
> good to be true... :))
>
> Well, anyway - I really enjoyed reading this doc. At least,
> once we lost all our freedoms here in Europe and in the US,
> we could ask for Peruvian nationality.
>
> ____________________________
> New Yorker Linux Users Scene
> Fair Use -
> because it's either fair use or useless....